affection the more have been serv'd before him when he perceives his Praemiums are purely the Reward of Merit Only the Master ought to take care that two or three of the last have their Monies made up at the same time least any should be discouraged I hope none will Object this Number is too many where there are two diligent and careful Masters Certainly so many may as well some of my Friends have thought better be instructed in this Method than two And as the Ingenious Mr. Walker has observ'd is neither so tedious to Master nor Scholar Besides a generous Emulation will be more easily promoted than amongst two or three only And lastly The Matter may be manag'd at lesser Charge to the Parents Nor ought the Tutors through Covetousness to think it too few For having so small a Complement they need take none in but Children very well descended and such as have had a vertuous and sober Education And these Proposals being perform'd they will deserve the respect of Persons of Quality whose Interest may stand them in good stead But not being perform'd I think it too many and their Reward if any thing too much I could wish that such as are negligent in this important Matter as they are accountable in foro Conscientiae might be severely Animadverted upon by humane Laws Certainly the Cynic was in the right on 't who trounc'd the Master because the Scholar was a naughty Boy This Proposal seems very necessary Because all their Discourses and Authors being Latin it might be fear'd through a total Disusc they might be at a loss to express themselves handsomly and properly in their Mother Tongue The Master ought to be very careful in this particular and as the aforesaid Method of Conversing with Latin People Latin Authors and earefully observing Latin Analogy will certainly prevent Anglicisms in their writing Latin he ought to take heed that no Latinisms creep into their Translations or English Phrase and Diction And this I take to be the most proper time for it viz. When he begins to find they had rather speak Latin than English which by the use of the one and disuse of the other I suppose may be a little more than a Year then the Scholar ought to be put upon comparing them both together by heedfully minding their particular Phrases Idioms and Proverbs and by almost an equal use of both the Styles to render them both equally easie and familiar and yet so as neither of them may smell of the other the Analogy of both the Tongues being carefully observed For this Reason a Foreigner cannot be fit to undertake this Charge unless exactly acquainted with our Phrase and Indiom which few are The Reason of this Proposal is Lest a Disparity in their Age should cause the same disparity in their Improvement Not that I fear the Elder should get the start of the Younger but on the contrary for without doubt the younger we put Children into this Method the better The Masters will have most trouble with the oldest yet when he is once manag'd tho' he should exceed the Age in this Proposal if he be a Youth of a sweet and loving temper and studious withal but in this great care should be taken he may lead the younger whither he pleaseth and do his Master a great deal of Service But Children are generally thought incapable of learning Latin at this Age. If People wou'd consider how soon they learn English I dare say they wou'd be of another mind These pretty little Mimics with a sweet and natural delight listen to all our sounds and very well understand them in a few Months so far at least as they any way concern themselves as may be observ'd by many of their Actions and desire to be understood themselves Nay they are so concern'd their little Mimicisms cannot be conceiv'd that they make a thousand signs to shew their meaning which is as pleasant and delightful a Rhetoric to such as have but the Leisure and Curiosity to observe them as the quaintest Diction and most celebrated Haranguel Children have by Nature no greater Aptness to imitate one Tongue than another the Children of Iews Arabians French and English come to speak much at the same time and need not any particular Rules and Directions about the Matter nor indeed ever understand they are Learning and yet they all arrive at a tolerable Proficiency in two Years The consequence is therefore they would equally understand Latin in that time for none will think the Roman Children did not understand their Mother-Tongue till 6 or 7 Years of Age. But some will say Tho' this be demonstrably true yet they may not perhaps at 6 or 7 Years of Age be so capable of Foreign Languages Yea much more capable for if before that Age they learn'd their Mother Tongue notwithstanding their weakness frowardness contraction of their Faculties and their want of assistance from Art and that purely by hearing their Mother or Nurse Lisp a little broken English What shall we expect from them when their Bodies are more firm their poevishness abated their Faculties more dilated when they may be assisted by Art and Converse with Men that speak fine and properly But what need these Collections when daily Experience tellsus That Children after having learn'd English are in a Years-time ordinarily taught French or Italian and that with Ease and Pleasure both to themselves and Master Nay I am credibly inform'd of a Child of ten Years of Age who speaks five Languages very fluently by Conversation only of which Latin is one And undoubtedly the learning of Latin the same way as they learn other Languages must be most easie and natural If Authorities were wanting where Reason and Experience speak so loud 't were easie to accumulate them 'T was partly by this Method but since better improv'd that Roger Ascham taught his Royal Scholars Elizabeth Edward and the Lady Iane Grey Latin Greek French and Italian in three or four Years time to the Accomplishment of those great Personages and to his own eternal Honour 'T was this way tho' not so happily propos'd that our admirable Cowley almost by his own indefatigable Industry learn'd the Latin and Greek Tongues as is observ'd by the Gentleman that writes his Life in these words His Teachers never could bring him to learn the ordinary Rules of Grammar but he chose rather to converse with the Books themselves from whence the others were taken This no doubt was the better way tho' more difficult and he found afterwards the benefit that having got the Greek and Latin Tongues as he had done his own not by Precept but Use he practis'd them not as a Scholar but a Native And this very Consideration was the occasion of my For by making his Authors and Masters his Grammar Dictionary and phrase-Phrase-Book he will better come to know the Genuine significations from the Translated fee how the latter come
Treatment both by Parent and Master and make some Animadversions on both 2. Lay down a Method in 10 Proposals whereby I conceive it easie to teach them to understand a Roman Author very well write Latin elegantly speak it properly and easily gain a considerable knowledge in Logic Rhetoric Geography History c. in the space of two years 3. Assign the Reasons of the said Proposals and answer Objections And lastly Leave the whole to the Iudgment of the Candid and Iudicious Reader The Reasons of the slow Proficiency and careless Institution of our Children are such as either the Parents or Master is chargeable with First The Parents Who don 't ordinarily take care to have their Children taught to read till they are so habituated to Vice and Idleness that their Teacher must have as much Labour to bring 'em into love with their Book as otherwise wouâ—d have taught 'em to read from whence also various Inconveniencies arise both to the Parents and Children the Enumeration whereof not being my Province I leave to those who write the whole series of Education No doubt as soon as they can speak they may be taught to read either by Father or Mother with case and pleasure without ever imposing it as a Task upon ' em The Ingenious Mr. Lock tells us of a Person of great Quality and Worth who by pasting the six Vowels on the six sides of a Die and the remaining 18 Consenants on the sides of three other Dies has play'd his Son into Spelling and Reading with the greatest eagerness imaginable and I doubt not but the said worthy Patriot may teach him Arithmetic History Music with but a little deviation from that his so excellently contrived Method Facile est inventis addere This very Method for fear of bad Consequences afterwards may not be so well but from it we have an hint for an hundred very harmless Inventions to teach Children to Read 2. If they do take care to send 'em to School perhaps 't is to some Woman who never knew any thing of Orthography tho' she may make a shift to read her Prayers or Murder a Gazette confounding one Period with another which she must needs do having never been acquainted with the Rules of Pointing Hence it comes to pass that Vulgar People who only have learn'd to Read and Write at this rate commit such horrible blunders in Spelling and making no Points are at the hazard of having no one that writes true to understand what they mean I admire that Parents that design their Children a Liberal Education shou'd commit them to such they had better let all alone for they contract such ill habits as will cost their Master afterwards double the trouble to unlearn 'em as were requisite to learn 'em to read and I shou'd scarce undertake to teach 'em for a double Reward For to teach has a great deal of pleasure to unteach has none at all to recommend it To which I may add That it not only discourageth the Pupil but is apt to create in him an aversion to his Tutor And thus both the Master and Scholar labour in vain Ista felix nullo mansuescit aratro Pers. And this I am sure of by many Experiments that an Adult Person who has had the misfortune to be taught English at this rate cannot be so great a Proficient in 6 Months time in learning Latin as another happy in his first English Rudiments may be in two and besides must take a great deal more pains Parents when their Children are fit in their Accounts to be put to a Master think it sufficient to put them to a good Scholar as they phrase it whether a good Man or no is not much material And what is this good Scholar He understands Latin and Greek As tho' this were Accomplishment enough This is so far from it that 't is undoubtedly but one Qualification and that one of the least too of a good School-master to little Children whose tender years are to be imbu'd with Piety and Principles of right Reason He ought to be a Vertuous Modest and humble Man and very patient his chief business ought to be to dissipate by soft and gentle means those passions that would over-cast the early dawnings of infant Reason that it may shine out bright and glorious and with a gentle hand to weed out the Tares which perhaps were sown when the Parents slept before they are grown so high as to choak the Culture of an Ingenuous and Liberal Education to cherish the Principles of Kindness and good Nature till they are grown into HABITS to settle a Reverence to their Parents and Masters and a Love and Respect for all and they will soon enough afterwards learn to exert them in a fashionable Mein and decent Comportment which when they have learn'd with a Dancing-master will more admirably become them when their Bows and Honours not forc'd by Modes and Fashions not Ap'd and Mimick'd but found to be real by the Divine sweetness of their Looks which no Art can teach will not only challenge from all Persons an high Commendation of their Parts and Breeding but also gain 'em every where an Admiration and Love for their Virtue He ought not only to have these Qualifications but a reasonable knowledge of Arts and Sciences as Logic Rhetoric History Geography c. to speak Latin well and promptly and understand the Greek Tongue neither too young nor too old a proper well-made Person and of a good Presence What shall I say He must be Qualem nequeo monstrare sentio tantum But you will say All these Qualifications seldom meet in one Man especially who will vouchsafe to be a Tutor I confess it And therefore get in one as many as you can and be content to abate him some of these last I mean as to Accuracy but never any of the first for in those that are to study as Gentlemen this Age looks upon it a greater Accomplishment to have a taste of all Arts and Sciences so as to be able to discourse and give some tolerable Account of each as occasion shall offer than to stick close to any particular Study neglecting the rest provided that when they are called to any Office or Imployment in the Common-wealth they then apply themselves close to that Study which may best qualifie them for it and make all their other Knowledge as much as they can subservient thereto But if design'd for Scholars in whatsoever their Master is deficient they may perfect themselves by their Industry and a Tutors assistance in the University Many Parents think 't is well enough to send their Children to a publick School Those that are not able to give them a Domestic or more private Education I censure not but such persons as have good Estates and some of Quality and Worth who perhaps have taken great pains to form their Childrens Mind and Manners with Piety and Vertue till they
not fear but Languages will be had afterwards easie and cheap enough Childrens Minds are soft and moist Clay such as may be easily thrown on the Wheel even how you please but Age hardens it and Custom confirms it and then your Vessel whether honourable or dishonourable cannot be alter'd therefore be sure to fashion it right and season it well I admire to see several Parents treat their Children like Bruits till 6 or 7 years of Age which is the ready way to keep them so much longer Next to the Care of forming their Minds succeeds that of teaching them to read and methinks this might be done without sending them out of doors as is usual to a Mistress where besides the inconveniences I have before recounted among Children of worse Education they often learn ill Words and ill Things Since Childrens Minds are pure Virgin Parchment is it not a thousand pities to suffer it to be scrall'd over with foolish and senceless Characters much more to be blotted and blurr'd with Anger Envy Pride and Sullenness when it may so easily be prevented When they read English very well 't is time to dispose of them to a Master not only to teach them Latin or French as is usual but enjoyn him to perfect and polish that Work which you have begun with so much success to take care they be instructed in Piety and Morals in Arts Sciences and Languages But some will be apt to think the perfecting of all this will be a Matter of great difficulty and many Years and that the learning of Latin alone taking up so much time when will the rest be perfected which are usually the Studies of Men not Children I answer I do not mean they should be separate and successive Acts but all carried on at once and that I believe the Latin Tongue may be learn'd so far forth as to understand very well a Roman Author to write Latin correctly and speak it fluently and a considerable knowledge attain'd in Arts and Sciences by little Children by the Proposals following in two years time at most and that with ease and pleasure both to Master and Scholar THAT a convenient House be taken a small distance from London with a large Garden and other conveniencies THAT there be two Masters whereof one to be capable of teaching Latin Greek and Hebrew The other at least to understand Latin and speak it fluently to be well skill'd in Logic Rhetoric Geography and History and that he write a good Hand THAT Latin be made a Living Language in the Family i.e. That no other Language be us'd in presence of the Boys THAT one or both the Masters continually be present with the Pupils whether Reading Writing Translating or Playing from 7 in the Morning till 8 at Night THAT there be no Rods or any kind of Punishment but that a generous Emulation be carry'd on by Rewards to which Use the Parents shall allow per Annum of which they to have an Account Monthly in a Latin Epistle by which they may be inform'd both of their Proficiency and Diligence from time to time THAT the number of Pupils exceed not Twelve THAT they read English well and that their Master take care to Improve it THAT they be not younger than Six nor older than Eleven Years of Age. THAT their Authors and Masters be their Grammar Dictionary and phrase-Phrase-Book THAT nothing be impos'd on them as a Task Here follow the REASONS of each particular Proposal with OBIECTIONS Answered TO this I see not what can be Objected I think it ought not to be propos'd in London because the Air is not so good And how much a good Air contributes to the health of the Body and that to the health of the Mind no Person can be ignorant Nor far from London because it not being convenient the Pupils should ever be suffer'd to go home and as I said before requisite Parents should frequently enquire into their Sons Proficiency they may do it in Summer when they have a mind to divert themselves with a Walk and in Winter by Coach at a small expence Their Garden ought to be pretty large and to have some choice Plants and Flowers not only for the Pleasure and Use but such a Collection ought to be made from which the Argument of some useful Discourse as it were Occasionally may be treated of Hence they may not only be told the Names which not often occur in their Authors or if they did the Name only being known and not the Idea would easily ship out of their Memory and whilst it was there was of no use Their Use and Natures also will be of great Advantage to them hereafter To which I may add That from their very Names they may learn a good part of the Heathen Mythology as of Daphne Narcissus Hyacinthus c. I cannot suppose any Person can think the undertaking can be so commodiously perform'd by one Because it might grow tedious to any Man never to have an hours liberty either to mind his private Studies or enjoy a Friend Because those Qualifications which are requisite in these Proposals are more easie to be found in two than one Because there seem to be two distinct Parts the one ought tho' never strange nor angry very to be so cheap as the other should necessarily be his Province is to take especial care of their Morals to give them the sense of their Authors which ought to be such from whence with ease and pleasure he might draw Instructions of more useful knowledge to distribute Rewards to carry it with a certain coldness to such as are guilty of a fault and with much kindness and affection to those that do well The other 's with all sweetness and affability to infinuate himself into their favour to invent for them Plays and Exercises tending to the Institution of their Minds and Health of their Bodies and that I may express it in Tacitus's elegant words Non studia modo curáque sed remissiones etiam lususque puerorum sanctitate quadam ac verecundia-temper are Nor ought he only to invent such Plays but often to make one in the sport and show himself very much pleas d and delighted in it also to teach them to write a good hand Not that I would have these two Parts so separate but that either of them might perform the others part if one should happen not to be well or have some earnest Vocation for a whole Day The learning of Languages being in it self as consisting of hard and uncouth words unpleasant or at best insipid ought to be well cook'd and made pleasant before it is serv'd up to Children The Recipe may easily be had a little Utile dulci the one to season it the other to make it palatable for Children we know love sweet things History and Geography especially with fine Maps and Pictures as falling under the sense
from the former with pleasure and learn as a Native of Ancient Rome to write and speak without encumbring himself with Rules or conceiving his sense in English before he speaks or writes And here I cannot but observe the Cause our Learned Gentlemen of England whom all Foreigners own to write Latin very politely attempting to speak it do it so awkwardly and as it were unnaturally because they have not learn'd it in this natural way They must needs speak it slowly who having been taught by multiplicity of Rules their Mind is imploy'd in three different things at the same time 1. Thinking of the Rules by which they learn'd it 2. Thinking of the English sense which they carry along with them And 3. Of the Latin Diction and Idiom which how troublesome it is themselves knowing can seldom be prevailâ—d with to speak it and all others who consider it may easily conjecture whereas a Man in speaking Latin ought not to be concern'd about the two former for what signifies the Scaffold when the Building is finish'd and forgetting what Country-man he is imagine himself a Citizen of Old Rome The reason of this is because Children finding no restraint upon them but acting freely act much more vigorously and to the purpose When impos'd they oft have an utter Aversion to that which otherwise they freely chusing wou'd take a great delight in Bring but Children into love with a Language Art or Science and when that point is gain'd and some of them desire to be taught it you may tell them A great many Men do not understand it and that it wou'd be the way to make them wiser than most Men and you will find they will yet have the greater Inclination When their Desire is sufficiently heightned you may pretend notwithstanding 't is so great a Privilege yet you love such an one your favourite so dearly for his diligence and attention that you could almost find in your heart to give him a little insight into it then proceed as tho' you were unwilling the rest should be admitted to this favour and such a proceeding I question not will oblige some of the rest quickly by their Attention and Diligence in their own Studies when they find those are the only ways to recommend 'em labour to ingratiate themselves into your favour to enjoy the Privilege of your favourite So by degrees you may wind up their inclinations to what heighths you please and bring them all by degrees with submission and thankfulness to accept the favour Thus I have as short as I cou'd given the Reasons of the Proposals and Answer'd such Objections as I cou'd think of or have been made to me by Parents when I have desird them to tell me their Opinion of Mr. Lock 's Method in learning Latin which because upon the Reasonableness thereof these Proposals are grounded I shall transcribe from the Learned and Ingenious Author If therefore a Man cou'd be got who himself speaks good Latin who would be always about your Son and talk constantly to him and make him read Latin that wou'd be the true genuine and easie way of teaching him Latin and that I cou'd wish since besides teaching him a Language without Pains or Chiding which Children are wont to be whipp'd for at School six or seven years together he might at the same time not only form his Mind and Manners but instruct him also in several Sciences such as are a good part of Geography Astronomy Chronology Anatomy besides some parts of History and all other parts of knowledge of things that fall under the Senses and require little more than Memory But hold I had like to have forgot the Grand Objection not levell'd at any particular part but at the whole Design The Method is singular I dare not venture upon it for my Son I hope 't is a singular good one and then no Matter Is it reasonable If so it ought to be try'd If this were any Argument there never would have been nor never would be any Improvements in the World Christian Religion wouâ—d never have gain'd ground in the World at first nor its Reformation since Philosophy Medicine Law and all Arts and Sciences had been thousands of years ago put out of a possibility of being improv'd nay to speak more properly not so much as the Names themselves had been heard of But if for all that any will think Singularity an Argument I will beg of them to accept of it against our General Method of Education in England as being different from that of all Learned Nations and Ages that have been before us I never heard that the Iews AEgyptians Phaenicians Persians Graecians Romans ever Study'd Languages or if they did that they were ever denominated learned from thence much less order'd their Children to spend ten or twelve of their best Years in learning Words and Sounds as tho' they were not only the Vehicles of Knowledge but Knowledge it self No no their Masters gave them a quite different Institution they Admonished them to study themselves and the Universe to Converse with Nature to observe the heavenly Influences were continually preaching to them Iustice Fortitude and Temperance in their tender Years and afterwards Oeconomics and Politics to know how to steer and guide themselves first and then the Ship of the Common-wealth if they were to be Public Men They made them acquainted with the Constitutions of other Governments not by reading Books but sending them Abroad where their having learn'd Languages was reckon'd as one of the least benefits of their Travels Nay by many 't was look'd upon a disadvantage and such as had them were always cautious of intermixing them with their own And were not these better Institutions of Youth than purely Language and Words which our School-Masters hunt after with such earnestness neglecting the sense In which Matter I could heartily wish a Reformation when a Boys Lesson is that of Persius Discite ô miseri causas cognoscite rerum Quid sumus quidnam victuri gignimur ordo Quis datus metae quam mollis flexus unde Quis modus Argento quid fas optare quid asper Utile Nummus habet patriae charisque propinquis Quantum elargiri deceat quem te DEUS esse Iussit humanâ quâ parte locatus es in re Would not any Parent think it far better his Son knew the meaning of this Divine Poem than the Syntax Were not a fair Occasion given the Master to read his Pupil Lectures of Physics Ethics Oeconomics Politics c. and by insisting a good while upon it the Child perhaps would remember it as long as he lives Nay we are not only singular in our Manner of Education to former Ages but this too in those Countries which are more concern'd to admire Latin than we because the Service of their Church is in that Tongue For they take greater care about their Childrens Morals and Institutions of Piety