Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	education_n	young_a	youth_n	22	3	7.6482	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41495	The compleat gentleman, or, Directions for the education of youth as to their breeding at home and travelling abroad in two treatises / by J. Gailhard ...	Gailhard, J. (Jean)	1678 (1678)	Wing G118; ESTC R11538	187,544	338

never intended to exclude the knowledge they must have of their weaknesses and imperfections which I could desire them to be humbled under yet Instructions about this should not be given by way of perpetual elegy and constant lamentations as the way of some is to talk of nothing but of the miseries of times and of Humane Nature Heraclitus like in this It is not enough to speak so much of the Wound and nothing of the Cure to lay open the Distemper and yet neither shew nor apply any Remedy Young men must necessarily know what is amiss in their Nature and Persons but withal they must be acquainted with what they are and ought to do that they may mend and reform Although hitherto I have distinctly spoken of Learning and Morality wherein Youth ought to be instructed I do not mean they should be taught at several times and ages for these things may very well be contemporary only there are degrees of both which require a greater maturity of years than others which I must refer to the prudence of the Teacher to use according to the capacity of the young man It is certain that practice of of Vertue is the end of Science as Science is a perfect disposition to Vertue so that not only they consist together but also are a mutual help one to another Parents who have several other things to mind either publick or private according to their station do chuse and appoint those who are to make this their whole business yet both these things Learning and Morality are of so vast an extent that men of means and quality think it a sufficient work for two whereof one called Preceptor takes care only to instruct them in Arts and Sciences and the other under the name of Governor hath the oversight of their actions but this must be no hinderance to either to teach or advise according as there is occasion for both these parts were performed by those famous men who had care of Princes whom they taught not only Scholarship but also Maxims of State Aristotle was such an one to Alexander the Great who amidst his Victories by Letters asked his advice about several emergencies Polybius not only instructed Scipio the African in his younger years but also followed him in his Expeditions and had considerable Employments in his Armies Titus Livius had the care of Tiberius's Education so had Seneca of Nero's This last according to the opinion of some having discovered in his Disciple a great inclination to cruelty compiled his Book of Clemency De Clementia thereby if possible to alter his temper which cruel inclination Nero being come to riper years dissembled for a time Indeed often men make a sure judgment of Children and Youth in their tender years of what they are like to prove their nature being then not capable of dissembling but appearing nakedly such as it will be Thus Alexander gave signs of his future greatness in the questions he made to Embassadors sent to his Father and of his ambition when he wept for his Fathers Victories who as he complained left nothing for him to conquer yet I know every thing done or said by persons of that quality are lookt upon with magnifying and multiplying-Glasses Cato also at his going out of infancy shewed how one day he would be zealous of the liberty of the Republick one day seing in Sylla's House the Heads of some who by his command had been put to death asked Why is not this Tyrant made away and being told of the danger there was in such an undertaking by reason of the great care he took of his safety He resolved to carry a Dagger under his cloaths and stab him at the first opportunity This design his Governor had very much ado to dissuade him from These are strong signs of the passion which is like to be predominant in young men when they come to riper years though others who know how important it is to understand the genius of Children to make instructions profitable to them go up higher and do consult the nature of Parents concluding with Horace Nec imbecillem generant aquilae Columbam as if with the Blood of the Father all fatherly good parts and qualities were transmitted into the veins of the Son which rule though sometimes it proves true yet is not certain and admits of exceptions The Soul is not produced by the Father and though her faculties do often follow the temper of the body yet wit and goodness are not begotten otherwise this proverb were not true which hath been so often confirmed by experience Filii heroum noxae therefore I must say that though it be much to be well born yet it is much more to be well brought up Nature is potent and strong but Institution and Breeding go beyond For as I said before Infancy is tractable to any habit and as it is ignorant of what are Vertue and Vice so it ●s as susceptible of one as of the other Indeed it seems strange to an ordinary eye that a Father full of Courage and Generosity should beget a base and a cowardly Son neither is it very probable but that a Son who is part of his Father should have something of his qualities for some particular Vices or Vertues are running in the Blood of some Families as of Nations Sensitive creatures do communicate their Nature and transmit their essential Qualities to that which they beget A Lion by Nature is courageous a Wolf ravenous c. And some have been of opinion that it should be so with men for Suetonius relates in the life of Nero that his Father a very wicked man said that Nothing could be born of him and Agrippina which were not detestable and hurtful to the Publick But if this were always true why shall not the children of one Father and Mother be all of one and the same Nature which yet proves so much to the contrary Once it was a question concerning that famous Aleibiades which were greater in him his vices or his Vertues a thing never so disputable about any one as about him for he had excellent good qualities also strong and dangerous Vices so ballanced the one by the other that no body could tell whether he would at last prove to be the best or worst of men Two things which he boasted of were his extraordinary Beauty and his illustrious Extraction But Socrates the first Author as far as we can find of the Precepts of Morality upon which account men said of him that Having found Philosophy travelling through Heavens and Elements he brought it to dwell in Houses and Cities made him understand one day that Quality Riches and Honours without Honesty could only make him able the more to do wrong and injury to others and he so proved to him that though he was of a noble extraction except he was qualified with Vertue and Merit he was no better than a Porter that Alcibiades shed tears and

so fitted for publick employments that almost as soon as they began they made themselves famous therein some in politicks others in martial affairs The same I may say of every private Gentleman who being a man of Estate and Interest in his Country hath ground to hope for being chosen a Parliament man where almost every day when they sit have occasion of making tryal of their parts and learning whereby they are cried up come to be leading men in the House and so are taken notice of the whole Nation over and become necessary to Court and State Though as yet I have not named Physitians I suppose none will deny that Learning is necessary to them and though I know the practical part is that which is required most of all this is certainly much helped and made easier by Theory and indeed of all professions this of Physick requires reading as much as any The object is so noble hath so many dependencies and is of so vast an extent that it requires the whole man and the whole life of man How many thousands of Distempers is the body subject to whereof they are to know the signs and symptoms the causes effects and remedies what a study is that of the temper and constitutions of men which they must know and several circumstances to be observed by them then the number of Books concerning their profession which at one time or other 't is fit for them to read written in Arabick Greek Latin and several other Languages surely their task is great seeing that according to what says one of the Fathers Adam through sin hath l●ft the soul of his posterity to the care of Divines their body in the hands of Physicians and their goods and estates are committed to Lawyers Therefore there is no doubt to be made but that Learning will prove a great advantage to old and young Doctors and Scholars and to every one according to his capacity It is then necessary betimes to put Children upon it there being so long a course to run and the life of man being so short Amongst Heathens Learning was so considerable that one of their Sects accounted it to be the chief good of men as others declared themselves for vertue St. Paul desires to be delivered from unreasonable men the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Topicks or Logick to shew that this Art or Science which is the door into all the rest is essential or at least necessary to man as such Reason being an essential principle of humanity Hitherto I specified nothing of what Books Arts and Sciences Youth are to be taught because in my discourse about Learning I have been drawn to speak of that which is proper and necessary to men of all ages Indeed to treat of this exactly and methodically I ought to have made a distinction of ages as Childhood infancy c. but as in so doing many things had fallen under consideration which are not of my purpose I thought fit to wave it till now when I intend in few words to tell my mind of it First I know that not only every Nation but also almost every School and every particular Preceptor have different ways and methods and read some different Books excepting Accidence Grammars and Dictionaries which though as to the substance and rules they be every where alike yet they are digested and compiled in a different way so that every Nation hath these fundamental Books particular to her ●elf but as to Classical Authors they use very much the same every where the choice which hath been made of them being universally approved of and with good reason too for they are the productions of as sine wits as ever Rome had I mean the Poets as Ovid Virgil Horace and Terence though an African with Plautus c. for the Latins Hesiode and Ho●●● for the Greeks For Prose of the lower orb Corderius Vives Erasmus his Colloquies then Quintus Curtius Florus Iustin Caesar's Commentaries and of a higher form for Poets Lucanus Iuvenalis Persius For Historians Livius Suetonius C. Tacitus Plutarch and several others all which I may reduce under the notion of Humaniores litterae taught in Schools to several forms besides Fables whether Poetical or Moral as Ovid's Metamorphoses AEsop's and others But there are some nice spirits who would have the use of these Books forbidden only because they are the works of Heathens yet I think they ought to be satisfied considering they are universally used amongst Christians but I add they are not made use of upon any account of Faith or Religion but only for the Wit Learning Language and sometimes good Morality found in them and for want of better in that kind In all this I would have them to proceed by degrees as first of all being perfect in their Accidence and Grammar to turn English into Latin and to learn by heart some of the Works of the fore-named Poets with the English of it or else if that be too hard to begin with Cato's Disticha de moribus or Verini Di●ticha because besides the tongue they may therein learn very good sentences of morality All this time I do not exclude the private Exercises they ought to make in their Studies when they are come from School for having done the task required of them in the School they may and must fall upon reading of some History or other good Book whether Latin or English commended to them or of their own chusing Poetry they ought not to neglect specially they who have any genius towards it and therefore they must exercise themselves in all manner of Verses whether Exameter and Pentameter Sapphick Asclepiade Phaleuck Iambick Choriambick or others for thereby they will attain to a greater facility of understanding Latin Poets who expressed themselves in those kinds of Verses In all this I wish that as the School and age do bring the young man's parts to maturity so Tutors would advance their Lectures I said before those ought not to neglect making Verses who are inclined and disposed towards it such as Ovid who saith of himself Quicquid conabar dicere carmen erat and it had been pitty his Father had prevailed with him when through hard usage he extorted this promise from him Parce mihi genitor post hac hand carmina condam As to Cicero for want of this disposition he did better to follow the prose wherein he so admirably well could express himself and leave off his O fortunatam natam me Consule Romam In the mean time I wish them not to neglect the Tongues or School Languages first the Latin I know all this while they have been learning of it but I desire the purity the Idiome and the critick part and as much as can be to perfect themselves in 't for most ancient Authors have written in this tongue which is the door of Sciences and the universal character whereby all Nations may understand one another it ought to