those to them which make the greatest Figure in the History of the World Sesostris Ninus Nabucodonosor Cyrus Hercules Achilles Homer Lycurgus and the Romans proportionably But I would joyn thereto the Names of Modern History which yet are usually much less spoken of to Children William the Conquerour Godfrey of Boüillon Sancho the Great King of Navarre and all the other who have been most Famous these Six hundred years Neither would I altogether omit even the Orientals I would have a Child to have heard some talk of the Cailiffs of Bagdad and Cairo of the great Power of the Turks and that of the Moguls their Names would not appear to them so Barbarous afterwards if they were accustomed to them betimes They should also make use of Geographical Maps for the Names of Places which also they might learn according to the difference of all Times and all Languages as far as may be In the beginning of these Instructions I would not confine my self to any order of Dates or Chronology but follow the Curiosity of Children as occasion should be given to recount to them all these Names and Actions The Matter of History being thus prepared I would begin to put it into order as soon as my Scholar should be Ten or Twelve years old I would then make him observe the Epochs which are used in the reckoning of time The Olympiades the Foundation of Rome Alexander the Incarnation the Mahometan Hegira But I would not Embarass him with an Exact Chronology nor oblige him to Retain the meer Simple Dates for this requires a great Effort of Memory I would also carefully abstain from speaking to him of the Julian Period and I would not use even the years of the Creation of the World for 't is very Difficult not to say Impossible to fix them and besides they are not of great Use since to the Times of the Foundation of Rome and the Olympiades which are the same almost there scarce is any History but the Sacred The Succession of which I should be satisfied if he knew well according to the ordinary Epochs of the Flood of Abraham Moses and Solomon without concerning himself much about the Total Sum of Years which cannot without much difficulty be drawn into a Sum And unto those Persons and Occurrencies which are most known to us I would have him to refer that little of Prophane History which there is in these times Danaus and Cecrops to Moses Cadmus to Joshua Homer to the Prophet Elias leaving the Care of Computing the years of the World to those who have Leisure and Curiosity to Study Chronology more profoundly Moreover I would often Repeat unto him certain General Observations which render the Study of History more short more easie and more useful You must know would I say to him that we have not the Histories of all Times nor of all Countries There have always been a great many ignorant Nations and of those who have Written there are very few whose Books we know All the Histories of the Ancient Orientals of the Egyptians Syrians Chaldeans and Persians are perished and the most Ancient which we have except that of God's People is the History of Herodotus which was not Written till about Two thousand years after the Flood and Twelve hundred after Moses To the Time of JESVS CHRIST we have scarce any Books but those of the Greeks and Romans wherein are Recorded any Histories which are certain and worthy of Belief more Ancient than the Foundation of Rome For Five hundred years after JESVS CHRIST you have onely one History to follow which is the Roman But after the Ruin of the Western Empire Spain France Italy and England Composed each of them their particular History To which must be added those of Germany Hungary Poland Sweedland and Denmark proportionably according to the time when they began Nevertheless all these Histories may be referr'd to that of France because the Empire of Charlemaign Comprehended the Greatest part of these Countries and in others he was so Respected that the People accounted it their honour to imitate the Manners of his Subjects Whence it is that the Levantines comprise all the Nations I have mentioned under the Name of Franks This is the Succession of the History which is most known to us except you will add thereunto the Byzantine History which we have for Two hundred years As for that of the Musulmen which contains all that hath passed for a Thousand years in Egypt Syria Persia Africa and all the other Countries where the Mahometan Religion is spread we are ignorant of it to this day The Reason of this is not as is commonly believed because the Mahometans have Written nothing or because their Books are lost for there is as much of their History alone as would make a whole Library but their Books are neither Printed nor Translated excepting two or three which go about in the hands of the Curious We know also that the Chinese have a Long Succession of History whereof we have had in Latin an Abridgment about Thirty years since We know that the Indians have very Ancient Traditions Written in a particular Language We know something of the History of Mexico and the Incaes which yet doth not rise very high And within these Two hundred years we have had an infinite number of Relations of several Voyages This is all that we know of Histories We see how little it is in comparison with the whole Compass of the Earth and all Successions of Ages yet nevertheless as little as it is 't is too much for one single Man So that it is in this Study especially we should chuse carefully and limit our selves First we ought to know what to hold to as to the beginnings of each History that we may not give credit to Fables which affect to advance too high The surest Rule is to look upon all that as Suspicious which precedes the time when each Nation received the use of Letters Besides the Quality and the Times of the Historians should be diligently observ'd It may be said in general that no Histories deserve credit but of those who have Written of their own Times or of those who have Collected out of such Historians whose Books by a Successive Tradition may have been delivered down to us But when there are Interruptions in an History and large obscure Vacuities all that went before ought to be suspected I should content my self with this Order and these General Rules for Universal History and oblige my Scholar to have a more special insight into the particular History of his own Country Furthermore This Study should be very differently extended or contracted according to the Quality of Persons A Man of indifferent condition needs but a very little History He who is likely to have some share in Publick Affairs should know a great deal more thereof and a Prince cannot know too much The History of his own Country makes him see his own
Poetry in Theory and the Reading of the ancient Poets Not but that a Man if he knows them well may profit thereby especially by the Greeks But to read them with pleasure a Man should so well know their Language their Mythology and their Manners 〈◊〉 that the profit or the pleasure which would come thereby seems to me not worth all this Toil considering that there are so many things besides that are necessary to be known To Poetry I joyn Musick I do not mean only the Exercise of Singing and the Rules for Managing the Voice but the Art and Principles of these Rules With these also I joyn Painting Designing and all the Arts which depend thereon I put also amongst the number of Curious Studies all those parts of Mathematicks which go beyond the Elements of Arithmetick and Geometry Herein I count Perspective Opticks Astronomy the Theory of the Planets Exactness in Chronology The inquiry after Antiquities as Medals and Inscriptions The Reading of Travels The Study of Languages For excepting Latin the rest may be Rank'd amongst the Curiosities Not but that the Greek may be very useful to all who desire to be well skill'd in Philology principally to Clergy-men The Italian and the Spanish are so nearly Ally'd to the French that as little as our Genius lies towards Languages we ought not to neglect them As for other strange Languages as the English and German there is nothing but particular profit which can countervail the difficulty of Learning them But the most dangerous Curiosity of this kind is that of the Oriental Languages It Flatters our Vanity as being singular and having something prodigious in it Besides it denotes a profound Learning because these Languages are not ordinarily Learn'd but after those which are more common But in Truth its usefulness is not so great as to pay for the time and trouble which it costs As whole Nations reap Advantage from the Courage and Curiosity of some few Travellers who have discovered the most remote Countries and from the industry of the Merchants who daily Trafick therein So 't is sufficient that some few of the Curious by their Translations and Extracts should let us know the Books of the Arabians Persians and other Orientals Curiosity goes much beyond the extent of the Memory or even of Life it self and amongst the Curious themselves it is to be wish'd that each of them would limit himself to one Language that he might know it well or at most to two or three which have a great Connexion betwixt one another rather than to have an imperfect Knowledge of a great number of them I except the Hebrew Language in respect to the Holy Scripture which 't is hard well to understand without having some Tincture thereof And I account it very advantageous to the Church that there are always several Clergy-men who understand it if it was for no other Reason but to silence the Hereticks who think to Fortifie themselves thereby and to Labour in the Conversion of the Jews in those Countries where they are But excepting the necessity of this Controversie I would not oblige my self to Read many Rabbins There is more to be lost than gotten by this Study Let us not suffer our selves to be deceived by the Vanity of knowing that which all others are ignorant of let us consider what use it is really of If there should be any thing useful in the Rabbins it would be the Matters of Fact and Traditions of their ancient Customs of their Nation But they are for the most part so Modern that 't is very difficult to believe that they have preserved these Traditions There are scarce any of them older than Five Hundred Years so that though the Talmud should have been Written but a Thousand Years ago there would still be Five Hundred Years wherein these Traditions must have been preserved without Writing A thing which is scarce probable The Time and the Style of their Books seem to shew that they Writ only in Emulation of the Mahometans Nevertheless if any one have so much inclination for this kind of Study as to give himself wholly up to it I would have him to confine himself chiefly to the Talmud where he will doubtless find their most ancient and profitable Traditions for the knowledge of the Manners of the Jews principally after their return out of Captivity to their intire dispersion under the Romans But this Labour is too painful and unpleasant to invite many Men to undertake it Another Curious Study which yet may be very useful is the Theory of the different Trades and Manufactures In this Rank also I place the Knowledge of Plants not only such as are useful but of all that has been said of them and likewise of Animals and all natural History proportionably The Experiments of Chymistry or of other Arts whereby new Secrets have been discovered The different Systems which the Philosophers have invented for the Explaining the effects of Nature That is to say in a word all Physicks or natural Philosophy I call all this Curiosity It is better to be busied therein than to be Idle or devote ones self to Play But a Man ought to be very cautious on the other Hand that he doth not so deliver himself up to Curiosities as to quit the Essential Duties of Life as to neglect Business and more useful Studies though less pleasant as to deprive himself of Bodily Exercise which preserves his Health or of necessary Diversion for unbending the Mind and putting it into a condition of applying it self to more useful things It is this Passion of Curiosity which doth most harm to Learned Men though otherwise it often conduces to the carrying on certain pieces of Knowledge very far But for this end 't is sufficient that some private Men suffer themselves to be Transported with this Passion I Put a great deal of difference betwixt those Curiosities which are laudable and good in themselves and those Studies which are bad or altogether useless I had rather a Man should do nothing than seek after the Philosopher's Stone I had rather he should be ignorant than know the great or the little Art of Raymund Lully which makes a Man to know nothing truly and yet to believe that he knows every thing because he knows the Alphabets and Tables wherein under certain Words and Figures are placed Notions so general which none can be ignorant of even without Study and which also lead to nothing In this Rank likewise I place every thing that deceives under the Name of Philosophy The Physicks which give a Man no knowledge of Nature The Metaphysicks which doth not at all conduce to the inlightening the Mind and do not lay down the great and Fundamental Principles of the Sciences Judiciary Astrology is still more despicable than bad Philosophy seeing it has less appearance of Reason And it is much more dangerous because its Design is to know what is to come and engages Men
for the Service and Government of the Churches And they who were thus drawn out of the Monasteries did usually continue the exercises of the Monastick Life in the state of the Priesthood and taught them to their Disciples from whence came the near Relation betwixt the Monastick Life and the Clerical which was so ordinary after the Fifth Age. Many Bishops lived in common with their Priests which made it more easie for them to instruct them in Ecclesiastical knowledge and as for the younger Clerks they who were not near the person of the Bishops lived with some holy Priest who particularly took Care of their Education There were still some prophane Schools where was taught Grammar so far as 't was necessary to write and speak correctly Rhetorick which daily became more affected and childish History which they began altogether to reduce into Abridgments Civil Law which always continued because it depended no more upon Religion than the other and the Mathematicks which are the Foundations of many Arts necessary unto Life Learning suffer'd very much by the Ruine of the Western Empire and the Establishment of the Northern People so that there was scarce any thing of it left but amongst the Clergy and the Monks In Truth excepting the Clergy there were scarce any remainders of the Romans except Peasants and Artificers who were generally Slaves The Franks and other Barbarians did not Study at all and if they made any use of Letters for the usual correspondencies of Life it was only of Latin for they knew not so much as how to Write in their own Language Profane Studies as Philology and History were most of all neglected It did not become Clergy-men to busie themselves with them It is well known how sharply St. Gregory Reproved Didier Bishop of Vienna because he Taught Grammar Besides having fewer Books and less Convenience of Studying than in the foregoing Ages they betook themselves to that which was more necessary that is to what immeadiately concern'd Religion CHarlemaign who was truly great in all his Actions did all that was in his power towards the Re-establishment of Learning He drew together from all quarters the most knowing Men by Honour and Rewards He himself Studied too He setled Schools in the Chief Cities of his Empire and even in his own Palace which was like a walking City It appears by many Articles of the Capitularies what was Taught therein For it is recommended to the Bishops who by the Duty of their place are concern'd to provide for the Instruction of Youth that they shou'd take Care that Children were Taught Grammar Singing Casting Account or Arithmetick It may be seen in Bede's Works who Lived Sixty Years before wherein their Studies and all the liberal Arts did consist Grammar was then necessary because Latin was altogether Corrupted and the Roman Language Rustick as the Vulgar Language whence the French is Derived was termed This Language I say was nothing but an uncertain and monstrous Jargon which Men were ashamed to write or use in any serious Business As for the German Language which was that of the Prince and of all the Franks it began to be Written and to be used in some Translations of the holy Scriptures and Charlemaign himself made a Grammar for it The Singing which was taught was that of the Ecclesiastical Office reformed at this time according to the Roman Custom and thereunto were joined some Rules of Musick Calculation or Computation served for the finding out on what day Easter was to be kept and for the Regulating the Year It comprehended also the most necessary Rules of Arithmetick by all which it appears that these Studies were only for those who design'd for the Clergy Thus all Lay persons were either the Noblemen who concern'd themselves in nothing but War or the Commonalty busied in Husbandry and Trades Charlemaign was careful to disperse all over his Territories that Code of the Canons which he received from Pope Adrian the Roman Law and other Laws of all the People under his Obedience whereof he made new Editions He had a great many ancient Histories and he was so curious as to cause the Verses which preserved the Memory of the brave Actions of the Germans to be Written and put together Thus together with the Holy Scriptures and Fathers of the Church then very well known he furnished his Subjects with all things necessary for their instruction And if Men had gone on to have Studied according to this Platform and Lay-men had been more ingaged in the pursuits of Learning the French might easily have attain'd and perfected that Knowledge which is most useful for Religion for Policy and for the particular Conduct of Life which things ought in my Opinion to be the end of Studies But curiosity which has always been injurious to Learning insinuated it self into Study from this time Many Studied Astronomy many believed Astrological Predictions There were some who in order to Write good Latin did scrupulously Criticize upon the Words and Phrases of ancient Authors The greatest mischief was that the Monks enter'd upon these Curiosities and began to value themselves upon their Knowledge to the prejudice of their Hand-labour and silence which hitherto had been so advantageous to them The Court of Lewis the Debonnair was full of them and no business pass'd in his Court wherein they had not a share Afterwards the State falling into the greatest Confusion by the sudden fall of the House of Charlemaign Studies also fell with it all at once In the time of Charles the Bald Publick Acts are to be seen even of the Capitularies Written in a sort of Latin altogether Barbarous without Rule and without Construction and Books were so scarce that Lupus Abbot of Ferrier sent as far as Rome to receive from the Pope the Works of Cicero to Copy over which at present are so very common insomuch that when the little particular Wars and Ravages of the Normans had taken away the Liberty of Travel and broken off Commerce Studies became very difficult I mean to the Monks themselves and the Clergy as for others they never Dream'd of them besides they had more pressing business to dispatch They were often forc'd to remove in disorder and carry the Reliques with them to save them from the Fury of the Barbarians abandoning their Houses and Churches to them or else the Monks and Clergy were necessitated to take up Arms in defence of their Lives and to hinder the Prophanation of the Holy Places In such great Extremities it was as easie for them to lose their Books as 't was difficult to Study them and Write new Copies of them Nevertheless there were some preserved there being always some Bishop or Monk remarkable for his Learning But wanting Books and Masters they Studied without choice and without any other direction than the example of their Predecessors Thus it is Recorded of St. Abbo the Abbot of the Benedictins upon the Loire in
advantage of the State or to the Art of perswading but how to obey the Will of their Master So that there were no Books of the Ancients which were useful to them but those of Mathematicks of Physicians and Philosophers But seeing they neither sought after Policy nor Eloquence Plato was not for them besides to understand him the Knowledge of the Poets the Religion and History of the Greeks was necessary Aristotle with his Logick and Metaphysicks was more proper for them and accordingly they Study'd him with incredible earnestness and diligence They also apply'd themselves to his Physicks chiefly to Eight Books which contain nothing but Generals For natural Philosophy in particular which requires Observations and Experiments was not so suitable to them They did not omit to Study Medicks very closely but they founded it chiefly upon the general notions of the four Qualities and the four Humours and upon the Tradition of Medicines which they had not at all examin'd and which they mixed with an infinite number of Superstitions As to other parts of it they did not in the least improve Anatomy which they had received from the Greeks very imperfect 'T is true that we owe Chymistry to them which they have carry'd very far if not invented but they have mingled therewith all those corruptions which we can yet hardly separate therefrom vain Promises extravagant Reasonings superstitious Operations and all those fond things which have produced nothing but Montebanks and Impostors From Chymistry they passed easily to Magick and and all sorts of Divinations with which Men easily take up when they are ignorant of natural Philosophy History and true Religion as we have seen by the example of the ancient Greeks That which wonderfully assisted them in these Illusions was Astrology which was the chief aim of their Mathematical Studies In truth this pretended Science has been so much cultivated under the Empire of the Musulmen that Princes took delight therein and upon this Foundation ordered their greatest Enterprizes The Calif Almamon did himself Calculate Astronomical Tables which were very famous and it must be confess'd that they were very serviceable for his Observations and other useful parts of Mathematicks as Geometry and Arithmetick We owe to them Algebra and the way of Cyphering by Multiplying by Ten which has render'd the Arithmetical Operations so easie As for Astronomy they had the same advantages which excited the ancient Egygtians and Chaldeans to apply themselves thereto seeing they Inhabited the same Country And moreover they had all the observations of the Ancients and all those which the Greeks had added unto them The Arabians who made it their business to Study their Religion were not only no Philosophers but their declared Enemies and decry'd them as an impious sort of Men and Enemies to their Religion Indeed it was no difficult matter for any who could but reason in any degree to destroy the foundation of a Religion which was built neither upon Reason nor any Evidence of a Divine Mission The Philosophers there fore being excluded from the Functions of Religion and other profitable Imployments sought the more after Reputation and they endeavour'd to get it either from the Names of the Masters under whom they had Studied or from their great Travels or from the singularity of their Opinions A Learned Man in Spain was always much more Learned in Persia or Corasan and there was a wondrous Emulation betwixt them each of them Zealously affecting to distinguish himself by some new Logical or Metaphysical subtilty And this same Humour run through all their Studies and all their Works They apply'd themselves only to that which seemed most wonderful most rare and most difficult for this end disreguarding Pleasure Convenience and even profit its self The Franks and other Latin Christians received from the Arabians only what the Arabians had taken from the Greeks that is the Philosophy of Aristotle Medicks and Mathematicks disregarding their Language their Poetry their Histories and their Religion as the Arabians had neglected those of the Greeks But what is most surprising is That our Learned Men did little less than the Arabians neglect the Greek Tongue so useful for the Study of Religion For it was not before the beginning of the Fourteenth Age that it was that the Languages might very much contribute to this end chiefly in order to the Conversion of Infidels and Schismaticks It was with this design that the Council of Vienna held in the Year 1315. ordered that Professours for the Greek Arabick and Hebrew should be Established which yet was not put into Execution till a long time afterwards Men did not begin to Study Greek before the end of the Fifteenth Age Hebrew in the beginning of the Sixteenth and Arabick in our Age. Hitherto there were but some few curious Persons who apply'd themselves thereto and they seldom bestow'd their pains upon Books of History which would have been most useful TO return to the Twelfth Age. They who Studied then were not at all concerned to be curious in Languages not so much as in Latin which they used for their Studies and in all Affairs of Moment But I cannot accuse them for this but the unhappiness of the Times The Incursions of the Normans and the particular Wars which yet continued had made Books so scarce and Studies so difficult that they were forc'd first to Labour in that which was of most importance There was as yet no Printing and there were scarce any but Monks who could Write and they were fully imploy'd in Writing Bibles Psalters and such-like Books for the use of Churches They Write also some Works of the Fathers as they fell into their Hands some Collections of Canons and some Formularies of Acts which were most ordinary in transacting business For 't was to them Application was made to cause them to be Written and 't was from amongst them or the Clergy that Princes had their Notaries and their Chancellours they had scarce any time to Transcribe the Prophane Histories and the Poets 'T is true that the Knowledge of Languages and Histories is necessary to understand the Fathers well and even Scripture it self but either they did not apprehend it to be so or else the extraordinary difficulty of attaining this Knowledge through the want of Dictionaries Glossaries Commentaries and the scarceness of the Text it self made them lose all hopes of it Hence it was that they who would superadd any thing to the meer reading of the Scripture and the Fathers did it only by Reasoning and Logick as St. John the Sophist the first Author of the Nominals who lived in the time of Hen. I. and his followers Arnold of Laon Roscelin of Compeign Master Abalard This way of Philosophizing upon Words and Thoughts without examining things in themselves was most certainly a good expedient to ease themselves of the Knowledge of Matter of Fact which is not to be attained but by reading and it was an easie way to confound the
ignorant Lay-men by a singular way of speaking and by vain subtilties But these subtilties were dangerous as it appeared by Berengarius Abalard and Gilbert of Poirée This is the Reason why the wisest Persons as St. Anselm Peter of Blois and St. Bernard firmly resolved to follow the Example of the Fathers rejecting these new Curiosities And the Master of the Sentences giving himself more liberty made fome false steps In the mean time the Books of Aristotle came to be known as I have said and whether for the Disputes against the Jews and Arabians or for some other Reason I know not the Divines thought they had need of them and therefore did accommodate them to our Religion whose Doctrines and Morality they Explain'd according to the Principles of this Philosopher This was done by Albertus Magnus Alexander Hales St. Thomas and many others after them And their Method of Divinity may be reckoned the third for there are two more ancient The First was that of the Fathers of the Church who Studied the Holy Scripture immediately chiefly drawing from thence the Knowledge which was necessary for the instruction of the Faithful and the refutation of the Hereticks this Theology continued till towards the Eighth Age. The Second was that of Bede of Raban and others of the same time who not being able to add any thing to the Instructions of the Fathers contented themselves with Copying them making Collections and Extracts out of them and taking Glosses and Commentaries upon the Scripture out of them also The Third was that of the Schoolmen who handled the Doctrin of the Scripture and the Fathers by the Form and Instruments of Logick and Metaphysicks drawn from the Writings of Aristotle And thus Cardinal Perron defines it At the same time the Studies of Civil Law and Medicks were revived but it was impossible then to Study Civil Law well since they wanted Laws The Roman Laws and those Barbarous Laws which had been observed under the two first Races of our Kings were abolished by contrary Customs or by Forgetfulness and Ignorance They were not in a Condition to make new Laws because as yet they had not Re-establish'd the Foundations of Civil Society the liberty of Travel the security of Trade and Industry the Union of the Citizens the Common People were either Slaves or look'd upon as such The Nobles lived dispers'd and Cantonized every one in his Castle with his Arms always in his Hand There were no other Laws in France but unwritten Customs very uncertain and very different by reason of the prodigious number of Lords in whose power it was to give Law It is true that in Italy the Books of the Justinian Law were recovered and it began publickly to be Taught at Montpelier and Tholouse But these Laws were not Laws for us because the Gauls had been freed from the roman-Roman-Yoke before Justinian was in the World Furthermore they were not able to understand them by reason of Ignorance of Languages and History there not being any Tradition of them preserved amongst us by the practice of our Courts for Six Hundred Years after they were Written They did not however omit to Study and apply them as they could to their present occasions and they gain'd a great deal of Authority by the great Name of Roman Law and by the extream necessity there was of some Rules in judicial proceedings The Ecclesiastical Law was not in such an ill condition The practice of the Canons was preserved though Discipline began to be remiss There were many Collections of ancient Canons amongst others that of Gratian who lived in the middle of the Twelfth Age. 'T is true they were not very Correct and they were intermixt with many passages of the Fathers which ought not to have the force of Laws together with the Decretals Fathered upon the first Popes which at last have been own'd to be Suppositious This Example makes it appear of how great importance it is for the preserving Tradition in its Purity that there be always in the Church Persons who are skill'd in Languages and History and who are well vers'd in critical Learning Medicks was still worse treated than Civil Law Hitherto it had been in the Hands of the Jews excepting some Secrets of Old Women and some Traditions of Receipts which were preserved in Families The first Books which they Studied were those of the Arabians and amongst others the Writings of Mesua and Avicenna They received their Fooleries and Superstitions and in the mean time neglected as these had done Anatomy and they consulted them also for the knowledge of Plants As there were none but the Clergy and the Monks who Studied so there were none but they who were Physicians Fulbert Bishop of Chartres and the Master of the Sentences Bishop of Paris were Physicians Obizo one of the Religious of St. Victor was Physician to Lewis the Gross Rigord Monk of St. Denys who has Writ the Life of Philip the August was one also One of the Councils of Lateran held under Innocent the II. in the Year 1139. takes notice of it as an abuse long practised that Monks and Regular Canons to get Money profess'd themselves Advocates and Physicians This Council speaks only of those Religious who were profess'd and Medicks ceased not to continue in the Hands of Clergymen Three Hundred Years after But it being never permitted to the Clergy to shed Blood nor to keep a Shop of Ware This might probably be the cause of the distinguishing Physicians from Chyrurgeons and Apothecaries This distinction has for a long time kept Physicians in the Speculation only without applying themselves to Experiments THus all Studies were reduc'd to four sorts or faculties The three principal Divinity Law and Physick The fourth comprehended all Preliminary Studies which were accounted necessary to arrive unto these higher Studies which were called by the general Name of the Arts. Doubtless Reason requires that Men should Study what is most useful first for the Soul and then for the Body and the advantages of Life Upon this project Vniversities were Founded especially that of Paris which could hardly have its beginning later than the Year 1200. For a long time there had been about the Bishops Houses two sorts of Schools The one for the Young Clergy to whom Grammar Singing and Arithmetick were taught and their Master was either the Chanter of the Cathedral or the Ecolatrés otherwise called the Capiscol that is the Head of the School The other School was for Priests and Clerks of an higher Form to whom the Bishop himself or some Priest Commissioned by him Explain'd the Holy Scriptures and the Canons afterwards the Theologal was expresly erected for this Office Peter Lombard Bishop of Paris better known by the name of Master of the Sentences had made his School very Famous for Divinity and there were some Religious of St. Victor in great repute for the Liberal Arts. Thus the Studies of Paris became Famous
reckoned from the Year 1450 and the Taking of Constantinople which made so many Learned Greeks retire into Italy with their Books For though Petrarch and Bocace had revived these Studies in the foregoing Age yet hitherto they had made but little progress But in Greece Studies were yet well enough preserved The Commentary of Eustathius upon Homer is enough to shew that to these latter Ages there were remaining an infinite number of Learned Books and Men. Thus after the Middle of the Fifteenth Age a Whole Shoal of Learned Men appeared all at once first in Italy then in France and proportionably in the rest of Europe who with incredible diligence ayply'd themselves to the Reading all the Books of the Ancients they could find to the Writing Latin as purely as 't was possible and Translating Greek Authors The Art of Printing found out at the same time made it much easier for them to procure Books and to have them Correct So that several afterwards labour'd in putting out excellent Editions of all the Good Authors according to the best Manuscripts enquiring after the most Ancient and comparing several together Others made very exact Dictionaries and Grammars others Commentaries upon difficult Authors others Treatises upon all those Requisites which might help to the Understanding of them as their Fables their Religion their Government their Art of War and even to the least particulars of their Manners their Habits their Eating their Diversions Insomuch that they have taken all the pains necessary to make us understand as much as 't is possible after such a Long Interval all the rest of the Ancient Greek and Latin Books But some have too much dwelt upon these Studies which are onely Instruments for other Studies more Serious For there have been some Curious Persons who have spent their Lives in Studying Latin and Greek and in Reading all Authors for the Laaguage sake or only to understand the Authors and explain some difficult passages of them without going any farther or making any use of them There have been some who have gone no farther than Mythology and some other Antiquities which I have mentioned who have sought after Inscriptions Medals and all that might give any Light to Authors seeking onely the pleasure which they found in these Curiosities Some proceeding farther have Studied the Liberal Arts according to the Ancient Rules as Eloquence and Poetry nevertheless without Practising them whence it came that we have so many Modern Treatises of Poetry and Rhetorick and yet so few True Poets and Orators and so many Political Tracts made by those who never were concern'd in Business Lastly The diligent reading the Books of the Ancients produc'd in many such a blind Respect for them that they chose rather to follow their Errors than to give themselves the Liberty to Judge of them Thus it was believed that Nature was in all Respects such as Pliny has describ'd her to be and that she could do nothing but according to the Principles of Aristotle The worst of it is that many have admired their Morality and did not consider how much it was below that Religion which they had learn'd from their Cradle Others though but a few have exceeded on the other hand having affected to contradict the Ancients and run as far as they could from their Principles But of those who have admired them the most ordinary fault has been an aukward Imitation of them It has been believed that to Write as they did it was necessary to Write in their Language without Considering that the Romans Writ in Latin and not in Greek and that the Greeks Writ in Greek and not in the Egyptian or Syriack Language They thought themselves happy if they could attain to the making good Verses in Latin they have also composed some in Greek at the peril of not being understood by any Body And they who as Ronsard and his Followers began to make French Verses after their Reading of the Ancients have fill'd them with their Words their Poetical Phrases their Fables their Religion without concerning themselves whether such Poems might please those who had not Studied as they had done It was sufficient that they made them Admired for their Profound Learning They imitated also the Oratours they made Harangues in Latin and stuff'd their Discourses in French with Latin sayings In a word they thought to make use of the Ancients was to get them by heart to speak of the things of which they spake and to repeat their own proper words in stead of which well to have imitated them they ought to have pitcht upon Subjects which had more relation to us as they had chosen those which appertain'd unto them to have treated them as they did after a solid and diverting way and to have Explained them as well in our Language as they had Explained them in theirs This new kind of Study rais'd a sort of War amongst the Learned The Humanists Charm'd with the Beauty of their Ancient Authors and valuing themselves upon their New Discoveries despised the common sort of Doctors who following the Tradition of the Schools neglected Style to follow Things and preferr'd what was profitable to what was pleasant and agreeable The Doctors on their side I mean the Divines and Canonists lookt upon these New Philologers as Grammarians and Poets who amus'd themselves with Childish Toys and Vain Curiosities But the Humanists made themselves heard because they Writ Politely and by the Reading of the Ancients had learnt to Railly with a good Grace The Doctrine of Luther who arose a little while after fomented these Quarrels and made them more serious He was for Reforming Studies as well as Religion He was for having no Philosophy and no Prophane Sciences He was for Burning Plato Aristotle Cicero and all the Ancient Books that nothing might be Studied but the Scripture and all the remaining part of time spent in Hard-Labour Thus carrying the thing too high he exposed the most Holy Maxims of Antiquity to Censure The Resistance which he found among the Doctors of Divinity and the Censures of the Faculty of Paris and other Vniversities made him their Irreconcileable Enemy He treated them with the last degree of Contempt and Melancthon his Faithful Disciple imploy'd all his Wit and all his fine Learning to render them Ridiculous But the Reformers did not long continue in this their first Severity against Prophane Studies They soon became more Zealous in Studying Humanity seeing that Eloquence and an Opinion of their singular Learning had drawn a great many Followers to them They now lookt upon these Studies as a necessary Means towards the Reformation of the Church and would have this Restoration of Learning pass for a Principal Sign of the Will of God in this Matter It seemed if you wou'd have believed them as if this Knowledge of Languages and Histories which they had by constant Pains acquired was a certain Mark of an Extraordinary Mission and making them
much in these In the mean time the harshness of these first Lessons makes them for a long time disgust all Study We should have a great deal of Patience with them make them Read but a little at a time and insensibly increase as it becomes more easie to them and at the same time Teach them Histories or other Things which may divert them At first we make them Read in Latin because 't is pronounced more as it is Written than the French But I believe that the Pleasure a Child would have to understand what he should Read and to see the Fruit of his Labour would make him go on faster For this Reason I should presently give him some French Book which he might understand It easily appears that the same difficulties which there are in Learning to Read are also to be found in Latin and other Languages and that they continue longer There is also by the Custom of the Schools added to them another difficulty which is that of the Rules and all the Art of Grammar For tho' we are not accustomed to Learn Latin but with the Grammar nor the Grammar but in Latin or upon the Foundation of the Latin Grammar it is clear nevertheless that these are two different Studies since there is no Language which may not be Learnt by Use as likewise there is none which has not its Grammar I have shewed that this Method began at the time when Latin was the Vulgar Language and that the Greek Grammar which is the first which we know was made also by the Greeks Thus to imitate these Ancients whom we do with so much Reason esteem the Grammar should be Studied in our own Language before it be Studied in another Since this Study would consist onely in causing the Child to make Reflexions upon a Language which he already knows he would often take pleasure therein and the Difficulties which he should meet with would be less than they would be when added to those of Learning a Language There would be always this advantage that he might be made perfectly to understand all the Precepts by familiar Examples But I would not load him with over many Rules since the great Curiosity in Grammar consumes much time and is of no use You have perhaps labour'd a whole day to get by heart one Exception whereof probably you 'll have no use three times in all your Life I should content my self with the Principal Definitions and the most General Rules and should propose no more to my self than to Speak and Read well to observe a very exact Orthography in Writing to understand all that I Say and all that I Read as far as the Knowledge of the Tongue may conduce thereunto For this it would suffice to know the Divisions of the Letters the Parts of Speech and their Subdivisions and other things which I cannot mention in particular at least unless I should make a Grammar Now that these Precepts should not be dry and jejune as they are in Books I would render them sensible and pleasant by the way of Teaching them When a Child should have Read in his own Language for some time the things which he understood and wherein if possible he should take pleasure One would begin to make him observe that all that Writing consisted onely in Two and twenty Letters and that all the Large Discourses are Composed onely of Nine sorts of Words that there are two kinds of Articles that there are Genders in Nouns Tenses and Persons in Verbs Numbers both in the one and the other and thus of the rest As soon as he shall know how to Write a little you might cause him to digest those Histories which have been recited unto him and here the mean and improper Words the bad Constructions and the faults of Orthography should be Corrected He might be told the Rules of Etymologies and Taught many of them occasionally They serve very much for the Understanding the meaning of Words and Orthography and are diverting Thus by a few Precepts and a great deal of Exercise he might Learn in two or three years as much Grammar as a Gentleman need to have for the Use of Life and more than ordinarily they know who have been Eight or Ten years in the College The greatest part might stop here and Learn no other Language at all Sword-men Practicioners Accountants Merchants and all below these as also the greatest part of Women may let Latin alone Experience shews this But if they knew as much Grammar as I have said it would be very easie for them to use good French Books and the Translations of the Ancients and perhaps at last they might be disabused and not imagin That that Person must be a Fool who does not understand Latin 'T is true Latin is necessary for Clergy-men and Men of the Robe and that it is very useful for Souldiers tho' it was onely for their Travels and amongst Women to the Religious for understanding the Office which they Read But I believe it would be much more easie to Learn if it was not Embarassed with so many Rules of Grammar Not that I believe it should be Taught by use alone though there have been some examples of it even in our time but the Method of doing this is not sufficiently established to propose it to the World Add to this that whatever habit of Speaking Children might have I should scarce believe that it would continue constant in a Language which is not continually used without the help of Rules 'T is true we have an Example in the Jews who Teach their Children Hebrew without any Rule and make them very knowing therein but this is with a very long time Let us therefore rather make use of Rules provided that they do assist and not over-burthen Children Now if they know them in their own Language the rest will be very easie It will be onely making them observe what is different in the Latin Language The want of Articles the Declension of Nouns the Passive in Verbs the Liberty of placing the Words differently and the like This for the most part onely would be Exceptions from the General Rules which they had learnt To Conclude They should be continually exercised in Reading some Author which they understood with Pleasure if it might be and they should be Taught the Rules much rather by use than the strength of Memory though it should not be forgotten also to cause them to get things by heart That which will best Imprint them upon their Minds will be Composing but yet it must not be begun so soon nor continued so long as Reading which ought to be their Chief Exercise and continue during the whole course of their Studies For there is this Advantage in Grammar and the Study of Languages that being as Instruments he who has once Learnt them will confirm himself therein proportionably as he shall use them Because the Books wherein he Learns things are Compounded of