of Men giving all the rest of Nature even the Organs of Human Bodies to their direction They believed that there was a sort of Natural Magick and every thing of which they knew not the Cause they ascribed to that which was Supernatural that is the Power of Wicked Spirits For being assured by Religion that there are such Spirits and that God permits them sometimes to Deceive Men nothing did more handsomly conceal their Ignorance than to attribute to them all that of which they could give no Account Thus the Fictions of the Poets of this time were not by much so absurd as they appear to us It was probable even in the Opinion of their Learned Men that there had been and that there were still in divers parts of the World Diviners and Enchanters and that Nature Produced Flying Dragons and divers kinds of Monsters This Belief of Fables in Natural History introduced a great many Superstitious Practices especially in Medicks where People always love to do something that is Useless rather than omit any thing that may be of Advantage To Study Natural Philosophy under which was comprehended Medicks was onely to Read Books and Dispute as if there had been no Animals to Dissect no Plants or Minerals whose Effects were to be Try'd as if Men had not had the Use of their Senses to have satisfy'd themselves of the Truth of that which others had said In a word as if no such thing as Nature had been in the World to have been Consulted in her Self Much after this manner were Arts and especially Medicks treated in the Universities THe same Method was pursued in Law Since the ignorance of Latin and History hinder'd them from Understanding the Texts they betook themselves to the Summaries and Glosses of those who were presumed best to Understand them and who themselves having not the help of other Books did onely Explain one place of the Digest or the Decretal by another comparing them as exactly as they could The Faults of these Masters easily deceived their Disciples and some so far abused their Credulity as to mix with their Glosses Ridiculous Etymologies and Absurd Fables Whether it was that they did not Apprehend that they could not Practise the Laws if they did not understand them or that they despaired to understand them better However it was their greatest Endeavour was to Reduce them to Practise to handle Questions upon the Consequences which they had drawn from the Texts to give Counsel and Decide Cases But when they undertook to apply this Roman Law to our Affairs which was so ill understood by us and so different from our Manners and yet at the same time preserve our Customs which it was impossible to Change The Rules of Justice became much more uncertain All Civil Law was reduc'd to School-Disputes and the Opinions of Doctors who having not sufficiently penetrated into the Principles of Morality and Natural Equity sought sometimes their particular Interests They also who sought after Justice knew no other Means of procuring it but particular Remedies against Injustice which made them invent so many New Clauses for Contracts and so many Formalities for Judgments They as the Physicians did labour'd onely to heal Present Evils without taking care to stop the Fountains of them and prevent 'em for the future or rather they could not do it For to take away the General Causes of Vexatious Process and Injustice it is requisite that the Soveraign Power be Concern'd that there be some certain and stable Laws known to all the World and Publick Officers fully Authorized A great many Means of Inriching as well as Ruining themselves must be taken away from particular Persons and as far as possible they must be reduc'd to the most Simple and Natural Way of Living as we see in that Law which God himself gave to his People and which whilst they observ'd it made them so happy But then Europe was so divided and Princes so weak both in Power and Intellectuals that it never came into their heads to make such Laws DIvinity was more purely Studied And indeed we find in all Times a Sensible Protection of God over his Church always to preserve therein the Sound Doctrin But though the Doctrin was the same as in the foregoing Ages the manner of Teaching was different The Fathers of the Church being for the most part Bishops very much imploy'd scarce Writ any thing but when they were necessitated for the Defence of Religion against Hereticks and Pagans and they Treated onely of such Questions as were really proposed A good part of their Works are Sermons which they made to the People in Explaining the Holy Scripture But the Doctors of the Vniversities being wholly taken up in Studying and Teaching did separate even all the parts of Ecclesiastical Studies one from another Some confin'd themselves to the Explication of Scripture which they called Positive Theology Others to the Mysteries and Speculative Truths which is called by the general Name of Scholastick Others to Morality and the Decision of Cases of Conscience Thus their end in the Schools being to Teach they made it their Business to Treat of as many Questions as they could and to place them Methodically They thought that to Exercise their Disciples and prepare them for Serious Disputes against the Enemies of the Faith they ought to examine all the Subtilties which Human Reason could furnish them with upon these Subjects and Obviate all the Objections of Curious and Restless Spirits They had Leisure for it and they were provided with Means of doing it out of Aristotle's Logick and Metaphysicks together with the Commentaries of the Arabians Thus they did much the same thing which is done in Fencing-Schools and the Academies where to give Activity and Spirit unto Young Men they Teach them many things which are very rarely made use of in Real Encounters In Explaining the Master of the Sentences whose Book was lookt upon as the Body of Scholastick Divinity they form'd every day New Questions upon those which he had Propounded and afterwards they did the same upon St. Thomas's Sums But now it must be confess'd that this Forming and Resolving of Questions and in general This meer Reasoning did for a long time Lessen Mens Application to Positive Studies which consist in Reading and Criticism as the knowing the Literal Sense of Scripture the Sentiments of the Fathers and Matters of Fact in Ecclesiastical History 'T is true these Studies were very difficult through the great scarcity of Books and the little Knowledge of Ancient Languages A Bible with the ordinary Gloss Compleat was not to be found but in Great Libraries A private person was rich when he had Gratian's Decretal and the greatest part knew not the Fathers but by this Collection THis was very much the State of Studies in France and in Europe when Men began to apply themselves to Humanity I mean chiefly to Grammar and History This Restoration may be
Affairs and as it were the Titles of his House and that of Foreign Countries nearest to him teaches him the Concerns of his Neighbours which are always mixed with his own Nevertheless since there are a great many other things to be known and the capacity of a Man's Mind is limited He ought chiefly to Study the History of his own Country and House and to have a more particular Knowledge of that which is nearest to his own Time I would have every Lord proportionably to know well the History of his own Family and every private person that of his own Shire and Town better than those of others The Book of Genesis is a perfect Model of the Choice which every one should make in the Study of History Moses has therein Comprised all the things which it was useful for the Israelites to know chiefly dilating upon those which are of greatest Importance as the Creation the Sin of the First Man the Deluge the History of the Patriarchs unto whom God had made the Promises which he was about to fulfil He doth not omit to observe the Origin of all Nations and to speak more or less of their History as they had more or less Relation to the People for whom he Wrote But if you would have an Abridgment only for the refreshing of your Memory you have an Example thereof in the First Chapter of the Chronicles where the Names alone plac'd successively recalls all the History of Genesis It is nevertheless to be wisht though it is not absolutely necessary that all who have leisure do Read the Principal Histories of the Greeks and Romans They are profitable both for Morality and Eloquence For bringing to the Reading of them that Corrective which I have Prescrib'd the Examples of the great Actions and good Conduct of the Ancients may be very useful And the manner after which the Historians Writ may be of great advantage to us both as to the Method and to the Style if we know how to imitate them So that a Man should as well exercise himself in the Latin Tongue by Reading the Historians as other Authors since without Reading much he cannot Learn it AFter the History of the Manners and Actions of Men the most useful Study in my opinion is Natural History I comprehend under this Name all that Knowledge which is Positive and founded upon that Experience which respects the Construction of the Universe and of all its parts as far as is needful for one who is not to be an Astronomer Physician or Naturalist by Profession For no Man surely should be altogether ignorant of this World which we inhabit of these Plants and these Animals which nourish us of that which we are our selves I know very well that the Knowledge of our Selves is the most necessary of all But this is the Knowledge of the Soul which I referr to Logick and Morality As for the Body since we govern it much less by Knowledge than by a blind Instinct attended with Motions which depend upon us yet without our Knowledge of the Springs and Machines which are the immediate Causes of them the particular Knowledge of its Structure is scarce of any use to us but for the admiring its Author who is not less admirable in other Animals and other parts of Nature It 's true we should be affected more with that which we find in our selves Moreover the Knowledge of the Body is very useful for understanding the Passions their Causes and their Cures which is a great part of Morality and for discerning what is proper for the preservation of Health from that which is destructive thereof which is one of the Studies which I have plac'd amongst the most necessary This Natural History therefore should Comprise Cosmography and Anatomy By Cosmography I understand the System of the World the Disposition of the Stars their Distances their Magnitudes their Motions according to the late observations of the most exact Astronomers depending upon them as skilful Persons who deserve to be credited without examining their Proofs Herein also I comprehend the Meteors not labouring to search out the Causes of them but only to know the Matters of Fact The Description of the Earth not so much of its Surface which relates to Geography and is referr'd to the Moral History as its Depth and the different Bodies which it contains At first sight it seems as if this Knowledge was no more than pure Curiosity but in truth it is very useful for raising the Mind and inlarging it for furnishing us with true Ideas of the Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power of God of our own weakness and the littleness of all Humane things Under the Name of Anatomy I comprise that of Plants as well as that of Animals without lanching into Curiosities which has no bounds I would have my Scholar to know well the Animals of his own Country the most famous of other Countries and the Plants which are most used That he should know how to distinguish the principal parts of a Plant and an Animal That he should see how these Living Bodies are nourished and preserved but particularly That he should be acquainted with the Admirable Structure of those Springs which make Animals to move I mean that of them which is felt with the Finger the Bones and the Muscles This Study if he have Leisure and a Genius may be extended to the Knowledge of those Arts wherein are employ'd the most Ingenuous Machines or which produce the most considerable changes in Natural Bodies as Chymistry the Melting of Metals making Glass Tanning and Dying INto the number of those Studies which are useful to all Students I also put Geometry In truth it doth not onely contain the Principles of several very useful Arts as Mechanicks Surveying Trigonometry Gnomonicks Architecture wholly especially Fortification of such great use at this day but also it forms the Mind in general and strengthens the Reason extreamly It accustoms Men not to content themselves with appearances to seek after Solid Proofs and not to stop as long as there is the least ground for doubting and by this means to discern Convincing and Demonstrative Reasons from meer Probabilities It would nevertheless be dangerous if not directed by such a Logick as I have reckoned amongst the number of necessary Studies For 't is this Logick which lays down the Great Rules of Evidence of Certainty and Demonstration and bids us not believe that none but sensible and imaginable things as the objects of Geometry are can be clearly known That there are no certain Reasonings but those concerning the Relations of Angles and Lines or the proportions of Numbers That we ought in all matters to expect the same kind of Certainty But when these Distinctions and General Rules are laid down by a good Logick Geometry opens a great Field of Exercise for Defining Dividing and Reasoning TOwards the end of the Young Man's Studies when he is about the Age of Fourteen
choice of what we Study our selves we ought to be more careful for the instruction of others especially Children It is more injustice to lavish away the Goods of another Man than our own and it is a sort of cruelty to cause them to go astray who are committed to our Conduct It is ordinarily thought that this choice is of no importance to little Children As soon as the first sparklings of Light begin to appear in them they are generally suffered to receive a great many ill impressions which must afterwards be blotted out Instead of helping them forward they are usually encouraged in their defects They are credulous the Story of the Ass's Skin and an Hundred other impertinent Fables are related to them which take possession of their Memory in its first rawness They are fearful they are told of Hob-goblings and Horned Beasts they are continually threatned All their little passions are indulged their Greediness Anger Vanity And when they are catch'd in the Net when they say some Foolish thing by drawing a right consequence from an impertinent Principle which has been instill'd into them how are they Laugh'd at and Triumph'd over for having been deceiv'd And presently how are they Kiss'd how are they caress'd as if they had done well Poor Children are used as if they were made for the Diversion of great Persons as little Dogs or Apes In the mean time it should be considered that they are reasonable Creatures whom the Gospel forbids us to despise Upon this high consideration that they have the Blessed Angels for their Guardians How much therefore are Men especially Parents obliged to take care of them to cultivate their Minds and form their Manners But what may it be said Must Children be Educated in a Dull and Melancholy way by speaking to them of nothing but serious and high Matters Not at all Men ought only to take the trouble of accommodating themselves to their Capacity that so they may be assisted gently and led along with sweetness THere are wanting in Children only two things towards their Reasoning well Attention and Experience The moveableness of their Brain which causes them continually to be in Motion and not continue long in one Place is the Reason why they cannot consider any one Object for any considerable time much less observe the Order and Connexion of things The little Knowledge they have of particular things is the cause why they want principles of Reasoning which are drawn from Matters of Fact from Laws of Nature and the institution of Men. As for Principles which proceed purely from the Light of Nature they have the same then they will have as long as they shall live They may therefore Err when they lay down a positive Principle or when they do not sufficiently attend to natural Principles but they draw their Conclusions aright and if they had not then the notions of the great Principles and of good Consequences they would never have them For Men do not give these notions to one another they proceed only from the Creatour since they are the Foundation of Reason it self The defect of Experience is that which may be first supply'd by answering all their Questions with the same simplicity with which they proposed them telling them the Truth in every thing as far as 't is useful for them to know it and explaining it to them very clearly Nor is it enough to satisfie their Curiosity concerning all the sensible Objects which make them speak but they should also be informed in useful Histories as that of Religion and of their Country But great care must be taken to Explain to them every thing of which as yet they have had no Experience that so if possible they may say nothing of which they have not a distinct Idea in their Minds They may also be Taught some Fables as those of the Famous Gods of Antiquity and the Fables of Aesop which may be useful to them for Morality These Toys do divert them and do them no harm when they are not given to them as things of greater value than they really are But they ought never to be deceived As for Attention they must be brought to it with Sweetness and a great deal of Patience It will come with time And when they shall begin to be more capable thereof at first it may be excited by the pleasure of some kind of Knowledge which Invites them afterwards by Fear Threatnings and even Chastisements themselves But let these last Means be never used but after all others have been Attempted As for their first Instructions I would have them given so as that they should not perceive there is any Design of Instructing them Their Intervals from Play may be made profitable to them When they are weary with Running and Exercising themselves Relate to them the History of the Terrestrial Paradise sometimes the Sacrifice of Abraham or the Adventures of the Patriarch Joseph At another some Fable as I have Advised without obliging them to repeat that they have Learnt but leaving it to them of their own accord to do it when they shall be in Good Humour There are besides divers Artificial ways of Exercising the Curiosity of Infants in this first Age as by Pictures and Images set before them that they may desire the Explication of them By Discourses held before them as not thinking of them and continuing them if they shall hearken to them directing the Discourse even to them also When several are together Emulation may be of great use That may be said to one before another which we would have the other to Learn To him who shall be most obedient in other things it may be propounded as a Reward to tell him some Fine Story Knowledge and Study should frequently be commended before them without letting them see that it is upon their Account In short the Natural Temper and Particular Inclination of each Child should be Studied that he may be brought to be Attentive either by Pleasure or some other Motive which Affects him For this end Nets must be set for them on all sides that they be deceived for their own good as much as possible not so as to render them Quarrelsom and Malicious and this is Cheating them to their own Advantage Above all care should be taken in these first years when Impressions are very strong never so to joyn the Idea of a Rod with that of a Book that they shall never think of Study but with Dread This makes Study a Pain to them and there are some who never will be wrought upon after this manner On the contrary they ought to be drawn on with Joy which is Natural to this Age. We should Laugh and Jest with them sometimes provided that Authority doth not suffer thereby and rather expect some years before we enter them upon Serious Instructions and Regulated Study As the Brain of Children is very tender and all things to them are New they are much