both what others haue said and what themselues haue seene hath made them maister the circunstance Which mastering of the circunstance is the only rule that wisemen liue by the only meane that wisedome is come by the only ods betwen folie and witte The marking wherof is of so great a force as by it eche countrie discouereth the trauellour when he seeketh to enforce his forreine conclusions and clingeth to that countryman which hath bettered her still by biding still at home It discrieth the young student which is rauished with the obiect eare he can discern it and honoreth the wise learned whose vnderstanding is so staied as he may be a leader The consideration of circunstance is so strong in all attemptes where man is the subiect as it maketh of all nothing and of nothing all The skill to iudge of it is so lingring and so late bycause man is the gatherer and so long eare he learne it as it seemes to be reserued till he be almost spent It is not enough to rule the world to alleadge authorities but to raunge authorities which be not aboue the world by the rule of the world is the wisemans line I am to deale with training must I entreat my countrey to be content with this bycause such a one commendes it or to force her to it bycause such a state likes it The shew of right deceiues vs the likenes of vnlike thinges doth lead vs where it listeth Differences and ods discouer errors similitude and likenes lead euen wise men awrie The great philosopher Aristotle in fining of reason maketh the abilities to discerne these two pointes where thinges like be vnlike and where the vnlike be like two of his principall instrumentes to trie out the trueth Which skill to discern so narrowly as it is not in all so where it is there is great discretion there will nothing be brought from authoritie to practise but that circunstance will praise and yet hardly winne For though circunstance in our countrie and others do seeme verie like nay rather almost one yet if our countrie do admit where any ods appeareth though it offer the relenting when it comes to proufe she auentureth her selfe and we which perswade haue great cause to thanke her that she will harken vnto vs as she also will thanke vs if she praise at the parting Wherfore seeing the ground is so slipperie to deale by authoirtie and therfore to approue it bycause such a one sayth it till iudgemēt haue subsigned and circunstance sealed I thought it good as I said before to speake somwhat therof that I may therby stay my selfe the better marching by them and thorough them and also remoue some scrupulouse opinion that I vse them not strangely when I vse them so as they wishe themselues to be vsed But for the better vnderstanding with what warynes authoritie is to be vsed may it please you to cōsider that there be two sortes of authours wherwith we deale in our studie wherof the one regardeth the matter only and by ineuitable argument enforceth the conclusion In this kinde be the Mathematicall sciences and all such naturall philosophie as proceedeth by necessitie of a demonstrable subiect The other ioyneth the circunstance with the matter as Morall and politike Philosophie as the Professions as Poetes as histories do when they enforce not the necessitie of their conclusion by necessitie of the matter though by the fourme of their argument which concludeth of force in matters of least force The argumentes of those Artes and Professions which be in this second kinde do depende vpon apparence in probable coniecture and be creatures to circunstāce wherin as man is the mainest subiecte so the respectes had to man haue the raine in their hand Hence commeth it that lawes in seuerall landes do differ so much that Phisicke in seuerall subiectes is so seuerall in cure that Diuinitie in ceremonies admitteth change where the circunstance is obserued and yet the truth not tainted Hence it cōmeth that in diuersitie of states there be diuersities of staie whereby men gouerne bycause circunstance commaundeth Whervnto he that affirmes must still haue an eye bycause it sheweth what is seemely and cōuenient not in great states alone but also in the meanest thinges of all bycause it moderateth both what soeuer men do and in what soeuer respect they do In the first kinde of authours and authorities the truth of the matter maintaines it selfe without he said or he did bycause it is true by nature which staied it not by authour which said it And being so setled it ministreth of it selfe no matter to debate or at the least verie litle For in pointes of necessitie naturally inferred the difference of opinion is no proufe at all that the matter is debatable but it is a sufficient argument of an insufficient writer if he penne his opinion or of an vngrounded learner if his error be in speeche which harpeth still about some outward accident and neuer perceth the inward substance So that in such conclusions there is but one currant what forceth the matter and not what sayeth the man what commandes the immutable truth and not what commendes the changeable circunstance All the controuersie is in the second kinde where circunstance is prescription wherin the writers credite oftimes authoriseth the thing and the truth of the thing doth make the man an authour wherin vnles he take verie good heede which is the alleadger he may do his writer exceeding great iniurie by bringing him to the barre and forcing that vpon him which he neuer dreamed on and harme himselfe to who mistaking his ground misplaceth his building and hazardeth his credit Hence commeth it that so many fantasticall deuises do trouble the world while euerie man being desirous to breede somwhat worthy of commendacion either for shew of learning or for shield of opinion bringeth in the poore writers and enioyneth them speach where in deed they be mute and if they could speake they would aske the alledger why he did so abuse them A generall and a verie hard case in these our dayes when the most erronious opinions be fathered vpon the most honest writers which meant nothing lesse then that which is threpte vpon them In matter of Pollicy this man wrote thus and was verie well thought of an other in some schoole pointes gaue his censure in this sorte and became of account Transport the circunstance the allowance is misliked the alleadger laughed at and yet the worthinesse of the writer not empayred at all when he is rightly weyed bycause he was forced In this kinde of argument wherin I presently deale it is no proufe bycause Plato praiseth it bycause Aristotle alloweth it bycause Cicero commendes it bycause Quintilian is acquainted with it or any others else in any argument else that therfore it is for vs to vse What if our countrey honour it in them and yet for all that may not vse it her selfe bycause circunstance is
of life or for outward motion and executions of vse must be chearished and nusled so as that they do by nature well and truely they may do by traine both long and strongly I shall not neede to name the partes all in one ruk as of set purpose which be knowen by their effectes and the exercises also themselues will shew for whom they serue But for example first in the partes let vs see whether we can discern them by their working and properties that therby the exercise may be pickte which is most proper to helpe such effectes Who doth not streight waye conceiue that the lunges or lightes be ment when he heareth of an inward part which prouideth winde for the harte to allay his heat and to minister some clammy matter vnto it whence he may take aire most fit for his functions and not at the sudden be forced to vse any forreine Or who doth not by and by see that the harte is implyed when he heareth of an other inward part which is the spring and fountaine of the vitall spirite and facultie the seat and sender out of naturall heat the occasion and cause of the arteriall pulse which by one arterie and way receiueth cooling from the lunges by an other sendeth the vitall spirite the hote and hurling blood thorough out the whole bodie Or who is so grosse as not to gesse at the liuer when he heareth of an other inward part which is the cheife instrument of nurriture the workhouse of thicke grosse blood that feedeth the life and soule when it desireth meat and drinke and what is els necessarie which conueieth blood thorough the veines to nurrish all partes of the bodie with the naturall spirit in it if there be any verie darke and heauie Nay hath he any braine which seeth not the braine plainly laid before him when he heareth a part of mans bodie named which breedeth a sowlish and life spirite as most pure so most precious and rather a qualitie then a bodie and vseth it partly to further the working of that princely and principall part of mans soule wherby he vnderstandeth and reasoneth partly to helpe the instrumētes of sense and motion by meane of the sineues neuer suffering them to lacke spirite which is the cheife and capitall cause why these instrumentes do their dueties well And so forth in all the partes aswell without as within sight whose properties when one heareth and finding that they be helped by such a motion he can forthwith say that such an exercise is good for such a part Now againe for exercises Who hearing that moderate running doth warme the whole body strengthneth the naturall motions prouoketh appetite helpeth against distilling of humours and catarres and driueth them some other waie Or that daunsing beside the warmth driueth awaye numnesse certaine palsies comforteth the stomacke being cumbred with weaknes of digestiō confluence of raw humours strengtheneth weake hippes fainting legges freatishing feete Or that ryding also is healthfull for the hippes and stomacke that it cleareth the instrumentes of all the senses that it thickneth thinne shankes that it slayeth loose bellies Or that loud speaking streatcheth the bulke exerciseth the vocalle instrumentes practiseth the lungues openeth the bodie and all the passages therof Or that loud reading scoureth all the veines stirreth the spirites thorought out all the entraulles encreaseth heat suttileth the blood openeth the arteries suffereth not superfluous humours to grow grosse and thicke who say I hearing but of these alone in taste for all or of all together by these alone doth not both see the partes which are preserued the exercise which preserueth and the matter wherin Wherfore seing exercise is such a thing that so much enableth the bodie whom the soule hath for companion in all exploites a comfort being lightsome a care being lothesom a courage being healthy a clog being heauie I will bycause I must if I meane to do well plat forth the whole place of exercising the bodie at ones for all ages Chapter 7. The braunching order and methode kept in this discours of exercises BYcause the speciall marke wherat I shoote is to bring the minde forward to his best by those meanes which I take to be best wherin I must of force continue verie long as in my principall and cheife subiecte and in no place sauing this entreat of the bodie but onely how to apply that to it which I pitche downe here I thinke it good therefore in this place to perfit and handle at full the whole title of exercises with all the circunstances belonging thervnto so sufficiently and fully as my simple skill can aspire vnto as the present occasion of a position or passage vseth to require leauing that which I do not medle with to those that shall professe the thing ether for their owne or for their childrens health wherin I will kepe this methode and manner of proceeding First I wil note somewhat generally concerning all exercises Secondly I will chuse out some especiall exercises which vpon good consideration I do take to be most proper and propitious to schooles and scholers Thirdly I will applye the circunstances required in exercise to euerie of them so neare as I can that there be no error committed in the executing For the better the thing is if it hit right the more dangerous it proueth if it misse of that right Last of all I will shew the training maister how to furnish himselfe thoroughly in this professed exercising bycause he must both applie the minde with learning and the bodie with mouing at diuerse times refreshing himselfe with varietie and chaunge But in handling of these foure pointes I meane to rippe vp no idle question I terme that idle where health is the ende and the question no helpe to it but cause to discours and delaye of precept Such questions be these who first found out the arte of exercise called Gymnastice or whether it belong to the Physician or no being a preseruatiue to health or who first deuised the particular exercises or who were most famous for the executing therof and a number of such like discoursory argumentes which learned men hauing leasure at will as a schoolemaister hath not and willing to wade farre as my selfe could wish haue mined out of the bowelles of antiquitie and entraules of authoritie sometimes sadly and saing in deede much vpon euident and apparent testimonies sometimes simply and surmising but some such thing by very light and slight coniectures oftimes supported by bare guesse at some silly word or some more naked warrant Wherfore to the matter Chapter 8. Of exercise in generall and what it is And that it is Athleticall for games Martiall for the fielde Physicall for health praeparatiue before postparatiue after the stāding exercise some within daores for soule whether some without for faire ALL exercises were first deuised and so in deede serued either for games and pastime for warre and seruice or for suretie
POSITIONS VVHERIN THOSE PRIMITIVE CIRCVMSTANCES BE EXAMINED WHICH ARE NECESSARIE FOR THE TRAINING vp of children either for skill in their booke or health in their bodie VVRITTEN by RICHARD MVLCASTER master of the schoole erected in London anno 1561. in the parish of Sainct Laurence Povvntneie by the vvorshipfull companie of the merchaunt tailers of the said citie Imprinted at London by Thomas Vautrollier for Thomas Chare 1581 TO THE MOST VERTVOVS LADIE HIS MOST DEARE AND soueraine princesse Elizabeth by the grace of God Queene of England Fraunce and Ireland defendresse of the faith c. MY booke by the very argument most excellent princesse pretendeth a common good bycause it concerneth the generall traine and bringing vp of youth both to enrich their minds vvith learning and to enable their bodies vvith health and it craues the fauour of some speciall countenaunce farre aboue the common or else it can not possiblie procure free passage For vvhat a simple credit is myne to persvvade so great a matter or vvhat force is there in common patronage to commaunde conceites I am therefore driuen vpon these so violent considerations to presume so farre as to present it being my first trauell that euer durst venture vpon the print vnto your maiesties most sacred handes For in neede of countenaunce vvhere best abilitie is most assurance and knovvne vertue the fairest vvarrant vvho is more sufficient then your excellencie is either for cunning to commend or for credit to commaunde And vvhat reason is there more likely to procure the fauour of your maiesties most gracious countenaunce either to commende the vvorke or to cōmaunde it vvaie then the honest pretence of a generall good vvherein you cannot be deceiued For of your accustomed care you vvill circumspectlie consider and by your singular iudgement you can skillfully discerne vvhether there be any appearance that my booke shall performe so great a good as it pretendeth to do before you either praise it or procure it passage In deede it is an argument vvhich craueth consideration bycause it is the leader to a further consequence and all your maiesties time is so busily employed about many and maine affaires of your estate as I may seeme verie iniurious to the common vveale besides some vvrong offered to your ovvne person to desire your Maiestie at this time to reade any part therof much lesse the vvhole the booke it selfe being very long your Maiesties leasure being very litle And yet if it maye please your most excellent Maiestie of some extraordinarie grace tovvardes a most obsequious subiect in vvay of encoraging his both toilsome and troublesome labour to take but some taste of any one title of smallest encumbraunce by the very inscription the pavv of a Lion may bevvraie the hole body in me by the prouerbe in your highnesse by the propertie as vvho can best iudge vvhat the Lion is For the rest vvhich neither your Maiesties time can tarie on neither my boldnesse dare desire that you should other mens report vvhich shall haue time to read and vvill lend an officious countrieman some parte of their leysure vvill proue a referendarie and certifie your highnesse hovv they finde me appointed I haue entitled the booke POSITIONS bycause entending to go on further for the auauncement of learning I thought it good at the first to put dovvne certaine groundes very needefull for my purpose for that they be the common circunstances that belong to teaching and are to be resolued on eare vve begin to teach VVherin I craue consent of my countrey to ioyne vvith me in cōceit if my reasons proue likely that therby I may direct my vvhole currant in the rest a great deale the better Novv if it maye stand vvith your Maiesties most gracious good vvill to bestovv vpon me the fauourable smile of your good liking to countenance me in this course vvhich as it pretendeth the publike commoditie so it threatneth me vvith extreme paines all my paine vvill proue pleasant vnto me and that good vvhich shall come thereby to the common vveale shall be most iustly ascribed to your Maiesties especial goodnesse vvhich encoraged my labour and commended it to my countrey VVhich both encoragement to my selfe and commendacion to my countrey I do nothing doubt but to obtaine at your Maiesties most gracious handes vvhether of your good nature vvhich hath alvvaye furthered honest attemptes or of your Princely conceit vvhich is thoroughly bent to the bettering of your state considering my trauell doth tend that vvay For the very ende of my vvhole labour if my small povver can attaine to that vvhich a great good vvill tovvards this my cuntrey hath deepely cōceiued is to helpe to bring the generall teaching in your Maiesties dominions to some one good and profitable vniformitie vvhich novv in the middest of great varietie doth either hinder much or profit litle or at the least nothing so much as it vvere like to do if it vvere reduced to one certaine fourme The effecting vvherof pretendeth great honour to your Maiesties person besides the profit vvhich your vvhole Realme is to reape therby That noble Prince king HENRY the eight your Maiesties most renovvned father vouchesafed to bring all Grammers into one fourme the multitude therof being some impediment to schoole learning in his happie time and thereby both purchased himselfe great honour and procured his subiectes a marueilous ease Novv if it shall please your Maiestie by that Royall example vvhich othervvise you so rarely exceede to further not onely the helping of that booke to a refining but also the reducing of all other schoole bookes to some better choice and all manner of teaching to some redier fourme can so great a good but sound to your Maiesties most endlesse renovvne vvhose least part gaue such cause of honour to that famous King your Maiesties father By these fevv vvordes your highnesse conceiueth my full meaning I am vvell assured neither do I doubt but that as you are vvell able to discerne it so you vvill very depelie consider it see this so great a commō good thoroughly set on foote I knovv your Maiesties pacience to be exceeding great in very petie arguments if not I should haue bene afraid to haue troubled you vvith so many vvordes and yet least tediousnesse do soure euen a svveete and sound matter I vvill be no bolder God blesse your Maiestie and send you a long an healthfull life to his greatest glorie and your Maiesties most lasting honour Your Maiesties most humble and obedient subiect Richard Mulcaster AVTHOR IPSE AD librum suum IN SITA naturae nostrae sitis illa iuuandi Ignauum vitae desidis odit iter Parca cibi saturata fame deuota labori Prodiga nocturni luminis vrget opus Quod simul ac lucis patiens fore viderit edit Inde licet multo plena timore gemat Poenitet emissam per mille pericula prolem Quae poterat patriae tuta latere domi Iudiciumque timens alieni
question when their youth shall begin to learne they do fetch the ground of their traine exceeding farre of As what regard is to be had to the infante while he is yet vnder his nurse Where they moile themselues sore with the maners and conditions of the nurse with the fines or rudenes of her speeche with the comelynes of her person and fauour of her face And in controuersie about milkes sometime they preferre the mother if her health her complexion her kinde of life will best fit for her owne sometime they yeeld but with great choice to the forreine nurse if any iust circunstance do discharge the mother whom nature vnletted seemes to charge most Againe they examine what companie is to be choosen for him when he doth begin first to crepe abroad wherby that good may begin betimes which must continew longe and is greatly furthered by choice of companie that pikked and choice play fellowes may succede after a fine and well fitted nursery Againe they debate in good sadnes what an exquisite traine is to be deuised for him when he is to go to schoole either priuate or publike though they still preferre the publike as most beseeming him which must liue among many and neuer be recluse And such other considerations they fall into which do well beseeme the bringing vp of such a one as they did but wishe for and we may not hope for but by no meanes can be applyed to our youth and our education wherin we wishe for no more then we hope for to haue Nay they go further as whether may not wishers and appoint the parentes of this so perfect a child to be so wise and so well learned as is in verie deede most consonant with their platte but to farre surmonting the modele of my positions Wherfore leauing those meanes which they do but deuise to bring vp those people which they do but patterne I meane to proceede from such principles as our parentes do build on and as our children do rise by to that mediocritie which furnisheth out this world and not to that excellencie which is fashioned for an other And yet the pretence of these so fine picturers by pointing out so absolute a president is to let vs behold thereby both wherin the best consisteth what colours it is best knowen by what a state it keepeth and also by what ready meane we may best approche neare it bycause dispaire to obtaine the verie best it selfe discourageth all hope For that missinge any one of these so fined circunstances as our frailtie will faile either in all or in most then we marre the whole moulde Howbeit we are much bounde to the excellent wittes of those diuine writers who by their singular knowledge approching neare to the truest and best could most truly best discern what constitution they were of and being of a good ciuill inclination thought it their parte to communicate that with their posteritie which they from so nighe had so narrowly decifred as auailable to others for this onely cause if there ensewed no more of it that in despaire of hitting the highest yet by seeing where it lodged with verie great praise they might draw neare vnto it For as it is but for paragons to mount quite aboue all so is it worthy praise to rest in some degree which declareth a pearcher though abilitie restraine will that it cannot aspire whervnto it would But to returne from this so exquisite to our ordinarie traine I perswade my selfe that all my countreymen wishe themselues as wise and as well learned as those absolute parentes are surmised to be though they be content with so much of both or rather with so litle as God doth allot them and that they will haue their children nursed as well as they can without question where or quarrelling by whom so as they may haue that well brought vp by nurture which they loue so well bequeathed them by nature And that till the infant can gouerne himselfe they will seeke to saue it from all such perilles as may seeme to harme it any kinde of way or by companie or by occasion and that with such warinesse as ordinarie circunspection may or can worke in considerate carefull parentes And finally that for his well schooling they that cannot will wish it they that can will haue it with small charge if they may if they may not with some coste and very carefully commēd the silly poore boy at his first entry to his maisters charge not omitting euen how much his mother makes of him if she come not her selfe and do her owne commendacions So that for these antecedents as they in precisenes do passe vs so we in possibility go farre beyond them For our hope is at ankar and rides in assuraunce their wishe wandereth still not like to win the rode These and such like circunstances they handle formally as in an absolute picture I tuche by the waye as being quite of an other perswasion nothing giuen to the vnpossible where possibilitie must take place though the vnpossible Idaea offer great force to fansie Wherfore I will now take my leaue of them and retourne to my question when children be to be set to learning A thing in reason very worthy to be wayed and in perfourmaunce very like to proue good both for health of the bodie and helpe of the minde and so much the rather to be well entreated bycause it is the very first principle which enterteneth our traine My countrey parētes then being so naturall to their childrē both for care before schoole and for choice in schooling I will commend to their charge all that which is to be considered in their first infancie and tendrest spring before they be thought fit to be set to learning which they will diligently looke to I am very well assured Bycause euery thing drawes liking while it is pretie young and specially our owne which hath nature to sollicite and needeth no exhorting to haue it well cherished where there is no daunger but in to much dalying neither yet any feare but in to fond cokkering But in very good earnest when shall our boye be set to schoole In all considerations wherin vpon the resolutiō something must be executed and done this thing is necessarily to be first enquired whether all or most or any of all the circunstances which be incident to the execution be in or without the parties power which is to execute so as he may either proceede at his owne libertie if nothing withstand him or may not proceede if he be thwarted by circunstance For otherwise the liberty to passe on or the restraint to staie being not agreed vpon he that directs by rule may be chekt by arrest And where he biddes on thus circunstance maye replie Ifayth sir no. Wherfore I leaue those parentes to their owne discretion in whom will seekes libertie to do as she would and circunstance commandes her to do as she may The parent
would haue his child begin to learne at such a time circunstance sayes no. He would haue him learne with such a man some cause contrarieth In such a place in such a sorte his power is to poore to compasse that he coueteth Be not all these lettes and what so euer is so laid to stop will of his will where neither counsell can giue precept nor the parent can execute being so strongly ouercharged It is euen like as if one should saye the freeman and the bond be not both in one case Preceptes be for freemen which maie do as ye bid them but circunstance bindes and wilbe obeyed Wherfore I must once for all warne those parentes which may not do as they would vpon these same lettes which I haue recited or any other like that they take their oportunitie when so euer it is offered bycause occasion is verie bald behinde and seldome comes the better And seeing circunstance is their bridle when they feele the raine loose course it on a maine and take the benefit of time the oportunitie of place the commoditie of the teacher the equitie of the maner and what so euer condition else wherin the freedom of circunstance doth seeme to befreind them For sauing with such a note as this is I cannot direct them which can giue no counsell but where necessitie is in ward and libertie keepes the keyes But if the parent want nothing necessary for his childes bringing vp neither a place both conuenient for receit and commodious for distaunce wherin to haue him taught nor a teacher sufficient for cunning and considerate for either curtesie or correction who can traine him vp well nor fit companions as so fit a place and so good a maister may picke out of choice which will throng vnto him And if the child also himselfe haue a witte apte to conceiue what shalbe put vnto him and a body able to beare the trauell which belonges vnto learning me thinke it were then best that he began to be doing when he maie well perceiue without trauelling his braine thorough the hardnes of the thing and neede not be toiled to the wearines of his bodie thorough the wise handling of his aduised maister For being in the schoole he may do somwhat very well though not very much wheras roming about he might hap to do ill and that very much At what yeares I cannot say bycause ripenes in children is not tyed to one time no more then all corne is ripe for one reaping though most what about one Some be hastinges and will on some be hardinges and draw backe some be willing when their parentes will some but willing when they will them selues as either will to do well vpon cherishing wisely or pleasure to play still vpon cokkering fondly hath possessed their mindes But he that deserueth to be a parent must dispose himselfe to be also a iudge in all these cases and who is so ill freinded as he hath not one with whom to conferre to learne by aduise the towardnes and time of his young sonnes schooling if he be not able to looke into it himselfe They that limitte the beginning to learne by some certaine yeares haue an eye to that knowledge which it were pitie were loste say they and may easely be gayned in those young yeares I agree with them that it were great pitie to lease any thing that neede not be loste without great negligence and may be well gotten with very small diligence not endammaging the child But more pitie it were for so petie a gaine to forgoe a greater to winne an houre in the morning and lease the whole daie after as those people most commonly do which starte out of their beds to early before they be well awaked or knowe what it is a clocke and be drousie when they are vp for want of their sleepe If the childe haue a weake bodie though neuer so strong a witte let him grow on the longer till the strength of his bodie do aunswere to his witte For experience hath taught me and calleth reason to record that a sharp young witte hastened on to wounder at for the quiknesse of his edge hath therby most commonly bene hastened to his graue thorough the weaknesse of body to the greife of the freindes whose delite is cut of and some wite of their witte for ouerhasting their child Nay what if it hath pleased God to lend him longer life he neuer sinketh deepe but fleeteth still aboue with some quicknesse of conceit continuing that wonder which he wanne in his childhood neuer burdened with much to ballase his head but still aunswering at reboundes the fairest crop of so hasty an haruest Sometime his witte will grow worse the wonder will vanishe the bodie will proue feeble and soone after perishe But now if he liue with all these infirmities of decaying witte decreasing wonder puling bodie he liues with small comfort in such a world of weaknesse which vsually commeth of to much moisture the corrupter of such carcasses the most vile and violent massacrer of the most and best studentes generally for want of trauell sauing onely to their braine which the more it is occupyed the sorer it stilleth and the sorer it stilleth the sooner it killeth the moe the more pitie Wherfore I could wishe the wittier child the lesse vpon the spurre and either the longer kept from learning for turning his edge as a to sharp knife or the sklenderer kept at it for feare of surfait in one hungring to haue it Yet must not this quickling be suffered to do nothing at all for feare he grow reasty if that nothing be dumpishe and heauie or passe beyond reclaime if it be dissolute and wanton The meane conceiuer in some strength of bodie is the best continuer and as he serues all places best in his height of learning so in all respectes ye may venture on his schooling when it shall please you with but ordinarie regard A dull witte in a strong body if ye like to haue it learne as by learning ye finde it so till some degree it may well learne for necessarie seruice in the rest of his life and may be hastened on boldly For the bodie can beare labour it is so well boaned and the witte will not cloye it so hardly receiueth The sharpenesse of witte the maister will sound by memorie and number the strength of the bodie the mother will marke by complaint and cause A weake witte and as weake a bodie is much to be moaned for the great infirmity and can hardly be helpt bycause nature is to weake and therfore it must be thought on as in a case of despaire againe against hope if any thing be goten a greife to the freindes which cannot amend it small ioye to him selfe which cannot auoide it A strong witte in as strong a bodie is worthy the wishing of the parentes to bring foorth of the teacher to bring vp For as it is a thing of it selfe not
and their wittes most wearied in which kinde studentes be no one small part but the greatest of all which so vse their mindes as if they cared not for their bodies and yet so neede their bodies as without the strength and soundnesse wherof they be good for nothing but to moane themselues and to make other maruell why they take no more heede how to do that long which they do so well being a thing within compasse of their owne care and knowledge For who is so grosse as he will denie that exercise doth good and that so great as is without comparison seing olde Asclepiades is by Galene confuted and stawled for an asse as Erasistratus also his dissembling freind or who is so sore tied either to studie or to stocks as he cannot stirre himselfe if he will or ought not if he may But the matter being confessed euen by the most idle and vnweildy to be healthfull and good I shall neede no more reason to procure assent and allowaunce for exercise My whole trauell therfore must be to finde out and set foorth what shalbe requisite to the perfourmaunce of this point concerning the traine and exercising of the body that it may proue healthy liue long and be ready to assist all the actions of the minde Wherein therfore consisteth the health of the bodie and how is it to be maintained vntill such time as nature shall dismantle and pull it downe her selfe To aunswere this question and withall to declare how great an officer to health exercise is I will first shew wherin health doth consiste and how diseases do come then how health is maintained and disease auoided Last of all how great a parte is appointed for exercise to plaie in the perfourmaunce therof bycause I saye and not I alone but Galen also that great Physician neither Galen onely though sufficient alone but all that euer liued were cheife of that liuerie that who so can applie the minde well with learning and the bodie with exercise shall make both a wise minde and a healthfull bodie in their best kinde Wherefore seing I haue set downe wherein the traine of the minde doth consist so much as the Elementarie course doth admit and must perfourme and so farre as these my Positions require at this time whose profession is not to tary though it tuche them I wil now handle that other part of exercise wherwith the bodie is either to be kept in health or to be helpt to health and that not onely in the Elementarie to whom this treatise should seeme to aunswere but also in the generall student during his whole life which must alwaye rule himselfe by those circunstances which direct the application of exercise according to time age c. and shalbe handled herafter There be in the bodie of man the force of foure elementes fire and aire water and earth and the pith of their primitiue principall qualities heat and couldnesse moysture and drynesse which the Physicians call the similarie partes of the similitude and likenesse that they haue not the one to the other but the partes of eche to their owne whole bycause euerie least part or degree of these great ones beare the name of the whole as euerie part or parcell of fier is called fier no lesse then the whole fier of water water of aier aier of earth earth and euerie degree of heat is heat of cold is cold of moysture is moysture of drynesse is drynesse though greater and smaller lesse and more be epithetes vnto them as either their quantitie or qualitie doth sprede or close There be also in the same bodie certaine instrumentall partes compounded and consisting in substance of the similarie which the bodie doth vse in the executing of the naturall functions and workinges therof Now when these similarie partes be so tempered and disposed as no one doth excede any other in proportion to ouerrule but all be as one in consent to preserue and the instrumentall partes also be so correspondent one to an other in composition and greatnesse in number and measure as nature thorough the temperature of the first may absolutely vse the perfectnesse of the last to execute and perfourme without let or stoppe what appertaineth to the maintenaunce of her selfe it is called health and the contrarie disease both in the whole bodie and in euery part therof In the whole bodie by distemperature of the whole in some part by composition out of place and disioynted by greatnes being to bigge or to small by measure being misshapen and fashionles by number being to many and needlesse or to few and failing This health whether it be in the middle degre wherin all executions be complete without any sensible let and no infirmitie appeareth that the bodie feeles with any plaine offence Or if it be in the perfectest degree which is so seldom as neuer any saw bycause of great frailty and britlenesse in our nature it neuer continueth in one estate but altereth still and runnes to ruyne without both speedy and daily nay without hourely reparation The causes which alter and chaunge it so be somtime from within the bodie and were borne with it sometime from without and yet not without daunger From within the verie propertie and pithe of our originall substance and matter whence we grew altereth vs first which as it beginneth and groweth in moysture so it endeth and stayeth in drynesse and in the ende decayeth the bodie with to much drynesse which extreame though naturall withering we call olde age which though it come by course and commaundement of nature yet beareth it the name and title of disease bycause it decayeth the bodie and deliuereth it to death From within also the continuall rebating and falling awaye of somwhat from the bodie occasioneth much chaunge nay that is most cause of greatest chaunge and killeth incontinent by meere defect if it be not supplyed To these two causes of inward alteration there aunswere two other forreine causes both vnholesome and perillous the aire which enuironneth vs and violence which is offered vs. The former of the two decaing our health with to much heat cold drynesse and moysture of it selfe or by noysomnesse of the soile and corruption in circunstance The second by strong hand brusing or breaking wounding or wiping awaie of some one part of the bodie or els killing the whole consort of the bodie with the soule and taking away life from it These foure ouerthrowes of our bodies and health olde age waste aire and violence finde by helpe of nature and arte certaine oppositions which either diuert them quite if they maye be auoided or kepe them of longer if they maye be differred or mittigate their malice when it is perceiued For forreine violence foresight will looke to where casualtie commaundes not and cannot be foreseene For infection by the aire that it do not corrupte and marre so much as it would wisedome will prouide and defende the bodie from
of health length of life though somtime all the three endes did concurre in one sometimes they could not For why might not an healthfull and a sound body both serue in the fielde for a soldiar and in the sand for a wrastler But we seldom reade that the athleticall constitution whose ende was gaming whose exercise was pastime whose diet was vnmeasurable for any mā to vse did either deliuer the world an healthfull body being strained beyond measure or a courageous soldiar being vnweildy to fight as one compounded made of fat and fog brawnie and burdenous The athleticall and gaming exercises were in generall assemblies to winne some wager to beare awaie the prise to be wondered at of the world or to set foorth the solemnities of their festiuall seruice and ceremonies in the honour of their idoles or in publike spectacle to adourne and set foorth the triumphant and victorious shewes the sumptuous and costly deuises of their princes and states Wherin we reade that particular men haue shewed such effectes of strength sturring by the helpe of exercise and traine as nature her selfe could neuer attaine vnto though she furthered the feat and got her selfe the worst both by empairing of health and hastning on of death thorough straining to much It is more then marueilous to thinke on and yet we finde it of verie good recorde what and how incredible weight both of liuing creatures and massier mettal one mans force hath bene noted to haue borne by being only vsed to that burthen Would any man beleue it if it were not of good writen credit that one Milo so strutted himselfe so pitcht his feet so peysed his bodie as he remained vnremoueable from his place being haled at and pulde by a number of people Actiuitie hath wrought wonders swiftnesse incredible thinges and what propertie what not where nature and ambition were backt with exercise and good will to do but one thing well For the vse of warre and defence it is more then euident that exercise beares the bell Can one haue a bodie to abide cold not to melte with heat not to starue for hunger not to dye for thirst not to shrinke at any hardnesse almost beyond nature and aboue common reache if he neuer haue it trained will nimblenesse of limmes awaie with all labour surpasse all difficulties of neuer so diuers and dangerous groundes pursue enemies to vanquish reskue freinds to saue retire from danger without harme thrust it selfe into daunger without daunger where no traine before made acquaintaunce with trauell Whervpon called the Romaines their whole armie Exercitus but bycause it consisted of a valiant number of exercised and trained men which were not to seeke at a sudden bycause they had vsed armes before how could common weales where the territory was but small and the enhabitantes few haue still deliuered themselues from mightier assailantes then they seemed defendantes or in continuall threates of ieleous neighbours how could they still haue kept their owne if that small territorie had not bene thoroughly employed and that petie paucitie gallantly trained wherby it was able for hardnesse and sufferance to abide what not For actiuitie and manhood to haue mastered whom not or at the least had good meanes not to receiue any foile where onely the huger number and the vntrained multitude were to trie the masterie in fielde against them For health it is most manifest that exercise is a mighty great mistresse whether it be to confirme that which we haue by nature or to procure that which we haue not by nature or to recouer that by industrie and diligence which we haue almost lost by misfortune negligence The exercises which do serue to this healthy end do best serue for this my purpose though an healthfull body be most apt and actiue both for gaming to get wagers and for warring to winne victories yet in my exercises I neither meane to dally with the gamester not to fight with the warrier but to marke which way I may best saue studentes who haue most neede of it being still assailed by those enemies of health which waxe more eager and hoar the more weake and cold that exercise is This exercise of ours by forme of definition is said to be a vehement a voluntarie stirring of ones body which altereth the breathing whose ende is to maintaine health and to bring the bodie to a verie good habit Doth not exercise at this her first entry offer to performe so much as I did vndertake for her health of the body an healthy habit of all the limmes which two effectes bycause they be good who doth not desire them and being got by exercise why is it not in price and being reducible to order why should it not be in traine They that write of exercise make three degrees in it wherof they call the first a preparatiue in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the next simply by the name of exercise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third a postparatiue in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The preparatiue serued not to passe rudely and roughly into the maine exercise without qualifying the bodie by degrees before bycause sudden alteration workes ill disposition The postparatiue or apotherapeutike followeth the maine exercise to reduce the body by gentle degrees to the same quietnesse in constitutiō wherin it was before it was so moued Which two pointes bycause they rest most in the maisters consideration which is to ouersee the traine I commit them to his care so to applie his cunning as he shall see cause in exercising his charge And yet herein I entend to helpe him when I shall handle the circunstances which direct exercises The third degree which is enclosed betwene these two is that same exercise which I praise so much and vpon whom the other two waite wherof as writers make to many and to finely minced distinctions so I make account but of one at this time wherof I do make two braunches or spieces the one to be vsed within dores and the other abroade that whether the weather be faire or fowle the exercise in some kinde may neuer faile Chapter 9. Of the particular exercises why I do appoint so manie and how to iudge of them or to deuise the like I will not here runne thorough all the kindes of exercises that be named either by Galene or any other writer wherof many be discontinued many be yet in vse but out of the whole heape I haue pickt out these for within dores lowd speaking singing lowd reading talking laughing weaping holding the breath daunsing wrastling fensing and scourging the Top. And these for without dores walking running leaping swimming riding hunting shooting and playing at the ball Wherof though the very most be vsed oftimes not in nature of exercises but either of pleasure or necessitie yet they be all such as will serue well that waie and be so made account of among the
best writers that deale in this kinde and for that some of them maye be said to be most proper to men and farre aboue boyes plaie you must remember that I deale for all studentes and not for children alone to whom it is in choice besides all these to deuise other for their good as circunstance shal lead them There may also be reasons to perswade some men to mislike of I do not thinke all but I suppose some of these thinges which I do appoint as both commendable and profitable exercises with whom I will not here striue but desire them to iudge of me without preiudice and to stay their sentence vntill they see in what sorte I allow them For knowing the cause of offence I might seeme very simple if I should simply allow that which is disallowed vpon reason and not misliked without manifest shew of probable cause and so to reserue the thing as I did not remoue the blame They must also thinke that nothing is abused but that both may and ought to be well vsed which well they must vse and refuse the ill seing where misuse draweth blame there right vse deserueth praise Therfore I wishe those that be of yeares abilitie to guide themselues to call circunstance to counsell and consideration to aduise For as consideration shapeth the circunstance so circunstance is a thing which maketh all that is done either to please or displease to be sent awaie with a cutting checke or to be bid tarie with a cheary contenaunce As for the child in whom wisdom wanteth to way with discretion what it is that he doeth the maister alone must supplie all wantes or beare all blames though it be but a simple recompence to blame wante of consideration when harme is receiued Some man may also say what needes so many and mislike the multitude Of many to chuse some is vsuall in all choice and where store is why should choice be stinted he may lessen the number that alloweth but of one and I haue pickt out the likest to satisfie all in diuersities of liking who so shall like any of these may vse them with me or vpon the like ground may deuise himselfe other In handling of eche of these I will first shew for what partes to what end and in what manner they be profitable and holesome being moderatly vsed then for whom and with what daunger they be strained to the contrarie Chapter 10. Of lowd speaking How necessarie and how proper an exercise it is for a scholler THe exercise of the voice which in Latin they name vociferatio in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were the training maisters in English maye be tearmed â—owd speaking of the height for though it vse all the degrees which be in the voice yet is it most properly to take his name of the lowdest and shrillest as the most audible in sound and therfore fittest to giue the name as all thinges els receiue theirs of some one qualitie of most especiall note The auncient Physicians entertaine it among exercises bycause it stirreth the bulke and all those instrumentes which serue for the deliuerie of voice and vtterance of speeche bycause it aideth dilateth and comforteth the lunges in his windworke it encreaseth cleanseth streÌ„gtheneth and fineth the naturall heat it maketh the sound and soueraigne partes of the bodie strong and pure and not lightly to be assailed by any disease it mendeth the colour and cheareth the countenaunce Now that it hath these properties they do proue by naturall argumentes That it practiseth and stirreth the inward partes and vocall instrumentes no man may deme which will confesse that the mouth alone is the onely port and passage for speeche That it encreaseth the naturall heat the breath it selfe doth most euideÌ„tly declare bycause it is alwaye exceeding warme when one exerciseth the voice it is so thronged and crusshed with taking in and letting out That it cleanseth and cleareth there be two causes to proue the one is bycause it maketh the flesh more fine and thinne and smoother to the hand not onely thorough stretching and straining the skinne but by remouing excrementes which naturally thicken and make rugged The other is for that by mouing the vocall instrumentes the inward moysture consumeth and wasteth as it doeth appeare by that thicke and grosse vapour which proceedeth out of his mouth that speaketh alowd and other congealed excrementes resting of olde in other passages which this exercise expelled from the inward partes That it both fines and strengthens the naturall heat hereby it is more then plaine For that the inward vesselles and pipes be scoured thereby and sundry superfluities expelled both at the nose and mouth which as they darkened weakned and thickned the naturall heat when they were within the bodie so being dismissed themselues they leaue it pure fine and strong whereby the partes being sound and cleare more strength groweth on to healthward and lesse to disease Hervpon it falleth out that this exercise of the voice must needes be a singular helpe for them which haue their inwarde partes troubled with moysture and be of cold coÌ„stitution as also for such as be troubled with weaknesse or pewkishnesse of stomacke with vomiting or bytter rifting with hardnesse of digestion with lothing of their meat with feeding that feedes not with faintnesse with naughty constitution that corrupteth the blood with dropsies with painfull fetching their breath or but then casely when they sit vpright with consumptions with any long disease in the breast or midrife with apostemes which are broken within the bulke with quartane agues with fleame and also for all those which be on the mending hand after sicknesse for those that are troubled with the scurfe or Egyptian lepre called ElephaÌ„tiasis or whose bellies be so weake as they cannot auoide but watry and thin excrementes for the hikup for the voice and her instrumentes whether naturally resolued or casually empaired Now as this exercise aduisedly and orderly vsed is verie good for those effectes in these partes so rashly and rudely ventured vpon it is not without daunger of doing harme and cheifly to those which neuer vsed it before it filleth the head and makes it heauie it dulleth the instrumentes of the senses which are in the head It hurtes the voice breakes the smaller veines and is verie vnwholesome for such as are subiect to the falling sicknesse bycause it shaketh the troubled partes too sore it is daungerous when one is troubled with ill and corrupt humours or when the stomacke is cumbred with great and euident crudities and rawnes bycause thorough much chafing of the breath and the breath instrumentes it disperpleth and scattereth corrupt humours thorough out the whole bodie And as the gentle exercising of the voice with oft enterlacing of graue soundes is wholesome so to much shrilnesse straynes the head causeth the temples pante the braines to beate the eyes to swell the cares to tingle Further
enemy to feeble thighes bycause they both moue the legges and support all the whole weight of the bodie aboue The change and varietie of the motion causeth that kinde of walking to be best liked which is sometime vphill sometime downhill When ye walke vpon euen or vneuen ground ye walke either in medowes or grassie places or in rowgh and brambly or in sandie and soft If ye walke in a medow it is without all contradictiō most for pleasure bycause nothing there anoyeth nothing offendeth the sense and the head is fed both with varietie of sweet odours and with the moysture of such humour as the medow yeeldeth Rough brambly and bushy groundes stuffe the head Sandie and cheifly if it be any thing deepe bycause the walking in it stirreth sore confirmeth and strengtheneth all the partes of the bodie and fetcheth superfluities mightily downward This was one of Augustus Caesars remedies as Suetonius writeth to helpe his haulting and weake legges For to cleare the vpper partes of that which cloyeth them there is nothing better then to trauell in deepe sande Walking in a close gallerie is not so good bycause the ayre there is not so fresh free and open but pent close and grosse and therfore stuffeth the bodie onelesse the gallerie be in the vppermost buildinges of the house where neither any vapour from the ground can come and the ayre that commeth is pure and cleare The close walkes which were called cryptoporticus were not of choice but of necessitie when extremitie of weather would not let them walke abroad Walking in an open place and cheifly greene is much better and more wholesome then vnder any couert First of all for the eyes bycause a fine and subtile ayre comming from the greene to the bodie which is more penetrable bycause of stirring scoureth awaye all grosse humours from the eyes and so leaueth the sight sine and cleare Further bycause the bodie in walking waxeth hoat the aire sucketh humours out of it disperseth what soeuer is in it more then it can well beare Now in walking abroad there is consideration to be had to the soile For walking by the sea side ye thinne drie vp grosse humours by riuers and standing waters ye moyst Howbeit both these two last be naught and specially standing waters Walking not neare any water as it is not so good as the walke by the sea so it is much better then walking neare any other water Walking in the dew moystes and harmes If ye walke in a place where birdes haunt it is of great efficacie to cleare by the breath and to disburden the bodie so as if ye did walke in some higher ground If there be no winde where ye walke it cleareth by breath it disperseth excrements it slakes and nippes not and is good for colicks that come of a cold cause If there be winde the Northern causeth coughing hurtes the bulke and yet confirmes the strength soundes the senses and strengthens the weake stomacke The Southwinde filles the head dulles the instrumentes of sense yet it looseth the bellie and is good to dissolue The Westwinde passeth all the rest both for mildenesse wholesomnesse The Eastwinde is hurtefull and nippes It is better walking in the shade then in the sunne as it is naught for the headache to walke either in the cold or in the heat And yet it is beter to walke in the sunne then to stand in it and better to walke fast then slowly Of all shades those be the best which be vnder walles or in herboures It is verie daungerous walking neare vnto dewye trees for feare of infectiō by the sappie dew bycause dew in generall is not so wholesome it abateth the flesh as wymen that gather it vp with wooll or linnen clothes for some purposes do continually trye Now if the dew come of any vnwholesome matter what may it proue to The best walking in shadowes simply is vnder myrtle and baye trees or among quicke and sweet smelling herbes as wilde basell penyroyall thyme and mynt which if they be wild and of their owne growing be better to wholesome the soile then any that be set by hande but if the better cannot be the meaner must serue Againe in this kinde of walke the faire and cleare aire lighteneth scoureth fineth procureth good breathing and easie mouing Darke and cloudie aire heauyeth scoureth not by breath and stuffeth the head Walking which is termed after the time is either in winter or summer in the morning or in the euening before meat or after The most of these differencies will appeare thē playnest when the time for all exercises is generally appointed in consideration of circunstance as shall be declared vnder the title of time In the meane while walking whether in the morning or euening ought still to go before meat The morning walke looseth the belly dispatcheth sluggishnes which comes by sleep thinneth the spirits encreaseth heat and prouoketh appetite It is good for moyst constitutions it nimbleth and quickneth the head and all the partes in it The euening walke is a preparatiue to sleepe it disperseth inflations and yet it is ill for a weake head Walking after meat is not good but only for such as are vsed vnto it Yet euen they maye not vse it to much It is good also for them which otherwise cannot cause their meat go downe to the bottome of their stomacke And thus much for walking both regarding the manner of the motion the place where and the time when Which circunstances though they be many and diuers yet to purchase the commodities which walking is confessed to be very full of they must needes be cared for considering our whole life is so delt with as if we hastened on death against the which this exercise may be rightly termed an antidote or counterreceit Chapter 21. Of Running THe manifest seruices which we receiue by our legges and feete in warre for glorie to pursue or saue in game for pleasure to winne and weare in Physick for health to preserue and heale do giue parentes to vnderstand that they do suffer their children to be more then halfe maymed if they traine them not vp in their youth to the vse and exercise therof To polishe out this point with those effectuall reasons which auaunce and set forth nature when she sayeth in plaine termes that she meanes to do good or with those argumentes wherwith the best authors do amplifie such places when they finde nature so freindly and forward as the anatomistes which suruey the workmanship of our bodie and histories which note the effectes of swiftnesse do wonder at nature wish exercise to helpe her for that which they see were to me nothing needefull considering my ende is not the praise but the practise of that which is praiseworthy neither to tell you what Alexander the Macedonian nor what Papyrius the Romain did by swift foote nor that Homere gaue
it was in a small riuer and reskue at hand Scoena the centurion scaped he was neare both shippe and shoar Nay Caesar himselfe saued him selfe from drowning and helde his lettres vp drie in the one hand A signe of courage and cunning as that man had enough but his shippes were at hand and it is not writen that either he swamme alone or any long waye But of all daungers to drowne there is least in the sea where the swimming is best for the salt water as it is thicker then the fresh so it beareth vp the bodie better that it may fleet with lesse labour The swimming in salt water is very good to remoue the headache to open the stuffed nosethrilles and therby to helpe the smelling It is a good remedie for dropsies scabbes and scurfes small pockes leprosies falling awaye of either legge or any other parte for such as prosper not so as they would though they eate as they wishe for ill stomackes liuers miltes and corrupt constitutions Yet all swimming must needes be ill for the head considering the continuall exhalation which ascendeth still from the water into the head Swimming in hoat waters softeneth that which is hardened warmeth that which is cooled nimbleth the iointes which are benummed thinneth the skinne which is thickned and yet it troubleth the head weakneth the bodie disperseth humours but dissolueth them not Swimming in cold water doth strengthen the naturall heat bycause it beates it in it maketh verie good and quick digestion it breaketh superfluous humours it warmeth the inward partes yet long tarying in it hurtes the sineues and takes awaye the hearing Thus much concerning swimming which can neither do children harme in learning if the maister be wise nor the common weale but good being once learned if either priuate daunger or publike attempt do bid them auenture For he that oweth a life to his countrey if he die on lande he doeth his duetie and if he drowne in water his duetie is not drowned Chapter 24. Of Riding IF any wilbe so wilfull as to denie Riding to be an exercise and that a great one and fittest also for greatest personages set him either vpon a trotting iade to iounse him thoroughly or vpon a lame hakney to make him exercise his feete when his courser failes him In all times in all countries among all degrees of people it hath euer bene taken for a great a worthy and a gentlemanly exercise Though Aristophanes his testimonie were naught against honest Socrates yet it is good to proue that riding was a gentlemanly traine euen among the principles of education in Athens And Virgile in the legacie sent to Latinus describeth the same traine in the Romain children which sayeth he exercised themselues on horsebacke before the towne And Horace accuseth the young gentleman in his time as not able to hange on a horse But to deale with stories either Greeke or Latin for the Romain or other nations exercise in riding in a matter of such store were more then needeles The Romains had their whole citie diuided into partialities by reason of the foure factions of those exercising horsemē Who of the foure colours which they vsed Russet White Greene and Blew were named Russati Albati Prasini Veneti For the warres how great a traine riding is I would no countrey had tried nor had cause to complaine nor the subdued people to be sorofull though the conquerour do vant himselfe of his valiantnesse on horsebacke For health it must needes be of some great moment or els why do the Physicians seeme to make so much of it They saye that generally it encreaseth naturall heat and that it purgeth superfluities as that to the contrarie it is naught for any sicke bodie or that hath taken Physicke hard before or that is troubled with infection or inflammation of the kidneies They vse to deuide it into fiue kindes Slow quicke trotting ambling and posting Of Slow riding they write that it wearieth the grines very sore that it hurteth the buttokes and legges by hanging downe to long and that yet it heateth not much that it hindreth getting of children and breadeth aches and lamenesse Of quicke riding they saye that of all exercises it shaketh the bodie most and that yet it is good for the head ache comming of a cold cause for the falling euill for deafnesse for the stomack for yeaxing or hikup for clearing and quickning the instrumentes of sense for dropsies for thickning of thinne shankes which was found true in Germanicus Caesar nephew to Tiberius the Emperour which so helped his spindle shankes Againe quick riding is naught for the bulke for a weake bladder which must forebeare all exercises when it hath any exulceration for the Ischiatica bycause the hippes are to much heated and weakned by the vehementnesse of the motion Whervpon the humours which are styrred rest there and either breede new or augment olde aches Of trotting it is said euen as we see that it shaketh the bodie to violently that it causeth encreaseth marueilous aches that it offendes the head the necke the shoulders the hippes disquieteth all the entrailes beyond all measure And though it may somewhat helpe the digestion of meate and raw humours loose the belly prouoke vrine driue the stone or grauell from the kidneyes downward yet it is better forborne for greater euilles then borne with for some sorie small good Ambling as it exerciseth least so it anoyeth least and yet loseth it the bellie As for posting though it come last in reading it will be first in riding though for making such hast it harme eche part of the bodie specially the bulke the lungues the bowells generally the kidneyes as what doth it not allway anoy and oftimes either breake or put out of ioynt by falles or straines It warmes paires the body to sore therfore abateth grossenes though a grosse man be ill either to ride post himselfe or for a iade to beare It infecteth the head it dulleth the senses especially the sight euen til it make his eyes that posteth to run with water not to remember the death of his friendes but to thinke how sore his saddle shakes him and the ayer bites him Chapter 25. Of Hunting HVnting is a copious argument for a poeticall humour to discours of whether in verse with Homer or in prose with Heliodorus Dian would be alleged as so auoyding Cupide Hippolytus would be vsed in commendation of continence and what would not poëtrie bring in to auaunce it whose musicke being solitarie and woddishe must needes be nay is very well acquainted with the chace If poets should faint the Persians would fight both for riding and hunting so that if patrocinie were in question we neede not to enquire they would offer them selues from all countries and of all languages But we need not either for praise or for profe to vse forraine aduocats For hunting hath alway caried a great credit both for exercising the bodie
haue his ground flowred so as it be not offensiue to the body as in wrastling not hard to fall on in daunsing soft and not slipperie How angrie would a boie be to be driuen to scourge his top in sand grauel or deepe rushes and so forth in the rest as is most fit for the body exercised with lest daunger and best dispatch The second that the place be either free from any wind at all or if it be not possible to auoide some that it be not subiect to any sharpe and byting winde which may do the body some wrong being open and therefore ready to receiue forreine harme by the ayer Thirdly that the place be open and not close nor couered to haue the best and purest ayre at will whereby the body becommeth more quicke and liuely and after voyding noysom superfluities may proue lightsome by the very ayer and soyle Fourthly that there be no contagious nor noysome stenche neare the place of exercise for feare of infecting that by new corruption which was lately cleared by healthful motion Generally if the place connot be so fit fauourable to exercise as wish would it were yet wisedom may win thus much that he may be as well aopointed to preuent the ill of euery both season and circumstance as possibility can commonly performe When great conquests had made states almost nay in deede to wealthie and libertie of soyle giuen them place to chuse they builded to this end meruelous and sumptuous monuments which time and warres haue wasted but we which must doe as we may must be content with that which our power can compasse if the worst fall thinke that he which placed vs in the world hath appointed the world for vs for an exercising place not onely for the body against infections but also for the mynde against affections which being herselfe well trayned doth make the bodie yeelde to the bent of her choice Chapter 32. Of the exercising time TIme is deuided into accidentarie and naturall and naturall againe into generall and particular The naturall time generally construed is ment by the spring the summer the haruest and the wynter particularly by the howers of the day night The accidentarie time chaungeth his name still sometime faire sometime foule sometime hoat sometime colde and so forth Of this accidentary time this rule is giuen that in exercise we chuse as neare as we can faire weather cleare and lightsome to confirme the spirites which naturally reioyce in light and are refreshed thereby not cloudy darke and thicke wherein grosse humours make the bodie dull and heauie againe when there is either no great or no verie noysome winde to pearce the open pored body nor to much forreine heat to enflame the naturall nor to much cold to stiffen it to sore For the naturall time generally taken Aristotle would haue the bodie most exercised in sommer bycause the naturall heat being then least and the bodie therefore most burdened with superfluities then exercise most helpes both to encrease the inward heat and to send out those outward dettes Hippocrates againe giuing three principall rules to be kept in exercise to auoide wearinesse to walke in the morning maketh this the third to vse both more and longer exercise in the winter and cold weather and most of his fauorites hold that opinion The reason is bycause in sommer the heat of the time dryeth the bodie enough so that it needeth no exercise to wither it to much where the aire it selfe doth drie it enough Galene a man of great authoritie in his profession pronounceth thus in generall that as temperate bodies are to be exercised in a temperate season which he countes to be the spring so cold bodies are in hoat weather hoat in cold moyst in drie drie in moyst meaning thereby that whensoeuer the bodie seemeth to yeeld towardes any distemperature then the contrarie both time and place must be fled to for succour Of these opinions iudgement is to chuse which it best liketh Me thinke vpon diuers considerations they maye all stand well without any repugnance seing neither Hippocrates nor Galene deny exercise in sommer simply and Aristotle doth shew what it worketh in sommer For the naturall time particularly taken thus much is said that it is vnwholesome to exercise after meat bycause it hindereth digestiō by dispersing the heat which should be assembled wholly to further and helpe digestion And yet both Aristotle and Auicene allow some gentle walking after meat to cause it so much the sooner setle downe in the stomacke specially if one meane to sleepe shortly after But for exercise before meate that is excedingly and generally commended bycause it maketh the naturall heat strong against digesting time and driuing away vnprofitable humours disperseth the better and more wholesome thorough out the whole bodie wheras after meate it filleth it with rawnesse and want of digestion bycause mouing marres concoction and lets the boyling of the stomacke Now in this place there be three thinges to be considered First that none venture vpon any exercise before the bodie be purged naturally by the nose the mouth the belly the bladder bycause the contrarie disperseth that into the bodie which should be dismissed sent awaie nor before the ouernightes diet be thoroughly digested for feare of to much superfluitie besides crudity and cholere Belching and vrine be argmentes of perfit or vnperfit digestion The whiter vrine the worse and weaker digestion the yealower the better The second consideration is that no exercise be medled withall the stomacke being verie emptie and wearie hungrie least rauening cause ouerreaching and Hippocrates condemne you for linking labour with hunger a thing by him in his aphorismes forbid The third consideratiō is not to eate streight after the exercise before the bodie be reasonably setled Yet corpulent carcases which labour to be lightened of their cariage be allowed their vittail though they be puffing hoat The cause why this distance betwene mouing and meate is enioyned is this for that the bodie is still a clearing while it is yet hoat and the excrementes be but fleeting so that neither the partie can yet be hungrie nor the heat entend digestion Whervpon they counsell him that is yet hoat after exercise neither to wash himselfe in cold water nor to drinke wine nor cold water Bycause washing will hurt the open body wine will streight waye steeme vp into the head cold water will offend the belly and lyver yea sometime gaule the sinewes nay sometime call for death What houres of the daie were best for exercise the auncient Physicians for their soile in their time and to their reason appointed it thus In the spring about noone for the temperatenesse of the aire in sommer in the morning to preuent the heat of the daie in haruest and winter towardes night bycause the morninges be cold the dayes short and to be employed otherwise and the meat before that time will
lightly be well digested But now in our time the diet being so farre altered and neuer a circumstance the same no time is fitter for excercise then the morninge somewhat before meate though we entreat the Muses not to wonder and muse at it that we be so boulde with our and their common friend I meane the morning seeing we seeke to haue learning and health ioyned together Which falling both most fit in the morning doth lend vs an argumēt to proue that they were ill sundred whom the samenes of time so vniteth together In the morning the bodie is light being deliuered of excrementes strong after sleepe free from common lettes and without any perill of indigestion all which fall out quite contrarie in the euening If any writer allow any other houre after meate it is in some extremitie of sicknesse not in respect of exercise as when the weather is most lowring and children most heauie and dumpish why is not then the fittest time to play by chearing the minde to lighthen the bodie Chapter 33. Of the quantitie that is to be kept in exercise ALL they which vse exercises vse them either not so much as they should and that doeth small good or more then they should and that doeth much harme or so as they should and that doeth much good Wherupon he that hath skill to crie ho when he is at the height of his exercise wherwith nature feeleth her selfe to be best content knoweth best wherein the best measure consisteth But how may one know the verie pitche in exercise and when it were best for one to crie ho principally by these two generall limittes Wherof the first is when a vapour mingled with sweat is sensibly perceiued to proceede from the bodie when the vaines begin to swell and the breathing to alter For wheras the ende of exercise is to strengthen the bodie and to encrease the naturall heat whereby the wholesome iuyce is digested and distributed to the nurriture of the other partes and vnprofitable residences discharged if the exercise come not to these degrees of sweat swelling and breathing it is to weake to worke those effectes which it doth vndertake The second generall limit is to continue the exercise so long as the face and bodie shall haue a fresh colour the motion shalbe quicke and in proportion and no wearynesse worth the speaking shalbe felt For if the colour begin to faint or the bodie to be gaunt or wearynesse to wring or the motion to shrinke or the sweat to alter in qualitie from hoat to cold in quantitie from more to lesse which should naturally encrease with the exercise then crie ho for feare of thinning the bodye to much of consuming the good and ill iuyces together of weakning the naturall heat of destroying in steade of strengthning bycause these be euident shewes that the bodie wasteth cooleth and dryeth more then it should Now as these be generall staies not to proceede further but to rest when we are well so there be other more particuler wherein there is regard to be had to the strength or weakenes of the partie to the age to the time of the yeare to the temperature of the body to the kinde of life For in all these measure is a mery meane and immoderatenes a remeadilesse harme They that be of good strength may continue longer in exercise then any other without some great occasion to the contrary though they faint and feele some litle lassitude and wearines bycause they will quickly recouer themselues Those that be but weake must exercise but a while bycause any small taint in them is long and hard to be recouered and therefore their limit is to be warme and to be ware of sweating As touching the difference in age Olde men yea though they vse the same exercises wherewith they were acquainted when they were yong yet must leaue ear they either sweat or begin to be wearie bycause they are drye and wythered Men of middle age must of necessitie keepe the meane lymit bycause too much offendes them to litle doth them litle good both hinder the state of their bodies Youth from seuen till one and twenty will abyde much exercising very well wherefore they are allowed without daunger to be hoat and chafe to puffe and blow to sweat to be wearie also to some degree of lassitude for being full of excrementes by reason of ther reacheles diet they finde great ease in labour and sweat and being strong withall a litle wearines makes them litle worse And yet there must be great eye had to them that they keepe within compasse and so much the more the lesse they be aboue seuē yeare old For too much exercise in those yeares marres their growing and alters the constitution of their bodies to the worse For the time of the yeare In Winter the exercise may be great till the body be hotte but yet sweat not lest the cold do harme In the Spring more euen till it sweat in the Haruest lesse in the Sommer least because the ayre which enuironeth the body doth then of it selfe so wearie and weaken it as it needeth neither sweating nor heating nor wearying with exercise wherein Hippocrates and his Phisicke will preuaile against Aristotle and his Philosophie For the temperature of the body Moyst bodies may abide much exercise by much stirring to drie vp much moisture so that they may sweat and yet they must take heede of wearynes Dry bodies may very ill away with any exercise and if with any it must be such as will neither cause heat nor sweat Could bodies may moue till they be throughly warme Hoat bodies must be deintily delt withall For heat sweat and great chaunge of their breathing be enemies to their complexion Hoat and dry for feare of encreasing their qualities to much must be content with either no exercise at all or with verie litle Cold and dry may abyde stirring in respect of their coldnes till they be warme but for feare of ouerdrying they must not venture vpon sweat Hoat and moyst must vse moderate exercise bycause to litle dyminisheth not their superfluous moysture to much melteth to fast and warmth to much Whereupon daungerous flixes ensue so that they must needes auoid great alteration of breath and to much warmeth Cold and moyst may exercise them selues till they blow till they be hoat and till they sweat To be short of any constitution this may best abide exercise to emptie it of needelesse humors to stirre the natural heat and to procure perfit digestion Sickemen may not dreame of any definite quantitie in their exercises bycause according to the variety of their infirmities both their exercises and the quantities thereof must be proportionally applyed so that there can be no certaine rule set for thē Such as be newly recouered from sicknes or that be on the mending hand bycause their strength is feeble their heat weake their lymes dryed vp must content themselues with small and competent exercise for
feare of no small inconuenience Their limit therfore must be to stirre but not to change breath to warme but not to heat to labour but not to be wearie yet as their health growes their exercise may encrease For the kinde of life Such as liue moderately and with great continencie though they be not full of superfluities and therfore neede not exercise much yet they must not abandon it quite least their bodies for want therof becomming vnweildie lease both the benefit of naturall heat and good constitution and auoid not such residence as of force breedes in them and in the ende will cause some sicknes crepe on which comes without warning bycause Iupiter as both Hesiode sayeth and Plutarch subscribeth hath cut her toungue out least she tell when she comes for that he would haue her come stealing eare she be perceiued as Galene also maketh the litle vnperceiued or for the smallnesse contemned to be mother to all illes both of bodie and soule Incontinence breedes much matter for exercise and therefore requireth much cheifly to procure sound sleepe the captaine cause of good digestion Such as haue not vsed exercises before and be nouices in the trade must first be purged then by meane and moderate ascents day by day be well applyed till they come to that degree wherein those are which haue bene acquainted therewith before But in all those degrees and mediocrities immoderate exercise must alway be eschewed as a very capitall enemie to health causing children not to prosper nor grow lustie men to fall into vnequall distemperatures and oftimes agues oldmen to become dry and ouerwearied To conclude who is it to whom it doth not some harme and from whom it keepeth not some great good These be the tokens whereby immoderate exercises be discerned if ye feele your ioyntes to be very hoat if you perceiue your body to be dry and vnequall if in your trauell you feele some pricking in your flesh as if it were of some angrie push if after sweating your colour become pale if you finde your selfe faint and wearie more then ordinary which wearines fayntnesse and pricking occupy the credit of a great circumstance in physicke of Galene and greeke physicianes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the latines and our Linacer lassitudines and come vpon dissolution and thinning of grosse humours being to many at that time to cleare the body of and pricking as they passe like some angrie bile within the body whereby the body is both forced to make an end of exercise withall is verie wearysome and stif oftymes after Chapter 34. Of the maner of exercising GAlene in the second booke of his preseruatiue to health knitteth vp three great thinges in verie few wordes that who so can handle the exercises in due maner with the apotherapeutike or gouerning the body after exercise and his frictions to rubbe it and chafe it as it should be is an absolute trayner in his kinde Wherein we may see the vse of chafing and rubbing the body both to be verie auncient and very healthfull to warme the outward partes to open the passages for superfluitie and to make one actiue and chearie to deale with any thing afterward It hath his place euery day at tymes euery yeare in seasons altering vpon circumstance but still both needefull and healthfull and clearith where it chafeth For the apotherapeutike much hath bene saide already wherefore this place must serue peculiarly for the maner of exercising They of old time to whom these rules were first giuen hauing all thinges at their will and sparing for no cost neither straited for want of time which they disposed as they listed and to whom the traine bycause of their libertie leasure was properly bequeathed did vse many circumstances both ear they entred into their exercise and when they were in it and also after that they had ended it ear they went to meat Which their curious course I will briefly runne through onely to let them see it which can do no more but see it bycause the circumstances of our time will skant suffer any to assay it After that they felt their former meat fully digested and had at leysure performed what belonged to the purging of their bodies they disrobed themselues and were chafed with a gentle kinde of rubber till that the freshnes of their colour and agilytie of their ioyntes seemed to call for exercise Then were they oynted with sweete oyle so neatly with such cunning as it might sooke into their bodies and search euerie ioynt That being done if they ment to wrastle they threw dust vpon the oyntment if not they went to the exercise which they had most fansie vnto which being ended they rested a while then with certaine scrapers called Strigiles they had all their filth scrapte of their bodies afterward they were chafed and rubbed againe then oynted also againe either in the Sunne or by the fire Then to the bath last of all apparelling themselues they fell to their meat And this was not one or two nor men of might alone but euery one and of euery sort nay shall I say it euen of euery sex A long and a laboriouse trauell an argument of much ease and to much adoe in that which should be more common But in these our dayes considering we neither haue such places wherin nor the persons by whose helpe nor the leasure by whose sufferance we maye entend so delicate a tendring of our selues and yet for all that may not neglect so great a misterie for our owne health as exercise is though we cannot reatch to the olde which perhaps we neede not smaller prouision and simpler fourniture will serue our turne and worke the same effectes nay may fortune better by helpe of some circunstance peculiar to our selues Therefore for our maner and order of exercise these few and easie considerations may seeme to be sufficient To cleare our bodies from superfluities echewaye to combe our heades to wash our handes and face to apparell our selues for the purpose to begin our exercise first slowly and so grow on quicker to rebate softly and by gentle degrees to change our sweatie clothes to walke a litle after last of all our bodies being setled to go to our meate This is that which I promised to note concerning the six circunstances of exercise Chapter 35. An aduertisement to the training maister Why both the teaching of the minde and the training of the bodie be assigned to the same maister The inconueniences which ensue where the bodie and soule be made particular subiectes to seuerall professions That who so will execute any thing well must of force be fully resolued of the excellency of his owne subiect Out of what kinde of writers the exercising maister may store himselfe with cunning That the first groundes would be laid by the cunningest workeman That priuate discretion in any executor is of more efficacie then his skill I Haue already spoken of
the parties which are to be exercised and what they are to obserue nowe must I saye somwhat of him and to him which is to direct the exercise and how he may procure sufficient knowledge wherby to do it exceeding well And yet the trainers person is but a parcell of that person whom I do charge with the whole For I do assigne both the framing of the minde and the training of the bodie to one mans charge whose sufficiencie may verie well satisfie both being so neare companions in linke and not to be vncoupled in learning The causes why I medle in this place with the training maister or rather the training parte of the common maister be these first I did promise in my methode of exercises so to do secondly the late discours of exercise will somwhat lighten this matter and whatsoeuer shall be said here may easely be reuiued there where I deale with the generall maister Beside this exercise being so great a braunche of education as the sole traine of the whole bodie maye well commaunde such a particular labour though in deede I seuer not the persons where I ioine the properties For in appointing seuerall executions where the knowledge is vnited and the successe followeth by the continuall comparing of the partes how they both maye or how they both do best proceede in their best way how can that man iudge wel of the soule whose trauell consisteth in the bodie alone or how shall he perceiue what is the bodies best which hauing the soule onely committed to his care posteth ouer the bodie as to an other mans reckening In these cases both fantsie workes affection and affection ouerweyneth either best liking where it fantsieth most or most following where it affecteth best as it doth appeare in Diuines who punish the bodie to haue the soule better and in Physicians who looke a side at the soule bycause the bodie is there best Where by the way I obserue the different effectes which these two subiectes being seuered in charge do offer vnto their professours For the health of the soule is the Diuines best both for his honest delite that it doth so well and for his best ease that himselfe faires so well For an honest vertuous godly and well disposed soule doth highly esteeme and honorably thinke of the professour of diuinitie and teacher of his religion bycause vertuous dealinges godly meditations heauently thoughtes which the one importeth be the others portion and the best food to a well affected minde Whervpon in such a healthy disposition of a well both informed and reformed soule the Diuine can neither lacke honor for his person nor substance for his purse Now to the contrarie the health of the bodie which is the Physicians subiect is generally his worst though it be the ende of his profession which though he be glad of his owne good nature as he is a man or of his good conscience as he is a Christian that the bodie doth wel yet his chymny doth not smoke where no pacient smartes For the healthfull bodie commonly careth not for the Physician it is neede that makes him sought And as the Philosopher sayeth if all men were freindes then iustice should not neede bycause no wrong would be offered so if all bodies were whole that no distemperature enforced or if the Diuine were well and duetifully heard that no intemperance distempered Physick should haue small place Now the contrary dealinges bycause the diuine is not heard and distemperature not auoided do enforce Physick for the healing parte of it as the mother of the professours gaine where as the preseruing part neither will be kept by the one neither enricheth the other In these two professions we do generally see what the seuering of such neare neighbours doth bring to passe like two tenantes in one house belonging to seuerall lordes And yet the affections of the one so tuch the other as they cause sometimes both the Diuine to thinke of the body for the better support of the soule and the Physician to thinke of the soule to helpe him in his cure with comfort and courage The seuering of those two sometime shew vs verie pitifull conclusions when the Diuine diliuers the desperate sicke soule ouer to the secular magistrate and a forcible death by waye of punishement and the Physician deliuereth the desperate sicke bodie to the Diuines care and a forced ende by extremitie of disease I dare not saye that these professions might ioyne in one person and yet Galene examining the force which a good or ill soule hath to imprint the like affections in the bodie would not haue the Physiciā to tarie for the Phylosopher but to play the parte himselfe Where to much distraction is and subalterne professions be made seuerall heads there the professions make the most of their subiectes the subiectes receiue least good though they parte from most And seuerall professing makes the seuerall trades to swell beyond proportion euerie one seeking to make the most of his owne nay rather vanting his owne as simply the highest though it creepe very low And therefore in this my traine I couch both the partes vnder one maisters care For while the bodie is committed to one and the soule commended to an other it falleth out most times that the poore bodie is miserably neglected while nothing is cared for but onely the soule as it proueth true in very zealous Diuines and that the soule it selfe is but sillyly looked to while the bodie is in price and to much borne with as is generally seene and that in this conflicte the diligent scholer in great strength of soule beares most what about him but a feeble weake and a sickish bodie Wherefore to haue the care equally distributed which is due to both the partes I make him but one which dealeth with both For I finde no such difficultie but that either for the cunning he may compasse it or for the trauell he maye beare it hauing all circunstances free by succession in houres Moreouer as the temperature of the soule smelleth of the temperature of the bodie so the soule being well affected will draw on the bodie to her bent For will a modest and a moderate soule but cause the body obey the rule of her temperance or if the soule it selfe be reclaymed from follie doth it not constraine the bodie forth with to follow So that it were to much to sunder them in charge whose dispositions be so ioyned and the skill of such facilitie as may easely be attained and so much the sooner bycause it is the preseruing parte which requireth most care in the partie and but small in the trainer as the healinge part of Physicke requireth most cunning in the professour and some obedience in the patient I do make great account of the parties skill that is to execute matters which besides diligence require skill for if he be skilfull himselfe it almost needes not to giue precept If he be not
so euer concerneth the whole Gymnasticall and exercising argument whose aduice in this question I haue my selfe much vsed where he did fit my purpose By these reasons I do see and by some proofe I haue found that the waye to be skilfull in the preseruatiue part of Physick and so consequently in exercises as the greatest member therof is very ready and direct bycause it is so plaine so large and with all so pleasant as it is also most honorable bycause it seekes to saue vs from that which desireth our spoile And therefore this execution requireth a liberall courage where the gaine is not great but the disposition much praised The repairers get the pence the preseruers reason faire And as the effect commendes the knowledge so being of it selfe thus necessarie for all a student may with great credit trauell in the cunning if it were for no more but to helpe his owne health and vpon better affection or some gainfull offer to empart it with other For to helpe himselfe he is bound in nature and will do it in deede to do good to all if he may he is bound by dutie and so sure he ought But to helpe as many as he may and himselfe to what nature can but loue what dutie can but like chiefly where the thing which he must do may be done with ease and the good which he shall do shall gaine him praise besides the surplus of profit Some will say perhaps to traine vp children what needes so much cunning or in so petie a matter what needes so much labour Though I entreat of it here where it first beginnes yet it stretcheth vnto all both ages and persons neither is the matter so meane which is the readiest meane to so great a good but if it were meane the meanest matter requireth not the meanest maister to haue it well done and the first groundworke would be layd by the best workeman For who can better teach to reade then he which for skill can commaund the language And what had more neede to be exactly done then that principle which either marreth the whole sequele with insufficiencie or maketh all sound being it selfe well layd The thing you will graunt to be of such efficacie such an excutor you despaire of such a man may be had nay a number of such may be had if recompence be prouided to answere such sufficiencie The common not opinion but error is he hath cunning enough for such a small trifle It is not that small which he hath that can do the thing well but your skill is small to thinke that any small skill can do any thing well He must know a great deale more then he doth which must do that well which he doth bycause store is the deliuerer of the best effectes neede which sheweth all at once is but a sorie steward and must put in band that he hath some credit though verie smal substance For the skill of the trayner I take it to be verie euident both whence it may be had and how plentiful a store house he hath for his prouision Thence he may haue the generall groundes and causes of his cunning But there is a third thing yet besides these two which is proper to his owne person which if he haue not his cunning is worth nought For though he see and embrace the worthines of his subiect though he haue gathered in his whole haruest from out of all writers yet if he want discretion how to apply it according vnto that which is most fit to the verie meanest not bowghes branches but euen the twigges and sprigges of the peâ—â—est circumstances he is no skillfull trayner but so much the more daungerous the more helpe of learning he hath which will bolden him to much Therefore of these two other pointes the one being throughly resolued on the other perfitly obtained and all the contemplatiue reasons well vnderstoode he must bend his wittes to wey the particularities whereby both the generall conclusions be brought to be profitable and his owne iudgement to be thought discrete The want of this is the cause of such a number of discoursers which swarm ech where and both like their owne choice and can say pretily well to the generall position which is not denyed to any toward youthe but they shew themselues altogither lame in the particuler applying which is a thing that attendeth onely vpon experience and yeares The hauing of it will prouide vs notable store of excellent executours to all their profites vpon whom they shall execute Aristotle the great philosopher in all his morall discourses tieth all those vertues which make mens maners praiseworthie and be subiect to circumstances to the rule of foresight and discretion whose commendation he placeth in skill of speciallities to direct mens doinges Therefore it is no dishonour to the trayner to be reclaymed vnto discretion which hath all those so many and so manerly vertues to attend vpon her traine Is not death commendable and ascribed to valiancie when it is voluntary for the common good by reason of the circumstance and the sauing of life is it not basely thought of when it had bene better spent considering the circumstance Which circumstance is the line to liue by the guide to all our doinges the tuchestone to try a contemplatiue creature from an actiue courage In the course of training a thousand difficulties not possible to be forseene by the generall direction will offer themselues and appose the maister and at the sudden must be salued What will the trainer do runne to his booke nay to his braines He must remember his rule that indiuisibles and circunstances be beyond the reach of arte and are committed to the Artificer whose discretion must helpe where arte is to weake though she giue him great light by fitting this to that when he hath found wherfore Arte setteth downe the exercise and all the knowen circunstances The person bringes with it some difficultie in execution where is the succour Arte will not relent she can not make curtsie her knees be groune stiffe and her iointes fast knit and yet curtsie there must be The Artificer must make it and assist his ladie which if she had not had a man to be her meane she her selfe would haue done all and trusting to man whom she hath made her meane why should she be deceyued and her clyentes be abused where she commendes them of trust Children that come to schoole dwel not in one house not in the same streate nay not in the same towne they cannot lightly come at one houre they be not of one age nor fit for one exercise and yet they must haue some The arte knoweth my child no more then my neighbours but the trainer must and stay those vncertainties vpon the arrest of discretion being enstructed afore hand in the generall skill though bound but of voluntarie as the like cause shall lead the like case The rule is no noysome sauour
if it maintaine it felfe with any more then bare mediocritie both of learning and iudgement when it is at the hyest let him that hath shewed more giue charge to the chalenge And yet some one young mans odnesse though it be odde in deed ouerthroweth not the question And oftimes the report of that odnesse which we see not in effect but heare of in speeche falles out very lame if the reporters iudgement be aduisedly considered though for the authoritie and countenaunce of the man skill giue place to boldnesse and silence to ciuilitie which otherwise would replie against it There is no comparison betwene the two kindes set affection apart If the priuate pupill chaunce to come to speake it falleth out most-what dreamingly bycause priuitie in traine is a punishment to the toungue and in teaching of a language to exclude companions of speeche is to seeke to quenche thrist and yet to close the mouth so as no moysture can get in If he come to write it is leane and nothing but skinne and commonly bewrayes great paines in the maister which brought forth euen so much being quite reft of all helping circunstance to ease his great labour by his pupilles conferēce with more companie Which is but a small benefit to the child that might haue had much more if his course had bene chaunged He can but vtter that which he heares he heares none but one which one though he know all yet can vtter but litle bycause what one auditorie is two or three boyes for a learned man to prouoke him to vtteraunce If he trauelled to vtter and one of iudgement should stand behinde a couert to heare him methinke he should heare a straunge orator straining his pipes to perswade straung people and the boye if he were alone fast a sleepe or if he had a fellow playing vnder the bourd with his hand or feete hauing one eye vpon his talking maister and the other eye on his playing mate If the nyne Muses and Apollo their president were painted vpon the wall he might talke to them with out either laughing or lowring they would serue him for places of memorie or for hieroglyphicall partitions If he that is taught alone misse as he must often hauing either none or verie small companie to helpe his memorie which multitude serues for in common scholes where the hearing of many confirmes the sitter by shall he runne to his maister if he do that boldly it will breede contempt in the ende if he do it with feare it will dull him for not daring And though it be verie good for the child not to be afrayd to aske counsell of his maister in that where he doubteth yet if he finde easie entertainment he will doubt still rather then do his diligence not to haue cause to doubt If the priuate scholer proue cunninger afterward then I conceiue he can be by priuate education there was some forreine helpe which auaunced him abroad it was not his traine within being tyed to the stake which offereth that violence to my assertion But what leades the priuate and why is it so much vsed there must needes be some reason which alieneth the particular parente from the publike discipline which I do graunt to very great ones bycause the further they rise from the multitude in number and aboue them in degree the more priuate they grow as in person so in traine and the prince himselfe being one and singular must needes embrace the priuate discipline wherin he sheweth great valure in his person if by priuate meanes he mount aboue the publike And yet if euen the greatest could haue his traine so cast as he might haue the companie of a good choice number wherein to see all differences of wittes how to discerne of all which must deale with all were it any sacrilege But for the gentleman generally which flyeth not so high but fluttereth some litle aboue the ordinarie common why doth he make his choice rather to be like them aboue which still grow priuater then to like of them below which can grow no lower and yet be supporters to stay vp the whole and liker to himselfe then he is to the highest To haue his child learne better maners and more vertuous conditions As bad at home as abroad and brought into schooles not bred there To auoide confusion and multitude His child shall marke more and so proue the wiser the multitude of examples being the meanes to discretion Nay in a number though he finde some lewd whom to flie he shall spie many toward whom to follow and withall in schooles he shall perceaue that vice is punished and vertue praised which where it is not there is daunger to good manners but not in schooles where it is very diligently obserued bycause in publike view necessitie is the spurre To keepe him in health by biding at home for feare of infection abroad Death is within dores and dainties at home haue destroyed more children then daunger abroad Doth affection worke stay and can ye not parte from your childes presence That is to fond And any cause else admittes controwlement sauing onely state in princes children and princelike personages which are to farre aboue the common by reason of great circunstance And yet their circunstance were better if they saw the common ouer whom they command and with due circumspectnesse could auoid all daungers whervnto the greatest be commonly subiect by great desires not in themselues to haue but in others that hope which make the greatnesse of their gaine their colour against iustice where they iniurie most It is enough that is ment though I say no more besides that by a Persian principle the seldome seing in princes workes admiration the more when they are to be seene Vse common scholes to the best ioyne a tutor to your childe let Quintilian be your guide all thinges will be well done where such care is at hand and that is much better done which is done before witnes to encourage the childe Comparisons inspire vertues hearing spreads learning one is none and if he do something at home what would he do with company It is neuer settled that wanteth an aduersarie to quicken the spirites to stirre courage to finde out affections For the maisters valew which is content to be cloistered I will say nothing entertainement makes digressions euen to that which we like not But if it would please the priuate parent to send his sonne with his priuate maister to a common schoole that might do all parties verie much good For the schole being well ordered and appointed for matter and maner to learne where number is pretended to cumber the maister and to mince his labour so as ech one can haue but some litle though his voice be like the Sunne which at one time with one light shineth vpon all yet the priuate scholer by the helpe of his priuate maister in the common place hath his full applying and the whole
writers of that time whence we prescribe shall easily bewray where in the auncient discipline trauelled To alledge the Romain for learning is to alledge nothing whose cunning Virgile describeth to lye in gouernement and conquestes remitting other faculties to other people For till the forreine learning in latter yeares was translated into their toungue of themselues they had litle Rhetoricke poetrie historie ciuill lawe and some petie treatises of Philosophie and Physicke were the Romaines learning Some one or two as Gallus Figulus were noted for the Mathematicalles as many yeares after them Iulius Firmicus some architecture Mathematicke in Vitruuius But their owne stories can tell what an afterdeale in the wynning of Syracusae Archimedes by those faculties put Marcellus their generall vnto which yet was as carefull to haue saued Archimedes if the rashnesse of a rude soldiar had not preuented his proclamation as Demetrius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was to saue Protogenes at Rhodes After the state was brought to a monarchie the Greekes ouerlaid their learning as it appeareth from Dionysius of Halycarnassus and Strabo which were in Augustus Caesars time downe still in a number of most notable Grecians which serued that state continually both for training vp their young Emperours and for all other kinde of learning so that the authoritie of the Mathematicall must be fetcht frō the Grekes though they themselues borowed the matter of other nations were founders onely to language methode those faculties which serue for the direction of language For Philosophie to haue the third place it will be easily obtained though there be some pretended doubt in the order of the partes for the training We vse to set young ones to the morall and politike first and reason against Aristotles conclusion that a young stripling is a fit hearer of morall Philosophie But Aristotle himselfe being well brought vp in the Mathematicalles placeth naturall Philosophie next vnto them as very intelligible vnto very young heades by reason of their necessarie consequence Theoreticall consideration Wheras the other partes being subiect to particular circunstance in life are to be reserued for elder yeares For not onely the Philosophicall resolution but also the very religious was in the best and eldest time to cause youth abide long in study and to forbeare publike shew till it were very late To make Logicke and Rhetoricke serue to those vses and in those places where I appointed them was no absurdity For Rhetoricke there will be small contradiction though declamations and such exercises seeme to make some further claime Pythagoras his fiue yeares silence hath a meaning that ye heare sufficiently eare ye speake boldly And Socrates that great maister in Plato calleth Logicke the ridge or toppe of the Mathematicalles as then to succeede when they were gotten and good reason why bycause their methode in teaching and order in prouing did bring forth Logicke As he that will make Plato the example to Aristotles preceptes shall easily perceaue For Diuinitie Lawe and Physicke to haue their owne colledges for their full exercises and better learning then now thus to haue their studētes scattered it is a thing that implyeth no great repugnaunce with any reason and is not without president As for the Lawe if the whole studie were made one and whatsoeuer appertaineth to that profession for either Ecclesiasticall or Temporall vse were reduced into one body had our countrey any cause to complaine or but great cause to be very glad wheras now three seuerall professiōs in lawe bewraye a three headed state one English French an other Romish Imperiall the third Romish ecclesiasticall where meere English were simply our best I shall not neede to say any more herein but onely giue occasion to those which can iudge and helpe it to thinke of the position the distraction of temporall ciuill and Canon lawe being in many pointes very offensiue to our countrey Some difficultie there will be to winne a colledge for such as shall afterward passe to teach in schooles There is no diuerting to any profession till the student depart from the colledge of Philosophie thence he that will go to Diuinitie to Lawe to Physicke may yet with great choise to haue the fittest according to the subiect He that will to the schoole is then to diuert In whom I require so much learning to do so much good as none of the other three honour alway reserued to the worthinesse of the subiect which they professe can chalenge to himselfe more either for paines which is great or for profit which is sure or for helpe to the professions which haue their passage so much the pleasaunter the forwarder studentes be sent vnto them and the better subiects be made to obay them as the scholing traine is the trak to obedience And why should not these men haue both this sufficiencie in learning and such roome to rest in thence to be chosen and set forth for the common seruice be either children or schooles so small a portion of our multitude or is the framing of young mindes and the training of their bodies so meane a point of cunning be schoolemaisters in this Realme such a paucitie as they are not euen in good sadnesse to be soundly thought on If the chancell haue a minister the belfray hath a maister and where youth is as it is eachwhere there must be trainers or there will be worse He that will not allow of this carefull prouision for such a seminarie of maisters is most vnworthy either to haue had a good maister him selfe or herafter to haue a good one for his Why should not teachers be well prouided for to continue their whole life in the schoole as Diuines Lawyers Physicians do in their seuerall professions Thereby iudgement cunning and discretion will grow in them and maisters would proue olde men and such as Xenophon setteth ouer children in the schooling of Cyrus Wheras now the schoole being vsed but for a shift afterward to passe thence to the other professions though it send out very sufficient men to them it selfe remaineth too too naked considering the necessitie of the thing I conclude therfore that this trade requireth a particular college for these foure causes First for the subiect being the meane to make or mar the whole frye of our state Secondly for the number whether of them that are to learne or of them that are to teache Thirdly for the necessitie of the profession which maye not be spared Fourthly for the matter of their studie which is comparable to the greatest professions for language for iudgement for skil how to traine for varietie in all pointes of learning wherin the framing of the minde and the exercising of the bodie craueth exquisite consideration beside the staidnes of the person These seuen colledges being so set vp and bearing the names of the thinges which they professe for Toungues for Mathematickes for Philosophie for Traine for Physicke for Lawe for
syllabes is to be learned of them to auoid mistiming as the wise writer Horace pointeth the poet therfore first to frame the tender mouth of the yong learner Moreouer some verie excellent places most eloquently and forcibly penned for the polishing of good manners and inducement vnto vertue may be pickt out of some of them and none more then Horace We may therefore either vse them with that choice or helpe the point our selues if we thinke it good and can pen a verse that may deserue remembraunce Such an helpe did Apollinarius offer vnto his time as Sozomenus and Socrates the scholer report in their ecclesiasticall histories For Iulian the renegate spiting at the great learning of Basill Gregorie Apollinarie and many moe which liued in that time which time was such a breeder of learned men as in Christian matters religion we reade none like by decree excluded the christian mens Children from the vse of prophane learning wherin the christian diuines were so cunning as they stopt both his and his fauorites mouthes with their owne learning they passed them all so farre Then Apollinarius conueighed into verses of all sortes after the imitation of all the best prophane poetes diuine and holy argumentes gathered out of scripture whereby he met with Iulianes edict and furnished out his owne profession with matter and argument of their owne Now in misliking of profane arguments some such helpe may be had appropriate to our youth But there must be heede taken that we plant not any poeticall furie in the childes habit For that rapt inclination is to ranging of it selfe though it be not helpt forward where it is and would not in any case be forced where it is not For other writers number and choice of wordes smoothnes and proprietie of composition with the honestie of the argument must be most regarded Quintilianes rule is very true and the verie best and alway to be obserued in chusing of writers for children to learne to picke out such as will feede the wit with fairest stuffe and fine the toungue with nearest speach So that neither slight and vnproper matters though eloquentlie set foorth neither weightie and wise being rudely deliuered be to be offered to children but where the honestie and familiaritie of the argument is honored and apparelled with the finesse fitnes of speach Which thing if it be lookt vnto in planting vniformitie and pointing out fit bookes besides many and infinite commodities which will grow thereby to the whole realme assuredly the multitude of many needelesse volumes will be diminished and cut of So that vniformitie in schooling may seeme very profitable seeing it will supplant so great defectes as the likelyhood giues and plant the redresse which in nature it importeth besides that which the common weale doth gaine by acquainting yong wittes euen from their cradeles both to embrace and apply orderly vniformnes which in thinges subiect to sense is delitefull to behold in comprehensions of the minde is comfortable to thinke on in executions and effectes is the staie whereon we stand and the steddiest recourse to correct errors by I am led by these reasons and many the like to thinke that either nothing in deede or very litle in shew can iustly be alleaged to the contrary but that such an order must needes be verie profitable to giue schooles a purgatiō to voide them of some great inconueniences as I take the thing also to be verie compassable if authoritie shall like of it without which any opinion is but shewed and dieth without effect I entend my selfe by the grace of God to bestow some paines therein if I may perceiue any hope to encourage my trauell If any other will deale I am ready to staie and behold his successe if none other will then must I be borne with which in so necessarie a case do offer to my countrie all my duetifull seruice Wherein if any vpon some repining humor shall seeme to stomake me bycause being one perhaps meaner then he is himselfe I do thus boldly auaunce my doinges to the stage and view of my countrie yet till he step foorth shew vs his cunning he hath no wrong offred him if another do speake while he wilbe silent And whosoeuer shall deale in generall argumentes must be content to put vp those generall pinches which repining people do vse then most when they are best vsed and esteeme it some benefit when doing well he heareth ill and thinke that he hath gotten a great victorie if he please the best and profit the most as he may profit all and yet displease many either through ignorance bycause they cannot discerne or through willfulnes being wedded to preiudice or ells through disdaine bycause it spiteth some to see other aboue spite A disease proper to basest dispositions and of meanest desert to pinch the heele where they pricke at the head But such as meane to do well how souer their power perfourme so the height of their argument ouertop not their power to farre and discouer great want of discretion in medling with a matter to much surmounting their abilitie they may comfort and encourage themselues with that meaning if their doing do answere it in any resonable proportion and thinke it a thing as it is in deede naturally and daily accompanying all potentates either in person or propertie therefore no disgrace to any meaner creature to wrastle with repyning sowre spirites euen verie then when they worke them most good which are readyest to repine If the doinges be massiue they will beare a knocke if they be but slender will streight way bruse beware the warranting As in this my labour I dare warrant nothing but the warines of good will which euen ill wil shall see if it haue any sight to see that is right as commonly that way it is starke blinde somuch the more incurablely by cause the blindnes comes either of vnwillingnes to see or of an infected sight that will misconsture depraue the obiect I craue the gentle friendly construction of such as be learned or that loue learning yet I neede not craue it by cause learning that is sound in deede needes no bolstering and all her louers and fauorers be verie liberall of friendly constructiō nothing partiall to speake the best euē where it is not craued I must pray if prayer will procure it the gentle and curteouse toleration of such as shall mislike For as I will not willingly do that which may deserue misliking so if I once know wherein I will satisfie throughly And therefore in one word I must pray my louing countriemen and friendly readers this to thinke of me that either I shall hit as my hope is and then they shall enioy it or if I misse I will amend and my selfe shall not repent it The second remedie to helpe schoole inconueniences was to set downe the schoole ordinaunces betwene the maister and his scholers in a
parentes which may change where they like not if I should here a young gentleman say he was driuen from schoole he should not driue me from mine opinion but that there was follie in the parentes and he had his will to much followed if his parentes had the training of him or that his gardian gaue to much to his owne gaine and to litle to his wardes good if he were not himselfe some hard head besides and set light by learning as a bootie but for beggers For gentlenesse and curtesie towarde children I do thinke it more needefull then beating and euer to be wished bycause it implyeth a good nature in the child which is any parentes comfort any maisters delite And is the nurse to liberall wittes the maisters encouragement the childes ease the parentes contentment the bannishment of bondage the triumph ouer torture and an allurement to many good attemptes in all kinde of schooles But where be these wittes which will not deserue and that very much and where much deseruing is who is so shamles as to deny correction which by example doth good helpes not the partie offender alone Giue me meane dispositions to deserue they shall neuer complaine of much beating but of none I dare not say bycause insolent rechelessenes will grow on in the very best and best giuen natures where impunitie profers pardon eare the fault be committed My selfe haue had thousandes vnder my hand whom I neuer bet neither they euer much needed but if the rod had not bene in sight and assured them of punishment if they had swarued to much they would haue deserued And yet I found that I had done better in the next to the best to haue vsed more correction and lesse curtesie after carelessenesse had goten head Wherfore I must needes say that in any multitude the rod must needes rule and in the least paucitie it must be seene how soeuer it sound Neither needeth a good boye to be afraid seeing his fellow offender beaten any more then an honest man though he stand by the gallowes at the execution of a fellon This point for punishment must the maister set downe roundly and so as he meaneth in deede to deale bycause the pretence is generally not so much for beating as for to sore beating which being in sight the conclusion is soone made and he that will preuent that sore may see that set downe which is thought sufficient Whervnto if the parent submit himselfe in consent and his childe in obedience the bargain is thorough if not there is no harme done If the schoole rest vpon the maister alone thus must he do if he meane to do well and to continue freindship where he meanes to do good If it be some free foundacion the founders must ioyne with the maister if they meane that the frute of their cost shalbe commodious to their cuntrey Leaue nothing to had I wist where ye may aunswere ye wist it When any extraordinary fault breaketh out as Solon said of parricide that he thought there was none such in nature conference with the parent and euident proofe before punishment will satisfie all parties And euer the maister must haue a fatherly affectiō euen to the vnhappyest boye and thinke the schoole to be a place of amendment and therfore subiect to misses For the maisters yeares I leaue that to the admitters as I do his alonenesse Sufficiency of liuing wil make mariage most fit where affection to their owne worketh fatherlynesse to others insufficiencie of liuing will make a sole man remoue sooner bycause his cariage is small Most yeares should be most fit to gouerne both for constantnesse to be an ancker for leuitie to ride at which is naturally in youth and for discretion and learning which yeares should bring with them But bycause there be errours I leaue this to discretion The admitters to schooles haue a great charge and ought to proue as curious as the very best Godfathers whose charge yet is farre greater then the account of it is made among common persons These thinges do I take to be very necessarie meanes to helpe many displeasures wherwith schooling is anoyed and to plant pleasure in their place And yet when all is done the poore teacher must be subiect to as much as the sunne is to shine ouer all and yet see much more then he can amend as the diuine is which for all his preaching cannot haue his auditorie perfit as the Prince is who neither for reward nor penalty can haue generall obedience The teachers life is painfull and therfore would be pityed it is euidently profitable and therfore would be cherished it wrastles with vnthankfullnesse aboue all measure and therefore would be comforted with all encouragement One displeased parent will do more harme vpon a head if he take a pyrre at some toy neuer conferring with any but with his owne cholere then a thousand of the thankfullest will euer do good though it be neuer so well deserued Such small recompence hath so great paines the very acquaintance dying when the child departes though with confessed deserte and manifest profit Such extreme dealing will furie enforce where there is no fault but that conceit surmiseth vnwilling to examine the truth of the cause and lother to reclame as vnwilling to be seene so ouershot by affection This very point wherby parentes hurte themselues in deede and hinder their owne though they discourage teachers would be looked vnto by some publike ordinaunce that both the maisters might be driuen to do well if the fault rest in them and the parentes to deale well if the blame rest there considering the publike is harmed where the priuate is vncharmed to ende it in meter as my president is But in the beginning of this argument I did protest against Philip Melanchthons miseries and therefore I will go no further seeing what calling is it which hath not his cumbat against such discurtesies The prouerbe were vntrue if man should not be as well a wolfe to man as he is tearmed a God and did not more harme in vnkyndenesse then good in curtesie so maruelosly fraught with ill and good both as Plinie cannot iudge whether nature be to a man a better mother or a bitterer stepdame But patience must comfort where extremitie discourageth and a resolute minde is a rempare to it selfe vpon whom as Horace saith though the whole world should fall it might well crush him perforce but not quash him for feare Chapter 44. That Conference betwene those which haue interest in children Certainetie of direction in places where children vse most and Constancie in well keeping that which is certainely appointed be the most profitable circumstances both for vertuous manering and cunning schooling OF all the meanes which pollicie consideration haue deuised to further the good training vp of children either to haue them well learned or vertueously manered I see none cōparable to these three pointes conference betwene those persons
the children as by a troden path how to come thither as their iourney lieth it disburdeneth the maisters heade whē that is in writing which he was in waying and when experience by oft trying hath made the habitable to march on of itselfe without any reuewing whereunto mutabilitie is euerie day endaungered The second point of certainetie entereth into families and priuate houses which in part I then touched when I wished the parentes so to deale at home as there might be a conformitie betwene schoole and home This point will preuent two great inconueniences euen at the first besides the generale sequele of good discipline at home For neither shall schooles haue cause to complaine of priuate corruption from home that it infecteth them when nothing is at home done or seene but that which is seemely neither shall the schooles lightly send any misdemeanour home when the childe is assured to be sharpely chekt for his ill doing if it appeare within doares This is that point which all writers that deale with the oeconomie of householdes and pollicie of states do so much respect bycause the fine blossomes of well trained families do assure vs of the swetest flowres in training vp of states for that the buddes of priuate discipline be the beauties of pollicie I shall not neede to say what a good state that familie is in where all thinges be most certainely set and most constantly kept which do belong to the good example of the heades the good following of the feete the good discipline of the whole house Though some not so resolute wittes or gredier humours will neither harken to this rule nether keepe it in their owne bycause the distemperature is both blinde and deafe where the minde is distempered violently giuen ouer either to extreame desire of gaine or to some other infirmitie which cannot stoup to staid order yet those families which keepe it finde the profitablenesse of it There children so well ordered by certaineties at home when to rise when to go to bed when and how to pray euening and morning when and how to visit their parentes ear they goe to bed after they rise ear they goe abroad when they returne home at tables about meat at meeting in dutie with officious and decent speches of course well framed and deulie called for cannot but proue verie orderly and good He that in his infancie is thus brought vp will make his owne proufe his fairest president and what housholde knoweth not this is extreame farre of from any good president Obedience towardes the prince and lawes is assuredly grounded when priuate houses be so well ordered small preaching will serue there where priuate training settes thinges so forward Being therefore so great a good it is much to be thought on and more to be called for Now can certaintie being so great a bewtifier both to publik schooles and priuate houses be but very necessary to enter the Church with children vpon holydaies to haue all the young ones of the Parish by order of the Parish set in some one place of the Church with some good ouer looking that they be all there none suffred to raunge abroad about the streates vpon any pretence that they may be in eye of parentes and parishioners that they may be attentiue to the Diuine seruice and be time learne to reuerence that wherby they must after liue I do but set downe the consideration which they will execute who shall allow of it and deuise it best vpon sight of the circunstance How other men will thinke herof I know not but sure me thinke both publikly and priuately that certaintie in direction where it may be well compassed is a merueilous profitable kinde of regiment and best beseeming children about whose bettering my trauell is employed In the very executing it sheweth present pleasure and afterward many singular profites and is in very deede the right meane to direct in vncertainties as a stayed yearde to measure flexible stuffe Bladders bullrushes helpe swimming the nurses hand the infantes going the teachers line the scholers writing the Musicians tune his learners timing what to do by following certaintie at first to direct libertie at last And he that is acquainted with certaintie of discipline in his young yeares will thinke himselfe in exile if he finde it not in age and by plaine comparisons will reclaime misorders which he likes not to such orders as he sees not Who so markes and moanes the varietie in schooling the disorder in families the dissolutenesse in Church will thinke I saye somwhat The third part of my diuision was constancie For what auaileth it to conferre about the best and to set it in certaine where mutabilitie of mindes vpon euery infirmitie either of iudgement or other circunstance is seeking to retire and to leaue that rouling which was so well rewled In this point of constancie there be but two considerations to be had the one of knowledge in the thing the other of discretion in the vse For he that is resolued in the goodnesse and pith of the thing will neuer reuolt but like a valiant general building vpō his owne knowledge is certaine to conquere what difficultie so euer would seeme to dasle his eyes or to dash his conceit It is weake ignorance that yeildes still as being neuer well setled it is pusillanimitie that faintes still not belieuing where he sees not Assured knowledge will resemble the great Emperour of all which is still the same and neuer changeth which set a lawe that yet remaines in force euen from the first among all his best and most obedient thinges The sunnes course is certaine and constantly kept The moone hath her mouing without alteration and that so certaine as how many yeares be their eclypses foretold A good thing such as wise conference is most like to bring forth would be certainly knowen and being so knowen would be constantly kept The fairest bud will bring forth no frute if it fall in the prime but being well fostered by seasonable weather it will surely proue well The greatest thinges haue a feeble footing though their perfitnesse be strong but if their meane be not constant that first feeblenesse will neuer recouer that last strength I medle not with change of states nor yet with any braunches whose particular change quite altereth the surface of any best setled state but with the training of children and the change therin which being once certaine would in no case be altered before the state it selfe vpon some generall change do command alteratiō whervnto all our schooling must be still applyed to plant that in young ones which must please in old ones As now our teaching consisteth in toungues if some other thing one daye seeme fitter for the state that fitter must be fitted fetcht in with processiō But yet in changes this rule would be kept to alter by degrees and not to rush downe at once Howbeit the nature of men is such