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
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
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
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
alloateth them the same When they haue concluded thus of their naturall abilities and so absolutely entitled them vnto all vertues they rest not there but proceede on further to their education in this sorte That as naturally euery one hath some good assigned him whervnto he is to aspire and not to cease vntill he haue obtained it onlesse he will by his owne negligence reiect that benefit which the munificence of nature hath liberally bestowed on him so there is a certaine meane wherby to winne that perfitly which nature of her selfe doth wish vs franckly This meane they call education whereby the naturall inclinations be gently caryed on if they will curteously follow or otherwise be hastened if they must needes be forced vntill they ariue at that same best which nature bendeth vnto with full saile in those fairer which follow the traine willingly in those meaner which must be bet vnto it And yet euen there where it is sorest laboured it worketh some effecte vnworthy of repentaunce and is better forced on in youth then forgon in age rather in children with feare then not in men with greife Now as the inclinations be common to both the kindes so they deuide the meane of education indifferently betwene both Which being thus as both the truth tells the ignorant and reading shewes the learned we do wel then perceaue by naturall men and Philosophicall reasons that young maidens deserue the traine bycause they haue that treasure which belongeth vnto it bestowed on them by nature to be bettered in them by nurture Neither doth religion contrarie religious nature For the Lorde of nature which created that motion to continue the consequence of all liuing creatures by succession to the like by education to the best appointing either kinde the limittes of their duetie and requiring of either the perfourmaunce therof alloweth all such ordinarie and orderly meanes as by his direction in his word may bring them both from his appointment to their perfourmance from the first starting place to the outmost gole that is vnto that good which he hath assigned them by such wayes as he hath willed them so that both by nature the most obedient seruant and by the Lorde of nature our most bountifull God we haue it in commandement not onely to traine vp our owne sex but also our female seeing he hath to require an account for naturall talentes of both the parties vs for directing them them for perfourmance of our direction The excellent effectes of those women which haue bene verie well trained do well declare that they deserue the best training which reason was my last in order but not my least in force to proue their more then common excellencie This is a point of such galancie if my purpose were to praise thē as it is but to giue precept how to make them praiseworthie as I might soner weary my selfe with reckening vp of writers and calling worthy wymen to be witnesses in their owne cause then worthely to expresse their weight and worth bycause I beleeue that to be most true which is cronicled of them I will not medle with any moe writers to whom wymen are most bound for best speaking of them and most spreading of their vertues then with one onely man a single witnes in person but aboue all singularitie in profe the learned and honest Plutarch whose name emporteth a princis treasure whose writings witnes an vnwearied trauel whose plaine truth was neuer tainted Would he so learned so honest so true so sterne haue become such a trumpet for their fame to triumph by so haue gratified that sex whom he stood not in awe of so haue beutified their doings whom he might not haue medled with so haue auaunced their honour to hasard his owne sex by setting them so hie if he had not resolutely knowne the truth of his subiect he durst be so bould with his owne Emperour the good Traian to fore his scholer in his epistle to him before his booke of gouerning the comon weale as to say call his booke to witnes thereof that if he went to gouerne and ouerthrew the state he did it not by the authoritie of Plutarch as disauowing his scholer if he departed from his lessons And would that courage haue bene forced to frame a false argument or is so great a truth not to haue so great a credit howsouer some of the lighter heades haue lewdly belyed them or vainly accused them yet the verie best and grauest writers thinke worthely of them and make report of them with honour Ariosto and Boccacio will beloth to be tearmed light being so great doctours in their diuinitie yet they be somwhat ouer heauie to wymen without any great weight as in generall the Italian writers be which in the middest of their louing leuities still glaunce at their lightnes and that so beyound all manhoode as they feele their owne fault and dispaire of reconcilement though they crie still for pardon As those men know well which will rather meruell that I haue red those bookes then mistrust my report which they know to be true In all good and generally authorised histories and in many particuler discourses it is most euident that not onely priuate and particular wymen being very well trained but also great princesses gallant troupes of the same sex haue shewed fourth in them selues meruelous effectes of vertue valure And good reason why For where naturally they haue to shew if educatiō procure shew is it a thing to be wondered at Or is their singularitie lesse in nature bycause wymen be lesse accustomed to shew it and not so commonly employed as we men be Yet whensoeuer they be by their dealinges they shew vs that they haue no dead flesh nor any base mettle Well I will knit vp this conclusion and burne day light no longer to proue that carefully which all men may see clearely and ther aduersaries grieue at bycause it confutes their follie which vpon some priuate errour of their owne to seeme fautles in wordes where they be faithles in deedes blame silly wymen as being the onely cause why they went awrie That yong maidens can learne nature doth giue them and that they haue learned our experience doth teach vs with what care to themselues them selues can best witnes with what comfort to vs what forraine example can more assure the world then our diamond at home our most deare soueraine lady princesse by nature a womā by vertue a worthy not one of the nyne but the tenth aboue the nyne to persit in her person that absolute number which is no fitter to comprehend all absolutnes in Arithmetike then she is knowne to containe al perfectiōs in nature all degrees in valure to become a president to those nyne worthy men as Apollo is accounted to the nyne famouse wymen she to vertues and vertuous men he to muses and learned wymen thereby to proue Plutarches conclusion true that oppositions of vertues
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
publicke place where they may easily be seene red and to leaue as litle vncertaine or vntoucht which the parent ought to know and whereupon misliking may arise as is possible For if at the first entry the parent condiscend to those orders which he seeth so that he cannot afterward plead eitheir ignorāce or disallowing he is not to take offence if his childe be forced vnto them when he will not follow according to that fourme which he himselfe did confirme by his owne cōsent And yet when all is done the glosse will wring the text Wherefore the maner of teaching the ascent in fourmes the times of admission the preuention to haue fourmes equall the bookes for learning and all those thinges which be incident vnto that vniformitie wherof I spake being already knowen to be ratified by authoritie as I trust it shalbe or if not yet the same order in the same degrees being set downe which the maister priuately according to his owne skill entendes to kepe it shalbe very good to take away matter of iarre betwene the parentes and the maister in the same table publickly to be seene and shewed to the parentes when they bring their child first to schoole besides all that which I haue generally touched to set downe also in plaine and flat termes what houres he will kepe by cause there is great consideration in that what to haue fixed and perpetuall and wherein to giue place to particular occasions as there be very many why all children cannot kepe all houres though the schoole houres must still be certaine and discretiō must be the determiner Againe what occasions he will vse to let them go to play which be now very many and very needefull while ordinary exercises be not as ordinarily admitted as ordinarie schooling is ordinarily allowed and such other thinges as the schoole shall seeme necessarily to require For a certaintie resolueth and preuentes douting But he must cheifly touch what punishment he will vse and how much for euery kinde of fault that shall seeme punishable by the rod. For the rod may no more be spared in schooles then the sworde may in the Princes hand By the rod I meane correction and awe if that sceptre be thought to fearfull for boyes which our time deuised not but receiued it from auncientie I will not striue with any man for it so he leaue vs some meane which in a multitude maye worke obedience For the priuate what soeuer parentes say my ladie birchely will be a gest at home or else parentes shall not haue their willes And if in men great misses deserue and receiue great punishment sure children may not escape in some qualitie of punishment which in quantitie of vnhappinesse will match some men And if parentes were as carefull to examine the causes of beating as they are nothing curious to be offended without cause for beating themselues might gaine a great deale more to their childrens good and their children lease nothing by their parentes assurance But commonly in such cases rashnesse hath her recompence the errour being then spied when the harme is incurable and repentance without redresse Terme it as ye list beate not you saye for learning but for lewdnesse Sure to beate him for learning which is willing enough to learne whē his witte will not serue were more then frantike and vnder the name of not learning to hide and shrowd all faultes and offenses were more then foolish and what would that childe be without beating which with it can hardly be reclaimed in whom onely lewdnesse is the let and capacitie is at will The ende of our shooles is learning if it faile by negligence punish negligence if by other voluntarie default punish the default Spare learning so that still the refuge must be to the maisters discretion both for manners and for learning whom I would wish to set downe as much in certaintie as he can at the beginning and to leaue as litle as he may to the childes report who will alway leane and sway to much to his owne side and beare away the bell euen against the best maister cheifly if his mother be either his counsellour or his attourney or the father vnconstant and without iudgement The maister therfore must haue in his table a catalogue of schoole faultes beginning at the commandementes for swearing for disobedience for lying for false witnesse for picking and so thorough out then to the meaner heresies trewantry absence tardies and so forth Such a thing Xenophon seemes to meane in rekening vp the faultes which the Persian vsed to punish though he limit not the penaltie what nor how much Which in all these I wish our maister to set downe with the number of stripes also immutable though not many Wherin the maister is to take good heed that the fault may be confessed if it may be without force and the boye conuicted by verdit of his fellowes and that very euidently For otherwise children will wrangle amaine and affection at home hath credulitie beyond crye which makes the boye dare what reason dare not If any of their fellowes be appointed monitours as such helpes of Lieutenauncie must be had where the maister cannot alwaye be present himselfe and take them napping they wil pretend spite or some priuate displeasure in most manifest knauerie And if ye correcte as your Lieutenant must haue credit if you meane to keepe state that must go home to proue beating without cause If the maister differre execution that delaie will enstruct them to deuise some starting hole and that also if it be not heard in schoole wilbe heard at home To tell tales out of schoole is now as commonly vsed to the worst as in the old world it was high treason to do it at all There be as many prety stratagemes and deuises which boyes will vse to saue themselues and as pleasaunt to heare as any apopthegme in either Plutarch AElianus or Erasmus The maister therefore must be very circumspecte and leaue no shew or countenaunce of impunitie deserued where desert biddes pay It were some losse of time in learning to spend any in beating if it did not seeme a gaine that soundeth towardes good and seekes amendement of manners It is passing hard to reclaime a boye in whom long impunitie hath graffed a carelesse securitie or rather some deepe insolencie and yet freindes will haue it so and beating may not be for discouraging the boye though repentaunce be in rearward It is also not good after any correctiō to let childrē grate somwhat to long of their late greife for feare of to greate stomaking onlesse the parentes be wise and stedfast with whom if a cunning and a discrete maister ioyne that childe is most fortunate which hath such parentes and that scholer most happie which hath light on such a maister But certainly it is most true let plausibilitie in speach vse all her excusing and blanching colours that she can that the round maister which