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
the iniuries and wronges therof That olde age grow not on to fast circunspectnes in diet consideration in clothes diligence in well doing wil easely prouide both for the minde not to enfect first it selfe and then the bodie and for the bodie not to enforce the minde by too impotent desires That waste weare not meat takes in chardge to supplie that is drye and decayeth drinke promiseth to restore moysture when it doth diminishe the breath it selfe and arteriall pulse looke to heating and cooling And Physick in generall professing foresight to preuent euills and offering redresse when they haue done harme so not incurable doth direct both those and all other meanes Now in all these helpes and most beneficiall aides of our afflicted nature which deuiseth all meanes to saue her selfe harmelesse and deliteth therin when she is discharged of infirmities to much stuffes and stiffles to litle straites and pines both vndoe the naturall To much meat cloyes to litle faintes both perishe the principall To much liquour drownes to litle dryes both corrupt the carcasse Heat burnes cold chilles in excesse both to much in defect both to litle and both causes to decaie Mediocritie preserueth not onely in these but in whatsoeuer els But now what place hath exercise here to helpe nature by motion in all these her workinges and wayes for health to encrease and encourage the naturall heat that it maye digest quickly and expell strongly to fashion and frame all the partes of the bodie to their naturall and best hauiour to helpe to rid needelesse and superfluous humours reffuse and reiected excrementes which nature leaues for naught when she hath sufficiently fed and wisheth rather they were seene abrode then felt within And be not these great benefites to defend the body by defeating diseases to stay the minde by strengthening of her meane to assist nature being both daily and daungerously assailed both within and without to helpe life to continue long to force death to kepe farre a loufe Now as all constitutions be not of one and the same mould and as all partes be not moued alike with any one thing so the exercises must alter and be appropriate to each that both the constitution may be continued in her best kinde and all the partes preserued to their best vse which exercises being compared among themselues one to an other be more or lesse but being applyed to the partie kepe alwayes in a meane when they meane to do good Concerning students for whose health my care is greatest the lesse they eate the lesse they neede to voide and therfore small diet in them best preuenteth all superfluities which they cannot auoide if their diet be great and their exercise small Their exercise must also be very moderate and not alter to much for feare of to great distemperature in that which must continue moderate and with all it should be ordinarie that the habit may be holesome and sudden chaunge giue no cause of greater inconuenience Wherfore to auoide distemperature the enemie to health and so consequently to life and to maintaine the naturall constitution so as it may serue to the best wherin her duetie lyeth and liue to the longest that in nature it can besides the diet which must be small as nature is a pickler and requires hut small pittaunce besides clothing which should be thin euen from the first swadling to harden and thick the flesh I do take this traine by exercise which I wishe to be ioyned with learning to be a marueilous furtherer But for diet to auoide inward daungers and clothing to auert outward iniuries and all such preuentions as are not proper to teachers though in communitie more proper then to any common man I set them ouer to parentes and other well willers which will see to them that they faile not in those thinges and if they do will fly to Physicians by their helpe to salue that which themselues may forsee For exercises I will deale which to commend more then they will commend them selues when I shall shew both what they be and the particular profites of euery one of them which I chuse from the rest were me thinke verie needlesse and cheifly to me which seeme sufficiently to praise them in that I do place them among principles of prerogatiue But as in the soule I did picke out certaine pointes whervnto I applyed the training principles so likewise in the bodie may I not also seuer some certaine partes whervnto my preceptes must principally be conformed that shall not neede For as in the soule the frute of traine doth better and make complete euen that which I tuched not and so consequētly the whole soule so in the bodie those exercises which seeme to be appointed for some speciall partes bycause they stirre those partes most do qualifie the whole bodie and make it most actiue Wherefore as there I did promise not to anatomise the soule as neither dealing with Diuines nor Philosophers so do I not here make profession to shew the anatomie of the bodie as medling neither with Physicians nor Surgeans otherwise then any of them foure can helpe me in exercise To the which effect and ende I will onely cull out from whence I can such speciall notes as both Philosophers and Phisicians do know to be most true and both the learned and vnlearned will confesse to be for them and such also as the training maisters may easely both helpe and encrease in their owne triall For both reason and rule do alwaye commaunde that the maister be by when exercise is vsed thorough whose ouerlooking the circunstance is kept which helpeth to health and the contrarie shunned which in exercise doth harme In the elder yeares reason at the elbow must serue the student as in these younger the maisters presence helpes to direct the child But to ioyne close with our traine What partes be they in our bodie vpon whom exercise is to shew this great effecte or what be the powers therof which must still be stirred so to stay and establish the perpetuitie of health not in themselues alone but in the whole bodie by them Where ioyntes be to bend where stringes to tye where synewes to stirre where streatchers to straine there must needes be motion or els stifnesse will follow and vnweildynesse withall where there be conduites to conuey the blood which warmeth canales to carie the spirite which quickneth pipes to bestow the aire which cooleth passage to dismisse execrements which easeth there must needes be spreding to kepe the currant large and eche waie open for feare of obstructions and sudden fainting Where to much must needes marre there must be forcing out where to litle must nedes lame there must be letting in where thickning threates harme there thinning fines the substance where thinning is to much there thickning must do much and to knit vp all in short all those offices whervnto our bodie serueth naturally either for inward bestowing of nurriture and maintenaunce
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
this way to the poorer sort I graunt yet that proues not but that he bestowed as great giftes of them which shewed not And that as diligence in the one did shew that they had to the glorie of the giuer and their owne praise so negligence in the other did suppresse that they had to their owne shame who neither honoured the giuer nor honested themselues nor profited their countrie So that here not the gift but the shew is brought in allegation And why not the greater talent hid seeing it is no noueltie But the other shew No more then that they haue And the other shew not No argumēt that they haue not Take order then that they shew which haue hide then make comparisons Be great giftes tied to the meane or banished from the mighty be there not as good wittes in wealth though oftimes choked with dissolutenes and negligence as there be in pouertie appearing thorough paines and diligence Nay be there not as vntoward poorelinges as there be wanton wealthlinges I know yes and when vntowardnes and an ill inclynation hittes in a base conditiō it proues more vile So that this thing turnes about to my other conclusion that neither pouertie is to be pitied more then the countrey if pitie must needes take place neither riches more to be esteemed then the common weale if wealth must needes be wayed but that the value in wittes must be heelde of most worth which hath her hauē already appointed where to harbour her selfe in maintenaunce to studie either by priuate helpe if the parents be wealthy or by publike ayde if pouertie praie for it Certainly there is great reason if euen the terme great be not to small when the thing is more then needfull and the time to preuent it is almost runne to farre why order should be taken to restraine the number that will needes to the booke For while the Church was an harbour for all men to ride in which knew any letter there needed no restraint the liuinges there were infinite and capable of that number the more drew that waye and found releife that way the better for that state which encroached still on and by clasping all persons would haue graspid all liuinges The state is now altered that book-maintenance maimed the preferment that waye hath turned a new leafe And will ye let the fry encrease where the feeding failes Will ye haue the multitude waxe where the maintenance waines Sure I conceiue of it thus that there is as great difference in ground betwene the suffring all to booke it in these dayes and the like libertie to the same number in the ruffe of the papacy amongst vs as there is betwene the two religions the one expelled and the other retained in the grounds of their kinde The expelled religion was supported by multitude and the moe had interest the moe stood for it the retained must pitch the defence of her truth in some paucity of choice seeing the liuinges are shred which should serue the great number So that our time of necessitie must restraine if not what you breede and feede not the aduersarie part will allure by liuing and arme by corrupting against their vnwise countrey which either bestowed them not at first or despised them at last Where your thankes shalbe lost which brought vp and forsooke their desert shall sinke deepe which fed the forsaken And is it not meere folly by sufferance to encrease your enemies force which you might by ordinance supplant at ease it is the booke which bredes vs enemies and causeth corruption to creepe where cunning neuer came The enemy state cared not so much for many well learned as for the multitude though vnlearned which backt much bould ignorance with a gaie surface of some small learning our state then must reiect the multitude and rēpare with the cunning Our owne time is our surest touch and our owne trouble our rightest triall if wisedome in time do not preuent it folly in triall will surely repent It is to no purpose to alledge when people see that there is no preferment to be had for all learners that then the number will decay and abate of it selfe without any lawe onelesse ye can worke so as no moe may hope though but one can hit or els if ye can appoint vs how long the controuersie for religion is like to endure For while hope is indifferent eche one will croud and while religion is in brake eche one vnder hand will furnish where he fauoreth The aduersarie of our religion as in deede he needed none so dreamed he not of any defense while he was rockt in ease and his state vnassailed by any miscontentment but now that he is skirmished with so much and so sore gauled he is driuen to studie seeketh by new coined distinctions to recouer that credite and reputation which he lost by intruding wherin as he dealeth more cūningly with the person of his aduersarie so he bewrayeth still the great auantage which his aduersaries cause hath wonne ouer his For in disputing good Logicians know that it is an euident shift to auoide manifest foile when the disputer in dispaire of his cause is forced to bend against his aduersaries person And therefore prouision must be to defend by a learned paucitie where the flocking number by reason of ingenerate wantes will proue but a scare crow and by apparent defection doth encrease the embush which lyeth still in waite to intercept our possession Thus much of Necessitie which stayeth the multitude of learners either by defect in circunstance or by law in ordinance when the parties be letted either by lack that they can not or by law that they may not lay claime to the booke Now are we come to a larger compasse where libertie giues leaue to learne if he can where forraine circumstances be free and no let for any to be learned but either his wit if he be dull or his will if he be stubburne In this kinde choise is a great prince which by great reason and good aduice abbridgeth that which is to much and culs owt the best Which choice as it begins at the entrie of the elementarie schole so it proceedeth on till the last preferment be bestowed which either the state hath in store for any person or any person can deserue for seruice in the state And therefore as it keepeth in an ordinate course so it may full well be orderly handled and by conuenient degrees But bycause the choice is to be made by the wit and the wit is to be applied to the frame state of the countrie where it continueth I will first seeke out what kinde of wit is euen from the infancie to be thought most fit to serue for this state in the learned kinde Which if it be to stirring troubleth if it be well staied setleth the countrie where it lyueth so farre as it dealeth And yet oftymes that wit maketh least shew at
the man whom I meane He that continueth it in discent from his auncestrie by desert in his owne person hath much to thanke God for and doth well deserue double honour among men as bearing the true coate of right and best nobilitie where desert for vertue is quartered with discent in blood seeing aunciencie of linage and deriuation of nobilitie is in such credit among vs and alwaye hath bene And as it is most honorable in deede thus to aunswere auncestry in all laudable vertues and noble qualities of a well affected minde so the defect in sufficiencie where some of a noble succession haue not the same successe in pointes of praise and worthinesse either naturally by simplenesse or casually by fortune though it be to be moaned in respect of their place yet it is to be excused in respect of the person Bycause the person is as his parentes begate him who had not at commaundement the discent of their vertues which made them noble as they had the begetting of a child to enherite their landes For if they had their nobilitie had continued on the nobler side But vertues and worthinesse be not tyed to the person they be Gods meere and voluntarie giftes to bestow there wheras he entendes that nobilitie shall either rise or continue and not to bestow where he meanes to abase and bring a linage lowe Wherefore to blame such wantes and raile vpon nobilitie as to much degenerate is to intrude vpon prouidence Where we cannot make our selues and may clearly see that he which maketh hath some misterie in hande where he setts such markes To exhort young men to those qualities which do make noble and gentlemen is to haue them so excellently qualified as they maye honest their countrey and honour themselues To encourage noble young gentlemen to maintaine the honour of their houses is to wish them to apply such vertues as both make base houses bigge in any degree and tofore did make their families renowmed in theirs If abilitie will attaine and idlenesse do neglecte the ignominie is theirs if want of abilitie appeare to be so great as no endeuour can preuaile God hath set his seale and men must cease to muse where the infirmitie is euident and thinke that euery beginning is to haue an ende Hereby I take it to be very plaine both what the termes of noble and gentle do meane and what they infer to be in those parties to whom they are proper For as gentility argueth a courteous ciuill well disposed sociable constitution of minde in a superiour degree so doth nobilitie import all these and much more in an higher estate nothing bastarded by great authoritie And do not these singularities deserue helpe by good and vertuous education What be the groundes and causes of nobilitie both the efficient which make it and the finall for whom it serues Concerning the efficient Though the cheife and soueraigne Prince of whom for his education I will saye somwhat herafter be the best and fairest blossom of nobilitie yet I will not medle any further with the meane to attaine vnto the dignitie of the crowne thē that it is either come by by cōquest which in meaner people is called purchace and hangeth altogether of the conquerours disposition or else by discent which in other conueyances continueth the same name and in that highnesse continueth the same lawes or altereth with consent Neither will I speake of such as the Prince vpon some priuate affection doth extraordinarily prefer Alexander may auaunce Hephestio for great good liking Assuerus Hester for great good loue Ptolome Galetes for secret vertue And vpon whom soeuer the Prince doth bestow any extraordinarie preferment it is to be thought that there is in them some great singularity wherewith their princes which can iudge be so extraordinarily moued Neither will I say any more then I haue said of nobilitie by discent which enioyeth the benefite of the predecessours vertue if it haue no priuate stuffe but if it haue it doth double and treble the honour and praise of auncestrie But concerning other causes that come by authoritie which make noble and gentlemen vnder their Prince who be therefore auaunced by their Prince bycause they do assist him in necessarie functions of his gouernment they be either single or compound depēd either holy of learning or but only for the groundes of their execution Excellent wisedome which is the meane to auaunce graue and politike counsellours is but a single cause of preferment likewise valiancie of courage which is the meane to make a noble and a warrious captaine is but a single cause of auauncement but where wisedome for counsell doth concurre with valiancie of courage in the same man the cause is compound and the deserte doubled The meanes of preferment which depend vpon learning for the ground of their execution be either Martiall for warre and defence abroad or politike for peace and tranquillitie at home For the man of warre will seeme to hange most of his owne courage and experience which without any learning or reading at all hath oftimes brought forth excellent leaders but with those helpes to most rare and famous generalles as the reason is great why he should proue an excellent man that waye with the assistance of learning which without all learning could attaine vnto so much Sylla the cruell in deede though surnamed the fortunate of such as he fauored was a noble generall without any learning But Caesar which wondred at him for it as a thing scant possible to do any great matter without good learning himselfe with the helpe of learning did farre exceede him Such as vse the penne most in helping for their parte the direction of publike gouernment or execute offices of either necessarie seruice for the state or iusticiarie for the common peace and quietnesse without profession of further learning though they haue their cheife instrument of credit from the booke yet they are not meere dettours to the booke bycause priuate industrie considerate experience and stayed aduisement seeme to chalendge some interest in their praiseworthie dealing The other which depend wholy vpō learning be most incident to my purpose and best beseeme the place where the question is how gentlemen must be trained to haue them learned The highest degree whervnto learned valure doth prefer is a wise counsellour whose learning is learned pollicie not as pollicie is commonly restrayned and opposed to plainnesse but as we terme it in learning and philosophie the generall skill to iudge either of all or of most thinges rightly and to marshall them to their places and strait them by circunstance as shall best beseeme the present gouernment with least disturbaunce and most contentment to the setled state of what sorte soeuer the thinges be diuine or humaine publike or priuate professions of minde or occupations of hande This man for religion is a Diuine and well able to iudge of the generalities and application
inequalitie of children it were good a whole companie remoued still togither and that there were no admission into schooles but foure times in the yeare quarterly that the children of foresight might be matched not hurled hand ouer head into one forme as now we are foreced not by substaunce but by similitude and coniecture at the sudden which thing the conference betwene the maisters in a resolued plat will helpe wonderfully well forward when the one saith this haue I taught and this can the child do the other knoweth this ye should teach and this your childe should do Thus much for the elementarie maister that he be sufficiently appointed in himselfe for abilitie and sufficiently prouided for by parentes for maintenaunce Now whether one man or moe shalbe able to perfourme all the elementarie pointes at diuers houres or of force there must be more teachers that shalbe handled in the elementarie it selfe hereafter Once fore all good entertainement by way of reward will make very able men to leane this way one course of training will breed a meruelous number of sufficient trainers whose insufficiencie may now be obiected that such cannot presently be had though in short time they may And if there must be moe executours entertainement will worke that to and conuenientnes of rowme will bring all togither My greatest trauell must be about the grammer maister as ech parent ought to be verie circumspect for his owne priuate that way For he is to deale with those yeares whereupon all the residew do build their likelyhoode to proue well or ill Wherein by reason of the naturall agilitie of the soule and body being both vnsettled there is most stirre and least stay he perfiteth the Elementarie in course of learning he offereth hope or despaire of perfection to the tutor and vniuersitie in their proceeding further For whom in consideration of sufficient abilitie and faithfull trauell I must still pray for good entertainement which will alway procure most able persons For it is a great daunting to the best able man and a great cutting of of his diligent paynes when he shall finde his whole dayes trauell not able to furnish him of necessarie prouision to do good with the best and to gaine with the basest nay much lesse then the lowest who may entend to shift when he must entend his charge and enrich him selfe nay hardly feede himselfe with a pure and poore conscience But ye will perhaps say what shall this man be able to performe for whom you are so carefull to haue him so well entertained to whose charge the youth of our country is to be committed If there were no more said euen this last point were enough to craue enough for that charge is great and if he do discharge it well he must be well able to do it and ought to be very well requited for doing it so well Besides his maners and behauiour which require testimonie and assurance besides his skill in exercising and trayning of the body he must be able to teach the three learned toūgues the latin the greeke the hebrew if the place require so much if not so much as is required Wherin assuredly a mediocritie in knowledge will proue to meane to emplant that in another which he hath in himselfe For he that meaneth to plant but some litle well must himselfe farre exceede any degree of mediocrite He must be able to vnderstand his writer to maister false printes vnskilfull dictionaries simple coniectures of some smattering writers concerning the matter of his traine and be so appointed ear he begine to teach as he may execute readyly and not make his owne imperfection to be a torture to his scooler and a schooling to him selfe For it is an ill ground to grow vp from ignoraunce by teaching in that place where no ignorāce of matter at least should be at the very first though time and experience do polish out the maner He must haue the knowledge of all the best grammers to giue notes by the way still though he burden not the childes memorie of course with any more then shalbe set downe There are required in him besides these and further pointes of learning to as I will note hereafter hardnes to take paines constancie to continew and not to shrinke from his trade discretion to iudge of circumstances lightsomnes to delite in the successe of his labour hartines to encourage a toward youth regard to thinke ech childe an Alexander courteous lowlines in himselfe as if he were the meanest thoug he were knowne to be the best For the verie least thing in learning will not be well done but onely by him which knoweth the most and doth that which he doth with pleasure and ease by reason of his former store These qualities deserue much and in our scooles they be not generally found bycause the rewardes for labour there be so base and simple yet the most neare is best in choice and many there be which would come neare if entertainement were answerable Let the parentes and founders prouide for the one and certainely they shall finde no default in the other There were a way in the nature of a seminarie for excellent maisters in my conceit if reward were abroad and such an order might be had within the vniuersitie which I must touch with licence and for touching craue pardon if it be not well thought of as I know it will seeme straunge at the first bycause of some difficultie in perfourming the deuise And yet there had neuer bene any alteration to the better if the name of alteration had bene the obiect to repulse This my note but by the way though it presently parhapes doe make some men muse yet hereafter vpon better consideration it may proue verie familiar to some good fantasies and be exceeding well liked of both by my maisters of the vniuersities them selues and by their maisters abroad Whereby not onely schoolemaisters but all other professours also shalbe made excellently able to performe that in the common weale which she looketh for at their handes when they come from the vniuersitie But by the way I protest simply that I do not tender this wish as hauing any great cause to mislike the currant which the vniuersities be now in but graunting thinges there to be well done already I offer no discourtesie in wishing that good to be a great deale better My conceit resteth in these foure pointes what if the colleges were deuided by professions and faculties what if they of the like yeares and the like profession were all bestowed in one house what if the liuings by vniting were made better and the colleges not so many though farre greater what if in euery house there were great pensions and allowances for continuall and most learned readers which woud end their liues there what harme could our countrie receiue thereby nay what good were not in great forwardnes to be done if this thing were done And may
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
defect his owne default are ye resolued that the fault is in the maister may not your sonne forge or may he not halt to procure alteration vpon some priuate peuishnes Cyrus as Zenophon writeth surprised the king of Armenia being tributarie to the Median but minding to reuolt when the Assyrians armie should enter into Media And yet though he found him in manifest blame he left him his state as the best steward for the Medians vse considering the partie pardoned is bound by defect he that shall be chosen will thanke his owne merit not the chusers munisicence Such consideration had Cyrus and such conference with him whom he knew to be a foe before he surprised him and yet found the frute of his considerate conference and his determination vpon his conference to be exceding good and gainefull for himselfe after and his friendes for the time A number of ills be auoided and a number of goodes obtained by this same conference betwene parentes and maisters If the maister be wise and aduisedly chosen though he chaunce to misse he knowes to amend if he neither be such a one nor so consideratly chosen yet conference will discouer him and shew hope her listes and what she may trust to But not to dwel any longer in this point wherein elsewhere I haue not bene parciall I must needes say thus much of it at once for all that no one meane either publike or priuate makes so much for the good bringing vp of children as this conference doth The last conference I appoint to be betwene those of the same professions whereby the generall traine is generally furthered For whersoeuer any subiect is to be dealt in by many is not the dealers conference the meane to perfit dealing and to haue that subiect absolutely well done which it selfe is subiect to so many doers Is either the patient any worse if the Physitians conferre or their facultie baser by their being togither is not the case still clearer where there is conference in law is not the church the purer were conference is in proufe and doth not the contrarie in all do much harme in all And do ye thinke that conference among teachers would not do much good in the traine or is the thing either for moment so meane or for number so naked as it may not seeme worthy to be considered vpon Or can there any one or but some few be he or they neuer so cunning discerne so exactly as a number can in common conference do not common companies which professe no learning both allow it and proue it and finde it to be profitable where it is vsed among teachers for the common good it profiteth generally by sending abroad some common direction In places where many schooles be within small compasse it is very needefull to worke present good and to helpe one another where all may haue enough to bestow their labour on But this conference and that not in teachers alone must be builded vpon the honest care of the publike good without respect of priuate gaine without sting of emulation without gaule of disdaine which be and haue bene great enemies to conference great hinderers to good schooling nay extreame ruiners in cases aboue schooling and yet for the footing of that which must after proue fairest good schooling is no small onset I neede not to rip vp the position to them that be learned which know what a mischeife the misse of conference is where it ought to be of force and is shouldered out by distempered fansie He that can iudge knoweth the force of this argument which followeth where many illes seeke to choke one good which themselues were displaced if that good tooke place that good must needes be a great one and worthy the wishing that it may procure passage Of conference I must needes say this that it is the cognisance of humanitie and that of the best humanitie being vsed for the best causes that concerne humanitie all humaine societie I dare enter no deeper in this so great good but certainely in matters of learning there would be more conference euen of verie conscience And if that honest desire might bring downe great hart the honorable effect would bring vp great good in all trades beyond crie in our traine beyond credit In matters of engrosing and monopoleis in matters of forestauling and intercepting there is dealing by conference among the dealers which we all crie out of bycause it makes vs crie in our purses And yet we are slow to trie that in the good which proues so strong in the ill and was first pointed for good I vse no authorities to proue in these cases where reason her selfe is in place standeth not in neede of alleaging of names bycause she may well spare her owne retinew where her hoste himselfe doth tender his owne seruice The next point after conference is the chiefe and best ofspring of all wise conferences certainetie in direction which in al thinges commendes it selfe but in bringing vp of children it doth surpasse commendation both for their manners and their learning This same so much praised certainetie concerneth the limiting of thinges what to do and what to learne how to do and how to learne where when and so forth to do that which fineth the behauiour and to learne that which aduaunceth knowledge For children being of themselues meere ignorant must haue certainetie to direct them and trainers being not dailie to deuise are at once to set downe certaine both what themselues will require at the childrens hand for the generall order and what the children must looke for at their handes for generall perfourmance This certainetie must specially be set sure and no lesse soundly kept in schooles for learning in priuate houses for behauiour in churches for religion bycause those three places be the greatest aboades that children haue Concerning certainetie in schoole pointes and the benefit thereof I haue delt verie largely in the last title so that I shall not neede to vse any more spreading in that point sauing onely that I do continue in the same opinion as the thing it selfe continueth in it selfe most assuraunce of best successe when the childe knoweth his certainetie in all limitable circumstances whether he be at schoole himselfe to prouide that must be done or if he be not there yet to know in abscence what is done there of course So that where ignorance of orders cannot be pretended there good orders must needes be obserued which ordenarily bringe foorth a well ordered effect The best and most heauenly thinges be both most certaine most constantly certaine and the wisest men the certainest to builde on in the middest of our vncertaineties So that certainetie must needes be a great leuell which procureth such liking in those thinges where it lighteth In schooling it assureth the parentes what is promised there how like to be perfourmed by sight of the method orders set downe it directeth
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
as they will sooner gather a number of illes at once to corrupt then pare any one ill by litle and litle with minde to amend Concerning discretion there is a circunstance to be obserued in thinges which is committed alwaye to the executours person and hath respect to his iudgement which I call no change bycause in the first setting downe that was also setled as a most certaine point to rule accidētarie vncertainties which be no changes bycause they were foreseene Such a supplie hath iustice in positiue lawes by equitie in consideration as a good chauncellour to soften to hard constructions That is one reason why the monarchie is helde for the best kinde of gouernment bycause the rigour and seueritie of lawe is qualified by the princesse mercie without breche of lawe which left that prerogatiue to the princesse person The cōspiracie which Brutus his owne children made against their father for the returne of Tarquinius euen that cruell Prince leanes vpon this ground as Dionysius of Halicarnassus Liuie and others do note So that discretion to alter vpon cause in some vncertaine circunstance nay to alter circunstance vpon some certaine cause is no enemie to certaintie When thinges are growen to extremities then change proues needefull to reduce againe to the principle For at the first planting euery thing is either perfitest as in the matter of creation or the best ground for perfitnesse to build on as in truth of religion though posteritie for a time vpon cause maye encrease but to much putting to burdeneth to much in the ende procures most violent shaking of both in religious and politike vsurpations But this argument is to high for a schoole position wherefore I will knit vp in few wordes that as conference is most needefull so certaintie is most sure and constancie the best keeper that it is no change which discretion vseth in doing but her duetie but that altereth the maine Which in matters engraffed in generall conceites would worke alteration by slow degrees if foresight might rule but in extremities of palpable abuse it hurleth downe headlong yea though he smart for the time whom the change doth most helpe But in our schoole pointes the case falleth lighter where whatsoeuer matter shalbe offered to the first education conference will helpe it certaintie will staye it constancie will assure it Thus much concerning the generall positions wherin if I haue either not handled or not sufficiently handled any particular point it is reserued to the particular treatise hereafter where it will be bestowed a great deale better considering the present execution must follow the particular Chapter 45. The peroration wherin the summe of the whole kooke is recapitulated and proofes vsed that this enterprise was first to be begon by Positions and that these be the most proper to this purpose A request concerning the well taking of that which is so well ment THvs bold haue I bene with you my good and curteous countriemen and troubled your time with a number of wordes of what force I know not to what ende I know For my ende is to shew mine opinion how the great varietie in teaching which is now generally vsed maye be reduced to some vniformnesse and the cause why I haue vsed so long a preface as this whole booke is for that such as deale in the like argumēts do likewise determine before what they thinke concerning such generall accidentes which are to be rid out of the waye at once and not alwaye to be left running about to trouble the house when more important matters shall come to handling Wherin I haue vttered my conceit liking well of that which we haue though oftimes I wishe for that which we haue not as much better in mine opinion then that which we haue and so much the rather to be wished bycause the way to winne it is of it selfe so plaine ready I haue vttered my sentence for these pointes thus wherin if my cunning haue deceiued me my good will must warrant me and I haue vttered it in plaine wordes which kinde of vtterance in this teaching kinde as it is best to be vnderstood so it letteth euery one see that if I haue missed they may wel moane me which meaning all so much good haue vnhappily missed in so good a purpose Vpon the stearnesse of resolute and reasonable perswasions I might haue set downe my Positions aphorismelike and left both the commenting and the commending of them to triall and time but neither deserue I so much credit as that my bare word may stand for a warrant neither thought I it good with precisenesse to aliene where I might winne with discourse Whervpon I haue writen in euery one of those argumentes enough I thinke for any reader whom reason will content to much I feare for so euident a matter as these Positions be not affailable I suppose by any substantiall contradiction For I haue grounded them vpon reading and some reasonable experience I haue applied them to the vse and custome of my countrey no where enforcing her to any forreine or straunge deuise Moreouer I haue conferred them with common sense wherein lōg teaching hath not left me quite senselesse And besides these some reason doth lead me very probable to my selfe in mine owne collection what to others I know not to whom I haue deliuered it but I must rest vpon their iudgemēt Hereof I am certaine that my countrey is already very well acquainted with them bycause I did but marke where vpon particular neede she her selfe hath made her owne choice and by embrasing much to satisfie her owne vse hath recommended the residue vnto my care to be brought by direction vnder some fourme of statarie discipline Now then can I but thinke that my countreymen will ioyne with me in consent with whom my countrey doth communicate such fauour Seeing her fauour is for their furtheraunce and my labour is to bring them to that which she doth most allow And what conclusion haue I set downe wherin they maye not very well agree with me either for the first impression which set me on worke or for the proofe which confirmeth the impression My first meaning was to procure a generall good so farre as my abilitie would reach I do not saye that such a conceit deserueth no discourtesie for the very motion how soeuer the effect do aunswere in rate but this I may well thinke that my countreymen ought of common courtesie to countenaunce an affection so well qualified till the euent either shrine it with praise or shoulder it with repulse I do not herein take vpon me dictatorlike to pronounce peremptorily but in waye of counsell as one of that robe to shew that which long teaching hath taught me to saye by reading somwhat and obseruing more And I must pray my good countrymen so to construe my meaning for being these many yeares by some my freindes prouoked to publish something and neuer hitherto daring to venture vpon the
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
handle them both to the helping of both In the meane while for the entring time thus much The witte must be first wayed how it can conceiue and then the bodie considered how it can beare labour and the consorte of their strength aduisedly maintained They haue both their peculiar functions which by mediocrities are cherished by extremities perished hast doing most harme euen to the most and lingring not but some sometimes to the best And yet haste is most harmefull where so euer it setts foote as we that teache alwaie finde and they that learne sometimes feele For the poore children when they perceiue their owne weaknesse whereof most commonly they maye thanke haste they both faint and feare and very hardly get forward and we that teach do meet with to much toile whē poore young babes be committed to our charge before they be ripe Whom if we beat we do the children wrong in those tender yeares to plant any hatred when loue should take roote learning grow by liking And yet oftimes seueritie is to sowre while the maister beateth the parentes folly and the childes infirmitie with his owne furie All which extremities some litle discretion would easely remoue by conference before to forecast what would follow and by following good counsell when it is giuen before Which will then proue so when the parent will do nothing in placing or displacing of his childe without former aduise and communicating with the maister and the maister likewise without respecting his owne gaine will plainely and simply shew the parent or freind what vpon good consideration he thinketh to be best Wherein there wilbe no error if the parent be wise and the maister be honest Chapter 5. What thinges they be wherin children are to be trained eare they passe to the Grammar That parentes and maisters ought to examine the naturall abilities in their children wherby they become either fit or vnfit to this or that kinde of life The three naturall powers in children Witte to conceiue by Memorie to retaine by Discretion to discerne by That the training vp to good manners and nurture doth not belong to the teacher alone though most to him next after the parent whose charge that is most bycause his commaundement is greatest ouer his owne child and beyond appeale Of Reading Writing Drawing Musick by voice and instrument and that they be the principall principles to traine vp the minde in A generall aunswere to all obiections which arise against any or all of these NOw that I haue shewed mine opinion concerning the time when it were best to set the child to schoole the next two questions seeme to be what he shall learne and how he shalbe exercised when he is at schoole For seeing he is compound of a soule and a bodie the soule to conceiue and comprehend what is best for it selfe and the bodie to The bodie to waite and attend the commaundement and necessities of the soule he must be so trained as neither for qualifying of the minde nor for enabling of the bodie there be any such defecte as iust blame therfore may be laide vpon them which in nature be most willing and in reason thought most skilfull to preuente such defaultes For there be both in the body and the soule of man certaine ingenerate abilities which the wisedom of parentes and reason of teachers perceiuing in their infancie and by good direction auancing them further during those young yeares cause them proue in their ripenesse very good and profitable both to the parties which haue them and to their countries which vse them Which naturall abilities if they be not perceiued by whom they should do condemne all such either of ignoraunce if they could not iudge or of negligence if they would not seeke what were in children by nature emplanted for nurture to enlarge And if they be perceiued and either missorted in place or ill applyed in choice as in difference of iudgementes there be many thinges practised which were better vnproued to the losse of good time let of better stuffe they do bewray that such teachers and trainers be they parentes be they maisters either haue no sound skill if it come of infirmitie or but raw heades if it spring of fansie If they know the inclination and do not further it rightely it is impietie to the youth more then sacrilege to the state which by their fault be not suffered to enioy those excellent benefits which the most munificent God by his no niggardishe nature prouided for them both If they found them and followed them but not so fully as they were to receiue if for want wherwith it deserues pardon if for want of will exceeding blame and cryeth for correction of the state by them hindred and small thankes of the parties no more furthered Wherfore as good parentes and maisters ought to finde out by those naturall principles whervnto the younglings may best be framed so ought they to follow it vntil it be complete and not to staie without cause beyond staie before it come to ripenesse which ripenesse while they be in learning must be measured by their ablenes to receiue that which must follow their forebuilding but when they are thought sufficiently well learned and to meddle with the state then their ripenesse is to be measured by vse to themselues and seruice to their countrey in peace as best and most naturall in warre as worse and most vnnaturall and yet the ordinarie ende of a disordered peace For when the thinges which be learned do cleaue so fast in memorie as neither discontinuaunce can deface them nor forgetfulnesse abolishe them then is abilitie vpon ascent and when ascent is in the highest and the countrey commaundes seruice then studie must be left and the countrey must be serued Seeing therfore in appointing the matter wherin this traine must be employed there is regard to be had first to the soule as in nature more absolute and in value more precious and then to the bodie as the instrument and meane wherby the soule sheweth what is best to be done in necessity of fine force in choice of best shew I will remitte the bodie to his owne roome which is peculiarly in exercises sauing where I cannot meane the soule without mention of the bodie and in this place I wil entreat of the soule alone how it must be qualified And yet meane I not to make any anatomie or resolution of the soule his partes properties a discourse not belonging to this so low a purpose but onely to pick out some natural inclinatiōs in the soule which as they seeme to craue helpe of education and nurture so by education and nurture they do proue very profitable both in priuate and publicke To the which effect in the litle young soules first we finde a capacity to perceiue that which is taught them and to imitate the foregoer That witte to learne as it is led and to follow as it is foregone would be well
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
ribbes the back by reasō the legges are mightely stirred therby it is a great furtherer to strength it quickneth the eyes by looking now hither now thither now vp now downe it helpeth the ridgebone by stowping bending and coursing about it is verie good for bellies and stomakes that be troubled with winde or any paine which proceedeth from colde Now to the contrary it is not good for ill and bleare eyes raw stomakes vndigested meat which haue more neede of rest then stirring and for such as will soone be turnesicke which the oft turning about of the head and eyes cannot but cause The playing at tennyse is more coastly straining to aunswere an aduersary but the playing against the wall is as healthfull and the more ready bycause it needeth no aduersary yet practiseth euery kinde of motion euery ioynt of the body and all without danger Children vse this ball diuersly and euery way healthfully in regard of the exercise if accidentarie faultes fall out among children in the vse of the play the parties must beare the blame and not the play The second kinde I make the Footeball play which could not possibly haue growne to this greatnes that it is now at no◠haue bene so much vsed as it is in all places if it had not had great helpes both to health and strength and to me the abuse of it is a sufficient argumēt that it hath a right vse which being reuoked to his primatiue will both helpe strength and comfort nature though as it now cōmonly vsed with thronging of a rude multitude with bursting of shinnes breaking of legges it be neither ciuil neither worthy the name of any traine to health Wherin any mā may euidētly see the vse of the trayning maister For if one stand by which can iudge of the play and is iudge ouer the parties hath authoritie to commaunde in the place all those incōueniences haue bene I know wilbe I am sure very lightly redressed nay they will neuer entermedle in the matter neither shall there be complaint where there is no cause Some smaller nūber with such ouerlooking sorted into sides standings not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously and vsing to walke after may vse footeball for as much good to the body by the chiefe vse of the legges as the Armeball for the same by the vse of the armes And being so vsed the Footeball strengtheneth and brawneth the whole body and by prouoking superfluities downeward it dischargeth the head and vpper partes it is good for the bowells and to driue downe the stone and grauell from both the bladder and kidneies It helpeth weake hammes by much mouing beginning at a meane and simple shankes by thickening of the flesh no lesse then riding doth Yet rash running to much force oftētimes breaketh some inward cōduit bringeth ruptures The third kind I call the Armeball which was inuented in the kingdom of Naples not many yeares agoe and answereth most of the olde games with the great ball which is executed with the armes most as the other was with the feete be both very great helpers vnto health The arme in this is fensed with a wodden brace as the shin in the other with some other thing for meeting with a shrew The armeball encreaseth the naturall heate maketh way for superfluities causeth sound sleepe digesteth meat wel dispatcheth raw humors though it stuffe the head as all vehement exercises do It exerciseth the armes and backe chiefly next to thē the legges therfore it must needs be good for such as desire to haue those partes strong and perfit to digest their meate at will to distribute profitable iuice to the whole body and to avoide needelesse matter as well by sweate as by any other kinde of secret euacuation And yet it is very ill for a naughtie backe for hoat kidneyes for sharp vrine and generally for any that is troubled with infirmities diseases in those parts which are strained with stirring Thus much concerning the particular exercises which I haue pickt out from the rest as most reducible to our time and countrie wherein I haue not followed the ordinarie diuision which the training maisters Physicians do vse but I deuised such a one as I tooke to be fittest for myne owne purpose regarding our soyle and our seasons Neither haue I rekened vp the other antique exercises but haue let them rest with their friends fauorers which be long ago at rest For the tumbling Cybistike the thumping Pugillate the buffeting Cestus the wrastling Pancrace the quayting Discus the barlike Halteres the swinging Petawre and such old memorandums they are to auncient and to farre worne from the vse of our youth the cōsidering whereof may rather stirre coniecture then staie assurance what they were when they were And of these which I haue named many be farre beyond boyes plaie for whō alone I do not deale but for all studentes in generall neither yet do I exclude either any age or any person if I may profit any else beside studentes scholers Nether do I tie the trayne to these exercises alone but alway to some though not alway to one kinde The cause and consideration must leade all which may bring forth the like and why not the better vpon due and wel obserued circunstance For though the general cause do direct much yet the particular circūstāce directeth more being it self enformed in the generall iudgement The most of these notes which I haue alleaged were giuen in Italie Greece Spaine and that climate farre distant and much differing from our degree Wherefore our traine vpon consideration of the degrees in soyle in temperature in constitution and such like must appropriate it selfe where the difference is apparent Therefore both to vse these exercises which I haue named to the best and to deuise other by comparison and circumstance as cause shal offer I will runne thorough those particularities which either make by right or marre by wrong applying both all that I haue said or that cā be deuised in this kinde to preserue health Chapter 28. Of the circumstances which are to be considered in exercise THere be six circumstances which leade and direct all exercises and are carefully to be considered of by the trayning maister For either the missing or mistaking of any one of them may do harme to more then one and the vsing of them with circumspection and warynes doth procure that good to health which this whole discourse hitherto hath promised The sixe circumstances be these the nature of the exercise which ye entend to vse the person and body which is to be exercised the place wherin the time whē the quantitie how much the maner how whereof I do meane to giue some particular aduertisements so as I do finde the learned physicianes wise health maisters to haue handled them in their writings
seeke and saue it if a teacher deale thus earnestly as me thinke I do now he may deserue pardon as I hope I shall haue considering his end to him selfe ward is delite to his charge is their profit to his countrie is soūd stuffe sent from him And can he be but grieued to see the effect so disorderly defeated wherunto with infinite toile with incōparable care with incredible paines he did so orderly proceed I take it very tollerable for any that hath charge of nūber multitude to be carefull for their good not only in priuate gouernmēt but also in publike protectiō so farre as either the honestie of the cause or the dutie to magistrate will maintaine his attēpt As truely in learning learned executiōs me thinke it concerneth all men to be very carefull bycause the thing tucheth themselues so neare in age and theirs so much in youth For the third part which consisteth in auauncement to liuinges as it is commonly handled by the highest in state and eldest in yeares which haue best skill to iudge least neede to be misled so it needes least precept bycause the misse there is mostwhat without amendes being made by great warrant and the hitting right is the blessed fortune of ech kinde of state when value is in place whence there is no appeale but pleasure in the perfit pitie in imperfection the common good eitheir caried to ruine by intrusion of insufficiencie or strongly supported by sufficient staie Repulse here is a miserable stripp that insufficiencie should be fuffered to growe vp so high and not be hewed downe before And some great iniurie is offered to the bestowers of prefermentes that they are made obiectes to the dāger of insufficiēt boldnes which ought to be cut of by sufficiēt modestie who pretēdeth the claime to be her owne of dutie and to whom the patrones would rediliest yeild if they could discerne were not abused by the worthy themselues which lend the vnworthy the worth of their countenance to deceiue the disposers and to beguile their owne selues But blind bayard if he haue any burdē that is worth the taking downe bestowing somwhere else wilbe farre bolder thē a better horse so farre from shame as he will not shrinke to offer himselfe to the richest sadle being in deede no better then a blinde iade and seeking to occupie the stawle where Bucephalus the braue horse of duety ought to stand And in this case of preferrement store is lightely the greatest enemie to the best choice bycause in number no condition wilbe offered which will not be admitted though some do refuse The preuenting of all or most of these inconueniences I do take to be in the right sorting of wittes at the first when learning shall be left to them alone whom nature doth allow by euident signes and such sent awaye to some other trades as are made to that ende Wherby the sorters are to haue thankes in the ende of both the parties which finding themselues fitted in the best kinde of their naturall calling must of necessitie honour them which vsed such foresight in their first bestowing Thus much haue I marked in clipping of of that multitude which oppresseth learning with too too many as too too many wheresoeuer they be ouercharge the soile in all professions For the matter wheron to liue iustly and truly being within compasse and the men which must liue vpon it being still without ende must not desire of maintenaunce specially if it be ioyned with a porte wring a number to the wall to get wheron to liue I neede pinch no particular where the generall is so sore gauled Marke but those professions and occupations which be most cloyed vp with number whether they be bookish or not and waye the poorer sort wheron at the last the pinching doth light though it passe many handes before if to great a multitude making to great a state do not proue a shrew then am I deceyued so that it were good there were stripping vsed and that be time in yonger yeares For youth being let go forward vpon hope chekt with dispaire while it rometh without purueyaunce makes marueilous a doe before it will die And if no miserable shift will serue at home verie defection to the foe and common enemie will send them abrode to seeke for that which in such a case they are sure to finde Wherefore as countenaunce in the ouerflowing number which findeth place in a state doth infect extremely by seeking out vnlawfull and corrosiue maintenaunce so roming in the vnbestowed offaull which findes no place in a state doth festure fellonly by seeking to shake it with most rebellious enterprises Chapter 38. That young maidens are to be set to learning which is proued by the custome of our countrey by our duetie towardes them by their naturall abilities and by the worthy effectes of such as haue bene well trained The ende whervnto their educatiō serueth which is the cause why how much they learne Which of them are to learne when they are to begin to learne What and how much they may learne Of whom and where they ought to be taught WHen I did appoint the persons which were to receiue the benefit of education I did not exclude young maidens and therefore seing I made them one braunche of my diuision I must of force say somwhat more of them A thing perhaps which some will thinke might wel enough haue bene past ouer with silence as not belonging to my purpose which professe the education of boyes and the generall traine in that kinde But seeing I begin so low as the first Elementarie wherin we see that young maidens be ordinarily trained how could I seeme not to see them being so apparently taught And to proue that they are to be trained I finde foure speciall reasons wherof any one much more all may perswade any their most aduersarie much more me which am for them with toothe and naile The first is the manner and custome of my countrey which allowing them to learne wil be lothe to be contraried by any of her countreymen The second is the duetie which we owe vnto them whereby we are charged in conscience not to leaue them lame in that which is for them The third is their owne towardnesse which God by nature would neuer haue giuen them to remaine idle or to small purpose The fourth is the excellent effectes in that sex when they haue had the helpe of good bringing vp which commendeth the cause of such excellencie and wisheth vs to cherishe that tree whose frute is both so pleasaunt in taste and so profitable in triall What can be said more our countrey doth allow it our duetie doth enforce it their aptnesse calls for it their excellencie commandes it and dare priuate conceit once seeme to withstand where so great and so rare circunstances do so earnestly commende But for the better vnderstanding of these foure reasons I
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
Sunne if no lesse will content him The common maister thereby willbe carefull to haue the best the priuate teacher will be curiouse to come but to the very best wherby both the priuate and publike scholers shall be sure to receiue the best And if the publike maister be chosen accordingly as allowance will allure euen the principall best priuate cunning will not disdaine to be one degree beneth where he knoweth himselfe bettered And thereby disagreement betwene the two teachers willbe quite excluded which onely might be the meane to marre both my meaning and Qintilianes counsell Sure my resolution is which if it winne no liking abroade may returne againe homeward and be wellcome to his maister that that which must be continued exercised in publike the residue of ones life were best to be learned in publike from the beginning of ones life And if ye will needes be priuate make your priuate publike and drawe as many to your priuate maister for your priuate sonnes sake seeing you are able to prouide rowme bycause that will proue to be best for your child as shalbe able to keepe some forme of our multitude that he may haue one companie before him to follow learne of an other beneth to teach vaunt ouer the third of his owne standing with whom to striue for praise of forwardnes Whereby it falleth out still that that priuate is best which consisteth of some chosen number for a priuate ende and that multitude best where choice restraines number for the publike seruice for in deede the common scholes be as much ouercharged with too many as any priuate is with to few Which how it may either be helpt or in that confusion be better handled I will hereafter in my priuate executions declare seeing I haue noted the defect To knit vp this question therefore of priuate publike education I do take publike to be simply the better as being more vpon the stage where faultes be more seene so sooner amended as being the best meane both for vertue learning which follow in such sort as they be first planted What vertue is primate wisedome to forsee what is good for a desert courage to defend where there is no assailant temperance to be modest where none is to chaleng Iustice to do right where none is to demaunde it what learning is for alonnesse did it not come from collection in publike dealinges cā it shew her force in priuate affaires which seeme affraid of the publike Compare the best in both the kinds there the ods wil appeare If ye compare a priuate scholer of a very fine capacity worthy the opē field so well trayned by a diligēt a discreat maister as that traine will yeald with a blockhead brought vp vnder a publike teacher not of the best sort or if in comparison ye match a toward priuate teacher with a weake publike maister ye say somwhat to the persons but smallie to the thing which in equalitie shewes the difference in inequaltie deceiues the doubtes and then most when to augment his owne liking he wil make the conference odde to seeme to auaunce errour where the truth is against him And to saye all in one the publike pestring with any reasonable consideration though it be not the best yet in good sooth it farre exceedeth the priuate alonenesse though sometime a diligent priuate teacher shew some great effect of his maine endeuour But to the education of gentlemen and gentlemanly fellowes What time shal I appoint them to begin to learne Their witts be as the common their bodies oftimes worse The same circunstance the same consideration for time must direct all degrees What thing shall they learne I know none other neither can I appoint better then that which I did appoint for all The common and priuate concurre herin Neither shall the priuate scholer go any faster on nay perhaps not so fast for all the helpe of his whole maister then our boyes shall with the bare helpe that is in number and multitude euery boye being either a maister for his fellow to learne by or an example to set him on to better him if he be negligent to be like him if he be diligent Onely his young gentlemen must haue some choice of peculiar matter still appropriat vnto them bycause they be to gouerne vnder their prince in principall places those vertues and vertuous lessons must be still layd before them which do appertaine to gouernement to direct others well and belong to obedience to guide themselues wisely For being in good place and hauing good to leese it will proue their ill by vndiscrete attemptes to become prayes to distresse And yet for all this the generall matter of duetie being commonly taught eche one may applie the generall to his owne priuate without drawing any priuate argument into a schoole for the priuitie not to be communicate but with those of the same calling cōsidering the property of that argumēt falleth as oft to the good of the common whom vertue auaunceth as the gentlemens credit whom negligence abaseth What exercises shall they haue The verie same What maisters The same What circunstance else All one and the same but that for their place and time their choice makes them priuate though nothing the better for want of good fellowship And if they proue so well trained as the generall plat for all infancie doth promise and so well exercised as the thing is well ment them they shall haue no cause much to complaine of the publike nor any matter at all why to couet to be priuate For it is no meane stuffe which is prouided euen for the meanest to be stored with These thinges gentlemen haue and are much bound to God for them which may make them proue excellent if they vse them well great abilitie to go thorough withall where the poorer must giue ouer eare he come to the ende great leasure to vse libertie where the meaner must labour all oportunities at will where the common is restrained so that singularitie in them if it be missed discommendes them bycause they haue such meanes yet misse if it hit in the meaner it makes their account more bycause their meane was small but their diligence exceeding Whereby negligence in gentlemen is euer more blamed bycause of great helpes which helpe nothing diligence in the meaner is alway more praised bycause of great wantes which hinder nothing and those prefermentes which by degree are due vnto gentlemen thorough their negligence being by them forsaken are bestowed vpon the meaner whose diligent endeuour made meane to enioy them As for riche men which being no gentlemen but growing to wealth by what meanes soeuer will counterfeat gentlemen in the education of their children as if money made equalitie and the purse were the preferrer and no further regard which contemne the common from whence they came which cloister vp their youth as boding further state they be in the same
be wished in our countrey vpon circunstance which either will not admit it or not but so troublesomly as will not quite the coast nor agree with the state is and must be forborne here though it leaue a miscontentment in the trauellours heade who likes the thing most and thinkes light of the circunstance which he sayth will yelde to it though experience say no and in some but petie toyes do shew him how leaning to the forreine hath misfashioned our owne home I do not deny but trauelling is good if it hap to hit right but I think the same trauel with minde to do good as it alwaye pretendeth might helpe much more being bestowed well at home He that rometh abroade hath no such line to lead him as the taryer at home hath onlesse his conceit yeares and experience be of better stay then theirs is which be causes of this question and bring trauelling in doubt For the ground of his vyage being priuate though taken to the best is vnfreindly to our common It is like to an idle lasie young gentlewoman which hath a very faire heire of her owne and for idlenesse bycause she wil not looke to it combe it pick it wash it makes it a cluster of knottes and a feltryd borough for white footed beastes and therfore must needes haue an vnnaturall perug to set forth her fauour where her owne had bene best if it had bene best applied Is not he worse then mad that hath an excellent piece of ground made for fertilitie and suffereth it to be ouergrower with wedes while he wandreth abroade and beholdes with delite the good housbandes and housbandrie in other men and other soiles The president of a copie makes a child resemble wel and a certaine pitch to deale within a mans owne countrey in such a kinde of life to his and her auauncement is the surest and soundest direction to any young gentleman first to learne by and then to liue by and to leuell all that waye without any forreine longing If he take pleasure in trauelling and no care in expending both the expense will bring repentaunce when reason shall reclame if euer she do as in some desperate cases fantsie is froward and wil bide no fronting and the pleasure bringes some greife when the gentleman which in youth so much pleased himselfe in his age shall not be able to pleasure his countrey whom he cared for so litle while he so counted of the forreine Forreine matters fit vs not and though our backes yet not our braines if we be not sicke there Forreine thinges be for vs in some cases but we were better to call home one forreine maister to vs then they should cause vs to be forreine scholers to such a forraging maister as a whole forreine countrey is to learne so by trauelling and not by teaching Our ladies at home can do all this and that with commendacion of the verie trauelled gentlemen bycause it is not that which they haue seene that makes them of worth but that which they haue brought home in language and learning which they do finde here at their retourne Our ladie mistresse whom I must needes remember when excellencies will haue hearing a woman a gentlewoman a ladye a Princesse in the middest of many other businesses in that infirmitie of sexe and sundrie impedimentes to a free minde such as learning requireth can do all these things to the wonder of all hearers which I say young gentlemen may learne better at home as her Maiestie did and compare themselues with the best whē they haue learned so much as her Maiestie hath by domesticall discipline It may be said that her Maiestie is not to be vsed for a presidēt which of a princely courage would not be ouerthrowne with any difficulty in learning that which might auaunce her person beyond all praise and profit her state beyond expectation But yet withall it may be said why may not young gentlemen which can alledge no let to the contrarie obtaine so much with more libertie which her highenesse gat with so litle It is wealth at will which egges them on to wander and it is the same which causeth them continue in the same humour though they heare it misliked If they went abroad as Embassadours that their Princes authoritie might make their entrie to great knowledge in greatest dealinges or if they were excellent knowen learned men that all cunning would crepe to them and honour them with intelligence and notes of importance or if they went in the traine of the one or in the tuition of the other where authoritie and awe might enforce their benefit and saue them from harme I would not mislike it to breede vp such fellowes as might follow them in seruice but for any other of the particular endes which be better had at home I cast of comparisons Good plaine and well meaning young gentlemen in purse strong in yeares weake to trauell at a venture in places of danger to bodie to life to liuing though our owne countrey be also subiect to all the same perills but not so farre from succour reskue Driue me to such a traunse as I know not what to saye Commende them I cannot bycause of my countrey offend them I dare not bycause of them selues which may by discretion in themselues and wisedome of their freindes prouide well for themselues as I do confesse though I feare nothing so much as the ouerliking of forreine and so consequently some vnderliking at home which will neuer let them staye Olde lawes in some countries enacted the contrarie and sillie Socrates in Plato being offered to be helpt out of prison as vniustely condemned by the furie of the people and persuasion of his vnfreindes would not go out of his countrey to saue his owne life as resolued to die by commandment of that lawe thorough whose prouision he had liued at home so long Diuisions for religion and quarrells of state may worke that which is not well for generall quiet by being hartned abroade with the sight and hearing of that which some could be content to see and heare at home Plato in his twelfth booke of lawes seemeth to rule the case of trauelling which moueth this controuersie Where he alloweth both the sending out of his countrymen into forreine landes and the receiuing of forreine people into his countrey For to medle neither with forreine actiōs nor forreine agentes might sauour of disdaine and to suffer good home orders to be corrupted by our forreine trauellers or their forreine trafficquers might smell of small discretion Wherfore both to build vpon discretion to preuent harme at home and to banish disdaine to be thought well on adroad he taketh this order both for such as shall trauell abroad into forreine countries from his and for such as shall repare from forreine countries vnto his For his owne trauellers he enacteth first That none vnder fourtie yeares in any case trauell abroad Then restraining still all priuate
where the promises from heauen the princes vpon earth the perpetuall prayer neuerdying prayse of the profited people will remember requiâ—e that honorable labour so honestly employed that fortunate reuenew so blessedly bestowed not for priuate pleasure but for common profit Albeit there is one note here necessarily to be obserued in yong gentlemen that it were a great deale better that they had no learning at all and knew their owne ignorance then any litle smattering vnperfit in his kinde and fleeting in their heades For their knowne ignorance doth but harme them selues where other that be cunning may supply their rowmes but their vnripe learning though pretie in the degree and very like to haue proued good if it had taryed the pulling and hung the full haruest doth keepe such a rumbling in their heades as it will not suffer them to rest such a wonder it is to see the quickesiluer For the greatnes of their place emboldeneth the rash vnripenes of their studie in what degree so euer it be whether not in digesting that which they haue read or in not reading sufficiently or in chusing of absurdities to seeme to be able to defende where their state makes them spared and meaner mens regard doth procure them reuerence though their rashnes be seene or in not resting vpon any one thing but desultorie ouer all A matter that may seeme to be somewhat in scholes euen amongest good scholers and very much in that state where least learning is coÌ„monly best liked though best learning be most aduauÌ„ced when it ioynes with birth in sowndnes and admiration As the contrary troubleth all the world with most peruerse opinions beginning at the insufficient though stout gentlemaÌ„ so marching forward still among such as make more account of the person whence the ground comes then of the reason which the thing carieth Wherefore to conclude I wish yong gentlemen to be better then the commoÌ„ in the best kinde of learning as their meane to come to it is euery way better I wish them in exercise and the frutes thereof to be their defendours bycause they are able to beare out the charge wherevnder the common of necessitie must shrinke That both those wayes they may helpe their countrie in all needes and themselues to all honour The prince and soueraigne being the tippe of nobilitie and growing in person most priuate for traine though in office most publike for rule doth claime of me that priuate note which I promised before The greatest prince in that he is a childe is as other children be for soule sometimes fine sometimes grosse for body sometimes strong sometimes weake of mould sometime faire sometime meane so that for the time to beginne to learne and the matter which to learne and all other circumstances wherein he communicateth with his subiectes he is no lesse subiect then his subiectes be For exercise to health the same to honour much aboue as he is best able to beare it where coast is the burden and honour the ease We must take him as God sendes him bycause we cannot chuse as we could wish as he must make the best of his people though his people be not the best Our dutie is to obey him and to pray for him his care willbe to rule ouer vs and to prouide for vs the most in safetie the least in perill Which seeing we finde it proue true in the female why should we mistrust to find it in the male If the prince his naturall constitution be but feeble and weake yet good traine as it helpeth forwardnes so it strengthneth infirmitie and is some restraint euen to the worst giuen if it be well applyed and against the libertie of high calling oppose the infamie of ill doing Which made euen Nero stay the fiue first yeares of his gouernment and to seeme incomparable good When the yong princes elementarie is past and greater reading comes on such matter must be pikt as may plant humililie in such height and sufficiencie in such neede that curtesie be the meane to winne as abilitie to wonder Continuall dealing with forraine Embassadoures conferring at home with his owne counsellours require both tongues to speake with and stuffe to speake of And wheras he gouerneth his state by his two armes the Ecclesiasticke to keepe and cleare religion which is the maine piller to voluntarie obedience and the Politike to preserue and maintaine the ciuill gouernment which doth bridle will and enforceth contentment if he lacke knowledge to handle both his armes or want good aduice to assist them in their dealing is he not more then lame doth not the helpe hereof consist in learning Martiall skill is needfull But it would be to defend bycause a sturring Prince still redye to assaile is a plague to his people and a punishment to him selfe and in his most gaine doth but get that which either he or his must one daye loose againe if the losse rest there and pull not more with it But religious skill is farre more massiue bycause religion as it is most necessarie for all so to a Prince it is more then most of all who fearing no man as aboue mans reache and commanding ouer all as vnder his commission if he feare not God his verie next both auditour and iudge in whose hand is his hart and what a feare must men be in for feare of most ill when the Prince feares not him who can do him most good Almighty God be thanked who hath at this daye lent vs such a Princesse as in deede feareth him that we neede not feare her which deseruing to be loued desires not to be feared I wish this education to be liked of the Prince to pull the people onward by example that they like of though they cannot aspire to as I pray God long preserue her whose good education doth teach vs what education can do wherby neither this lande shal euer repent that education of it selfe did so much good in her and I haue good cause to reioice that this may labour concerning education comes abroad in her time Chapter 40. Of the generall place and time of education Publike places Elementarie Grammaticall Collegiate Of bourding of childreÌ„ abroad from their parentes houses and whether that be best The vse and commoditie of a large and well situate training place Obseruations to be kept in the generall time THese two circunstances for the generall place and the generall time concerne both the exercise of the bodie and the training of the minde iointly bycause they both are to be put in execution in the same place at the same time though not at the same howres For the particular times and places I will deale in myne other treatises where I will accomodate the particular circumstance to the particular argument Priuate places where euery parent hath his children taught within his doares haue but small interest in this place bycause such a parent as he may take or leaue of
De Magistris And the Glose ripping further then the text is yet more freindly And our owne countrey also in benefit of priuiledge by the common lawe at this day doth not frowne vpon vs and for certaine immunities letteth vs enioye that benefit which the Canonist meant vs. And the good Emperour Frederick did further by his freindly and fauorable constitution which he caused to be placed in the fourth booke of Iustinians new Codex the thirtenth title Ne filius pro patre where the Glosse making an anatomie of the Emperours meaning and desirous to do vs good helpeth vs particularly and properly to Among many causes which make schooles so vnsufficiently appointed I know not any nay is there any that so weakneth the profession as the very nakednesse of allowance doth The good that commeth from and by schooles is great and infinite the qualities required in the teacher many and resolute the charges which his freindes haue bene at in his bringing vp much and heauy and in the way of preferment will ye wish any of any worth to set downe his staffe at some petie portion which euen they that praise it would not be content to haue their owne sit downe with though the founder follow his president and the time haue bene when with the Church helpe some litle would haue serued but the case now is quite altered In these our dayes eche mā will enhaunce in his owne without reason or remorse but in professions of greatest neede and most account they will yeelde no more allowance then the auncient rent where all thinges be improued Yet oftimes they meete with bookmen in some kinds which wil bite them coursdly But those bookmen be neither Elementarie teachers nor yet Grammarians Our calling creepes low and hath paine for companion stil thrust to the wall though stil cōfessed good Our comfort perforce is in the generall conclusion that those thinges be good thinges which want no praising though they go a cold for want of happing For our schoole places which I do know the most are either commodiously situate already or being in the hart of townes might easely be chopt for some field situation farre from disturbaunce and neare to all necessaries It were no small part of a great and good erection euen to translate roumes to more conuenient places either by exchaunge or by new purchace and I do thinke that licences to that ende will be more easely graunted then to build moe schooles The inconueniences which I my selfe haue felt that waye both for mine owne and for my scholers health and the checking of that which of long I haue wished for I meane some traine in exercise do cause me so much to commēd field roome Though I my selfe be not the worst appointed within a citie for roome thorough the great good will towardes the furtherance of learning and the great cost in the purchasing and apparelling the roome to that vse done by the worshipfull companie of the marchaunttailours in London In whose schoole I haue bene both the first and onely maister sence the erection and their haue continued now twenty yeares If ye consider what is to be done in these roomes which I require ye shall better iudge what roomes will serue In the schoole the toungues be taught and the Elementarie traine continued at times thervnto appointed for those two roomes will serue An vpper with some conuenient discharging the place from noysome ayre which the verie children cause and from to great noise if the place be vawted vnder or enclosed with other building and an other beneath likewise appointed to serue for what else is to be done They that will haue their children learne all that I haue assigned them vpon good warrant of the best writers and most commendable custome if their capacities be according may haue their turne serued so those that will not need not but the oportunity of the place the cōmoditie of such trainers wherof a smal time wil bring forth a great meany will draw many on and procure good exhibitours to haue the thing go forward I could wish we had fewer schooles so they were more sufficient and that vpon cōsideration of the most conuenient seates for the countries and shires there were many put together to make some few good Insufficiencie by distraction dismembers and weakens sufficiencie by vniting strengthens and doth much good To conclude I wishe the roome commodious for situacion which in training vp of youth hath bene an olde care as it appeareth by Xenophon in the schooling of Cyrus and the Persian order large to holde and conuenient to holde handsomely For as reading and thinges of that motion do require small elbow roome so writing and her appendentes may not be straited Musicke will cumber if it be confounded Where writing wilbe allowed there drawing will not be driuen out But exercise must haue scope And such kinde of roomes if the multitude be not to bigge or the waye to schoole not to farre for the infant with some litle distinctions and parting of places will serue conueniently both for the Elementarie and the Grammarian and so much the better For the time there is but litle to be said at this time bycause in the Elementarie and so onward I meane by the grace of God to apply all circunstances so neare and so precisely to schoole vses as the maister shalbe able streight way to execute if he do but follow that which shalbe set before him for matter wherin for manner how for time when to do eche thing best For the generall exercising time These two groundes of Hippocrates must be still kept in remembraunce to vse no exercise when ye be very hungrie neither yet to eate before ye haue vsed some exercise For the generall learning times to begin the strength of body and conceit of minde were made the generall meanes to continue perfectnesse and vse were appointed the limittes for the midle houres this I thinke that it were not good to go to your booke streight after ye rise but to giue some time to the clearing of your body As also studie after meate and fast before ye sleepe beareth great blame for great harmes to health and to much shortning of life From seuen of the cloke though ye rise sooner as the lambe and the larke be the prouerbiale leaders when to rise and when to go to bead till tenne before noone and from two till almost fiue in the after noone be the best and fittest houres and enough for children wherin to learne The morening houres will best serue for the memorie conceiuing the after noone for repetitions stuffe for memorie to worke on The reasons be the freenesse or fulnesse of the head The other times before meat be for exercises as hath bene fully handled hertofore The houres before learning and after meate are to be bestowed vpon either neating of the bodie or solacing of the minde without to much motion wherin as I
said before the greatest part and the best to be plaid consisteth vsually in the trainers distretion to apply thinges according to the circunstances of person place and time To conclude we must be content with those places which be already founded and vse those houres which be already pointed to the best that we can and yet prepare our selues towardes the better when soeuer it shall please God to send them And by perswasion some maisters maye well enough bring wise parentes to yeelde vnto this note and to giue it the triall In the meane time some excellent man hauing the commoditie of a well situate house and being able to commaund his owne circunstance neither depending of other mens helpe wherof he cannot iudge and so that way leasing some authoritie in direction may put many excellent conclusions in triall Chapter 41. Of teachers and trainers in generall and that they be either Elementarie Grammaticall or Academicall Of the Elementarie teachers abilitie and entertaiment Of the Grammer maisters abilitie aud his entertaiment A meane to haue both excellent teachers and cunning professors in all kindes of learning by the diuision of colleges according to professions by sorting like yeares into the same roumes by bettering the studentes allowance and liuing by prouiding and maintaining notable well learned readers That for bringing learning forward in his right and best course there would be seuen ordinarie ascending colleges for Toungues for Mathematikes for Philosophie for Teachers for Physicians for Lawyers for Diuines and that the generall studie of Lawe would be but one studie Euery of these pointes with his particular proofes sufficient for a position Of the admission of teachers ALTHOVGH I deuided the traine of education into two partes the one for learning to enrich the minde the other for exercise to enable the body yet I reserued the execution of both to one and the same maister bycause neither the knowledge of both is so excessiue great but it may easely be come by neither the execution so troublesome but that one man may see to it neither do the subiectes by nature receiue partition seeing the soule and body ioyne so freindly in lincke and the one must needes serue the others turne and he that seeth the necessitie of both can best discerne what is best for both As concerning the trainers abilitie whereby he is made sufficient to medle with exercises I haue already in my conceit sufficiently enstructed him both for the exercises themselues and for the manner of handling them according to the rules and considerations of Physick and Gymnastick besides some aduertisements giuen peculiarly to his owne person wherin I dwelt the longer and delt the larger bycause I ment not to medle with that argument any more then once and for that point so to satisfie the trainer wheresoeuer he dwelt or of what abilitie soeuer he were as if he listed he might rest vpō my rules being painfully gathered from the best in that kinde If he were desierous to make further search and had oportunity of time and store of bookes I gaue him some light where to bestow his studie Now am I to deale with the teaching maister or rather that propertie in the common maister which concerneth teaching which is either Elementarie and dealeth with the first principles or Grammaticall and entreth to the toungues or Academicall becomes a reader or tutour to youth in the vniuersity For the tutour bycause he is in the vniuersitie where his daily conuersation among a number of studentes and the opinion of learning which the vniuersitie hath of him wil direct choice and assure desire I haue nothing to saye but leaue the parentes to those helpes which the place doth promise For the Elementarie bycause good scholers will not abase themselues to it it is left to the meanest and therfore to the worst For that the first grounding would be handled by the best and his reward would be greatest bycause both his paines and his iudgement should be with the greatest And it would easily allure sufficient men to come downe so lowe if they might perceaue that reward would rise vp No man of iudgement will contrarie this pointe neither can any ignorant be blamed for the contrarie the one seeth the thing to be but low in order the other knoweth the ground to be great in laying not onely for the matter which the child doth learne which is very small in shew though great for proces but also for the manner of handling his witte to harten him for afterward which is of great moment But to say somwhat concerning the teachers reward which is the encouragement to good teaching what reason is it though still pretended and sometimes perfourmed to encrease wages as the child waxeth in learning Is it to cause the maister to take more paines and vpon such promise to set his pupille more forward Nay surely that cannot be The present payment would set that more forward then the hope in promise bycause in such varietie and inconstancie of the parentes mindes what assuraunce is there that the child shall continue with the same maister that he maye receiue greater allowance with lesse paines which tooke greater paines with lesse allowance Besides this if the reward were good he would hast to gaine more which new and fresh repare of scholers would bring vpon report of the furthering his olde and his diligent trauell What reason caryeth it when the labour is lesse then to enlarge the allowance the latter maister to reape the benefit of the formers labour bycause the child makes more shew with him why It is the foundacion well and soundly laid which makes all the vpper building muster with countenaunce and continuaunce If I were to strike the stocke as I am but to giue counsell the first paines truely taken should in good truth be most liberally recompensed and lesse allowed still vpward as the paines diminish and the ease encreaseth Wherat no maister hath cause to repine so he maye haue his children well grounded in the Elementarie Whose imperfectiō at this day doth marueilously trouble both maisters and scholers so that we can hardly do any good nay scantly tell how to place the too too raw boyes in any certaine forme with hope to go forward orderly the ground worke of their entrie being so rotton vnderneth Which weaknes if the vpper maister do redresse when the child commeth vnder his hand he cannot but deserue triple wages both for his owne making and for mending that which the Elementarie either marred with ignoraunce or made not for haste which is both the commonest the corruptest kinde of marring in my opinion For the next maisters wages I do conceiue that the number in ripenesse vnder him will requite the Elementarie allowance be it neuer so great For the first maister can deale but with a few the next with moe and so still vpward as reason groweth on and receiues without forcing For the
prince and be seruaunt vnto learned matter acknowledging it to be her liege mistresse All those great obseruations of eloquence are either halfe drowned for want of a democratie or halfe douted of for discredit of diuinitie which following the substance of matter commendeth vnto vs the like in all studies For the credit of these mathematicall sciences I must needes vse one authoritie of great and well deserued countenaunce among vs and so much the rather bycause his iudgement is so often and so plausibly vouched by the curteouse maister Askam in his booke which I wish he had not himselfe neither any other for him entitled the scoolemaister bycause myselfe dealing in that argument must needes sometime dissent to farre from him with some hasard of myne owne ceedit seeing his is hallowed The worthy and well learned gentleman Sir Iohn Cheeke in the middest of all his great learning his rare eloquence his sownd iudgement his graue modestie feared the blame of a mathematicall head so litle in himselfe and thought the profession to be so farre from any such taint being soundly and sadly studied by others as he bewraid his great affection towards them most euidently in this his doing Being himselfe prouost of the kings colledge in Cambridge in the time of his most honored prince his best hoped pupill the good king Edward brother to our gracious soueraine Queene Elizabeth he sent downe from the court one maister Bukley somtime fellow of the saide colledge and very well studyed in the mathematicalls to reade Arithmeticke and Geometrie to the youth of the colledge for the better encouraging of them to that studie gaue them a number of Euclides of his owne coast Maister Bukley had drawne the rules of Arithmeticke into verses and gaue the copies abroad to his hearers My selfe am to honour the memorie of that learned knight being partaker my selfe of his liberall distribution of those Euclides with whom he ioyned Xenophon which booke he wished and caused to be red in the same house and gaue them to the studentes to encourage them aswell to the greeke toungue as he did to the mathematikes He did I take it asmuch for the studentes in S. Iohns colldege whose pupill he had once bene as he did for vs of the kinges colledge whose prouost he then was Can he then mislike the mathematicall sciences which will seeme to honour Syr Iohn Cheeke and reuerence his iudgement can he but thinke the opinion to proceede from wisedom which counteth Socrates the wisest maister Nay how dare he take vpon him to be a maister not of art but of artes for so is the name which hath not studyed them ear he proceeded Are not the proceeders to reade in any of those sciēces publickely by the vice chauncelours appointment after they haue commenced and do they not promise professe the things whey they seeke to procure the titles And with what face dare ignorance open her mouth or but vtter some sounde of words where she hath professed the weight of matter So that the very vniuersity her selfe doth highly esteeme of them if she could entreat her people to esteeme of their mothers iudgement These sciences bewray them selues in many professions trades which beare not the titles of learning whereby it is well seene that they are no prating but profitable groūds not gay to the shew but good to be shewed such meanes of vse as the vse of our life were quite maimed without them Then gather I if bare exeperience and ordinarie imitation do cause so great thinges to be done by the meere shadow and roat of these sciences what would iudiciall cunning do being ioyned with so well affected experience Neither is it any obiection of account to say what should marchauntes carpentars masons shippmaisters maryners deuisours architectes and a number such do with latin and learning do they not well enough without to serue the turne in our countrie If they do well with out might they not do better with And why may not an English carpentar and his companions speake that toungue to helpe their countrie the more being gotten in youth eare they can be set to other labour which the Romaine artificer did naturally vse seing it is more commendable in ours where labour is the conquerour then in the Romain where nature was commendour As if none should haue Latin but those which were for further degrees in learning The tounges be helpes indifferent to all trades as well as to learning Neither is the speaking of Latin any necessarie argument of deeper learning as the Mathematicall sciences be the olde rudimentes of young children and the certaine directours to all those artificers which without them go by roate and with them might shew cunning I maye not at this time prosecute this position as to fremd for this place but after my Elementarie and toungue schoole I meane to search it to the very bottom with the whole profession of those faculties if God send me life and health For the while this shall suffise that these sciences which we terme the Mathematicalles in their effectuall nature do worke still some good thing sensible euen to the simple by number figure sound or motion In the manner of their teaching they do plant in the minde of the learner an habite inexpugnable by bare probabilities and not to be brought to beleeue vpon light coniectures in any other knowledge being still drawne on by vnfallible demonstratiōs In their similitudinarie applications they let one see by them in sense the like affection in contemplatiue and intelligible thinges and be the surest groundes to retourne vnto in replies and instances either vpon defect in memorie or in checke of aduersarie contrarie to the common similitudes For when ye compare the common weale to a ship and the people to the passagers the application being vnder saile maye be out of sight when ye seeke for your proofe But in these sciences the similitudinarie teaching is so certain in applying and so confirmed by effectes as there is nothing so farre from sense and so secret in vnderstanding but it will make it palpable They be taken from the sense and trauell the thought but they resolue the minde And though such as vnderstand them not do mislike them which yet is no reason in them nor any disgrace to the thing misliked by them seeing ignoraunce misliketh yet those that vnderstand them maye boldly mislike the mislikers and oppose the whole auncient Philosophie and all well appointed common weales against such mockmathematicalles without whose helpe they could not liue nor haue houses to hide their heades though they thanke not their founders If Philosophie with her three kindes had the third colledge were it thinke you vnproper Then the naturall might afterward proceede to Physick whom she fitteth the Politicke to Lawe whom she groundeth the morall to Diuinitie whom she helpeth in discourse Which three professions Diuinitie Lawe Physick should euery one be endowed with their
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
can vse the rod discretely though he displease some which thinke all punishment vndiscrete if it tuch their owne doth perfourme his duetie best and still shall bring vp the best scholers As no maister of any stuffe shall do but well where the parentes like that at home which the maister doth at schoole and if they do mislike any thing will rather impart their greife and displeasure with the maister priuately to amend it then moane their child openly to marre that way more then they shall make any way The same faultes must be faultes at home which be faultes at schoole and receiue the like reward in both the places to worke the childes good by both meanes correction as the cause shall offer commendacion as neede shall require They that write most for gentlenesse in traine reserue place for the rod and we that vse the terme of seueritie recommend curtesie to the maisters discretion Here is the oddes they will seeme to be curteous in termes and yet the force of the matter makes them cōfesse the neede of the rod we vse sharp termes and yet yeilde to curtesie more then euen the verie patrones of curtesie do for all their curifauour Wherin we haue more reason to harp on the harder stringe for the trueth of the matter then they to touch but the softer so to please the person seeing they conspire with vs in the last conclusion that both correction and curtesie be referred to discretion Curtesie goeth before and ought to guide the discourse when reason is obeyed which is very seldome but the corruptnesse in nature the penalties in lawe courage to enflame desire to entice and so many euilles assailing one good do enforce me to build my discourse vpon feare and leaue curtesie to consideration as the bare one reason of reason obeyed a thing still wished but seldome wel willed doth cause some curteous conceit not much acquainted with the kinde of gouernment vpon some plausible liking to make curtesie the outside and keepe canuase for the lyning but euer still for the last staffe to make discretion the refuge Wherin we agree though I priuately chide him and saye why dissemble ye Vnder hand he aunswereth me I lend the world some wordes but I will witnesse with you I do not speake against discrete correction but against hastinesse and crueltie Sir I know none that will either set correction or curtesie at to much libertie but with distinction vpon whom they be both to be exercised neither yet any that will praise cruelty and all those that write of this argument whether Philosophers or others allow of punishment though they differ in the kinde And it is said in the best common weale not that no punishmēt is to be vsed but that such an excellent naturall witte as is made out of the finest mould would not be enforced bycause in deede it needes not neither will I offer feare where I finde such a one neither but in such a common weale shall I finde such a one And yet in our corrupt states we light sometime vpon one that were worthy to be a dweller in a farre better And I will rather venture vpon the note of a sharp maister to make a boye learne that which may afterward do him seruice yea though he be vnwilling for the time and very negligent then that he shall lacke the thing which maye do him seruice when age commeth on bycause I would not make him learne for the vaine shadow of a curteous maister It is slauish sayeth Socrates to be bet It is slauish then to deserue beating sayeth the same Socrates If Socrates his free nature be not found sure Socrates his slauish courage must be cudgelled euen by Socrates his owne confession For neither is punishment denied for slaues neither curtesie for free natures This by the waye neither Socrates nor Plato be so directly carefull in that place for a good maister in this kinde as the place required though they point the learner And in deed where they had Censores to ouersee the generall traine both for one age other there needed no greate precept this waye If parentes might not do this neither children attempt that then were maisters disburdened If all thinges were set in stay by publike prouision priuate care were then mightily discharged But Socrates findes a good scholer which in naturall relation inferreth a good maister And yet Philippe of Macedonie had a thousand considerations in his person moe then that he was Alexanders father and it is not enough to name the man onelesse ye do note the cause why with all and in what respect ye name him A wise maister which must be a speciall caueat in prouision wil helpe all either by preuenting that faultes be not committed or by well vsing when soeuer they fall out and without exception must haue both correction and curtesie committed vnto him beyond any appeal Xenophon maketh Cyrus be beaten of his maister euen where he makes him the paterne of the best Prince as Tullie sayeth and mindes not the trueth of the storie but the perfitnesse of his deuise being him selfe very milde as it appeareth still in his iourney from Assyria after the death of Cyrus the younger For a soule there could not be one lesse seruile then he which was pictured out beyond exception for impunitie there could not be more hope then in a Prince enheritour and that is more set forth for a paterne to Princes And yet this Princes child in the absolutenesse of deuise was beaten by his deuise which could not deuise any good traine exempt from beating beinge yet the second ornament of Socrates his schoole The case was thus and a matter of the Persian learning A long boye had a short coate and a short boye had a long one The long boye tooke awaye the short boyes coate and gaue him his both were fit But yet there arose a question about it Cyrus was made iudge as iustice was the Persian grammer He gaue sentence that either should haue that which fitted him His maister bette him for his sentence bycause the question was not of fitnesse but of right wherein eche should haue his owne His not learning and errour by ignorance was the fault wherfore he was punished And who soeuer shall marke the thing well shall finde that not learning where there is witte to learne buildeth vpon idlenesse vnwilling to take paines vpon presumption that he shall carie it awaye free and in the ende vpon contempt of them from whom he learned to contemne where he should haue reuerenced Slight considerations make no artificiall anatomies and therfore will smart bycause they spie not the subtilities of creeping diseases It is easie for negligence in scholers to pretend crueltie in maisters where fauour beyond rime lendes credit beyond reason But in such choice of maisters where crueltie maye easily be auoided nay in such helpe by Magistrate where it may be suppressed and in such wealth of
not the state of the realme do this by authoritie which gaue authoritie to founders to do the other with reseruation of prerogatiue to alter vpon cause or is not this question as worthy the debating to mend the vniuersities and to plant sownd learning as to deuise the taking away landes from colleges put the studentes to pension bycause they cannot vse them without iarring among themselues Were there any way better to cut away all the misliking wherewith the vniuersities be now charged and to bring in a new face of thinges both rarer and fayrer In the first erection of schooles and colleges priuat zeale enflamed good founders in altering to the better publicke consideration may cause a commoner good and yet keepe the good founders meaning who would very gladly embrace any auauncement to the better in any their buildinges The nature of time is vpon sting of necessitie to enfourme what were best and the dutie of pollicie is aduisedly to consider how to bring that about which time doth aduertise And if time do his dutie to tell can pollicie auoide blame in sparing to trie And why should not publike consideration be as carefull to thinke of altering to fortifie the state now as priuate zeale was hoat then to strengthen that which was then in liking But I will open these foure interrogations better that the considerations which leade me may winne others vnto me or at the least let them fee that it is no meere noueltie which moueth me thus farre Touching the diuision of colleges by professions and faculties I alleege no president from other nations though I could do diuerse begining euen at Lycaeum Stoa Academia themselues and so downeward and in other nations east and southeast ascending vpwarde where studentes cloystured them selues together as their choice in learning lay but priuate examples in their applying to our country may be controuled by generall exception If there were one college where nothing should be professed but languages onely as there be some people which will proceede no further to serue the realme abroad and studies in the vniuersitie in that point excellently and absolutelie were it not conuenient nay were it not most profitable That being the ende of their profession and nothing dealt withall there but that would not sufficiencie be discried by witnes of a number and would not dayly conference and continuall applying in the same thing procure sufficiencie Wheras now euery one dealing with euery thing confusedly none can assuredly say thus much can such a one do in any one thing but either vpon coniecture which oftentimes deceiueth euen him that affirmes or else vpon curtesie which as oft beguiles euen him that beleueth These reasons hold not in this point for toungues onely but in all other distributions where the like matter and the like men be likewise to be matched For where all exercises all conferences all both priuate and publike colloquies be of the same argument bycause the soile bringeth foorth no other stuffe there must needes follow great perfection When toungues learning be so seuered it will soone appeare what ods there is betwene one that can but speake and him that can do more whereas now some few finish wordes will beare away the glorie from knowledge without consideration that the gate is without the towne as dismantling bewraies though it be the entrie into it If an other colledge were for the Mathematicall sciences I dare say it were good I will not say it were best for that some good wittes and in some thinges not vnseene not knowing the force of these faculties bycause they neuer thought them worthey their studie as being without preferment and within contempt do vse to abase them and to mocke at mathematicall heades bycause in deede the studie thereof requireth attentiuenes and such a minde as will not be soone caried to any publike shew before his full ripenes but will rest in solitarie contēplation till he finde himselfe flidge Now this their meditation if they be studentes in deede or the shadow of meditation if they be but counterfettes do these men plaie with all mocke such mathematicall heades to solace themselues with Wherein they haue some reason to mocke at mathematicall heades as they do tearme them though they should haue greater reason why to cherish and make much of the matheticall sciences if they will not discredit Socrates his authoritie and wisedome in Plato which in the same booke auaunceth these sciences aboue the moone whence some learned men fetch his opinion and force his iudgement as the wisest maister against such as allow of correction inschooles which they would seeme to banishe till their owne rod beat them The very end of that booke is the course that is to be kept in learning in the perfitest kinde which beginneth at the mathematikes and it dealeth more with the necessitie of them then with the whole argument besides as it is no noueltie to heare that Plato esteemed of them who forbad any to enter his Academie which was not a Geometrician whereunder he contained the other but specially her sister Arithmetike For the men which professe these sciences and giue cause to their discountenaunce they be either meere ignorant and maintaine their credit with the vse of some tearmes propositions particularities which be in ordinarie courses that way and neuer came nigh the kernell or hauing some knowledge in them in deeede rather employe their time and knowledge aboute the degenerate and sophisticall partes of them applyed by vaine heades to meere collusions though they promise great consequences then to the true vse and auauncement of art Howbeit in the meane time though the one disgrace them with contempt and the other make them contemptible by both their leaues I do thinke thus of them but what a poore thing is my thought yet some thing it is where it shalbe beleeued In time all learning may be brought into one toungue that naturall to the inhabitant so that schooling for toūgues may proue nedeles as once they were not needed but it can neuer fall out that artes and sciences in their right nature shalbe but most necessarie for any common weale that is not giuen ouer vnto to to much barbarousnes We do attribute to much to toungues which do minde them more then we do matter chiefly in a monarchie and esteeme it more honorable to speake finely then to reason wisely where wordes be but praised for the time and wisedom winnes at length For while the Athenian and Romaine popular gouernementes did yeald so much vnto eloquence as one mans perswasion might make the whole assembly to sway with him it was no meruell if the thing were in price which commaunded if wordes were of weight which did rauish if force of sentence were in credit which ruled the fantsie and bridled the hearer Then was the toungue imperiall bycause it dealt with the people now must it obey bycause it deales with a