Children in Private and if they will have them to Study it is by sending them to the Publick Schools But perhaps before I go any farther it will not be out of the way to say a word of that which should invite those who are very Poor to Study or diswade them therefrom Regularly Study is not the means to acquire Wealth and belongs only to those who have an honest Leisure Good sense requires that a Man should first begin by purveying for his Subsistance before he satisfies his Curiosity For they who apply themselves to Study when they have not whereupon to live are like those Travellers who being Landed in a Desert Island should amuse themselves in Contemplating the Stars and discoursing upon the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea in stead of making themselves Cottages and seeking out Provisions It may be said to them If you desire to have the Goods of Fortune as the most part of Men do Why do you thus amuse your selves Why do you not take the ordinary and natural Means to procure them You are born for the Country continue there Till the Lands of your Fathers or if he has left you none serve a Master do Journey-work Learn a Trade Traffick if you have wherewithal chuse some Profession whereby you may live honestly and leave Studies unto those who have leisure who are Rich or else do not concern themselves to be so But may some say Studies themselves are one of those Professions whereby Men gain a Livelihood at least they lead to several Profitable Professions The Church the Court Physick and in any of these ways a Man may live more Comfortably than by Tilling the Earth and Labouring at a Trade Behold the vain hope which makes so many poor Priests and so many poor Advocates I do not say that all who are Poor ought to be debarr'd from Studies for then few who could live at their own ease would give themselves the trouble of Teaching and bringing up Children much less would they take upon themselves the Charge of Parishes especially in the Country I should desire therefore no more but that the number of these Poor Students were not so great that those of them might be chosen who have better Abilities and more Vertue and the others who Study for base and sordid ends rejected For it cannot be enough Lamented to see into what Extremities Young Persons often are cast who rashly Embark themselves in Studies and then find it too late to Learn a Trade yet think any other way of Living unworthy of them Several not knowing what to do betake themselves without any Calling unto Religious Societies or if they be afraid of being shut up and becoming subject to a Rule they seek after some practical Imployment belonging either to the Treasury or as their Genius is they turn Musicians Poets Comedians Mountebanks or any thing you can imagine Also Studies themselves suffer by being handled by Ill-bred and Selfish Persons who are either wholly Sollicitous how to get a Livelihood or how to grow Rich. Their end is not the Knowledge of Truth and the Perfection of Reason but Interest So that they force their Thoughts to make them comply therewith They Study not that which is best in it self but what makes the best Return They endeavour not really to become more Skilful but to be thought so and to please others In a word with them those are Profitable Studies not which tend to the Publick Advantage as the Advancement of Arts and the Perfection of Manners but those which make the Students Rich. But let us return to our Subject Hitherto I have endeavour'd to speak of those Studies which are of Use to all sorts of persons to Women as well as Men Rich and Poor These Studies are such as respect Religion Manners and the Conduct of the Mind for Reasoning Justly and Health I treated of them in all the Latitude wherein he may Teach them who Instructs a Child that is Honourably Born Design'd to Great Imploys and on whom the Master bestows all his Care having all the Encouragements he desires Proportionably it may be Judged how much of them ought to be Taught to an ordinary person a Woman or an Artisan Thus to the Poor the Instructions of a Curate careful of his Duty of a Master of the private Schools or of an Intelligent Father will suffice They may also for the most part omit Learning either to Write or Read for I account it much more necessary that they should be Instructed in all that I have mentioned as far as they shall be capable I now come to Studies which are useful for Business and consequently are likewise common to all who have Estates of what Sex and Condition soever they be And these Studies are Grammar Arithmetick Oeconomicks Skill in Law But I must explain in what Sense I understand all these words BY Grammar I onely understand Reading and Writing Speaking French well and Writing Correctly so that a Man is not at a loss either for Choice of Words or Construction of Discourse and also can Write well even the most Common Things as a Letter of Business I do not think a Child should he Taught to Read before he be Six years old unless he be naturally one of very happy Intellectuals For this is a troublesome Study there is nothing of that in it which Children seek after which is Pleasure and there is need of a great deal of Patience of which they have none Let us Judge of them by our selves How difficult is it at the Age when Reason is perfect to begin to Read Hebrew or Arabick We are push'd on by Curiosity we desire with all our hearts to Learn these Languages and we are accustomed to Study and Industry Nevertheless 't is very ungrateful to fix our eyes a long time upon the same Figures so often to gather together the same Letters to supply by Memory what is wanting in the Writing as there wants something in all sorts of Languages and at last for all the Fruit of our Labour onely to pronounce words which we do not understand And yet we take it ill that poor Children who seek after nothing but their Play do not take all this trouble in good part and Severely Chastise them because they do not pore long enough upon their Book But after all Why should we press them on so much especially if their manner of Living will oblige them to Write and Read all their Lives Are we afraid that they shall not know how to do so when they are grown up But do we see any of them who when they are Ten or Twelve years old are without this Learning It may be said we do not see any such because there are none who are not obliged to Learn these things in their Childhood But do we think that Emulation The shame of not being like others and the Necessity of Writing and Reading in all our other Studies will not also do very
no Design that which may be useful to him yet so that he might be able to understand it I would not at this Age oblige him to say any Lesson or get any thing by Heart but the Creed the Lord's Prayer and some other Prayers A Father or a Mother careful of their Duty assisted by Discreet and Affectionate Servants may give him these first Instructions At Six years he may have a Master who may begin gently to require something of him more Regularly He may Recount to him some History especially such as relate to Religion Teach him the Catechism to fix in him the Doctrin of which he Discourses to him more largely and also to Write and Read At the same time what he at first began to Instruct him in must be continued with more Diligence than before Rehearsing to him a great many Matters of Fact Naming many Famous Persons Letting them see Pictures and Geographical Maps and occasionally explaining to them that which relates to House-keeping Husbandry and Arts. In these first years great care should be taken to draw on Children by Pleasure At Nine or Ten years they may be kept in more awe and more severely used if there be need This is also the time wherein he should be Instructed in the more Troublesom Studies as Grammar Compositions in French The Languages according to that Profession which it may be reasonably foreseen the Child will take to the Latin Greek German It is good to begin them in this Age from Eight or Nine to Twelve This also is the time to Learn the most Simple Operations of Arithmetick and Geometry to Regulate History by Chronology and Geography At Twelve years old it will be time to form the Judgment and to guide Reason by Logick accustoming the Youth to Define and Divide well and to make Reflections upon his Thoughts This is also the time to Teach him the Demonstrations of Geometry and other parts of Mathematicks which he ought to know Moreover he should be brought to Read much and to exercise his Judgment upon Authours Then also or sooner if it may be the Terms and Principal Maxims of the Law should be begun to be Explained to him At Fifteen years if you be not hastened it will be soon enough to Teach him Rhetorick though you may try the Genius of your Scholar before by several little Compositions by exercising him in Grammar and causing him to Epitomize the Histories which he is most concern'd to know the best They will certainly improve his Style In these last years of Studies he should also Learn that more exactly which as yet he has only rudely cut out as Law and Policy if his condition require it and Morality which if possible he should throughly understand even to the first Principles thereof To this time also those Studies may be reserved which have more of Curiosity in them as Poetry Physicks or Natural Philosophy Astronomy that so more or less of them may be imparted to him according to his Leisure and Inclination This seems to me to be the most convenient way of managing Studies according to different Ages I am sensible that 't is impossible to prescribe any one which agrees to all Children and that there may be very great differences herein from the differences of Minds which advance more or less of Conditions which afford more or less leisure and require more or less Study Lastly of Health and the occurrences of Life Yet I thought it would not be altogether useless to mark out this rude Draught according to which very nearly measures may be taken in this matter IT is further necessary to explain my self concerning the Studies of Persons of the other Sex of which I have said something in several places It will doubtless be accounted a great Paradox to say That they ought to Learn any thing but their Catechism Sowing and several little Matters to Sing Dance and Dress themselves according to the Fashion to make a Curt'sy well and Speak Civilly for this is all wherein their Education is ordinarily thought to consist 'T is true they have no need of the most parts of Knowledge which at present go under the Name of Studies neither Latin nor Greek nor Rhetorick nor the College-Philosophy are proper for them and if some of the more Curious of them have Learnt them they commonly drew nothing from them but Vanity which render'd them odious to other Women and despised by Men. Whence as from certain Experience it has been concluded that Women were not capable of Studies as if their Souls were of another kind than those of Men as if they had not as well as we a Reason to Direct a Will to Govern Passions to strive against Health to Preserve and Goods to take Care of or as if it was more easie for them than us to Discharge all these Duties without Learning any thing 'T is true that Women have usually less Attention and less Patience for Reasoning Consequentially less Courage and Resolution than Men and that the Constitution of their Bodies contributes something to this Disparity though doubtless their Ill Education doth more But for a balance they have more quickness of Mind and Penetration more Sweetness and Modesty and if they be not design'd for such considerable Imployments as Men are they have upon this and other Accounts also much more leisure which degenerates into a great Corruption of Manners if it be not imploy'd in some Study And we have particular Reason in France to desire that Women should be Knowing and Reasonable and that is the Credit and Respect which they have amongst us That which causes several very Polite Men to Reason little and Speak with little Coherence is because they turn their Studies into Raillery and make profession of Ignorance And this because being form'd in the Conversation of Women they retain the Impressions thereof Whereas on the contrary amongst the Ancients with whom Learning and Reasoning were in honour the Women were more Learned and yet nevertheless not so much Regarded To see what Studies may be useful to Women I think the surest way is to run over all those I have already Explained First then they ought not to be over-Ignorant in Religion nor too knowing therein Since they are ordinarily inclin'd to Devotion if they be not well-Instructed they may easily become Superstitious It is therefore of great Importance for them early to understand Religion to be as Solid Great and Serious as it really is in it self But if they be Learned therein 't is to be feared that they may become Dogmatical and embrace new Opinions when they shall find opportunity for it It is enough therefore to Teach them the Common Doctrines without entring into Theological Disputes and to take the most pains in Instructing them in Morality Inspiring into them those Vertues which most belong to them as Sweetness Modesty Submission Love of Retirement and Humility and those to which their Temper is most opposite
ordinary to the Joy of the Father and Credit of the Teacher be better grounded in real Learning and more capable to use it than we commonly see Young Scholars are after they have been several Years at School and not a few at the University In Truth the Scheme which He Proposes is Founded upon the certain Principles of Reason and Experience and not upon the sole Authority of any Great Name how Famous soever He freely inquires after the best Rules and Method of Instructing Youth not obliging himself to maintain the Systems and Practices of others farther than he finds them agreeable to the Dictates of Eternal Reason our Common Master and confirmed by his own particular Experience The Princes of Conte whose Studies he had the Honour to Direct as their Quality required a more Ingenuous and Liberal way of Education so I doubt not but when they came out of their Tutors Hands they found themselve furnished with a Morality and a sort of Learning answerable to their Birth that is Wise Generous and Active Built upon the solid Foundations of Reason and Experience As to the Translation I have observed as Faithfully as I could the Author 's own Rules P. 137. not scrupulously rendering one Word for another but the French Idiom into the English way of Speaking yet always as near as possibly preserving his Sense Excepting P. 50. where what He calls the Heresie I only Term the Doctrin of Luther Such Complements as these must be expected from one who professes himself to be of the Roman Catholick Communion We have some more of them P. 177 where he refers to the Vulgar Latin as the version which the Church hath made Authentick recommends the knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue if for no other Reason yet to silence the Hereticks and Advises his Priest to Read the Trent Catechism and Council and Romish Ritual These and such like Characteristicks of his Communion I thought once to have accommodated to the English Church as likewise the Honours he bestows on the French Nation to our own But upon second Thoughts I judged it more suitable with a Translation to let these Passages go unaltered Since the Weakest are in no danger of being harmed by them and the Wiser will only conclude from them that Custom and Education in some things are apt to prevail over the Judgments of the most Reasonable Men. To conclude since Translations out of the French have of late been so much encouraged and to so good purpose 't is hoped this will find some place amongst the Excellent Books we have already received and do still expect out of that Language Du Pin and Malbranch have been worthily looked upon as Originals in their respective Labours And when the Learned shall have Impartially considered Mr. Fleury's Writings they 'll find him to be one of those French Writers who abating their peculiar Roman Shibboleth have Written as if they design'd to serve the Interest of the Church of England that is of Primitive Christianity rather than that of Rome THE CONTENTS THe Design of the Treatise Pag. 1 The First Part. The History of Studies The Studies of the Greeks 2 Pag. 2 The Studies of the Romans Pag. 5 The Studies of the Christians Pag. 11 The Studies of the Franks Pag. 17 The Studies of the Arabians Pag. 22 The Studies of the School-Men Pag. 28 Vniversities and their four Faculties Pag. 33 The Faculty of the Arts Pag. 34 Medicks or Physick Pag. 41 Civil and Canon-Law Pag. 44 Divinity Pag. 45 The Restoration of Humanity Pag. 47 The Second Part. The Choice of Studies Pag. 54 The Way and Method to give Attention Pag. 62 The Division of Studies Pag. 71 Religion and Morality Pag. 73 Civility and Good Breeding Pag. 86 Logick and Metaphysicks Pag. 89 That Men ought to have a Care of their Bodies Pag. 100 Men ought not to Study purely for Interest Pag. 108 Grammar Pag. 111 Arithmetick Pag. 117 Oeconomick p. Pag. 117 Civil Law or Jurisprudence Pag. 123 Policy Pag. 132 Of Languages Latin c Pag. 136 History Pag. 140 Natural History Pag. 148 Geometry Pag. 150 Rhetorick Pag. 161 Poetry Pag. 157 Curious Studies Pag. 160 Vseless Studies Pag. 163 The Order of Studies according to the several Ages Pag. 167 The Studies of Women Pag. 171 The Studies of Clergy-men Pag. 175 The Studies of Sword men Pag. 181 The Studies of the Men of the Robe Pag. 184 THE HISTORY Choice and Method OF STUDIES ALthough at present I only intend to Treat of private Studies and to give Advice to those alone who Instruct Children in Houses and are at liberty to use what Method they shall think the Best I have nevertheless judg'd it necessary First to Consider the course of Studies which we find settled in the publick Schools to the end that we may conform our selves unto them as much as possible But to understand well the Order of our publick Studies it seems to me Adviseable to go to the Fountain-head that so we may see whence every part is deriv'd down to us and how the whole body of these Studies has been form'd in the Succession of many Ages Containing the History of Studies GRammar Rhetorick and Philosophy came from the Greeks even the Names themselves of these Studies import as much From the Greeks they pass'd to the Romans and from the Romans to us Now the Greeks had great Reason to apply themselves to these Three Sorts of Studies as they understood them By Grammar they in the first place meant the Knowledge of Letters that is the Art to Read and Write and consequently Speak well It was of great moment to them to know how to Read Write and Speak correctly in their own Language with which they contented themselves for they Learnt none of Strangers Under the Name of Grammar they also comprehended the Knowledge of the Poets Historians and other good Authors whom their Grammarians profess'd to explain And 't is easie to see how useful this Study was to them At the First they had no other Books but their Poets and there they found all kind of Instructions All their Religion and all their History were contain'd in them For hitherto they had no more certain Traditions than these Fables which now seem so Ridiculous unto us And as for their Religion their Poets were their Prophets whom they looked upon as Friends of the Gods and Men inspir'd and for their works they had a Respect not much inferiour if I may make the Comparison to that which we have for the holy Scriptures Moreover they found in them Rules for the Government of themselves and Lively Representations of Humane Life And they had this Advantage that these Books so full of Instructions were perfectly well written Insomuch that they were a divertisement to the Reader and besides the Substance of things they learnt from them to Speak well and to express their Thoughts nobly In short all their verses were made to be Sung and
Object that onely which passes within our selves and which we know the best and have no other Design but to accustom our selves never to be deceived nor to rest satisfy'd but with clear Ideas and not to be over-hasty in passing Judgment and drawing of Consequences therefrom It is to be wisht that all which doth not truly serve this end might be taken away from them Without entering here in particular upon this Instruction since I do not Write a Logick I should desire that a Child be early accustomed to say nothing but what he understands and not have any Ideas but the clearest that possibly can be To this end in all that he should Learn he ought continually to be Exercised in Dividing and Defining that hereby he might Learn exactly to distinguish each thing from others and to give to every thing that which appertains unto it Not that I would as yet charge his Memory with Definitions and the Rules of Division and Definition but make him Practise them upon those Subjects which should be most familiar unto him When he shall have strength enough to retain several Ideas or several Judgments likewise at once I would make him apprehend the difference of True of False of Uncertain and I would Convince him that he ought not to deny every thing nor to doubt of every thing but that 't is necessary to follow some certain Rules in passing our Judgments In the next place I would have him to observe those Truths which are the first in the order of Knowledge and upon the certainty of which depends that of all the rest Whence would follow the Knowledge of the Soul and its distinction from the Body the Knowledge of God and the Rules of True and False from which all the rest of Logick might be easily deduced I would have it to consist in a very few Precepts that is as many neither more nor less than such as should really assist Reason For if upon strict examination it did appear that Men might Reason as Surely and as Justly without all these Observations I should Condemn them only upon this one account that they would be Unprofitable and should place them in the Number of Curiosities how True and Pretty soever they may be But doubtless it will be found that some Rules of Logick to how little a number soever they be reduc'd will be very useful to help Reason and also some Axioms of Metaphysicks to which every Man that Reasoneth will be obliged to have Recourse and which consequently will be the Foundation of all his Reasonings All the World sees the Usefulness of Reasoning justly and upon Solid Principles I do not say onely in Sciences but in Business and in all the Affairs of Life But perhaps many may not see the necessity of ascending so high as the first Principles because in effect there are few that doe so The greatest part of Men Reason onely within a certain Compass from a certain Maxim which the Authority of others or their own Passions has Imprinted upon their Mind to the Means necessary to acquire that which they desire As for Instance I ought to be Rich Therefore I will take upon me such an Imployment I will take such a Journey I will suffer this and that and so of the rest But what shall I do with my Wealth when I have gotten it But is it really Advantageous to be Rich This is that which they do not at all inquire after They who Reason thus never had other than Vulgar Spirits of what Profession soever they were though they were the Learned and the Doctors though they were Ministers of State though they were Princes I call that a Vulgar Spirit which is limited to certain Pieces of Knowledge which is not imploy'd but upon particulars and Reasoneth onely upon Experience And I find that one of this Spirit is always the same what Object soever he proposes to himself He doth not become greater for applying himself to Publick Affairs and is not more Knowing for concerning himself in matters of Science He will never do more than Reason probably upon the Experience of that which he has Read and guess at one Fact from another but he will never go so far as to Judge of what he Reads and refer every thing to its proper use He who is truly Learned and truly a Philosopher goes further and begins higher He takes not up with the Authority of others nor with his own Prejudices but rises always till he has found a Principle of Natural Light and a Truth so clear that he cannot call it into question And when he hath once found it he with assurance draws from it all its Consequences and never departs from it Whence it comes to pass that he is firm in his Doctrin and in his Conduct that he is inflexible in his Resolutions patient in the Execution equal in his Humour and constant in his Vertue Now this Learned this Wise Person may be found in all Conditions Amongst the Patriarchs we have Examples of Wise Shepherds and Husbandmen amongst the Ancient Monks of Wise Artisans and of what Profession soever a Man is he will never be as happy as he can be in this Life if he acts not upon certain Principles or if a most immoveable Faith doth not supply the defect of Reasoning But to speak in our own way and with Relation to those who have used to Study amongst us these Solid Reasonings and these certain Principles are chiefly necessary unto those who are to Conduct others as Clergymen Magistrates and those who Govern or are concern'd in the Management of Publick Affairs To Speak better we ought not to reckon that there are any True Studies without this Foundation for to know matters of Fact and gain Experience Use is sufficient or if Reading be joyned thereunto there is no need of much Instruction But to form the Mind for a Man to see clearly what he doth to conduct himself by sure Evidence and not by uncertain Opinion This is what ought to be sought after and it is this Inquiry which ought to be called Study The greatest part of Men are more capable of this Philosophy than is believed It requires no Extraordinary Talent of Memory Imagination and Briskness of Spirit but onely a good Common Sense Attention and Patience So that there are none but very Light Spirits who cannot attain unto it Even Peasants themselves if they be not altogether Stupid may be often further Instructed in this Philosophy than they who are more Sprightly To Conclude Every one must be managed according to his Genious and the Master ought not to spend so much time in the Instruction of those whom he Teaches with Pleasure because their Minds are open to receive what he says as thereby to neglect others because they put him to more trouble On the contrary these last require more Care more Affection and more Dexterity in the Instructor and 't is a sad thing yet not to be
much in these In the mean time the harshness of these first Lessons makes them for a long time disgust all Study We should have a great deal of Patience with them make them Read but a little at a time and insensibly increase as it becomes more easie to them and at the same time Teach them Histories or other Things which may divert them At first we make them Read in Latin because 't is pronounced more as it is Written than the French But I believe that the Pleasure a Child would have to understand what he should Read and to see the Fruit of his Labour would make him go on faster For this Reason I should presently give him some French Book which he might understand It easily appears that the same difficulties which there are in Learning to Read are also to be found in Latin and other Languages and that they continue longer There is also by the Custom of the Schools added to them another difficulty which is that of the Rules and all the Art of Grammar For tho' we are not accustomed to Learn Latin but with the Grammar nor the Grammar but in Latin or upon the Foundation of the Latin Grammar it is clear nevertheless that these are two different Studies since there is no Language which may not be Learnt by Use as likewise there is none which has not its Grammar I have shewed that this Method began at the time when Latin was the Vulgar Language and that the Greek Grammar which is the first which we know was made also by the Greeks Thus to imitate these Ancients whom we do with so much Reason esteem the Grammar should be Studied in our own Language before it be Studied in another Since this Study would consist onely in causing the Child to make Reflexions upon a Language which he already knows he would often take pleasure therein and the Difficulties which he should meet with would be less than they would be when added to those of Learning a Language There would be always this advantage that he might be made perfectly to understand all the Precepts by familiar Examples But I would not load him with over many Rules since the great Curiosity in Grammar consumes much time and is of no use You have perhaps labour'd a whole day to get by heart one Exception whereof probably you 'll have no use three times in all your Life I should content my self with the Principal Definitions and the most General Rules and should propose no more to my self than to Speak and Read well to observe a very exact Orthography in Writing to understand all that I Say and all that I Read as far as the Knowledge of the Tongue may conduce thereunto For this it would suffice to know the Divisions of the Letters the Parts of Speech and their Subdivisions and other things which I cannot mention in particular at least unless I should make a Grammar Now that these Precepts should not be dry and jejune as they are in Books I would render them sensible and pleasant by the way of Teaching them When a Child should have Read in his own Language for some time the things which he understood and wherein if possible he should take pleasure One would begin to make him observe that all that Writing consisted onely in Two and twenty Letters and that all the Large Discourses are Composed onely of Nine sorts of Words that there are two kinds of Articles that there are Genders in Nouns Tenses and Persons in Verbs Numbers both in the one and the other and thus of the rest As soon as he shall know how to Write a little you might cause him to digest those Histories which have been recited unto him and here the mean and improper Words the bad Constructions and the faults of Orthography should be Corrected He might be told the Rules of Etymologies and Taught many of them occasionally They serve very much for the Understanding the meaning of Words and Orthography and are diverting Thus by a few Precepts and a great deal of Exercise he might Learn in two or three years as much Grammar as a Gentleman need to have for the Use of Life and more than ordinarily they know who have been Eight or Ten years in the College The greatest part might stop here and Learn no other Language at all Sword-men Practicioners Accountants Merchants and all below these as also the greatest part of Women may let Latin alone Experience shews this But if they knew as much Grammar as I have said it would be very easie for them to use good French Books and the Translations of the Ancients and perhaps at last they might be disabused and not imagin That that Person must be a Fool who does not understand Latin 'T is true Latin is necessary for Clergy-men and Men of the Robe and that it is very useful for Souldiers tho' it was onely for their Travels and amongst Women to the Religious for understanding the Office which they Read But I believe it would be much more easie to Learn if it was not Embarassed with so many Rules of Grammar Not that I believe it should be Taught by use alone though there have been some examples of it even in our time but the Method of doing this is not sufficiently established to propose it to the World Add to this that whatever habit of Speaking Children might have I should scarce believe that it would continue constant in a Language which is not continually used without the help of Rules 'T is true we have an Example in the Jews who Teach their Children Hebrew without any Rule and make them very knowing therein but this is with a very long time Let us therefore rather make use of Rules provided that they do assist and not over-burthen Children Now if they know them in their own Language the rest will be very easie It will be onely making them observe what is different in the Latin Language The want of Articles the Declension of Nouns the Passive in Verbs the Liberty of placing the Words differently and the like This for the most part onely would be Exceptions from the General Rules which they had learnt To Conclude They should be continually exercised in Reading some Author which they understood with Pleasure if it might be and they should be Taught the Rules much rather by use than the strength of Memory though it should not be forgotten also to cause them to get things by heart That which will best Imprint them upon their Minds will be Composing but yet it must not be begun so soon nor continued so long as Reading which ought to be their Chief Exercise and continue during the whole course of their Studies For there is this Advantage in Grammar and the Study of Languages that being as Instruments he who has once Learnt them will confirm himself therein proportionably as he shall use them Because the Books wherein he Learns things are Compounded of
THE HISTORY Choice and Method OF STUDIES BY Monsieur Fleury Sometime Preceptor to the Princes of Conty Monsieur D' Vermandois and to the Dukes of Burgoyne and Anjou Lycensed D. Poplar LONDON Printed for S. Keble at the Turks-head in Fleet street Iohn Hindmarsh against the Exchange in Cornhil D. Brown without Temple-Barr and R. Sare at Grays-Inn Gate in Holborn 1695. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader REading not long since in the Lipsick Translations I therein met with so Fair a Character of this Author and this Piece of his that I presently procured the Book and having Read it over I was so well pleased with the Argument and the Way of handling it That having some Spare-time upon my hands I thought it might not be altogether an Vseless Diversion to try how that would appear in English which gave me such Satisfaction in French and which the Editors of the Lipsick Transactions wish'd to see in the German Tongue A work of this Nature is so necessary and yet so very difficult that several who convin't of the usefulness of it have attempted it yet being Discouraged in the Prosecution or else unfit for the Vndertaking have either left us only some Models-Vnfinish'd or some Gothick Platforms more agreeable to the Barbarous Ages of Learning than to the State of that wherein we Live Some have been too Subtle and Scholastical in their Instructions others too gross and material The one seem to suppose their Scholars to be meer Intelligences the other Treat them as if they were altogether Material and both have too much restrain'd their Rules to some particular sorts of Studies and Professions As if all Men besides had either no Thoughts or were under no Obligation to order them after the best manner and apply them to the most proper Subjects Our Author therefore thought himself oblig'd to extend his Instructions to all Mankind and consider all Reasonable Creatures who have Minds to Improve as Students in some sort or other And indeed since all Men have Thoughts and Study is nothing but the Attentive Application of their Thoughts to those Objects which they are the most concern'd to know 't would be great Injury to the rest of Mankind to exclude all except two or three Orders of Men from the benefit of Studies Our Author that he might not be thus partial in a matter where all Persons have an Interest suits his Instructions to all Ages Sexes Conditions and ways of Life He First Prescribes Rules for such Studies as are absolutely Necessary to all sorts of Men whatever Then he passes on to those which are proper for them whose Birth and Parts enable them to make some further progress in Learning In the next place he applys himself unto those whose Condition requires greater Improvements than may be requisite for the Common Student Afterwards he gives Directions about Studies that are Curious as he calls them not because they are in no Sense necessary but because they are not of so much use as the others before-mention'd tho' they be laudable and good in themselves Whereas those which he calls useless are such vain and unprofitable Curiosities as are just good for nothing at all but to fill the head with Superstitious Conceits and Fanciful Chymera's Lastly He tells us how Children are to be Instructed according to their several Ages What Studies are fit for Women What for Clergy-men Sword-men and Lawyers This is a short View of the Design of his Second Part after he has in the First given us an Historical Account of Studies which may well pass for a very Ingenious and Learned Essay upon that which my Lord Bacon calls the Historia Literata and puts amongst the Desiderata under the Title of Oculus Polyphemi I would by no means derogate from the Learned and Vseful Labours either of the Ancients or Moderns who have Written upon this Subject Yet I must needs say that to my Apprehension none ever Managed it with such a Judicious Cboice and Vnaffected Gravity as he seems to have done His Great Care is not to make a vain shew and Barade of his Learning He Writes not like a Man who is full of himself and possest with the troublesom Spirit of Polymathy his Business is to give the most useful and solid Advice in the plainest and most simple Words He is not too tedious and Operose upon some Heads too scantly and defective in others but with an equal and steddy hand has drawn all the parts so as to agree with one another and strengthen the Whole In short if I did not think that I do Present the Réader with a BOOK of more Value than any thing I have yet seen in this kind I should not have given him a needless trouble Several both of former times and of late have laid down many wise and and excellent Rules for the skilful management of Youth but I know no Treatise which in so short a Compass and such a natural Method comprehends the whole Circle of Instruction as it relates both to the Scholars Studies and his Manners So that I hope the Reader will have Reason to Esteem this little Book above many others which have been Written upon this Subject either with too little Judgment or too much Criticism 'T is to be observed that the Author takes upon him to Prescribe to the Universities and Publick Schools He undertakes not to be a Doctor of the Chair or to indicate unto those Celebrated Places of Education whose Rules and Methods have been Approved and Established both by Law and Custom But because Private and Domestick Education has of late been so much in Fashion and withal usually so wretchedly managed He thought himself concerned to visit the Family take an account of the Miscarriages in this Matter and do what in him lay to Redress them And he did not Intrude himself into this Office before he was called For in the Preface He tells us That he Composed this Book at the desire of a certain Gentleman for the Use of his Child Now since there is the same Reason for such kind of Treatises in English as in French He hopes that He shall be accounted no more in our own County than in his own a busie Body in other Mens Matters But though the Book is not Calculated for the Universities and Publick Schools yet if the Tutors of the one and the Masters of the other will Examin his Rules and Method with Judgment and Candour I presume they will see Reason to acknowledge their Obligations to the Author and will not I hope have much Reason to be offended with the Translatour However we do with some Assurance promise our selves a favourable Reception from all those Gentlemen who Educate their Children in Private as well as from the Instructers who shall take the care of them For I question not but upon Experiment it will be found that a Child of tolerable Parts Educated after this Manner will in a far less time than