witte for want of education and abilitie being placed in a meane calling will trouble the whole companie if he haue not his will as winde in the stomacke and if he haue his will then shall ye see what his naturall did shoote at He that beareth a tankarde by meanesse of degree and was borne for a cokhorse by sharpenes of witte will keepe a canuase at the Conduites tyll he be Maister of his companie Such a sturring thing it is to haue wittes misplaced and their degrees mislotted by the iniquitie of Fortune which the equitie of nature did seeme to meane vnto them Plato in his wished common weale and his defining of naturall dignities appointeth his degrees and honors where nature deserueth by abilitie worth not where fortune freindeth by byrth and boldnes though where both do ioyne singularitie in nature and successe in fortune there be some rare iewell Hereupon I conclude that as it necessary to preuent to great a number for the quantitie thereof so it is more then necessarie to prouide in the necessarie number for the qualitie thereof Wherein restraint it selfe will do much good for the one and choice in restraint will do more for the other Sure all childrē may not be set to schole nay not though priuate circumstance say yea And therefore scholes may not be set vp for all though great good will finde neuer so many founders both for the place wherein to learne and for the number also which is for to learne that the state may be serued with sufficiencie enough and not be pestered with more then enough And yet by the way for writing and reading so they rested there what if euerie one had them for religion sake and their necessarie affaires Besides that in the long time of their whole youth if they minded no more these two were easely learned at their leasure times by extraordinary meanes if the ordinarie be daintie and no schoole nigh Euerie parish hath a minister if none else in the parish which can helpe writing and reading Some doubt may rise here betwene the riche and poore whether all riche and none poore or but some in both maye and ought to be set to learning For all in both that is decided alreadie No bycause the whole question concerneth these two kindes as the whole common weale standeth vpon these two kindes If all riche be excluded abilitie will snuffe if all poore be restrained thē will towardnesse repine If abilitie set out some riche by priuate purses for priuate preferment towardnesse will commende some poore to publike prouision for publike seruice so that if neither publike in the poore nor priuate in the riche do marre their owne market me thinke that were best nay that will be best being ruled by their wittes to conceiue learning and their disposition to proue vertuous But how may the publike in the poore and the priuate in the riche make their owne market in the education of those whom they preferre to learning I will tell ye how The riche not to haue to much the poore not to lacke to much the one by ouerplus breadeth a loose and dissolute braine the other by vnder minus a base and seruile conceit For he that neuer needeth by supplie of freindes neuer strayneth his wittes to be freind to himselfe but commonly proues retchelesse till the blacke oxe tread vpon his toes and neede make him trie what mettle he is made of And he that still needeth for want of freindes being still in pinche holdes that for his heauen which riddes him from neede and serues that Saint which serues his turne best euen Neptune in shipwracke Wherby he maketh the right of his iudgement become bond for wealth and the sight of his witte blinde for desire such slauerie workes want vnlesse Gods grace proue the staye which is no line to common direction though it be our onely hope by waye of refuge Now then if the wealthy parentes of their priuate patrimonie and publike patrones of their supererogatorie wealth will but driue to a meane in both these two mains neither shall wealth make the one to wanton nor want make the other to seruile neither the one to leape to fast for feare he loose some time nor the other to hast to fast for feare he misse some liuing Sure to prouide for poore scholers but a poore patche of a leaue liuing or but some meane halfe is more then halfe a maime the desire to supplie that which wanteth distracting the studie more by many partes then that petie helpe which they haue can possibly further it bycause the charge to maintaine a scholer is great the time to proue well learned long and when ripenesse is ready there would be staye to chuse and time to take aduice where neede turnes the deafe eare The paterne of to prodigall wealth oftimes causeth the toward student to ouershoote kimselfe by corrupt imitation as brauerie and libertie be great allurers where studie and staye pretend restraint And therfore neither must to much be butte to allurementes nor to litle a burdento iudgemēt the one the meane to lewdnesse the other a maime to libertie The midle sorte of parentes which neither welter in to much wealth nor wrastle with to much want seemeth fitteth of all if the childrens capacitie be aunswerable to their parentes state and qualitie which must be the leuell for the fattest to fall downe to and the leanest to leapeup to to bring forth that student which must serue his countrey best Religion and learning will frame them in iudgement when wealth and abilitie haue set them once on foote For the choice of wittes definitely till they come to the time or verie neare to it when they are themselues naturally and for ripenesse of yeares to chuse their owne kinde of life how so euer circunstance free or binde their choice I cannot say much though I do see what other haue said in that behalfe A quicke witte will take soone a staid memorie will hold fast a dull head may proue somwhat a meane witte offers faire praise bewrayeth some courage awe some in eche kinde there is likelyhood and yet error in eche For as there be faire blossomes so there be nipping frostes And till the daūger of reuolt be past the quicke must be helde in hope the dull without dispaire the meane the meetest if the sequele do aunswere I can limit no one thing though I see great shewes where there is such vncertaine motion both in soule and body as there is in children The maisters discretion in time and vpon triall may see and say much and in a number there will some leaders appeare of themselues as some speciall deare in the whole heard Where great appearance is there one may prophecie and yet the lying spirite may sit in his lippes For God hath reserued his calling and discouering houres as all other future euentes to his owne peculiar and priuate knowledge probabilities be our guides and
the more light some they be the more they weepe if it be not in ieast so much the worse in very good earnest For I can hardly beleue that much laughter can auoide a foole if it be not for exercise which is also somwhat rare or that but a foole can weepe for exercise which deserues the bat to make him weepe in earnest But for laughing in the nature of an exercise and that healthful can there be any better argumēt to proue that it warmeth then the rednesse of the face and flush of highe colour when one laugheth from the hart and smiles not from the teethe or that it stirreth the hart and the adiacent partes then the tickling and panting of those partes themselues which both beare witnesse that there is some quicke heat that so moueth the blood Therfore it must needs be good for them to vse laughing which haue cold heades and cold chestes which are troubled with melancholie which are light headed by reason of some cold distemperature of the braine which thorough sadnesse and sorrow are subiecte to agues which haue new dined or supped which are troubled with the head ache for that a cold distemperature being the occasiō of the infirmitie laughing must needes helpe them which moueth much aire in the breast and sendeth the warmer spirites outward This kinde of helpe wil be of much more efficacie if the parties which desire it can suffer themselues to be tickled vnder the armepittes for in those partes there is great store of small veines and litle arteries which being tickled so become warme themselues and from thence disperse heat thorough out the whole bodie But as moderate laughing is holesome maketh no too great chaunge so to much is daungerous and altereth to sore For besides the immoderate powring and pressing out of the spirites besides to much mouing and heating it oftimes causeth extreame resolution and faintnesse bycause the vitall strength and naturall heat driue to much outward Whervpon they that laugh do sweat so sore and haue so great a colour by the ascending of the blood And as the naturall heat and fire it selfe do still couet vpward as to their naturall place so must it needes be that the lower roomes lie open and emptie in their absence wherby whether soeuer motion be marred the naturall heat dyeth and the vitall force faileth Besides this no man wil denie but that this kinde of laughing doth both much offende the head and the bulke as oftimes therewith both the papbones be loosed and the backe it selfe perished Nay what say ye to them that haue dyed laughing where gladnesse of the minde to much enforcing the bodie hath bereft it of life For weeping in the nature of an exercise there is not much to be said but that it is accompanied with crying sobbing groning and teares wherby the head and other partes are rid of some needlesse humour though the disquieting do much more harme then the purging can do good and the humour were a great deale better auoided some other waye Wherof some children seeme to be exceeding full when feare of beating makes them straine their pipes Aristotle must beare both most blame for this exercise if it displease any and most praise if it profit any who in the last chapter of the seuenth booke of his politikes writeth thus of it and for it That they do not well which take order that children straine not themselues with crying and weeping bycause that is a meane to their growing in the nature of an exercise And that as holding the breath doth make one stronger to labour so crying and weeping in children do worke the same or the like effectes And yet me thinke it should be no exercise by the verie definition For if it were vehement yet is it not voluntarie and though it did alter the breath yet it bettereth not the bodie howsoeuer it serue the soule But seeing the gymnastikes haue it let vs lend it them for their pleasure though we like it not for our owne It is generally banished by all Physicians as being the mother to manie infirmities both in the eyes and other partes neither if it could be auoided in schooles were it worthy the looking on being the heauy signe of torture and trouble And though it somtime ease the greiued minde to shedde a few teares as some for extreme anguish cannot let fall one yet children would be lesse greiued if they might shedde none as some hold it a signe of a verie shrewd boye when he deserues stripes not to shew one trikle Some Physicians thinke by waye of a conserue to the minde that it ought to be vsed in schooles sometimes though not voluntarie yet in forme of an exercise to warme shrewd boyes and to expell the contagious humours of negligence and wantonnesse the two springes of many streaming euilles as playing would be daily at some certaine houres then to vse these exercises when bookes be out of season The greatest patron of weeping that I finde leauing Heraclitus to his contemplation of miseries is a soure centurion in Xenophon which sat at the table with Cyrus in his pauilion He commendeth weeping wherto he had no great deuotion to discountenaunce laughing which he saw allowed and his reason is bycause awe feare correction punishements which commonly haue weeping either companion or consequent be vsed in pollicy to kepe good orders in state and good manners in stay wheras laughing is neuer but vpō some foolish ground And yet both laughing for exercise may be for a good obiecte and occasion to make laughter may well deserue praise when the minde being wearied either about great affaires that are alreadie past or about preuenting of some anguish which is to ensue doth call laughing to helpe to ease the one and to auert the other And this kinde of weeping which the soldiar settes out so concerneth no exercise though it commonly follow all vnpleasaunt exercises where the partie had rather be idle with pleasure then so occupyed to his paine but it tendeth to the impression or continuing of vertue in the minde which should be so much the worse bycause that waye it seemeth vnwilling where feare is the forcer and not free will Which free will is the principall standard to know vertue by which is voluntary and not violent as it is not the beast meane to bring boyes neither to learning nor to vertue Socrates in Plato thinketh that an absolute witte in the best sorted kinde and aboue all common sorte for ciuill societie ought not to be forced as in deede what needes he being such a paragon and that free will in such a one so sifted is the right receit of voluntarie traine But we neither haue such common weales as Socrates sets forth nor such people to plant in them as Socrates had which he made with a wishe nor any but subiecte to great infirmities though some more some lesse by corruption in nature which runneth headlong
haue his ground flowred so as it be not offensiue to the body as in wrastling not hard to fall on in daunsing soft and not slipperie How angrie would a boie be to be driuen to scourge his top in sand grauel or deepe rushes and so forth in the rest as is most fit for the body exercised with lest daunger and best dispatch The second that the place be either free from any wind at all or if it be not possible to auoide some that it be not subiect to any sharpe and byting winde which may do the body some wrong being open and therefore ready to receiue forreine harme by the ayer Thirdly that the place be open and not close nor couered to haue the best and purest ayre at will whereby the body becommeth more quicke and liuely and after voyding noysom superfluities may proue lightsome by the very ayer and soyle Fourthly that there be no contagious nor noysome stenche neare the place of exercise for feare of infecting that by new corruption which was lately cleared by healthful motion Generally if the place connot be so fit fauourable to exercise as wish would it were yet wisedom may win thus much that he may be as well aopointed to preuent the ill of euery both season and circumstance as possibility can commonly performe When great conquests had made states almost nay in deede to wealthie and libertie of soyle giuen them place to chuse they builded to this end meruelous and sumptuous monuments which time and warres haue wasted but we which must doe as we may must be content with that which our power can compasse if the worst fall thinke that he which placed vs in the world hath appointed the world for vs for an exercising place not onely for the body against infections but also for the mynde against affections which being herselfe well trayned doth make the bodie yeelde to the bent of her choice Chapter 32. Of the exercising time TIme is deuided into accidentarie and naturall and naturall againe into generall and particular The naturall time generally construed is ment by the spring the summer the haruest and the wynter particularly by the howers of the day night The accidentarie time chaungeth his name still sometime faire sometime foule sometime hoat sometime colde and so forth Of this accidentary time this rule is giuen that in exercise we chuse as neare as we can faire weather cleare and lightsome to confirme the spirites which naturally reioyce in light and are refreshed thereby not cloudy darke and thicke wherein grosse humours make the bodie dull and heauie againe when there is either no great or no verie noysome winde to pearce the open pored body nor to much forreine heat to enflame the naturall nor to much cold to stiffen it to sore For the naturall time generally taken Aristotle would haue the bodie most exercised in sommer bycause the naturall heat being then least and the bodie therefore most burdened with superfluities then exercise most helpes both to encrease the inward heat and to send out those outward dettes Hippocrates againe giuing three principall rules to be kept in exercise to auoide wearinesse to walke in the morning maketh this the third to vse both more and longer exercise in the winter and cold weather and most of his fauorites hold that opinion The reason is bycause in sommer the heat of the time dryeth the bodie enough so that it needeth no exercise to wither it to much where the aire it selfe doth drie it enough Galene a man of great authoritie in his profession pronounceth thus in generall that as temperate bodies are to be exercised in a temperate season which he countes to be the spring so cold bodies are in hoat weather hoat in cold moyst in drie drie in moyst meaning thereby that whensoeuer the bodie seemeth to yeeld towardes any distemperature then the contrarie both time and place must be fled to for succour Of these opinions iudgement is to chuse which it best liketh Me thinke vpon diuers considerations they maye all stand well without any repugnance seing neither Hippocrates nor Galene deny exercise in sommer simply and Aristotle doth shew what it worketh in sommer For the naturall time particularly taken thus much is said that it is vnwholesome to exercise after meat bycause it hindereth digestiō by dispersing the heat which should be assembled wholly to further and helpe digestion And yet both Aristotle and Auicene allow some gentle walking after meat to cause it so much the sooner setle downe in the stomacke specially if one meane to sleepe shortly after But for exercise before meate that is excedingly and generally commended bycause it maketh the naturall heat strong against digesting time and driuing away vnprofitable humours disperseth the better and more wholesome thorough out the whole bodie wheras after meate it filleth it with rawnesse and want of digestion bycause mouing marres concoction and lets the boyling of the stomacke Now in this place there be three thinges to be considered First that none venture vpon any exercise before the bodie be purged naturally by the nose the mouth the belly the bladder bycause the contrarie disperseth that into the bodie which should be dismissed sent awaie nor before the ouernightes diet be thoroughly digested for feare of to much superfluitie besides crudity and cholere Belching and vrine be argmentes of perfit or vnperfit digestion The whiter vrine the worse and weaker digestion the yealower the better The second consideration is that no exercise be medled withall the stomacke being verie emptie and wearie hungrie least rauening cause ouerreaching and Hippocrates condemne you for linking labour with hunger a thing by him in his aphorismes forbid The third consideratiō is not to eate streight after the exercise before the bodie be reasonably setled Yet corpulent carcases which labour to be lightened of their cariage be allowed their vittail though they be puffing hoat The cause why this distance betwene mouing and meate is enioyned is this for that the bodie is still a clearing while it is yet hoat and the excrementes be but fleeting so that neither the partie can yet be hungrie nor the heat entend digestion Whervpon they counsell him that is yet hoat after exercise neither to wash himselfe in cold water nor to drinke wine nor cold water Bycause washing will hurt the open body wine will streight waye steeme vp into the head cold water will offend the belly and lyver yea sometime gaule the sinewes nay sometime call for death What houres of the daie were best for exercise the auncient Physicians for their soile in their time and to their reason appointed it thus In the spring about noone for the temperatenesse of the aire in sommer in the morning to preuent the heat of the daie in haruest and winter towardes night bycause the morninges be cold the dayes short and to be employed otherwise and the meat before that time will
our coniectures be great though not without exception What kinde of witte I like best for my countrey as most proper to be the instrument for learning it shall appeare herafter But for the first question of the two it seemeth to me verie plaine that all children be not be set to schoole but onely such as for naturall wittes and sufficient maintenance either of their naturall parentes or ciuill patrones shall be honestly and wel supported in their study till the common weale minding to vse their seruice appoint their prouision not in hast for neede but at leasure with choice Chapter 37. The meanes to restraine the ouerflowing multitude of scholers The cause why euerie one desireth to haue his childe learned and yet must yelde ouer his owne desire to the disposition of his countrie That necessitie and choyce be the best restrayners That necessitie restrayneth by lacke and lawe Why it may be admitted that all may write read that can but no further What is to be thought of the speaking and vnderstanding of Latine and in what degree of learning that is That considering our time the state of religion in our time lawe must needes helpe this restraint with the answere to such obiections as are made to the contrary That in choice of wittes which must deale with learning that wit is fittest for our state which answereth best the monarchie and how such a wit is to be knowne That choice is to helpe in scholing in admission into colledges in proceeding to degrees in preferring to liuinges where the right and wrong of all the foure pointes be handled at full IN the last title we haue concluded that there must be a restraint and that all may not passe on to learning which throng thitherward bycause of the inconueniences which may ensue by want of preferment for such a multitude and by defeating other trades of their necessarie trauellours Our next labour therefore must be how to handle this restraint that the tide ouerflow not the common with to great a spring of bookish people if ye crie come who will or ring out all in Euerie one desireth to haue his childe learned the reason is for that how hardly soeuer either fortune frowne or casualtie chastice yet learning hath some strength to shore vp the person bycause it is incorporate in the person till the soule dislodge neither lyeth it so open for mischaunce to mangle in any degree as forren and fortunes patrimonie doth But though euerie parent be thus affected toward his owne child as nature leades him to wish his owne best yet for all that euerie parent must beare in memorie that he is more bound to his country then to his child as his child must renounce him in countermatch with his countrie And that country which claymeth this prerogatiue of the father aboue the child and of the child aboue the father as it maintained the father eare he was a father and will maintaine the child when he is without a father so generally it prouideth for all as it doth require a dutie aboue all And therefore parentes in disposing of their children may vpon good warrant surrender their interest to the generall consideration of their common countrie and thinke that it is not best to haue their children bookish notwithstanding their owne desire be it neuer so earnestly bent if their countrie say either they shall serue in this trade without the booke or if shee say I may not allow any more booke men without my to much trouble I pray thee good parēt haue pacience and appoint some other course for thy childe there be many good meanes to liue by besides the booke and I wilbe thy childes friend if thou wilt fit in some order for me This verie consideration of the countrie vttered with so milde a speach spoken by her that is able to performe it may moue the reasonable parent to yealde to her desire as best as she can tell the headstrong in plaine termes that he shall yeelde perforce if he will not by entreatie For priuate affection though supported by reason of strength whatsoeuer must either voluntarily bend or forcibly breake when the common good yeeldeth to the contrary side Seeing therefore the disposition of wittes according to the proportion of ech state is resigned ouer to the countrie and she sayth all may not be set to schole bycause ech trade must be furnished to performe all duties belōging to all parts it falleth out in this case of restraint which bridles desire that two speciall groundes are to be considered which strip away excessiue number necessitie and choice the one perforce the other by your leaue As for necessitie when the parent is ouer charged with defect in circumstance though desire carie him on it then restraineth most and lesseneth this number when desire would encrease it and straines to the contrary You would haue your childe learned but your purse will not streatch your remedy is pacience deuise some other way wherein your abilitie will serue You are not able to spare him from your elbow for your neede and learning must haue leysure a scholers booke must be his onely busines without forreine lettes you may be bold of your owne let booking alone for such as can entend it from being called away by domesticall affaires and necessarie busines For the scholers name will not be a cypher-like subiect as he is termed of leasure so must he haue it And they that cannot spare their children so must forebare their scholing by the olde Persian ordinance bycause leasure is the foregoer to liberall profession necessitie compelleth and bastardeth the conceit a venym to learning whom freedom should direct You haue no schole neare you and you cannot pay for teaching further of let your owne trade content you keepe your childe at home Your childe is weake tymbred let scholing alone make play his physician and health his midle end Which way soeuer neede driues you perforce that way must ye trot if he will not amble and bid Will thinke that well He that gouerneth all seeth what is your best your selfe may be missled either by ignorance in choice or affectiō in blood In these and the like cases lacke is the leader which way soeuer she straineth Whereby if the restrained childe cannot get the skil to write read I lamēt that lacke bycause I haue allowed him somuch before vpon some reasonable perswasiō euen for necessary dealings For these two pointes concerne euery man neare bycause they submit themselues to euerie mans seruice yea in his basest busines secretest affaires I dare not venture to allow so many the latin tungue nor any other language vnlesse it be in cases where their trades be knowne and those toungues be founde to be necessarie for them For all the feare is though it be more then feare where it still falleth out so least hauing such benefits of schole they will not be content with the state which