of life or for outward motion and executions of vse must be chearished and nusled so as that they do by nature well and truely they may do by traine both long and strongly I shall not neede to name the partes all in one ruk as of set purpose which be knowen by their effectes and the exercises also themselues will shew for whom they serue But for example first in the partes let vs see whether we can discern them by their working and properties that therby the exercise may be pickte which is most proper to helpe such effectes Who doth not streight waye conceiue that the lunges or lightes be ment when he heareth of an inward part which prouideth winde for the harte to allay his heat and to minister some clammy matter vnto it whence he may take aire most fit for his functions and not at the sudden be forced to vse any forreine Or who doth not by and by see that the harte is implyed when he heareth of an other inward part which is the spring and fountaine of the vitall spirite and facultie the seat and sender out of naturall heat the occasion and cause of the arteriall pulse which by one arterie and way receiueth cooling from the lunges by an other sendeth the vitall spirite the hote and hurling blood thorough out the whole bodie Or who is so grosse as not to gesse at the liuer when he heareth of an other inward part which is the cheife instrument of nurriture the workhouse of thicke grosse blood that feedeth the life and soule when it desireth meat and drinke and what is els necessarie which conueieth blood thorough the veines to nurrish all partes of the bodie with the naturall spirit in it if there be any verie darke and heauie Nay hath he any braine which seeth not the braine plainly laid before him when he heareth a part of mans bodie named which breedeth a sowlish and life spirite as most pure so most precious and rather a qualitie then a bodie and vseth it partly to further the working of that princely and principall part of mans soule wherby he vnderstandeth and reasoneth partly to helpe the instrumētes of sense and motion by meane of the sineues neuer suffering them to lacke spirite which is the cheife and capitall cause why these instrumentes do their dueties well And so forth in all the partes aswell without as within sight whose properties when one heareth and finding that they be helped by such a motion he can forthwith say that such an exercise is good for such a part Now againe for exercises Who hearing that moderate running doth warme the whole body strengthneth the naturall motions prouoketh appetite helpeth against distilling of humours and catarres and driueth them some other waie Or that daunsing beside the warmth driueth awaye numnesse certaine palsies comforteth the stomacke being cumbred with weaknes of digestiō confluence of raw humours strengtheneth weake hippes fainting legges freatishing feete Or that ryding also is healthfull for the hippes and stomacke that it cleareth the instrumentes of all the senses that it thickneth thinne shankes that it slayeth loose bellies Or that loud speaking streatcheth the bulke exerciseth the vocalle instrumentes practiseth the lungues openeth the bodie and all the passages therof Or that loud reading scoureth all the veines stirreth the spirites thorought out all the entraulles encreaseth heat suttileth the blood openeth the arteries suffereth not superfluous humours to grow grosse and thicke who say I hearing but of these alone in taste for all or of all together by these alone doth not both see the partes which are preserued the exercise which preserueth and the matter wherin Wherfore seing exercise is such a thing that so much enableth the bodie whom the soule hath for companion in all exploites a comfort being lightsome a care being lothesom a courage being healthy a clog being heauie I will bycause I must if I meane to do well plat forth the whole place of exercising the bodie at ones for all ages Chapter 7. The braunching order and methode kept in this discours of exercises BYcause the speciall marke wherat I shoote is to bring the minde forward to his best by those meanes which I take to be best wherin I must of force continue verie long as in my principall and cheife subiecte and in no place sauing this entreat of the bodie but onely how to apply that to it which I pitche downe here I thinke it good therefore in this place to perfit and handle at full the whole title of exercises with all the circunstances belonging thervnto so sufficiently and fully as my simple skill can aspire vnto as the present occasion of a position or passage vseth to require leauing that which I do not medle with to those that shall professe the thing ether for their owne or for their childrens health wherin I will kepe this methode and manner of proceeding First I wil note somewhat generally concerning all exercises Secondly I will chuse out some especiall exercises which vpon good consideration I do take to be most proper and propitious to schooles and scholers Thirdly I will applye the circunstances required in exercise to euerie of them so neare as I can that there be no error committed in the executing For the better the thing is if it hit right the more dangerous it proueth if it misse of that right Last of all I will shew the training maister how to furnish himselfe thoroughly in this professed exercising bycause he must both applie the minde with learning and the bodie with mouing at diuerse times refreshing himselfe with varietie and chaunge But in handling of these foure pointes I meane to rippe vp no idle question I terme that idle where health is the ende and the question no helpe to it but cause to discours and delaye of precept Such questions be these who first found out the arte of exercise called Gymnastice or whether it belong to the Physician or no being a preseruatiue to health or who first deuised the particular exercises or who were most famous for the executing therof and a number of such like discoursory argumentes which learned men hauing leasure at will as a schoolemaister hath not and willing to wade farre as my selfe could wish haue mined out of the bowelles of antiquitie and entraules of authoritie sometimes sadly and saing in deede much vpon euident and apparent testimonies sometimes simply and surmising but some such thing by very light and slight coniectures oftimes supported by bare guesse at some silly word or some more naked warrant Wherfore to the matter Chapter 8. Of exercise in generall and what it is And that it is Athleticall for games Martiall for the fielde Physicall for health praeparatiue before postparatiue after the stāding exercise some within daores for soule whether some without for faire ALL exercises were first deuised and so in deede serued either for games and pastime for warre and seruice or for suretie
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
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
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