to understand some word in Plautus or Varro which denotes some Office of a Slave to be ignorant of some formality of their publick Assemblies provided that it be remembred that the Romans well understood their business both private and publick and that they were very diligent in it and that all those great Men whom we admire in their History did not make themselves great each of them according to his genius but by this application Thus this Study of Law would not only make young Men capable of business but contribute more than any other to the rendring their Minds solid and Forming their Judgments Since it would consist only in making them know the Truth of those things which are the most fit for Men to know Now in my Opinion this Solidity and this Rectitude of judgment is that which should chiefly be sought in Studies There is but too much of the Sparkish humour in the World but there never will be enough of good sense Why should this Glittering Fiery Spirit be so much recommended to Scholars which cannot be given to those who have it not naturally and which usually doth more harm than good to those who have it Let us improve in good Sense and Judgment All who are not Born Stupid may arrive to this Rectitude of Mind provided that they be accustomed to apply themselves to it and not to Precipitate their Judgments And 't is only by this that Men succeed in Business and in the whole Conduct of their Lives The knowledge of Business also would contribute to the reclaiming young Men from vain Fooleries and to the making them serious For we become such as our Thoughts are with which we are taken up This will accustom them to be diligent to be careful to love Rule and Justice which a Man must needs love if he knows it before it comes to be his interest to oppose it Now young Persons are not as yet sensible of interest Avarice is the least of their Vices And to make them diligent and careful it would be very desireable that the Practick might be joyn'd to the Instructions That the Father should enter his Son into the Counsels appertaining to his Houshold Affairs that he would make him Discourse of whatever occurs That he would commit to his Care some of the Less difficult of them That he would put some part of his Estate into his Management whereof he should give an account Nothing would be more advantageous than for a Person of a great Estate to be thus Educated to be so capable of Business that he should have no Intendants Agents and Sollicitors but only to ease him and might not altogether rely upon them that he should himself Manage all Affairs in chief leaving to his Servants only the Execution of them in particular In a word that he should govern those under him and not as it too often happens be governed by them For is it not evident that the absolute Dependance wherein Stewards and Bayliffs hold their Masters and that carelessness which ruins so many Families proceeds from the ignorance of Persons of Quality and their ill Education I know very well that they cannot be excused from a great deal of Idleness and Love of Pleasure But it happens sometimes that they take a distaste against Pleasure and do shake off Idleness Whereas when they are past a certain Age there is no more time for Instruction At first they entertain an aversion for business because they do not understand the Terms and have no Knowledge of the Maxims They flatter themselves that good sense is sufficient for the ordering their concerns and every one thinks he is well enough provided therewith But they do not consider that Law is mixed with an abundance of Matters of Fact and Rules Established by Men which it is impossible to Divine And when they come to see the necessity of being instructed they are ashamed to confess their ignorance Lastly the long habit of applying themselves to nothing and not being confined makes them often over-look their most important Interests This is what I understand by the Names of Grammar Arithmetick Oeconomicks and skill in Law and these are the Studies which I account most necessary THey who by their Birth are designed for great Imployments have need of some Instructions more extensive than meer private Persons require Their skill in Law should comprehend the publick Right Their Morality should extend to Policy For as for Common People these Studies can only be reckoned amongst the number of Curiosities It is hard to hinder Men from talking but it is also difficult for Princes and Ministers of State to keep from Laughing when they see Citizens and Artisans Dispute about the Interests of Potentates and prescribe to them Rules for their Government But as for Children who it may be reasonably foreseen will one day come to be preferr'd to high Places it is of consequence early to instill into them Right Maxims least they should imbibe false or act only at a venture I would then have them know in the first place the State of the present Government of their Country the different parts of which this Body is Compounded the Names and Functions of the Officers which Govern it The manner of rendering Justice of Administring the Revenues of Exercising the Policy thereof and the like as also the Way of consulting about Publick Affairs I would have every one begin with the State of his own Country as being most necessary and most easie to know and that in the next place he should consider the Condition of those Foreign Countries which are nearest and to which he has most Relation By shewing him how things are really and in truth I would shew him how they ought to be not as yet according to the Opinions of the Philosophers and pure Reasoning but according to the Laws of the State it self and its ancient Customs This is that which I call Publick Right The Rules according to which each State is Governed The Rights of the Soveraign and the Officers he makes use of The Rights of States and Soveraigns in Respect of one another This Study is more positive than Reasoning and it contains much more History which may make it pleasant Policy consists more in Reasoning and should Ascend as high as to search after Principles It considers not only how France and Germany ought to be Governed according to the particular Form of their Constitution and the Laws which are there Established But it inquires in general what is Civil Society what Form of Constitution is the best what are the best Laws and the best means to preserve Quiet and Concord amongst Men. These general considerations are very useful to give unto the Mind Elevation and Extention provided that Application of them be made to particular Examples not those of Athens or Lacedaemon but of the Moderns which affect us more and instruct us better The Advice which to me seems of greatest Importance
made Discourses upon Morality and so few govern'd their practice according to its Rules that they render'd it Ridiculous For many made the profession of Philosophy only to lacquey after their little Interests as to make their Court to Princes or get Money And they who sought after Wisdom more seriously gave great offence by the multitude of their Sects for they treated one another as Fools and Mad-men The Romans seeing the Greeks in this condition for a long time despised Studies as Childish Vanities and Idle Amusements not worthy of their pains who altogether apply'd themselves unto Business Each particular Man endeavoured to increase his patrimony by Husbandry Traffick and Frugality and all of 'em together jointly concurr'd in making the State to flourish by applying themselves to War and Politicks But though they wou'd have it believed that this frugality this military Discipline this firmness in their Conduct which made them so powerful were owing to none but themselves and their own vertuous Resolutions yet their own History makes it appear that they had borrow'd much from the Greeks even at that time before there were in Greece either Oratours or Philosophers by profession The first Tarquin was a Corinthian by Birth and he had instructed Servius Tullius Pythagoras lived in the time of the latter and it is very probable that some of his Disciples had correspondence with the Romans their severe and frugal way of living so much resembling this Italick Philosophy However it is certain that they brought the Laws of the Twelve Tables out of Greece which Cicero valued more than all the Books of the Philosophers Applying themselves with great diligence to these Laws and their Domestick Affairs they form'd a Study which was particular to themselves and lasted as long as their Empire This Study is Civil Law which we do not find that any Nation had cultivated before Not but that the Greeks had diligently Studied the Laws but they did it rather as Oratours than Lawyers I am not Ignorant that they very well knew the order and disposition of them that they dived also into the Reasons of them and with good effect apply'd themselves unto business both publick and private But I do not find that they had any who made it their profession to explain them unto others and to give Counsel nor that they wrote Commentaries upon their Laws For as for the Formularies it is certain that the Greek Oratours left the care of them to an inferiour sort of Men whom they called Pragmaticks or Practitioners 'T is true there were in Greece Legislatours and Philosophers who had studied the Laws after a more noble and extensive manner since it must needs argue a greater Genius to Compile a whole body of Laws than to apply them in particular to the least Affairs And they confess'd that this Knowledge so useful to the World came to them from Aegypt and the East as did all the rest of their Learning To return to Rome To the end of the Sixteenth Age after its foundation Children were then Taught only to Read and Write and cast Account Men Studied the Laws and the Formularies either indifferently for their own particular use or more Curiously to give Counsel unto others and gain Credit and Reputation They did not begin to enter upon the Curiosities of the Greeks ordinarily to Learn their Tongue and to Read their Works till after the Second Punick War Hitherto there were to be seen some Ordinances of the Senate against Rhetoricians and Philosophers by profession as Men who introduced dangerous Novelties into the Commonwealth The Romans when they apply'd themselves to the Studies of the Greeks did it according to their own Genius that is they sought therein what was best most solid and most useful for the Conduct of Life The old Cato Scipio and Laelius were not Men who wou'd burden themselves with Trifles They Studied the Historians and Oratours to profit by their Excellent Examples and good Maxims of the ancient Greeks and to Learn how to Speak as perswasively upon the Affairs of Rome as Pericles and Demosthenes had done upon those of Athens at the same time studiously avoiding to imitate the Greeks of their times or to take up with the Trifles of the Grammarians and Rhetoricians Nay they were even afraid of this Cicero says of the greatest Oratours of his time they were fearful it shou'd be perceived that they had Studied the Books of the Greeks least it shou'd be thought that they overmuch valued them and so their Reputation of being Learned might make their Discourses to be suspected of too much artifice The Wise Romans came afterwards to Philosophy and there fix'd upon the principles and Reasons of Morality and Politicks of which they already had much Experience and many Domestick Examples Lastly they knew how to take what was best in the Poets Hence proceeded so many great Oratours in the last Age of the Republick from the Gracchi to Cicero and they also who may be called the Roman Philosophers as Atticus Cato of Vtica and Brutus But the Establishment of the Monarchy at Rome having rendred great Eloquence and the Motives to it useless since the People did no longer give their Votes in Publick Affairs nor bestow great Places Poetry got the upper hand and flourished under the Reign of Augustus 'T is true it fell soon afterwards having nothing that was solid to sustain it and being look'd upon only as a sport and diversion of the mind Thus within the space of about Two Hundred Years the Studies of the Romans came to be in the same condition wherein they had found those of the Greeks Every place was full of little Grammarians Rhetoricians and idle Declamers of prating Philosophers Historians and Poets who tired the World in reciting their Works Only the Civil Law was always preserv'd because it was always necessary and depended less upon the form of Government or the particular manners of Men. There were also some true Philosophers though we should reckon only the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and several others of whom mention is made in Pliny's Epistles But these Philosophers went rather for Greeks than Romans The greatest part of 'em also wore the Greek Habit in what Country soever they dwelt and of what Nation soever they were In the mean time a much more Sublime Philosophy began to be Established I mean the Christian Religion which soon made this purely Humane Philosophy to vanish and did yet more severely Condemn all those other Studies which were less serious The Principal Study of Christians was the meditation of the Law of God and all the Holy Scriptures according to the Tradition of the Pastours who had faithfully preserv'd the Doctrine of the Apostles They call'd all the rest Strange and Foreign Studies and rejected them as inticing the Reader to the manners of the Heathens In Truth the greatest part of their Books were either useless or
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
advantage of the State or to the Art of perswading but how to obey the Will of their Master So that there were no Books of the Ancients which were useful to them but those of Mathematicks of Physicians and Philosophers But seeing they neither sought after Policy nor Eloquence Plato was not for them besides to understand him the Knowledge of the Poets the Religion and History of the Greeks was necessary Aristotle with his Logick and Metaphysicks was more proper for them and accordingly they Study'd him with incredible earnestness and diligence They also apply'd themselves to his Physicks chiefly to Eight Books which contain nothing but Generals For natural Philosophy in particular which requires Observations and Experiments was not so suitable to them They did not omit to Study Medicks very closely but they founded it chiefly upon the general notions of the four Qualities and the four Humours and upon the Tradition of Medicines which they had not at all examin'd and which they mixed with an infinite number of Superstitions As to other parts of it they did not in the least improve Anatomy which they had received from the Greeks very imperfect 'T is true that we owe Chymistry to them which they have carry'd very far if not invented but they have mingled therewith all those corruptions which we can yet hardly separate therefrom vain Promises extravagant Reasonings superstitious Operations and all those fond things which have produced nothing but Montebanks and Impostors From Chymistry they passed easily to Magick and and all sorts of Divinations with which Men easily take up when they are ignorant of natural Philosophy History and true Religion as we have seen by the example of the ancient Greeks That which wonderfully assisted them in these Illusions was Astrology which was the chief aim of their Mathematical Studies In truth this pretended Science has been so much cultivated under the Empire of the Musulmen that Princes took delight therein and upon this Foundation ordered their greatest Enterprizes The Calif Almamon did himself Calculate Astronomical Tables which were very famous and it must be confess'd that they were very serviceable for his Observations and other useful parts of Mathematicks as Geometry and Arithmetick We owe to them Algebra and the way of Cyphering by Multiplying by Ten which has render'd the Arithmetical Operations so easie As for Astronomy they had the same advantages which excited the ancient Egygtians and Chaldeans to apply themselves thereto seeing they Inhabited the same Country And moreover they had all the observations of the Ancients and all those which the Greeks had added unto them The Arabians who made it their business to Study their Religion were not only no Philosophers but their declared Enemies and decry'd them as an impious sort of Men and Enemies to their Religion Indeed it was no difficult matter for any who could but reason in any degree to destroy the foundation of a Religion which was built neither upon Reason nor any Evidence of a Divine Mission The Philosophers there fore being excluded from the Functions of Religion and other profitable Imployments sought the more after Reputation and they endeavour'd to get it either from the Names of the Masters under whom they had Studied or from their great Travels or from the singularity of their Opinions A Learned Man in Spain was always much more Learned in Persia or Corasan and there was a wondrous Emulation betwixt them each of them Zealously affecting to distinguish himself by some new Logical or Metaphysical subtilty And this same Humour run through all their Studies and all their Works They apply'd themselves only to that which seemed most wonderful most rare and most difficult for this end disreguarding Pleasure Convenience and even profit its self The Franks and other Latin Christians received from the Arabians only what the Arabians had taken from the Greeks that is the Philosophy of Aristotle Medicks and Mathematicks disregarding their Language their Poetry their Histories and their Religion as the Arabians had neglected those of the Greeks But what is most surprising is That our Learned Men did little less than the Arabians neglect the Greek Tongue so useful for the Study of Religion For it was not before the beginning of the Fourteenth Age that it was that the Languages might very much contribute to this end chiefly in order to the Conversion of Infidels and Schismaticks It was with this design that the Council of Vienna held in the Year 1315. ordered that Professours for the Greek Arabick and Hebrew should be Established which yet was not put into Execution till a long time afterwards Men did not begin to Study Greek before the end of the Fifteenth Age Hebrew in the beginning of the Sixteenth and Arabick in our Age. Hitherto there were but some few curious Persons who apply'd themselves thereto and they seldom bestow'd their pains upon Books of History which would have been most useful TO return to the Twelfth Age. They who Studied then were not at all concerned to be curious in Languages not so much as in Latin which they used for their Studies and in all Affairs of Moment But I cannot accuse them for this but the unhappiness of the Times The Incursions of the Normans and the particular Wars which yet continued had made Books so scarce and Studies so difficult that they were forc'd first to Labour in that which was of most importance There was as yet no Printing and there were scarce any but Monks who could Write and they were fully imploy'd in Writing Bibles Psalters and such-like Books for the use of Churches They Write also some Works of the Fathers as they fell into their Hands some Collections of Canons and some Formularies of Acts which were most ordinary in transacting business For 't was to them Application was made to cause them to be Written and 't was from amongst them or the Clergy that Princes had their Notaries and their Chancellours they had scarce any time to Transcribe the Prophane Histories and the Poets 'T is true that the Knowledge of Languages and Histories is necessary to understand the Fathers well and even Scripture it self but either they did not apprehend it to be so or else the extraordinary difficulty of attaining this Knowledge through the want of Dictionaries Glossaries Commentaries and the scarceness of the Text it self made them lose all hopes of it Hence it was that they who would superadd any thing to the meer reading of the Scripture and the Fathers did it only by Reasoning and Logick as St. John the Sophist the first Author of the Nominals who lived in the time of Hen. I. and his followers Arnold of Laon Roscelin of Compeign Master Abalard This way of Philosophizing upon Words and Thoughts without examining things in themselves was most certainly a good expedient to ease themselves of the Knowledge of Matter of Fact which is not to be attained but by reading and it was an easie way to confound the
Good Breeding and the Necessity of being continually one with another Obliges Men at least to have all the Appearances of Vertue which may render Society easie And usually they go no further than these Appearances making Civility onely to consist in an Habit of hiding ones Passions and disguizing his Sentiments that so he may testifie that Respect or Friendship for others which most commonly he has not So that Civility prejudices the Substantial part of Vertue whereas it should be a Consequence of it and like that Flower of Beauty which naturally accompanies an Healthful Body Nevertheless these Flattering Compliments and Appearances of Civility are generally the first Instructions given unto Children and those which are the most Inculcated as if all Education consisted in this And doubtless these Expressions of Submission Esteem and Affection would be Excellent if they were True for then we should be all Humble and Charitable But since it is not so it would be better to Talk more Truly or rather to Talk less and Doe more There is a great difference betwixt shewing Contempt and testifying Esteem or Respect to all without distinction And that which shews the Ridiculousness of our Compliments are the serious Transactions of Business where the Language is wholly changed and where the least Interest is Disputed with them unto whom the Moment before we seemed willing to have granted every thing Children not having as yet Judgment enough to distinguish the different Subjects and Occasions accustom themselves from these first Instructions to Lye and Dissemble upon all occasions Besides an abundance of Unprofitable Lyes are told in this Matter Civility consists more in abstaining from what may be troublesome to others in being Gentle Modest and Patient than in Speaking much and using much Cringing One Obliging word well placed gains more upon us then all the Great Complements with which some Country Gentlemen do oppress us They who equally Caress and Honour all Men Oblige none and have nothing whereby to signifie their True Friendship But the worst sort of Civility is that which consists in Constrain'd and Forc'd kinds of Gestures That Methodical Civility which appears onely in the Forms of some Starch'd Compliments and Impertinent Ceremonies and which are more Ungrateful than Natural Clownishness This Affectation to do all things in Mode and Figure is one of the Principal Characters of a Pedant And for this Reason Scholars ought above all things to avoid it For since their Condition restrains them for the most part from Conversing with Great Men which requires an extreme Politeness I think that their Civility consists chiefly in knowing how to hold their Peace without affecting Silence and in speaking nothing but what they know and as much as Charity requires for the Instruction and Satisfaction of their Neighbours and as for other things to Speak and Act just like other Men And because Faults are more sensible in Feigned Representations than in the Natural it will not be amiss to consider the Character which the Italians give to their Doctor in the Comedy who would always Speak and always Instruct and be every Moment Angry at those who should be so bold as to Contradict him THOUGH Morality should be the Principal Design of all Education yet at the same time Care must be taken of other Studies But since all our Knowledge depends upon Reasoning or Experience and Experience availeth little if it be not Inlightned by Right Reason we should begin by forming the Mind before we come in particular to Matters of Fact and things that are Positive This Application to the Cultivating of Reason is in the Natural Order the first of all Studies seeing it is the Instrument of all For in Truth this is nothing else but Logick And the first Objects to which we should apply our selves are the Great Principles of Natural Light which are the Foundations of all Reasoning and consequently of all Study Now this Study of First Principles is truly Metaphysicks Thus Logick and Metaphysick should be the first Studies And they are so truly the first That Morality it self as far as it depends upon Reason and not upon Supernatural Faith can have no other Solid Foundation But yet I have Spoken of Morality before them because it is more necessary to be a Good Man than a Good Reasoner Besides that I could not say that at the same time which yet I would doe at the same time if I should Instruct a Youâ—g Person Upon this account I shall reserve it to the Close of all the Young Persons Studies to observe to what Age I should Assign them each in particular Here I understand that Solid and Real Logick which Socrates profest to Teach when he said That it was the Midwise to Mens Minds That it helped them to bring forth that which was already formed in them That it taught them nothing new but made them onely call to Mind what they knew before In truth as I have already observed 't is not in our Power to Imprint in Children the most Simple Notions which are the Foundations or Instruments of all others I call the Foundations of Knowledge Simple Ideas as the Idea of Being of Substance of Thought of Will of the Vnderstanding Number Motion Duration The Sentiments as the Idea of White Heat Grief Fear Anger Hunger Thirst The Judgments also which make the first Principles do belong to these Foundations as The Relation betwixt the whole and its part Nothing produces nothing Beings ought not to be multiply'd without Necessity The Will always seeks after Happiness We bring into the World with us these kind of Thoughts and Judgments which are the Foundations of all other Judgments and Reasonings which we make as long as we live and it is the Attentive Consideration of these Principles by Abstracting them from other Notions less clear and less certain and which are onely the Consequences of them 'T is this Consideration I say which is properly that which is called Metaphysick Logick is the Consideration of other Ideas and other Judgments which are no less clear and certain and are also born with us but such as respect rather our Knowledge than the Objects of it And hence it is that I call them Instruments Such are the Ideas of True and False Affirmation and Negation Error and Doubting and above all the Idea of a Consequence whereby we understand that such a certain Proposition follows from another certain one that such a Reason is Concluding and that such an one is not None of these Notions can be given to those who have them not and there is no Man that hath them not if he hath the use of Reason for herein precisely it doth consist Logick and Metaphysicks are not as 't is ordinarily supposed difficult Studies of Abstracted and High flown things and which do not concern us nor of fine Speculations which appertain onely to the Learned They are of use to all the World because they have for their
remedied that the most ignorant and dullest Learners have ordinarily the worst Masters Here since I have enter'd upon the Subject I will go on to Explain my self concerning Philosophy I think that a Master should endeavour to make all those under his Charge Philosophers Principally such whom he sees to have good Natural Parts but he must not wait till he has a considerable number of such who shall succeed therein It is a great Undertaking to form one True Philosopher that is to say one Man who Reasons aright who is always upon his Guard against all the Causes of Error who in the Conduct of his Life follows onely Reason and Vertue who seeks in all things to know the Truth and to ascend unto the first Causes The greatest part of Men 't is true would be capable of this if they did use their Reason well and if they were not precipitant in their Judgments But 't is rare to find any of them whose Will is so Regular and Strength so much as to be able to resist their Passions It must also be confest that the greatest part of the Professions of Life may be perform'd reasonably well without coming to this Perfection One may be a good Physician provided he knows the History of Nature and the most Assured Remedies approved by Experience For though a Man should know all that has been yet discovered in Natural Philosophy to this present time he would scarce know the first Causes of Distempers any better thereby Skill in the Law obliges a Man to go no higher and to seek for no other Principles of Reasoning than the Laws already Established among Men The rest belongs to the Legislatour The Roman Lawyers whose Decisions we do with Reason admire were no Philosophers at all and this Science was form'd at Rome before they knew either Philosophy or Grammar As for War 't is evident likewise by the Romans themselves and most Nations that there is no need of Philosophy to be a good Soldier The Romans were never greater Warriours than whilst they continued in their Ignorance Mummius and Marius were not less skilful therein than Pompey and Caesar and these last though they were more Learned were not more Philosophers than the other As for other Professions less considerable as Husbandry and Trades Philosophy is not at all required of them who apply themselves unto them though the most useful Arts were not at first invented without Philosophy I know that 't is believed that it is useful to Divinity and it is indeed to be desired that all Clergy-men were true Philosophers But yet I have shown that in the first Ages of the Church the Christians made little account of Human Philosophy Nevertheless it cannot be doubted but that the Bishops and Priests of that Time did perfectly well discharge all their Duties I leave it to those who Labour usefully in the Church to judge whether that which they have learn'd of Philosophy be of any great use to them for the Conduct of Souls But as to the rest since a Man should neither be deceived himself nor deceive others I would not give the name of Philosopher but to him who should really deserve it I would not make my Scholar so vain as to believe himself to be a Philosopher because he can say some distinctions and divisions by Heart though he be never the wiser or better for them I would not contribute any thing to the making this great name despicable to the unlearned For Women and Men of the World judge of the ancient Philosophers by the moderns and equally despise them all Hence it is that Plato of all prophane Authors the most Excellent and most Delightful is little Read even by the Learned and not yet Translated into our Language Hence it is that they who read the Translations of Xenophon Epictetus and others do admire that these Philosophers reasoned so well 'T is the same abuse that has brought into dis-esteem the name of Rhetorick Poetry and the greatest part of the Liberal Arts and which has given false Ideas of them which makes us practise them so ill For 't is natural to believe that a thing is really that which its name imports Therefore although it is to be wish'd that all Men at least they who Study were truly Philosophers yet there is so little reason to expect it that it seems to me that the greatest part of Men ought not to pretend to it At least all the Philosophy they ought to learn should be reduc'd to a good Logick The rest is not necessary for the attaining other Sciences On the contrary all the Sciences joyned to the practice of all Vertues make up the true Philosopher to which therefore we cannot arrive before the Age of Maturity if any one be so happy as ever to attain unto it But it is more certain that Grammar Rhetorick and whatsoever goes under the name of Humanity are not at all necessary to Philosophy and Logick To learn how to reason well there is no necessity of knowing Latin or any other Language it might be Taught to a Mute provided there were signs distinct enough to Explain to him the Reflections upon Thoughts Eloquence supposes Reasoning already formed seeing it adds thereunto Motion and Expression for it doth not as the Ignorant believe consist in speaking fine Words but in giving Weight to good Reason Since our Logick consists not in certain Words and Rules wherewith the Memory is charged that we may talk of them or understand those who do speak of them but in a real Exercise of good Reasoning It is not to be thought that it is to be learn'd only once as an History and never after to be minded It must be constantly practised during the whole course of Studies and I speak of it in this place only to observe its Order and to shew that it is of more worth and more necessary than all the Studies I have mentioned at least then those which consist only in the Knowledge of Matters of Fact or things Positive and Conjectural But though Reasoning be necessary Experience and the Knowledge of particular things is so likewise A Man cannot be truly learned nor eminently skilful without this depth of Reasoning which I have spoken of but he may be skilful enough to perform the Duties of Common Life without this Reasoning provided that he has a particular Knowledge of the things which are practised Whereas without this particular Knowledge the best general Reasonings as long as they continue General will never come to any thing 'T is these general Reasonings which have at all times discredited the Philosophers and Learned Men when to them they did not joyn the Knowledge of particular things especially the Institutions of Men And this is the Essential Fault of Raimund Lullius his Method which imploys its Scholars only in such general Notions as are of no use and do not render them at all more Learned in Speculation since they add nothing to what
they do not conduce to the attaining unto Honour or gaining Money and because they do not agree with Feasting Sleep and Idleness wherein the greatest part of Men make their happiness to consist In truth there are none among us but they who are designed for the War to whom any Exercises are taught Methodically And yet even herein there are in my Opinion two considerable Faults The one that no care is taken to Form the Soldiers who Compose the whole Body of the Troops They are not taught to Manage their Arms and perform their Exercises till they be Listed The other Fault is that in the Academies where Gentlemen are Exercised no reckoning is made of that which is most essential that is to make them Healthy and render their Bodies Robust For they do not accustom young Men to live upon simple and common Meats to suffer sometimes Hunger Heat Cold and the injuries of the Weather to pass whole Nights without Sleeping to lie usually Hard to be upon Horse-back whole Days together In a word to inure themselves to all sorts of Fatigues In the mean time these Fatigues are ordinarily of much more use in War than Dancing and the extream fineries of Fencing and the Art of Riding Nevertheless this care that is taken to Form the Bodies of Gentlemen as indifferent as it is is a very sensible Proof of the usefulness of Exercises Hence doubtless it comes to pass that Persons of Quality and the Officers of the Army have ordinarily Bodies better made Walk and Move in all Respects with a better Grace not only than Artisans and Citizens but than the Men of the Robe who have not pass'd through these Exercises Nay even the meer difference of Labours has a very great effect without any care taken in Education Gardiners and Labouring-Men have Bodies generally otherwise Formed and Proportioned than Shooe-Makers and Taylors and other Sedentary Artists But to speak only of those who are Educated with most care though they are not designed for the War amongst so many other things which they are Taught why should not the Exercise of the Body be one Is it because they have a Soul and no Body at all Is it because Latin and the College-Philosophy are more necessary to them than Health Let us confess the Truth It is because we never considered this Matter we believe that Health comes of it self that we always have enough of it and that the most important business is to get a great deal of Money and be preferr'd to high Imployments as if we could enjoy these Goods and these Honours without Living and having our Health When I speak of having a care of Health I do not mean those Cautions of Women Sedentary and Lazy Men who are feeling their Pulses every Moment and who by fearing Diseases are almost always Sick or at least imagin themselves to be so Who take Broaths every Morning who cannot Fast nor suffer Hunger nor Eat later than at such a certain Hour who cannot Sleep if they do not lie very soft and very far from Noise who never have Window Shuts Skreens and Counter-doors enough In a word who are extreamly afraid of the least inconveniencies These Persons abuse those comfortable things which were invented for the truly Sick and for them whose Health is impared by long Labours or by extream old Age. And that which shews their softness is that they never use the means which I have mentioned of Labour and Abstinence but had rather take a Medicine than deprive themselves of a meals Meat It is therefore of great Consequence that Children should betimes apprehend the Error of these pretended Valetudinarians for they do Educate Children the worst of any People They wrap and cover them to the end of the Fingers they suffer them not to do any Exercise least they should hurt or over-heat themselves They regularly Purge them at certain Seasons and perswade them so much that they are of a weak and delicate Complexion that the poor Children believe it all their Lives and pretend thereby to distinguish themselves from the common People as well as by their Riches and Quality For since none but the Rich and such who have Leisure can observe all these Niceties they perswade themselves that it appertains to none but Peasants and Porters to have good Bodies and pride themselves in their weakness as a mark of their Wit Nevertheless if we would take the Matter aright a Man ought more to be ashamed for being weak and unhealthy than for being Poor Since there are more Innocent means of acquiring Health than Riches and these means are more in our Power Young Persons also should be delivered from a great many Superstitions which the ignorance of former Ages has introduc'd into Medicks concerning the quality of several Meats which are accounted Cold or Hot without Reason and against Experience concerning many effects which are attributed without Foundation to the Moon and other Stars In this Rank may be reckoned a great part of the Precepts of Schola Salernitana On the contrary I would have them Taught that which has been most constantly agreed upon by the most skilful Physicians for the ordinary Regimen the means of preserving Health the Remedies for the most common Diseases and especially all that relates to Wounds For it is more difficult to avoid them than great Diseases and of greater importance to be able to cure ones self of them For all this 't would be useful to know Anatomy reasonably well besides other great Use which may be made of it in Morality to understand the Passions admire the Wisdom of God and make us sensible how much we depend upon his Power It would be well also to know the quality of the most ordinary Meats the most common Plants those Remedies which are most easie to be found and all this according to the most approved Experiences More or less of these things may be Studied according to the capacity of the Master and the Leisure and Inclination of the Scholar It would not be amiss to make the effects of some of the most terrible Diseases to be observed thereby to imprint upon young Men a great horrour of Intemperance and Debauchery and on the other hand to carry them sometimes into a Kitchin or some Office there to see all the while how much Artifice Labour Time and Money are spent in preparing the Ragou's and Sauces which are only the Ornaments of Eating THe foregoing Instructions are those wherein all Persons are concern'd seeing there is no Man but has a Body and a Soul to take care of The following Instructions relate to the preservation of Estates and consequently are not of use to those who are extreamly Poor So that the Advice which I shall give is scarce Practicable but by such Children as are Born of Parents who are at least indifferently accommodated The Poorest sort of all have neither Money nor Leisure to lay out in the Instruction of their
Affairs and as it were the Titles of his House and that of Foreign Countries nearest to him teaches him the Concerns of his Neighbours which are always mixed with his own Nevertheless since there are a great many other things to be known and the capacity of a Man's Mind is limited He ought chiefly to Study the History of his own Country and House and to have a more particular Knowledge of that which is nearest to his own Time I would have every Lord proportionably to know well the History of his own Family and every private person that of his own Shire and Town better than those of others The Book of Genesis is a perfect Model of the Choice which every one should make in the Study of History Moses has therein Comprised all the things which it was useful for the Israelites to know chiefly dilating upon those which are of greatest Importance as the Creation the Sin of the First Man the Deluge the History of the Patriarchs unto whom God had made the Promises which he was about to fulfil He doth not omit to observe the Origin of all Nations and to speak more or less of their History as they had more or less Relation to the People for whom he Wrote But if you would have an Abridgment only for the refreshing of your Memory you have an Example thereof in the First Chapter of the Chronicles where the Names alone plac'd successively recalls all the History of Genesis It is nevertheless to be wisht though it is not absolutely necessary that all who have leisure do Read the Principal Histories of the Greeks and Romans They are profitable both for Morality and Eloquence For bringing to the Reading of them that Corrective which I have Prescrib'd the Examples of the great Actions and good Conduct of the Ancients may be very useful And the manner after which the Historians Writ may be of great advantage to us both as to the Method and to the Style if we know how to imitate them So that a Man should as well exercise himself in the Latin Tongue by Reading the Historians as other Authors since without Reading much he cannot Learn it AFter the History of the Manners and Actions of Men the most useful Study in my opinion is Natural History I comprehend under this Name all that Knowledge which is Positive and founded upon that Experience which respects the Construction of the Universe and of all its parts as far as is needful for one who is not to be an Astronomer Physician or Naturalist by Profession For no Man surely should be altogether ignorant of this World which we inhabit of these Plants and these Animals which nourish us of that which we are our selves I know very well that the Knowledge of our Selves is the most necessary of all But this is the Knowledge of the Soul which I referr to Logick and Morality As for the Body since we govern it much less by Knowledge than by a blind Instinct attended with Motions which depend upon us yet without our Knowledge of the Springs and Machines which are the immediate Causes of them the particular Knowledge of its Structure is scarce of any use to us but for the admiring its Author who is not less admirable in other Animals and other parts of Nature It 's true we should be affected more with that which we find in our selves Moreover the Knowledge of the Body is very useful for understanding the Passions their Causes and their Cures which is a great part of Morality and for discerning what is proper for the preservation of Health from that which is destructive thereof which is one of the Studies which I have plac'd amongst the most necessary This Natural History therefore should Comprise Cosmography and Anatomy By Cosmography I understand the System of the World the Disposition of the Stars their Distances their Magnitudes their Motions according to the late observations of the most exact Astronomers depending upon them as skilful Persons who deserve to be credited without examining their Proofs Herein also I comprehend the Meteors not labouring to search out the Causes of them but only to know the Matters of Fact The Description of the Earth not so much of its Surface which relates to Geography and is referr'd to the Moral History as its Depth and the different Bodies which it contains At first sight it seems as if this Knowledge was no more than pure Curiosity but in truth it is very useful for raising the Mind and inlarging it for furnishing us with true Ideas of the Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power of God of our own weakness and the littleness of all Humane things Under the Name of Anatomy I comprise that of Plants as well as that of Animals without lanching into Curiosities which has no bounds I would have my Scholar to know well the Animals of his own Country the most famous of other Countries and the Plants which are most used That he should know how to distinguish the principal parts of a Plant and an Animal That he should see how these Living Bodies are nourished and preserved but particularly That he should be acquainted with the Admirable Structure of those Springs which make Animals to move I mean that of them which is felt with the Finger the Bones and the Muscles This Study if he have Leisure and a Genius may be extended to the Knowledge of those Arts wherein are employ'd the most Ingenuous Machines or which produce the most considerable changes in Natural Bodies as Chymistry the Melting of Metals making Glass Tanning and Dying INto the number of those Studies which are useful to all Students I also put Geometry In truth it doth not onely contain the Principles of several very useful Arts as Mechanicks Surveying Trigonometry Gnomonicks Architecture wholly especially Fortification of such great use at this day but also it forms the Mind in general and strengthens the Reason extreamly It accustoms Men not to content themselves with appearances to seek after Solid Proofs and not to stop as long as there is the least ground for doubting and by this means to discern Convincing and Demonstrative Reasons from meer Probabilities It would nevertheless be dangerous if not directed by such a Logick as I have reckoned amongst the number of necessary Studies For 't is this Logick which lays down the Great Rules of Evidence of Certainty and Demonstration and bids us not believe that none but sensible and imaginable things as the objects of Geometry are can be clearly known That there are no certain Reasonings but those concerning the Relations of Angles and Lines or the proportions of Numbers That we ought in all matters to expect the same kind of Certainty But when these Distinctions and General Rules are laid down by a good Logick Geometry opens a great Field of Exercise for Defining Dividing and Reasoning TOwards the end of the Young Man's Studies when he is about the Age of Fourteen
or Fifteen or later as his Understanding and Leisure will permit the more solid Rules of true Eloquence may be made known unto him I do not propose this Study as necessary because one may be a good Man and also expert to such a degree without being Eloquent as also because Eloquence depends at least as much upon Nature as Study It must nevertheless be confest that it is of great use and that ordinarily it makes the most important and difficult Affairs to succeed well For here by Eloquence or Rhetorick I do not understand what is generally understood thereby by abusing a word which Pedants and Declamers have brought into disrepute I do not I say understand that which enables Men to make Ceremonious Harangues and other such-like Studied Discourses which tickle the Ear for the present but usually do nothing but raise Disturbances I understand hereby the Art of perswading effectually whether a Man speaks in Private or in Publick I mean that which makes one Advocate to carry more Causes than another one Preacher Humanly speaking to Convert more Souls one Magistrate to have a greater sway in the Debates of his Company one Agent to make a more advantageous Treaty for his Prince one Minister of State to Govern more in his Counsels than another In a word That which makes a Man become Master of other Men's Minds by Speech I know well that they who succeed in the greatest Affairs have more of natural Parts and Experience than Study but I doubt not but that Study would be very useful to them They would have never the less of those fine natural accomplishments and that great Experience And yet over and besides they would have some more certain Rules and the Examples of the greatest Men of Antiquity A Prince or Minister of State who should be so well Educated as to be from his Youth well acquainted with Cicero Demosthenes and Thucydides would find great pleasure in Reading them over again when he comes to the Age of Maturity and receive great benefit from them But these Authors usually become useless and are despised for want of fit Readers They are Read to Children who would not understand even in French such-like Discourses for want of Experience in the World and attention unto Matters of Moment Or if they be Read by Men they are the Learned by Profession as Regents Priests and Religious who are Sequestered from the World and are fill'd with Ideas quite different from those which imploy'd the Thoughts of these Authours Cicero and Demosthenes were Men brought up in the World and in Business They Rose by their Merit much above their Birth which yet was honest according to the Custom of their Nation and they arrived to the greatest Power they could have in their Commonwealths Cicero was Consul that is for the space of a Year he was at the Head of an Empire as large as Twelve such as any we now see in Europe He Governed a Province he Commanded Troops he was equal in Dignity to Caesar and Pompey Kings Courted him Yet because we have read these Authors at School we often retain a very unbecoming Idea of them because we know that they Pleaded Causes we take them for such Advocates as Ours are and do not consider that Caesar Pleaded also and might have disputed Eloquence with Cicero himself Besides we see many who Study them all their Lives without becoming thereby more fit for the World and Business and we do not Reflect that these Persons seek for nothing in them but Language and Figures of Rhetorick which they often imitate very wretchedly they seek nothing less in them than the way of managing great Affairs The more things the Scholar shall know and the more his Reason shall be Form'd the more capable he will be of this Study of Eloquence For it only gives the Form to Discourses good Sense and Experience must furnish the Matter I should therefore wait till the young Man should have Thoughts and be able to say something of himself before I would Teach him the Way and Manner of speaking First I would secure Morality and give him to understand as soon as he should be capable that Eloquence is a good accomplishment being only the perfection of Speech That as Speech is given Us only that we may speak the Truth Eloquence is given to make this Truth esteemed and to hinder it from being stifled by the ill Artifices of those who oppose it or the bad Disposition of them who hear it That it is to abuse Eloquence to make it serve Interests and Passions though Cicero and the greatest part of Orators have made this use of it That its regular use is to perswade Men to that which is truly good and especially that which may make them better Painting out to them the horrour of Vice and Beauty of Vertue in lively Colours as the Prophets and the Fathers of the Church have done This is what I call the Morality of Eloquence The Art consists in knowing how to Speak and Write well upon all occasions of Life not only in publick Actions as those Harangues which are made only to comply with some certain Formalities but in the more ordinary Debates about Business and in simple Conversations in knowing how to give a relation of any Matter to Write a Letter All this is Matter of Eloquence proportionably as the Subject requires it To shew him the Secret of it I would Principally use Examples and Exercise The Examples might be taken out of Cicero or Demosthenes according as the Scholar should be acquainted with these Languages If he knew no Latin the Translations of Cicero might be recommended to him or some good Modern Book as the Cardinal D' Ossat's Letters which are full of solid Eloquence by which he had Success in Business These Examples would give substance and pleasure to the Precepts For naked Precepts given in general would always be Dry and Barren and as St. Augustin says one of good natural parts would acquire Eloquence rather by hearing Eloquent Discourses than by Studying Precepts of Eloquence He will thus gain by all sorts of Reading He will every where find Examples of that which he ought to follow and avoid and this Exercise would settle his Judgment For he must be accustomed to Judge of what he Reads to give a Reason why he thinks it good or bad These Reasons make up the whole Art of Rhetorick which has been Form'd upon Examples by observing what did effectually perswade and what was prejudicial to Perswasion and making Rules thereupon to the end that they might not talk meerly at a venture but by Rule and Discretion Not only Reading but Conversations and the most common Discourses of Life are good Lessons of Eloquence These living and familiar Examples might render it more solid and real than Books and all that which smells of the School can It is therefore adviseable to learn a young Man how
Poetry in Theory and the Reading of the ancient Poets Not but that a Man if he knows them well may profit thereby especially by the Greeks But to read them with pleasure a Man should so well know their Language their Mythology and their Manners 〈◊〉 that the profit or the pleasure which would come thereby seems to me not worth all this Toil considering that there are so many things besides that are necessary to be known To Poetry I joyn Musick I do not mean only the Exercise of Singing and the Rules for Managing the Voice but the Art and Principles of these Rules With these also I joyn Painting Designing and all the Arts which depend thereon I put also amongst the number of Curious Studies all those parts of Mathematicks which go beyond the Elements of Arithmetick and Geometry Herein I count Perspective Opticks Astronomy the Theory of the Planets Exactness in Chronology The inquiry after Antiquities as Medals and Inscriptions The Reading of Travels The Study of Languages For excepting Latin the rest may be Rank'd amongst the Curiosities Not but that the Greek may be very useful to all who desire to be well skill'd in Philology principally to Clergy-men The Italian and the Spanish are so nearly Ally'd to the French that as little as our Genius lies towards Languages we ought not to neglect them As for other strange Languages as the English and German there is nothing but particular profit which can countervail the difficulty of Learning them But the most dangerous Curiosity of this kind is that of the Oriental Languages It Flatters our Vanity as being singular and having something prodigious in it Besides it denotes a profound Learning because these Languages are not ordinarily Learn'd but after those which are more common But in Truth its usefulness is not so great as to pay for the time and trouble which it costs As whole Nations reap Advantage from the Courage and Curiosity of some few Travellers who have discovered the most remote Countries and from the industry of the Merchants who daily Trafick therein So 't is sufficient that some few of the Curious by their Translations and Extracts should let us know the Books of the Arabians Persians and other Orientals Curiosity goes much beyond the extent of the Memory or even of Life it self and amongst the Curious themselves it is to be wish'd that each of them would limit himself to one Language that he might know it well or at most to two or three which have a great Connexion betwixt one another rather than to have an imperfect Knowledge of a great number of them I except the Hebrew Language in respect to the Holy Scripture which 't is hard well to understand without having some Tincture thereof And I account it very advantageous to the Church that there are always several Clergy-men who understand it if it was for no other Reason but to silence the Hereticks who think to Fortifie themselves thereby and to Labour in the Conversion of the Jews in those Countries where they are But excepting the necessity of this Controversie I would not oblige my self to Read many Rabbins There is more to be lost than gotten by this Study Let us not suffer our selves to be deceived by the Vanity of knowing that which all others are ignorant of let us consider what use it is really of If there should be any thing useful in the Rabbins it would be the Matters of Fact and Traditions of their ancient Customs of their Nation But they are for the most part so Modern that 't is very difficult to believe that they have preserved these Traditions There are scarce any of them older than Five Hundred Years so that though the Talmud should have been Written but a Thousand Years ago there would still be Five Hundred Years wherein these Traditions must have been preserved without Writing A thing which is scarce probable The Time and the Style of their Books seem to shew that they Writ only in Emulation of the Mahometans Nevertheless if any one have so much inclination for this kind of Study as to give himself wholly up to it I would have him to confine himself chiefly to the Talmud where he will doubtless find their most ancient and profitable Traditions for the knowledge of the Manners of the Jews principally after their return out of Captivity to their intire dispersion under the Romans But this Labour is too painful and unpleasant to invite many Men to undertake it Another Curious Study which yet may be very useful is the Theory of the different Trades and Manufactures In this Rank also I place the Knowledge of Plants not only such as are useful but of all that has been said of them and likewise of Animals and all natural History proportionably The Experiments of Chymistry or of other Arts whereby new Secrets have been discovered The different Systems which the Philosophers have invented for the Explaining the effects of Nature That is to say in a word all Physicks or natural Philosophy I call all this Curiosity It is better to be busied therein than to be Idle or devote ones self to Play But a Man ought to be very cautious on the other Hand that he doth not so deliver himself up to Curiosities as to quit the Essential Duties of Life as to neglect Business and more useful Studies though less pleasant as to deprive himself of Bodily Exercise which preserves his Health or of necessary Diversion for unbending the Mind and putting it into a condition of applying it self to more useful things It is this Passion of Curiosity which doth most harm to Learned Men though otherwise it often conduces to the carrying on certain pieces of Knowledge very far But for this end 't is sufficient that some private Men suffer themselves to be Transported with this Passion I Put a great deal of difference betwixt those Curiosities which are laudable and good in themselves and those Studies which are bad or altogether useless I had rather a Man should do nothing than seek after the Philosopher's Stone I had rather he should be ignorant than know the great or the little Art of Raymund Lully which makes a Man to know nothing truly and yet to believe that he knows every thing because he knows the Alphabets and Tables wherein under certain Words and Figures are placed Notions so general which none can be ignorant of even without Study and which also lead to nothing In this Rank likewise I place every thing that deceives under the Name of Philosophy The Physicks which give a Man no knowledge of Nature The Metaphysicks which doth not at all conduce to the inlightening the Mind and do not lay down the great and Fundamental Principles of the Sciences Judiciary Astrology is still more despicable than bad Philosophy seeing it has less appearance of Reason And it is much more dangerous because its Design is to know what is to come and engages Men
as Courage Resolution and Patience For the Mind they should soon be exercised in thinking Coherently and Reasoning Solidly upon the most ordinary Subjects which be of use to them Teaching them what is most Essential in Logick without Choaking them with Great Words which may only fill them with Vanity For the Body there is scarce any Exercise proper for them but Walking But all the Precepts of Health which I have given appertain unto them and indeed they have the most need of them since they are more subject to Indulge themselves in this matter and to draw Respect from their Distempers and Weaknesses The Health and Vigour of Women concern all the World seeing they are Mothers of Boys as well as Girls It would be well also for them to know the most easie Remedies of ordinary Distempers for they are very fit to prepare them in Houses and to take care of the Sick Grammar as to them consists onely in Reading and Writing and Composing correctly in French a Letter Memoir or any other Piece suitable to them Practical Arithmetick is sufficient for them and it is no less necessary for them than Men and also they have need of Oeconomicks since they are design'd more to intend the Affairs within doors at least more particularly Accordingly they are careful enough to instruct themselves in Domestick Management But 't is to be wisht that together with this Skill was joyned a little more Reason and Reflection for the Curing of two Evils Littleness of Spirit and Covetousness so incident to the Managing Women and on the other side Affectation and Disdain in those who pretend to the Spirit of Wit To this end it would be very useful to make them comprehend betimes that the most Honourable Imployment of a Woman is the care of all within Doors provided that she do not value her self too much upon that which onely tends to her Interest and that she know how to put every thing into its proper place Tho' Matters without doors chiefly relate unto the Men yet 't is impossible but that often the Women must have part therein and sometimes they find themselves altogether charged therewith as when they become Widows It is therefore further necessary to Teach them some Skill in Law that is so much as I have Recommended to all Persons of any Condition They should understand the Common Terms of Business and the Great Maxims In a word they should be capable to go to Council and take Advice And this Instruction is the more necessary in France because Women are not under Guardianship and may have Great Possessions of which they are Absolute Mistrisses They may omit all the other Studies Latin and other Languages History Mathematicks Poetry and all other Curiosities They are not design'd for those Imployments which make these Studies either necessary or useful to them and several of them would only make them Instruments of Vanity Nevertheless 't is better they should spend their vacant hours in them than in Reading Romances in Gaming or speaking of their Petticoats Gowns and their Ribbons I Think I have sufficiently explain'd all the Studies which are to be Taught to Youth and all which belong to all sorts of Persons of both Sexes at present I speak of those which are particular to Men of divers Professions referring all to the three Principal the Church the Sword and the Gown A Clergy-man is design'd to Instruct others concerning Religion and to perswade them to Vertue Therefore he should know three things The Mysteries of Faith Morality and the Manner of Teaching them His Principal Study should be the Holy Scripture Let him begin to Read it from his Infancy and continue this Reading so constantly all his Life that every Sacred Text may be extreamly familiar unto him and that there may be no place which he cannot quickly recollect Though he should Learn it all by heart he would do no more than what was very common in the first Ages of the Church even in Lay-men This constant Reading of the Scripture will serve as a good Commentary provided that at first you shall onely seek after the litteral Sense which will offer it self naturally to your mind without stopping at Difficulties You will always find therein clear Truths enough for your Edification and that of others After having Read all the Holy Scripture with attention one Chapter after another without skipping over any thing when you shall come to Read it again a great part of your difficulties will vanish They will grow still less at a Third Reading and the more you shall Read it the more clear will it be to you provided that you shall Read it with Respect and Submission considering that it is God himself who speaks The Historical Catechism may facilitate the Reading of Holy Scripture in Beginners helping them to discern which are the most considerable passages and ought to be most meditated upon The Treatise concerning the Manners of the Israelites is as a General Commentary which removes several literal difficulties As for the Spiritual Sense of Scripture it must be soberly sought after chiefly relying upon that which is observed in Scripture it self and afterwards that which we learn by Tradition I mean by the most uniform and Ancient Traditions of the Fathers A Clergy-man ought to avoid the two Extremes of Studying too much and too little There are several who think that they have nothing more to do after the Office and the Mass if they have no Benefice with Cure of Souls and if they have they believe they have done all that is required by performing the most urgent Duties But we ought not to be at rest as long as there shall be Ignorant Persons to be Instructed and Sinners to be Converted They therefore who have no great Natural Parts nor great conveniencies for Studying who want Books and Masters as in the Country and far distant Provinces should make it their business to know the Essential and Common things To Catechize which is not such an easie Office as several suppose but the most important of all seeing it is the Foundation of Religion To make Publications of Holy-days c. and Familiar Exhortations accommodated to the Capacity of the Auditours To hear Confessions and give Wholsom Advice A Vertuous and Zealous Priest may do all this without Reading any thing but the Holy Scripture the Catechism the Council the Instructions of his Ritual some Sermons of St. Augustin or other Moral Book of some of the Fathers which shall happen to fall into his hands This is that which may be said to be necessary in the matter of Ecclesiastical Studies They who are at leisure and have Books and other Conveniencies of Studying ought to guard themselves against Curiosity The best Preservative in my Opinion is early to consider the full extent of our Profession and all the Knowledge it requires An Accomplish'd Clergy-man should be able to prove Religion to Libertines and Infidels and consequently ought