Le Chemin Abregé Or A Compendious METHOD for the Attaining of Sciences in a Short Time Together with the Statutes of the ACADEMY Founded by the Cardinall of RICHELIEU Englished by R. G. Gent. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the Princes Armes in St Pauls Church-yard â—â—â—â— To the Worshipfull JOHN SELDEN Esquier SIR I Have often desired an Opportunity to testifie both to your self and the World how much I honour your transcendent Learning This Peece comming to my hands to translate I pit ch'd upon your self to beg your patronage for it Some perhaps may urge it deserves not your Acceptance the greater then will your Candour appear in desending at from the overhasty censure of rash Criticks It was a Speech made to the famous Cardinall Richelieu who is acknowledged by all to have been the grand Politick States man either of his own or precedent times But neither this nor the Cardinals good Approbation of it are the onely causes of my Dedication This Sir is an excellent Foundation for a beautifull Structure It Containes an exact Method for the trayning up of youth in all manner of Sciences and in so short a time as no former Age afforded the like and I am confident this our Present cannot choose but approve of But to take away all Scrupulous doubts from the common Reader whether our Author hath set down the right way to atcheive this so laudable an Enterprise I appeale to your Judicious Approbation If You think my labour well bestowed I shall think my felf happy if not I must fry to your Courteous Clement assuring my selfe of your pardon for my bold Intrusion which I hope you will look upon as only my Ambition to deerve the Title of Sir Your most humble Servant Robert Gentilis TO THE MOST NOBLE and most Excellent Mr. PETER EISSINGH Magistrate of the Cittie of Groninghe and Overseer of the Academie Mr Osebrandt John Rengers Commissarie for the managing of the affaires of Omland and overseer of the Academie Mr Jodocus Heinsius Syndicus and Councellor of Omland and Overseer of the Academie SIRS THis discourse which will seem Paradoxicall both to the learned and unlearned doth not promise it self to be so perswasive to the readers as to draw them all to side with the Author in his opinion Himself had no such pretence which caused him after he had once put it to the press to call it in again I had also suppressed it had not some persons of worth desired to see it which hath caused mee to publish it Yet the Reader may find herein what were the thoughts and intentions of one of the greatest Politicians of our age Those who wonder why Socrates Platoe's and Aristotles Schooles yeeld no more Epaminonda's Xenophons nor Alexanders shall here find satisfaction These great men made Sciences as it were naturall to them and caused them to grow up with them giving them the Principles thereof in their infancy Whereas now the flower of mans youth is imployed in learning of the Precepts of obsolet Languages and after he hath gotten this vocall knowledge when he comes to any reall he meets with some unskillfull and shufling teachers who either through ignorance or out of meer malice obscure Arts and Sciences under rude and improper termes cloathing them as I may say with raggs and tatters Blame me not then gentlemen if I present you this treatise there being none or but very few extant upon such a Subject Your affections to learning and knowledge of it hath perswaded me that such births as these ought to have approbation or disacceptance from such as you are I know there are many things in it at which weak understandings may stumble They will say that the Author seeks with unexampled boldness to undervalue ancient Languages to gain more tye and auctority to his own native tongue But those who shall consider that all Nations may apply that which is here particularly spoken of the French aswell to their own mother tongue will soone acquit him of that imputation You must moreover observe that he doth not absolutely disswade any from the study of those he calls Obsolet Languages but onely restraines it within the bounds of a publick utility He approves of learning of those Languages so we do it as the Greeks did the Aegiptiack the Arabians the Greek namely to appropriate to their own Language such Sciences as were first conceived and written in the other It were absurd to say that we cannot in our Languages doe the like For reason speaks all Languages and through the necessity of expressing ones self all Nations were they never so barbarous did do dayly find out termes words sufficient to express their thoughts Is mans understanding become so confined and barren that it cannot more dress and trimm up Sciences after its own fashion No indeed it is as vigorous now as it was in former ages but more servile It is become like those degenerous and slowthfull painters who dare not adventure to see forth any thing of their own invention But will rather bee stiled poor coppiers of others draughts then by some Masterpecce of their owne shew that they understand the secret and order of designing And are content to bestow the uttermost of their art and spend their times in refreshing some old images and renewing with some quaint colours the pourtraiture of a Judith and Holofernes It is no wonder therefore if our modern Languages be so poor seeing we bestow all the care we should have of them upon the beautifying and refining of the antient ones whose very Antiquity otherwise is a manifest proof of their defect and barrennesse For as those who spake them had seen fewer things then we so they needed fewer words to express them and living in the first ages of the world they could not frame names for such things as have been discovered but of late dayes So that we may there find the mistake of those Criticks who through a curious stupidity will forsake Pistolets of weight for light Medalls As for those who imagine that treating of Sciences in vulgar tongues will derogate from their Majesty I beleive they have as little ground for it as those who should conceive that the value of Gold is diminished by those who digg it out of the entralls of the earth to refine it and make it serve for commerce Finally Gentlemen those who shall know how to distinguish the Authors reasons from the praises which he attributes to the person to whom he speaks that is to say can discern the matter from the accidents the substance from the colours and the words of truth from those of insinuation shal find that it would be very advantagious for every country to have such Sciences as concerne Policy taught in their mother tongue And let such as are of a contrary opinion look upon this Treatise as a triall of wit and read it onely to pass the time My onely desire is to shew you that
ages brought forth such men as posterity admired and whose very names were honoured and respected But now in stead of bestowing our tender age in things which might edifie youth we cast it into the briars of Grammar and such trâ—ublesome difficulties as dull the acutenesse of the understanding they oppresse the memory with the troublesome studie of obsolet Languages the Knowledge of which is many times fruitlesse and to no purpose especially for such as doe not make a profession of writing or speaking Greek and Latine That time might be employed farre better in the refining of our own Language and the search of truth and questionlesse the French who are endowed with singular and rare naturall gifts would quickly become as they were in the Druides times the most learned and eloquent in the World and Philosophie would once again flourish amongst us Is it not a shame that through neglect of our owne language we should speak many things in Greek and Latin which wee might as well expresse in our mother tongue Is not this a making our selves strangers in our own Country and never behold learning but in borrowed robes One might object that children are not capable of Sciences and that studying of them is too serious and important an employment for them Yet experience teacheth us the coÌ„trary Aristotle himself in his Politicks saith that children are capable of learning Philosophie at seven or eight yeares of age because they begin then to be capable of reason their imagination is vivid and hot their Memorie tender and apt to receive any good impression and it is farr easier for them to apprehend Reasons whereof they have the principles within themselves then the Rudiments of Grammer which are fruitless blossoms and to which they have no naturall disposition This error hath by little and little crept into the minds of men because they have not considered that there are two sorts of Sciences namely of Invention and Discipline As for the first children indeed are not capable of them and even amongst men none can attaine thereunto unlesse they be sublimed wits and spirits fitted to invent new things they are endeasours of an extraordinary Genius or a continual study of 20. or 30. years accompanied with long and profound meditations and solitarie reflections which at last discover unto us some particular lights And such wits deserve even to be admired they are the honour of mankind and raise it up to a kinde of divinity As for the Sciences of Discipline or disposition they are not of the same nature all such as have any memory even women and children are capable thereof they are but reiterations of what hath been said before which may be easily apprehended when they are explained and expounded yet are they seeds of the high Science of Invention when they are sown in a fruitfull sublimed and extraordinary understanding Therefore even the Northerne dull Nations are capable of knowing and apprehending what hath beene written and experimented by others because they have good memories which in some manner supplie their default of Invention And the Southerne people being more Ingenious having sought out the truth in Ancient writers are fitter through their acutenesse to discover new inventions Wherein we may admire divine providence which having made all men rationall guides them severall waies to one end giving the one a more lively judgment and the others a more happie memorie Why should then that time which is ordained for sciences be so ill employed in an apprentiship to learne grammatical observations and precepts far harder and more difficult then the language it self why should we spend ten or twelve yeares in studying Greek and Latine to make use of theÌ„ afterwards but one year or two in the studie of Philosophie Is it not an uniust and insufferable thing to consume the most pretious time of our life and most fitting to learne sciences namely from seven or eight to eighten or twenty yeares of age in learning of the grammer some bookes of humanitie with intollerable trouble and labour then when youths begin to incline to dissolutenesse and desbauches gaming hunting and travelling they are put to Logick in which they must againe begin to learne a new kind of Latine so barbarous and obscure that it seems to have been invented onely to make Sciences odious and distastfull And by this means in stead of prolonging the Gentries time of studying they are forced abruply to cut it off their imployments calling them to state affaires so that what they have not learned at fifteen or sixteen yeares of age they must be ignorant of all the dayes of their lives to the great dammage and prejudice of the state And thus through the difficulty tediousnesse of learning Greek Latine our great ones are frustrate of their rudiments of Philosophie which is one of the greatest mishaps that can befall a State For there are but very few that can attain to the fight of the lustre of Sciences thorough so much mist and darkenesse sublime most subtile understandings onely can comprehend all things without any intricacy or confusion And it is a miraculous thing how a perfect knowledge of languages joyned with deep learning which ordinarily make a man pensive solitarie and most fitting for a private life can consist in your Eminency together with such clearenesse of spirit grave carriage majestick and bewitching entertainement which doth charme and captivate mens hearts unto you and the knowledge of all these things hath furnished and fittingly disposed you to become the most absolute States-man that ever was in France So that in you sir is verified that Maxime which Aristotle sets down namely that Policie is the mistris and Queen of all other Arts and Sciences because she it is that regulates their functions and applies them to the good of the publick And now France findes by experience to its honour and glory that Kingdomes never flourish and prosper better then when prudent and learned men sit at the sterne of publick affaires I must notwithstanding confesse that many wise and understanding people have studied in forraigne Languages some have travelled into Egypt to Marseilles Greece and other countries famous for excellent and learned professors which have lived and taught in them but they were then naticnall Languages and needfull for the learning of Sciences and usefull in the chiefest ports in the world into which one could not travaile without them And they were so farre from being difficult and hard to learne that one could not almost avoyd nor shun the learning of them through daily conversation with the men women and children of that country But why do we now adaies without any necessity so much seeke after I anguages that lie buried in Libraries as in their Sepulchers Let us stirre up their ashes as long as wee will we shall never revive them the fragments and relicks which are left of them are but so many shadowes and defaced monuments And sometimes
as the Dutch doe in Consonants which makes a kinde of unpleasing sound through a too frequent reiâ—eration The second reason is because the Tones thereof are more uniforme and doe not fall and rise excessively as they doe in some other Languages men seeming to sing when they speake them and having such different accents that it forceth one to writh his mouth and face in pronouncing them There are also proud and boasting languages as the Spanish which boasts it selfe to be the Language of the Gods Soft and effeminate as the Italian which is termed to be womens language Rough and fierce as the Northerne therefore by some termed the language of Devills But the French hath none of these faults it is more upright and uniform in its pronunciation therefore is called the language of men as being most proper for discourse being calme and without agitation And yet further to take notice of the excellency and worth of our Language we may note that there are divers sorts of utterances in the world Some Nations seeme to draw their speech out of the very bottom of their breasts and throates as the Hebrew Dutch and Tuscan Italian Others out of the palate and the nose as the Italian and Spaniard Others speake betweene the teeth as the English Irish Danes and others The French only speak through the lipps as the most proper organ and instrument Which is the cause they speake quicker and expresse their thoughts more diligently and this great volubilitie proceeds from the facultie of applying the tongue to the lipps and joyning it with a pleasing kind of harmonie and so the words follow the thoughts and Imaginations so close that strangers take occasion thereupon to accuse the French of lightnesse whereas it is a great advantage and as it were a peculiar gift of our nation a property of our climat which makes our entertainement more pleasing our mind more ready at hand and our discourse more cleare And if our speech seem harsh to some strangers it is by reason of the writing which is not agreeable to the pronunciation But the reformation of that is daily endeavored by regulating our Alphabet and by giving unto every letter its true and particular character But it may be said unto me what art thou that after so many ages wouldest restore the Aegyptian Greeke and Arabian method which hath been so long banished out of the world or rather buried in the tombe of oblivion who giveth thee now leave to controule a custome approved of by the common consent of all Nations for so many ages thinkest thou to be only quick-sighted and that all those learned men who were enlightened by the light of Sciences were stricken with a spirit of blindnesse and did not know which way to teach them Couldest thou not consider that Sciences being immutable required a language no way subject to changes and that nationall tongues which change almost every age are not so proportinable to their soliditie as those ancient Languages which being no more popular are not subject to any alteration If thou hast lived thus long and never did'st reflect nor looke upon the inconstancy of popular and nationall languages behold I will shew thee some authenticall and evident proofs thereof Aegypt in the time of its Kings which were called Pharaohs had a certain peculiar particular language as may appeare by some manuscripts extant even in our days which are no way to be understood now the Arabick hath succeeded in its place yet we have not retained one word of that ancient Idiome which is reported to have been very large and copious and more proper then the Greek itselfe to treate both of divine and humane Sciences In Palestine and Ierusalem in former times they spake Syriack and now the Arabick is there nationall Greece so renowned for her Language is now constrained to speake Turkish The coast of Barbarie which in former times spake the Phaenician tongue speakes now the Moors language Gaule which had a dominion vast and powerfull enough to maintaine it selfe against its enemies being thorow its owne divisions at last conquered by the Romans hath changed its language three or foure times in lesse then sixteene or seventeene hundred yeares and that which we have at this day is composed of the Celtick Roman Franconian and Gothick tongues and is quite different from the ancient which Plinie who was a Gaule borne and spake the Language most perfectly did extoll to the skies Finally the Polonians Vandalls Bulgarians Croatians Dalmatians Russians Bohemians Lituanians Moscovites and Scionians who in former times knew no other but the Teutonick or German tongue now together with divers other Nations speake nothing but the Sclavonian And the Germans confesse that the Language which themselves now speake is quite different from that which they spake formerly We might easily name divers other Nations and were it possible to have a register of all the Languages we should therein finde how they art subject to a perpetuall revolution and that those words which compose them dying in one countrie and reviving in another differ in nothing but in the exchange of the meaning and that there are not in nature generations and corruptions more worthy of admiration and lesse admired To answer all these objections distinctly they seeming to be somewhat hard to resolve I will first say that there can be no valuable instance made against the example of Trismegistus Aristotle Tullie Avicen and the generall custome of those learned men of former times who had more understanding then we who never made use but onely of nationall languages in which though they be subject to change the truth of morall and nationall things remaines perpetually Of what colour soever they painted Diana which was in Chio made of white marble the next day they would find her againe in her naturall whitenesse which painting could not cover nor art corrupt And if this prescription seemes an inviolable law to these protectors of Languages and a ground sufficient to make us forsake the method which was read in ancient times I would faine know of them whether any prescription can run against the love which we are bound to beare to truth our countrie and our mother tongue and we might also conclude from thence that old errors because they have been allowed of for a long time are no errors which in understanding mens judgement are notwithstanding the most pernicious Custome then can not be a sufficient defence against these great and learned men neither must the proceedings of these last ages prevaile against the Method used in antient times They are but Waves beating against Rocks truth will alwaies prevaile and though wee be growne old and inveterate in errors and disorders yet are we not to be excused therefore if we persist therein Let us rather confesse wee have foolishly gone astray and acknowledge that the onely meanes to bring us againe into the right way of wisdom is to imitate those who in
so easie to be learned We reply again that no man ought or need to learne them all but that every one is onely bound to possesse himselfe of those which necessarily belong to his own profession And again suppose that even these termes should alter and be subject to changes as well as the rest of a Language yet that argues not that we should teach Sciences in any other but the Mother Tongue Seeing translation may easily and faithfully make an antient Language Moderne And that it is beyond comparison more easie to translate our forefathers Language into our own then in those forlorne and forraign ones As for the translation of forraign Languages all learned Nations Jewes Greeks Romans and Arabians have used it And though it be somewhat hard to turne so many Antient workes into our mother tongue yet we may truly say that it is nothing in comparison of the trouble and care which so many thousands of brave spirits have undergone in the tedious compassing of those forgotten Languages And wee have already naturalized and taught to speak French the most excellent and rarest Authors that writ in former ages so that if we continue labouring in translations with the same fervencie as we have beâ—un since the French Academy was erected within these thirty years wee shall not have any thing left to translate but shall in our owne Mother tongue possess the Riches of all other Languages Finally it would not be very difficult to invent a more generall more constant and more easie instrument then that of forlorn tongues which should represent things by Characters which youth might learn with a great deal more ease then the words of an abolished Language neither would they any way hinder the Mother tongue and those who had learned those Characters seeing some certain markes would withall conceive the minds of others and might presently by other Characters disclose their own So that those who should be well versed in this secret would understand one another without being understood and without speaking would converse with one another every one in his own Language which would questionlesse be a most pleasant kind of recreation As for example if a Frenchman writes in the presence of an Italian or a German 1640 the other presently reads and understands and can expresse in his own Language what those Characters signifie This would indeed be a rare art and so much the more to be admired because it would in many places represent the same thing neither would the Characters change though the Languages did There might also use be made of these Characters onely for the termes of Arts and Sciences to the end the memory might not be overburthened with the excessive number and in all other things make use of the Nationall speech But neither is this invention as proper as the mother tongue and though it have been formerly used by learned men yet is it not worth the reviving because it would be accompanied with many difficulties which ought as much as may be to be avoided for the good and ease of learners I question not but that Sciences are very attractive every one naturally desires to attain them but yet they wil be sought after but by very few if the way vnto them be not made easie and pleasant We are inventing every day new Methods to shorten and levell the way which guides us thereunto and yet it is every day more and more encumbred and difficulties increase continually We shall never have any famous men spring up amongst us what art soever wee use unlesse wee teach in our owne Nationall Language Finally it is certaine that Sciences can not be preserved by any immutable thing but onely by the Species which alwaies possessing the Understanding in the same manner oblige it to conceive all things in the same fashion Nature uses no other Language to speak to all men and to instruct them in the Knowledge of the truth Thence it comes that they apprehend an Elephant an Eagle a Dolphin all after the same manner and they every where produce the same imaginations and Phantasmaes in the use and perfect connexion whereof consists all manner of discourse The Species and the word have this common to them that they both represent the truth but this is the difference between them that the Species being a naturall and immutable signe must of necessity be the same in all places and the word being an arbitrary and transitorie mark must be different every where so that we may truly say that the species or notion which represents all things to the mind of man is the onely Language which did never change and will alwaies be common to all men because the Objects which present them to our sences are not changeable and make themselves to be knowne every where after the same manner whereas Characters Gestures and words depending meerly upon our will are every where different Wee apprehend the objects not beause they are Greek Latin Dutch c. but because they have a relation to our notion and signifie that which is in our minds Which is the reason that though the Languages of Nations be various yet they cause no diversitie in the notions of the mind That which the French calls Pierre the German Steen the Latin Lapis the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the English Stone is but one meer notion although these names be different seeing they represent but one and the self same thing to the understandings of all these Nations Therefore all things well considered there is no readier way can be made to Sciences then by the naturall and mother tongue and if ours finds it self wanting of some traines to explaine the subtilities of Sciences we may easily supply that want by inventing names therefore by the help of the Professors of the French Academy and other learned men to the end that they may pass through their approbation and that nothing may be innovated without good advice And our French tongue hath herein this advantage that in reference to Sciences it is not yet engaged in any evil or barbarous termes introduced by any long custome which it would be more difficult to abolish then to invent new Aristotle himselfe though he disallowed of many Greek termes belonging to Philosophy durst not undertake to reform them fearing to seeem an Innovator of antiquity and to make himselfe odious to those of his owne times So that Philosophy hath alwaies beene mixed with improper and ambiguous termes But wee having now free liberty and learned men good store amongst us may very well Naturalize Sciences in our own Country inventing proper termes for them and laying aside all such as might make Philosophy ambiguous barbarous and unpleasant And to this end we shall cut off all Polyonymies and Equivocalls which confound the mind and intangle and trouble Arts and Sciences For Philosophy will â—ever be plain so long as one thought may have diverse names and whilst wee strive to
speak Equivocally in Philosophy it were much more to the purpose to finde out some one that would strike out al those Equivocall words out of the Grammer When an opinion is introduced authorized and rooted through prescription of time it hath a marvellous power over our minds which makes us so preoccupated and prepossessed with the excellency of antient Languages Those who have not attained to them admire them because they doe not understand them and because there is so much difficulty in the learning of them and those who have Knowledge in them being interested in the preservation of them set forth their praises but will by no means discover the defects of them and wilfully maintaine that they are more effectuall and significant then the moderne the very Gates that open the way to Sciences and the onely means to attaine them notwithstanding if we may speak the truth freely we may easily make it appear that they are all of equall value and have no prerogative one above the other For all words that can be imagined are of like nature having the same finall and the same efficient cause the same matter and the same forme They have the same finall cause namely to expresse our thoughts The same efficient cause proceeding from the power of the man which produceth them The same matter namely Letters and Dipthonges And finally they have the same forme being made different onely in termination and the last letter which is as it were the seale and character which hath the power of making up their essence as the last unit makes up that of numbers All the vertue energie they have from the authoritie of men which can give no advantage to the one more then to the other For it is but a meer Being of Reason proceeding out of an absolute hazard and occurrencie For indeed there is nor can be but one way of speaking in the whole world the difference is but onely in characters and gestures and we attribute to severall impositions the name of difference of Languages Languages proceed not from without as some are of opinion who imagine that either they were divinely inspired or came to us by tradition but we have the originall or root of them in ourselves and if we be ignorant of the causes of he production of them it is because they are too common and are every day subject to our senses Common and continuall custome deceaves us and are the cause that we perceive not the mouth to be the onely Matrix and Alphabet and as it were a large case out of which all words doe issue and into which are put and as it were distributed by the Author of Nature all the severall letters as into a little box from whence every man like to a Printer takes them out when he pleases composes them and maketh up languages And God having endowed him with manifold perfections above all other creatures hath given him nothing which is more advantagious to him then speech seeing thereby he is made capable of knowing and loving him his maker lives in Society and attaines Wisdom Wherefore he would have those parts wherein the voice of man is framed filled up with so many wonders to make us the better apprehended the worth of them and withall bind us to an acknowledgement of so rare a benefit But it is not sufficient to know that these parts do with such celeritie mixe the letters and frame words out of them which we make use of in familiar communication but we must also note that each part hath its particular functions and proper motions yet differing amongst themselves and every man pronouncing a letter may know and marke the Organ which frameth it and gives it its being and what part concurres most to the production of it whether it be the lips the palate or the tongue that hath most operation in it And that which is most of all to be admited is that all these organs are so well regulated and observe so r … an order amongst themselves that they can not incroach nor usurp upon the rights of one another their power being so well limitted that they can justly to frame so many letters and no more then a man can make severall and different motions and doublings in his mouth Which shewes sufficiently all Languages to be of equall worth and that if there be any difference betweene them it proceeds not from the words which are all of the same matter in all Languages but rather from the Pronunciation which depending upon the Climates is more milde and pleasant in those Countries where the peoples Organs are most clear and best composed and contrariwise is more harsh and dissonant in those where they are more grossely and rudely framed And this talent is the more considerable being as it were destin'd to some Nations and doth not vary though the ranguages alter and change by succession of time The faculty wee have of framing words in infinitum is the richest treasure belongs to man it is a continually flowing and running fountaine which can never be dried up Wherefore it is a folly to complain of the barrennesse of a I anguage it is our faults if wee do not enrich it if wee will but apply our endeavours to it And an ingen ous Arithmetician in coupling of letters and joyning of syllables might give an admirable structure to all the parts of speech and frame a rarer and more regular Language then yet there is For the combination of letters is a well that can never be drawn dry out of which one may frame as out of materia prima words enough for an infinite number of Languages all different amongst themselves so that in so greate a number of speeches as are spoken in the whole World men do not hit upon the imposition of the same names Whence it appeares that the diversity of Languages proceedes from the plurality of words and the liberty of Framing them and not from the difference of Climates Because we being all indifferent and having no more aptitude the one then the other to expresse the signification of things the will would alwaies remaine in suspence and would never resolve upon any Election if the inclination which it hath to declare its thoughts did not oblige it to take names by chance and impose them at adventure Which thing would evidently appear if a company of little Children were kept up in severall houses in one Plaine who would questionlesse make as many severall Languages as severall companies which were shut together For as concerning that which is spoken of an infant which was bred up in solitude and apart and could pronounce but this word Bec it was a most grosse ignorance in those who imagined to have a certain proofe and evident testimony thereby of which was the most ancient and naturall Language seeing the child was brought up solitary and alone in which case fooles and madmen onely will lye talking and discoursing with