to all fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85933 of text r211307 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.14[87]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 4 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85933 wing g575 thomason 669.f.14[87] estc r211307 99870037 99870037 163074 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85933) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 163074) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f14[87]) to all fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed by robert ibbitson, london : [1649] date of publication from wing. an advertisement for sir balthazar gerbier's academy, which "was to give instructions in all manner of subjects, from philosophy, languages, and mathematics, to riding the 'great horse', dancing and fencing. it was opened on 19 july 1649 at gerbier's house at bethnal green"--cf. dnb. at foot of text: at robert ibbitsons house (in smithfield, neer hosier lane) shall be had constantly in print, the publique lectures, after they shall have been first read at the academy, where they are composed for the good of the publique. annotation on thomason copy: "october 31". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng education -england -early works to 1800. a85933 r211307 (thomason 669.f.14[87]). civilwar no to all fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue gerbier, balthazar, sir 1649 610 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to all fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue sir balthazer gerbier desires once more that the publique may be pleased to take notice of his great labours , and indeavours , by the erection of an academy on bednall green without algate ; and as he conceives that he hath at large informed the publique that in the said academy the chiefe , famous forraigne languages , sciences , and noble exercises shall be taught . that all lovers of vertue , of what age soever , shall be received , and instructed , and that every one of them may select such studies , exercises , and sciences , as are most consonant to his genius . that publique lectures shall be there read gratis , on the said languages , and sciences ; and that every wednesday in the afternoone , in summer at three , and in vvinter at two of the clock , and that also a competent number of decayed families children , shall be there taught gratis : so that as at present there remaines nothing more to be declared on the same , but to represent how that all lovers of vertue are bound both for honours sake the cherishment of vertue , their own profits and improvements , now to imbrace that which is so really and sincerely proffered unto them , as well for the glory and honour of this nation ; as that by this meanes all lovers of vertue may be freed from al those dangers , and inconveniences insident to travellers , who repaire unto forraign parts to improve themselves , leaving the honour of their education unto strangers , both with the hazzard of being shaken in the fundamentall points of their religion , and their innate loyalty to their native country . that also the maine motives which caused the said sir balthazar gerbier to present unto the publique all those languages , and sciences , which are to be taught in his academy , are these , viz. that no forraign parts may have just cause to glory ( to the disparagement of this nation ) that they solely possesse these above-mentioned qualities . so that it now proves a matter of great concernment to this nation ; not only seriously to reflect on these proffers ; but to imbrace them vigorously , and constantly to countenance and promote them ; since that the languages declared to be taught in this academy are , viz. hebrew , greeke , latine , french , italian , spanish , high dutch , and low dutch , both ancient and modern histories , joyntly with the constitutions and governments of the most famous empires and dominions in the world ; the true naturall and experimentall philosophy , the mathematicks , arithmetick , and the keeping of bookes of accounts by creditor and debitor . all excellent hand-writing , geometrie , cosmography geography , perspective , architecture , secret motions of scenes , fortifications , the besieging and defending of places , fire-works , marches of armies , ordering of battailes , fencing , vaulting , riding the great horse , musick , playing on all sorts of instruments , dancing , drawing , painting , limning , and carving , &c. at robert ibbitsons house ( in smithfield , neer hosier lane ) shall be had constantly in print , the publique lectures , after they shall have been first read at the academy , where they are composed for the good of the publique . october 31 london , printed by robert ibbitson . to his grace, his majesties high commissioner, and the right honourable estates of parliament. the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen. marischal college and university. 1695 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b01507 wing a91b estc r173115 51617437 ocm 51617437 175120 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b01507) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 175120) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2713:2) to his grace, his majesties high commissioner, and the right honourable estates of parliament. the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen. marischal college and university. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [edinburgh : 1695] place and date of publication suggested by wing. wing a91b copy imperfect: creased with loss of text. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng marischal college and university -finance -early works to 1800. educational fund raising -scotland -early works to 1800. broadsides -scotland -17th century 2008-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to his grace , his majesties high commissioner , and the right honourable estates of parliament . the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen that where it has been his majestie and royal predecessors constant care , to provide for and give all incouragement to universities and colledges , and by several acts of parliament , there has been vacant stipends allowed them , for the use and upholding of their fabricks ; and now by the late act of parliament , the vacant stipends being applyed for pious uses within the 〈…〉 and we finding some years agoe that our colledge was exceedingly decay'd , did adventure the founding of a new addition to the said colledge , and by the charitable assistance of several gentlement in the countrey and others the roof is finished ; without any former encouragement from the publict , but a gift of two vacancies , ( which we have not as yet received . ) and there being no fond left in our hands for compleating the said work ; and beside we being considerably in debt throw the great advances thereupon , and seing it will yet take a considerable expence to finish the same , we have humbly presum'd to make application to your grace and honourable estates of parliament , that we may be allowed the vacant stipends of such churches whereof the earl marshal is patron , to be applyed for the use foresaid ; as the same shall happen to be vacant by the deceass or removal of their respective incumbents . may it therefore please your grace , and lordships , to consider the premisses , and to pass an act authorizing us to uplift the vacant stipends of such churches whereof the earl marishal is patron , viz : foveran , new-dear , st. brides , alias dunnotar , fetterresso , old-dear , auchridie , longside , peter-head , st. fergus , king-edward , and any other whereof the earl is undoubted patron ; and to ordain letters of horning , and other execution needfull , to pass at our instance , and our successers , against all others lyable in payment ; and your petitioners shall ever pray , &c. to all fathers of noble families, and lovers of vertue. gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85930 of text r210991 in the english short title catalog (thomason e783_2 669.f.14[46]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85930 wing g573 thomason e783_2 thomason 669.f.14[46] estc r210991 99869734 99869734 163034 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85930) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 163034) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 119:e783[2], 246:669f14[46]) to all fathers of noble families, and lovers of vertue. gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1648] imprint from wing. an advertisement for sir balthazar gerbier's academy, which "was to give instructions in all manner of subjects, from philosophy, languages, and mathematics, to riding the 'great horse', dancing and fencing. it was opened on 19 july 1649 at gerbier's house at bethnal green"--cf. dnb. annotation on thomason copy (669.f.14[46]): "sr balthazar gerbier june 28 1648". reproduction of the originals in the british library. eng gerbier, balthazar, -sir, 1592?-1667 -early works to 1800. education -england -early works to 1800. a85930 r210991 (thomason e783_2 669.f.14[46]). civilwar no to all fathers of noble families, and lovers of vertue.: gerbier, balthazar, sir 1648 740 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-10 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-10 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to all fathers of noble families , and lovers of vertue . be it known that sir balthasar gerbier , knight , erects an academy , wherein forraigne languages , sciences , and all noble exercises shall be taught , viz french , italian , spanish , german , and low dutch , both ancient and modern histories , joynlty with the constitution and government of the most famous empires and stares of the world . besides , the true experimentall naturall philosophy . as also , what is most necessary and most noble of the mathematicks , to wit , arithmetick , the true method of keeping bookes of account , by double parties , as is practised in italy and other parts of europe , geometry , geography , cosmography , perspective , and architecture , as well for building as for magnificent shewes , and secret motions of scenes , and the like . but above all , what is most excellent of practicall mathematickes , whatsoever belongeth to fortification , besieging and defending of places , fireworkes , ordering of battallies , and marches of armes , musick , playing of all sorts of instruments , dancing , fencing , riding the great horse , together with the new manner of fighting on horse-backe . and if there be any lovers of vertue , who have an inclination to drawing , painting , limning and carving , either for their curiosity , or to attain unto a greater excellency in severall of the forementioned sciences , ( viz. arithmetick , fortifications , &c. ) they may have them as exactly taught as any of the other sciences , and by a short method , which shall give them a full insight in the theoricall part of the said sciences and exercises at the self same time that they shal be taught in the forraigne languages , whereunto shall serve severall treaties held forth by the said sir balthasar in the forraigne languages aforesaid , the english tongue being joyned thereunto , together with divers excellent tables of very great use for facilitating the matter , and helping the memory ; which treaties shall be continually at mistresse allens shop at the signe of the crown in popes-head alley , neere the old exchange , london ; so that all lovers of these languages , sciences , and exercises , may be pleased to addresse themselves to the said sir balthasars house , at bednall green , beyond white chappell , where gentlemen , and the sonnes of all such lovers of vertue , are received and accommodated to their and their parents entire satisfaction , being a place most pleasant , healthfull , and fit for the studious , that are disposed to apply themselves , as aforesaid , and there to improve themselves in such a short and convenient time , as that they shall be the sooner enabled to travell as gentlemen , who conversing with persons of repute and worth , will leave a noble esteem of themselves in forraigne parts , when strangers shall find them to be well verst in languages , sciences , and perfect in all noble qualities ; and that they shall not owe to the said strangers , the merit of their education . besides the other more weighty considerations which conscience and loyalty to our own native countrey obligeth all , parents to preferre , and especially in these evill times , when it proves a generall misfortune that a number of young gentlemen abroad , are drawn into evil company , where they heare and learn nothing but meere corruption both of manners and language , besides destructive principles to their native countrey , and to their religion , it being also considerable , that the sending of young gentlemen to any of the forraigne academies ( where they shall learn no more qualities then now they may get at home , nor altogether so many ) as it is incomparably more expensive , so it exposeth them to many dangers and inconveniencies . and although the principall scope of the academie is for the education of young gentlemen , yet those of more mature age , may find in it wherewith abundantly to satisfie any laudable curiosity in any kinde whatsoever , whether onely for enriching the minde , or for honorable profit . to his grace, his majesties high commissioner, and the right honourable estates of parliament. the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen. marischal college and university. 1695 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b06105 wing t1363g estc r173115 53981585 ocm 53981585 180393 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b06105) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 180393) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2827:22) to his grace, his majesties high commissioner, and the right honourable estates of parliament. the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen. marischal college and university. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [edinburgh : 1695] caption title. imprint suggested by wing. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng marischal college and university -finance -early works to 1800. educational fund raising -scotland -early works to 1800. broadsides -scotland -17th century 2008-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-02 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to his grace , his majesties high commissioner , and the right honourable the estates of parliament . the petition of the principal and masters of the marishal colledge of aberdeen . humbly sheweth that where the petitioners having represented to this parliament , that they in consideration that their colledge was exceedingly decayed had adventured to erect and join a new building thereto , without any other fond ; but the charitable assistance of noblemen , gentlemen and others both at home and abroad , and the contribution being expended , and the work uncompleat ; it pleased his majesties high commissioner , and honourable estates of parliament , to allow the petitioners the vacant stipends of such churches whereof the earl marishal and earl of kintore were patrons , but the act was restricted only to endure till this session of parliament ; and seeing few of these churches have vaicked , and the stipend of those that are vacant , being near ; exhausted , by the twenty merks payed , to such as preach at the several parish churches our new building lyes still uncompleat , and it will take a considerable summ to finish the said work , and the royall burrows in consideration thereof , were pleased at their last general convention at aherdeen to bestow upon us a generous assistance , and it being his majestie and royall predecessors , their constant care to provide for universities and colledges , and to allow them supplies for repairing and upholding their fabricks : the petitioners have presumed to make this new address to his grace and honourable estates of parliament , humbly craving , that not only the former act , allowing the petitioners the vacant stipends of the churches of foverain , new deer , saint brides alias dunnottar , fetteresso , old deer , auchredie , langside , peterhead , saint fergus , king edward , and any other whereof the earl marishal and earl of kintore are undoubted patrons , may be allowed and continued for such a competent time , as his grace and estates of parliament shall think sit . but also in consideration of the necessity . that the old fabrick lyes under to be repaired , and the new work to be compleated ; your grace and honourable estates of parliament , would be pleased to allow the petitioners some part of the bishops rents , or some other more certain and sure fond then the casual vacant stipends , for the use and ends asoresaid ; and the rather because the honourable members of the last visitation of colledges , in consideration of the premisses , by their act in august 1696. recommended the petitioners to the lords of thesaury , that they might bestow upon them any fond , that might be most effectual for the uses foresaid . and your petitioners shall ever pray , &c. a certificat in order to the collecting and reporting the state of the present english free-schools. university of oxford. 1673 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a53788 wing o865 estc r41756 31360560 ocm 31360560 110735 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a53788) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 110735) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1751:19) a certificat in order to the collecting and reporting the state of the present english free-schools. university of oxford. mews, peter, 1619-1706. bouchier, t. 1 sheet ([1] p.). s.n., [oxford : 1651] signed at end: p. bath and wells, vice-chancellor oxon, t. bouchier, reg. prof. of the civll law in oxon, oxon. aug. 16, 1673. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -england -history -17th century. 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-06 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a certificat in order to the collecting and reporting the state of the present english free-schools . there being an intention of giving some account of the free-schools in england ; their founders , masters , exhibitioners , over-seers , and visitors with other memorable circumstances which may occur : and application having been made to us the vice-chancellor , and the regius professor of the civill law in the university of oxon , to testifie our sense of the undertaking whereby the compiler of the work may stand recommended to the registers , officers in the respective dioceses , or any who may assist him in those enquiries . in condescension to this request we readily allow that amongst the publick monuments of christian charity one of the most early and constant cares of the first reformers has been by the erecting these seminaries , together with good arts , and the learned languages to propagate , especially , true religion , by infusing the principles of it , from the established catechisme . a survey therefore of those foundations , to such as have an affection for the prosperity of the church , or advancement of learning , we judge will be no less pleasing in the review , then profitable by the example . and we do hereby own the industry of christopher wase superior bedle of the civill-law in the said university in making this collection and farther give assurance that we will promote his pretence in those particular districts to which our government or interest shall extend . enquiries . 1 from registers . what free-schools in each diocese ? 2 from school-masters for their particular schools . 1. who founder ? 2. when founded ? 3. how endowed ? 4. what school-master and succession of masters ? if at hand ; otherwise such as are in memory to have been eminent , or authors of any extant work. 5. what exhibitions and in whether university ? 6. who governors , patrons & visitors ? 7. what libraries in them , or in towns adjoining , with what manuscripts ? p. bath and wells vice-chancellor oxon. t. bovchier reg. prof. of the civill law in oxon. oxon , aug. 16. 1673. a note of such arts and mysteries as an english gentleman, a souldier, and a traveller is able by gods assistance to perform (he having means to perfect the same.) bulmer, john, captain. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a77784 of text r211317 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.14[89]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a77784 wing b5439 thomason 669.f.14[89] estc r211317 99870047 99870047 163076 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a77784) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 163076) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f14[89]) a note of such arts and mysteries as an english gentleman, a souldier, and a traveller is able by gods assistance to perform (he having means to perfect the same.) bulmer, john, captain. sarson, laurence, fl. 1643-1645. cudworth, ralph, 1617-1688. dillingham, william, 1617?-1689. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1649] signed at end: by captain john bulmer engineer. imprint from wing. with: 'a true copy of a certificate from emmanuel colledge in cambridge 1646.', signed by lawrence sarson, ralph cudworth, and william dillingham; and a poem 'to the states of england'. annotation on thomason copy: "nouemb. 8 1649". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng education -england -early works to 1800. a77784 r211317 (thomason 669.f.14[89]). civilwar no a note of such arts and mysteries as an english gentleman, a souldier, and a trveller is able by gods assistance to perform (he having means bulmer, john, captain. 1649 931 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-08 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-08 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a note of such arts and mysteries as an english gentleman , a souldier and a traveller is able by gods assistance to perform ( he having means to perfect the same . ) i. in primis to find out all sorts of mines , and mineralls of what nature and quality soever they be that lie within the body of the earth and to direct the working of them , according to their severall natures , and qualities . ii. item to direct the making of all sorts of engines either offensive or defensive for the warre . iii. to find out the levell of any countrey for the draining of fennes or low grounds ; or to direct the making of engines for the raising of water for the service of cities and towns where nature failes . iv. item a new way of finding out any ship , bark , or boat , which doth lie above the sand or rocks , although they lie twenty or thirty fatham deep in the bottom of the sea , and to take up the decks , and the goods that are under the decks , be they ordinance or other commodities without diving an inch under water , and to perform as much labour with one man upon that service , as is now commonly used in seafairing businesse with ten men , and in the same time . v. item to shew many conclusions , as well for pleasure as for profit which may seem by relation to be things impossible , yet to be as really performed as propounded , and with little charge . all which secrets the propounder hath gained with much study travell and expences of many thousands of pounds as was well known to his majesty and most of the ancient nobility in this kingdom : and now being old , and out of imployment , is willing to shew his art in these things to any which are desirous to learn upon assurance of such reward as they shall agree upon , he performing what he promises before he do exspect his reward . a true copy of a certificate from emmanuel colledge in cambridge 1646. whereas captain bulmer made severall propositions , which he undertook by his art to demonstrate ; he hath given sufficient satisfaction that hee is able . i. to raise any weight from the bottom of the water to the surface without diving at all , or making use of any principle or motion saving the form of an element onely . ii to keep any thing dry and conveigh it under the water ; nothing thereof appearing to the eye . iii. to lift up a boat or any other weight so high , as safely to deliver it on the other side of london-bridge if need were . iv. to weigh any uncertain weight without center , and poize it so , that by adding the strength of an horse hair it may be raised up higher from its rest , in the aire or water . this we could not but testifie at his request being convinced thereof by what we have seen . lawrence sarson ralph cudworth william dillingham to the states of england . detraction with fair feathers on his back is like a prating parrat whose tongue 's black and talks without discretion , thus he brawls , now for an almond , then a rope he calls , such parrats hath abus'd me and my art apt schollars that hath learn'd their tale by heart that one , an infant , can there sentence give ere it be born , and swears it cannot live . presumptuous fools , when you my art shall see , presented in a small epitomie . you 'l not believe that if a little boat can with two oars upon the river float with the like confidence a tall ship can dance on the knees of the vast ocean . but take your swing , when parliament & state have been and but one hand full of my skill have seen . they by their candid judgements will with case , judge by the foot , the height of hercules , and entertain my service , with my love , it 's harder pleasing gannamede then jove . for ease it is , in royall court to find , a vasail currish , but a master kind . what ? it is no sinne to be an enginere , i wish projecters half so honest were . i wrack no lands , raise no monopolies nor pattents for my countreys hurt devise . i with the water traffick , as well as land , and would do good , if they would understand but when i proffer them this pearl of mine , they runne to cerses , she makes them swine : and do so still for me , husks are as good for such unsoul'd brutes , as choicest food . but when i shall from under water raise a new invention up in my old dayes , and bring in to effect a work that will do as much good as projects have done ill , i hope when fame shall this my art report , my god and countrey will both reward me for it . necessity compells ( the more 's his grief ) that beggs imployment for relief . by captain john bulmer engineer . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a77784e-290 to detractours . mnemophthoropaiktes, the brainbreakersbreaker, or, the apologie of thomas grantham, for his method in teaching dwelling in lothbury, london. grantham, thomas, d. 1664. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a41798 of text r11564 in the english short title catalog (wing g1558). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 19 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a41798 wing g1558 estc r11564 12425804 ocm 12425804 61844 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41798) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61844) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 939:16) mnemophthoropaiktes, the brainbreakersbreaker, or, the apologie of thomas grantham, for his method in teaching dwelling in lothbury, london. grantham, thomas, d. 1664. [8] p. [s.n.], printed at london : 1644. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. eng education -early works to 1800. a41798 r11564 (wing g1558). civilwar no mnēmophthoropaiktēs the brainbreakers-breaker: or, the apologie of thomas grantham, for his method in teaching; dwelling in lothbury, lond grantham, thomas 1644 3370 17 10 0 0 0 0 80 d the rate of 80 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-02 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion μνημοψ●οροπαικτης the brainbreakers-breaker : or , the apologie of thomas grantham , for his method in teaching ; dwelling in lothbury , london . herculeâ cecidisse manu tot monstra negamus , quot methodo & calamo jam pe●i●l● tuo . wee do deny herculean arme did ere such monsters slay , as have thy method and strong pen , already tain away . joh. nisby , professor of the greek , latin , and french tongues , in ivle lane , london . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . ingenieida , tenebr●o , fungus , cluniferitor , impos granthamo cum fit obesse , latrat . braine-breaker , lout , sot , and bumbeater , you cannot bite grantham , only bark you do . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . printed at london , 1644. encomium dni . granthami , ludimagistri londinensis extraordinarii . granthamum celebrat trinobantum augusta scholarcham , promethodo facili , grammatic âque brevi . hellada namque docet latias resonare camaenas , nectare dum pueros pascit & ambrosia . aliud ex tripode apollinis , loco strenae . granthamo calathis tamesinae applaudite nymphae , auspiciis vestrum promovet ille chorum . j. s. the brainbreakers-breaker . when i consider the misery that youth groans under , in common schooles , their pains great , the severity of the master intolerable , schooles more like bridewell then seminaries of learning , the master many times whips his scholars for making false latin , when hee never taught them cleerly and plainly how to make true , what is this but to expect brick , where no straw is allowed ? when i consider also , the great expence of time , expence of many yeer● , and very seldom to any purpose , may bee a little smattering of latin , and lesse of greek : after all these considerations , pity to youth , and indignation against these furious whipsters , conspired in mee , to redeem those tender yeers from this great captivity : would it not pity any man who had the bowels of compassion , to see those cheeks , may bee such as our saviour kist , when hee took the little children up in his arms , to see th●m torn , lug'd , tug'd , pul'd , and cuft , by a rude unhallowed hand ? hee that hath seen this , as i my self have seen a great part , although nature had deny'd him the happinesse of his pen , yet indignation it self would make him write . in this treatise you may not only see the cruelty of the master , but the folly of him . i will undertake to prove by learned authors & reason , 〈◊〉 free-schooles , & other common schooles , do make their scholars spend their prime and choycest time , in that which is to no purpose at all , in that which is so farre from doing good , it doth a great deale of 〈◊〉 let any man read ascham , tutor to queen elizabeth , hee shall see how hee condemns this lip-labour , this learning word by word without book , which is the diana of the common schooles , o how great is this diana of the common schooles ! hee and others shew , it is a heavy and grievous burden , which is imposed meerly out of ignorance , or knavery , to make one go his journey with a great deale of sorrow and grief , and vvb thousands from being scholars . ascham , in his first book , hath these words : so as the grammar book bee alwaies in the scholars hand , and also used of him as a dictionary , for every present use , this is a lively and perfect way for teaching of rules , where the common way used in common schooles , to read the grammar alone by it self , is tedious for the master , hard for the scholar , cold and uncomfortable for them both . now you see according to ascham , grammar must bee used as ● dictionary , and hee that knows any thing , knows that a dictionary is not to bee learned word by word without book , therefore not a grammar ; hee tells you in this place that it is tedious to the scholar , let any man consider , who hath not the patience of an asse , what a tedious thing it is to have all the grammar , or most of it , lapt up in his head word by word , and presently to apply every rule word by word , or else up hee goes , if hee were as good as george a greene . read ascham , in his second book these are his words ; i remember when i was young in the north , they went to the grammar schoole little children , they came from thence great lubbars , alwayes learning and little profiting , learning without booke every thing , understanding within book little or nothing ; their whole knowledge by learning without the book was tied onely to their tongue and lips , and never ascended up to the braine and head , and therefore was soone spit out of the mouth againe ; they were as men alwayes going ; but ever out of the way , and why ? for their whole labour or rather great toyle without order was even vaine idlenesse without profit ; indeed they tooke great paines about learning , but imployed small labour in learning , when by this way , prescribed in this booke , being straight , plaine and easie , the scholar is alwayes labouring with pleasure , and ever going on forward with profit . heer this scholar famous all over christendome , and the glory of his kingdome for languages , tels you learning without book was vaine idlenesse without profit ; hee tels you they took great pains about learning ; but imployed small labour in learning . erasinus the restorer of the fathers , greek and latin , the greatest writen of his time , incomparable for wit , learning , and eloquence , hath the same words ; some make it their greatest care to learne the rules word by word without book , which thing saith hee , i allow not of , for it is great paines to no purpose nor profit at all . brinsley , a famous schoolmaster , in his book called a consolation for our grammar schooles , writes of one mr. tovey a schoolmaster equall to the best , that teaching aschams way , that is , onely the sense of the rules , brought a nobleman to a perfection beyond all expectation . comenius , a man admired for his quicknesse in teaching the languages , hath writ sharpely against this dogbolt way . innumerable are the learned men who have sought to take away the servitude and slavery that youth hath undergone , some authors i have quoted in my animadversions upon cambdens greeke grammar , made for the use of westminster schoole , and i have shewed , and will shew more hereafter , that it is a false , obscure , imperfect grammar , abounding with above twelve grosse errors , besides many little ones ; and those who are schoolmasters of great schools and make men beleeve they know much , when alaffe it is very little they know , they might blush if they had any shame , to let so many errors go uncorrected in a grammar which is the foundation ● language : if foundations be false and rotten , what will the build 〈…〉 ? i need not spend much time upon this point , because i have represented in a comedy often acted by my scholars , the crueltie , folly and nonsence of common schoolmasters , which i intend to print as soone as i can . looke upon aschams successe in this way in his first book hee speakes thus of queene elizabeth ; it is your shame , i speake to you all ( you young gentlemen of england ) that one maid should goe beyond you all in excellency of learning , and knowledge of divers tongues ; point forth six of the best given gentlemen of this court , and all they together shew not so much good will , spend not so much time , bestow not so many houres daily orderly , & constantly for the increase of learning and knowledge , as doth the queenes majesty herself . yea i beleeve that besides her perfit readinesse in latin , italian , french and spanish ; she readeth heer now at windsor more greeke every day , th●n some pro●endary of this church doth read latin in a whole weeke . and that which is most praise worthy of all , within the walls of her privy chamber shee hath obtained that excellency of learning to understand , speak and write both wittily with head , and fuire with hand , as scarce one or two rare wits in both the vniversities have in many yeares reached unto . amongst all the benefits that god hath blessed me withall , next the knowledge of christs true religion , i count this the greatest , that it pleased god to call mee to bee one poore minister in setting forward these excellent gifts of learning in this most excellent prince . looke upon his successe , in his second book , amongst many others , one whitney , a most accomplished gentleman ; these are his words , i gave him a translation to turne into latin , which he did so ob●●sely , so orderly , without any great misse in the hardest points of grammar , that some in seven yeares in grammar . schools , yea and some in the vniversitie too cannot do halfe so well . and this perfection hee obtained from christmas to alhollantide , and this scholar was altogether ignorant of the latin tongue , and the rules before . now briefly take some few reasons against this way of saying word by word without book . all arts , as geometry , arithmetick , logick , navigation , men attaine to , and never learne rule word by word without book , and what offence hath grammar done that it must bee cuft into a boy word by word without book ? if learning without book word by word bee necessary for the understanding of a thing , then it is before a boy understands , or after hee understands . now for a boy to learne without book like a parret that hee understands not , is very laborious and ridiculous , and to learne without book after hee understands , that is to no purpose ; for the mr. understanding himselfe the sense of the rule , neglects saying word by word without book , and whips scholars for that hee cannot do himselfe . if saying without book word by word bee profitable to the understanding then hee that saith best without book understands best , but this is false ; there are many that can say much scripture without book , but understand not so well as those that can say none . i have had boyes come from common schools could say all the grammar word by word without book , and yet could not make halfe a line of true latin ; and that which is most absurd of all , they teach a boy to make latin by the latin rules , when a boy understands not latin ; just as if a man should teach one an art in french , when he understands not french . then there are many boyes can say without book to their companions , or by themselves , but the master strutting with the rod in his hand , and his imperious looke , and threatning , puts a boy cleere out . as for a master to talke thus to a boy , sirra i 'le smoak you , i 'le make your buttocks blush , i 'le make you feare me ; these words confound a boy , and fright him out of all ; if a boy bee to say this rule , adjectives that signifie fulnesse , emptinesse , plenty , &c. if hee misplace a word , although the sense bee the same , presently the master fels him all along , whereas some grammars have the first words last , and the last first , the sense being still the same . observe doctor webbes words in his appeale to truth ; now if grammar should be the best course to languages , and kings may have their choyce of best courses , i wonder what choice of grammars was made by mithridates . and that that makes mee wonder more , wee that have no businesse but a language , spend all our life and are not perfect in one , and bee that had a kingdomes affaires to looke unto , had two and twenty compleat languages . now if a language cannot bee got but by learning word by word without book , then mithridates who had a kingdomes affaires to look to , must learne two and twentie grammars word by word without book , and to learne a grammar in this manner will take up five yeares , to bee compleate in a language as he was , will take up at least five yeares , more , which reckoned makes up two hundred and twenty yeares : now mithridates lived not a quarter of the time . doctor webbe in that learned work quotes above one hundred learned men , who inveigh bitterly against grammarians ; and he undertakes to prove by learned authors that a language may be learned without a grammar , which needs no proofe at all to men that have common sense ; how many are there can speak french and latin that never saw a grammar ? many young gentlemen and gentlewomen have learned to speake french in halfe a yeare who never knew any latin . doctor webb names many noble men who spake latin excellent well at five yeares of age , having nothing but latin spoken to them before . and i have knowne many who have spoke latin and french admirable well and understood greeke very well in a twelve moneth , and this is easily done by joyning doctor webbs way with aschams . i have boyes that have beene but a yeare at most with me ; and in these foure points we will contend with any schoole in england : first , who understands the greeke and latin grammars best , in accents and dialects and all things necessary . secondly , who understands a greeke or latin author best . thirdly , who can prove a greeke or latin verse best . fourthly , who can make a greeke or latin oration , or a greeke and latin verse best and soonest : and the highest of my scholars is but thirteene yeares of age , and another in my highest seat is but ten. some i have , i confesse , cannot doe a quarter so much , which is no fault of mine , for i often tell them , if they be carelesse and will not minde , and will not learne without cuffing , pulling , lugging , and whipping , they must goe to masters that delight in this way of teaching , they may be taught in may places very reasonably this way , as for a noble or seaven shillings a quarter , at some free schooles they may have it for nothing . some schoolemasters thinke they pay me home when they say i make scholars unfit for other schooles ; truly i confesse it , i teach without any correction , and they teach with great correction , and in this we differ . wee teach to understand the rules first , and they teach to learne without booke first , in this we differ ; our scholars understanding the rules and often applying them , the rules come without booke whether they will or no . then we differ in severity . some keepe their scholars so strictly for foure or five houres that they allow them not so much as a mouthfull of fresh ayre , not so much as to ease nature . i have read and heard many scholars speake against this severity ; let a boy bee tyed three or foure houres to that game hee likes best , and let him be soundly cuft and whipt when hee doth not play his game well , you shall see this boy as weary of his play as his booke , and the reason is because of great severity . socrates the wisest man of his time , and many who have writ concerning the instruction of youth , often say , learning must be taught with love ; and some scholars i have , being thus taught , seriously professe , they had rather come to schoole then goe about any pleasure or delight . what fruits i have here to shew in london , any man may come and see , and what fruits i have shewed in other places these subscriptions may testifie . a letter from master foucks belonging to sir jervis clifton in nottinghamshire . good mr. grantham , i never thought to have been so happy in this world as you have made mee in little henry ; you have created him an infant-grecian , which is a miracle at london , for here they are onely known by their long beards . sir , your letter was delivered to sir thomas hut●hinson , & hee did promise to examine him , but his imployment at the parliament diverted the businesse ; i got some others to do it , and hee came off with good applause both to you and himself ; i could not have parted with him so soon , but by reason of a journey to the bath , and i durst not trust him in this place of iniquity in my absence . sir , mr. cliffords going to the universitie is not yet this three moneths , which i hope will not be the worse for henry because of his zachean stature , which by that time may bee increased . good sir except of a poore token from him which can bee no otherwise then your most affectionate servant , london this 6 of june , 1642. ralph foucks . wee whose names are here subscribed , do witnesse that thomas grantham , curat of east neston , hath a very ready and credible way of profiting scholars in learning ; and although wee fully conceive not his method in teaching , yet wee highly commend him in this , that his scholars are able to give a rule out of the latin and greek grammar for every thing they doe . william farmar , knight baronet . charles stafford , esquire . ha●● farmor , esquire ▪ eusehy wyrley , gent. william buncher , rector de tiffield . william curlis , rector de saxton . thomas arundel , rector de stoak . henry hall , cler. de easton magna . jo. barradale , vicar de east neston . john lockwood , vic de towester . e. johnson , r●ctor de paules perry . benjamin austen , rector de bradden . guliel . bland , mag. in a●●ihus . guliel . thornton , art. 〈◊〉 . tho. bayley , rector de col●higham . superiora testor , joseph bernard . finis . october the 22. 1649. the three-penny cooks fat in the fire, or rhe [sic] downefall of as-in-presentis; or the schoole-master under the black-rod. or the brain-breakers breaker newly broke out againe. by thomas grantham, master in art of peter-house in cambridge, heretofore professor in bowlane and mug-well-street neere barber chyrurgions hall: now over against graies inn gate in holborne, at master bulls. grantham, thomas, d. 1664. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85540 of text r206345 in the english short title catalog (thomason e575_26). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 26 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85540 wing g1560 thomason e575_26 estc r206345 99865511 99865511 165450 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85540) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 165450) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 88:e575[26]) october the 22. 1649. the three-penny cooks fat in the fire, or rhe [sic] downefall of as-in-presentis; or the schoole-master under the black-rod. or the brain-breakers breaker newly broke out againe. by thomas grantham, master in art of peter-house in cambridge, heretofore professor in bowlane and mug-well-street neere barber chyrurgions hall: now over against graies inn gate in holborne, at master bulls. grantham, thomas, d. 1664. 12 p. printed for thomas pabody, in queenes-head-alley, in pater-noster-row, [london] : 1650. an advertisement of a new method of teaching greek and latin. [thomason catalog]. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng latin language -study and teaching -early works to 1800. greek language -study and teaching -early works to 1800. education -england -early works to 1800. a85540 r206345 (thomason e575_26). civilwar no october the 22. 1649. the three-penny cooks fat in the fire, or rhe [sic] downefall of as-in-presentis; or the schoole-master under the blac grantham, thomas 1650 4801 17 0 0 0 0 0 35 c the rate of 35 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-01 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2008-01 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion october the 22. 1649. the three-penny cooks fat in the fire , or the downefall of as-in-presentie ; or the schoole-master under the black-rod . or the brain-breakers breaker newly broke out againe . by thomas grantham , master in art of peter-house in cambridge , heretofore professor in bowlane and mugwell-street neere barbar chyrurgions hall : now over against graies inn gate in holborne , at master bulls . printed for thomas pabody , in queenes-head-alley , in pater-noster-row . 1650. vpon a time , walking by my selfe , i fell into contemplation of my former life , and of all the miseries that befell me , either by my inconsideratenesse and rashnesse , or gods justice upon me for my sins . and although i added weight to some of those crosses , by taking them more heavily then i ought to have done ; yet i found nothing crucifi'd me so much as my long and tedious going to the schoole ; how many showers of teares ? how many streams of blood ? and i was cuffed , as if the messenger of satan had beene sent to buffit me ; and after two seaven years spent constantly in this bride-well , so that i was nineteene or twenty yeares of age , i could not understand so much latine as a sucking child , nor speak so much as a spelling child ; methought it was strange , that a child should suck in more with milke , then i should get with so many drops of blood , having so much advantage of yeares , but some will say , it may be you were very dull in learning , if i were never so dull , nor never so stupid , nor never so blockish ; was this cruelty a way to quicken me ? but some will say , wee know the misery 's so great , that many of us had rather have our children ignorant then learn with so much torment : therefore the time will be better spent by me in showing the remedy , and that is my task at this present . 1. remedy . one remedy against this epidemicall disease is , let a boy learn his grammer aschams way , which way those learned schooles beyond seas doe highly commend , that is , to understand within booke , and to apply every necessary rule : it makes no matter whether he can say his grammer word by word without booke or no ; if he can give the sence without booke , and turne to the rule within booke , it is sufficient ; no university man , no great scholler , can say his grammer word by word without booke , no , not the master himselfe ; and yet he whips the schollers for that he cannot doe himself ; if a man remember there is such a rule , or such a sence of the r●l● , it suffices : no grammer have the same words , the sense is all wee looke for ; and so soone as wee come to the university wee forget to say our rules word by word without book , may , scorn and deride him that doth it . thus this many yeares great labour is lost in a moneth or two , and is so farre from profiting , that it becomes rediculous . consider also , the grammers which were before lilly , were some of them almost as bigge as a church-bible , if you take out the apocrypha and common-prayer . now to learne these word by word without booke , was a taske passing the patience of an asse ; upon this erasmus concludeth , that grammer it selfe is enough to make a man spend his whole life in tortures . ascham , in his first book hath these words ; so as the grammer-booke be alwayes in the schollers hand , and also used of him as a dictionary for every present use , this is a lively and perfect way for teaching of rules , where the common way used in common schooles , to reade the grammer alone by it selfe , is tedious for the master , hard for the sholler , cold and uncomfortable fur them both . now you see according to ascham , the grammer must be used as a dictionary , and he that knowes any thing , knowes that a dictionary is not to be learned word by word without booke therefore not a grammer : he tells you in this place , that it is tedious to a scholler ; let any man consider who hath not the patience of an asse , what a tedious thing it is to have all the grammer or most part of it lapt up in his head word by word , and presently to apply every rule word by word , or else up he goes , if he were as good as george a greene . read ascham in his second booke , these are his words ; i remember when i was young , in the north there went to the grammer-schoole little children , they came from thence great lubbars , always learning and little profiting , learning without booke every thing , understanding within book little or nothing ; their whole knowledge by learning without the booke was tyed only to their tongue and lips , and never ascended up to the braine and head ; and therefore was soone spit out of the mouth againe ; they were as men alwayes going , but ever out of the way ; and why ? for their whole labour , or rather great toyle without order , was even vaine idlenesse without profit ; indeed they tooke great paines about learning , but imployed small labour in learning ; when by this way prescribed in this booke , being strait , plain and easie , the scholler is alwayes labouring with pleasure , and ever going on forward with profit . here this scholler famous all over christendome , and the glory of his kingdom for languages , tells you learning without booke , was vain idlenesse without profit ; he tells you , they tooke great paines about learning , but imployed small labour in learning . erasmus , the restorer of the fathers greeke and latine , the greatest writer in his time , incomperable for wit , learning , and eloquence , hath the same words ; some make it their greatest care to learne the rules word by word without book , which thing saith he , i allow not of , for it is great paines to no purpose , nor profit all . brinsley , a famous schoole-master in his booke called , a consolation for our grammer schooles , writes of one master tovey a schoole-master equall to the best , that teaching aschums way ; that is , only the sense of the rules , brought a nobleman to a perfection beyond all expectation . comenins , a man admired for his quicknesse in teaching the languages , hath writ sharply against this dog-bolt way ; innumerable are the learned men who have sought to take away the servitude and slavery that youth hath undergone ; some authors i have quoted in my animadversions upon cambdens greeke grammer , made for the use of westminster-schoole , and i have shewed , and i will shew more hereafter ; that it is a false , obscure , imperfect gammer , abounding with above twelve grosse errors , besides many little ones ; and those who are schoole : masters of great schooles , and make men beleeve they know much , when alas it is very little they know ; they might blush if they had any shame , to let so many errours goe uncorrected in a grammer , which is the foundation of a language ; if foundations be false and rotten , what will the building be ? i need not spend much time upon this point , because i have represented in a comedy often acted by my schollers , the cruelty , folly , and non-sense of common school-masters , which i intend to print as soon as i can . looke upon aschams successe in this way , in his first booke he speakes thus of queene elizabeth ; it is your shame , i speake to you all ( you young gentlemen of england ) that one maid should goe beyond you all in excellency of learning and knowledge of divers tongues ; point forth six of the best given gentlemen of this court , and they altogether shew not so much , will not spend so much time , bestow not so many houres , dayly , orderly and constantly , for the increase of learning and knowlidge as doth the queenes majesty here : yea , i beleeve th●t besides her perfect readinesse in latine , italian , french and spanish ; she did reade more geeke every day , then some prebbendary of this church doth read latine in a whole weeke ; and that which is most praise-worthy of all , within the walls of her privy-chamber , she hath obtained that excellency of learning , to understand , speake and write , both wittily with head , and faire with hand , as scarce one or two rare wits in both the universities have in many yeares reached unto . among all the benefits that god hath blessed me withall , next the knowledge of christs true religion , i count this the greatest , that it pleased god to cal me to be one poore minister in setting forward ▪ these excellent gifts of learning in this most excellent prince . looke upon his successe in his second booke , amongst many others , one witney , a most accomplished gentleman , these are his words ; i gave him a translation to turne into latine , which he did so choisely , so orderly , without any great misse in the hardest points of grammer , that some in seven yeares in grammer-schooles , yea , and some in the universities too , cannot doe halfe so well : and this perfection be obtained from christmas to alhallowes-tide , & this scholler was altogether ignorant of the latine tongue and the rules before . now briefly take some few reasons against this way of saying word by word without booke . all arts , as geometree , arithmetick , logick , navigation , men attaine too , and never learne rule word by word without booke , and what offence hath grammer done that it must be cuft into a boy word by word without booke ? if learning without booke word by word be necessary for the understanding of a thing , then it is before a boy understands or after he understands . now for a boy to learne without booke like a parret , that he understands not , is very laborious and rediculous ; and to learne without booke after he understands , that is to no purpose ; for the master understanding himselfe the sense of the rule , neglects saying word by word without booke , and whips shollers for that he cannot doe himselfe : if saying without book word by word be profitable to the understanding , then he that saith best without booke understands best , but this is false ; there are many that can say much scripture without book , but understand not so well as those that can say none . take this instance , christopher grecu● , clerk of a g●eat parish , a man of threescore yeares and ten , he can say all the psalmes without booke , and yet i dare not trust him to apply a psalm after my sermon . i have had boyes come from common schooles , could say all the grammer word for word without booke , and yet could not make halfe a line of true latine ; and that which is most absurd of all , they teach a boy to make latine by the latine rules , when a boy understands not latine ; just as if a man should teach one an art in french , when he understands not french ; then there are many boyes can say without book to their companions or by themselves , but the master , strutting with the rod in his hand , and his imperious looke and threatning , puts a boy cleare out ; as for a master to talk thus to a boy , sirra i le smoke you , i le make your buttocks blush , i le make you feare me ; these words confound a boy and fright him out of all : if a boy be to say this rule , a●ectives that signifie fulnesse , emptinesse , plenty , &c. if he mis-place a word , although the sense be the same , presently the master fells him all along , where as some grammers have the first words last , and the last words first , the sense being still the same . observe doctor webs words , in his appeale to truth , now if gammer should be the best course to languages , and kings may have their choice of best courses , i wonder what grammers were made by mithridates ? and that makes me wonder more , we that have no businesse but a language , spend all our life and are not perfect in one , and he that had a kingdoms affairs to look upon , had two and tw●nty compleat languages . now if a language cannot be got but by learning word for word without book , then mithridates , who had a kingdomes affairs to look to , must learn two & twentie grammars , word by word without booke ; and to learne a grammer in this manner , will take up five yeares , to be compleat in a language as he was wil be at least five years more , which reckoned , make up two hundred and twentie yeares . now mithridates lived not a quarter of the time . doctor webbe in that learned work quotes above a hundred learned men , who envey bitterly against grammarians , and he undertakes to prove by learned authors , that a language may be learned without a grammer , which needs no proofe at all to men of common sense . how many are there that can speake french and latine that never saw a grammar ? many young gentlemen and gentlewomen have learned to speake french in halfe a yeare , who never knew any latine . doctor webbe names many noblemen who speake latine excellent well at five yeares of age , having nothing but latine spoken to them before . and i have knowne many , who spoke latine and french admirable well , and understood greeke very well in a twelve-moneth . and this is easily done , by joyning doctor webbes way with aschams . i had boyes when i was in london , who had beene but one yeare at most with me , and in these foure points we challenged any schoole in london . first , who understands the greeke and latine grammers best in accents , and dialects , and all things necessary secondly , who understands a greek and latin authour best . thirdly , who can prove a greeke or latine verse best . fourthly , who can make a greeke or latine oration , or a greeke and latine verse best and soonest ; and the highest of my schollars was but fifteene yeares of age , and the second to him but ten . some i had i confesse , could not doe a quarter so much , which was no fault of mine ; for i often told them , if they were carelesse and would not mind , and would not learne without cuffling , pulling , lugging and whipping , they must goe to masters that delight in this way of teaching ; they may be taught in many places very reasonably this way , as for a noble or seven shillings a quarter , at some free-schooles they may have it for nothing . some schoole-masters thinke they pay me home , when they say i make schollers unfit for other schooles ; truly i conf●ss● it , i teach without any correction , and they teach with correction , and in this we differ . we teach to understand the rules first , and they teach to learne without booke first , in this we differ ; our schollers understanding the rules , and often applying them , the rules come without booke , whether they will or no . then we differ in severity . some keepe their schollers so strictly for four or five houres that they allow them not so much as a mouthfull of fresh aire , not so much as to ease nature : i have read , and heard many schollers speake against this severitie . let a boy be tyed three or four hours to that game he likes best , and let him be soundly cuft and whipped when he doth not play his game well , you shall see this boy as weary of his play as his booke , and the reason is , because of great severity . socra●es the wisest man of his time , and many who have writ concerning the instruction of youth , often say , learning must be taught with love : and some schollers at london being thus taught , seriously professe they had rather come to schoole , then goe about any pleasure or delight . remedyes 3. first , there are three things most necessary in a language , the words , the stile , and the rule ; for the words a boy may easily learne a thousand ▪ words in ten dayes , that is , a hundred words in a day . suppose a man allow an houre for twentie words , in five houres he learneth a hundred words . i have taught some that have learned a hundred words in an houre , but i doe not meane after the silly fustian way of learning in the common schooles , to say them all by rote like a parriot ; but let him have an hundred english words , and a hundred latine words printed or writ , he shall tell you latine for english , and this is the latine i meane ; and he that understandeth a thousand , must needs understand many thousands more , for many derivatives , compounds , de-compounds , are understood by the helpe of the simples , and he that understands thus much will understand most authors he reades . remedy 2. secondly , for stile take this example ; there is a certaine bird called a dotterell , this bird if you see him thrust out his right wing , thrust you out your right arme , and if he thrust out his left leg , thrust out yours ; and thus ▪ by imitating of him , you will come so neere till you take him in your hands ; and so in an author , where you see him place his adjective , adverb or conjunction , doe you so too , and by this imitation you will catch the strain of your author , and come to a great perfection , if you imitate but six leavs in a translation , which you may doe in six dayes , then you may come neere the straine of your author . remedy 3. for the rules teach thus , consider there are eight parts of speech , for the foure that are undeclined , i bid my scholler take very little care , because they are not varied nor declined at all ; you find them every where after the same manner . of the other foure , i bid him take care but of two , that is , a nowne and a verb , for a pronoune is much like a noune , know one , know the other ; a participle that takes part of a noune & a verbe , both those known , the participle is known . so here is but two chiefly to be cared for , that is , a noune and a verb , but be sure to understand the definition of every part of speech , not word by word without booke , but the sense of it . i cannot follow this point any further , take some propositions . proposition first , my councell is to take away al the revenus that belong to free-schooles , and other schools , and let it be committed to a treasurer , and every one in any part of the kingdome that makes a scholler fit for the university , hee shall have ten pounds out of the common stock , and the scholler preferred , & if he make him fit to be an apprentice to a chyrurgion or a lawyers clark , he shal have five pounds , by this means none shall have any mony but those that deserve it . prop. second , let any man judge whether they or i teach the best ; was it ever knowne that any graduate in the university , or master of art , physitian , lawyer , ever came to their school-masters to better themselves in the languages , whereas all my gaines and practice many times in the yeare , have been chiefly by these men . prop. third , their schollers before they go to the university come to me a moneth or two to be oyled over , & professe they profited more in that time with me , then they did before in foure yeares . prop. fourth , they will make a man believe that a boy is a poet , and able to make theams and verses ; now these boys can neither speake latine , nor understand an author ; and will any think a man to be a freench poet , when he cannot speake french , or a good orator when he cannot understand it , these verses are onely patched up of phrases ( a meere delusion ) see more of this in my six quoeries to the free-schooles , in and about london , printed three yeares agoe , and not yet answered : at that time had i followed my blow , the free-schools had been absolutely routed , and never able to rally or recruit againe : and i set up a challenge in the exchange , to all the schooles in london or thereabouts seaven to seaven , which stood nine dayes . our schoole stood open to all examination for one whole yeare , and when the best schollers of one of the primest schooles in london contended with ours , there was a gentleman of the innes of court , that delivered in a latin speech , vobis laudem , ●llis palman tribuo ; i give you praise ( saith he ) to the schollers of that great schoole , but i give master granthams schollers the victory . all that i shall say in this great hast is ; i desire that there may be an act of oblivion of the abuses and mistakes of both parties , and that wee may all joyne together , and study reformation of the schooles , that schoole-masters may no longer make merchandize of the precious time of youth , which is of that great height , that it is many times the destruction of soule and body ; and if the sin of scandall shall deserve the weight of a mill-stone ; what shall he deserve that keepes youth many yeares in teaching , and can shew no progresse to the purpose : imployment now cuts me off , but i should be happy in london , before authority to have a dispute with these schoole-masters , and that there may be an account taken of every boy that goes to schoole , what he is when he goes , and how much he hath profited when he comes away . i will undertake in two monethes , to make him that can reade english , to conster an author ▪ in latine and greeke , he shall make greeke and latine verses and orations , and his progresse in hebrew shall be correspondent ; and because men may thinke that a man doeth this for mony , i will desire but two shillings a day whilst i teach , for the publike good , and al the rest shall goe for charitable uses , only i desire that i may make choyce of what kind of charity the mony may be bestowed on . now to that god that hath commanded love and charity amongst us , be all honour , and glory for ever , &c. herculea cecidisse manu tot monsta negamus , quot methodo & calamo iam perierie tuo . the hand of hercules did never kill , such monsters as thy method and great skill . canst thou that art full twenty yeares and more ? tremble and shake to heare thy master roare like a storme frighted sea-man , oh yee fooles , how does all wise men laugh to scorne your schooles ? thou humbly on a horse , hangs down thy head , and a fierce rod thy buttocks over-spred , or horst upon an asse , much like to thee , horse , oxe , and asse injoy more liberty ; at every stroke thy trembling buttocks quake , like two great custards , that are newly bak't , teares trickle from thy buttocks , from thine eye , who can hut laugh to see this booby cry ? younger then thee dare on the cannon goe in spight of fire , and flame confront their foe , and when a bullet flyes in full carreere , they scorne to stirre or starte aside for feare , then rouse brave spirits boyes and you shall see a way to learne , with all facility : the latin's call a schoole , a learned play , and so is mine , 't is alwayes holiday , in twenty dayes i 'le fit you for a gowne , if you 'l but leave this play of hose goe downe . mans life is short , but art is long they say , o happy 's he that goes the nearest way , homer discribes his god , flying with speed , shooting his arrowes till the grecians bleede ; the ●●gels good and bad have wings , the sun the light of lights , how swiftly does he run ; the goddesses came down like shooting starrs ▪ when greece and troy were at their bloody wars , homer does say the horses of the sun , so farre as one can see at one step run , i hate the snaile , the crab , the flow pac't ●●sse , that hums and drums out a foire houre-glasse . the creatures in the law had foure feete , god dam'd because they could not gos ▪ but creepe , and he that creepes and slugs at whipping schoole , the flower of his age , i call a poole . if on pernasses-hill one did but sleepe , or on the muses-well chance to drinke deepe , then would he sing such verses and such rimes , as made him live for everlasting times ; all this condemns your cuffing , whipping schooles , that spend so many yeares to make men fooles . thou that dost strike where christ himself doth kisse let any judge how far thou do'st amisse , thou that dost cuffe those whom he did imbrace , how canst thou answer 't to thy masters face . raptim . of education. to master samuel hartlib. milton, john, 1608-1674. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a89146 of text r10430 in the english short title catalog (thomason e50_12). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 30 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a89146 wing m2132 thomason e50_12 estc r10430 99858838 99858838 155150 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a89146) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 155150) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 9:e50[12]) of education. to master samuel hartlib. milton, john, 1608-1674. 8 p. for thomas underhill? for thomas johnson?, [london : 1644] attributed to john milton. caption title. imprint suggested by wing, pforzheimer catalogue and shawcross. annotation on thomason copy: "by mr john milton"; "5 june 1644". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng hartlib, samuel, d. 1662. education -philosophy -early works to 1800. education -early works to 1800. a89146 r10430 (thomason e50_12). civilwar no of education.: to master samuel hartlib. milton, john 1644 5487 13 0 0 0 0 0 24 c the rate of 24 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 angela berkley sampled and proofread 2007-08 angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of education . to master samuel hartlib . master hartlib , i am long since perswaded , that to say , or doe ought worth memory , and imitation , no purpose or respect should sooner move us , then simply the love of god , and of mankinde . neverthelesse to write now the reforming of education , though it be one of the greatest and noblest designes , that can be thought on , and for the want whereof this nation perishes , i had not yet at this time been induc't , but by your earnest entreaties , and serious conjurements ; as having my minde for the present halfe diverted in the persuance of some other assertions , the knowledge and the use of which , cannot but be a great furtherance both to the enlargement of truth , and honest living , with much more peace . nor should the lawes of any private friendship have prevail'd with me to divide thus , or transpose my former thoughts , but that i see those aims , those actions which have won you with me the esteem of a person sent hither by some good providence from a farre country to be the occasion and the incitement of great good to this iland . and , as i hear , you have obtain'd the same repute with men of most approved wisdom , and some of highest authority among us . not to mention the learned correspondence which you hold in forreigne parts , and the extraordinary pains and diligence which you have us'd in this matter both heer , and beyond the seas ; either by the definite will of god so ruling , or the peculiar sway of nature , which also is gods working . neither can i thinke that so reputed , and so valu'd as you are , you would to the forfeit of your own discerning ability , impose upon me an unfit and over ponderous argument , but that the satisfaction which you professe to have receiv'd from those incidentall discourses which we have wander'd into , hath prest & almost constrain'd you into a perswasion , that what you require from me in this point , i neither ought , nor can in conscience deferre beyond this time both of so much need at once , and so much opportunity to trie what god hath determin'd . i will not resist therefore , what ever it is either of divine , or humane obligement that you lay upon me ; but will forthwith set down in writing , as you request me , that voluntary idea , which hath long in silence presented it self to me , of a better education , in extent and comprehension farre more large , and yet of time farre shorter , and of attainment farre more certain , then hath been yet in practice . briefe i shall endeavour to be ; for that which i have to say , assuredly this nation hath extreame need should be done sooner then spok'n . to tell you therefore what i have benefited herein among old renowned authors , i shall spare ; and to search what many modern ianua's and didactics more then ever i shall read , have projected , my inclination leads me not . but if you can accept of these few observations which have flowr'd off , and are as it were the burnishing of many studious and contemplative yeers altogether spent in the search of religious and civil knowledge , and such as pleas'd you so well in the relating , i here give you them to dispose of . the end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know god aright , and out of that knowledge to love him , to imitate him , to be like him , as we may the neerest by possessing our souls of true vertue ▪ which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection . but because our understanding cannot in this body found it selfe but on sensible things , not arrive so cleerly to the knowledge of god and things invisible , as by orderly conning over the visible and inferior creature , the same method is necessarily to be follow'd in all discreet teaching . and seeing every nation affords not experience and tradition anough for all kinde of learning , therefore we are chiefly taught the languages of those people who have at any time been most industrious after wisdom ; so that language is but the instrument convaying to us things usefull to be known . and though a linguist should pride himselfe to have all the tongues that babel cleft the world into , yet , if he have not studied the solid things in them as well as the words and lexicons , he were nothing so much to be esteem'd a learned man , as any yeoman or tradesman competently wise in his mother dialect only . hence appear the many mistakes which have made learning generally so unpleasing and so unsuccesfull ; first we do amisse to spend seven or eight yeers meerly in scraping together so much miserable latin , and greek , as might be learnt otherwise easily and delightfully in one yeer . and that which casts our proficiency therein so much behinde , is our time lost partly in too oft idle vacancies given both to schools and universities , partly in a preposterous exaction , forcing the empty wits of children to compose theams , verses , and orations , which are the acts of ripest judgement and the finall work of a head fill'd by long reading , and observing , with elegant maxims , and copious invention . these are not matters to be writing from poor striplings , like blood out of the nose , or the plucking of untimely fruit : besides the all habit which they get of wretched barbarizing against the latin and greek idiom , with their untutor'd anglicisms , odious to be read , yet not to be avoided without a well continu'd and judicious conversing among pure authors digested , which they scarce taste , wheras if after some preparatory grounds of speech by their certain forms got into memory , they were led to the praxis thereof in some chosen short book lesson'd throughly to them , they might then forthwith proceed to l●arn the substance of good things , and arts in due order , which would bring the whole language quickly into their power . this i take to be the most rationall and most profitable way of learning languages , and whereby we may best hope to give account to god of our youth spent herein : and for the usuall method of teaching arts , i deem it to be an old errour of universities not yet well recover'd from the scholastick grosnesse of barbarous ages , that in stead of beginning with arts most easie , and those be such as are most obvious to the sence , they present their young unmatriculated novices at first comming with the most intellective abstractions of logick & metaphysicks : so that they having but newly left those grammatick flats & shallows where they stuck unreasonably to learn a few words with lamentable construction , and new on the sudden transported under another climat to be tost and turmoild with their unb●llasted wits in fadomles and unquiet deeps of controversie , do for the most part grow into hatred and contempt of learning , mockt and deluded all this while with ragged notions and babblements , while they expected worthy and delightfull knowledge ; till poverty or youthfull yeers call them importunately their severall wayes , and hasten them with the sway of friends either to an ambitious and mercenary , or ignorantly zealous divinity ; some assur'd to the trade of law , grounding their purposes not on the prudent , and heavenly contemplation of justice and equity which was never taught them , but on the promising and pleasing thoughts of litigious terms , fat contentions , and flowing sees ; others betake them to state affairs , with souls so unprincipl'd in vertue , and true generous breeding , that flattery , and court shifts and tyrannous aphorismes appear to them the highest points of wisdom ; instilling their barren hearts with a conscientious slavery , if , as , i rather think , it be not fain'd . others lastly of a more delicious and airie spirit , retire themselves knowing no better , to the enjoyments of ease and luxury , living out their daies in feast and jollity , which indeed is the wisest and the safest course of all these , unlesse they were with more integrity undertak'n . and these are the errours , and these are the fruits of mispending our prime youth at the schools and universities as we do , either in learning meere words or such things chiefly , as were better unlearnt . i shall detain you now no longer in the demonstration of what we should not doe , but strait conduct ye to a hill side , where i will point ye out the right path of a vertuous and noble education ; laborious indeed at the first ascent , but else so smooth , so green , so full of goodly prospect , and melodious sounds on every side , that the harp of orpheus was not more charming . i doubt not but ye shall have more adoe to drive our dullest and laziest youth , our stocks and stubbs from the infinite desire of such a happy nurture , then we have now to hale and drag our choisest and hopefullest wits to that asinine feast of sowthistles and brambles which is commonly set before them , as all the food and entertainment of their tenderest and most docible age . i call therefore a compleate and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly , skilfully and magnanimously all the offices both private and publike of peace and war . and how all this may be done between twelve , and one and twenty , lesse time then is now bestow'd in pure trifling at grammar and sophistry , is to be thus order'd . first to finde out a sp●tious house and ground about it fit for an academy , and big enough to lodge a hundred and fifty persons , whereof twenty or thereabout may be attendants , all under the government of one , who shall be thought of desert sufficient , and ability either to doe all , or wisely to direct , and oversee it done . this place should be at once both school and university , not needing a remove to any other house of schollership , except it be some peculiar colledge of law , or physick where they mean to be practitioners ; but as for those generall studies which take up all our time from lilly to the commencing , as they term it , master of art , it should be absolute . after this pattern , as many edifices may be converted to this use , as shall be needfull in every city throughout this land , which would tend much to the encrease of learning and civility every where . this number , lesse or more thus collected , to the convenience of a foot company , or interchangeably two troops of cavalry , should divide their daies work into three parts , as it lies orderly . their studies , their exercise , and their diet . for their studies , first they should begin with the chief and necessary rules of some good grammar , either that now us'd , or any better : and while this is doing , their speech is to be fashion'd to a distinct and cleer pronuntiation , as neer as may be to the italian , especially in the vowels . for we englishmen being farre northerly , doe not open our mouthe● in the cold air , wide enough to grace a southern tongue ; but are observ'd by all other nations to speak exceeding close and inward : so that to smatter latin with an english mouth , is as ill a hearing as law french . next to make them expert in the usefullest points of grammar , and withall to season them , and win them early to the love of vertue and true labour , ere any flattering seducement , or ●●m principle selfe them wandering , some easie and delightfull book of education would be read to them ; whereof the greeks have store as 〈◊〉 , plutarch , and other socratic discourses . but in latin we have none of classic authoritie extant , except the two or three first books of quintilian , and some select peeces else where . but here the main skill and groundwork will be , to temper them such lectures and explanations upon every opportunity , as may lead and draw them in willing obedience , enflam'd with the study of learning , and the admiration of vertue ; stirr'd up with high hopes of living to be brave men , and worthy patriots , dear to god , and famous to all ages . that they may despise and scorn all their childish , and ill taught qualities , to delight in manly , and liberall exercises : which he who hath the art , and proper eloquence to catch them with , what with mild and effectuall perswasions , and what with the intimation of some fear , if need be , but chiefly by his own example , might in a short space gain them to an incredible diligence and courage : infusing into their young brests such an ingenuous and noble ardor , as would not fail to make many of them renowned and matchlesse men . at the same time , some other hour of the day , might be taught them the rules of arithmetick , and soon after the elements of geometry even playing , as the old manner was . after evening repast , till bed time their thoughts will be best taken up in the easie grounds of religion , and the story of scripture . the next step would be to the authors of agriculture , cato , varro , and columella , for the matter is most easie , and if the language be difficult , so much the better , it is not a difficultie above their yeers . and here will be an occasion of inciting and inabling them hereafter to improve the tillage of their country , to recover the bad soil , and to remedy the wast that is made of good : for this was one of hercules praises . ere halfe these authors be read , which will soon be with plying hard , and dayly , they cannot choose but be masters of any ordinary prose . so that it will be then seasonable for them to learn in any modern author , the use of the globes , and all the maps first with the old names ; and then with the new : or they might be then capable to read any compendious method of naturall philosophy . and at the same time might be entring into the greek tongue , after the same manner as was before prescrib'd in the latin ; whereby the difficulties of grammar being soon overcome , all the historicall physiology of aristotle and theophrastus are open before them , and as i may say , under contribution . the like accesse will be to vitruvius , to senecas naturall questions , to mela , celsus , pliny , or solinus . and having thus past the principles of arithmetic , geometry , astronomy , and geography with a generall compact of physicks , they may descend in mathematicks to the instrumentall science of trigonometry , and from thence to fortification , architecture , enginry , or navigation . and in naturall philosophy they may proceed leisurly from the history of meteors , minerals , plants and living creatures as farre as anatomy . then also in course might be read to them out of some not tedious writer the institution of physick ; that they may know the tempers , the humors , the seasons , and how to manage a crudity : which he who can wisely and timely doe , is not onely a great physician to himselfe , and to his friends , but also may at some time or other , save an army by this frugall , and expencelesse meanes only ; and not let the healthy and stout bodies of young men rot away under him for want of this discipline ; which is a great pitty , and no lesse a shame to the commander . to set forward all these proceedings in nature & mathematicks , what hinders , but that they may procure , as oft as shall be needfull , the helpfull experiences of hunters , fowlers , fishermen , shepherds , gardeners , apothecaries ; and in the other sciences , architects engineers , mariners , anatomists ; who doubtlesse would be ready some for reward , and some to favour such a hopefull seminary . and this will give them such a reall tincture of naturall knowledge , as they shall never forget , but dayly augment with delight . then also those poets which are now counted most hard , will be both facil and pleasant , orpheus , hesiod , theocritus , aratus , nicander , oppian , dionysius and in latin lucretius , manilius , and the rurall part of virgil . by this time , yeers and good generall precepts will have furnisht them more distinctly with that act of reason which in ethics is call'd proa●resis : that they may with some judgement contemplat upon morall good and evill . then will be requir'd a speciall reinforcement of constant and sound endoctrinating to set them right and firm , instructing them more amply in the knowledge of vertue and the hatred of vice : while their young and pliant affections are led through all the morall works of plato , xenophon , cicero , plutarch , laertius , and those locrian remnants ; but still to be reduc't in their nightward studies wherewith they close the dayes work , under the determinat sentence of david , or salomon , or the evangels and apostolic scriptures . being perfit in the knowledge of personall duty , they may then begin the study of economies . and either now , or before this , they may have easily learnt at any odde hour the italian tongue . and soon after , but with warinesse , and good antidote , it would be wholsome anough to let them tast some choise comedies greek , latin , or italian : those tragedies also that treate of houshold matters , as trachiniae , alcestis and the like . the next remove must be to the study of politics ; to know the beginning , end , and reasons of politicall societies ; that they may not in a dangerous fit of the common-wealth be such poor , shaken , uncertain reeds , of such a tottering conscience , as many of our great counsellers have lately shewn themselves , but stedfast pillars of the state . after this they are to dive into the grounds of law , and legall justice ; deliver'd first , and with best warrant by moses ; and as farre as humane prudence can be trusted , in those extoll'd remains of grecian law-givers , lycurgus , solon , zaleucus , charondas , and thence to all the romane edicts and tables with their ●ustinian ; and so down to the saxon and common laws of england , and the statutes . sundayes also and every evening may be now understandingly spent in the highest matters of theology , and church history ancient and modern : and ere this time the hebrew tongue at a set hour might have been gain'd , that the scriptures may be now read in their own originall ; whereto it would be no impossibility to adde the chaldey , and the syrian dialect . when all these employments are well conquer'd , then will the choise histories , heroic poems , and attic tragedies of statliest , and most regal argument , with all the famous politicall orations offer themselves ; which if they were not only read ; but some of them got by memory , and solemnly pronounc't with right accent , and grace , as might be taught , would endue them even with the spirit , and vigor of demosthenes or cicere , euripides , or sophocles . and now lastly will be the time to read with them those organic arts which in able men to discourse and write perspicuously , elegantly , and according to the fitted stile of lofty , mean , or lowly . logic therefore so much as is usefull , is to be referr'd to this due place withall her well coucht heads and topics , unt●ll it be time to open her contracted palm into a gracefull and ornate rhetorick taught out of the rule of plato , aristotle , phalereus , cicero , hermogenes , longinus . to which poetry would be made subsequent , or indeed rather precedent , as being lesse suttle and fine , but more simple , sensuous and passionate . i mean not here the prosody of a verse , which they could not but have hit ▪ on before among the rudiments of grammer ; but that sublime art which in aristotles poetics , in horace , and the italian commentaries of castelvetro , tasso , mazzoni , and others , teaches what the laws are of a true epic poem , what of a dramatic , what of a lyric , what decorum is , which is the grand master peece to observe . this would make them soon perceive what despicable creatures our common timers and play writes be , and shew them , what religious , what glorious and magnificent use might be made of poetry both in divine and humane things . from hence and not till now will be the right season of forming them to be able writers and composers in every excellent matter , when they shall be thus fraught with an universall insight into things . or whether they be to speak in parliament or counsell , honour and attention would be waiting on their lips . there would then also appear in pulpits other visages , other gestures , and stuffe otherwise wrought then what we now sit under , oft times to as great a triall of our patience as any other that they preach to us . these are the studies wherein our noble and our gentle youth ought to bestow their time in a disciplinary way from twelve to one and twenty ; unlesse they rely more upon their ancestors dead , then upon themselves living . in which methodicall course it is so suppos'd they must proceed by the steddy pace of learning onward , as at convenient times for memories sake to retire back into the middle ward , and sometimes into the rear of what they have been taught , untill they have confirm'd , and solidly united the whole body of their perfited knowledge , like the last embattelling of a romane legion . now will be worth the seeing what exercises , and what recreations may best agree , and become these studies . their exercise . the course of study hitherto briefly describ'd , is , what i can guesse by reading , likest to those ancient and famous schools of pythagoras , plato , isocrates , aristotle and such others , out of which were bred up such a number of renowned philosophers , orators , historians , poets and princes all over greece , italy , and asia , besides the flourishing studies of cyrene and alexandria . but herein it shall exceed them , and supply a defect as great as that which plato noted in the common-wealth of sparta ; whereas that city train'd up their youth most for warre , and these in their academies and lycaeum , all for the gown , this institution of breeding which i here delineate , shall be equally good both for peace and warre . therefore about an hour and a halfe ere they eat at noon should be allow'd them for exercise and due rest afterwards : but the time for this may be enlarg'd at pleasure , according as their rising in the morning shall be early . the exercise which i commend first , is the exact use of their weapon ; to guard and to strike safely with edge , or point ; this will keep them healthy nimble , strong , and well in breath , is also the likeliest meanes to make them grow large , and tall , and to inspire them with a gallant and fearlesse courage , which being temper'd with seasonable lectures and precepts to them of true fortitude , and patience , will turn into a native and heroick valour , and make them hate the cowardise of doing wrong . they must be also practiz'd in all the locks and gripes of wrastling , wherein english men were wont to excell , as need may often be in fight to tugge , to grapple , and to close . and this perhaps will be anough , wherein to prove and heat their single strength . the interim of ●●swearing themselves regularly , and convenient rest before meat may both with profit and delight be taken up in recreating and composing their travail'd spirits with the solemn and divine harmonies of musick heard , or learnt ; other while the skilfull organist plies his grave and fancied descant , in lofty fugues , or the whole symphony with artfull and unimaginable touches adorn and grace the well studied cords of some choise composer ; some times the lute , or soft organ stop w●●ting on elegant voices either to religious , martiall , or civill ditties ; which if wise men & prophets be not extreamly out , have a great power over dispositions and manners , to smooth and make them gentle from rustick harshnesse and distemper'd passions . the like also would not be unexpedient after meat to assist and cherish nature in her first concoction , and send their mindes backe to study in good tune and satisfaction . where having follow'd it close under vigilant eyes till about two hours before supper , they are by a sudden alarum or watch word , to be call'd out to their military motions , under skie or covert , according to the season , as was the romane wont ; first on foot , then as their age permits , on horse back , to all the art of cavalry ; that having in sport , but with much exactnesse , and dayly muster , serv'd out the rudiments of their souldiership in all the skill of embattailing , marching , encamping , fortifying , beseiging and battering , with all the helps of ancient and modern stratagems , tactiks and warlike maxims , they may as it were out of a long warre come forth renowned and perfect commanders in the service of their country . they would not then , if they were trusted with fair and hopefull armies , suffer them for want of just and wise discipline to shed away from about them like sick feathers , though they be never so oft suppli'd : they would not suffer their empty & unrecrutible colonells of twenty men in a company , to quafle out , or convay into secret hoards , the wages of a delusive list , and a miserable remnant : yet in the mean while to be overmaster'd with a score or two of drunkards , the only souldiery left about them , or else to comply with all rapines and violences . no certainly , if they knew ought of that knowledge that belongs to good men or good governours , they would not suffer these things but to return to our own in●tit●te , besides these constant exercises at home , there is another opportunity of gaining experience to be won from pleasure it selfe abroad ; in those vernal seasons of the yeer , when the air is calm and pleasant , it were an injury and sullennesse against nature not to go out , and see her riches , and partake in her rejoycing with heaven and earth . i should not therefore be a perswader to them of studying much then , after two or three yeer that they have well laid their grounds , but to ride out in companies with prudent and staid guides , to all the quarters of the land : learning and observing all places of strength , all commodities of building and of soil , for towns and tillage , harbours and ports for trade , somtimes taking sea as farre as to our navy , to learn there also what they can in the practical knowledge of sailing and of sea fight . these waves would trie all their peculiar gifts of nature , and if there were any secret excellence among them , would fetch it out , and give it fair opportunities to advance it selfe by , which could not but mightily redound to the good of this nation , and bring into fashion again those old admired vertues and excellencies , with farre more advantage now in this puritie of christian knowledge . nor shall we then need the mounsieurs of paris to take our hopefull youth into thir slight and prodigall custodies and send them over back again transform'd into mimics , apes & kicshoes . but if they desire to see other countries at three or four and twenty yeers of age , not to learn principles , but to enlarge experience , and make wise observation , they will by that time be such as shall deserve the regard and honour of all men where they passe , and the society and friendship of those in all places who are best and most eminent . and perhaps then other nations will be glad to visit us for their breeding , or else to imitate us in their own country . now lastly for their diet there cannot be much to say , save only that it would be best in the same house ; for much time else would be lost abroad , and many ill habits got ; and that it should be plain , healthfull , and moderat i suppose is out of controversie . thus master hartlib , you have a generall view in writing , as your desire was , of that which at severall times i had discourst with you concerning the best and noblest way of education ; not beginning , as some have done from the cradle , which yet might be worth many considerations , if brevity had not been my scope , many other circumstances also i could have mention'd , but this to such as have the worth in them to make triall , for light and direction may be anough . only i believe that this is not a bow for every man to shoot in that counts himselfe a teacher ; but will require sinews almost equall to those which homer gave ulysses , yet i am withall perswaded that it may prove much more easie in the assay , then it now seems at distance , and much more illustrious : howbeit not more difficult then i imagine , and that imagination presents me with nothing but very happy and very possible according to best wishes ; if god have so decreed , and this age have spirit and capacity anough to apprehend . the end . a continuation of mr. john-amos-comenius school-endeavours, or, a summary delineation of dr. cyprian kinner silesian, his thoughts concerning education, or, the way and method of teaching exposed to the ingenuous and free censure of all piously-learned men ... : together with an advice how these thoughts may be succesfully put in practice / translated out of the original latine, transmitted to sam. hartlib, and by him published ... comenius, johann amos, 1592-1670. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a34095 of text r2973 in the english short title catalog (wing c5506). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 35 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a34095 wing c5506 estc r2973 11880482 ocm 11880482 50308 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34095) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50308) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 23:2) a continuation of mr. john-amos-comenius school-endeavours, or, a summary delineation of dr. cyprian kinner silesian, his thoughts concerning education, or, the way and method of teaching exposed to the ingenuous and free censure of all piously-learned men ... : together with an advice how these thoughts may be succesfully put in practice / translated out of the original latine, transmitted to sam. hartlib, and by him published ... comenius, johann amos, 1592-1670. kinner, cyprian. [8], 8, 3, [2] p. printed for r.l. ..., [london] : [1648] "published by authority" place and date of publication from wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. eng education -early works to 1800. a34095 r2973 (wing c5506). civilwar no a continuation of mr. john-amos-comenius school-endeavours. or a summary delineation of dr. cyprian kinner silesian his thoughts concerning kinner, cyprian 1648 6313 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-08 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a continuation of m. john-amos-comenivs school-endeavours . or a summary delineation of dr. cyprian kinner silesian his thoughts concerning education : or the way and method of teaching . exposed to the ingenuous and free censure of all piously-learned men . the which shal shortly be seconded with an elucidarium or commentary to open the sense of whatsoever is herein contained , chiefly of what is paradoxall and obscure , ( if any such shall appear to be . ) together with an advice how these thoughts may be succesfully put in practice . translated out of the original latine , transmitted to sam. hartlib : and by him published , and in the name of many very godly and learned men , recommended to the serious consideration , and liberall assistance , of such , as are willing to favour the reformation of all christian churches and common-wealths : but more especially the good and happines of these united kingdoms . published by authority . printed for r l. in monks-well street . a brief information concerning doctor kinner and his vndertakings . when we look upon the ways of most men now adays we see , that although many have a speciall esteem of learning , and cry it up highly in those who have attain'd thereunto : yet few there are that have any great zeal to propagate it unto others : and of those few whose affections may lye somewhat that way , in a whole age , hardly shall wee find one or two , who are willing to neglect themselves to doe service unto others , or casting themselves upon divine providence , to postpose wholy their private and single interests , unto the publike good of many , therefore when it pleaseth god to raise up and put forth such publike spirits , as sometimes he doth offer , for a blessing to the society of mankinde ; all others , that have any true love to vertue , and esteem of learning , or with uprightness favour publike enterprizes : should appear on their behalf , to give them that encouragement , which may bring the works whereunto god hath fitted them , unto some perfection . for hereunto god doth call us , by the offer of such opportunities , namely , that in the communion of saints we should appeare for the advancement of his kingdome , that the things , which neither we nor any one can do by himself alone , all of us according to our ability , should joyntly promote , as members of each other ; to shew that we have a love to the body of christ , and would gladly be helpers unto the truth , and the manifestation of the glory of our god therein . such an opportunity is now afforded unto us in the person of one doctor cyprian kinner , a man of singularly eminent gracious and naturall parts , and of a very publike spirit , who by birth being of very honest parents , and well educated in silesia , hath had from his youth , a speciall inclination to advance that part of learning , which is the foundation of all the rest , and without which all the other parts will be obstructed and remain imperfect both in church and common-wealth ; that is , the right education of children , to bring their scholasticall studies unto some regular course and perfection . a work which every where to the great prejudice of christianity , and the whole state of humane felicity , is much neglected , which for this very cause ought so much the more to be minded by generous and noble spirits , who seek not themselves , but the glory of god in all their wayes . and although at first , the aforesaid doctor kinner , did meet with the ordinary difficulties , which attend publike undertakings ; namely , little encouragement from any ; and no support for livelihood in following these studies ; yet he left not off his designe to prosecute the same ; but that he might have a subsistence with more comfort then by the way of schooling could be obtained : he did betake himself unto the studies of law and physick , which ordinarily in those parts , yield a plentifull livelihood unto those that follow them . and having soon by the eminencie and vigour of his naturall abilities , made himself perfect therein , he took the degree of doctor in both those faculties , and in processe of time through gods blessing upon him in those ways ; hee was in great esteem amongst all that knew him : and especially honoured by the duke of brieg and lignits , who made him one of his privy counsellors : and by his favour and his own merits having married a lady of great wealth : he did reassume his designe of advancing the reformation of schools , and the education of children , and having an extraordinary zeal for that publike work : he did set apart of his ladies estate , with her consent , the sum of 12000 rixdollers ( which doth amount to more then 2000 and 600 li. sterling ) which was dedicated to entertaine a correspondency with learned men on that subject , & to ripen and pub●ish his thoughts to the world concerning the same , but hee had not been long upon that course , when it pleased god to disappoint those purposes , by the comming in of the imperiall army into silesia , by whose cruelty he being dispoiled of his whole estate , was driv●n out of his countrey into exile with his lady , and family where he hath wrestled many yeers with the difficulties incident to that state : hardly maintaining himself , sometimes by being employ'd in civill affaires , sometimes by applying himself unto the practice of physick . amongst other places he did passe sometime of his exile in transylvania and hungaria ; where his acquaintance with master alstedius , and master bisterfeld , and other learned men of chief note , and his constant zeal to promote the reformation of schooling ; did cause many upon the report of their esteeme of his thoughts & endevours on that subject , to take speciall notice of him ; and amongst others m. comenius ( who was by the liberality of a private gentleman maintain'd , and set apart to further the same designe ) having gotten information of him : and what his inclinations and abilities were to be helpfull in the work , which he had in hand , did invite him to come unto him in prussia , that they might joyne their thoughts and endevours together for the advancement of their common aimes : which doctor kinner did readily condescend unto , and after a yeare or two , when by their mutuall communications and joint labours , they had ripened severall matters ( which will shortly come to light ) master comenius was called away by the moravian-bohemian church at lesno , where now he is , and doctor kinner being taken off from his private way of subsistence , and engaged upon the object of his publike thoughts , is left alone in prussia at dantzick , to depend upon providence . whiles mr. comenius was with him he had a share in that which was allowed unto him for his maintenance , but he now being gone , doctor kinner is left in a great straight ; on the one side , his zealous affection and love to so necessary a work , wherein he hath made so great progresses , draws him to apply himself wholly unto it ; on the other side , his want of necessary means to subsist , and to be able to publish that which he already hath done , doth draw him from it to employ himselfe to other private employments . between these two extremities , not knowing what the providence of god will finde out and ordain for him , he hath cast himselfe upon it , and offering his endeavours before all to the publike , hee hath engaged himselfe by a vow unto god ( which is the strongest assurance he can give of his faithfulnes ) to dedicate his whole time to the prosecuting of the designe , whereof the summary is herewith adjoyned ; if god will be pleased to continue , for a yeare or two , his life , and procure him assistance therein ; which desire of his doth deserve so much the more encouragement from all such as love to have a hand in publike works of so great use and importance , by how much it is modest and reasonable , for he wisheth onely for subsistence , so long till the commentary or some larger exposition of the heads of matters contained in the summary can be published , that the godly-wise who favour such publike enterprizes , may be able to judge how serviceable his worke and abilities may be to the ways of reformation , and whether or no the rest of his life should not be set apart for the full accomplishment thereof . if this much onely at first may be obteined by the publike heartednesse of such which wish well to the advancement of gods glory , and are not unwilling to contribute some liberall help which they can spare towards the most likely and effectuall wayes , which as yet have been offered for the right framing of childrens studies to the readie attainment of vertue and knowledge . if ( i say ) this way be obtained , it will be a great advantage unto a further propagation of christs kingdom , and a speciall comfort in these evill times , unto faithfull souls that shall not withdraw their hands from giving assistance thereunto , for they shall have a share in the honour of repairing the walls of our desolate jerusalem , and be registred amongst those that have laid the foundations of many generations . the summary delineation of doctor cyprian kinner , to the courteous reader . how these aphorisms cōcerning the method of instruction were begotten in me , thou shalt shortly know , when they shall again be exposed to thy view in a new habit , and cleered of all strangenesse , obscurity , and impossibility by a peculiar commentary or elucidarium . there ( thou reader that lovest the studie of education whosoever thou art ) shalt be inform'd of that , and many other things besides , and shalt be also entreated to give thy free censure upon them . the reason why i forestall with this apart , the edition of those other things , is , that ( forasmuch as the commentary when perfected will be of a larger bulke then i hoped , and hath also met with unexpected hinderances ) i might in the meane time have copies to communicate to such friends as desired them , and that this , ( how little soever it be ) may by giving thee notice of the designe , by little and little prepar● thee for a more mature censure thereupon . for having once published the said commentary it is not my intention to attempt any thing else of this nature , till i shall be confirmed by the votes of piously-learned men , that it will be worth the while to proceed . for whatsoever i have done , must according to it's deserts either stand or full , yea perish , by the censure of such persons . but be pleased to understand these few things before-hand , viz. that the drift of my invention for teachiug is , that all things necessary to be known may be instilled into learners without the troublesome getting of things by heart , without the usuall confused multitude of books , and without the ill custome of dictations , by the only meer help of sensible objects , and by talk , and exercise both serious and by way of sport and pastime , with so much firmnesse ( as i believe ) that nothing thereof shall easily be forgotten , with that soundnesse and certainty , that no man shall easily refuse it , and in that fulnesse and plenty that nothing either necessary or usefull ( especially of things domestick and usefull ) can be further desired , moreover , with that simplicity and plainnese , that all ages , wits , dispositions and sects may be indifferently admitted unto this method . for it propoundeth nothing , but what every man may with his owne senses truly and properly conceive as an ens or a thing in being ; and apprehend it as true , by his own mother knowledge , and also by inbred instinct , desire it as good . the convenience , possibility , and every processe of this method , i shall as shortly as i said before , more fully represent in that elucidarium or commentary . in the mean time these lines i hope may suffice , to the more apprehensive judges of things , and such as are pleased , with a succinct , compleat brevity . for those men understanding beyond what they read , will looking through the whole designe , easily see what is behinde , and without any difficulty , know the lion by this print of his paw . farewell . in the name of god . in my way of teaching school , i aime at three marks piety , learning , and civill prudence . 2 to the hitting of each mark ( or obtaining of each end ) i assigne certain steps , to every step , certain tasks , each of which task 's , comprehends certain lessons . i intend also herewithall a directory how to order the formes in my schools , how to speak to my scholars in each lesson , and how to facilitate the impression or remembrance of them . 3 for the implantation of piety , i make three steps . viz. the taking men off from the love of the world , resignation of their own love , and exercise in the love of god . 4 under the love of the world are contained pleasure , riches and honour , under self-love , wisdom , strength and life : under the love of god , faith , hope , and obedience . 5 my scholars therefore by and by after their first admittance must be taught , led and accustomed to avoid the former , to disesteem the other , and to make much of the latter . in the practice whereof the degrees thereof being still observed , they are to be held and kept , not only , during the whole course of their instruction ; but their whole life also . 6 towards the obtaining of learning . i appoint three steps ; viz. three for the knowledge of things , three for the framing of words , and three for directiou of the thoughts and conceptions of the minde . 7 having first ranked all things into proper classes i teach their marks or signatures , their frame or structure , with their vertues and operations that every novice-learner may understand what every thing is , what they contain , and what they do , ( that is whereunto they serve . ) 8 having taught to pronounce the words first in the mother tongue signifying each thing , i shew next how to shape the character or letter signifying those words , then their setting together so as to make a compleat language , and lastly , the use of this language towards the learning of any other . that the learner hereby may know , how to communicate his thoughts to the absent , and partake of theirs , and to draw out of both ancient and modern authors , whatsoever of humane and divine knowledge is contain'd in their writings . 9 touching the conceptions of the minde ( which are to be knowingly applyed to things ) i teach how to guide the proceedings of the invention , judgement upon , and order of them ; that my auditors may know how to finde out unknown things , to distinguish the doubtfull , and to put in order the confused and distracted . 10 in the first step or degree to learning ( as i said before ) i expound the marks or signatures of things , first naming them when brought to our sight in our mother tongue , then describing the outward habit as well totall as particular of each , and that by its threefold accidents : lastly , teaching them to apprehend them distinctly , by some one or more differentiall characters . 11 i shew naturall things in the living book of nature ; things artificiall in the shops and work-houses of their makers , & both of them in the repositories of their figures , & representatiōs wch belong to our school , where i shew them either living or carved , ( yet as neere the life as may be ) or at least painted . as for things divine ( so many of them as are expedient to be known ) i fetch them , and explain there of out of holy scripture . lastly , i compare the marks of one thing with those of another , shewing what things do altogether , what do more or lesse according to some particular respects , and what do not at all agree in their said marks or signatures . so as their outward likeness or unlikeness , may be more cleerly knowne , may stick more fast in the memory , and that the way may be laid , to look into the conformity and deformity of their fabrick or structure . 13 in the second step , i explicate the frame and structure of things , and first analytically , or by taking them in pieces , wherein i divide them ( first known by their outward marks ) into their integral parts , as also things naturall into their parts , essentiall and accidentall ; so that in the former , the artifice of their mechanicall connexion , and in the other the proportion of elements mixt , wherof they are made , and so the very ground and species of their outward marks , may be set before our eyes and the causes of their subsistance durability and operations , may be rightly rendred . 14 then synthetically or by way of composition , where i shew to the very eye how nature , art and god himself , produce their works ( each of them his own ) by designing them , doing and undoing them , that the learner may know how to imitate , make or change any thing , that is lawfull , profitable or necessary . 15 at length syncritically , or by comparing the structure of things together , and shewing what things doe agree , either in their , active or passive principles , or in their organicall parts , either throughout , partly , or not at all , so that there inward likenesse , or unlikeness may appeare also , and the way laid by these structures of things to know their vertues , as before by the signatures to know their structure . 16 in the third step i teach the vertues and operative faculties of things , and first of all i teach in generall , how by their signature and structure ( found out as before and considered together ) to know their strength and powers ( viz : of things naturall , as they are quickned by such or such a spirit , of things artificiall , as they are so or so used , by the work-men ; of things divine as they are thus or thus applied by men ) as also the motions , arising from their said powers , their effects from their motions , and lastly their uses and service in the world . 17 then i expound in speciall what effects all things worke upon their countercopy man in particular , who is the ruler , conqueror , and moderator of them all , and how they conduce either to food or medicine , to clothing or housing or to delight or information . 18 then in a yet more especiall manner , i shew how that man and only him , containes within himself , the vertue of all other things in the world , and that he is furnished with various abilities , to understand , imitate or change any of them , so that he is a true microcosme , and an expresse image of the macrocosme , yea of god the creator himselfe . 19 in the fourth step i teach the way of representing by characters , the words of our mother tongue , and how to pronounce them , so represented , teaching my scholars how first to fashion lines , whereof afterwards letters are made , then the whole letters themselves , lastly , syllables arising from the composition of letters , and then they are to pronounce , or sound those letters and syllables , and to find them up and down , in books of severall prints , always proceeding from the more simple and easie lines , letters and syllables , by the more compounded , to the most compound , and complexed of all . 20 then i set my scholars so long exercised in spelling , till they can do it extempore , to write and pronounce whole words , still observing the former graduall way of proceeding from the most simple to the most compound ; and i make them dwell so long upon this exercise , till they can readily read and write any word not only by copying it , but without any copy by heart also . 21 and because arithmeticall cyphers are numbring words i teach to write and to pronounce them also , and to tell the valew of many of them , placed in a certaine order , which we call numeration . 22 in the fift step i teach how to draw all these words so known a part , into a compleat language , either to be written or spoken , and that materially , formally , or contextually , by putting all words of a kind into classes by themselves , then he wing those classes til they become fit to lye in a well ordered fabrick , and lastly , by erecting an edifice of these so prepared materials . 23 for the materiall constitution i have designed an exemplary dictionary , wherein are first placed all words radicall , whether declinable or not , as also additionall particles , whether to be joyned , either before or behind with any of them . this i intend shall be done parissyllabically , so as all the monosylables shall goe before the by syllables , or words of two syllables follow , and after them the trisyllables if any be . among the declinable , the nounes shall lead the van , the verbes be in the middle and the particles partaking of both , bring up the reare . moreover , of the declinables , those of the same declension shall stand by themselves in order , according to the divers prerogatives of their terminations , genders and other relations . 24 after this i lay down rules how almost an innumerable number of words may be derived from and compounded out of the primitive and simple : so far as to reach and expresse all things and conceptions , and how their radicall signification , may be fitted to them : lastly , how these derivatives may be disposed in classes answerable to their primitives , for the future use of declining them . 25 for the forming and setting together of words i intend a gramaticall directory , wherein i expound by short exemplified rules , every tribe in the classes of my dictionary , and also the differences and other accidents of all words , whether declinable or undeclinable and additionall , or under one , shewing how each tribe of declinables ( whether nouns , verbs or particles of this or that classis ( each according to his kind ) ought to be declined , how they ought to be joined together , to make up a phrase , how out of phrases sentences , of sentences periods , and of periods sections ought to be composed , and that either in proper aequivocall or figurative expressions , as may be most for the embellishing of the context . for the contextual constitution i intend an historical text or discourse , wherein i present all the words , aswell primitive as derivative of an whole language , with all the ways of declining , connecting and transnominating them , under the form of one continued history or discourse . that all the reall tasks for exercises from the beginning hitherto scatteringly set down , may be repeated , together with a true understanding of the co-ordination of the things ranked in each classis . having always an eye to the gradation , proportion & accurate choice of sentences , periods and the style it self , so as the first part of the said discourse may consist of short sentences and periods , and be written in a low and proper style , the next part of sentences , &c. neither very short nor very long , but between both , and in a mean style , but that the third may be of more full sentences , and in a style more sublime and flourishing . 26 in the next step i teach the use of the mother-tongue , in order to the obtaining of more languages , shewing how the mother-tongue of each nation , ( which whether wee will or no , doth use to obtrude it selfe upon us ) as a mistris and law-giver in the terming of others ) may be made the rule and guide to perfect any forreign tongue , so that the emulation now among them may thereby cease , to make them all able to expresse any thing or thought , and lastly , to learn them all speedily , shewing how easie it is to one that knoweth his own tongue , the terms of art belonging to all ( as what a radicall word is , what a derivative or compound , what a termination , declension , syntaxis , and what a phrase , sentence , period , &c. are ) to learn any other language whatsoever , and what devise in particular this may be done upon the latine tongue , and consequently upon other learned and popular languages , in present esteem . 27 to these purposes therefore ( premising information and instructions both by speech and writing , wheresoever they are needfull ) i fit the same instruments . viz. a dictionary , directory , and discourse , the first in the course and order of the same classes , the second of the same kinde of rules , the third of the same words , setting the latine first , and those of other languages afterwards ; and if there be any idiome , or property in any of them , them , which my rules will not beare , as in deriving , declining or connecting them , &c. i note them all along by way of exception or observation , instilling any language by this way of paralleling or comparing them , even ten times more easily then otherwise . 28 in the seventh step i exercise my auditors about thoughts , shewing how they ought to enquire after a thing unknown whether it be or not , to search after it , if it lie hid , where it is , or where it is not ? and if it be not as yet , then to finde out the means , that it may either be , or be in a possibility of being . 29 for the eight step , i employ them upon thoughts or conceptions judicative , teaching them how they ought to examine a thing of whose existence , and being they are already satisfied , that is , how they ought to approve of it , or disallow ; enquiring what is it , or is not ; as well in it selfe , as in relation to other things . also why or how the same is or is not , that which it seems to be , and so whether it be true or false . then enquiring what that thing contains , or whether it contains nothing , and why and how it contains , that it doth contain . moreover whether it doth or acteth or not , whether it suffereth or not , and consequently whether it be simply honest , or necessary profitable or pleasant , possible and easie , to be desired and done . or on the contrary whether it be dishonest or needlesse , unprofitable or unpleasant , impossible or difficult , and so to be avoided or neglected . then lastly , whether yea or no , and in what part and regard , a thing , containeth any other thing more or lesser whether it so doth or suffereth not . and so whether in respect to another thing it be more or lesse honest , profitable , pleasant , possible , easie , to be desired , or practised , or the contrary of all or any of these particulars . 30 in the ninth step i verse them in thoughts ordinative , for the orderly disposing and methodizing of things , teaching what is to be first or last thought , said , or written , of any thing . if any thing shall occur that is confused , how it ought to be reduced into order ; in speciall in what course those inventive and judicative thoughts , ought with discretion to be brought into the form , either of an epistle , discourse or oration , of a disputation , consultation , or systeem , or entire body of an art or science , and that in such a method , as the nature of the thing requires ; whether analyticall , syntheticall , or according to the modern authours syncriticall . 31 and that there may appear a notable proof or example of this tripartite method , and all the exercises of learning , reall , verball and notionall , may be viewed together at one cast of the eye , wee shall represent the concords and disagreements , and other relations of all the things , which we have considered apart in their differences in three continued columns running parallel , or side by side from top to bottom both by first and second notions , and consequently in their terins of art . shewing how all naturall things do like a tree concur and meet in the root , and partake all of the same sap , and do differ from each other , onely as boughes spreading severall ways , and consequently that they were all at first , and may yet be made by one generall idea : and furthermore that artificials , and even things mysticall themselves , may likewise be squared by the same rule . and if there appeare any difference in particulars of this or that classis ; we shew that it either proceedeth from the different concurrence of substantiall principles , or from a different fashion of the organs ; or from a different intention of the agent , and so that there is nothing seen in things naturall , whereunto there may not be found some one or more of things artificiall and mysticall to answer , or if not , such as yet are found that such ought by their track to be sought after . 32 in which harmonicall one-triple , viz. naturall , artificiall , mysticall systeem , or body , all arts and sciences that ever were yet invented , or shall ever be hereafter , are as ( to their generall idea's ) implicitly imbosomed , and may be explicitly inserted and subordinated thereunto , that it may appeare , which are parent , and which coozen faculties , which of them spring from others , & which have the same common originals ; which exceed in perfection , worth and dignity ; how many and what in quality , may yet be invented , and according to what speciall idea's , they ought to be ordered and distributed ; to make the analogy or correspondency of naturall operations compleat and perfect . 33 towards the acquisition of civill prudence , there are also three steps , a comely carriage in outward manners , a choice of a fit course of private life , and the skill of duly managing a publike office or employment , if any such shall be offered . in all and each of which things my scholars are to be thoroughly instructed . 34 their manners or carriage ought to be neat , comly & grave , as well in their countenance and gestures as in their speech , which are to be diversified according to age , sex , way of life , publike charge , deserts and relations to superiours , equals and inferiours . 35 their way of life ought be accommodated and fitted to their genius and disposition , and sometimes to occasions of the common-wealth , and when publike exigence requires it , let there be heed taken in the choice of ministers . for mercury is not made out of every block . 36 the execution of a publike office ( whether it be for teaching either in the school or church , or in taking care of the affaires and health of other men , or in defending their lives and estates in courts of justice , or equity ) ought to be dextrous and expeditious , faithfull and conscientious , cleer of ignorance , deceit , or any other faults whatsoever . finis . doctor cyprian kinner's vow to the almighty god , sent from dantzick the fift of aug. 1648 , to samuel hartlib . translated out of the originall latine . to thee ( eternall god ) that first inspired mee with these thoughts concerning the education of youth , do i again most humbly resigne them ( imperfect though they be ) as the free gifts of thy holy spirit . thou that searchest the heart and reins , knowest how much i desire they should be perfected , and what with ardent zeal i endeavour the reformation of all these school-disorders . but it is not hid from thee , that i want means answerable to my desires , being now a sojourner in a strange land , without estate or subsistance , which the barbarisme of souldiers by thy permission , hath depriv'd me of , and to this houre detain from me . thou know'st also that for this whole yeere last past , i have laboured to obtaiu a poore subsistence , whereby i might finish but a bare elucidarium or commentary . o pitty youth miserably brought up in schools , which the bloud of thy son hath redeem'd , and stir up some one that may soundly and christianly lead them in the ways ( especially ) of true piety , good letters , and sober prudence , least that innocent part of thy flock may be any further sednc'd and led away . and eternally blesse those few ( whose names are best known unto thee ) their children and childrens children , that have any way been pleased to accept and favour my weak endevours . but for me doe as it seemeth good in thine own eyes . and that i may reassume and compleat my former thoughts , let the beams of thy wisdom shine upon me , and by thy power raise up for me such patrons , as my weaknesse alone could never else have procured . if thou wilt not , thy will be done . an advertisement to the noble and generous lovers of learning . if any such ( after the favorable perusal of this generall draught and information ) shall be desirous to be more fully informed , concerning either those works of master comenius , which are to be published , or doctor kinner's further vndertakings and continuation of them ; as also how their assistance & favours may be best conveighed vnto the aforesaid doctors hands , they may please to send or repair to master hartlib's house in the great open court in dukes-place , and satisfaction shal be given to all their desires . a proposition for the advancement of experimental philosophy. by a. cowley. proposition for the advancement of learning cowley, abraham, 1618-1667. 1661 approx. 36 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a80720 wing c6684 thomason e2265_2 thomason e1856_3 estc r202043 99862466 99862466 170474 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a80720) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 170474) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 231:e1856[3] or 244:e2265[2]) a proposition for the advancement of experimental philosophy. by a. cowley. proposition for the advancement of learning cowley, abraham, 1618-1667. p. p. [2], 53, [11] p. printed by j.m. for henry herringman; and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the blew-anchor in the lower-walk of the new-exchange, london : 1661. dedication signed: p.p. the last leaf is blank. a reissue of "a proposition for the advancement of learning", with title page cancelled by a² (new title page and dedication). annotation on thomason copy e.1856[3]: "march 1660"; imprint date crossed through. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng royal society (great britain) -history -early works to 1800. science -history -early works to 1800. philosophy -early works to 1800. education -early works to 1800. 2007-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-02 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-03 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2007-03 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proposition for the advancement of experimental philosophy . by a. cowley . london , printed by j. m. for henry herringman ; and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the blew-anchor in the lower-walk of the new-exchange , 1661. to the honourable society for the advancement of experimental philosophy . the author of the following discourse , having since his going into france allowed me to make it publick , i thought i should do it most right by presenting it to your considerations ; to the end that when it hath been fully examin'd by you , and receiv'd such additions or alterations as you shall think fit , the design thereof may be promoted by your recommending the practice of it to the nation . i am , your most humble servant , p. p. a proposition for the advancement of learning . by a. cowley . virg. o fortunati quorum jam maenia surgunt ! london , printed by j. m. for henry herringman , and are to be sold at his shop at the blew anchor in the lower-walk of the new-exchange , 1661. the preface . all knowledge must either be of god , or of his creatures , that is , of nature ; the first is called from the object , divinity ; the latter , natural philosophy , and is divided into the contemplation of the immediate or mediate creatures of god , that is , the creatures of his creature man. of this latter kind are all arts for the use of humane life , which are thus again divided : some are purely humane , or made by man alone , and as it were intirely spun out of himself , without relation to other creatures , such are grammar and logick , to improve his natural qualities of internal and external speech ; as likewise rhetorick and politicks ( or law ) to fulfill and exalt his natural inclination to society . other are mixt , and are mans creatures no otherwise then by the result which he effects by conjunction and application of the creatures of god. of these parts of philosophy that which treats of god almighty ( properly called divinity ) which is almost only to be sought out of his revealed will , and therefore requires only the diligent and pious study of that , and of the best interpreters upon it ; and that part which i call purely humane , depending solely upon memory and wit , that is , reading and invention , are both excellently well provided for by the constitution of our vniversities . but the other two parts , the inquisition into the nature of gods creatures , and the application of them to humane vses ( especially the latter ) seem to be very slenderly provided for , or rather almost totally neglected , except onely some small assistances to physick , and the mathematicks . and therefore the founders of our colledges have taken ample care to supply the students with multitude of books , and to appoint tutors and frequent exercises , the one to interpret , and the other to confirm their reading , as also to afford them sufficient plenty and leisure for the opportunities of their private study , that the beams which they receive by lecture may be doubled by reflections of their own wit : but towards the observation and application , as i said , of the creatures themselves , they have allowed no instruments , materials , or conveniences . partly , because the necessary expence thereof is much greater , then of the other ; and partly from that idle and pernicious opinion which had long possest the world , that all things to be searcht in nature , had been already found and discovered by the ancients , and that it were a folly to travel about for that which others had before brought home to us . and the great importer of all truths they took to be aristotle , as if ( as macrobius speaks foolishly of hippocrates ) he could neither deceive nor be deceived , or as if there had been not only no lies in him , but all verities . o true philosophers in one sence ! and contented with a very little ! not that i would disparage the admirable wit , and worthy labours of many of the ancients , much less of aristotle , the most eminent among them ; but it were madness to imagine that the cisterns of men should afford us as much , and as wholesome waters , as the fountains of nature . as we understand the manners of men by conversation among them , and not by reading romances , the same is our case in the true apprehension & judgement of things . and no man can hope to make himself as rich by stealing out of others truncks , as he might by opening and digging of new mines . if he conceive that all are already exhausted , let him consider that many lazily thought so hundred years ago , and yet nevertheless since that time whole regions of art have been discovered , which the ancients as little dreamt of as they did of america . there is yet many a terra incognita behind to exercise our diligence , and let us exercise it never so much , we shall leave work enough too for our posterity . this therefore being laid down as a certain foundation , that we must not content our selves with that inheritance of knowledge which is left us by the labour and bounty of our ancestors , but seek to improve those very grounds , and adde to them new and greater purchases ; it remains to be considered by what means we are most likely to attain the ends of this vertuous covetousness . and certainly the solitary and unactive contemplation of nature , by the most ingenious persons living , in their own private studies , can never effect it . our reasoning faculty as well as fancy , does but dream , when it is not guided by sensible objects . we shall compound where nature has divided , and divide where nature has compounded , and create nothing but either deformed monsters , or at best pretty but impossible mermaids . 't is like painting by memory and imagination which can never produce a picture to the life . many persons of admirable abilities ( if they had been wisely managed and profitably employed ) have spent their whole time and diligence in commentating upon aristotles philosophy , who could never go beyond him , because their design was only to follow , not grasp , or lay hold on , or so much as touch nature , because they catcht only at the shadow of her in their own brains . and therefore we see that for above a thousand years together nothing almost of ornament or advantage was added to the vses of humane society , except only guns and printing , whereas since the industry of men has ventured to go abroad , out of books and out of themselves , and to work among gods creatures , instead of playing among their own , every age has abounded with excellent inventions , and every year perhaps might do so , if a considerable number of select persons were set apart , and well directed , and plentifully provided for the search of them . but our vniversities having been founded in those former times that i complain of , it is no wonder if they be defective in their constitution as to this way of learning , which was not then thought on . for the supplying of which defect , it is humbly proposed to his sacred majesty , his most honourable parliament , and privy council , and to all such of his subjects as are willing and able to contribute any thing towards the advancement of real and useful learning , that by their authority , encouragement , patronage , and bounty , a philosophical colledge may be erected , after this ensuing , or some such like model . the colledge . that the philosophical colledge be scituated within one , two , or ( at farthest ) three miles of londòn , and , if it be possible to find that convenience , upon the side of the river , or very near it . that the revenue of this colledge amount to four thousand pounds a year . that the company received into it be as follows . 1. twenty philosophers or professors . 2. sixteen young scholars , servants to the professors . 3. a chaplain . 4. a baily for the revenue . 5. a manciple or purveyour for the provisions of the house . 6. two gardeners . 7. a master-cook . 8. an under-cock . 9. a butler . 10. an under-butler . 11. a chirurgeon . 12. two lungs , or chymical servants . 13. a library-keeper who is likewise to be apothecary , druggist , and keeper of instruments , engines , &c. 14. an officer to feed and take care of all beasts , fowl , &c. kept by the colledge . 15. a groom of the stable . 16. a messenger to send up and down for all uses of the colledge . 17. four old women , to tend the chambers , keep the house clean , and such like services . that the annual allowance for this company be as follows . 1. to every professor , and to the chaplain , one hundred and twenty pounds . 2. to the sixteen scholars 20 l a piece , 10 l for their diet , and 10 l for their entertainment . 3. to the baily 30 l besides allowance for his journeys . 4. to the purveyour or manciple thirty pounds . 5. to each of the gardeners twenty pounds . 6. to the master-cook twenty pounds . 7. to the under-cook four pounds . 8. to the butler ten pounds . 9. to the under-butler four pounds . 10. to the chirurgeon thirty pounds . 11. to the library-keeper thirty pounds . 12. to each of the lungs twelve pounds . 13. to the keeper of the beasts six pounds . 14. to the groom five pounds . 15. to the messenger twelve pounds . 16. to the four necessary women ten pounds . for the manciples table at which all the servants of the house are to eat , except the scholars , one hundred sixty pounds . for 3 horses for the service of the colledge , thirty pounds . all which amounts to three thousand two hundred eighty five pounds . so that there remains for keeping of the house and gardens , and operatories , and instruments , and animals , and experiments of all sorts , and all other expences , seven hundred & fifteen pounds . which were a very inconsiderable sum for the great uses to which it is designed , but that i conceive the industry of the colledge will in a short time so enrich it self as to get a far better stock for the advance and enlargement of the work when it is once begun ; neither is the continuance of particular mens liberality to be despaired of , when it shall be encouraged by the sight of that publick benefit which will accrue to all mankind , and chiefly to our nation , by this foundation . something likewise will arise from leases and other casualties ; that nothing of which may be diverted to the private gain of the professors , or any other use besides that of the search of nature , and by it the general good of the world , and that care may be taken for the certain performance of all things ordained by the institution , as likewise for the protection and encouragement of the company , it is proposed . that some person of eminent quality , a lover of solid learning , and no stranger in it , be chosen chancellour or president of the colledge , and that eight governours more , men qualified in the like manner , be joyned with him , two of which shall yearly be appointed visitors of the colledge , and receive an exact account of all expences even to the smallest , and of the true estate of their publick treasure , under the hands and oaths of the professors resident . that the choice of the professors in any vacancy belong to the chancellour and the governours , but that the professors ( who are likeliest to know what men of the nation are most proper for the duties of their society ) direct their choice by recommending two or three persons to them at every election . and that if any learned person within his majesties dominions discover or eminently improve any useful kind of knowledge , he may upon that ground for his reward and the encouragement of others , be preferr'd , if he pretend to the place , before any body else . that the governours have power to turn out any professor who shall be proved to be either scandalous or unprofitable to the society . that the colledge be built after this , or some such manner : that it consist of three fair quadrangular courts , and three large grounds , enclosed with good walls behind them . that the first court be built with a fair cloyster , and the professors lodgings or rather little houses , four on each side at some distance from one another , and with little gardens behind them , just after the manner of the chartreux beyond sea. that the inside of the cloyster be lined with a gravel-walk , and that walk with a row of trees , and that in the middle there be a parterre of flowers , and a fountain . that the second quadrangle just behind the first , be so contrived , as to contain these parts . 1. a chappel . 2. a hall with two long tables on each side for the scholars and officers of the house to eat at , and with a pulpit and forms at the end for the publick lectures . 3. a large and pleasant dining-room within the hall for the professors to eat in , and to hold their assemblies and conferences . 4. a publick school-house . 5. a library . 6. a gallery to walk in , adorned with the pictures or statues of all the inventors of any thing useful to humane life ; as printing , guns , america , &c. and of late in anatomy , the circulation of the blood , the milky veins , and such like discoveries in any art , with short elogies under the portraictures : as likewise the figures of all sorts of creatures , and the stuft skins of as many strange animals as can be gotten . 7. an anatomy chamber adorned with skeletons and anatomical pictures , and prepared with all conveniencies for dissection . 8. a chamber for all manner of druggs , and apothecaries materials . 9. a mathematical chamber furnisht with all forts of mathematical instruments , being an appendix to the library . 10. lodgings for the chaplain , chirurgeon , library-keeper and purveyour , near the chappel , anatomy chamber , library and hall. that the third court be on one side of these , very large , but meanly built , being designed only for use and not for beauty too , as the others . that it contain the kitchin , butteries , brew-house , bake-house , dairy , lardry , stables , &c. and especially great laboratories for chymical operations , and lodgings for the under-servants . that behind the second court be placed the garden , containing all sorts of plants that our soil will bear , and at the end a little house of pleasure , a lodge for the gardener , and a grove of trees cut out into walks . that the second enclosed ground be a garden , destined only to the tryal of all manner of experiments concerning plants , as their melioration , acceleration , retardation , conservation , composition , transmutation , coloration , or whatsoever else can be produced by art either for use or curiosity , with a lodge in it for the gardener . that the third ground be employed in convenient receptacles for all sorts of creatures which the professors shall judge necessary for their more exact search into the nature of animals , and the improvement of their uses to us . that there be likewise built in some place of the colledge where it may serve most for ornament of the whole , a very high tower for observation of celestial bodies , adorned with all sorts of dyals and such like curiosities ; and that there be very deep vaults made under ground , for experiments most proper to such places , which will be undoubtedly very many . much might be added , but truly i am afraid this is too much already for the charity or generosity of this age to extend to ; and we do not design this after the model of solomons house in my lord bacon ( which is a project for experiments that can never be experimented ) but propose it within such bounds of expence as have often been exceeded by the buildings of private citzens . of the professors , scholars , chaplain , and other officers . that of the twenty professors four be always travelling beyond seas , and sixteen always resident , unless by permission upon extraordinary occasions , and every one so absent , leaving a deputy behind him to supply his duties . that the four professors itinerant be assigned to the four parts of the world , europe , asia , afrique , and america , there to reside three years at least , and to give a constant account of all things that belong to the learning , and especially natural experimental philosophy of those parts . that the expence of all dispatches , and all books , simples , animals , stones , metals , minerals , &c. and all curiosities whatsoever , natural or artificial , sent by them to the colledge , shall be defrayed out of the treasury , and an additional allowance ( above the 120 l ) made to them as soon as the colledges revenue shall be improved . that at their going abroad they shall take a solemn oath never to write any thing to the colledge , but what after very diligent examination , they shall fully believe to be true , and to confess and recant it as soon as they find themselves in an errour . that the sixteen professors resident shall be bound to study and teach all sorts of natural , experimental philosophy , to consist of the mathematicks , mechanicks , medicine , anatomy , chymistry , the history of animals , plants , minerals , elements , &c. agriculture , architecture , art military , navigation , gardening ; the mysteries of all trades , and improvement of them ; the facture of all merchandizes , all natural magick or divination ; and briefly all things contained in the catalogue of natural histories annexed to my lord bacon's organon . that once a day from easter till michaelmas , and twice a week from michaelmas to easter , at the hours in the afternoon most convenient for auditors from london according to the time of the year , there shall be a lecture read in the hall , upon such parts of natural experimental philosophy , as the professors shall agree on among themselves , and as each of them shall be able to perform usefully and honourably . that two of the professors by daily , weekly , or monethly turns shall teach the publick schools according to the rules hereafter prescribed . that all the professors shall be equal in all respects ( except precedency , choice of lodging , and such like priviledges , which shall belong to seniority in the colledge ) and that all shall be masters and treasurers by annual turns , which two officers for the time being shall take place of all the rest , and shall be arbitri duarum mensarum . that the master shall command all the officers of the colledge , appoint assemblies or conferences upon occasion , and preside in them with a double voice , and in his absence the treasurer , whose business is to receive and disburse all moneys by the masters order in writing , ( if it be an extraordinary ) after consent of the other professors . that all the professors shall sup together in the parlour within the hall every night , and shall dine there twice a week ( to wit sundays and thursdays ) at two round tables for the convenience of discourse , which shall be for the most part of such matters as may improve their studies and professions , and to keep them from falling into loose or unprofitable talk shall be the duty of the two arbitri mensarum , who may likewise command any of the servant-scholars to read to them what he shall think fit , whilst they are at table : that it shall belong likewise to the said arbitri mensarum only , to invite strangers , which they shall rarely do , unless they be men of learning or great parts , and shall not invite above two at a time to one table , nothing being more vain and unfruitful then numerous meetings of acquaintance . that the professors resident shall allow the colledge twenty pounds a year for their diet , whether they continue there all the time or not . that they shall have once a week an assembly or conference concerning the affairs of the colledge and the progress of their experimental philosophy . that if any one find out any thing which he conceives to be of consequence , he shall communicate it to the assembly to be examined , experimented , approved or rejected . that if any one be author of an invention that may bring in profit , the third part of it shall belong to the inventor , and the two other to the society ; and besides if the thing be very considerable , his statue or picture with an elogy under it , shall be placed in the gallery , and made a denison of that corporation of famous men. that all the professors shall be always assigned to some particular inquisition ( besides the ordinary course of their studies ) of which they shall give an account to the assembly , so that by this means there may be every day some operation or other made in all the arts , as chymistry , anatomy , mechanicks , and the like , and that the colledge shall furnish for the charge of the operation . that there shall be kept a register under lock and key , and not to be seen but by the professors , of all the experiments that succeed , signed by the persons who made the tryall . that the popular and received errours in experimental philosophy ( with which , like weeds in a neglected garden it is now almost all overgrown ) shall be evinced by tryal , and taken notice of in the publick lectures , that they may no longer abuse the credulous , and beget new ones by consequence of similitude . that every third year ( after the full settlement of the foundation ) the colledge shall give an account in print , in proper and ancient latine , of the fruits of their triennial industry . that every professor resident shall have his scholar to wait upon him in his chamber and at table , whom he shall be obliged to breed up in natural philosophy , and render an account of his progress to the assembly , from whose election he received him , and therefore is responsible to it , both for the care of his education , and the just and civil usage of him . that the scholar shall understand latine very well , and be moderately initiated in the greek before he be capable of being chosen into the service , and that he shall not remain in it above seven years . that his lodging shall be with the professor whom he serves . that no professor shall be a married man , or a divine , or lawyer in practice , only physick he may be allowed to prescribe , because the study of that art is a great part of the duty of his place , and the duty of that is so great , that it will not suffer him to lose much time in mercenary practice . that the professors shall in the colledge wear the habit of ordinary masters of art in the universities , or of doctors , if any of them be so . that they shall all keep an inviolable and exemplary friendship with one another , and that the assembly shall lay a considerable pecuniary mulct upon any one who shall be proved to have entered so far into a quarrel as to give uncivil language to his brother-professor ; and that the perseverance in any enmity shall be punish'd by the governours with expulsion . that the chaplain shall eat at the masters table , ( paying his twenty pounds a year as the others do ) and that he shall read prayers once a day at least , a little before supper-time ; that he shall preach in the chappel every sunday morning , and catechize in the after-noon the scholars and the school-boys ; that he shall every moneth administer the holy sacrament ; that he shall not trouble himself and his auditors with the controversies of divinity , but only teach god in his just commandments , and in his wonderful works . the schòol . that the school may be built so as to contain about two hundred boys . that it be divided into four classes , not as others are ordinarily into six or seven , because we suppose that the children sent hither to be initiated in things as well as words , ought to have past the two or three first , and to have attained the age of about thirteen years , being already well advanced in the latine grammar , and some authors . that none , though never so rich , shall pay any thing for their teaching ; and that if any professor shall be convicted to have taken any money in consideration of his pains in the school , he shall be expelled with ignominie by the governours ; but if any persons of great estate and quality , finding their sons much better proficients in learning here , then boys of the same age commonly are at other schools , shall not think fit to receive an obligation of so near concernment without returning some marks of acknowledgement , they may , if they please ( for nothing is to be demanded ) bestow some little rarity or curiosity upon the society in recompence of their trouble . and because it is deplorable to consider the loss which children make of their time at most schools , employing , or rather casting away six or seven years in the learning of words only , and that too very imperfectly : that a method be here established for the infusing knowledge and language at the same time into them ; and that this may be their apprenticeship in natural philosophy . this we conceive may be done , by breeding them up in authors , or pieces of authors , who treat of some parts of nature , and who may be understood with as much ease and pleasure , as those which are commonly taught ; such are in latine varro , cato , columella , pliny , part of celsus , and of seneca , cicero de divinatione , de naturâ deorum , and several scattered pieces , virgil's georgicks , grotius , nenesianus , manilius ; and because the truth is we want good poets ( i mean we have but few ) who have purposely treated of solid and learned , that is , natural matters ( the most part indulging to the weakness of the world , and feeding it either with the follies of love , or with the fables of gods and heroes ) we conceive that one book ought to be compiled of all the scattered little parcels among the ancient poets that might serve for the advancement of natural science , and which would make no small or unuseful or unpleasant volumn . to this we would have added the morals and rhetoricks of cicero , and the institutions of quintilian ; and for the comoedians , from whom almost all that necessary part of common discourse , and all the most intimate proprieties of the language are drawn , we conceive the boys may be made masters of them , as a part of their recreation and not of their task , if once a moneth , or at least once in two , they act one of terences comoedies , and afterwards ( the most advanced ) some of plautus his ; and this is for many reasons one of the best exercises they can be enjoyned , and most innocent pleasures they can be allowed . as for the greek authors , they may study nicander , oppianus ( whom scaliger does not doubt to prefer above homer himself , and place next to his adored virgil ) aristotles history of animals , and other parts , theophrastus and dioscorides of plants , and a collection made out of several both poets and other grecian writers . for the morals and rhetorick aristotle may suffice , or hermogenes and longinus be added for the latter ; with the history of animals they should be shewed anatomy as a divertisement , and made to know the figures and natures of those creatures which are not common among us , disabusing them at the same time of those errours which are universally admitted concerning many . the same method should be used to make them acquainted with all plants ; and to this must be added a little of the ancient and modern geography , the understanding of the globes , and the principles of geometry and astronomy . they should likewise use to declaim in latine and english , as the romans did in greek and latine ; and in all this travel be rather led on by familiarity , encouragement , and emulation , then driven by severity , punishment , and terrour . upon festivals and play-times they should exercise themselves in the fields by riding , leaping , fencing , mustering and training after the manner of souldiers , &c. and to prevent all dangers and all disorder , there should always be two of the scholars with them to be as witnesses and directors of their actions ; in foul weather it would not be amiss for them to learn to dance , that is , to learn just so much ( for all beyond is superfluous , if not worse ) as may give them a graceful comportment of their bodies . upon sundays , and all days of devotion , they are to be a part of the chaplains province . that for all these ends the colledge so order it , as that there may be some convenient & pleasant houses thereabouts , kept by religious , discreet , and careful persons , for the lodging and boarding of young scholars , that they have a constant eye over them to see that they be bred up there piously , cleanly , and plentifully , according to the proportion of their parents expences . and that the colledge , when it shall please god either by their own industry and success , or by the benevolence of patrons ; to enrich them so far , as that it may come to their turn and duty to be charitable to others , shall at their own charges erect and maintain some house or houses for the entertainment of such poor mens sons whose good natural parts may promise either use or ornament to the common-wealth , during the time of their abode at school , and shall take care that it shall be done with the same conveniences as are enjoyed even by rich mens children ( though they maintain the fewer for that cause ) there being nothing of eminent and illustrious to be expected from a low , sordid , and hospital-like education . conclusion . if i be not much abused by a natural fondness to my own conceptions ( that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the greeks , which no other language has a proper word for ) there was never any project thought upon , which deserves to meet with so few adversaries as this ; for who can without impudent folly oppose the establishment of twenty well selected persons in such a condition of life , that their whole business and sole profession may be to study the improvement and advantage of all other professions , from that of the highest general even to the lowest artisan ? who shall be obliged to imploy their whole time , wit , learning , and industry , to these four , the most useful that can be imagined , and to no other ends ; first , to weigh , examine , and prove all things of nature delivered to us by former ages , to detect , explode , and strike a censure through all false monies with which the world has been paid and cheated so long , and ( as i may say ) to set the mark of the colledge upon all true coins that they may pass hereafter without any farther tryal . secondly , to recover the lost inventions , and , as it were , drown'd lands of the ancients . thirdly , to improve all arts which we now have ; and lastly , to discover others which we yet have not . and who shall besides all this ( as a benefit by the by ) give the best education in the world ( purely gratis ) to as many mens children as shall think fit to make use of the obligation . neither does it at all check or enterfere with any parties in state or religion , but is indifferently to be embraced by all differences in opinion , and can hardly be conceived capable ( as many good institutions have done ) even of degeneration into any thing harmful . so that , all things considered , i will suppose this proposition shall encounter with no enemies , the only question is , whether it will find friends enough to carry it on from discourse and design to reality and effect ; the necessary expences of the beginning ( for it will maintain it self well enough afterwards ) being so great ( though i have set them as low as is possible in order to so vast a work ) that it may seem hopeless to raise such a sum out of those few dead reliques of humane charity and publick generosity which are yet remaining in the world. finis . the petty-schoole shewing a way to teach little children to read english with delight and profit, (especially) according to the new primar. by c. h. hoole, charles, 1610-1667. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44391 of text r216415 in the english short title catalog (wing h2688a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 50 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 23 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44391 wing h2688a estc r216415 99828146 99828146 32573 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44391) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32573) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1926:15) the petty-schoole shewing a way to teach little children to read english with delight and profit, (especially) according to the new primar. by c. h. hoole, charles, 1610-1667. [2], 41, [3] p. printed by j.t. for andrew crook, at the green dragon in pauls church yard, london : 1659. c.h. = charles hoole; attribution from wing. last leaf blank. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. eng reading (primary) -england -early works to 1800. english language -orthography and spelling -early works to 1800. education, primary -england -early works to 1800. education -early works to 1800. a44391 r216415 (wing h2688a). civilwar no the petty-schoole. shewing a way to teach little children to read english with delight and profit, (especially) according to the new primar. hoole, charles 1659 9472 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2006-05 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the petty schoole . shewing a way to teach little children to read english with delight and profit , ( especially ) according to the new primar . by c. h. london , printed by j. t. for andrew crook , at the green dragon in pauls church yard , 1659. the petty schoole . chap. i. how a childe may be helped in the first pronounciation of his letters . my aim being to discover the old art of teaching schoole , and how it may be improved in every part suteable to the years and capacities of such children as are now commonly taught ; i shall first begin my discourse concerning a petty-schoole , & here or else where i shall not busie my self or reader about what a childe of an extraordinary towardliness , and having a teacher at home , may attain unto , and in how short a space , but onely shew how a multitude of various wits may be taught all together with abundance of profit and delight to every one , wch is the proper and main work of our ordinary schooles . whereas then , it is usual in cities and greater towns to put children to schoole about four or five years of age , and in country villages , because of further distance , not till about six or seven ; i conceive , the sooner a child is put to school , the better it is , both to prevent ill habits , which are got by play and idleness , and to enure him betimes to affect learning and well doing . not to say , how the great uncertainty of parents lives , should make them careful of their childrens early education , which is like to be the best part of their patrimony , what ever good thing else they may leave them in this world . i observe that betwixt three and four years of age a childe hath great propensity to peep into a book , and then is the most seasonable time ( if conveniences may be had otherwise ) for him to begin to learn ; and though perhaps then he cannot speak so very distinctly , yet the often pronounciation of his letters , will be a means to help his speech , especially if one take notice in what organ or instrument he is most defective , and exercise him chiefly in those letters which belong unto it . now there are five organs or instruments of speech , in the right hitting of which , as the breath moveth from within , through the mouth , a true pronunciation of every letter is made , viz. the lips , the teeth , the tongue , the roof of the mouth , and the throat ; according to which if one rank the twenty four letters of our english alphabet , he shall find that a , e , i , o , v , proceed by degrees from the throat , along betwixt the tongue and the roof of the mouth to the lips contracted , and that y is somewhat like i , being pronounced with other letters , but if it be named by it self , it requireth some motion of the lips . b , f , m , p , w , and v consonant , belong to the lips . c , s , x , z , to the teeth . d , l , n , t , r , to the tongue . b , h , k , q , to the roof of the mouth . but the sweet and natural pronunciation of them is gotten rather by imitation then precept , and therefore the teacher must be careful to give every letter its distinct and clear sound , that the childe may get it from his voice , and be sure to make the child open his mouth well as he uttereth a letter , lest otherwise he drown or hinder the sound of it . for i have heard some foreiners to blame us english-men for neglecting this mean to a plain and audible speaking , saying , that the cause , why we generally do not speak so fully as they , proceeded from an ill habit of mumbling , which children got at their first learning to read ; which it was their care ; therfore to prevent or remedy betimes , and so it should be ours , seeing pronounciation is that that sets out a man , and is sufficient of it self to make one an oratour . chap. ii. how a childe may be taught with delight to know all his letters in a very little time . the usual way to begin with a child , when he is first brought to schoole , is to teach him to know his letters in the horn-book , where he is made to run over all the letters in the alphabet or christ-cross-row both forwards & backwards , until he can tel any one of them , which is pointed at , and that in the english character . this course we see hath been very effectual in a short time , with some more ripe witted children , but othres of a slower apprehension ( as the most and best commonly are ) have been thus learning a whole year together , ( and though they have been much chid and beaten too for want of heed ) could scarce tell six of their letters at twelve moneths end , who , if they had been taught in a way more agreeable to their meane apprehensions ( wch might have wrought more readily upon the senses , and affected their mindes with what they did ) would doubtlesse have learned as cheerfully , if not as fast as the quickest . i shall therefore mention sundry ways that have been taken to make a childe know his letters readily , out of which the discreet teacher may chuse what is most likely to suit with his learner . i have known some that ( according to mr. brinsl●y's direction ) have taught little ones to pronounce all the letters , and to spell pretty well , before they knew one letter in a book ; and this they did , by making the childe to sound the five vowels a , e , i , o , u , like so many bells upon his fingers ends , and to say which finger was such or such a vowel , by changes . 2 then putting single consonants before the vowels , [ leaving the hardest of them till the last ] and teaching him how to utter them both at once , as va , ve , vi , vo , vu , da , de , di , do , du . 3. and again , by putting the vowels before a consonant to make him say , as , es , is , os , us , ad , ed , id , od , ud . thus ; they have proceeded from syllables of two or three , or more letters , till a child hath been pretty nimble in the most . but this is rather to be done in a private house , then a publick schoole ; how ever this manner of exercise now and then amongst little scholars will make their lessons more familiar to them . the greatest trouble at the first entrance of children is to teach them how to know their letters one from another , when they see them in the book altogether ; for the greatnesse of their number and variety of shape do puzle young wits to difference them , and the sence can but be intent upon one single object at once , so as to take its impression , and commit it to the imagination and memory . some have therefore begun but with one single letter , and after they have shewed it to the childe in the alphabet , have made him to finde the same anywhere else in the book , till he knew that perfectly ; and then they have proceeded to another in like manner , and so gone through the rest . some have contrived a piece of ivory with twenty four flats or squares , in every one of which was engraven a several letter , and by playing with a childe in throwing this upon a table , and shewing him the letter onely which lay uppermost , have in few dayes taught him the whole alphabet . some have got twenty four pieces of ivory cut in the shape of dice , with a letter engraven upon each of them , and with these they have played at vacant hours with a childe , till he hath known them all distinctly . they begin first with one , then with two , afterwards with more letters at once , as the childe got knowledge of them . to teach him likewise to spell , they would place consonants before or after a vowel , and then joyn more letters together so as to make a word , and sometimes divide it into syllables , to be parted or put together ; now this kind of letter sport may be profitably permitted among you beginers in a school & in stead of ivory , they may have white bits of wood , or small shreads of paper or past-board , or parchment with a letter writ upon each to play withall amongst themselves . some have made pictures in a little book or upon a scroll of paper wrapt upon two sticks within a box of iceing-glass , and by each picture have made three sorts of that letter , with which its name beginneth ; but those being too many at once for a childe to take notice on , have proved not so useful as was intended . some likewise have had pictures and letters printed in this manner on the back side of a pack of cards , to entice children , that naturally love that sport , to the love of learning their books . some have writ a letter in a great character upon a card , or chalked it out upon a trencher , and by telling a child what it was , and letting him strive to make the like , have imprinted it quickly in his memory , and so the rest one after another . one having a son of two years and a half old , that could but even go about the house , and utter some few gibberish words in a broken manner ; observing him one day above the rest to be busied about shells , and sticks , and such like toys , which himself had laid together in a chair , and to misse any one that was taken from him , he saw not how , and to seek for it about the house ; became very desireous to make experiment what that childe might presently attain to in point of learning ; thereupon he devised a little wheel , with all the capital romane letters made upon a paper to wrap round about it , and fitted it to turn in little a round box , which had a hole so made in the side of it , that onely one letter might be seen to peep out at once ; this he brought to the childe , & showed him onely the letter o , and told him what it was ; the childe being overjoyed with his new gamball , catcheth the box out of his fathers hand , and run's with it to his playfellow a year younger then himself , and in his broken language tell's him there was an o , an o ; and when the other asked him where , he said , in a hole , in a hole , and shewed it him ; which the lesser childe then took such notice of , as to know it againe ever after from all the other letters . and thus by playing with the box , and enquiring concerning any letter that appeared strange to him , what it was , the childe learnt all the letters of the alphabet in eleven dayes , being in this character a b ▪ c , and would take pleasure to shew them in any book to any of his acquaintance that came next . by this instance you may see what a propensity there is in nature betimes to learning , could but the teachers apply themselves to their young scholars tenuity ; and how by proceeding in a cleare & facil method , that all may apprehend , every one may benefit more or less by degrees . according to these contrivances to forward children , i have published a new prim●r ; in the first leafe , whereof i have set the roman capitalls ( because that character is now most in use , & those letters the most easie to be learn't ) and have joyned therewith the pictures or images of some things whose names begins with that letter , by which a childs memory may be helped to remember how to call his letters ; as a , for an ape , b. for a bear , &c. this hieroglyphicall devise doth so affect children ( who are generally forward to communicate what they know ) that i have observed them to teach others , that could not so readily learn , to know all the letters in a few houres space , by asking them , what stands a. for ? and so concerning other letters backwards and forwards , or as they best liked . thus when a childe hath got the names of his letters , & their several shapes withall in a playing manner , he may be easily taught to distinguish them in the following leaf , which containeth first the greater , and then the smaller roman characters , to be learned by five at once or more , as the childe is able to remember them ; other characters i would have forborn , till one be well acquainted with these , because so much variety at the first doth but amaze young wits , and our english characters , ( for the most part ) are very obscure , & more hard to be imprinted in the memory . and thus much for the learning to know letters ; we shall next ( and according to order in teaching ) proceed to an easie way of distinct spelling . chap iii. how to teach a childe to spell distinctly . the common way of teaching a childe to spell , is , after he know's the letters in his alphabet , to initiate him in those few syllables , which consist of one vowell before a consonant , as , ab , eb , ib , ob ub , &c. or of one vowel after a consonant , as , ba , be , bi , bo , bu , &c. in the horn-book , & thence to proceed with him by little and little to the bottom of the book , hereing him twice or thrice over till he can say his lesson , and then putting him to a new one . in which course i have known some more apt children to have profited prety well , but scarce one often , when they have gone thorow the book , to be able to spell a word that is not in it ; and some have been certaine years daily exercised in saying lessons therein , who after much endeavour spent , have been accounted meer block-heads , and rejected alltogether as uncapable to learn any thing ; whereas some teachers that have assayed a more familiar way , have professed , that they have not met with any such thing as a dunse amid a great multitude of little schollars . indeed it is tullies observation of old , and erasmus his assertion of latter years , that it is as natural for a childe to learn , as it is for a beast to go , a bird to fly , or a fish to swim , and i verily beleeve it , for the nature of man is restlessely desirous to know things , and were discouragements taken out of the way , and meet helps afforded young learners , they would doubtless go on with a great deal more cherefulness , and make more proficiency at their books then usually they do ; and could the master have the discretion to make their lessions familiar to them , children would as much delight in being busied about them , as in any other sport , if too long continuance at them might not make them tedious . amongst those that have gone a readier way to reading , i shall onely mention mr. roe , and mr. robinson , the latter of whom i have known to have taught little children not much above four years old to read distinctly in the bible , in six weekes time , or under ; their books are to be had in print , but every one hath not the art to use them . and mr. cootes english-school-master seem's rather to be fitted for one that is a master indeed , then for a scholar . besides the way then which is usuall , you may ( if you think good ) make use of that which i have set down in the new primar to help little ones to spell readily , and it is this . 1. let a childe be well acquainted with his vowells , and made to pronounce them fully by themselves , because they are able to make a perfect sound alone . 2. teach him to give the true valour or force of the consonants , and to take notice how imperfectly they sound , except a vowel be joyned with them . both these are set apart by themselves . ( p. 2. ) 3. proceed to syllables made of one consonant set before a vowel ( sect , 5. ) and let him joyne the true force of the consonant with the perfect sound of the vowel , as to say , ba , be , bi , bo , bu , &c. yet it were good to leave ca , ce , ci , co , cu , and ga , ge , gi , go , gu , to the last , because the valor of the consonant in the second and third sylables doth differ from that in the rest . 4. then exercise him in syllables made of one vowel set before one consonant , ( sect. 6. ) as to say , ab , eb , ib , ob , ub , &c. till he can spell any syllable of two letters , backwards or forwards , as , ba , be ; bi , bo , bu ; ab , eb , ib , ob , ub ; ba , ab ; be , eb ; bi , ib ; bo , ob ; bu , ub ; and so in all the rest comparing one with another . 5. and if to any one of these syllables you adde a letter , and teach him how to joyne it in sound with the rest , you will make him more ready in spelling ; as , if before a b you put b , and teach him to say bab ; if after ba , you put d , and let him pronounce it bad , he will quickly be able to joyne a letter with any of the rest , as , nip , pin , but , tub , &c. to enure your young-scholar to any , even the hardest syllable , in an easie way . 1. practise him in the joyning of consonants that begin syllables , ( sect. 7. ) so as that he may give their joynt forces at once ; thus , having shewed him to sound bl or br together , make him to pronounce them , and a vowel with them , bla , bra , ble , bre , and so in any of the rest . 2. then practise him likewise in consonants that end syllables , ( sect. 8. ) make him first to give the force of the joyned consonants , and then to put the vowels before them ; as , ble with the vowels before them sound able , eble , ible , oble , uble , to all which you may prefix other consonants and change them into words of one syllable , as , fable , peble , bible , noble , bubble : ( with a b inserted or the like . where observe that e in the end of many words , being silent , doth qualifie the sound of the foregoing vowel , so as to make words different from those that have not e ; as , you may see made , differeth quite from mad , bete from bet , pipe from pip , sope from sop , and cube from cub . whereby i think them in an error , that leave out e in the end of words , and them that in pronouncing it make two syllables of one , in stable , bible , people , &c. which judicious mr. mulcaster will not allow . in this exercise of spelling you may do well sometimes to make all the young beginners stand together , and pose them one by one in all sorts of syllables , till they be perfect in any ; and , to make them delight herein , 1. let them spell many syllables together which differ onely in one letter ; as , and , band , hand , land , sand . 2. teach them to frame any word of one syllable , by joyning any of the consonants which go before vowels , with those that use to follow vowels , and putting in vowels betwixt them ; as , black , block ; clack , clock . and this they may do afterwards amongst themselves , having severall loose letters made and given them , to compose or divide in a sporting manner , which i may rightly terme the letter-sport . when a childe is become expert in joyning consonants with the vowels , then take him to the diphthongs ( sect. 9. ) and there , 1. teach him the naturall force of a diphthong ( which consists of two vowels joyned together ) and make him to sound it distinctly by it self ; as , ai , ei , &c. 2. let him see how it is joyned with other letters , and learne to give its pronountiation together with them , minding him how the same diphthong differs from its self sometimes in its sound , and which of the two vowels in it hath the greatest power in pronouncation , as , in people e seemeth to drown the o. and besides those words in the book , you may adde others of your own , till by many examples the childe do well apprehend your meaning , and so , as that he can boldly adventure to imitate you , and practise of himself . thus after a childe is throughly exercised in the true sounding of the vowels and consonants together , let him proceed to the spelling of words , first of one syllable ( sect. 10. ) then of two ( sect. 11. ) then of three ( sect. 12. ) then of four ( sect. 13. ) in all which let him be taught how to utter every syllable by it self truly and fully , and be sure to speak out the last . but in words of more syllables , let him learn to joyne and part them according to these profitable rules . 1. an english syllable may sometimes consist of eight letters , but never of more , as , strength . 2 in words that have many syllables , the consonant between two vowels belongeth to the latter of them ; as , hu-mi-li-tie . 3. consonants which are joyned in the beginning of words , are not to be parted in the middle of them ; as , my-ste-ry . 4. consonants which are not joyned in the beginning of words , are to be parted in the middle of them ; as , for-get-ful-ness . 5. if a consonant be doubled in the middle of a word , the first belong's to the syllable foregoing , and the latter to the following ; as , pos-ses-si-on . 6. in compound words , every part which belongeth to the single words , must be set by it self ; as , in-a-bi-li-ty . and these rules have i here set down rather to informe the less skilful teacher , how he is to guide his learner , then to puzle a childe about them , who is not yet so well able to comprehend them . i have also divided those words in the book , to let children see how they ought to divide other polysyllable words , in which they must alwayes be very carefull ( as i said ) to sound out the last syllable very fully . to enable a child the better to pronounce any word he meets withall in reading , i have set down some more hard for pronuntiation ; ( sect. 14 ▪ ) in often reading over which he may be exercised to help his utterance ; and the master may adde more at his own discretion , till he see that his willing scholar doth not stick in spelling any , be it never so hard . and that the child may not be amused with any thing in his book , when he cometh to read , i would have him made acquainted with the pauses , ( sect. 15. ) with the figures , ( sect. 16. ) numerall letters , ( sect. 17. ) quotations ( sect. 18. ) and abbreviations sect. 19 ) which being but a work of few houres space , may easily be performed after he can readily spell , which when he can do , he may profitably be put to reading , but not before ; for i observed it a great defect in some of mr. r. scholars , ( whose way was to teach to read presently without any spelling at all ) that when they were at a losse about a word , they made an imperfect confused sound , in giving the force of the consonants , which if they once missed they knew not which way to help themselves , to find what the word was , whereas if after a childe know his letters , he be taught to gather them into just syllables , and by the joyning of syllables together to frame a word , ( which as it is the most antient , so certainely it is the most naturall method of teaching ) he will soon be able , if he stick at any word in reading , by the naming of its letters , and pronouncing of its syllables to say what it is , and then he may boldly venture to read without spelling at all , touching the gaining of a habit whereof , i shall proceed to say somewhat in the next chapter . chap. iiii. how a child may be taught to read any english book perfectly . the ordinary way to teach children to read is , after they have got some knowledge of their letters , & a smattering of some syllables and words in the horn-book , to turn them into the abc . or primar , and therein to make them name the letters , and spell the words , till by often use they can pronounce ( at least ) the shortest words at the first sight . this method take's with those of prompter wits , but many of more slow capacities , not finding any thing to affect them , and so make them heed what they learne , go on remissely from lesson to lesson , and are not much more able to read , when they have ended their book , then when they begun it . besides , the abc . being now ( i may say ) generally thrown aside , and the ordinary primar not printed , and the very fundamentalls of christian religion ( which were wont to be contained in those books , and were commonly taught children at home by heart before they went to schoole ) with sundry people ( almost in all places ) slighted , the matter which is taught in most books now in use , is not so familiar to them , and therefore not so easie for children to learn . but to hold still to the sure foundation , i have caused the lords prayer ( sect. 20. ) the creed ( sect. 21. ) and the ten commandements ( sect. 23. ) to be printed in the roman character , that a childe having learned already to know his letters and how to spell , may also be initiated to read by them , which he will do the more cheerfully , if he be also instructed at home to say them by heart . as he read's these , i would have a childe name what words he can at the first sight , and what he cannot , to spell them , and to take notice what pauses and numbers are in his lesson . and to go them often over , till he can tell any tittle in them , either in or without the book . when he is thus well entered in the roman character , i would have him made acquainted with the rest of the characters now in use ( sect. 23. ) which will be easily done , by comparing one with another , and reading over those sentences , psalms , thankesgivings , and prayers ( which are printed in greater and lesse characters of sundry sorts ) till he have them pretty well by heart . thus having all things which concerne reading english made familar to him , he may attaine to a perfect habit of it . 1. by reading the single psalter . 2. the psalmes in meeter . 3. the schoole of good manners , or such like easie books , which may both profit and delight him . all which i would wish he may read over at lest thrice , to make the matter , as well as the words , leave an impression upon his mind . if anywhere he stick at any word ( as seeming too hard ) let him marke it with a pin , or the dint of his nayle , and by looking upon it againe , he will remember it . when he can read any whit readily , let him begin the bible , and read over the book of genesis , ( and other remarkable histories in other places of scripture , which are most likely to delight him ) by a chapter at a time ; but acquaint him a little with the matter beforehand , for that will intice him to read it , and make him more observant of what he read's . after he hath read , aske him such generall questions out of the story , as are most easie for him to answer , and he will the better remember it . i have known some , that by hiring a child to read two or three chapters a day , and to get so many verses of it by heart , have made them admirable proficients , and that betimes , in the scriptures ; which was timothies excellency , and his grand-mothers great commendation . let him now take liberty to exercise himself in any english book ( so the matter of it be but honest ) till he can perfectly read in any place of a book that is offered him ; and when he can do this , i adjudge him fit to enter into a grammar schoole , but not before . for thus learning to read english perfectly , i allow two or three years time , so that at seven or eight years of age , a child may begin latine . chap. v. wherein children , for whom the latine tongue is thought to be unnecessary , are to be employed after they can read english well . it is a fond conceit of many , that have either not attained , or by their own negligence have utterly lost the use of the latine tongue , to think it altogether unnecessary for such children to learn it , as are intended for trades , or to be kept as drudges at home , or employed about husbandry . for first there are few children , but ( in their playing-years , and before they can be capable of any serious employment in the meanest calling that is ) may be so far grounded in the latine , as to finde that little smattering they have of it , to be of singular use to them , both for the understanding of the english authors ( which abound now a dayes with borrowed words ) and the holding discourse with a sort of men that delight to flant it in latine . secondly , besides i have heard it spoken to the great commendation of some countries , where care is had for the well education of children , that every peasant ( almost ) is able to discourse with a stranger in the latine tongue ; and why may not we here in england obtain the like praise , if we did but as they , continue our children at the latine schoole , till they be well acquainted with that language , and thereby better fitted for any calling . thirdly , and i am sorry to adde , that the non-improvement of childrens time after they can read english any whit well , throweth open a gap to all loose kinde of behaviour ; for being then ( as it is too commonly to be seen , especially with the poorer sort ) taken from the schoole , and permitted to run wildeing up and down without any control , they adventure to commit all manner of lewdnesse , and so become a shame and dishonour to their friends and countrey . if these or the like reasons therefore might prevail to perswade them that have a prejudice against latine , i would advise that all children might be put to the grammar-schoole , so soon as they can read english well ; and suffered to continue at it , till some honest calling invite them thence ; but if not , i would wish them rather to forbear it , then to become there an hinderance to others , whose work it is to learn that profitable language . and that they may not squander away their time in idleness , it were good if they were put to a writing-schoole , where they might be , first helped to keep their english , by reading of a chapter ( at least ) once a day ; and second . taught to write a fair hand ; and thirdly afterwards exercised in arithmatique , and such preparative arts , as may make them compleatly fit to undergoe any ordinary calling . and being thus trained up in a way of discipline , they will afterwards prove more easily plyable to their masters commands . now , forasmuch as few grammar-schooles of note will admit children into them , till they have learn't their accidents ; the teaching of that book , also becometh for the most part a work for a petty-schoole , where many that undertake to teach it , being altogether ignorant of the latine tongue , do sorrily performe that taske , and spend a great deal of time about it to little or no purpose . i would have that book , therefore by such let alone , and left to the grammar-school , as most fitting to be taught there onely , because it is intended as an introduction of grammar , to guide children in a way of reading , writing , and speaking latine , and the teachers of the grammar-art are most deeply concerned to make use of it for that end . and in stead of the accidents , which they do neither understand nor profit by , they may be benefitted in reading orthodoxal catechismes and other books , that may instruct them in the duties of a christian , such as are the practise of piety , the practise of quietnesse , the whole duty of man ; and afterwards in other delightful books of english history ; as , the history of queen elizabeth ; or poetry , as herberts poems , quarl's emblems ; and by this means they will gain such a habit and delight in reading , as to make it their chief recreation , when liberty is afforded them . and their acquaintance with good books will ( by gods blessing ) be a means so to sweeten their ( otherwise sowr ) natures , that they may live comfortably towards themselves , and amiably converse with other persons . yet if the teacher of a petty-schoole have a pretty understanding of the latine tongue , he may the better adventure to teach the accidents , and proceed in so doing with far more ease and profit to himself and learner , if he observe a sure method of grounding his children in the rudiments of grammar , and preparing them to speak and write familiar latine , which i shall hereafter discover , having first set down somewhat how to remedy that defect in reading english , with which the grammar-schooles are very much troubled , especially , where there is not a good petty-schoole to discharge that work afore-hand . and before i proceed further , i will expresse my minde in the two next chapters touching the erecting of a petty-schoole , and how it may probably flourish by good order and discipline . chap. vi . of the founding of a petty-schoole . the petty-schoole is the place where indeed the first principles of all religion and learning ought to be taught , and therefore rather deserveth that more encouragement should be given to the teachers of it , then that it should be left as a work for poor women , or others , whose necessities compel them to undertake it , as a meer shelter from beggery . out of this consideration it is ( perhaps ) that some nobler spirits , whom god hath enriched with an over-plus of outward means , have in some places whereunto they have been by birth ( or otherwise ) related , erected petty-schoole-houses , and endowed them with yearly salaries ; but those are so inconsiderate towards the maintenance of a master and his familie , or so over-cloyed with a number of free-scholars , to be taught for nothing , that few men of parts will daigne to accept of them , or continue at them for any while ; and for this cause i have observed such weak foundations to fall to nothing . yet if any one be desireous to contribute towards such an eminent work of charity , my advice is , that he erect a schoole and dwelling house together , about the middle of a market-town , or some populous country-village , and acomodate it with a safe yard adjoyning to it , if not with an orchard or garden , and that he endow it with a salery of ( at least ) twenty pounds per annum , in consideration whereof all such poor boyes as can conveniently frequent it , may be taught gratis , but the more able sort of neighbours may pay for childrens teaching , as if the schoole was not free ; for they will find it no small advantage to have such a schoole amongst them . such a yearly stipend and convenient dwelling , with a liberty to take young children to board , and to make what advantage he can best by other scholars , will invite a man of good parts to undertake the charge , and excite him to the diligent and constant performance of his duty ; especially , if he be chosen into the place by three or four honest and discreet trustees , that may have power also to remove him thence , if by his uncivil behaviour , or grose neglect he render himself uncapable to perform so necessary a service to the church and common-wealth . as for the qualifications of one that is to be the teacher of a petty-schoole , i would have him to be a person of a pious , sober , comely and discreet behaviour , and tenderly affectionate towards children , haveing some knowledge of the latine tongue , and abilitie to write a fair hand , and good skil in arithmetick , and then let him move within the compasse of his own orb , so as to teach all his scholars ( as they become capable ) to read english very well , and afterwards to write and cast accounts . and let him not meddle at all with teaching the accidents , except onely to some more pregnant wits , which are intended to be set forwards to learn latine , and for such be sure that he ground them well , or else dismisse them as soon as they can read distinctly , and write legibly , to the grammar school . i should here have closed my discourse ; and shut up this petty-schoole , were it not that i received a model for the maintaining of students from a worthy friends hands ( & one that is most zealously and charitably addicted to advance learning , and to help it in its very beginnings to come forwards to its full rise ) by which i am encouraged to addresse my remaining words to the godly-minded trustees and subscribers for so good a work , ( especially to those amongst them that know me , and my school-endeavours ) and this i humbly request of them , that as they have happily contrived a model for the education of students , and brought it on a suddain to a great degree of perfection , so they would also put to their hands for the improvement of schoole-learning , without which such choise abilities as they aim at in order to the ministry cannot possibly be obtained . and for the first foundation of such a work , i presume to offer my advise , that in some convenient places , within and about the city , there may be petty-schooles erected , according to the number of wards , unto which certain poor children out of every parish may be sent , and taught gratis , and all others that please to send their children thither may have them taught at a reasonable rate , and be sure to have them improved to the utmost of what they are capable . and i am the rather induced to propound such a thing , because that late eminent , dr. bathurst lately deceased , mr. gouge and some others yet living did out of their own good affection to learning , endeavour at their own charge to promote the like . chap. vii . of the discipline of a petty-schoole . the sweet and orderly behaviour of children addeth more credit to a schoole then due and constant teaching , because this speaketh to every one that the childe is well taught , though ( perhaps ) he learn but little ; and good manners indeed are a main part of good education . i shall here therefore take occasion to speak somewhat concerning the discipline of a petty-schoole , leaving the further discourse of childrens manners to books that treat purposely of that subject : as , erasmus de moribus , youths behaviour , &c. 1. let every scholar repair to schoole before eight a clock in a morning , or in case of weaknesse before nine ; and let him come fairly washed , neatly combed , and hansomly clad , and by commending his cleannesse , and shewing it to his fellowes , make him to take pleasure betimes of himself to go neat and comely in his clothes . 2. let such as come before schoole-time take liberty to recreate themselves about the schoole , yet so as not to be suffered to do any thing , whereby to harm themselves , or schoole-fellowes , or to give offence , or make disturbance to any neighbour . 3. when schoole-time calleth , let them all go orderly to their own places , and there apply themselves diligently to their books , without noyse , or running about . 4. when the master cometh into the schoole , let them all stand up , and make obeysance so likewise when any stranger cometh in ) and after notice taken who are absent ; let one that is most able read a chapter , and the rest attend , and give some littlt account of what they heard read ; then let him that read , say a short prayer fitted for the schoole , and afterwards let every one settle to his present taske . 5. the whole schoole may not unfitly be divided into four formes ; whereof the first and lowest should be of those that learn to know their letters , whose lessons may be in the primar . the second of those that learn to spell , whose lessons may be in the single-psalter . the third of these that learn to read , whose lessons may be in the bible . the fourth of those that are exercised in reading , writeing , and casting accounts , whose lessons may be in such profitable engglish-books as the parents can best provide , and the master think fittest to be taught . 6. let their lessons be the same to each boy in every form , and let the master proportion them to the meanest capacities , thus those that are abler may profit themselves by helping their weaker fellowes , and those that are weaker be encouraged to see that they can keep company with the stronger . and let the two highest in every forme give notice to the master when they come to say , of those that were most negligent in geting the lesson . 7. when they come to say , let them all stand orderly in one or 2 rowes , & whilst one sayeth his lesson , be sure that all the rest look upon their books , and give liberty to him that 's next to correct him that is saying if he mistake , and in case he can say better , let him take his place , and keep it till the same boy or another win it from him . the striveing for places ( especially ) amongst little ones , will whet them all on to more diligence , then any encouragement that can be given them ; and the master should be very sparing to whip any one for his book , except he be sullenly negligent , and then also i would chuse rather to shame him out of his untowardnesse by commending some of his fellowes , and asking him why he cannot do as well as they , then by falling upon him with rating words , or injurious blowes . a great care also must be had that those children that are slow witted and of a tender spirit , be not any way discouraged , though they cannot make so good performance of their task as the rest of their fellowes . 8 on mundayes , wednesdayes and fridayes they may say two lessons in a forenoon and two in an afternoon ; and on tuesdayes and thursdayes in the forenoons they may also say two lessons ; but on tuesdayes and thursdayes in the afternoons , and on saturday mornings i would have the time spent in examineing , and directing how to spell and read a right , and hearing them say the graces , prayers , and psalms , and especially the lords prayer , the creed , and the ten commandements ( which are for that purpose set down in the new-primar ) very perfectly by heart . and those that can these well may proceed to get other catechisms , but be sure they be such as agree with the principles of christian religion . 9. their lessons being all said , they should be dismissed about eleven a clock , and then care must be taken that they go every one orderly out of the schoole , and passe quietly home without any stay by the way . and to prevent that too too common clamour , and crouding out of the schoole door , let them rise out of their places one by one with their hat , and book in their hand , and make their honours to their master as they passe before his face , one following another at a distance out of the schoole . it were fittest and safest that the least went out the foremost , that the bigger boyes following may give notice of any misdemeanour upon the way . 10 their return to schoole in the after-noon should be by one of the clock , and those that come before that hour , should be permitted to play within their bounds till the clock strike one , and then let them all take their places in due order , and say their lessons as they did in the fore-noon . after lessons ended , let one read a chapter , and say a prayer , and so let them again go orderly and quietly home , about five a clock in the summer , and four in the winter season . 11. if necessity require any one to go out in the school time , let him not interrupt the master by asking him leave , but let him leave his book with his next fellow above him , for fear he should else spoile it , or loose it , and in case he tarry too long forth , let notice be given to the monitor . 12. those children in the upper form may be monitors , every one a day in his turn , and let them every evening after all lessons said , give a bill to the master of their names that are absent and theirs that have committed any disorder ; and let him be very moderate in correcting , and be sure to make a difference betwixt those faults that are vitiously enormous , and those that are but childish transgressons ; where admonitions readily take place , it is a needlesse trouble to use a rod , and as for a ferula i wish it were utterly banished out of all schooles . if one , before i conclude , should ask me , how many children i think may be well and profitably taught ( according to the method already proposed ) in a petty-school ; i return him answer , that i conceive fourty boyes will be enough throughly to employ one man , to hear every one so often as is required , and so many he may hear and benefit of himself , without making use of any of his scholars to teach the rest , which however it may be permitted , and is practised in some schooles , yet it occasioneth too much noyse and disorder , and is no whit so acceptable to parents , or pleasing to the children , be the work never so well done . and therefore i advise , that in a place where a great concours of children may be had , there be more masters then one employed according to the spatiousnesse of the room , and the number of boyes to be taught ; so that every fourty scholars may have one to teach them ; and in case there be boyes enough to be taught , i would appoint one single master , to attend one single forme , and have as many masters as there are forms , and then the work of teaching little ones to the height of their best improvement may be throwly done , esecially if there were a writeing-master employed at certain houres in the schoole , and an experienced teacher encouraged as a supervisor , or inspector , to see that the whole schoole be well and orderly taught , and disciplined . what i have here writ concerning the teaching and ordering of a petty-schoole , was in many particulars experienced by my self with a few little boyes , that i taught amongst my grammar-scholars in london , and i know those of eminent worth , and great learning that upon tryal made upon their own children at home , and others at schoole are ready to attest the ease and benefit of this method . insomuch as i was resolved to have adjoyned a petty-schoole to my grammar-schoole at the token-house in lothbury london , and there to have proceeded in this familiar and pleasing way of teaching , had i not been unhansomly dealt with by those whom it concerned , for their own profit sake to have given me lesse discouragement . neverthelesse , i think it my duty to promote learning what i can , and to lay a sure foundation for such a goodly structure as learning is ; and though ( perhaps ) i may never be able to effect what i desire for its advancement , yet it will be my comfort , to have imparted somwhat to others that may help thereunto . i have here begun at the very ground work , intending ( by gods blessing ) forthwith to publish the new discovery of the old art of teaching , which doth properly belong to a grammar-schoole . in the mean time i intreat those into whose hands this little work may come , to look upon it with a single eye , and whether they like or dislike it , to think that it is not unnecessary for men of greatest parts to bestow a sheet or two at leasure time upon so mean a subject as this seem's to bee . and that god which causeth immense rivers to flow from small spring-heads , vouchsafe to blesse these weak beginings in tender age , that good learning may proceed hence to its full perfection in riper years . finis . an essay, concerning critical and curious learning in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton, and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl / by t.r. esq. rymer, thomas, 1641-1713. 1698 approx. 53 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 40 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a58018 wing r2425 estc r9362 11906456 ocm 11906456 50690 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a58018) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50690) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 821:24) an essay, concerning critical and curious learning in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton, and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl / by t.r. esq. rymer, thomas, 1641-1713. [2], 77 p. printed for r. cumberland ..., london : 1698. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. attributed to thomas rymer. cf. bm. last page signed: t.r. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng temple, william, -sir, 1628-1699. wotton, william, 1666-1727. bentley, richard, 1662-1742. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. education -early works to 1800. education -philosophy -early works to 1800. 2002-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an essay , concerning critical and curious learning : in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton ; and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl . by t. r. esq london , printed for r. cumberland at the angel in st. pauls church-yard . 1698. an essay , concerning critical and curious learning . sir , if i am at all capable of undertaking your commands , it is wholly owing to the advantage of that converse you have for some time honoured me with : but would you be prevailed upon , to lay aside your authority over me , i could assign the province to a much more skilfull hand ; i could wish you would rather have instructed me your-self upon those points you have offered to my consideration , than to exact the little i am able to say upon them . however , in order to begin that correspondence betwixt us , which your letter so kindly proposes , and which is so much for my own benefit ; i will here give my imperfect thoughts upon your first question , viz. whether critical and curious enquiries are really conducive to the advancement of solid and useful learning , or not ? together with my opinion in general of the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton , and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl . this i shall only do , so far as it will come within the compass and form of a letter ; for i am not at all inclined to engage in a set methodical discourse . tho' the negative side of this question may hold very well , if applyed to some superficial wits and pretended virtuosi in the world ; yet it can never be supported against those learned antients and moderns , that are justly distinguished by the name of criticks . for to them we owe what is truly curious and entertaining in philosophy ; and to them we must attribute all those admirable refinements in the liberal arts and sciences . for had not the censors of former times been able , by their great knowledge of nature and reason , to refute the many crude indigested hypotheses , which frequently were advanced in athens and rome ; what whimsical inventions had sophisters imposed upon the more unletter'd sort of people , and transmitted down to posterity , for rare systems and unusual heights in philosophy ? and had not the criticks of latter ages , when learning after a long and dark interval began to dawn and revive again in europe , been very industrious in publishing correct editions of antient books , and putting modern authors upon great care and exactness in their writings , that they might at last restore letters to the world , we had not at this day seen learning in so flourishing a condition , nor so many academies , and places of polite literature , where men are wholly set apart for the cultivation of knowledge . there are indeed some studies , wherein a scrutinous curiosity is altogether impertinent and ridiculous ; as when we would busie our thoughts about things that can neither reform our morals , nor enlighten our understandings , when we either sink them to mean and frivolous niceties , or raise them to secret unknowable disquisitions . and yet these two extreams have strangely engaged many great men. simonides ( we are told ) undertook to give a positive definition of the nature and essence of god : but he soon found his imperfect capacity could frame no adequate conceptions of him , no descriptions , but what were purely negative . aristotle , and many other philosophers , attempted the solution of several abstruse phoenomena in nature ; which we have cause to believe by their bad success , is beyond the scanty power of humane reason . and our modern philosophers and divines are every day raiseing new hypotheses , and seem resolved to unfold all the mysteries of religion . but after all their subtle reasonings and labour'd disputes , they will find no better effects of their studies than uncertainty and confusion . for tho' in justice to our selves we ought to entertain great and worthy idea's of the excellency of humane reason ; yet experience teaches us , that it is bounded and limitted in many respects , that it is short and imperfect in its deductions , even in those things that are more immediately within its compass . why then should some men be so fond of speculations , which the wiser part of mankind have concluded above their knowledge , and which they themselves must confess to be nothing better than learned amusements ? as to the other extream ; i am so far from admiring those great men , that have taken wonderful pains about little insignificant things , as in traceing the rise and progress of words ; and have written volumes concerning particular letters ; that i think they miserably lost their time ; and so will any one that reads their works upon these subjects : whatever can be said upon them is not worth knowing . the authors indeed may flatter themselves with the thoughts of some new discoveries or hidden secrets ; but the world will never grow wiser for such labours . we shall not understand the noble expressions and proprieties of homer , nor the style and genius of thucydides at all the better , for being nicely skill'd in the chronology of the greek tongue ; or for knowing how many letters cadmus first found out , and by what degrees the alphabet , as we now have it , was compleated . these are frivolous curiosities , fit only for pedants and school-masters to amuse their boys withall ; and are wholly forreign to the acquisition of solid and real knowledge . but there are however many kinds of learning , wherein curious and critical observations are very commendable , and are doubtless noble exercises of humane understanding . and of all such studies , methinks that of experimental philosophy is the most noble , beneficial , and satisfactory . for the mind is not there seduced with abstracted arguments and chymerical notions ; but is determined by demonstration and matter of fact. it is the great instrument by which such admirable effects in nature have been discovered , and from whence the constituent principles of all mixed bodies are best known , and those nice speculations of phylosophy so excellently grounded . but even this science , however desirable and entertaining in it self to an inquisitive genius , may be prosecuted to a great absurdity : as when men carry on their experiments to the land of the moon ; contrive aerial engines for our passage thither ; and teach the learned to fly as familiarly as others walk : when they are resolved to refine so far upon all former inventions , as to advance new impossibilities , and instead of improveing useful navigation , will propose methods for ships sailing under water , and such like contradictions to nature . these , i must confess , are projections that turn upon too subtle and deep reasons for my comprehension . others have discovered by the help of their glasses , that those insects which are almost invisible to a naked eye , have however as distinct parts as we have ; and that a louse , compared to those liveing atoms , is a creature of a monstrous size . there are yet others ; who not only undertake to trace nature in all her operations , but will pretend to rival her works , and produce the same effects from artificial causes . but when chymists , setting up for adepti , forget their useful experiments , and begin to hunt after the philosophers-stone ; when they talk of nothing but their diana , their quintessence and their secret physical matter : when , i say , they are once so besotted as to have these whimsies in their head , and to expend their health , labour , and money , in digging for an imaginary mine in fairy ground ; we may reasonably conclude them in the high road to poverty and confusion . i wonder indeed , how men of sense can be taken with those improbabilities , some chymical authors impose upon their readers : i mean , those stories about the vast quantities of gold made their mighty elixir or transmuting powder ; to which they ascribe little less than a kind of divinity and omnipotence . i have read in some of their late books , that it is authentically recorded , that ripley , an english adeptus , sent for many years successively an hundred thousand pounds of artificial gold to the knights of rhodes , to maintain the war against the turks : and that raymund lully , another adeptus , furnished edward the first with six myriads of the same mettal , to carry on the holy war in the holy land. besides , i have read a great many tales of covents , monasteries , hospitals , and other works of charity , which have been privately founded at the expence of the adepti . but a man must be arrived at dotage , before he believes this cant : it can have no better credit sure with any thinking person , than a fictitious narrative in a romance . to be well skill'd in chronology is looked upon as a great and necessary piece of learning . for this science only gives us a distinct view of the successive order of things from the first accounts of time : it determines and divides the periods of the most considerable transactions of past ages ; which history does not oblige it self to , being chiefly imployed in representing the causes vicissitudes and events of them ; in letting us into the true resorts and intrinsick contextures of publick and private negotiations ; and conveying down such notices and observations from antiquity , as may be of service in the conduct of all future occurrences in humane life . and therefore without chronology we should have but an imperfect knowledge of one of the most useful and pleasant studies in the world. but i could never understand the use or pleasure of that everlasting contention some writers have raised amongst themselves , about small punctilio's and niceties ; wherein perchance they are much concerned to discover whether homer or hesiod did really live first ; to know what day and hour such a king or consul dyed . these little questions have seem'd so very important , that the world has been troubled with whole volumes about them ; and after all , the quarrel ends as it begun . i am as much at a loss too to know the worth of that hidden and remote knowledge , antiquaries so much value themselves upon . it is at best but uncertain and conjectural , being drawn out of defaced monuments , coins , inscriptions , calendars , traditions , archives , fragments , and scattered passages of lost books . these men however put an higher esteem on such treasures , ( as they call them ) than on all the solid and beneficial studies a man can apply himself to . to discern the year of a rusted medal , or the date of a moth-eaten manuscript , is in their account a greater piece of learning , than to be acquainted with the life and actions of that emperour whose image the coin bears , or to understand the style and matter of the book it self . perhaps the one kind of knowledge may cost as much pains and labour as the other ; but that only proves their folly more ridiculous and unpardonable . grammar is a science , that is introductory and subservient to most others , and is absolutely necessary for a scholar to be well versed in . without it we could have no acquaintance with the dead tongues , from whence is drawn all , or the best part at least of the learning now in the world. but i need not endeavour to point out the particular uses of it , as it is applied to antient or modern languages , and examines the idiotisms and proprieties of them , and lays down rules , by which they may be more speedily learned , and more correctly spoken : every body is well enough acquainted with them , and i know who i am writing to . but grammar , as it handles those grounds and rules that belong to the philosophy of letters , in order to frame a new and universal language , wherein every word is a description of the thing it signifies ; is of a vaster extent , and takes in the whole theory of nature . to consider the analogy between words and things , is no doubt a very entertaining speculation ; and it would be a means to reconcile the two distinguishing characters of humane nature , speech and reason . but i believe those few learned authors that have treated of it , rather proposed their own private satisfaction , than any publick advantage to mankind . not to mention others , dr. wilkins's essay towards a real character , is a book of great learning , and is justly admired by all that have read and understood it . but it is like those noble schemes and models , that are too fine and exquisite to be put in practice . and i may venture to say , ( but with due respect to this and other learned authors , who have placed it among their desiderata ) that a philosophical grammer is at this time as useless as a mechanical one is necessary . there is another study , which is of admirable use and ornament , and that is astronomy . but when men mistake the end and design of this too , and instead of understanding the natural motions and situations of the heavenly bodies , with respect to the earth , will undertake to give an account of planetary influences and impressions , to calculate nativities , to grasp at and anticipate future things , as if they had not enough to do to digest the present . it then becomes a vain and fruitless impertinence . the common argument in favour of astrology is , that since we are assured by experience it self that solstices , aequinoctials , new moons , full moons , and the like greater revolutions of the stars do manifestly operate upon natural bodies , it must needs follow , that the more exact and subtle aspect of the planets should produce effects more exquisite and occult , and open a very ample field to humane observation . but this is precariously affirmed , and as weakly applyed . for the greater and more apparent influences of the coelestial bodies are only known to us by meer conjecture ; and if so , what hopes can humane inquiry have of discovering their more subtle occult qualities , or collecting any certain consequences from them ? horace says admirably well , prudens futuri temporis exitum caliginosâ nocte premit deus , ridetque si mortalis ultrà fas trepidat . which consideration , as well as many others , ought to check the presumption of those , who pretend to a secret intelligence from above , and an immediate correspondence with heaven . this is nevertheless , a study which some men think worth their care ; and if at last they attain to the reputation of an almanack-maker or conjurer , they are abundantly satisfied with the worthy distinction . there are yet other sciences , as geometry and metaphysicks ; which in some degrees are extreamly useful and necessary . for without this great branch of mathematicks , many parts of nature could never be fully comprehended , nor clearly demonstrated , nor accommodated to use with any skill or certainty . and without metaphysicks , what notion could we have of that vast circle of knowledge beyond the sphere of matter and motion , which is conversant about spirits and incorporeal substances ? but i should not desire to be a profound critick in them . because , the greatest acquirements , that could be hoped for , would hardly compensate the infinite pains a man must bestow upon them . not but that i believe mathematicks afford as substantial a pleasure to those , who are wholly addicted to them , as any other humane knowledge whatever . and so do metaphysicks too ; if we believe the story of the famous avicen , who is said to have been so ravished with aristotle's metaphysicks , that upon his first understanding of them , he bestowed large summs of money on the poor , out of the abundance of his joy and gratitude ; and had the patience to read them over forty times , and get them all by heart . but , i say , however , i can never be perswaded , that it is worth any man's while to dedicate his time and thoughts to those abstracted idea's and theorems in these knowledges the learned so much talk of . this kind of pleasure is too exquisite and refined for the taste of the present age ; and we now adays think it no reflection upon our understandings , to profess our neglect and ignorance of it . the bent of these times is for politer studies . and therefore critical learning , in the modern acception , is commonly taken for a thorough understanding of classick authors , and an exact knowledge of those rules , by which men judge and determine nicely of all the finer parts and branches of humane literature . aristotle was the first that drew these rules up into compass , and made criticism an art ; and the philosopher took such care to form his precepts upon the practice of the best writers , and to reduce them withal to the severest test of nature and reason ; that he scarcely left any thing for succeeding ages to do . we find little or nothing in horace , and the admirable fragments of longinus , but what he had in a great measure lay'd down before . the modern criticks drain all their notions from this great source and fountain : and tho' later systems have endeavoured to explode his philosophy ; yet i find no reflections on his criticks , but what are likely to perpetuate that esteem and value the world has all along had for them . but in short , he is esteemed a good critick , who can distinguish the beauties and excellencies of an author ; and discover likewise his failures and imperfections . when he makes his judgment of a book ; he takes it in pieces , and considers the whole structure and oeconomy of it ; what connexion and dependance there is between one part or argument and another ; whether all material circumstances are fully touched upon ; whether any thing less remarkable is too far spun out , and dilated . then he proceeds to a consideration of the style ; how that is suited and accommodated to the nature of the things it treats of ; how the language is worked together and digested ; how the figures and proprieties of speech are used . and here we see a critick in this sense has a vast room and scope for his observations , wherein he may shew his judgment and learning ; and be very instrumental in the propagation of arts and sciences . but it is sometimes urged against criticism , that too regular an adherence to the forms and measures of it , is a restraint upon a writers invention , and does more harm than good in composition . for that the imagination cannot so freely diffuse and expand it self , when it is obliged to any bounds or limits whatever . which argument is sometimes illustrated and supported by that famous example of an ungovernable genius in heroick vertue , i mean that of alexander the great ; whose vast ambition never failed to hurry him beyond the due measures of conduct : upon which very account , ( say they ) his exploits had always something in them wonderfully surprizing and astonishing . whereas caesar's actions , that were more cool , deliberate and proportioned to the rules of prudence and policy , never give us such an exalted sublime idea of his fortitude as we must necessarily entertain of the greek hero's . the friends too of our great dramatick writer , shakespear , will not be perswaded , but that even his monstrous irregularities were conducive to those shining beauties , which abound in most of his plays ; and that if he had been more a critick , he had been less a poet. but , i say , notwithstanding this ; good conduct in war is no hindrance to the boldest undertakings . for any one that knows history , knows that if caesar had neglected it , his atchievements had never been so glorious , nor alexander's neither . those astonishing ( i might call them accidental ) victories , which the latter gained , betrayed ( many of them at least ) more of fool-hardiness than valour . and a due observation of critical rules , that is , a strict attendance to the rules of nature and reason , can never impede or clog an author's fancy ; but rather produce and enlarge it . they may as well urge , that good and wholesome laws , which enjoyn nothing but what a rational nature would otherwise oblige us to , take away the liberty of mankind ; whereas they are the very life and security of it . now i am nameing invention and composition , i cannot but reflect on the use and advantage of a frequent application to them . which is another argument in favour of your proposals ; and you will therefore pardon a short digression upon this head. it was the opinion ( you know , sir , ) of one of the greatest men of antiquity , that all knowledge was but reminiscence , and that it was innate in the soul , tho' obscured and darkened by our grosser part more or less , according to the particular disposition and temperament of the body . the allowance of which principle would doubtless teach us , that to exert these original seeds of science , we must often use and stretch our intellectual powers . for thus the mind would as it were dilate it self , and by degrees correct the tone and habitude of the organs . but whether there be any truth in the philosophers doctrine or no , this is most certain , that all the faculties of the mind , both active and passive , are mightily heightened and improved by exercise . but if they are neglected and unimployed , they will shrink and contract themselves , and be unable to answer their proper functions . which ( as the experiments of our modern virtuosi have plainly demonstrated ) is true also as to some properties of inanimate bodies . our reason , which is an active principle , would , if for some time stifled and suppressed , in a great measure loose that sagacity and acuteness implanted in it . the memory , which is more perceptive and passive , could neither retain nor return those idea's and images recommended to it , unless it were often proved and examined . it would have but a very dark and unfaithful conception of things , unless we sometimes recollected and produced our notions . if we never committed our thoughts to writing , the invention would become faint and sluggish for want of breathing ; and the iudgment could never determine aright of that huddled perplexed chaos of knowledge , or rather ignorance , we should have within us . it is the condition and circumstance of humane nature , under its present depression , to acquire science but by steps and gradations . the conveyances to our understanding , are too gross to be consistent with an immediate intuition , which is the happiness and prerogative of spiritual intelligences only : whereas the mind of man takes impressions from external objects ; and these impressions make her reflect upon the nature of the thing , from whence she receives them , leading us through a long chain and series of thoughts before we can arrive at any conclusions . now in order to bring these conclusions to some clearness and perfection , we must often ruminate upon them , we must turn our thoughts into words and expressions ; and thus we shall instruct and inform the very mind that produces them , by putting it still upon a more intense application . for we doubtless understand our selves better by expressing the idea we have formed within , than we possibly can by private thoughts and internal reflections , which are always a little dark and cloudy . the image becomes more clear and determinate , when it is set in open light , and is , as it were , a second time submitted to the censure of the mind . we cannot so easily flatter our selves with false beauties and appearances . our judgments will reform the mistakes our vanity might before have fondly entertained , and give us a juster and more exact view of our abilties . thus we shall understand the real compass and circle of our knowledge : we shall digest and settle what we have already imbibed , and be the better able to proceed to further improvements . we shall discover our own natural infirmities or defects , and consequently may learn to apply proper remedies and reliefs to them . it has been a controverted question in philosphy , an omnes animae sint aequales ? and tho' i would not undertake to maintain the affirmative in all points ; for why should not our souls be of different statures and complexions as well as our bodies ? yet i am thus far of the opinion , as to think , that no man's soul is so unluckily formed , so sunk and immersed in his body , that it cannot by due care be made to exert it's faculties , and advanced to a considerable degree of knowledge . not that i would therefore conclude , that it is positively in every man's power , provided he uses his utmost industry , to reach what perfection he pleases in any science . all are not blest with the same portion of genius : nature has visibly framed and fashioned some men to particular things ; wherein they proceed with a great deal of ease and delight ; the native tendency and propension of their souls concurring with their diligence and labour . on the other hand , it is equally difficult , if not impossible , to turn the stream , and be successful in spight of nature . whereof we have a remarkable instance in the famous cicero , who , tho' he was very fond of ingenious men and writings , and spared no time nor pains to have made himself as considerable a poet , as he was an oratour ; yet his verses are so extreamly unpoetical , that the criticks cannot allow him any title or pretension at all to the character . and yet we must not altogether condemn his poetical essays , when we consider what he himself somewhere suggests in his own defence , that such exercises did not only relieve and unbend his thoughts from severer studies , but were of great use to him in his other composures : they furnished him with the knowledge of figurative ornaments ; with that fertility of imagination , and that beauty of conception , which is the mother of eloquence , and of all that is graceful in speaking . so that invention in any kind will turn to some advantage or other ; there will either be pleasure or profit , and still the mind must be improved . but to return . it too often happens , that those who now adayes set up for the censors of writings are byassed by partiality ; and in spight of all their specious pretences , a strong tincture of ill nature and virulence unhappily appears in every line . they commonly tell us indeed in their prefaces , that they have dealt very handsomly and candidly with the authors they comment upon ; and that a critick ought to be as cautious and impartial in determining a man's reputation , as a iudge in the decision of his fortune . but all this is soon forgot : for when we come to the remarks themselves , we are entertained with nothing but continual snarling and insolence . the poor writer is used most inhumanely for the ill cadence of a verse , or the ruggedness of a period : and if by chance he has offended against any of the smallest precepts of aristotle , &c. then to be sure , there is no mercy nor quarter for him . the little lapses of a pen , and sometimes the errata of the press , cannot be passed by without a strange disgust and and severe reprimand . and rather than not swell up his annotations to a just volume , this mild , inoffensive , good natured creature , will acquit his conscience , and fall foul upon the author's morals ; will give us an account of his religion , estate , and pedigree ; or if he has the least reason to suspect his friend has none , he is very free in discloseing that secret too . i am sorry some pieces lately written on good subjects , and by good hands , ( which i forbear to name ) have fallen under this censure , and for want of a prudent conduct have lost a great part of that reputation they might otherwise have justly claimed . thus criticism dwindles into down right raillery and aspersion , and we must take it , as we find it , a composition of a great deal of dogmatical arrogance and ill nature mingled with a very little wit and discernment ; which is the reason it has so small effect upon those scriblers who every day crowd the press with their senseless productions . but if critical writers would lay aside their private piques ; and employ themselves only in pursuing the main business of their art , the reformation and finishment of letters , they would prove extraordinary members in the common-wealth of learning . but 'till men will divest themselves of the prevailing affections of humanity , this candor and ingenuity is rather to be wished for than expected . not that i would here be supposed to insinuate , that the present age hath not actually produced men of as considerable abilities and accurate learning , as any other age of the world. for never did men follow reason with more steddiness , nor prosecute their studies to greater purpose and advantage , than at this day ; as might be proved from several instances not only in the more abstruse sciences , but in those of humanity too , had not the argument been sufficiently controverted already by some modern criticks both of this and our neighbour nations . but i promised to give you my opinion of some late books . i will begin first with mr. wotton 's reflections on antient and modern learning , which he has reprinted not long since with amendments and additions . i shall not enter into the merits of the cause with him , or pretend to answer his elaborate work in an hasty dissertation . for his design of giving the world an history of learning , is doubtless a very useful and commendable undertaking ; and i think he has in general , chosen the better side of the argument . my intention is only to consider cursorily his manner of handling it ; and this , i doubt , will not appear so generous as the design it self . he , has you know , opposed sir william temple , one of the most gentlemanly writers of our age and nation ; but not with so much respect and decency as became either his own , or sir william's character . i cannot imagine what reason he had for it ; unless he thought it might be some honour to him , if he could provoke ( tho' rudely ) so worthy an antagonist to enter the lists with him . but he was unluckily disappointed in that part of his design , and has therefore in this second edition retracted many of those undervaluing criticisms , that are too frequently urged and insisted upon in the first . but as to the book it self . it seems mr. wotton was engaged by some friends , or patrons , to try what could be said in defence of modern learning , against that of the ancients . upon which account he found himself obliged to consider , who had appeared on the other side . and therefore , least he should be accused of betraying his cause , proclaims open war against sir william temple , for having written an essay in honour of the ancients . in order to subdue this popular adversary , he nicely examines every word that seems disagreeable to his own notions ; and , least any thing should be wanting to compleat his victory , quarrels with him about insignificant trifles wholly forreign to his point . any other man would have thought it sufficient to have refuted the arguments in general , without citeing and referring so particularly to almost every line . but then mr. wotton had lost his end ; it was his business to attack sir william temple . and therefore he begins his book like a good disputant , with general reflections on the state of the question ; then proceeds to examine his hypothesis , and talks much of inquiring into the particular points , that arise from his general propositions ; of controverting his arguments ; of using proper mediums ; of reasoning severely , &c. who , upon reading this , would not imagine our reflecter had some knotty syllogistical piece to deal with ; and was at least supporting the reformation and church of england against a second bellarmine ? but all this mighty bustle is how to confute an essay ; which is so far from being penned in a scholastick or polemical way , that it is writ ( as all this author's works are , and as all essays certainly ought to be ) in the most easie unaffected style imaginable . which is more than i can say of mr. wotton's book ; for ( tho' i read it with no manner of prejudice , but with a desire only of being pleased and informed ) it appears to me to be done in a stiff artificial manner . there is indeed a flowingness of fine language , and rapidity of smooth numbers and periods ; but then the same dance and chime of words is eternally sounding in one's ears , and the same fine expressions brought in over and over again , and affected even to an impropriety ; the most nauseous entertainment a reader can have . for we love variety ; and the best expressions , as well as things , constantly reiterated will certainly disgust . but this may look very odd , ( especially to the logical reasoning mr. wotton ) to assert all , and prove nothing ; and yet i am resolved neither to trouble you nor my self with quoteing his book , which would be the only way , i know of , to prove any thing for or against his style . i must therefore appeal to your own judicious taste for the truth of what i say ; and in the mean time i will venture to assert one thing further , viz. that whatever becomes of sir william temple's hypothesis , his essay will always be read with more pleasure , than mr. wotton's reflections with profit . for , notwithstanding all his mighty pomp and boast of much reading , if we come to examine what discoveries he has made , what new lights he hath given the world on this subject , i believe we shall find nothing , that was not well known before to any man of the least acquaintance with letters . and if he was as considerable , as he thinks himself , that is , so considerable as to represent the learning of the present age , these reflections might very well be alledged against him by those of the opposite party , and silence him at once . perhaps you may fancy by this general dislike , that i am byassed in my opinion , but i assure you what i have said is my real judgment , which tho' it may be mistaken , is however impartial . i have no design of gaining sir w. temple's favour , or incurring mr. wotton's displeasure . i only take the liberty ( which all authors must allow their readers ) of speaking my thoughts freely , and as such i offer them to you. i have now done with mr. wotton , and am come to his friend dr. bentley . who has for some reasons best known to himself , not only engaged a single gentleman , but a whole society , upon a much less important argument than that of antient and modern learning ; viz. whether those epistles and fables commonly ascribed to phalaris and aesop , &c. be truly genuine or not ? the debate is now depending ; and , however insignificant you and i may take it to be , is prosecuted with as much heat and contention on both sides , as if some article of eternal life was immediately concerned in it . i shall not presume to interpose one word in so hot a dispute ; only as a stander-by i may be allowed to give my sentiments of their behaviour that manage it . first then , the ground of the quarrel is generally looked upon as highly ridiculous on the dr's . part , even allowing the matter of fact to be just as he himself has stated it . for there was no such keen sting in the words he resents , [ viz. collatas etiam ( sc. epistolas ) cum mso . in bibliothecâ regiâ , cujus mihi copiam ulteriorem bibliothecarius pro singulari suâ humanitate negavit ] that could have provoked any discreet or sensible man , whose time did not lye upon his hands , to write a long and laboured dissertation ( on a subject widely remote from his profession , and of little or no advantage at all to any other part of the learned world , ) that he might have a proper opportunity of retaliating upon his adversaries . but if he denied mr. boyl the king's manuscript in so rude a manner , as is pretended on the other side ; i think mr. boyl was so far from being the aggressor , that he was obliged in his own defence , to give the world some reason why it was not collated ; and he could not say less than he did in his preface . this is my opinion of the beginning of this controversie : but the dr. perhaps knew better how to apply the reflection than i do ; and had therefore reason not to brook it . but before he could conveniently retort this bitter unpardonable irony , he found it necessary to complement mr. boyl out of his title to the edition of phalaris ; that he might clear his way to some other gentlemen he had a greater mind to be dealing with , and fix the affront ( as he pretends ) where it ought to be . all this while mr. boyl is made a child and a tool of , to serve these malicious ends. he is a thing of great hopes , and as such the dr. says he is willing to encourage him . but is so far from looking upon him as a suitable antagonist , that out of his great goodness and condescension he offers by way of tutor , to give him a clearer view into the depths and secrets of learning , than those ignorant pretenders , under whose care he was bred , have been able to do . the style of this book is as remarkable for it's roughness and operoseness , as mr. wotton's for its flowingness . but instead of venturing to criticize upon it , i have here rather chose to transcribe a few lines , which may serve to give you a small taste of the man as well as the book . in the prelude to this grand dispute he looks bigg , and says , phalaris has the plea and right of possession , and i shall not go to dispossess him , as those have done before me , by an arbitrary sentence in his own tyrannical way ; but proceed with him upon lawful evidence , and a fair impartial tryal . and i am very much mistaken in the nature and force of my proofs , if ever any man that reads them persist in his old opinion of making phalaris an author . after he has quite confounded the epistles , he proceeds to his triumph over the late edition ; and gives an account of his own extraordinary character and learning , in the following words . pro singulari suâ humanitate ! i could produce several letters from learned professors abroad , whose books our editors may in time be fit to read ; wherein these very same words are said of me candidly and seriously . for i endeavour to oblige even forreigners by all courtesie and humanity ; much more would i encourage and assist any useful designs at home . and i heartily wish i could do any service to that young gentleman of great hopes , whose name is set to the edition . i can do him no greater at present , than to remove some blemishes from the book , which is ascribed to him ; which i desire may be taken aright , to be no disparagement to himself , but a reproof only to his teachers , &c. while i write this , i cannot but fancy it is dictated to me by some haughty school-master , with his rod in his hand . it has such a strong tang of that kind of pride , that no body else could have said it . he professes indeed to dislike an arbitrary tyrannical way of writing ; but has not skill enough at the same time to conceal it in himself . but why should i quarrel with the dr. for that which is a fault in his nature , and which he has as little inclination as power to correct ? i have nothing more to add , only to assure him i am not singular in my sentiments . the same censure is passed upon his book by all i have discoursed with about it : and some of them were such as had no great friendship for his adversaries . you are by this time probably prepared to expect i should determine in favour of mr. boyl , ( his quarrel i mean , for i do not interfere with the argument . ) and truly so i should , if he had not lately printed a book in his own defence ; which i will here give you a short touch of : but it must be in the same superficial manner i have done of the two books already dismissed . this piece cannot be exempted from as many faults at least , as have been charged upon the dr's . they are indeed faults of a different kind : the dr. all along entertains his reader with insolence and pedantry ; and this gentleman with school-boy's jests and little witticisms . two extreams equally distant from fine satyr ; which i the rather mention , because i believe it was more immediately both their aims , than any true design to examine the argument in debate . but mr. boyl has in a great measure acknowledged , that this is not his performance . for he says , he employed some friends at christ-church , to consult such authors as would be of use to him . and i believe the wits of that place could hardly content themselves with dry citations only , and not be provoked now and then to exercise the talent they are so remarkeable for ; especially in a case that concerned them so nearly . there are many more reasons to suspect mr. boyl in this than in the edition of phalaris . but i shall only hint at such , as will be no dishonour for him to acquiesce in . any one person certainly would have been quite weary of jesting , before he had swell'd a book to half this volume . and as for the honour of the quotations , he himself does not contend for it . if i may be permitted to suggest my own opinion ; i fancy this book was written ( as most publick compositions in that college are ) by a select club. there is such a profusion of wit all along , and such variety of points and raillery , that every man seems to have thrown in a repartee or so in his turn , and the most ingenious dr. aldrich no doubt was at the head of them , and smoaked and punned plentifully on this occasion . it brings the old character of christ-church very fresh into my mind ; which you may remember distinguished it self from the rest of the university , not by its extraordinary learning , but its abominable arrogance . methinks a little consideration would have restrained their fury against dr. bentley , for being guilty of their own darling fault ; and which the world will justifie him in returning upon them . pride and insolence are certainly as allowable in him , who is a scholar , as in some young men , who cannot reasonably be supposed to be so . not that i would justifie such a character in any man of twice dr. bentley's learning ; for he has made himself ridiculous by it , as i have observed before . but i would very fain know what prerogative some people have of sanctifying it in themselves , when they have naturally such scorn and contempt for it in others . the dean , instead of checking this intolerable temper , encourages and promotes it by his own worthy example . it is not long since he published a small compendium of logick , for the use of mr. boyl , ( upon which account i name it , ) wherein he gives a specimen of his haughty dogmatical humour , and takes all opportunities of inveighing very warmly against the author of l' art de penser , a most ingenious and useful writer . he makes nothing of calling him coxcomb , fool , and blockhead , for dareing to dissent from aristotle , and for presumeing to advance any thing new , upon a subject that great man had quite exhausted so many ages before him . one would imagine that this learned dr. had done his master stagyrite some notable service . but his book is only an epitome of sanderson , and one of the worst , most obscure epitome's i ever read . he has forsooth endeavoured to turn sanderson's plain intelligible language into terse polite latin : which sanderson could have done as well as he , had he not industriously avoided it , and with good reason . for he knew , if the phrase was too laboured , the rules would still become more obscure ; and the student consequently perplexed with an unnecessary pomp and ornament of style . but this will be no fault , when the present controversie comes to be turned into latin. pedantry is another thing , which they have severely branded dr. bentley with . but this too might have been spared as well as his insolence , and upon the same account . for it is as errant a sign of pedantry to spend ones time in publishing bad editions of old authors , and to be highly sollicitous about the various readings of them , which former editions have only neglected , because they were insignificant ; as to affect the use of hard words , and to lard english writings with greek and latin. i think dr. aldrich is pretty notorious at present , for imploying his young unexperienced students this way . he betrayed mr. boyl into the impertinent controversie he and his friends are now engaged in ; and is still involving others in the quarrel . we have lately had an edition of some of aesop's ( or , as they are called , aesopical ) fables , in the preface to which , the young editor , with a pertness peculiar to that college , has made a very slighting mention of dr. bentley . such a one as i think the dean ought to have retrenched upon the score of good breeding ; a thing they so frequently exact from others . but instead of that , i find in another book published last week , called examen poeticum duplex , &c. that he has suffered some of his college to make sport with him in their occasional compositions . amongst other things , some body has endeavoured his character in two epigrams , one of which i have here transcribed for you. i am assured they were made in christ-church , and either by the dean himself , or a brother doctor at least . intellectus agens illuminat phantasmata . ad r. b. bibliothecarium philocriticum . quidam acer doctusque ( ipsi si credere possis ) scriptorum judex , & benè notus homo , dum terit assiduè chartas , rigidique magistri argutum examen vocula quaeque jubit ; saevit● atrox impunè hinc inde minantia vibrat arma , ferus calamo , nec minùs ungue ferus . arbiter ipse unus : quippe hic mihi perplacet author , sit sacer ; ille mihi displicet , intereat . ille idem mancis reddit sua membra poetis , siqua dies rapuit longa , vel ignis edax . quicquid aristotelis gellive intercidit , illi tam notum , quàm qui prostat ubique liber . praevidet ille etiam seclô scribenda futuro , et nondum natum mente revolvit opus . bacchetum aspexti ? minimè , nec curo ; necesse est haec fari , haud aliter scribere , novi hominem . o quàm deliri vis est foecunda cerebri ! quid non ingenii vivida flamma potest ? te praebente facem pellucent , mome , tenebrae , splendorem fumus , somnia pondus habent . another gentleman , of the same college , has strained hard in a poem , intitled articuli pacis , to bring in a smart verse upon him , viz. anglo-graeco-latino-crepundia bentleiana . but it may be some satisfaction to the dr. that these are by no means the best copies in the collection . i have just read it over , and because i know you have a value for such things , will send it you ( with those books you mentioned ) by the first opportunity . i think i cannot make a better present of the kind . but i had almost forgot what an acquaintance of ours has often said upon this argument , in opposition to dr. bentley , that if he had had either good manners or good sense , he would never have hastily fallen upon a learned body , that was so very able to justifie it self , and to confound him , it being the most likely way to make a shipwreck of the little reputation he had got . in answer to this , ( for you see i have changed sides , and as the case now stands , am entirely for the dr. ) i have already confessed it my opinion , that he was too forward in provoking the dispute , and that he engaged himself in a great deal of unnecessary trouble when he did it . but i cannot agree with our friend in my reasons why i think so . for he would have the college a match infinitely above dr. bentley ; whereas i think , that part of it which was at first concerned was rather below him , and upon that account the dr. should have been silent . he represents them as too formidable a society for any single person to encounter , without shipwrecking his reputation , tho' he has the truth on his side . but a multitude is not always terrible , because it thinks it self so . dr. bentley knew well enough the world had no such opinions of them , and that both his character and argument would stand secure against all the weak efforts they could make ; which i fancy was one great reason of his being too warm in his first resentments . i hear he has now prepared an answer to their book , which i much wonder at . for the abusive part of it is so blunt and ungenteel , that it does not affect his reputation at all ; and the authorities in the other are so falsly cited and misapplied , that they answer themselves . in my little reading , i can perceive several mistakes , and i doubt not but the dr. and others , who are more conversant in such authors , are able to detect many more . but if i might advise both parties , they should employ their time and pains upon some more useful subject . there has been too much dust raised about this already . thus , sir , you see , by striving to say a great deal in so narrow a compass and short a time , i have scarce said any thing ; i have but just named those topicks , that should have been minutely considered , to have done the subject right , rather proposing all along than proving my opinions , which i submit to your better judgment . and i hope you will put the most favourable construction upon my endeavours , if i have been more willing than able to observe your commands . i am sir , yours , &c. t. r. in page 13. line 7. r. made by their a sermon of the education of children preach'd before the right honourable the lord mayor and court of aldermen at guild-hall chapel on sunday, novemb. 1, 1696 / by william fleetwood ... fleetwood, william, 1656-1723. 1696 approx. 57 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 22 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39737 wing f1249 estc r15389 13593641 ocm 13593641 100705 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39737) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100705) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 788:17) a sermon of the education of children preach'd before the right honourable the lord mayor and court of aldermen at guild-hall chapel on sunday, novemb. 1, 1696 / by william fleetwood ... fleetwood, william, 1656-1723. [11], 32 p. printed for thomas newborough ..., london : 1696. reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -sermons. education -early works to 1800. 2006-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion clarke , mayor . martis decimo die novemb● . 1696. annoque regni regis willielini tertii , angliae , & c.. octovo . this court doth desire mr. fleetwood to print his sermon 〈◊〉 before the right honourable the lord mayor and aldermen 〈◊〉 this city , at the guild-hall chap●el , on sunday the first day of this ●●●ant november . goo●●…llow . a sermon of the education of children , preach'd before the right honourable the lord mayor , and court of aldermen , at guild-hall chapel , on sunday , novemb. 1. 1696. by william fleetwood , chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london , printed for thomas newborough , at the golden-ball in st. paul's church yard . 1696. to the inhabitants of the united parishes of s. austin and s. faith . having frequently intended with my self , something of this nature , for your particular use and service , to whom , you know , i am more immediately related ; it was the easier to me , to comply with their desires who were willing to have this discourse publish'd ; because i knew i should thereby satisfie in part my own intentions and design of doing you good , in this instance : and therefore though it be now common , yet i desire you earnestly to make it more particularly yours , by a close application of it to your selves . i can't tell how a minister can promise himself any success in his endeavours , if the parents will not believe themselves obliged ( as certainly they are by god's commands ) to educate their children well , and bring them up in the fear and nurture of the lord ; and by their care at home in private , fit them for those farthèr instructions they are to receive in publick , at the appointed opportunities . they are to sow the seeds of christ's religion in the childrens minds , and he must wisely cultivate , improve , and nourish them ; they are to lay the first foundations in their hearts , and he must build thereon , as god enables him . that this might not be a work of difficulty , either to parents or to children , nor either of them left at an uncertainty , the one of teaching , and the other of learning , what they ought , the church in her great wisdom hath collected in her catechism , a short , but full and comprehensive , summary of whatsoever a christian is to believe and practise to his soul's health , which all her children are to learn , remember , and consider , according to their age and understanding . this is delivered in so clear a method , in words and sense so easie and intelligible , that it is not above a very mean capacity ; and yet the matter is so solid and substantial , that it is fit for the strongest understanding ; the oldest christian in the world need know no more , than what he is to learn there in his youth , though he will know it better and more fully , the longer he considers it ; so that the parent , whilst he is instructing the children in it , will be himself a gainful learner ; more and more edified , and grow continually in the knowledge of his faith and duty . the neglect of this prescrib'd course , has been one great occasion , i believe , of that wide difference there appears of private peoples judgments and opinions in matters of religion ; they have taken in different principles in their youth , and therefore as their age advanc'd , have drawn different conclusions srom them , the effects of which have been exceedingly mischievous . i do therefore advise and desire you all to teach your children this judicious , sound , and truly christian catechism , that savours nothing of a party or private spirit , but is what they may , and must , depend upon to their lives end . when this good ground-work is well laid , you may with much more ease , form and fashion them to vertue and religion , by putting them in mind of the covenant they have made with god in baptism , by which they stand oblig'd to give themselves entirely up to christ ; to look upon him as their only lord and law-giver , their saviour and their judge ; to believe whatever he reveals , and to fulfil whatever he commands . there also you will find the two tables that contain their duty towards god and towards their neighbour , and both of them explained with the clearest brevity that can be found , from whence you are to take occasion of exciting them to a most diligent performance of them , as also to rebuke and punish the neglect , or the transgression of them . there also they will learn the lord's prayer , the prayer that christ himself , the son of god , ( who knew the father's will , and man's necessities the best of all men living ) taught his followers to use ; and therefore it is such , you may be sure , as is best fitted for our purpose , and such as is , both for the matter and the manner , acceptable to god the father . after this follows a short but full account of the two sacraments , of baptism , and the lord's supper ; by which they learn the manner how they themselves ( and all true christians ever since our saviour's institution of it ) were initiated into christ's religion , namely by being baptized in water , in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost , according to christ's command , explain'd by the universal practice of the church ; insomuch that they who have at any time denied or refused the matter and the form of this sacrament , have not been accounted christians . here they see also what is signified by being thus baptized in water , namely , the dying unto sin , and living a ▪ new to righteousness , i. e. the repenting of , and forsaking all their past sins , and living for the time to come , a righteous and a holy life , which is also the meaning of becoming a new man , a new creature , a regenerate person , and the like , all which is engag'd for , by every one at his baptism , and is to be remembred , and perform'd for ever after . here , lastly , they will come to see the end of the institution of the sacrament of the lord's supper , the cause and purpose of its being ordained , namely , for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of christ , and of the benefits which we receive thereby , i. e. to put them constantly in mind , that christ the lord was crucified upon the cross ; that this his death was an attoning , expiatory sacrifice , and accepted by god as such ; that for its sake and merit his anger is appeas'd , he is now reconcileable to all that will repent them of their sins , and forsake them , and obey the gospel ; he will forgive them the penalty they had incurr'd , and will moreover crown them in the world to come with everlasting happiness . the remembrance of this salutary death and sacrifice , and the great benefits deriv'd to us from and by it , is the end of this sacrament's being instituted by christ : and therefore to answer the end of this institution , they must come to the sacrament ; and when they come , the bread broken is to remind them of the body of christ , torn and suffering on the cross , and the wine poured out is to remind them of the blood of christ that was there shed ; and then they are to call to mind the in●xpressible benefits of this death , the pardon and forgive●ess of all the sins which they repent of and forsake ; the hope and good assurance of which pardon , and peace , and god's favour , is as much the life , the strength and com●rt of the soul , as bread and wine are the support and comfort of the body . upon this knowledge of the end of the institution , and of the benefits that we receive by christ's death , it remains only that the young ones be acquainted with the preparation that is necessary to their coming to the lord's supper , which they will find in the answer to the last question of the catechism , which contains the whole of what they are to do . they are to examine themselves , whether they repent them truly of their former sins , whether they steadfastly purpose to lead a new and better life for the time to come — whether they have a lively faith in god's mercy , through christ , i. e. whether they verily believe that god was so exceeding merciful and gracious to mankind , that for the sake of christ's obedience , death and sufferings , he will certainly forgive the sins of such as shall repent and leave them , and whether in full perswasion of this mercy and these ▪ gracious promises , they set about repentance : whether they thankfully remember christ's death , i. e. whether upon the consideration and remembrance of the mighty and amazing miseries to which their sins exposed them , and from which the death of christ alone has freed them , they do not call to mind this great deliverance with the greatest joy and thankfulness , and bless and magnifie the name of god who hath wrought this wouderful redemption for them by the death of christ , his dear and only begotten son. and lastly , whether they are in charity with all men. this is the preparation ( and all the preparation ) that is necessary to the coming to the lord's supper . and if people would be content to learn , wherein this duty consists , in the shortest , plainest , and the surest method , they would go no farher than the church-catechism ; or if a little farther , it should be but to the communion-service , in which they will be sure to find all that is needful or convenient for them to know or do , before , and at , and after this holy sacrament . i have neither authority nor intention to discommend or disallow the use of other books that treat of these matters ; but you will take it on my word , i hope , that the shortest , and the plainest rules of direction are still the best ; that wherein soever other books differ from this , they are not to be depended on : and that multiplicity of books is apt to beget confusion . as far therefore as you will let my judgment weigh with you , i recommend it to your care , that you let the church catechism be the ground and foundation of what your children are to know of the christian religion ; and that other good books be call'd in , as helps to their devotion only , or to explain the particulars contain'd therein , if they be difficult . whilst you are teaching , and your children learning , all these things , you must be sure , of all things in the world , to go before them with a good example ; that is , to recommend , impress , and make your lessons credible . they will understand , believe , and practice better , if they see you live as you teach them to live . let them know you pray to god constantly with your family ; that you love and exercise truth , and honesty , and justice in all your dealings ; let them hear and see you chide your servants , and dependents , for every lye they tell , and every fraud and falshood they are guilty of : let them never hear you swear , or curse , or speak any thing disrespectfully of god , or providence , or holy scriptures , or any thing of religion ; and they will then believe you are in earnest , and be more careful of doing as you bid them , and more fearful of offending . let them see you go your self to church upon the lord's day , and as many of the family as can be spar'd , with your convenience , and there behave themselves as becomes the servants of god in his own house and more immediate presence : and let them never see , even in the after part of that good day , any thing light extravagant , or rude , but something of respect and honour shewn to the good exercises that are over , and to the day devoted by the church of christ to god's service . away with that severe , sullen , morose religion , with which some judaizing and mistaken christians pass that day on one hand , and that prophane , contemptuous , court-like observation of it on the other ; but let a decent , christian , and good natur'd carriage , temper these extreams ; that your children may neither dread the approach of sunday above other days , nor yet long for it , as a day of sloth and idleness . i hope i may , without offence , take this occasion to desire such of the separation as are within my parish , to take all care they can , that both their children and their servants go along with them to the places where they serve god themselves , or to some other certainly , and require an account of their so doing , that the liberty of absenting themselves from their parish-churches , indulg'd to them by man's law , be not turn'd to the libertinism of serving god no where , and irreligion and prophaneness find those people whom the church looses . we must indeed , on all sides , be sollicitous lest he who sowes division amongst us , reap the fruits thereof , and be the greatest gainer ; of this , in earnest , there was never greater need than now , for christianity and good morality had never more , or greater enemies ; and therefore all our joint endeavours will be little enough to oppose the soft insinuations of their secret underminers , and the most impudent and bold attacks of their avowed and open adversaries . i am sorry we can date the mighty growth and progress of these mischiefs within the compass of so few years , when we were hoping still for better things . but let this evil state provoke us to a greater care and zeal in the defence of vertue and religion , for the future . you must all of you help to make this ugly digression pertinent and useful , by taking all imaginable care to breed up a generation better than the present , and such as may do these wicked days all the disgrace and shame they can , by a most firm adherence to the christian faith , by a lively sense of virtue and religion in the soul , made manifest by a most virtuous and religious outward practice . i have done , you see , an unusual thing , in fixing a preface to a sermon , but it was to make the sermon more yours than any one 's else ; and if the sermon be better read for the sake of the preface , or if the preface gain its end without the sermon , i shall obtain the point i aim at , and will answer for the absurdity or newness of the method . you know i am every way your debtor in religious matters , and i assure you i am otherwise , your affectionate humble servant , w. fleetwood . proverbs xiii . 24. he that spareth the rod hateth his son : but he that loveth him , chasteneth him betimes . the education of children is , and hath always been accounted , a thing of such importance , that all who have at any time discoursed or written of government , have found themselves obliged to dwell particularly on that subject . aristotle thinks it a matter of such moment , that he positively determines it ought not to be left to the parents choice ; but that the publick ( whose especially the children are ) should be entrusted only with that charge : and plato lays down such severe rules , that 't is a question whether they were ever practicable , or only fitted to his fansied commonwealth . and indeed , considering that they are the seed of empires , kingdoms , corporations , and families , and that the good and wellfare of them all , depends entirely on them , there can't be too much care employed about their bringing up : there are so many hazards from the sensible and tender dispositions of these nice plants , from noxious airs , inclement seasons , and their own natural luxuriancy , that it requires a great deal of skill to cultivate them as they should , and as they well deserve . and it is with this prospect ( and a larger one besides , the world to come ) that the spirit of god hath inserted so many positive commands , and so many wise rules of training children up , into the holy scriptures . for though one were enough , when found there , to make it our duty , yet there are many to enforce it farther ; and though the spirit of god inspir'd a-like the herdsman's son , with solomon the king's , and made them a ▪ like infallible , in what they should deliver to the world , yet in compliance ( may be ) with our weakness , and the fond conceits we have of human reason and understanding , it is so contriv'd , that there are more precepts concerning childrens education found in solomon alone , than all the scriptures else : that they who take no notice of the inspiration , might yet be moved by the authority of the greatest wisdom , and the best experience , and the thing however done . i am to confine my self to that of my text , which is as comprehensive as any : and will , first , explain the terms of it ; and , secondly , shew the truth of the propositions contain'd therein ; and , lastly , make what application may be seasonable and useful . and , first , of the terms . to spare the rod , in the first clause , being oppos'd to chastening , in the second ; by the rod must needs be meant , not only that particular instrument of punishment , but every thing besides that may prove the means of our correction and amendment . and so in job 33. 19. he is chastened with pain upon his bed . and so in psal . 69. 10. i wept , and chastened my soul with fasting . and so in isa . 53. 5. the chastisement of our peace was on him ; by which is meant the miseries , afflictions , pains , and torments that our lord endured both in life and death for our sakes : and so in a great many other places . so that by chastisement is here intended every instrument of correction , every means of effecting what we intend by chastising . and to spare the rod , is , not to use those means , not to employ those instruments for the correcting and amending what we see amiss in children , which are proper to their age , suited to their dispositions , and proportion'd to their faults ; whether it be reproof and sharp admonition , restraint of liberty , disappointment of their wills , or corporal punishment : to do ( in a word ) whatever is necessary , convenient , or becoming the children and the parents in their respective circumstances , is to chasten , and to neglect the doing it , is to spare the rod. let us see in the next place , what it is to love and hate one's son , which are the rest of the terms . by loving and by hating is not here meant the exerting actually those passions in the heart , for then the text would be untrue : it is by no means likely that an indulgent parent sparing of his child , should actually hate it in his heart , or that the punishing it should be the effect or sign of natural love , for the contrary to this , is mostly true ; the sparing it is the fruits of natural fondness and affection , and the correcting it , is not the choice of the heart , but the effects of a necessity impos'd by prudence and consideration , and hopes and fears of what may come to pass . by loving and by hating therefore is to be understood , the acting agreeably to the reason , and not the blindness of those passions ; the producing such effects as are in god's accounts , and wise mens too , and in our own when freed from partial prejudices , the consequence and fruits of love and hatred acting regularly ; such as are commonly esteemed the effects of those two causes , whether they indeed proceed from them or no : so that to love and hate ones children , is to behave ones self so towards them , that they and others may be convinc'd we love or hate them , by such fruits as reasonably and ordinarily are the products of those two passions , whether those passions actually possess the heart or no , of which we can convince none but our selves . from the terms thus explain'd , it will not be difficult , to shew , in the second place , the the truth of the two propositions , how and in what sense he may be said to hate his son , that spares the chastisement of him , and how he loves him who chastiseth him betimes : for if we are to reckon of love and hatred by the effects , then it is easie to discern when parents hate their children , namely , when either through neglect or fondness they permit them to enter on at first , or afterwards continue in such courses , as will bring them to inevitable ruine ; when by their want of care , instruction , or correction , those children fall into such miseries , as the utmost hatred of their most profest inveterate enemies , could neither wish nor make them greater ; whatever love there may be at the bottom . what signifies the crowning of a victim with a garland , when it is still drest up to death ? that mother is as much a murtheress who stifles her child in a bed of roses , as she that does it with a pillow-bear . the end and mischief is as great , tho' the means and instrument be not the same . and where two causes will produce the same effect , with equal certainty , 't is no great matter which of them it is , nor whether you give it a hard or gentle name . it is all one as if a parent truly hated his child , if through his default , he fall into those evils , which will naturally work his mischief or undoing ; that fault has the same effect that downright hatred would have had . and then for the will , tho' he can't be said to will downright the evil of his children , yet if he will the means which have a natural tendency to produce that end , he is understood , in the accounts of reason , to will the end , and to be guilty of the evil in a great degree . and so we are said to will a great many things in scripture , not that we will them properly , but that we do those things , from whence the others naturally and necessarily follow . so god expostulates , in ezek. 18. 31. and 33. 11. why will ye die , o house of israel ! not that the israelites will'd or desired to die , for that 's a thing incredible , if not impossible , in the hardest sense of that word , but that they willed such things , as would unavoidably bring that death , and most inevitably ruine them . so in psal . 106. 24. yea they despised that pleasant land . not that they dispised or rejected the land of canaan it felf , but rejecting the only means god had appointed to bring them thither , which were faith and trust in him , and patience and obedience to his laws , they are said to despise the land it self . so in pro. 17. 19. he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction , i. e. he that liveth above his fortune and condition , or that openeth wide the flood ▪ gates to iniquity , seeketh destruction ; the meaning is , that such a one shall find destruction , he is as one that seeks and makes inquiry after it , and he shall surely find it . so that men are not charged with the mischiefs only they intend directly , but with such also as are like to follow whether they intend them or not , nay , tho' they should intend the contrary . he who takes the natural and ready means to any end , is strongly guilty of the evil consequence , altho' he should not only not design that end and consequence , but hope and wish it might not come to pass ; because neither hopes , nor wishes , nor designs can hinder natural or moral causes from producing natural and moral effects . but neither is it only so in acting , but in permitting also ; he is said , upon the same account and reason , to be guilty of the evils that ensue , whose duty it was , and in whose power it was , to have prevented them , but did not : it were cruel and unjust , to charge a man with all the evils he should by duty prevent , but could not , for want of power : and it is not always reasonable , to charge a man with the eviis he could by his power have prevented , but did not , because he was not oblig'd in duty ; because the signification of power , in such a case , is to be determin'd by the convenience of time , and place , and person , and a great many other circumstances of which a man is only able to judge himself : but where power and duty meet together , there the obligation is unquestionable , and the neglect of doing what we should and conld is inexcusable . the application of these rules to the case in hand , is , i think , as evident as the reason of those rules . it is plain from the light of nature , and the use of reason , as well as god's determination in scripture , that a parent is oblig'd to educate his children in the best , and most religious manner possible , to instruct them in all that 's good , and warn them of all that 's evil ; and it is as plain from the corruption of our nature , the perversness of our wills , and from lamentable experience , that unless this care be taken , children will unavoidably be ruin'd ; and therefore he who neglects this education , which he might and should look after , is properly enough said to undo his children ; and as he who should designedly ruine his own children , would deservedly be said to hate them , so may he also , who neglects their education , if such neglect be the natural and ready way to ruine , though he don't design that ruine , and though that neglect do not proceed from hatred , yet he is said , and properly enough , both to undoe and hate them , now the evils that proceed from a careless , or from bad education , from want of good instruction , of reproof , restraint , or of due chastisement in any kind , are infinite and pernicious , they are numberless , and they are intolerable . i believe it were hard to reckon up any considerable calamity that has befallen a kingdom , city , family , or private person , but might be justly charg'd upon this head in some measure . the reasoning of plato is both just and excellent upon the education of cyrus and his son cambyses , darius and his son xerxes , and the following kings of persia , and shews the exact and perfect correspondence betwixt the ways of bringing up those princes , and the quality and fortune of their government and kingdoms whilst they liv'd . cyrus having been brought up still in painful and laborious exercises , and in a handsome kind of equality of almost all things betwixt himself and his companions , his reign was full of glory and success , and every thing that 's good and laudable . but whilst himself was reaping palms and crowns of victory , he left the education of his son to the ladies who brought him up in the luxurious softness of the medes , where no body durst speak a word of truth or honesty , for fear of wounding his ears , which were us'd to nothing but to compliment and flattery . and hence it came , that the reign and government of this soft prince was full as infamous and unfortunate both to himself and people as that of his brave father had been glorious , wise , and happy , unto both . darius hystaspes afterwards ascended the throne , and as his education had not been in the delights of a court , but hard , and rough , in labours and fatigues , so his reign resembled in a manner that of cyrus , both for glory and for conquest : but whilst he and his compeers were spreading every where the persian honour by their gallantry and brave atchievements , xerxes , his son , was left in womens hands , and from them had just such another education as cambyses had , and reigned accordingly , leaving where'er he came , the shameful marks of a prodigious power put into the hands of an ambitious mad-man . darius was indeed a great deal more to blame than cyrus , because he avail'd not himself of so notorious an example of miscarriage , nor procur'd a better education for his son ; but that 's not the only use that we may make of these great instances , one cannot choose but see , and lament too , that the fate and fortune of great empires , the wellfare and the ruine of so many hundred thousands should depend upon the care and the neglect of a parent , upon the improvement or the sottishness of one body . but this would not touch us so near we think , if it were not also true in lesser matters , and as fatal to private families . the good or evil education of children , does not only affect themselves , but all the stock and kindred more or less ; there is hardly any body so inconsiderable , but some body may be bettered , and some body prejudiced by him ; there is no body stands so single and remote , but if he falls , there is some one hurt besides himself , directly or indirectly : which as it is a motive to induce every relation to see after the improvement of children , as it falls in their way , so it is a special argument to parents , to attend more heedfully to the well educating of their children , because the wellfare and the prejudice of so many other people does in a great measure depend thereon . but supposing the evil were single , that neither common-wealth , nor family , nor parent were endamaged ( as they all are ) by want of education , yet the evils that befall the children , are so intolerably many , and pernicious both to soul and body , that those may well be said to hate them , that do not , when they might and should , prevent them . can we see a man that has wholly renounc'd to truth and good faith , so entirely possess'd with the spirit of falsehood , lying and deceit , that one knows not how to believe a word he sayes , nor how to trust him with the least concern ? can we see a man so ignorant of god and goodness , of religion and his duty , and of all things spiritual , that one would think he were newly born into the world , and had not yet attained the use of reason , nor indeed the use of speech , and language ; and another so exceeding skilful in those matters , and of so sharp a wit and penetrating judgment , that he knows very well that there is no such thing as god and soul , or any thing but gross substantial matter , modify'd with great variety ? can we hear another talk so loudly , and so frequently of god , that his mouth is fill'd with nothing else , and yet at last it should be all in his dishonour and defiance , in wounding oaths , in raging blasphemies , and dreadful imprecations , without temptation , without pleasure , without profit ; and at last without his knowledge and design ? can we see another vers'd in all the species of intemperance , practis'd in all the arts of luxury and wantonness , and devoted wholly to excess , a perfect slave to his voracious appetite , and whose heart and soul is in his dish ? another so intoxicated with the love of drink , that if 't were possible to drown himself , he would , devoting both the day and night to that excess , having no other business , nor other pleasure and diversion than intemperance , neglecting all concerns , forgetting all his duty both to god and man , a reproach to nature , scandal to religion , useless to all the ends and purposes of living ; and not only so , but by his bad example , and the cursed consequences of those courses , ruinous to himself and family , and a most pernicious creature to the commonwealth . and another so enfeebled by his lusts , so debilitated both in soul and body , by his exorbitant indulgence to those brutal longings , that he is scarce the shadow of a man ; dull of apprehension , weak in imagination , failing in memory , and moap'd in his understanding . in a word , as impotent of mind as body , and whose soul is as loose about him as his limbs . can one see , i say , these , and a thousand other evils and disorders , with all their ugly consequences , reign and rage about the world continually , and know at the same time they are the natural consequences of a loose and careless education , and might in a great measure , have been prevented by advice , restraint , and punishing betimes ; can one see and know this , and doubt at the same time , whether our parents hated us or no , who should and could , but would not save us from them ? what could our greatest enemy have done besides ? he would have taken the same courses ; for one that he exercises as he did job , with sorrows and afflictions , he ruines a thousand by indulgences ; it is the end he aims at , which is our destruction , and 't is no matter by what means he comes about it . if eutrapelus's presents are sure to prove as fatal to a weak mind , as a dagger in a man's heart , or a glass of poyson in his bowels , what signifie the shews of love , and the pretence of friendship , which prove as deadly as the assaults of open enmity ? what signifies it , that the child is the delight of its parents eyes , and the idol of their hearts ; the perpetual object of their thoughts , and the perpetual theme of their discourse , that they discern new beauties dayly in it , secret charms , and excellencies undiscoverable to all the world besides ; hear musick in his voice , and wit in every word , and grace and comeliness in every action . if care be not taken to render him as excellent indeed and to himself , and as amiable to others , by vertue , goodness , sweetness and humanity , as he is to them by an abused fancy . all other demonstrations are but demonstrations of their own fondness to , and love of their own self , and end in their own complacence and delight . if you would convince another of your love , it is he that must feel the effects of it , in and upon himself , as well as you . it is otherwise like the charity of good words , the wishing of alms , and food , and raiment , with which a man may be starv'd with cold and hunger . the love that terminates in fondness , and the little trifling ( if no worse ) effects of that , can no more properly be called the love of ones children , than the bidding the hungry be filled , the thirsty be satisfied , and the naked be cloathed , without supplying those necessities , can be call'd relieving them . but the parallel will hold no farther , for he that relieves not the distressed , does them at least no harm or injury ; whereas the parent that with all this dotage , takes not care to educate his children virtuously and well , does them the greatest injury and mischief in the world ; mispends the only proper time and season of their improvement , deprives them of all the advantages and opportunities of becoming useful to the publick , a support to the family , a comfortable relation , and happy people themselves : and not only so , but exposes them defenceless , destitute and naked to abundance of hazards and temptations ; to a contagious air in the most sensible and tender age ; to a vicious world , with vicious inclinations ; to combate with those foes , with whom our hearts do naturally conspire ; to meet those dangers we rejoice to run into ; to vanquish those temptations which we seek and hunt for ; to resist those evils we had rather should prevail than be subdu'd ; to be left , in a word , to our selves , to the naughtiness of our own hearts , and the dictates of unruly heedless nature , to engage with so many sins , and so many snares , as are commonly a match sufficient for the greatest care , and greatest watchfulness , and greatest prudence , together with the ordinary supplies of god's grace , is to be ruin'd and undone without peradventure . and if these are not true effects of hatred , if these are not the tokens of the greatest ill-will , and the most improv'd refin'd malice , we are yet to learn what those words mean. and this i hope is so evident from the sense of the thing , from the reason of the words , and from the experience of the world , that there is little occasion to press you with the authority of the text , and to insist upon it , that 't is king solomon inspir'd by god that says , that he that spareth the rod , hateth his son. it will be somewhat clearer by considering the other clause in the text , and seeing what are the effects of love , which is early chastisement . he that loveth his son , chasteneth him betimes . i have already made appear , that love and hatred , in these cases , can only be securely judged of by the effects ; not by the feelings , motions ▪ and affections of the parents heart , but by the fruits and consequences , of which the children must be sensible themselves , and all the world be judges . for the ground of all this mischief is , that parents commonly consult with no body but themselves , to know if they love their children , and finding quickly by the reply their hearts make , that they love them , as they love their eyes ; they rest contented with the answer , and use them indeed as tenderly : whereas they should enquire of strangers and of wise men , impartial and unprejudic'd ; they should take their informations from reafon and good sense , from the experience of the aged , and such as study more particularly this affair ; and they would shew them , by the effects alone , whether they lov'd or no : the marks and tokens of affection would be visible in manners and instruction , beyond the power of being deceived ; and if this be too much , let them learn the truth , from the pity of some , and the reproach of others , and from the common rumours of the neighbourhood . every body but themselves , will tell them , that love of children must appear by its effects and fruits , and no other thing can possibly convince another of that love , though they themselves are never so persuaded that they do , and to confirm it could be content to die . but of this enough already , and also what it is to chasten ; it remains that i say a word or two of the proper season , and that is betimes , he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes ▪ either betimes with respect to his age , or with respect to his faults . first , with respect to his age. it is , in every thing , of great importance , how we begin , what grounds we lay , and what foundation 't is we build upon : if this be not right , the rest is but time and pains mispent , and will end in loss and disappointment . it is as a man that sets out false , every step that he proceeds , is so much out of his way , and he must return and begin again . and so it is with the journeyings of life ; if in our early youth we set out false , fall into evil practices , or be corrupted with pernicious maxims , it is either a great chance that we never see our errour at all , but blindly still proceed at all adventure ; or if we do , we find our selves constrain'd to begin a-new , to return to the place from whence we first fet out , to our intollerable trouble and vexation . what a deal of human life is spent , not in weaving a new web , but in unravelling the old ; not in learning new lessons of truth and vertue , but in unlearning those of vice and falshood ; in forgetting of evil principles , and laying down old prejudices ; in stripping our selves of our accustom'd habits , in parting with our old acquaintances , in forsaking our old friends , and in a manner tearing out our vitals , and rending of our hearts asunder : all which might , in great measure , be prevented , by an early seasoning in the ways of goodness . it was in prospect of this , that one of the ancients would have children accustom'd to love and praise with delight all vertuous actions , and detest all vices , even before they attain'd the use of reason , he would have them constantly observe , know them compleatly , and form in their minds perfect idea's of them ; and observing that children are first of all affected with the sense of pleasure and of pain , he would have them used , though never so little and young , to take or think there is no pleasure but in goodness , vertue , temperance , justice , and the like ; nor feel or think there is any great pain but in those things that are truly evil , vice and sin. the thing is carried certainly too high , and the lesson too refin'd and subtil to be put in practice : but the thing he means is this ; that the preventions and prepossessions of vertue , goodness , and religion , should answer at least the prejudices of our natural corruption , and that propensity and inclination to folly and to sin , we bring along with us into this world ; that the artificial principles of education , might be of equal poise with our original corruption , till the use of our understanding bear down the scale on the right side : and if it be better to prevent , than cure an evil , to save from danger , than deliver out of it , then it is better to begin betimes with chastening of our children , to make them wise at our expence , to let them know no sin but by description ; to hinder them from making an experiment so very unprofitable at best , and fatal in the event , most commonly . but , secondly , betimes is also to be understood with respect to the fault ; the first respecting age , would , if 't were possible , prevent the evil , this latter is to put a speedy stop to it , to hinder it from growing any farther ; the first advice is , to take all care imaginable , that no corrupt or noxious weeds should spring up , in that pure and tender soil ; the second is to root them out betimes , if once they come ; so that to chasten betimes , is to see , that punishment do constantly attend the crime , before it be forgotten , and before an evil habit be contracted by the frequent repetition of evil acts. first , before it be forgotten ; as well that it may not appear to proceed from a delight in punishment , or to be the effects of studied and deliberate cruelty , as also that the fault being fresh in memory , the justice and reasonableness of the infliction may the better appear , and make the deeper impression on the mind , and raise the greater aversation and abhorrence of the thing , that impunity may not breed security in sin ; and that children may not argue as older people often do , that because sentence is not speedily executed against an evil work , therefore their hearts should be fully set in them , to do evil. 't is a false and vicious way of arguing , but because 't is obvious , natural , and too too easie , it should be silenc'd quickly , and convicted of its falsehood ; that it may not impose on them a second time. but , lastly , and most especially , for fear of evil habits being contracted , the dread of punishment is the most natural restraint upon the mind , t is the most powerfull motive to obedience , the very life of all laws , and without which they would be but a dead letter ; and all the reason in the world they should be so ; for who would obey against his interest , or who would practice against his inclination , without fear ? and who would fear without punishment ? according therefore to the degrees of impunity , which men can find or fansie , will their obedience to the laws , or disobedience prove . and so it is , even in the smallest matters that relate to children , they naturally incline the wrong way , and are kept strait by forcible coercion ; the dread of punishment is the restraint that lies most powerfully upon them , 't is the consideration of that , that is their motive to obedience , and the discouragement that keeps them from offending : and he that removes that bar , lays them expos'd and open to every danger and temptation . but nothing does this more effectually , than suffering them to sin at first without reproof and punishment ; this strangely lessens the guilt and horrour of their faults within their own minds , gives them degrees of confidence in wickedness , and makes them think it no such hainous matter , and venture on it frequently and freely , till it at last becomes habitual , and is rooted firmly in them : and then the danger is a thousand times the greater , and the pains of remedying all these mischiefs infinitely more . so that allowing that they must some time or other root these evils out , free them from the bondage and captivity of their lusts and passions , and rid them of all their bad and foolish principles , and set them in the ways of virtue and sobriety again , allowing , i say , that this must needs be done , that they cannot possibly be safe or happy withont it , nay , that they must be miserable here and more than so hereafter . allowing of all this , it is demonstrable , that it is not only a piece of the greatest wisdom to set about it betimes , but of the greatest mercy and compassion in the world , even in the judgment of the tenderest and most pittying mother . 't is like putting one to death , to save a hundred by the terror of the example , which may be justice to the offender , but is in truth a kindness to the rest . if one reproof and admonition , will prevent the occasion of twenty more , each one as sharp and terrible , it would be cruelty to spare it . if an early restraint of undue liberty , will prevent licentiousness hereafter , which must be restrain'd with chains and dungeons , who would not think it a mercy to be restrain'd betimes ? it is better sure to break us of our wills betimes , and to deny us our satisfactions in small and trifling things , before we can have set our hearts upon them , than to let our wills and inclinations gather strength , and our affection settle and grow firm , 〈◊〉 and then begin to fall upon us ; the one is only as the bending , the other as the breaking , of an arm. a little pain , and trouble , and uneasiness will serve at first to set us right again , when a continuance in our evil state , and a contracted habit , will require a great deal of patience , and put us to a great deal of torment . a little care and a little strength , will serve to keep a young and tender graft in uprightness and order , which if permitted to grow awry for some time , must suffer violence and great distortion , before it will be strait again . the older we grow in evil practices and evil maximes , the older they grow too , and take the faster hold , and root the deeper in us , and consequently are remov'd with greater difficulty . so that allowing , that there is an absolute necessity of their being removed at length it is plain and manifest beyond denyal , that it is not only better both for parent and for child , that it be done betimes , but that it is a piece of cruelty both in the one , and to the other , to deferr it , till the vicious habit is contracted ; and consequently that the truth of the proposition in the text does visibly appear , that he that loveth his son chastneth him betimes . and having done with that , i am now to make application of what hath been said , and it shall be to the parties here concern'd . first , the parent . secondly , the children , and to both in short . first , to the parent . to shew you the necessity there is of bringing up your children under an early and severe discipline , the spirit calls the doing of it love , which is a term so fit and so expressive , that nature seems to have appropriated it to parents in such manner , that they are fond of the name , even when they have not the thing ; they would be thought to love even when they don't , it lookes so like their own , and what they should do : and the neglect of this he calls hatred , a term from which all parents naturally abhor . but that you might not be deceived , and make your judgments from the passions and affections of your own hearts , he describes this love and hate by such effects as are not usually the products of those passions in the hearts of parents ; but such as are so in god's accounts , and wise mens , and childrens themselves when they grow up to years of understanding ; and therefore that you should not set the movings of your hearts , and your own fond opinions and conceits of kindness , against the reason , judgment , and experience of the whole world , and oftentimes your own : but freeing your selves as much as may be , from the partialities of nature , and your p●arental prejudices , deal with your own as freely and as wisely as you would with the children of a forreigner and stranger , believing there is need of equal care , and equal rigour , in treating with your own as you can visibly discern there is , in treating with anothers . this is the only true and lasting kindness you can do them ; all other tokens of your love , but that of good discipline , will die with you , or may be taken from them by sundry chances and misfortunes . this is the only treasure and possession you can leave them , of which they cannot be depriv'd by thieves and robbers ; out of the power of chance , and above the reach and malice of the subtilest and most formidable enemy . this alone , without any other accession , often proves the foundation of a lasting happiness ; but every thing besides , without this , signifie at least nothing , but are most commonly the instruments of greater mischief , and the occasions of greater falling . and though it can't be done without reluctancy and some uneasiness on both parts , yet it must needs be done however : it is but like removing knives and instruments of danger out of their way , for fear of hurting them , notwithstanding all their cryings and impatience after them ; or like the administring severe physick , to prevent a growing sickness , notwithstanding all their loathings and resistance : your fondness seldom hinders you from this , and yet severe and early discipline , is but an equal crossing of their wills , an exercising of their patience , and applying as uneasie remedies to evils much more dangerous , and to effect a good much more considerable than that of health it self . it is not easie to determine how far childrens faults are chargeable upon their parents ; there are too many , and too intricate circumstances to be consider'd , before one can decisively pronounce on such matters : but neither of them are the safer for this uncertainty and doubt : the children shall unquestionably suffer for their own sins , and the parents as unquestionably for their neglect : they have both of them guilt enough , and both of them shall have enough of punishment ; the one for not having done what they shou'd , the other for doing what they shou'd not . not that after all the care , and discipline , and early chastisement , the parent is secure of the event , but secure of himself , and his design : he has done his duty , and must leave the issue in the hands of of god ; he has taken the natural , ready , reasonable , and usual , and appointed means , and if the strength of temptations , and the violence of the children's passions , or the perverseness of their wills , obstruct and hinder these means from attaining of their good end , he has freed his soul ; the parent may be , after that sad and unfortunate , but has remov'd his guilt and punishment ; and , next to the effecting what we would , is the satisfaction of having done what one should . and so much for application to the parent . a word or two to the other party , and i have done ; and that , not to persuade you that reproof , restraint , and punishment are things eligible , or no such grievous and uneasie states as they are fansied , for they are undoubtedly uneasie states , and just as bad as you experience them to be ; there is no arguing against sense , or persuading against feeling : but that you would believe , since they proceed from people of the greatest love and tenderness , and sore against their inclinations , that they are the most natural and necessary means of effecting the greatest good , and preventing the greatest evils in the world , and so designed by those that do inflict them . it is true what st. paul observes in another case , heb. 12. i1 . that no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous , but grievous ; nevertheless afterwards , it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby . you cannot love correption and restraint , but when you shall hereaster see and feel the effects of all this careful discipline , in the fear of god , in the government of your passions , in temperance , in chastity , in patience under evils , in bearing disappointments , in the joys of innonence , and the comforts of a good conscience ; then you will bless your parents and instructors , who by their admonitions , seasonable reproofs , and early chastisements , delivered you from the snares of sin and death , from the plague of a guilty mind , from an uneasie remembrance of what is past , and a fearful looking for of evils to come , which you will then desire to have avoided , though with the utmost pain and torment , and curse the indulgence that prevented it . you will have other notions and opinions of the love of parents and instructors than you now have ; and therefore , in the mean time , let the reason , wisdom , and experience of all ages convince you , that the courses taken , to make you good and happy , are not only fit and suited to your age , and tempers , but necessary and unavoidable , tho' for the present they appear so grievous and unacceptable ; and therefore ben't so hasty and impatient under them , nor covet so to be deliver'd from them : be not so fond of immature manhood , only because you think it is a state of freedom from the bondage of your discipline . that age has no such charms in it as you imagine , and when aspir'd to so ambitiously , and so unseasonably , 't is only to perfect your destruction , and complete your misery the sooner ; it is according to the good or ill improvement of this your season of discipline , that manhood shall prove more or less comfortable : the ground is now a cultivating , the seed is now a sowing , that shall spring up to lasting honour and advantage , or to your lasting shame and ruine . and therefore though the heats of fancy , the vigour of your springing youth , and fervour of complexion , may suggest both strange and forward things , yet trust them not , nor listen to them . it is but like the gaiety that springs up from the fumes of new wine , that warm and delight men for a moment , but soon evaporate , and leave the heart in greater damps and melancholy . you will quickly find the mischiefs of forsaking discipline , and all those gay expectances will vanish , and conclude in lamentable disappointments ; but the trouble is , that then repentance comes too late , the time is irrecoverable , and the evil is irremediable . and therefore , to conclude , learn to be wise in this your hour , the wisdom at least , of suffering others to be wise and careful for you , in things of which you have as yet no knowledge or experience , and yet so necessary to you , that thereupon depends the welfare and felicity of all your lives . finis . a vindication of an essay concerning critical and curious learning in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton, and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyle : in an answer to an oxford pamphlet / by the author of that essay. rymer, thomas, 1641-1713. 1698 approx. 60 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 31 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a58027 wing r2434 estc r35155 15043405 ocm 15043405 103098 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a58027) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103098) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1578:5) a vindication of an essay concerning critical and curious learning in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton, and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyle : in an answer to an oxford pamphlet / by the author of that essay. rymer, thomas, 1641-1713. [2], 54 p. printed for e. whitlock ..., london : 1698. signed at end: t.r. [i.e. thomas rymer] attributed by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints to rymer. error in paging: p. 28-29 misprinted 29-28. imperfect: print show-through with some loss of print. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng rymer, thomas, 1641-1713. -essay concerning critical and curious learning. bentley, richard, 1662-1742. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. education -early works to 1800. education -philosophy -early works to 1800. 2002-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 jennifer kietzman sampled and proofread 2003-03 jennifer kietzman text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a vindication of an essay concerning critical and curious learning : in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton ; and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl . in answer to an oxford pamphlet . by the author of that essay . — pudet haec opprobria vobis , et dici potuisse , & non potuisse refelli . london , printed for e. whitlock , near stationers-hall . 1698. a vindication of an essay concerning critical and curious learning , &c. in answer to an oxford pamphlet . sir , i little thought there would have been any need of defending the short essay concerning critical and curious learning , &c. which i ●ately writ and printed , you know , ●urely in complyance to your desires . but i did not consider how tenderly some people are affected with any thing that looks like a reproof . it was no sooner published , but out comes an acute answer from oxon , and pronounces it a down-right ignorant and impudent libel , and the author of it an atheistical town-wit . whether this dreadful charge is made out or not , shall be my present inquiry ; and because i am not much in love with the la●pooner's method of railing in general , and talking at random , i will beg your patience while i take every particular paragraph into a distinct , but short , examination . not that i think there is any thing in this trivial paper worth the trouble ; for on the other hand , pudet recitare , & nugis addere pond●s . but the author seems to be so full of himself , and writes with such a magisterial air , that some people ( especially those that are byassed ) may be apt to fancy he has justice on his side , and that my silence is a tacit acknowledgment of it . besides , i may possibly do him himself no disservice , in shewing him how unfit a champion he is to undertake the defence of a publick cause . there is a vast difference betwixt the qualifications , which may make a man appear advantagiously enough in an university , and those which will render him acceptable and eminent in the world. but i do not , sir , pretend to undervalue an university ▪ education ; for i know , the mo●t considerable personages of our nation have always been those , who had their first institutions there . i would only urge , that a man must have a more diffused and mixed conver●ation than is to be met with in a college , before his learning will sit agreeably upon him , or he can hope to become a finish'd scholar ; such a one i mean as this gentleman takes himself to be . i can observe no method in what i am about . you must take it as it comes , in the confusion he has delivered it . and therefore without any more preliminary , i will begin to transcribe . viz. sir , i thank you ●or the pamphlet you sent me the other day ; and because you was pleased to make it the condition of your gi●t , that i should return my thoughts upon it : i have here sent them by the first post , and i believe much sooner than you expected . you have them in the very order they at fi●st occurred to me , without any manner of correction ; for truly i did not think it worth my while to make any . this introduction you see affords nothing remarkable , but that our friend is very good at writing letters ; and may be depended upon by his correspondents for a speedy answer , let the business they employ him about be never so disobliging to him , or insignificant in it self ; unless perhaps we are to understand by the particular character of the words condition and gift , that there is some pretty double entendre couched in them . i suppose his meaning ( if he has any ) must be to inform us ( by way of lawyer ) that some gifts are upon condition , and some not ; and that where there is a condition , that condition must be performed before the title to the gift can be good . but let the distinction lye where it will , i wish for my part he had not thought this small gift worth his acceptance , upon the barbarous condition of persecuting his unknown , humble servant , as you shall hear he now and then does . first then , it is obvious to remark , that the author , whoever he is , has given his essay a wrong ●itle . if he had had a mind to deal honestly with his reader , it should have run thus : an essay , &c. ●n which are contained several false and scandalous reflections on christ church in oxon. but to turn over the title page . in his preamble ( where i assure you he pretends abundance of modesty ) he cannot forhear making open proclamation , that he and his friend , to whom he addresses this piece , have resolved to censure and damn all books , that shall be hereafter published : to which purpose they have established a critical correspondence between them . wo be to all poor writers for the future ! but he has given the world no reason to hope well of this grand design . for in the present case ( which it seems is the first he has medled in ) he is far from b●ing so fair and equitable a moderator as he ought , or indeed as he himself would pretend to be . for he has every where shewed that dogmatical humour and arrogance he blames in others ; and has taken a most intolerable freedom , where he ought not to have done it . i have but two reasons to think that dr. bentley himself did not write this treatise : one is , that the matter is infinitely too polite , and the style too smooth and flowing for him . the other , that i hardly believe his self-love and pride , would have suffered him to have dealt so freely and justly with his own and his friend's characters ; tho' it was the most likely way to do him a real service at the bottom . for these reasons i must acquit the doctor , and tell you , that i rather believe the author to be an esquir● , ( as he calls himself ) and one of those mighty wits amongst you in town , that set u● for the overthrow of religion ; who the better to gain their en●s , lay hold on all occasions , of traducing the universities , and undermining the dignity and character of the clergy . and tho' i have said this of him , yet it is no wonder that he is dr. bentley's friend and acquaintance . here i have several things to account for . the first is a misnosmer . but i cannot agree with him in it , since i am by no means guilty of the false and scandalous reflections he talks of . for what i have said of christ church in oxon , is so far from being the false or scandalous insinuation of an enemy , that their best friends have frequently and publickly owned the truth of it ; and ( to quote horace once more ) dicere verum quid vetat ? i appeal to you , or any impartial person , whether i have not left many things unmentioned , that might easily have been brought in , if i had had a mind to shew my malice . but i thought my self obliged to touch upon nothing , but what lay immediately within the argument . i did not so much urge my own single opinion , as deliver the sense of every body that knew them , which i could easily make appear , was it not too invidious a task . but if i could not , this gentleman has effectually done it for me . he has given the world a fresh and unquestionable evidence , that there is as much vanity at least , as learning in that college , as i shall prove by and by from his own words . if instead of making amendments in my title page , he had given me some useful monitions and grave advice , and told me , that it was a rule in satyr , parcere personis dicere de vitijs , that truth was not to be spoken at all times , &c. i might very probably have stood corrected , and never have troubled you nor him with this defence . but he is pleased to be scurrilous , and i must go on with him to the next accusation ; which is for erecting a critical tribunal , and making you and my self the arbitrary judges of it . could this be made out , i must confess , he would have great reason to complain of me , for removing that court of extream justice from his residence , and for wresting the authority out of their hands , who have more leisure and assurance to put it in execution . but i cannot imagine what brought the whim into his head. there is not the least ground for it , in that sentence he seems to point at in the essay ; where , after professing my own inability and unwillingness to venture upon so nice a topick , i say , in order to begin that correspondence betwixt us , which your letter so kindly proposes , and which is so much for my own benefit , i will here give my imperfect thoughts upon , &c. he might as well have found out the doctrine of transubstantiation in these words , as any such meaning ; but when a man is resolved to say what comes next , who can help it ? hitherto the essay and the essayer ( as he calls me ) are only concerned . but now you have dr. bentley forced in by neck and heels , to bear me company , and take his share of the satyr . it seems , he is never to escape the gaul of their acute pens ; for otherwise i cannot conceive , why he is named here , only to tell the courteous reader , that he had nothing to do with this treatise . the same argument would have brought in the czar of muscovy , and many other great men , that never dreamt of turning authors ; unless he will insist upon it , that he has but two reasons to believe the dr. did not write it , and perhaps there may be two and twenty , to think the czar did not : but then he must consider again , that one of the reasons he has given is as good as one thousand , and in such a gase a little logick , with the help of as much philosophy , would have taught him to conceal his private resentments . if dr. bentley had not been a man of self-love and pride , commo● sense sure would have hindered him from dealing so very freely with mr. wotton and himself . for i cannot see what real service it could do him at the bottom , to wound his enemy through his own sides . the other reason indeed i doubt was thrown in unawares , or with a design meerly to mortifie the doctor . for he no sooner says , that i write a better style than the doctor , but you may perceive he immediately recollects himself , and least i should grow proud upon it , calls me in the same breath a traducer of the university , a reviler of the clergy , an underminer of the church , and an overthrower of religion : and which is still more notorious ( for i was to expect no better language from him ) he bestows the same compliments upon the doctor too , without any regard at all to his character . one would have thought dr. bentley's sermons against atheism ( for i must suppose our student has read them ) would have secured him in partic●lar from such insufferable calumnies . i hope after this , he will not complain of any man's incivility . there are no such aspersions to be found in my late piece . the liberty there taken with dr. aldrich , is of a●other nature , of a much lower form . for any thing i have said to the contrary , he may still be an honest man , and a good christian. i medled not with his morals or way of life , because it would have been an impertinent and unjustifiable way of det●action , which i thought b●low me : and yet this censor mo● , this correcter of my intol●rable freedoms , has not boggled at it himself . whatever he may think of my squireship , i have a greater respect for any dignified divine , than to call him an atheist : i am not so like almanzor ( as he would elsewhere have me ) to do all this because i dare . every man's reputation ( especially a clergy ▪ man's ) ought to be sacred : the law makes it so , and has provid●d penalties against the authors o● libels and de●amatory books . but , if ●here was no satisfaction to be had in these cases , it is a mean and ungenerous thing , to expose and p●t lish any one's faults , especially such as may really wound his character , and good name in the world. no body that had had any notion of honour or good manners , would have been guilty of it , when it had no relation at all to his subject . so much for my morals . in the next place you have an account of my learning . but i would gladly know what there is in this piece , that should make it gain so mighty a reputation , as you say it has ; and particularly how it comes to deserve your esteem , notwithstanding the aversion you are pleased to say you have to the satyrical stuff in it . it is indeed called ( i should say miscalled ) an essay concerning critical and curious learning : which , i must own , is a very promising title , and one might reasonably expect som●thing new and delicate upon so nice an argument . it came to my hands with an extraordinary advantage , in that it had your recommendation . i durst not pass any censure upon it . i suspended my judgment , and read it again and again ; but i liked it worse every time i did so . i cannot indeed but acknowledge , i had some little reason to be byassed , when i found the worthy and reverend dean of christ church so undecently treated ; and the reputation of ●is whole society arraigned in a most imperious and insolent manner . this paragraph is civil enough in conscience from a professed adversary ; and if i manage it to the best advantage , i shall be able to pick up a compliment or two at least out of it , which may make some little amends for his former rudenesses . first then , he tells me , the essay has gained a good reputation in general ; that his friend in particular , was pleased to pass a favourable censure upon it ; and that truly for his own part , he is byassed upon the dean of christ-church's account . after this frank confession of his partiality , i can easily forgive his calling what is said upon his college satyrical stuff . i am not concerned neither at any other unkind expressions ; because i know they are extorted from his good nature . i do not much care too , if i resign him my title page , since he will needs insist again upon it , viz. it is called , ( i should say miscalled ) . there is no withstanding such an unaffected flower and turn of speech : ●ully himself could not have said so much in so short a parenthesis : and therefore ( as i said before ) my title-page is at his service . thus far matters are well enough reconciled : he has either meant me no harm , or done me none : and if i can acquit my self as well from what follows , we shall part very good friends . the seri●s part of this piece is nothing but a farrago of common notions , put indeed into tolerable good language : but the author talks so very abruptly , and has so cramped himself upon every head , that what he says of his performance in jest , may very well be applyed to it in good earnest ; viz. that by endeavouring to say a grea● deal in so narro● a compass and short a time , he has scarce said any thing . but why did not our essayer take a wider compass , and a longer time for this mighty undertaking of his ? what provocation had he to speak to any subject , unless he would have done it to purpose ? was it a task imposed upon him , which he was willing to get off his hands as soon as he could , and was he at the same time obliged to print it ? when he delivers his own opinion , and gives the finishing turn to any argument , he does it in as positive decisive a manner , as if dr. bentley himself had done it . he bears all down before him , and when he is going to prove some ordinary known thing , puts himself into as great a sweat and tumult , as if he was about some of the knottyest points in all mathematicks , and was doing no less than squaring the circle . to make a shew of much learning ( a qualification not very common amongst such wits ) he runs through all the sciences , but after a very odd manner : for when the reader expects some handsome account of them , he baulks him with lame and imperfect definitions . he pretends to have pressed his matter very close , but it is still so sp●ngy , that it may be squeezed much closer , and fairly reduced into nothing . i have often heard honest will. pate , talk as roundly over a glass of wine , of all kinds of learning and languages , as our author , without ever suspecting him to have any clear or full notions of what he was about . there is a sort of common-place , which any man that keeps good company may easily be furnished with ; and yet at the same time , be no more a scholar , than the pope's parrot , that could repeat the creed , by keeping much company with his holiness , was a christian. the first sentence here , is a flat contradiction to what went before . before he affirmed in cool blood , that my matter was polite , and my style smooth , and flowing : now his passion gets the better of him , and it is nothing but a farrago of common notions ; which is as much as to say , that the same thing is white , and is not white at the same time : for a farrago of common notion , and polite matter , are no more akin than light ●nd darkness . however , since he still owns , that these common notions are put into good language , i have no reason to contend with him about a small contradiction . for by this concession , he gives me no less a character , than that which the criticks have made the propriety of the divine horace , viz. the ●xpressing common things in excellent words ; ( which by the way is the reason that poet can never be well translated ; for no other language is sufficiently expressive of the delicacy and fulness of the latine phrase . ) but in the following part of this paragraph he seems at first sight to offer several weighty objections , but they are put in such loose and general terms , that i can make nothing of them . instead of giving a reason for what he says , he asks two or three impertinent questions , of no more consequence than if he should have said , what is your name , sir ? what does t. r. stand for ? nay , they are hardly so much to his point . for if he could but once have learned who i was , he mig●t possibly have made an odd use of it , and troubled the wo●ld with a history of my life . but that which looks most like a real objection is this ; he runs through all the sciences , but after a very odd manner . for when the reader expects some h●ndsome account of them , he baulks him w●h lame and imperfect definitions . if ●e means , that what i have said upo● the sciences , is not suffi●ient to gve the reader a distinct view , and ●ll idea of them , i shall readily a●quiesce in his criticism , and only u●ge in my vindication , that it was i●possible sor me to do it in the co●pass i had allotted my self . but if h● meaning is , that what i have said is in it self lame and imperfect , he would have done well to have giv●n me some particular instance of ●t ; for ' ●ill he is pleased to do so , i can make no defence without ac●using my self . i writ the essay w●th the same awe ( if i may be allo●ed the comparison on my part ) t●at tully did his epistles to atticus . 〈◊〉 knew i was talking to one that understood every topick better than my self ; and was therefore much more sparing of my words than i should have been , had i pretended instruction . but , if i had designed that , i know not what like lier method i could have taken ▪ than first to give the general defintion of every science in as pleas●g unscholastick terms as i could , ●nd then to deliver my own partic●lar notions of it . but i never preended to answer the full end of your proposals ; or to give my opnion , how far a man might pro●eed in every science , without carr●ing ●is search further , than was usefu● . this , sir , i told you was an a●gument infinitely too bulky and e●tensive , for the form and length of 〈◊〉 essay ; and as i conceived , was t● be managed in the same metho● , ●he famous verulam had done hi● excellent book of the advancement ●f learning , and would require a v●lume little less than his . i was so farfrom thinking my self equal to so ●ast an undertaking , that i was slocked at it ; and i then said what i still think , that it was a work hardly to be performed in the compass of one man's life ; and was therefore a more fit employment for a body of learned men , than a single person . they must be men too , hardly unacquainted with any thing . for how else could they determine critically of all kinds of knowledge ? how could they assign suitable methods ●nd proportionable degrees , for the ●rocess of humane understanding , i● all her enquiries ? how could t●ey pretend to fix the boundaries of l●arning ? how could they be capable of forming a regular scheme and plan of the whole circle of ar●s and sciences for the benefit of others , if they were not perfect masters of 'em themselves ? i question whether there is , or ever was , any one man in the world thus qualified . our late lord bacon has in the book i just now mentioned , given large proofs of the universality of his genius ; but he himself was of my opinion . aristotle was certainly the most generally knowing of all antiquity ; yet he is suspected to have copied some of the books ascribed to him , and to have burnt the originals from whence he had them . to be thoroughly vers'd in any art , is the effect of much time and industry ; and we are apt to think our selves accomplished persons too , when once distinguished by the single name of good astronomets , or poets , or orators , &c. without ever hoping to be thought all of them . those who now adays set up for universal scholars ▪ are commonly men but of rambling pedantical learning . they are nicely skill'd in the mechanical part and jargon of the sciences ; have pr●bably read and got by heart all the general systems : they are such p●rfect masters of the terms in logick , that they can immediately form an argument in any ▪ mode and figure , detect a sophism at the first glance , and , which is still more , compile a compendium of the whole art , if occasion be , for the use of their friends and pupils . they understand so much of mathematicks , as to solve most of the problems in euclid ; nay , perhaps as to draw up a small unintelligible scheme of the grounds and principles of geometry . they may be so well vers'd in astronomy too , as to know the common revolutions of the stars , to calculate the eclipses of the sun and moon , and to furnish out an almanack every year , ( set off and adorned with curious italian sculptures , whereby it becomes not only useful , to find out the day of the month , but at the same time serves instead of a picture in a clos●t , and by consequence is never out of date . ) but whether such men have any notion of the profound researches in these and other sciences , whether they have made any useful and sound reflections upon them or not , remains a doubt , 'till they shall give the world greater proofs and evidences than these i have named . but i had almost forgot his extraordinary waggery , in comparing will. pate and me to pope somebody's parrot . it is plain from hence , that he is deeply read in church history . he could no doubt have told what the pope's name was , what language he and the parrot used to converse in , &c. and i wonder he did not ; since these and such like circumstances would have been as new and entertaining to the reader , as that of the birds repeating the creed , and as applicable withal to me . but why poor ●ill . pate is here abused , is a mistery of impertinence . he has not i hope tak●n dr. bentley's side , and spoken trea●on against phalaris . if he has , let him lye at a tyrant's mercy . if he has not , i will in his name and my own , present our athenian with one bird for another , and tell him plainly , that he is as like an owl , as either will. pate or ia parrot ; for as the proverb expresly has it , there are owls at athens , as well as parrots at rome . in short , he is sometimes a proud , supercilious critick , sometimes a dry and starch'd common-placer , and always impertinent to his reader , and inconsistent with himself . if it was worth while , i would undertake to refute every thing out of the essay it self . one sentence contradicts another . he is not of the same opinion two leaves together . here you have him crying up experimental philo●ophy , but with abundance of limitations , as the most pleasant study in the world , and which a man ought to spend all his time in . presently he forgets this , and talks as loudly for all the other sciences one after another ; only mathematicks and metaphysicks have the hard hap not to be of the number of his favourites . when he comes to talk of his beloved argument , of critical learning in the modern acception , as it is taken for a thorough understanding of classick authors , and an exact knowledge of all those rules , by which men judge and determine nicely of all the finer parts and branches of humane literature ; he displays all his force , and is most wonderfully instructive . he informs his reader , that aristotle was the first that drew up these rules into a compass , and made criticism an art ; that horace , longinus , and all the criticks both ancient and modern , drained most of their knowledge from him . this is just as much and no more , than has been said an hundred times in dedications and prefaces to plays . not only mr. congreve , dennis , &c. but even settle and durfey have often said it before him ; and most of them in their present controversie with mr. collier , make nothing of talking of aristotle as familiarly as this gentleman , without ever having read one word of him . but he goes on victoriously , and says , criticism is without all douht a very good thing , notwithstanding what some people say of it ; and hath a pretty similitude about alexander and caesar , nothing to the purpose ; from whence however he infers as fast as hops , the great advantage of critical knowledge . such deductions are of the same stamp with his friend● dr. bentley's : but i am sure i argue more logically , when i say , that because dr. bentley writes false latin and false english , that therefore by way of contrary he is in the right of it ; for a good argument may be , and often is ill defended . after having muster'd up all this , he leaves his argument for a while , and makes a digression upon the use of frequent compositions . here he crowds his fine notions very thick upon us , and to single out one from amongst many , he tells us , that all the faculties of the mind , whether active or passive , are mightily heightened and improved by exercise . this proposition is certainly true ; and so it will hold , if i should affirm it of the faculties of the body , and illustrate my position with the famous story of milo , who first tryed his strength in carrying a calf , and by constant application , was at last able to do as much for an oxe . but who could i hope to inform by it ? is ●ny body that had common sense or learning before , made ev●r a whit the wiser for this ? if i say , critically speaking , that virgil is a better poet than martial , and heroick poetry nobler than anagram , i talk upon safe grounds , and no body can contradict me , without palpably contradicting the truth : but what then ? when a man will needs be an a●thor , especially of essays ; it is expected he should produce ardens aliquid , something new and entertaining : montaign and sir evremont are remarkable for it . there is yet another notable piece of criticism , and it is that tully was a better poet than an oratour . this is true too , and i have nothing to say in answer to it . but to return with him from this digression . the next thing he presents us with , is a terrible description of the modern criticks , that they are byassed by partiality , and in spight of all their specious pretences , a strong tincture of ill nature unhappily appears in every line . they tell us indeed in their prefaces , that they have dealt very handsomly and candidly with the authors they comment upon : but when we come to the remarks themselves , we are entertained with nothing but continual snarling and insolence . this will prove as true as the rest of his axioms and wise sayings , if rightly applyed , that is to himself . one would imagine by the concise in short at the head of this article , that he had before put himself quite out of breath with reasoning , and was now come to make his use and application from the whole . but it is at last only to say over again , what he has said several times already , that he could if he would , prove my essay to be inconsistent and contradictory . if i thought this forbearance of his was pure good nature , i should be mightily obliged to him . but i am of their ill contrived temper , who suspect every kindness from an enemy to be the effect of necessity more than choice ; and think he does not do me harm , only because he cannot . but , when a man is at a non plus , 't is a pretty superficial turn , to pretend he will not trouble himself and the reader , with heaping up all that might be said upon the occasion . the true reason of silence in such cases is , that what is left behind is not worth speaking . the argument in it self may not be exhausted indeed ; but it is not the talent of every pamphletee● to say just as much as a subject will handsomely bear , and no more : there is required a solid judgment to do this , even on the most trifling questions . as to the crying up experimental phylosophy , and then talking as loudly for all the other sciences , it is unfairly alledged against me , and i may say without any breach of modesty , that i have not confounded my opinions : i have been at least consistent with my self . for if i affirm , that experimental philosophy is the most noble , beneficial , and satisfactory , of all those sciences , that an inquirer into nature can apply himself to , and in the same discourse call history ( in relation to civil life ) one of the most useful and pleasant studies in the worl● , i shall be thought to contradict my self by no body , that is possest of a tolerable understanding , tho' the superlative degree is used in both cases . and yet this is all i can find ( upon an 〈◊〉 examination ) that makes him assert so positively , that one sentence contradicts another ; that i am not of the same opinion two leaves together . but the mischief of it is , he suspects at the bottom i know nothing of the topicks i am upon , and therefore takes it for granted , that i betray my ignorance every now and then , especially of mathematicks and metaphysicks . if i may be permitted to use the same freedom , and guess at his skill in these matters by his manner of refuting an essay , i fancy they are a little too crabbed for his head too , as well as mine . he ●eems to be no friend to the mathematicks neither , and i doubt is so far from being likely to square the circle , that it would perplex him grievously to demonstrate , that the three angles in a triangle are neither bigger nor less than two right angles ; or any such known proposition . but all this is gratis dictum . he may overflow with learning , and yet scorn to bestow any of it upon me and my idle treatise . it is enough to say i write non-sense , without being at the pains to prove it ; for some mens bare authority is more convincing than other mens best arguments . in the next place he examines my knowledge in classick learning , and here to my eternal shame he finds me no better a proficient than in the severer studies . he finds nothing but common and trivial things , but what has been said in dedications and prefaces an hundred times . i own i say aristotle was the father of criticism , which for any thing i know may have been said not only an hundred , but a thousand times before me . but what then ? i do not advance it as a new discovery . i only make use of it as a necessary introduction to a discourse upon that subject . if i had talked of criticism , and not named aristotle , i suppose i should have been as much to blame on the other hand . and there would have been a great deal more reason for suspecting me not to have read any part of his works than at present there can be . 't is true , i have quoted no greek out of him , which i ought by all means to have done , had i foreseen my acquaintance with that language had been likely to come in question ▪ but whether i understand it or not , the four poets ( who are here as awkardly brought in and traduced as will. pate was ) may , for any thing this academick or i know to the contrary . none of them , i dare say , have ever made honourable mention of aristotle in their prefaces , without a greek citation or two at the same time . and in their present controversie with mr. collier , some of them have plentifully quoted latine and greek authors in their own tongue ; the fathers themselves have hardly escaped . but i have enough to do to defend my self . it seems i have not only dealt too familiarly with aristotle , but with his great pupil alexander , and caesar likewise ; and i must give an account of it . as to this ; i will beg leave to tell my friend , he has ignorantly , or ( which is as bad ) wilfully mistaken the plain sense of a whole pa●agraph , as you will immediately see , if you please to cast your eye upon the 29th . page of the essay ▪ he says i infer from alexander and caesar the great advantage of critical knowledge . whereas on the contrary i ●ay , some people have argued the inconvenience of adhereing to critical rules , from a comparison of those two great examples in heroick virtue . but for all this mistake is so gross and apparent , he runs away with it , and in a most academical sophism ( put indeed as a parallel to my reasoning , but truly a specimen of his own ) he ridicules me and dr. bentley at once for two poor silly fellows , that know nothing of logick . if this was not below an answer , it would be very easie to prove from it , that he had never read one word of aristotle , nor any other logician neither , any more than my worship . one would think it impossible for a man of common sense , to write such incoherent irrational trash . but sometimes peoples malice perverts their understanding , and transports them to a strange degree of folly and impertinence . but i may think , and say , and prove what i will ; he is so well satisfied with the justness of his reflections , that he pursues me with equal vigour through the digression upon the use of frequent compositions ; and to my great comfort he does it just with equal success too . here he is again disgusted at my trumping common notions upon him for fine things ; which ( says he ) are by no means proper for an essay , where all should be new and entertaining , ( which he makes two synonimous terms ) . but with his good leave , ( since he will ●orce me to justifie my common notions ) the commonest notions are always the most proper mediums , the best and surest basis to reason upon , and are in themselves the strongest arguments , for that they arise most naturally and easily out of any subject . and therefore , whoever writes ( essay or pamphlet ) with a design to convince , must not neglect the use of them . the sentence here produced as an instance of my ordinary common stuff , [ all the faculties of the mind , whether active or passive , are mightily heightened and improved by exercise ] i am not at all ashamed of i still think it a good arg●ment , to evince the advantage of frequent application to composition . if a man would always resolve to write something that was never said or thought of before , his productions might be ▪ new indeed , but not therefore entertaining ; nay they must of necessity be whimsical and ridiculous . we find very few books upon the same topicks , ( tho' ●enned by authors of never such different genius's ) that do not for the most part use the 〈◊〉 ge neral arguments , and often interfere with one another : but that which commonly distinguishes them , is the particular manner , the style and method of each author . not that i would affirm , that men do not sometimes differ very materially in their sentiments of the same things . what else has occasioned so many opposite hypotheses , so many disputes and controversies , which have always employed the pens of the learned , and to which indeed are owing the greatest progresses and advances that have been made in knowledge , both in past and present ages ? but i forget my text. another piece of criticism is , that tully was a better poet than an oratour , &c. i will take no advantage of the words poet and oratour being here transposed , because i believe it was through the printer's negligence ; but i am not sure he would not have made himself merry with any such slip in my book . he is guilty of as idle things . in this very place he quotes half a sentence , puts his own construction up ▪ on it , and then makes me talk as like a squire as he pleases . 't is true , ( in the 39th . page of the essay , which i suppose he refers to ) i name cicero ; but it is only as an instance to prove , that invention i● any kind , will turn to some advantage or other , and that his application to poetry was of great use to him in his rhetorical composures . but whether he was a better poet or an oratour , was a controversie that did not lye much in my way , and i only hinted at it . to pronounce fully and clearly upon so doubtful a question , to unriddle a secret that had ●ain hid so many centuries , was reserved for some extraordinary genius ; such an aedipus could arise only in thebes or athens . what follows , is transcribed from the essay , and tartly applied to m● . but i think the cap is put on at a venture , without knowing or considering , whether it would fit or not . for he cannot make any body else ( if he can himself ) believe , that i have betrayed the least partiality , because dr. bentley is as freely handled as christ-church . whatever either side may think of the matter , i have honestly given them the real sense of the impartial part of the town , about their quarrel and way of managing it . but if plain dealing can have no effect upon them , let them e'en go on , and make sport for others by exposing themselves . the next paragraph is to inform all those whom it may concern , that i play boo●y ▪ with dr. b●ntley , and that upon second thoughts i am more like almanzor , than a squire : which ( however important ) i shall pass over in silence , as things that sufficiently answer themselves . but i canno● , i fear , make su● quick work of that paragraph which follows it . i have there a 〈◊〉 scroll of offences to answer to ▪ and 〈◊〉 you may the better judge how ●ar i am guilty , you must have the patience to hear both sides . in his first attack upon the college , he takes dr. bentley's method , and says peremptorily , mr. boyle's name is falsly set to the late answer to the dissertation against phalaris's epistles , &c. and that he is sure he had no hand at all in it . this he does out of pure complaisance to mr. boyl as a gentleman , that there may be no quarrel between them two ; fo● he is resolv'd to cut and slash the book to pieces , and without any more to do , says it is full of nothing but little witti●isms and school-boys jests . he begs leave of his reader ( being a very civil person ) to suggest his own opinion . and truly his opinion is , that it was made ( as most compositions in that college are ) by a select club : every man seems to have thrown in a repartee , or so , in his turn ; and the most ingenious dr. aldrich , no doubt , was at the head of them , and smoaked , and p●nned plentifully on this occasion . a pretty conceipt this ! what a dutch image of wit and composition is here ! i here is just as much wit and sence , as probability and good manners in it . for when a gentleman has affixed his name to a book , and owned it , shall any one that dares do neither , give him the lye , and pretend civility at the same time ? it was a clownish bold piece of freedom at first in dr. bentley , and now the same in this ambuscado writer . such rude treatment would have been abominable to any of mr. boyle's quality , had he been a man of no note , had he never given any proofs of his extraordinary genius and great learning to the world ; and as the case is quite otherwise , you and the author must pardon , if i say it is downright impudent . but this is only a sample of some more behaviour of the same kind . he has plenty of such civilities in store for the dean and students of christ church , who he takes to be the true authors of the book . but he does not trouble himself to answer them in any thing material ; but without the least provocation , takes their manners most severely to task , puts a mark upon them , and assures his friend , that they distinguish themselves from the rest of the university , not by their extraordinary learning , but their abominable arrogance . he wonders how they can have the confidence to condemn pride in another , when they have so great a share of it themselves . he woul● very fain know , why it is not as excusable in dr. bentley , who is a scholar , as in some young men , who cannot reasonably be supposed to be so . he is very angry with the dean , and admonishes him for encouraging this haughty proud temper of theirs by his own example ; and as a strong conviction that he does so , he calls a small compendium of logick to witness , in which the dean was so unfortunate as to censure the author of the art of thinking . i kno● not what civilities t. r. esq thinks are due to forreigners ; he is not very courtly , i am sure , to his own country men ▪ but ●arther ; he ventures to affi●m , that the compendium of logick is one of the worst he ever read . the reason is , because it is writen in good latin. a most unpardonable fault ind●ed ! well , but this is not all : he has something more to quarrel with them about , and that is for calling dr. bentley pedant , when he can prove th●m to be as rank pedants themselves . for ( says he ) i take it to be as errant a sign of pedantry , to publish bad edi●ions of old authors , and to be highly solicitous about the various readings of them , which former editions have only neglected , because they were insignificant , as to lard english writings with greek and latin . he is very much in the right of it ; but what is this to christ-chu●ch ? yes ; it is directly levelled at it . for ( he continues ) dr. aldrich is pretty notorious at present for imploying his young unexperienced students this way . i know not what he means by employing his young unexperienced students : but i know , and under his favour , it may be said without any partiality at all , that those books which have been put forth b● this college , both in the late learned dr. fell's time , and the present dean's too , have a very good reputation , not only 〈◊〉 at home , but are likewise much approved by forreigners abroad ; which , i hope , will recommend them to dr. ben●ley's esteem , whatever it may do to this gentleman's . as for the late edition of aesop's fables , it will be time enough to defend it when it is accused . here the preface is only concerned , for calling dr. bentley plain quidam . he would , i suppose , have had his name ushered in with half a dozen epithets of respect ; not considering how scurvily he is using dr. bentley's betters all this whil● . but the next charge bears hard upon them : for it is about no less than two epigrams and one verse , in a poem , intituled , articuli pacis , ●hich he has found in a book late●y published , called , examen poericum duplex , &c. he is 〈◊〉 ●olicitous ( it being a matter of va●t ●onsequence ) to discover the author of them ; and at last ventures to affirm , that either the dean himself , or somebody els● made them . the conjecture is not much unlike that of the d●ch c●mmentators about horace's mother , who , after all their enquiry , could not b●●sitive who she was , but they una●imously agreed that he certainly had one . this being sag●ly premised ; he proceeds to give d● . bentley some comfort , and to infuse a b●lm into the wound , the sting and venom in the tale of these wi●ked epigrams might p●ssibly have made in his mind , assuring him e● critique . that these are by no means the best copies in that collection . as to this ; if th●re was any need of an apology ( which i do not apprehend there is ) it might be alledged as a good one , that that collection was made privately by some gentlemen , that did not think fit to own themselves , and the poems spoke● of were inserted without the author's leave or knowledge ; and therefore they are not strictly obliged to account for them . but this is not very much to the point in hand , and i shall wave it . i am here at the same ▪ loss i have been at all along , to find out any thing that will bear the least examination ; or indeed that looks like an honest defence . for to recite an abuse ( i give him his own word ) with a pretence to answer it , and leave it unanswered , is certainly more injurious than the abuse it self ; which is the case before you . but because i believe he designed well , and meant his friends and himself a real service at the bottom , i will put his objections in the clearest light i can , and make the most of them . i am then chiefly accused of three things : 1. of impudence , in robbing the honourable mr. boyl of his title to a book , which he has put his name to . 2. of insolence , in dealing scurvily with the reverend and worthy dr. aldrich . 3. of ●gnorance , in undervaluing not only the ingenious a●swer to dr. bentley , but the christ-church accurate editions of old authors . to all these charges i plead not guilty . and first , i deny that i have either impudently or modestly robb'd mr. boyl of any honour du● to him . for to argue ●ith this a●ademick in his own way ( i. e. ) by way of syllogism ; because i wo●ld not be too serious in asserting an ill-natur'd truth . if any man puts his name to a book , which he is not the author of , there is no impudence or injury in denying him a title to it . but mr. boyle has put his name to a book , which he is not the autho● of . ergo. if you are not yet convinced , i prove my minor thus . if mr. boyle has put his name to a book , which contains things he does not understand ▪ then he has put his name to a book which he is not the author of . but mr. boyle has put his name to a book , which contains things h● does not understand . ergo again . another hypothetick or two would clear the point . but i trifle . ther● is no need of shewing my skill in logick , or of endeavouring to make out that , which ( like a first principle ) every body takes for granted ▪ besides , to tell you the truth , i am a little unwilling to push this matter too far . i would be tender of a hopeful young gentleman's reputation , if he and his friends would be content with that character , and not talk of his being a man of note , of his having given proofs of his extraordinary genius and great learning to the world , &c. all this indeed might be justly enough said of the late mr. boyle , who has written many learned treatises in experimental philosophy , and was the ornament of the royal society ; but not therefore of that mr. boyle , who has only published a faulty edition of phalaris'● epistles ; ( for i do not pretend , but he might have a hand in that book , tho' not much in this last . ) there seems to be a great stress laid upon his quality ; too as if it w●s a sort of treason to appear against him . for my part , i am ready to pay all respect ▪ that is due to an irish e●rl's young● son , but then ( waving the cer●mony of giving him place ) i think a doctor of divinity or an ind●pendent english gentlem●n not much his inferiour . and i alledge it ( in kindness to him ) as another reason , that he did not write the peice against dr. bentley , because it puts the dr. more frequently in mind of his distance , than became any man of never such high birth to have done in the contentions of wit and argument , where all must be allowed to be equal . secondly . i deny that i have insolently abused the reverend and worthy dr. aldrich . 't is true , i have taken notice of his smoaking and p●nning ; but they are two very ●ociable qualites , and he has no reason to be angry at me for it . he is not the only clergy-man that takes tobacco , nor the only academick that puns . i must confess , he is a punner of the first rate ; for the town has been often obliged to him for good catches , whi●h are the highest flights of that kind of wit. but this is not all , i have called him a proud man , and abused his logick . as to his pride , i will say no more than what i hav already done ; for my design is not to brand his reputation in so tender a part . and as to his compendium of logick , i am sorry i men tioned it ; for to decide whether there be any thing new in it , but the language ; and whether that language is better for being labour'd and full of elegant phrases or not , is a question , that concerns only the fresh men in the universities ; and i will now assign it over to them , and heartily ask their pardon for invading their province before . thirdly and lastly . i deny , that i have ignorantly undervalued the ingenious answer to dr. bentley , and the christ-church accurate editions of old authors . but i will not here so much as recite any of those particular witticisms and passages , which displeased me when i perused this ingenious celebrated book ; because i hear dr. bentley's vindication is in the press , and i am resolved not to interfere with him . it is sufficient for my present purpose , that it appears at first view to any reader , to be done by several hands . the style and matter is almost in every other page of a different complexion . one while you have something that looks a little modest and grave , and the quotations managed to the best advantage . pre●ently the humour changes , and there is nothing to be met with , but buffoonery and unmannerly jests with nothing in them . but it is dr. bentley's business ( not mine ) to detect and apply all their errors . i have already exceeded the limits of a letter , and must hasten to the next thing ; i must account for my speaking ill of their editions of old authors , which ( says my friend ) are famous not only here at home , but are much approved by forreigners abroad . if ●his was true , what is the meaning of the present dispute with dr. bentley ? but they are so far from being books of any standing value amongst other people , that they themselves are not long pleased with them . for many authors , that were published in dr. fell's time , have been again revised , collated , printed , index'd , &c. in dr. aldrich's , and for any thing i know may undergoe the same fate in the next dean's too . as for the late edition of aesop's f●bles , i am told dr. bentley has examined it very particularly , and proved it to be of the number of those , that neither deserve a good reputation at home nor abroad . so that the same reason , which made me conceal my observations on their english book , will oblige me to be silent here too ; unless i would make my self a party in the quarrel ; which i do not design to do , for all i am dr. bentley's dear friend and acquaintance . here , sir , i thought to have released you ; for i was in hopes all had been pretty well over . but his wit is inexhaustible : there is nothing so barren , which he cannot be fruitful and copious upon . who else could have applied the tale of the dutch commentators and horace's mother to two epigrams ? any other man would have told me bluntly , that if i had not been certain of what i said , i should have forborn my idle conjectures . but to return him one ill jest for another , i assure him , the father of the two epigrams is not altogether so much unknown to me , as it seems horace's mother was to the dutch-commentators ; and i did not only guess , when i laid them at a doctor 's door . the pretence of the author 's not being accountable for the abuses in them , because they were printed without his knowledge , is ridiculous , and of a piece with the rest of his arguments . they were not i hope composed , transcribed , and dispersed without his knowledge , which ( had they not been harmless , inoffensive things ) would have made them as much libels as the printing of them . indeed it is an unfair practice to betray a man into print . the collectors ▪ of the examen , &c. should not have inserted them without leave , had they been never so excellent , much l●ss when they hardly deserved a place in their book . but one may guess by it ( with submission to the conjecturing dutch commentators ) that they were no great friends to dr. bentley neither , any more than the author ; and i some times 〈◊〉 , that we are secretly obliged to christ-church it self for that miscellany , notwithstanding this gentleman for some private reasons publickly disclaims it . but , whencesoever it came , if it has given you any divertisement in your solitude , i have had my desire , and there is an end of it . there is yet another paragraph behind , and so it is like to remain . for , besides that it has nothing in it but your humble servant sir , i begin to blush almost as much for examining , as the author ought to do for writing this pragmatical rhapsody . give me leave , sir , to call it what i think i have fairly proved it to be ; tho' ( if i am not wrong informed ) it was the production of one that never doubted his own sufficience and abilities in all kinds of poli●e learning . sir , i am yours , &c. t. r. london , aug. 23. 1698. finis . books printed for richard cumberland at the angel in st. paul's church-yard . horological disquisitions concerning the nature of time , and the reasons why all days , from noon to noon , are not alike twenty four hours long . in which appears the impossibility of a clock's being always kept exactly true to the sun ; with tables of equation , and newer and better rules than any yet extant , how thereby precisely to adjust royal pendulums , and keep them afterwards , as near as possible to the apparent time. with a table of pendulums , shewing the beats that any length makes in an hour . a work very necessary for all that would understand the true way of rightly managing clocks and watches . by john smith , c. m. the mystery of the christian faith and of the blesse●l trinity vindicated , and the divinity of christ proved . in three sermons . preach'd at westminster-abbey upon trinity-suaday , june the 7th . and september 21. 1696. with a letter in vindication of them . by the late reverend william payne , d. d. a scriptural catechism : or , the whole duty of man , laid down in express words of scripture , chiefly intended for the benefit of the younger sort. divided into two parts : the first containing the chief principles of our christian belief . the second instructing us in our duty to god and man , according to the method observed in the excellent book , entituled , the whole duty of man. to which is added , some private devotions in express words of scripture : with devout collects for several occasions . recommended by the right reverend father in god , edward lord bishop of gloucester . reflections upon the devotions of the roman church : with the prayers , hymns and lessons themselves , taken out of their authentick books . the third edition . with an appendix concerning the miracles and reliques of the church of rome . by ●ohn patrick , d. d. late preacher of the charter-house , london . two books of elegies : in imitation of the two first books of ovid de tristibus ; with part of the third . to which is added , verses upon several occasions , with some translations out of the latin and greek poets . by thomas ball , m. a. of st. ●ohn's colledge in cambrdge . monitio logica : or , an abstract and translation of burgersdicius his logick . by a gentleman . a treatise of prayer and thanksgiving : with devotions for the morning and evening , the sacrament , sickness , and ooccasions . by ● . c. to which is added a sermon on psalm 73. 28. by the late reverend b. whitchcott , d. d. and also his character of the best christians . a practical essay concerning friendly reproof . by daniel sturmy , late student of catharine-hall , cambridge . an essay , concerning critical a●d curious learning : in which ●e contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt sir william temple and mr. wotton ; and that betwixt dr. bentley and mr. boyl . by t. r. esq the reformed librarie-keeper with a supplement to the reformed-school, as subordinate to colleges in universities / by john durie ; whereunto is added, i. an idea of mathematicks ii. the description of one of the chiefest libraries which is in germanie ... dury, john, 1596-1680. 1650 approx. 79 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 35 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-02 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a37083 wing d2882 estc r7272 11799763 ocm 11799763 49357 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37083) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49357) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 27:5) the reformed librarie-keeper with a supplement to the reformed-school, as subordinate to colleges in universities / by john durie ; whereunto is added, i. an idea of mathematicks ii. the description of one of the chiefest libraries which is in germanie ... dury, john, 1596-1680. hartlib, samuel, d. 1662. pell, john, 1611-1685. idea of mathematicks. schwartzkopf, johann, 1596-1659. bibliotheca augusta ... quae est wolferbyti. [4], 65 p. printed by william du-gard, and are to bee [sic] sold by rob. littleberrie ..., london : 1650. english or latin. "to the reader" signed by the editor: samuel hartlib. reproduction of original in british library. "an idea of mathematicks" written by mr. joh. pell to samuel hartlib: p. 33-46. "bibliotheca augusta ... quae est wolferbyti" by johann schwartzkopff: p. [47]-65. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng library science -early works to 1800. librarians. education -early works to 1800. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-12 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-12 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the reformed librarie-keeper with a supplement to the reformed-school , as subordinate to colleges in universities . by john durie . whereunto is added i. an idea of mathematicks . ii. the description of one of the chiefest libraries which is in germanie , erected and ordered by one of the most learned princes in europe . london , printed by william du-gard , and are to bee sold by rob. littleberrie at the sign of the vnicorn in little britain . 1650. to the reader . learned reader ! these tracts are the fruits of som of my sollicitations and negotiations for the advancement of learning . and i hope they may in time becom somwhat effectual to rais thy spirit to the exspectation of greater things , which may bee raised upon such grounds as these . all which are but preparatives towards that perfection which wee may exspect by the advancement of the kingdom of christ , wherein the communion of saints , by the graces of the spirit , will swallow up all these poor rudiments of knowledg , which wee now grope after by so manie helps ; and till then in those endeavors i rest in the truth ▪ thy faithfull and unwearied servant samuel hartlie . a supplement to the reformed school . loving freind ! you have offered to mee that which i confess i did not reflect upon , when i wrote the discours you have published under the name of a reformed school ; which is , that som may think by the waie of education , which i propose all universities and eminent places of learning might subtilly bee undermined and made useless , becaus therein a waie is shew'd how to initiate youths not onely to the principles of all religious and rational knowledg , and in the exercises of all moral virtues , but in the grounds of all civil emploiments , so far , as will make them fit for all profitable undertakings in humane societies , whence this will follow ( in their apprehensions ) that they shall have no advantage by beeing sent to anie universities , to attein anie further perfection : becaus the universities will not bee able to add anie thing unto them , which by their own industrie , they may not afterward attein anie where els , as well as there . truly it never came into my thoughts , either directly or indirectly to make universities useless ; nor can it bee rationally infer'd from anie thing in the matter form or end of that discours of mine : but i will grant that such as can see no further then what wee now ordinarily attein unto ; and withal think that there is no plus ultra in nature atteinable above that which they have conceived , such as i saie may frame to themselv's this jealousie against that discours : but if they would rais their thoughts with mee a little above the ordinarie pitch , and consider what the nature of man is capable off : and how far it may , by diligent instruction , by method and communication , bee improved : they might rather bee induced to make this inference , if the natural abilities of youths in a school ( when reformed ) may bee thus far improved : how far more may they bee improved , when they are past the age of youth , and com to manhood in colleges and universities , if namely colleges and universities , could in the sphere of their activities bee proportionally reformed , as the schools may bee in their sphere : for it is rational to conclude thus : if the first step of our reformation will lead us thus far , how far will the second and third lead us ? and if scholastical exercises in youths of eighteen or twentie years , will advance them to that perfection of learning and virtues , which few of double their age or none almost ever attein unto , what will collegial and academical exercises ( if reformed and set upon their proper objects ) bring them unto ? i shall therefore to eas you , or such as may have this scruple and jealousie over mee , declare that my purpose is so far from making colleges and universities useless , that if i might have my desire in them , they should becom a thousand times more useful then now they are , that is , as far above the ordinarie state wherein they are set , as this school is above the ordinarie waie of schooling : for if wee look upon the true and proper ends of school , college and universitie-studies and exercises ; wee shall see that as in nature they are in a gradual proportion , distant from , and subordinate unto each other , so they ought to rise one out of another , and bee built upon each other's foundations . the true and proper end of schooling is to teach and exercise children and youths in the grounds of all learning and virtues , so far as either their capacitie in that age will suffer them to com , or is requisite to apprehend the principles of useful matters , by which they may bee made able to exercise themselvs in everie good employment afterwards by themselvs , and as the proverb is , sine cortice natare . the true and proper end of colleges should bee to bring together into one societie such as are able thus to exercise themselvs in anie or all kind of studies , that by their mutual association , communication , and assistance in reading , meditating and conferring about profitable matters , they may not onely perfit their own abilities , but advance the superstructures of all learning to that perfection , which by such means is attainable . and the true and proper end of universities , should bee to publish unto the world the matters , which formerly have not been published ; to discover the errors and hurtfulness of things mistaken for truths ; and to supplie the defects and desiderata , which may bee servicable to all sorts of professions . now according to those aimes and ends , i suppose it may bee inferred , that none should bee dismissed out of the schools , till they are able to make use of all sorts of books , and direct themselvs profitably in everie cours of studie or action , whereunto their genius shall lead them ; and that none should bee admitted into anie colleges , but such as will join with others , to elaborate som profitable tasks , for the advancement and facilitating of superstructures in things already by som discovered , but not made common unto all ; and that none should bee made publick professors in universities , but such as have not onely a publick aim , but som approved abilities , to supply som defects and to elaborate som desiderata of usefull knowledg , or to direct such as are studious , how to order their thoughts in all matters of search and meditation , for the discoverie of things not hitherto found out by others ; but which in probabilitie may bee found out by rational searching . thus then i conceiv , that in a well-reformed common wealth , which is to bee subordinate unto the kingdom of jesus christ , wherein the glorie of god , the happiness of the nature of man : and the glorious libertie of the sons of god is to bee revealed ; all the subjects thereof should in their youth bee trained up in som schools fit for their capacities , and that over these schools , som overseers should bee appointed to look to the cours of their education , to see that none should bee left destitute of som benefit of virtuous breeding , according to the several kinds of emploiments , whereunto they may bee found most fit and inclinable , whether it bee to bear som civil office in the common-wealth , or to bee mechanically emploied , or to bee bred to teach others humane sciences , or to bee imploied in prophetical exercises . as for this school , which at this time i have delineated , it is proper to such of the nobilitie , gentrie and better sort of citizens , which are fit to bee made capable to bear offices in the common-wealth : the other schools may bee spoken off in due time , so far as they are distinct from this ; but that which now i have to suggest is chiefly this , that as out of the schools the chois , which ought to bee made for colleges , ought , caeteris paribus , onely to bee of such as are most fit to advance the ends of a collegial association ; so out of colleges a chois ought to bee made of professors for the universitie onely , of such as are fittest to advance the ends of publick teaching in universities , which are not to repeat and compendiate that which others have published twentie times already , over and over again , but to add unto the common stock of humane knowledg , that which others have not observed , to the end that all these degrees of studies and exercises of the minde of man , beeing subordinate unto the kingdom of jesus christ , the happiness of man by all rational and spiritual waies of improving humane abilities , may bee advanced unto it's perfection in this life so far as may bee . but how far short wee com now of all these designs , i need not to relate unto you : the colleges as they are now constituted , can scarce reach to the half of that which the schools might bring us unto : and the professors of the universities com not up to that , which the collegial associations might elaborate , if they were rightly directed to set their talents a work ; and if the publick spirit of christian love and ingenuitie did posses those , that are possessed of publick places in the colleges of the universities . for if this spirit did rule their aims and endevors , there would bee no self-seeking , no partialitie , no envie , nor anie cross actings for private ends , to the prejudice of the publick ; but the generous love of virtue and of profitable learning , would swaie all their inclinations to a free conjunction ; and make all their endeavors subordinate unto the publick good of the common-wealth of israël in the communion of saints . but how far this principle of acting is now wanting amongst us all , i shall not need to mention : you have considered it long ago , and wee have together lamented that defect , and the doleful effects thereof : our endevor must bee to seek out the best means of a reformation therein , and to make use of them as god shall give us opportunities . and truly somthing of this kinde might bee don , without anie great alteration or stir , even as matters now are formed in the colleges ; if god would bee so gracious to us , as to beget in the mindes of those that understand those things , a heartie aim and resolution to benefit the christian common-wealth of learning , by their collegial relations and associations one to another . for if men that are in genuous will call to minde the end first , for which god doth give them all their talents , and then also for which men of publick spirits have erected colleges and universities , and endowed the same with long and competent maintenances ; that such as are fit for studies , and called to bee instrumental in the propagation of truth and virtue , might not bee distracted with the care of the world , in reference to outward matters , but might have all the conveniences which are imaginable to improve those talents to the utmost , either singly or conveniently with others , if ( i saie ) ingenuous christians would minde these ends , for which the benefit of their talents from god and of their accommodations from men to improve those talents are bestowed upon them : it would not bee possible for them ; to bee so unthankful towards god , and avers from the rule of christianitie , and from the love of doing good to the generation wherein they live ; that they should intend to lead a collegial life onely for their own private eas and conveniencie in outward things ; that beeing accommodated with all necessarie helps of the bodie , they may pleas themselvs onely in the course of their studies , with that reservation and retiredness , which is proper to a monkish life in popish cloisters ; wherein the spirit of mutual envie , of detraction and division is more irreconcilably entertained , then in anie other societies of the world. for their cloister-constitutions , obliging them onely to the observation of som formal works as an opus operatum ; for which their maintenance is allowed them ; they not knowing anie further design of their life , or any greater happiness in this world , then to pleas themselvs ; bestow all the rest of their time and thoughts , as their natural inclinations lead them , which is commonly to nothing els but to self-love and pride , which became a provocation unto others , to discover mutually their corruptions , which by reaction make them all full of envie , of hatred , of evil surmises , and of malicious practices one against another : so that no where satan doth dwel and rule more effectually , then in those religious houses , as they are falsly so called . how much of this monkish disposition doth remain as yet in the formal constitutions of colleges , or in the spirits of those that partake of collegial accommodations , is not a thing which i shall take upon me to judg ; but i shall leav it to god , and to his daie to discover ; onely i would bee glad that all such as are true israelites , and know the end of their calling unto christ , and are not willing to burie their talents , or to make them useless unto others , for whose sakes they have received them would laie this matter to heart , that their aim in a collegial life , should not bee to enjoie an easie careless waie of subsistence by and for themselvs , to follow private fancies in their studies about matters of learning ; but that they should minde the stewardship of their gifts and places , and tbe advantages of their association , whereby they might bee , ( if they would make use of it ) able to elaborate som tasks , which otherwise cannot bee brought to anie perfection , for the building up of the citie of god in our generations . there is no want of parts and abilities in the spirits of our men , but the waie to order them for publick use , and to bring them together as stones fitly compacted to make up a perfect palace , is that which make's us all useless one to another ; wee finde that now and then , as it were by chance , som exquisite pieces of learning , which som have been hatching all their life time drop out ; wherein appear's , besides the usefulness of the subject , or the uselesness thereof , som inclination to bee found extraordinarie ; but these endevors , disjointed from publick aims , advance little or nothing , the happiness , which true learning rightly ordered in all the parts thereof ; and subordinate unto christianitie , is able to bring unto mankind . such pieces therefore serv onely as a witness , to shew what wast there is of profitable time and abilities , for want of loving combinations for publick designs . it is the observation of forreigners concerning our universities , that they finde in them men of as great learning as any where els ; but that they lie as it were dead and unknown to the whole world of other men of learning ; becaus they delight to live a retired and unsociable life : this humor therefore amongst other parts of our reformation , must by som gospel-principles and rational inducements bee reformed , not onely in colleges but in other associations . the lord teach us the waie of truth and righteousness , that wee may profit in all things to advance the glorie of his name in the kingdom of his son , in whom i rest your friend and servant . j. d. the reformed librarie-keeper . by john durie . in domino confido london , printed by william du-gard , anno dom. 1650. the reformed librarie-keeper : or two copies of letters concerning the place and office of a librarie-keeper . the first letter . the librarie-keeper's place and office , in most countries ( as most other places and offices both in churches and universities ) are lookt upon , as places of profit and gain , and so accordingly sought after and valued in that regard ; and not in regard of the service , which is to bee don by them unto the common-wealth of israël , for the advancement of pietie and learning ; for the most part , men look after the maintenance , and livelihood setled upon their places , more then upon the end and usefulness of their emploiments ; they seek themselvs and not the publick therein , and so they subordinate all the advantages of their places , to purchase mainly two things thereby viz. an easie subsistence ; and som credit incomparison of others ; nor is the last much regarded , if the first may bee had ; except i● bee in cases of strife and debate , wherein men are over-heated : for then indeed som will stand upon the point of honor , to the hazard of their temporal profits : but to speak in particular of librarie-keepers , in most universities that i know ; nay indeed in all , their places are but mercenarie , and their emploiment of little or no use further , then to look to the books committed to their custodie , that they may not bee lost ; or embezeled by those that use them : and this is all . i have been informed , that in oxford ( where the most famous librarie now exstant amongst the protestant-christians is kept , ) the setled maintenance of the librarie-keeper is not above fiftie or sixtie pound per annum ; but that it is accidentally , viis & modis somtimes worth an hundred pound : what the accidents are , and the waies by which they com , i have not been curious to search after ; but i have thought , that if the proper emploiments of librarie-keepers were taken into consideration as they are , or may bee made useful to the advancement of learning ; and were ordered and mainteined proportionally to the ends , which ought to bee intended thereby ; they would bee of exceeding great use to all sorts of scholars , and have an universal influence upon all the parts of learning , to produce and propagate the same unto perfection . for if librarie-keepers did understand themselvs in the nature of their work , and would make themselvs , as they ought to bee , useful in their places in a publick waie ; they ought to becom agents for the advancement of universal learning : and to this effect i could wish , that their places might not bee made , as everie where they are , mercenarie , but rather honorarie ; and that with the competent allowance of two hundred pounds a year ; som emploiments should bee put upon them further then a bare keeping of the books . it is true that a fair librarie , is not onely an ornament and credit to the place vvhere it is ; but an useful commoditie by it self to the publick ; yet in effect it is no more then a dead bodie as novv it is constituted , in comparison of vvhat it might bee , if it vvere animated vvith a publick spirit to keep and use it , and ordered as it might bee for publick service . for if such an allovvance vvere setled upon the emploiment as might maintain a man of parts and generous thoughts , then a condition might bee annexed to the bestowing of the place ▪ that none should bee called thereunto but such as had approved themselvs zealous and profitable in som publick waies of learning to advance the same , or that should bee bound to certain tasks to bee prosecuted towards that end , whereof a list might bee made , and the waie to trie their abilities in prosecuting the same should bee described , least in after times , unprofitable men creep into the place , to frustrate the publick of the benefit intended by the doners towards posteritie . the proper charge then of the honorarie librarie-keeper in an universitie should bee thought upon , and the end of that imploiment , in my conception , is to keep the publick stock of learning , which is in books and manuscripts to increas it , and to propose it to others in the waie which may bee most useful unto all ; his work then is to bee a factor and trader for helps to learning , and a treasurer to keep them , and a dispenser to applie them to use , or to see them well used , or at least not abused ; and to do all this , first a catalogue , of the treasurie committed unto his charge is to bee made , that is all the books and manuscripts , according to the titles whereunto they belong , are to bee ranked in an order most easie and obvious to bee found , which i think is that of sciences and languages ; when first all the books are divided into their subjectam materiam whereof they treat , and then everie kinde of matter subdivided into their several languages : and as the catalogue should bee so made , that it may alwaies bee augmented as the stock doth increas ; so the place in the librarie must bee left open for the increas of the number of books in their proper seats , and in the printed catalogue , a reference is to bee made to the place where the books are to bee found in their shelvs or repositories . when the stock is thus known and fitted to bee exposed to the view of the learned world , then the waie of trading with it , both at home and abroad , is to bee laid to heart both for the increas of the stock , and for the improvement of it to use . for the increas of the stock both at home and abroad , correspondencie should bee held with those that are eminent in everie science , to trade with them for their profit , that what they want and wee have , they may receiv upon condition , that what they have and wee want , they should impart in that facultie wherein their eminencie doth lie ; as for such as are at home eminent in anie kinde , becaus they may com by native right to have use of the librarie-treasure , they are to bee traded vvithal in another vvaie , viz. that the things vvhich are gained from abroad , vvhich as yet are not made common , and put to publick use should bee promised and imparted to them for the increas of their private stock of knowledg , to the end that what they have peculiar , may also bee given in for a requital , so that the particularities of gifts at home and abroad , are to meet as in a center in the hand of the librarie-keeper , and hee is to trade with the one by the other , to caus them to multiplie the publick stock , whereof hee is a treasurer and factor . thus hee should trade with those that are at home and abroad out of the universitie , and with those that are within the universitie , hee should have acquaintance to know all that are of anie parts , and how their vein of learning doth lie , to supplie helps unto them in their faculties from without and from within the nation , to put them upon the keeping of correspondencie vvith men of their ovvn strain , for the beating out of matters not yet elaborated in sciences ; so that they may bee as his assistants and subordinate factors in his trade and in their own for gaining of knowledg : now becaus in all publick agencies , it is fit that som inspection should bee had over those that are intrusted therewith , therefore in this factorie and trade for the increas of learning , som tie should bee upon those librarie-keepers to oblige them to carefulness . i would then upon this account , have an order made that once in the year , the librarie-keeper should bee bound to give an account of his trading , and of his profit in his trade ( as in all humane trades factors ought , and use to do to their principals at least once a year ) and to this effect i would have it ordered , that the chief doctors of each facultie of the universitie , should meet at a convenient time in a week of the year , to receiv the accounts of his trading , that hee may shew them wherein the stock of learning hath been increased , for that year's space ; and then hee is to produce the particulars which hee hath gained from abroad , and laie them before them all , that everie one in his own facultie m●● declare in the presence of others , that which hee thinketh fit to bee added to the publick stock , and made common by the catalogue of additionals , which everie year within the universities is to bee published in writing within the librarie it self , and everie three years ( or sooner as the number of additionals may bee great , or later , if it bee smal ) to bee put in print and made common to those that are abroad . and at this giving up of the accounts , as the doctors are to declare what they think worthie to bee added to the common stock of learning , each in their facultie ; so i would have them see what the charges and pains are whereat the librarie-keeper hath been , that for his encouragement , the extraordinarie expences in correspondencies and transcriptions for the publick good , may bee allowed him out of som revenues , which should bee set a part to that effect , and disposed of according to their joint-consent and judgment in that matter . here then hee should bee bound to shew them the lists of his correspondents , the letters from them in answer to his , and the reckoning of his extraordinarie expence should bee allowed him in that which hee is indebted , or hath freely laid out to procure rarities into the stock of learning . and becaus i understand that all the book-printers or stationars of the common-wealth are bound of everie book which is printed , to send a copie into the universitie librarie ; and it is impossible for one man to read all the books in all faculties , to judg of them what worth there is in them ; nor hath everie one abilitie to judge of all kinde of sciences what everie autor doth handle , and how sufficiently ; therefore i would have at this time of giving accounts , the librarie-keeper also bound to produce the catalogue of all the books sent unto the universitie's librarie by the stationars that printed them ; to the end that everie one of the doctors in their own faculties should declare , whether or no they should bee added , and where they should bee placed in the catalogue of additionals ; for i do not think that all books and treaties which in this age are printed in all kindes , should bee inserted into the catalogue , and added to the stock of the librarie , discretion must bee used and confusion avoided , and a cours taken to distinguish that which is profitable , from that which is useless ; and according to the verdict of that societie , the usefulness of books for the publick is to bee determined ; yet becaus there is seldom anie books wherein there is not somthing useful , and books freely given are not to bee cast away , but may bee kept , therefore i would have a peculiar place appointed for such books as shall bee laid aside to keep them in , and a catalogue of their titles made alphabetically in reference to the autor's name , with a note of distinction to shew the science to which they are to bee referred . these thoughts com thus suddenly into my head , which in due time may bee more fully described , if need bee , chiefly if , upon the ground of this account , som competencie should bee found out and allowed to maintein such charges as will bee requisite , towards the advancement of the publick good of learning after this manner . the second letter . sir ! in my last i gave you som incident thoughts , concerning the improvement of an honorarie librarie-keeper's-place , to shew the true end and use thereof , and how the keepers thereof should bee regulated in the trade , which hee is to drive for the advancement of learning , and encouraged by a cōmpetent maintenance , and supported in extraordinarie expences for the same . now i wish that som men of publick spirits and lovers of learning , might bee made acquainted with the action , upon such grounds as were then briefly suggested ; who know's but that in time somthing might bee offered to the trustees of the nation , with better conceptions then these i have suggested . for , if it bee considered that amongst manie eminencies of this nation , the librarie of oxford is one of the most considerable for the advancement of learning , if rightly improved and traded withal for the good of scholars at home and abroad ; if this ( i saie ) bee rightly considered and represented to the publick reformers of this age , that by this means this nation as in other things , so especially for pietie and learning , and by the advancement of both , may now bee made more glorious then anie other in the world ; no doubt such as in the parlament know the worth of learning will not bee avers from further overtures , which may bee made towards this purpose . what a great stir hath been heretofore , about the eminencie of the librarie of heidelberg , but what use was made of it ? it was ingrossed into the hands of a few , till it became a prey unto the enemies of the truth . if the librarie-keeper had been a man , that would have traded with it for the increas of true learning , it might have been preserved unto this daie in all the rarities thereof , not so much by the shuttings up of the multitude of books , and the rareness thereof for antiquitie , as by the understandings of men and their proficiencie to improv and dilate knowledg upon the grounds which hee might have suggested unto others of parts , and so the librarie-rarities would not onely have been preserved in the spirits of men , but have fructified abundantly therein unto this daie , whereas they are now lost , becaus they were but a talent digged in the ground ; and as they that had the keeping of that librarie made it an idol , to bee respected and worshipped for a raritie by an implicite faith , without anie benefit to those who did esteem of it a far off : so it was just with god that it should fall into the hands of those that in all things follow an idolatrous waie , to blinde men with shewes without all realitie of substantial virtue , which is onely eminent in this , that it becometh profitable unto all , by dilating the light of knowledg , and the love of grace and goodness in the hearts of all men , that are fit to receiv the one and the other ; and where this aim is not in those that are intrusted with publick places ; there they in the end will bee found unprofitable servants ; for the trust which god hath put into their hands to profit withal , they discharge not for the account which everie one is to give unto him of his stewardship , is not how careful hee hath kept things of use unto himself , to pride himself in the possession of that which others have not , ( as the custom of men is , that know not what true glorie is ) but how faithfully and diligently hee hath distributed the same to such as were worthie thereof for their good , that they might bee stirred up both to glorifie god for his goodness ; and to imitate him in the communication of all good things unto others for his sake freely . this was christ's work on earth to receiv us , unto the glorie of god ; this was that vvhich hee taught by this practice , that it is more blessed to give , then to receiv . this is that which this envious world cannot rellish , and vvhat stop 's the current of true love in the hearts of men ? nothing so much as the self-seeking of men in the vvaies of learning , by vvhich they covetously obstruct the fountains of life and comfort , vvhich might overflow and vvater abundantly the barren and thirstie souls of those that perish for vvant of address nnto vvisdom ; vvhich in all the vvaies of humane and divine learning might bee mainly advanced , by the industrie of one man in such a place , vvhose trade should bee such as i formerly described , to deal vvith the spirits of all men of parts , to set them a vvorking one by and towards another , upon the subjects vvhich hee should bee intrusted vvithal to keep in the stock of learning . it is the glorie and riches of nations and of great cities , to make themselvs the center of trade for all their neighbors ; and if they can finde vvaies of politie , to oblige their neighbors to receiv from their magazines the commodities whereof they stand in need , it is everie vvaie a great benefit unto the state , so it may bee in matters of learning , and by the trade of sciences this church may oblige all the neighbor churches , and that universitie all forreiners that trade in knowledge to receiv pretious commodities , whereof they stand in need , from our magazines and store-houses ; if a painful steward and dispenser thereof , bee imploied and mainteined to use industrie for so blessed a work , from whence much glorie to god in the gospel , and honor will redound to the nation . for although the waies of humane learning are almost infinite and wonderfully various , and have their peculiar uses in the outward life of man , for which most men affect them , yet in one that is to minde the universal good of all , the whole varietie and diversitie of matters useful unto this present life , as they com within the sphere of learning must bee reduced , and may bee subordinate unto the advancement of the gospel of christ , wherein the glorie of the nation , at this and all times should bee thought to stand : and truly that is the thing which take's most with mee , for which i would have that librarie thus improved by a faithful keeper , that when his trade is set on foot , with all those that are of eminent parts in their several faculties , wee knowing who they are and wherein their eminencies do lie , may have opportunities to provoke them to the right use thereof , by giving them objects from our store ; and furnishing them with tasks and matters to bee elaborated , which cannot bee diverted from the scope of god's glorie to bee made known unto all men in jesus christ , for there is nothing of knowledg in the minde of man , which may not bee conveniently referred to the virtues of god in christ , whereby the humane nature is to bee exalted to that dignitie whereunto hee hath received it , that it should by him rule over the whole creätion . and the want of this aim to look upon things in order to him , and to set them a working without relation to him , is that which blast's all our endevors , and make's them determin in confusion and disorder ; for whatsoëver is not directed in it's own place with som reference unto him must bee overthrown ; nor is there anie waie left for anie to prosper in that which hee undertaketh , but to learn to know him and respect him in it , for the advancement of the kingdom over the souls of men , which by the sanctified use of all knowledg is chiefly effected . if then the trade of learning is to bee set a foot in a publick waie , and regulated to deserv the countenance of a religious state , this aim , and the waie of prosecuting of it must bee intended and beaten out ; for except sciences bee reformed in order to this scope , the increas of knowledg will increas nothing but strife , pride and confusion , from whence our sorrows will bee multiplied and propagated unto posteritie ; but if hee , who is to bee intrusted with the managing of this trade , bee addressed in the waie which leadeth unto this aim without partialitie , his negotiation will bee a blessing unto this age and to posteritie . i have no time to inlarge upon this subject , or to conceiv a formal and regular discours , but the thoughts which thus fall into my minde i impart unto you , that you may give them as hints unto others , who of themselvs will bee able to inlarge them either to the hous , or to such as can in due time swaie the counsels of leading men in this common-wealth . an idea of mathematics written by m r joh. pell to samuel hartlib . sir ! the sum of what i have heretofore written or spoken to you , concerning the advancement of the mathematics , is this : as long as men want will , wit , means or leisure to attend those studies , it is no marvail if they make no great progress in them . to remedie which , i conceiv these means not to bee amiss . 1. to write a consiliarius mathematicus , ( so i call it ) answering to these 3 questions : q. 1. what fruit or profit ariseth from the studie of mathematics ? q. 2. what helps are there for the attaining this profitable knowledg ? q. 3 ▪ what order is to bee observed in using these helps ? to this purpose it should contain 1. a plain and popular discours of the extent of the mathematics , with the profit that redound's , first to the student himself , and then to the countrie wherein there are manie such grounded artists . 2. a catalogue of mathematicians and their works in this order : 1. a synopsis of all the several kinds of mathematical writings , either extant in print , or accessible manuscripts in publick libraries , with several numbers set to everie kinde . 2. a chronical catalogue of all mathematician's names that ever were of note , according to the order of the years when they lived , with the year when anie of their works were first printed , 3. a catalogue of the writings themselvs , in the order of years in which they vvere printed in anie language : and this i vvould contrive thus : first , the year of our lord , and then the names of all the mathematical books printed that year in anie countrie or language , after the usual manner of catalogues : but 1. adding the volume , that is , not onely what fold [ 40. 80. &c. ] but also the number of leavs , that wee may estimate the bulk of the book . 2. prefixing before the title the year to vvhich you must look back to know either vvhen it vvas vvritten , or vvhen it vvas last before printed , in that or any other language . 3. setting in the margent , after the title . 1. the year vvherein it vvas the next time printed . 2. the number of reference to the synopsis in the first page ; by vvhich numbers one may presently run over all the books of one sort , of this or that particular subject . 3. a counsel directing a student to the best books in everie kinde ; in vvhat order , and how to read them , what to observ , what to beware of in som mathematicasters , how to proceed and keep all . 4. a paraenesis , first , to all those who have means and leisure , and a wit not unapt for these studies , to set upon them in regard 1. of their profitableness to the student , and to mankinde . 2. of that more refined pleasure of hunting out hidden truths , vvrastling vvith difficult problemes , and getting the victorie ; and so much the rather , becaus 3. of the great facilitie that is novv in that studie , by reason of the many helps to spare much labor , time and cost , vvhich our forefathers vvere forced to spend . secondly , to all those who have understanding to estimate the worth of these studies , and wealth vvherewith to purchase themselvs lasting honor by the vvise dispensing of it , to take more notice of this sort of students , and to encourage them , setting apart the choicest of them , to perfect the inventions , to vvhich their genius lead's them . especially , to all princes and estates , vvhom it concern's to take a cours , 1. that their dominions may bee better furnished vvith this sort of students . 2. that the vvaie may bee made less laborious and costlie , 3. that mathematica ingenia may bee discovered and assisted . to vvhich end it vvould bee good . 2. to erect a publick librarie , containing all those books , and one instrument of everie sort that hath been invented , vvith sufficient revenue , 1. to buy one copie of all those that shall bee printed yearly in other countries . and 2. to maintain a librarie-keeper of great judgment , to whom it may belong † 1. to peruse all books of such subjects , to bee printed within that countrie , and 1. suppress vvhatsoëver is not according to art , that learners bee not abused , and 2. admonish the writers , if they bring nothing but stale stuff . 2. upon his credit to approv excellent inventions , and unpartially to commend the inventors to the rewarders . 3. to receiv , record and place one printed copie of everie book so perused , sent into the librarie , vvell bound at the autor's or book-seller's charge . 4. to resolv anie student that enquire's about anie probleme , vvhether it have been don already or no , fearing lest hee should actum agere , and therefore perhaps suppressing som invention vvhich hee hath light upon , but doubts it is old and to bee found in som of the books of that librarie . 5. to receiv , &c. all such manuscripts as shall bee brought thither by vvaie of gift , legacie or the like . 6. to maintain correspondence vvith such as himself in other countries , to know vvhat is printed there . 7. to take notice of all his countrimen that are fit to bee teachers , &c. 8. to keep a catalogue of all such vvorkmen as are able and fit to bee imploied in making mathematical instruments and representations , vvorking upon wood , magnets , metals , glass , &c. 9. to give testimonial , after examination , to all sorts of practisers , as pilots , masters , landmeters , accomptants , &c. of their speculative abilitie and practical dexteritie , that those that have occasion to use such men , bee not abused by unable undertakers , to their exceeding great damage . by the catalogue , men might bee informed , in that multitude of books , vvith vvhich the vvorld is novv pestered , vvhat the names are of those books that tend to this studie onely . in the librarie , they might finde the books themselvs , read them , and if they liked them , knovv vvhither to send to buy them : besides , anie , vvhether forreiners or others , might have recours thither , and learn vvhat helps that countrie would afford them in these studies . and this is the best cours that i can think on for the making use of such helps as wee have already . if men desire better helps , let them emploie fit artists . 3. to vvrite and publish these three new treatises : † 1. pandectae mathematicae , comprehending as clearly , orderly , and thrftily , and ingenuously as may bee , vvhatsoëver may bee gathered out of all those mathematical books and inventions that vvere before us , or that may bee inferred as consectaries thereon ; citing , at the end of everie period or proposition , the ancientest autor in vvhich it is found , and branding all later vvriters if they bee taken stealing , or borrovving vvithout acknovvledgment , or [ vvhich is vvors ] expresly arrogating to themselvs anie other man's inventions . this vvould bring that great librarie into far less room , to the saving of more labor , time and cost , to all after-students , than men can yet vvell imagine . but becaus this also vvould bee too great and cumbersom to carrie about us , let there bee composed 2. comes mathematicus , comprehending in a pocket-book , [ and therefore as briefly as may bee ] the usefullest tables and the precepts for their use , in solving all problemes , vvhether purely mathematical , or applied to such practices as men's various occasions may require . and lastly , that in this kinde of learning also , vvee bee no longer tied to books , let there bee composed 3. mathematicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or an instruction , shevving hovv anie mathematician that vvill take the pains , may prepare himself , so , as that hee may , though hee bee utterly destitute of books or instruments , resolv anie mathematical probleme as exactly as if hee had a complete librarie by him . and this is the idéa , vvhich i have long framed to my self , according to my fashion , vvith vvhom this passeth for an undoubted truth , that the surest vvaie to com to all possible excellencie in anie thing , is to propose to our selvs the perfectest idéa's that vvee can imagine , then to seek the means tending thereto , as rationally as may bee , and to prosecute it vvith indefatigable diligence ; yet , if the idéa prove too high for us , to rest our selvs content vvith approximation . as for this present idéa , i am so far from counting it meerly-impossible , that i see not vvhy it might not bee performed by one man , vvithout anie assistants , provided that hee vvere neither distracted vvith cares for his maintenance , nor diverted by other emploiments . the excellencie of this vvork , make's me vvish mine ovvn nation the honor of first undertaking and perfecting this design , and i conceiv i have som reason to hope that it vvill bee so . for , though i knovv fevv or none that are both able and vvilling to promote designs of this nature , yet can i not therefore bee persvvaded that this kingdom is so destitute of learned nobilitie and gentrie , that there can bee found none to countenance and advance this part of learning , even in this vvaie , if they could see it possible and likely to bee effected . as for the librarie and catalogue , there can bee no doubt but they may easily bee had , if monie bee not vvanting . nor is it unlikelie that divers of this nation ( if they be set apart for it ) are able to compose the other 3. new treatises ; for though i knovv no such , yet i persvvade my self there may bee found amongst us men able to encounter all the difficulties , and to endure all the labor , that they must needs meet vvith in the raising of so great a fabrick . and i the rather believ that there are many such , becaus for mine own part , notvvithstanding the vvant of counsel and helps in that studie , and the innumerable diversions and distractions that i have had , i am nevertheless com to such a confidence of my understanding the depth of that studie , that , vvere i to pen those pandects , i should laie heavier lavvs upon my self , than i have alreadie mentioned ; namely , first to laie dovvn such an exact method or description of the process of man's reason in inventions , that afterward it should bee imputed meerly to my negligence and disobedience to my ovvn lavvs , [ and not to their insufficiencie ] if , from my first grounds , seeds , or principles , i did not , in an orderlie vvaie , according to that prescribed method , deduce , not onely all that ever is to bee found in our antecessor's vvritings , and vvhatsoëver they may seem to have thought on , but also all the mathematical inventions , theoremes , problems and precepts , that it is possible for the vvorking vvits of our successors to light upon , and that in one certain , unchanged order , from the first seeds of mathematics , to their highest and noblest applications , as vvell as to the meanest and most ordinarie . not setting them dovvn at random as they com in my head , as those before us have don , so that they seem to have light upon their problems and the solutions of them by chance , not to have found them by one perpetual , constant , invariable process of art. yet such an art may men invent , if they accustom themselvs , as i have long don , to consider , not onely the usefulness of men's vvorks , and the meaning and truth of their vvritings , but also how it came to pass that they fell upon such thoughts , and that they proposed to themselvs such ends , or found out such means for them . were these pandects thus made and finished , i suppose it is manifest , that by their orderlie , rational and uniform compleatness , above all that hath been hitherto vvritten , they vvould spare after-students much labor and time that is novv spent in seeking out of books , and disorderlie reading them , and struggling vvith their cloudie expressions , unapt representations , different methods , confusions , tautologies , impertinencies , falshoods by paralogisms and pseudographemes , uncertainties becaus of insufficient demonstrations , &c. besides much cost also , novv throvvn avvaie upon the multitude of books , the greater part vvhereof they had perhaps been better never to have seen . and it may be som vvould like the method of that vvork so vvell , as to extend it farther , and applie it to other studies ; in speculation imitating this my vvariness , that no falshood bee admitted , and no truth omitted ; and for practice enuring themselvs , anie subject beeing propounded , to determine the number of all the problemes that can bee conceived concerning it , and anie probleme beeing propounded , demonstratively to shevv either all the means of it's solution , or the impossibilitie of it : and if so , then vvhether it bee not yet , or not at all possible . men vvould easilie see hovv to contract these pandects into a pocket-book for their ordinarie use . but so to laie them up in their heads , as to need no book at all [ according to that desideratum of mine , to have a mathematicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] vvill perhaps seem utterly impossible to most : no man , that ever i heard of , having proposed such a scope to himself before . but perhaps they vvill conceiv it more possible , if it pleas them to suspend their judgments , till they have considered what means may bee used to fortifie the imagination , to prompt the memorie , to regulate our reason , and what effects may bee produced by the uniting of these means , and the constant exercising of them . for mine ovvn part , the consideration of the incomparable excellencie , unstained pleasure , vnvaluable profitableness , and undoubted possibilitie of this vvhole design , hath prevailed so far vvith mee , that , notvvithstanding all the discouragements that i have met vvithal , i have don more tovvards it than bare idéa . bibliotheca augusta , serenissimi , illustrissimi principis , ac domini , d. augusti , ducis brunovicensis , & lunaeburgensis . quae est wolferbyti . in bibliothecam augustam . viderat augustam dea caesia bibliothecam , augusti manibus guelphicâ in vrbe strui : nunc mihi tur●igeras quantumvìs ma●●spiter arces objice , quas vehemens occaracingit , ait . grandia si libris praefers tormenta , memento ▪ illa homines-miseros , hanc posuisse deum . m. henricus julius scheurl , moralium in acad. juliâ professor publicus . bibliotheca augusta , quae hodie guelpherbiri , antiquissimâ ducum brunovicensium sede visitur , sive locum , sive armaria , sive ipsam denique molem , & congeriem librorum , sub eo nomine intelligas , primum , & unicum , autorem habet , serenissimum illustrissimum principem , ac dominum , dominum augustum , ducem brunovicensem & lunaeburgensem , qui , ut à primis adolescentiae annis , artium cultor solertissimus , & ingeniorum censor acutissimus , ità etiam , quod istis adhaeret , praestantissimorum in omni eruditionis genere librorum amantissimus . exemplum quidem , & ardorem , illustrissimus princeps ad istos conatus , à regibus & imperatoribus , qui curam hanc verè regiam sibi propriam esse voluerunt : rem verò nullam ab aliis habuit . obversabatur nempe animo osimanduas aegypti rex , qui ut est apud diodorum siculum , lib. 1. cap. 49. sacrae bibliothecae à se erectae , titulum esse voluit : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , medicatorium animae , ut vertit l. rhodomanus , ejúsque ut in regno , itâ & in laudabili instituto post aliquot secula successor ptolomaeus philadelphus , cujus bibliotheca , exemplo , imò & libris summi aristotelis instructa , omnium historicorum ore , & laudibus celebris : eumenes item , seu attalus , ( utrique enim , huic patri , illi filio laudem hanc historia tribuit ) pergami reges , quorum tantum in hoc negotio studium , ut cùm ptolomaeus chartas seu papyrum , quam sola aegyptus suppeditaverat , invidè supprimeret , veritus , nè attalus veterem illam aegypti bibliothecam novâ suâ aequaret ; ille ferro , quod dicitur , viam sibi aperiendam , novámque librorum conficiendorum rationem inueniendam censeret , optimo sanè successu : membranarum enim ex corio animalium confectarum usum , ut varro autor est apud plinium lib. 13. cap. 11. invenit , cui omne quicquid ad typographiae inventionem usque superat librorum , unicè debemus . unde meritò factum est , ut in aeviternam inventoris pergami regis memoriam , hujusmodi membranae adhuc hodie pergamenae dicantur . nec defuit principi domesticum illustrissimorum antecessorum lineae principalis guelphicae , arcis guelpherbiti possessorum , exemplum , qui & ipsi superiori seculo instructissimam bibliothecam , copiâ tamen librorum huic augustae non comparandam , paraverant , quam demum anno aeràe dionysianae 1617. ultimus istius lineae fredericvs vlricvs academiae juliae , quae est helmaestadii , possidendam , & utendam liberaliter contulit . res , ut patet , augurio , & omine felicissimo non carens . ut enim principi augusto possessio , & avita sedes ducatûs guelphici , satis dudum destinata demonstraretur , idem genius , quem in postremis istius ducatûs possessoribus henrico bellicoso , seu juniore , jvlio pacifico , henrico jvlio sapientissimo , & friderico vldarico mitissimo , universus orbis admirabatur , in principem avgvstvm eruditissimum , transferendus erat , atque ut illustrior esset ejus sama , omne quicquid in re librariâ antecessorum diligentia praestiterat , ad academiam juliam transire , omnis verò lans erectae bibliothecae augustae , soli & unico principi avgvsto propria esse debebat . superâsse autem non immeritò dicendus est augustus in hoc studio , & opere , sive ptolomaeos , sive attalos , sive jvlivm , & avgvstvm , primos romanorum imperatores , ( nec horum enim studium in negotio librario eruditis ignotum ) quòd ptolomaeus philadelphus non proprio sive ingenio , sive industriâ , sed alienâ , demetrii nempe phalerei viri atheniensis , scriptis , & factis illustrissimi , rem confecerit : caesar verò curam hanc , quam magno animo conceperat , & nisi fata intercepissent , absolvisset , marco varroni , graecorum latinorúmque doctissimo , quo nullus eâ tempestate in orbe terrarum isti negotio aptior , dederit . avgvstvs quoque imperator , nec ipse quidem , sed per asinium pollionem ( oratorem , & senatorem romanum nobilem ) absolvit . princeps verò augustus , & primus autor pulcerrimi sui operis , & sibimetipsi demetrius , varro , pollio , cujus solius vigiliis , & curis nocturnis diurnisque bibliotheca augusta acquisita , & composita est . exemplo pisistrati , atheniensium , ut tum vocabantur , tyranni , qui bibliothecam atheniensem ad publicum usum , non per alios , sed ipse componebat , cui & homerum digestum , correctúmque debemus : magnus profectò vir , modò cognomen illud odiosum tollas . initium bibliothecae augustae colligendae factum est , anno aerae dionysianae 1604. ad confluentem albis , & jetzae , in principis augusti ducatu lunaeburgico , in aulâ , & adjuncto cognomini oppido hitzackerâ , loco quidem ante constitutam ibidem principis aulam , satìs obscuro , quem tamen non minùs atque olim ulysses ithacam suam satìs illustrem reddidit . in hoc recessu satìs amoeno , inter alia principis opera magnifica , parvis primùm initiis crevit haec bibliotheca , in illam magnitudinem , quae hodie non sine admiratione cernitur . ex haereditate ullâ nihil erat , quod in tantae molis auspicium , aut fundamentum cederet , immensis autem sumptibus conquirebatur , quicquid optimae notae librorum , in quocunque genere eruditionis in germaniâ , galliâ , hispaniâ , angliâ , belgio , ipsâ denique italiâ inveniri poterat . quicquid erat doctorum virorum romae , neapoli , venetiis , florentiae ( quibus in locis princeps augustus per aliquod annos eruditissimorum virorum familiaritate usus erat ) lutetiae , londini , oxoniae , ut de germaniâ nihil addatur , illorum operâ magnis sumptibus ad conquirendos optimae notae libros conducebatur . incrementum operi coepto haud contemnendum dedit bibliotheca summi viri , & de universâ germaniâ optimè meriti marquardi freheri , caelii item curionis , ejusdémque filii coelii augustini curionis , magno reipubl . literariae damno , in ipso aetatis flore ante parentem exstincti : joachimi quoque clutenii , cujus variam eruditionem sylloge ejus rerum quotidianarum satìs demonstrat . crevit igitur in magnum , & merito suo admirandum numerum , non quorumvis , sed optimorum , & selectorum librorum , ut hodie , ( 21. nempe maii , anni 1649. ) numerentur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( ut vocat plutarchus in m. antonio ) singulares libri seu volumina , licèt in uno volumine plures saepe libri , sive tractatus , inveniantur , ferme viginti millia . voluminum nempe , manuscriptorum 764 theologicorum 7287 juridicorum 2578 physicorum , & quae ad primam philosophiam pertinent 460 medicorum . 580 mathematicorum in genere , & in specie geometricorum 168 geographicorum 86 astronomicorum 197 musicorum 54 arithmeticorum 52 ethicorum 778 politicorum 682 historicorum 2133 ad res bellicas pertinentium 142 oeconemicorum 41 logicorum 65 rhetoricorum 401 grammaticorum 407 poëticorum 746 variorum , seu ut vulgò vocantur quodlibeticorum , in quibus nempe , vel-diversi tractatus , ad diversas disciplinas pertinentes , conjuncti visuntur : vel tales tractatus in iis deprehenduntur , in quibus varia , modò ad has , modò ad alias disciplinas pertinentia explicantur . 2092 scriptores verò seu autores , quorum monumenta in praedictis voluminibus exstant , numerantur 37077 tractatus autem , sive diversorum , sive eorundem autorum , supra 60000. et nè quis inmortalia ipsius principis augusti monumenta hìc desideret , visuntur non tantùm ibidem ea , quae ab alienâ profecta industriâ , vitam ipsi debent , veluti , ( ut de multis pauci nominentur ) antonii bonfin●i symp●sion trimetron : bartholomaei fontii commentarius in persium , verùm etiam praeclara ejusmetipsius scripta , eruditorum orbi sub nomine gustavi seleni , olim exhibita : cryptographia nempe , quâ ( teste clarissimo naudaeo in bibliographiâ politicâ ) eruditissimi trithemii steganographia hactenus omnibus sermè eruditis , ipsi etiam francisco junio magica credita , hujúsque judicio , vulcano consecrata , ità illustrata est , ut quicquid in trithemio obscurum involutúmque tamdiu in summâ omnium veneratione , & opinione delituerat , omnium oculis patefactum , atque retectum sit . videatur eruditissimus gerhardus joh. vossius , ipsius clarissimi francisci junii gener , libro de arte grammaticâ primo , cap. 41. praeter trithemii steganographica in opere hoc cryptographico omnia ea explicantur , & clarissimae luci exponuntur , quae , in isto reconditae scientiae & profundae indaginis negotio , humani ingenii vis excogitare potuit . lvsvs quoque schachiae unà cum rythmomachia seriae & profundae eruditionis opus . prodiit uterque liber , iste quidem lunaeburgi , hic verò lipsiae in formâ majori , seu folio , ut vocant , elegantissimis typis excusus , & imaginibus exornatus . historia item vitae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jesu christi , ex quatuor , ut vocantur , evangelistarum , & reliquis novi foederis libris , sermone principis patrio concinnata & accuratâ pensitatione ità elaborata , ut quicquid hactenus difficultatum , seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnium eruditorum ingenia mirificè exercuit , id feliciter explicatum , & sacrorum scriptorum consensus , ut augustinus loquitur , clarissimè demonstratus sit . manuscriptorum , ut vocantur , librorum haud contemnendus in hac bibliothecâ est numerus , & thesaurus , quorum nonnullos ipse princeps in ungariâ , occasione itinerum ad d. d. imperatores rvdolphum ii. & ferdinandvm ii. in arduis negotiis susceptorum , magno aere redemit , in tenuissimâ magni pretii membranâ elegantissimis litteris scriptos , laciniam illustrissimae bbliothecae , budae , regni ungariae metropoli quondam , à matthiâ hunniade corvino , circa an. christi 1485. erectae , & turcarum tyranno solimanno , cum anno aere dionys . 1541. fraude , & vi budam caperet , viduámque joannis regis hungariae elisabetham , quam cum regno defendendam se venisse simulaverat , cum filiolo infante ejiceret , ereptae . bibliotheca haec matthiae hunniadis ( verba sunt antonii bonfinii , rerum ungaricarum decad . 4. lib. 7. mirâ utriusque linguae foecunditate fuit completa , cultus autem librorum luxuriosissimus : cujus prosterioris testes locupletissimi sunt hi manuscripti , quorum occasione haec adducta sunt . nec desunt instrumenta mathematica exquisitissimè fabrefacta , sphaerae item & globi , quibus sphaerae coelestis sidera & motus , facies item globi terrestris miro artificio accuratè representantur . nequaquam verò numero isto , quem suprà posuimus , clauditur haec bibliotheca , cùm quotidie magnis sumptibus , & indefesso studio accedat , & conquiratur , quicquid melioris notae librorum sive noviter , sive denuò editum prodit , aut in omnibus orbis partibus investigari , & redimi potest , adeóque bibliotheca haec augusta nè vanum sit nominis augurium , singulis diebus augetur . primordia , ut suprà notatum , in tranquillo principis augusti hitzakerianae ●thacae regno , satis quidem auspicatò sumsi● , parùm tamen aberat , quin anno christi 1636. absente principe , & aulam suam brunsvicum , urbem suam haereditariam , transferente , rapaces manus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellonae filii , à principe nunquam laesi , experta fuisset : qui licèt spe & animo eam planè devoraverat ; vigili tamen principis curâ & itinere properatissimo , unguibus hujus harpiyae intercipiebatur . fatum istud olim experta erat illustris atheniensium bibliotheca , cùm xerxes persarum monarcha , devictis atheniensibus , hostibus suis , potissimam praedae partem eam faceret , & transferret . restituit tamen eandem trecentos triginta post annos seleucus nicanor syriae rex , qui eam insigniter auctam , magnis item muneribus locupletatam , athenas remittendam curavit . postquam igitur dominium & possessio ducatûs guelphici , principi augusto legitímè delata erat , arx verò guelpherbytana , avita & vera ducum brunsvicensium sedes , quae seculi hujus est iniuria , legitimum suum dominum nondum admitteret , transtulit bibliothecam princeps brunsvicum , ducatûs guelphici metropolin , & avitum ducum brunsvicensium dominium , unà cum ducatu , jure haereditario sibi delatum , eíque locum concessit fatìs magnificum , in antiquissimâ majorum suorum tanqvardi & brvnonis , fratrum , ducum saxoniae ( cui posteriori , & ortum , & nomen brunsvicum debet ) sede , contiguâ augustissimo st. blasii templo , condito olim ab henrico leone nemini historicorum non celebrato , à quo princeps augustus rectâ , quod dicitur , lineâ , ortum ducit . optimo sanê consilio , quod & olim veteres aegypti reges bibliothecas suas memphi , celeberrimae aegypti metropoli , in templo vulcani ( cujus magnificentiam apud herodotum videre licet ) habitare voluerint : ptolomaei item tam prior , quàm posterior , à cleopatrâ , antonii triumviri amoribus famosa , è ruderibus excitata bibliotheca , alexandriae apud serapidis , immensae molis & stupendi artificii templum , totius aegyptiacae superstitionis arcem , collocata fuerit , teste tertulliano , qui gentiles , ad inspiciendum textum hebraeum s. scripturae , eò advocat & amandat . acceptâ tandem xiv . septembris , anno 1643. arce & urbe wolferbyte , transiit eodem unà cum principe , bibliotheca haec augusta , sedémque sortita est è regione aulae illustrissima adeóque reddita ést pars regiae , ut principi semper in propinquo & promptu sint , immortales illae , eaedémque sanctissimae nunquam non loquentes animae , ut plinius hujusmodi eruditorum monumenta scitè vocat lib. 35. cap. 2. locus , seu aedificium ubi reposita est ; olim loricis , scutis , hastis , aliísque bellonae ornamentis & instrumentis asservandis destinatus fuerat , dignus omninò cui hodie aureis literis titulus fiat : — armamentaria sacrae pallados , & doctis habitata palatia musis . aditus ejus augustissimus , solitam principis magnificentiam spirans , ipsum tamen sacrarium modicè ornatum , quin potiùs ad exemplum peritorum architectorum , neque aureo lacunari comptum , neque pavimentum , neque armaria , seu pegmata , ut cicero vocat , neque cunei , loculi aut plutei aliuni quàm viridem colorem referunt ▪ fulgorem enim , sive aureum , sive quemvis alium oculis officere viridem è contra colorem reficiendis , & recreandis esse oculis , scriptioni , & lectioni , dudum notatum est naturae mystis . usum hujus bibliothecae quod attinet , non in spectaculum , aut ornamentum studiosâ quadam luxuriâ , ut olim querebatur seneca , conquisitus est hic thesaurus , nec ut cum blattis , tineis , situ , & squalore bellum gerat : sed ideo pars regiae facta est , ut ipsi principi in propinquo , & promptu sit sanctissimarum & sapientissimarum animarum senatus frequentissimus , cum quo disserat , animum instruat , paret , & ad quaicunque regii officii partes componat . id enim exprimit ea , quam aureis literis in vestibulo bibliothecae legi voluit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , pulcerrima sanè , gemmis omnibus & auro contrà carior : quando omnes passim loquuntur , et deliberant , optimum a mutis et mortuis consilium est ; homines quoque si taceant , vocem invenient libri , et quae . nemo dicit , prudens antiquitas suggerit . eadem olim mens alphonso arragoniae regi , cui quotidie in ore , mortuos esse optimos consiliarios . nec aliud responsum tulit zeno citticus philosophus , oraculum sciscitans , ( verba sunt diogen . laertii , lib. 8. de vitis philosophorum , in princ . ) quo pacto optimè vivere posset ? nempe : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hoc est , si mortuis colore concors fieret , sive , ut zeno verè interpretabatur , si antiquorum mortuorum familiaritate uteretur , eorúmque libros magnâ attentione & studio , ad pallorem usque legeret . in bibliothecis enim , ut de juliâ quondam cecinit magnus calixtus , — vitam vivunt , & post sua fata loquuntur sêclorumque minas superant , & edacia rerum tempora , qui terris caput altiùs exeruerunt , naturaeque super fines , super aethera celsum evexêre animum . s●la haec monumenta super sunt , per quae pugnat adhuc , vincit gentesque , triumphat magnus alexander , quin unquam magnanimorum quicquid in orbe ducum fuit , ex quo blanda cupido laudis , & humanas tentavit gloria mentes . nil vivit vivétque , nisi hīc quod creditur : omne quod reliquum est , nox alta & longa oblivio opacant . hìc etiamnum melpomene subnixa cothurno , lata sophocleis diducit hiatibus ora , confusósque lares & tristia funera regum , oedipodae thalamos , & saevum plangit oresten , hîc legere est , queis firmetur respublica fulcris , et quid erechthaeas olim servârit athenas , quid pessum dederit : quibus artibus inclyta roma creverit , & populos , magnásque subegerit urbes : queis etiam vitiis sensim labefacta , ruinam traxerii , & lapsu totum tremefecerit orbem : hîc recluduntur naturae arcana , sinusque daedalei , & quicquid gremio complectitur , arctis inclusum fo iis , vigili cognoscere mente in promptu est : hìc descriptam pictámve tueri terrarum faciem & vastae datur amphitrites , tiranìsque globum , lunae errorésque , laborésque et picturati fulgentia sidera coeli . quin ipsum ad coelos & splendida panditur astra hìc iter , à patribus qu●ndam per saxa , per ignes calcatum , & largo respersum sanguinis imbre . et cùm ipse princeps nullum diem praetermittat , per quem cum mutis illis doctoribus , de difficillimis negotiis , sive sacris , sive civilibus , sive militaribus , non colloquatur , fit , ut ipse sub clavibus quidem suis habeat bibliothecam , ejusdémque jus & mancipium sibi retineat , usum verò eruditis omnibus , & praesertim ministris suis , quorum ope , seu sacra , seu civilia tractat , secum communem concedat , nec cuiquam alii , nisi qui nummo forsan harpacico hìc aliquid emtum veniat , deneget . silentio autem nequaquam praetereundum est , immensam istam librorum , autorum & tractatuum molem , ipsum principem aliquot amplissimis indicibus in eum ordinem , classes & numeros , suimet indusiriâ & manu redegisse , ut ad primam cujus●ibet , sive autoris , sive materiae requisitionem , quocunque in genere disciplinarum , praestò sit , primóque statim momento se tibi sistat & respondeat , quem volueris , aut vocaveris . nec ullus est in tanto hec autorum , & librorum agmine , quem non noverit ipse princeps augustus , eâ in re non inferior cyro , persarum monarchae , qui unumquemque militum in numerosissimo suo exercitu , proprio nomine ad se vocare poterat . sufficiant paucissima haec , de multis dicta , ceu stillicidium , ut vetus habet verbum , de situlâ . experiatur qui volet , inspiciendi , & penitiùs perserutandi copiam nactus , de pretiosissimo hoc divinae & humanae sapientiae thesauro , idem , quod olim regina sabaea de sapientiâ solomonis profitebatur , paucissimis tantùm immutatis , proferet . 3. reg. 10. non credidi verbis narrantium mihi de rebus & sapientiâ tuâ , usque dum venerim , & viderint oculi mei : sed ecce non indicatum mihi fuerat ejus dimidium , superas sapientiâ & bonitate famam , quam audiveram . si igitur , teste julio capitolino , gordianum imperatorem ad coelum tulit , sammonici sereni morientis sexaginta duorum millium librorum relicta bibliotheca , siquidem ( verba sunt capitolini ) tantae bibliothecae copiâ & splendore donatus , in famam hominum literatorum ore pervenit , adeóquē alienis planè sumptibus , & diligentiâ clarus evasit : si ptolomaei , attalus , caesar , augustus sumtibus quidem suis , aut certè manubiis , alienâ tamen diligentiâ , clarissimi extiterunt : quid de principe augusto fiet , cujus hunc tantum thesaurum , non alienis sumtibus , non manubiis , non alienae diligentiae , sed propriae curae & sollicitudini , in cujus partem neminem hactenus vocavit , propriis item , iisdémque verè regiis impensis , ( quibus alii , sive baccho , sive dianae , sive mercurio , sive aliis voluptatum illecebris litant ) debemus ? ubi verò estis principes , ut vos urat ac excitet honestus aemulandi ignis ? faxit deus , ut thesaurus hic rerum divinarum , aeternarum , sit & ipse aeternus , neque priùs , quàm mundi universa machina , laboret , aut intercidat . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a37083-e800 † 3 4 † 5 1.2 3. 4. 5. the most natural and easie way of institution containing proposals for making a domestic education less chargeable to parents and more easie and beneficial to children : by which method, youth may not only make a very considerable progress in languages, but also in arts and sciences, in two years. ainsworth, robert, 1660-1743. 1698 approx. 81 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26583 wing a814 estc r14714 11921680 ocm 11921680 50980 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26583) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50980) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 47:23) the most natural and easie way of institution containing proposals for making a domestic education less chargeable to parents and more easie and beneficial to children : by which method, youth may not only make a very considerable progress in languages, but also in arts and sciences, in two years. ainsworth, robert, 1660-1743. 31 p. printed for christopher hussey ..., london : 1698. caption title: proposals of a method of institution, &c. attributed to robert ainsworth. cf. bm. advertisement: p. 31. reproduction of original in british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -england -early works to 1800. free schools -england. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2001-11 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2001-11 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2001-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the most natural and easie way of institution : containing , proposals for making a domestic education less chargeable to parents , and more easie and beneficial to children . by which method , youth may not only make a very considerable progress in languages , but also in arts and sciences , in two years . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . plutarch . london , printed for christopher hussey , at the flower-de-luce in little-britain . 1698. to sir william hustler , a member of the honourable house of commons . sir , your honour , some considerable time ago , being much concern'd about the best method in the education of your children , was pleas'd to ask my opinion therein : but my thoughts concerning it , at that time , being but in the embryo , conceiv'd upon the reading a treatise of education , writ by the learned and ingenious mr. lock , to whose opinion fearing i might be too partial by the satisfaction his other writings gave me , and knowing how unsafe and invidious it is to oppose inveterate customs , i , as handsomly as i cou'd , declin'd the matter . only i ventur'd upon your pressing me further , to tell you i should prefer a domestic to a public institution . your honour was pleas'd to inform me , you were of the same mind , and desir'd me to enquire out a tutor , proposing such a sallary as i believe few gentlemen in england give , and which might have invited into your family a man of sobriety , parts and learning . but tho' i durst not then venture my callow thoughts abroad , after they were fledg'd and confirm'd by time and mature advice , at the instance of your worthy brother , * ( a gentleman of that piety and vertue , that i dare not write his character ; and if i durst , of such modesty , i shou'd be afraid to lose a friendship , which has been so many ways to my credit and advantage ) i sent them to you in a few proposals , tending to make a domestic institution less chargeable to the parent , and more useful and easie to the child . upon the reading of which , some objections arising , i was desir'd to answer them , and subjoyn the reasons of the said proposed method , which i purpos'd to do with all the brevity i cou'd , and send them to you the same day . but beginning to think what method to use therein , it seem'd necessary to shew there was a general male-treatment of children ; and this i conceive to be not only the most proper , but most useful way of proceeding in cases of this nature . for if i can prove a reformation is necessary , i have gained a considerable point ; and having no ambition my diminutive name shou'd stand in the catalogue of reformers , shall be satisfy'd in the hopes of seeing some other more happy and successful proposals , in order to the effecting thereof . an honest and ingenuous man ought not to be concern'd , that his methods for reformation , of any grievance in church or state , are rejected , if he has been so happy to convince that some or other were necessary . sir , i humbly desire your pardon for prefixing your honour'd name to these papers , assuring you i don't pretend to make a present , but beg a patronage . and if you will please to do me these two favours , first , to think i meant honestly , and nextly , to pardon the failures of the management to the candour and ingenuity of the design , i will ( in return ) do you the only one that lies in my power , in superseding wretched panegyrics and fulsome flatteries , the usual furniture of modern dedications , being sensible that persons of known honour and worth , are abus'd by having their names taken in vain by every trifling scribbler ; and only add that i am , honour'd sir , your obliged humble servant , r. ainsworth . proposals of a method of institution , &c. the advantages of giving children an ingenuous and liberal education , are so well known in england to all ranks and degrees of men , we need no lacedaemonian edict , by which those parents were depriv'd of the freedom of their city , who were negligent in this particular , being look'd upon fit for nothing but to cleanse shoars , and carry burdens , who condemn'd their sons never to be fit for any better employment . but tho' we are sufficiently convinc'd of the usefulness and excellency thereof , we are very negligent and careless of the methods whereby to effect it , and so more blame-worthy than some of the ignorant lacedaemonians , who possibly saw no such real benefit thereby . to be solicitous about the end , and neglect the meaens , betrays i know not whether more levity or imprudence . we generally think to give our children education is but in other words , to send 'em to school ; to whom , or for what , is not much material . it may be , about six or seven years after , 't is expected a lad shou'd understand latin ; if he does , all is well , if not , cries the parent he 's a blockhead , i 'll ne'r trouble my head further about him . if he is a gentleman , may be he adds , he had as good play at home as at school ; and so the youth being fit company for none but servants , familiarly converses and saunters away his time with ' em . and now having told you his company , you may guess at his manners , uva conspectâ livorem ducit ab uvâ , but if a tradesman , away with the dunce , i 'll put him to 'prentice forthwith ; so this often occasions that too , to be done precipitately , and so he is little better for serving a tedious apprentiship , in a whipping bridewell , under a flogging orbilius . the better did i say ? nay , generally worse , being habituated there to several vices , which often keep him company as long as he lives . but , if after all , the parent is resolv'd , in spight of the muses and apollo , his son shall be a scholar , after a sound chastisement , he is sent to another school , 6 or 7 years longer , to make his verse end — berecynthius atys , and read a little — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without knowing any thing of arts and sciences , and perhaps common sense . to reform these , and such like abuses , in childrens common treatment , several worthy persons have taken great pains , ( as mr. walker , monsieur fleury ; but above all , the learned and ingenious mr. lock , ( whom i have not the honour to know but by his excellent pen ) and treated this subject so well , that they will always be reckon'd as our best and chiefest reformers . not have they miss'd of success amonst discerning and impartial readers ; but most being otherwise , and the heresies overgrown , and slubborn , a thorow reformation cannot be expected on a sudden . having often highly extoll'd the method of learning latin , as a native of rome , being convinc'd both by great reasons , and great authorities it must be the best ; and being accus'd by some of singularity , tho' following so great authors , because i had made proposals to some gentlemen by which i suppos'd the design might be best answer'd , i thought my self concern'd to give a publick account of my so doing ; in the performance whereof , i shall insist in this order : 1. enquire into the manner of our childrens general treatment , both by parent and master , and make some animadversions on both . 2. lay down a method , in 10 proposals , whereby i conceive it easie to teach them to understand a roman author very well , write latin elegantly , speak it properly and easily , gain a considerable knowledge in logic , rhetoric , geography , history , &c. in the space of two years . 3. assign the reasons of the said proposals , and answer objections . and lastly , leave the whole to the iudgment of the candid and iudicious reader . the reasons of the slow proficiency , and careless institution of our children , are such as either the parents , or master , is chargeable with . first , the parents , who don 't ordinarily take care to have their children taught to read , till they are so habituated to vice and idleness , that their teacher must have as much labour to bring 'em into love with their book , as otherwise wou●d have taught 'em to read ; from whence also various inconveniencies arise both to the parents and children ; the enumeration whereof not being my province , i leave to those who write the whole series of education . no doubt , as soon as they can speak , they may be taught to read either by father or mother , with case and pleasure , without ever imposing it as a task upon ' em . the ingenious mr. lock tells us of a person of great quality and worth , who by pasting the six vowels on the six sides of a die , and the remaining 18 consenants on the sides of three other dies , has play'd his son into spelling and reading with the greatest eagerness imaginable ; and i doubt not but the said worthy patriot may teach him arithmetic , history , music , with but a little deviation from that his so excellently contrived method . facile est inventis addere . this very method , for fear of bad consequences afterwards , may not be so well , but from it we have an hint for an hundred very harmless inventions to teach children to read. 2. if they do take care to send 'em to school , perhaps 't is to some woman who never knew any thing of orthography , tho' she may make a shift to read her prayers , or murder a gazette , confounding one period with another , which she must needs do , having never been acquainted with the rules of pointing . hence it comes to pass , that vulgar people , who only have learn'd to read and write at this rate , commit such horrible blunders in spelling , and making no points , are at the hazard of having no one , that writes true , to understand what they mean. i admire that parents , that design their children a liberal education , shou'd commit them to such ; they had better let all alone , for they contract such ill habits , as will cost their master afterwards double the trouble to unlearn 'em , as were requisite to learn 'em to read , and i shou'd scarce undertake to teach 'em for a double reward : for to teach has a great deal of pleasure , to unteach has none at all to recommend it . to which i may add , that it not only discourageth the pupil , but is apt to create in him an aversion to his tutor : and thus both the master and scholar labour in vain . — ista felix nullo mansuescit aratro . pers. and this i am sure of , by many experiments , that an adult person , who has had the misfortune to be taught english at this rate , cannot be so great a proficient , in 6 months time , in learning latin , as another , happy in his first english rudiments , may be in two ; and besides , must take a great deal more pains . parents , when their children are fit in their accounts to be put to a master , think it sufficient to put them to a good scholar , ( as they phrase it ) whether a good man or no , is not much material . and what is this good scholar ? he understands latin and greek . as tho' this were accomplishment enough ! this is so far from it , that 't is undoubtedly but one qualification , and that one of the least too , of a good school-master to little children , whose tender years are to be imbu'd with piety , and principles of right reason : he ought to be a vertuous , modest , and humble man , and very patient ; his chief business ought to be to dissipate by soft and gentle means , those passions that would over-cast the early dawnings of infant reason , that it may shine out bright and glorious ; and with a gentle hand , to weed out the tares which perhaps were sown when the parents slept , before they are grown so high , as to choak the culture of an ingenuous and liberal education , to cherish the principles of kindness , and good nature , till they are grown into habits ; to settle a reverence to their parents and masters , and a love and respect for all , and they will soon enough afterwards learn to exert them in a fashionable mein , and decent comportment , which , when they have learn'd with a dancing-master , will more admirably become them , when their bows and honours , not forc'd by modes and fashions , not ap'd and mimick'd , but found to be real by the divine sweetness of their looks , which no art can teach , will not only challenge from all persons an high commendation of their parts and breeding , but also gain 'em every where an admiration and love for their virtue . he ought not only to have these qualifications , but a reasonable knowledge of arts and sciences , as logic , rhetoric , history , geography , &c. to speak latin well and promptly , and understand the greek tongue ; neither too young , nor too old , a proper well-made person , and of a good presence . what shall i say ? he must be — qualem nequeo monstrare & sentio tantum . but you will say , all these qualifications seldom meet in one man , especially who will vouchsafe to be a tutor . i confess it . and therefore get in one , as many as you can , and be content to abate him some of these last , ( i mean as to accuracy ) but never any of the first ; for in those that are to study as gentlemen , this age looks upon it a greater accomplishment to have a taste of all arts and sciences , so as to be able to discourse , and give some tolerable account of each , as occasion shall offer , than to stick close to any particular study , neglecting the rest , provided that when they are called to any office or imployment in the common-wealth , they then apply themselves close to that study , which may best qualifie them for it , and make all their other knowledge as much as they can subservient thereto : but if design'd for scholars , in whatsoever their master is deficient , they may perfect themselves by their industry , and a tutors assistance , in the university . many parents think 't is well enough to send their children to a publick school : those that are not able to give them a domestic , or more private education , i censure not ; but such persons as have good estates , and some of quality and worth , who perhaps have taken great pains to form their childrens mind , and manners , with piety and vertue , till they are come to 7 or 8 years of age , and then for the sake of a little latin run so great an hazard to have the beautiful image spoild , and the whole work effac'd , some will be apt to arraign of either levity , incogitancy , or both . here children of good , and bad education , and good , and bad tempers , being huddled promiscuously together , it may be rather fear'd the bad may infect the good , than hoped the good may reform the bad . — quoniam dociles imitandis turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus . but further , would publick school-masters ( as 't is next to an impossibility they should ) take care of their morals , and be never so sollicitous of cultivating their early years with piety and vertue , yet at noon or night , when dismiss'd from school , they would be apt to saunter about , and loyter in the streets , where they wou'd see various objects to divert their thoughts , hear several common , if not impious sayings , of porters , car men , and kitchen-wenches , which much abhor from that phrase and diction they ought always to be accustom●d to ; whereby barbatos licet admoveas mille inde magistros , hinc totidem , their virtue and innocency would be difficulty secur'd . i profess i shou'd hardly run the risque were there no better , no other way , whereby my son could come at the understanding of a language . i am sorry i shou'd have occasion to subjoin my next reason : many of good estates , and i fear some of quality , do give their children a very mean and ordinary education , because they are loth to be at any extraordinary charge about it : of this , plutarch vehemently complains , in his time , in these words ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many people are grown so covetous , and ( i will not translate my authors word ) so slighting of their children , that for fear of paying a greater price for their tuition , they chuse men of no account for their childrens tutors , purchasing for them a cheap ignorance . and tells us a biting reply of aristippus , who being ask'd by one of these fathers what he would ask for his sons education , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said he . o hercules ! cry'd the other in a great astonishment , why , i can buy a good slave for that money : why , and so you may , reply'd the philosopher , then you will have two slaves , the slave you have bought , and the slave you have begot . but to set aside all arguments drawn from the usefulness , excellency , and ornament of learning , since these are no topicks to insist on with such a reader , we will endeavour to convince him that the laying out his money in his sons education , is not incompatible with his own maxims . if he had a piece of land that were very barren and stony , but with a little agriculture wou'd be as good as any of his neighbours , wou'd he spare his money here , where there was a prospect of a considerable advantage ? wou'd he not rather order his bailiff forthwith to manure and cultivate it ? and is the cultivating of his son , a matter of lesser moment , from whence probably , in the very letter , more profit may come into his pocket than from his field ? or when he has a considerable stock of money by him , is he not apt to be uneasie , till he has put it out to interest , hearken'd out a mortgage , or wisely transmuted it into good terra firma ; because , says he , let fires , losses at sea , change of government , any , or all of these happen , this will stay upon the spot , i shall still have this to leave my son , yet tho' the land , as he saith , will still abide on the spot , he knows how moveable a skin or two of parchment is . one would think now , if he could light of a purchase more secure , and more advantageous too , for his son , he should not grudge to lay out his money upon it . if he ask me what that is , i answer : a vertuous and learned education ; and that too , ( if he be as careful as he generally is ) he may have a very good penny-worth . only let him remember , the best is the best cheap . the fondness and indulgence of some parents , who can scarce endure their children out of their sight ; for ( say they ) we are not sure they will be so indulg'd , and treated with that care and tenderness , they are at home . and what then ? suppose they should not , where would be the harm of it ? perhaps , nay probably , the inuring them to a little more hardship , may in a great measure contribute to their health , by confirming , and fortifying their constitution . this the lacedaemonians , romans , and other wise , and warlike nations , knew ; and therefore were far enough from bringing up their children with that softness , and niceness , as our cocker'd citizens are . and certainly , whether we respect their bodies or minds , this nice and over-tender treatment of children , must be very pernicious to them ; it makes their constitutions weak and infirm , subject to catch cold with every little breath of air , and their health often various , and uncertain all their life long . then as to their minds , they must not be cross'd , nor contradicted , they must have their humour in every thing . what a piece of barbarous cruelty is it in parents to suffer those passions to get strength in the pretty creatures , the breaking of which will cost them so dear , and dearer if never broken ! and certainly , a wife and sober tutor may manage a child to his advantage both ways much better , who 't is probable will never suffer those irregularities in his meat , play , or sleep , which the ill-tim'd and pernicious indulgence of many parents often winks at , and oftner sees not ; and too great , or too little a weight , too quick , or too slow a motion , often put this delicate movement out of order . he will sooner see the first rising of any disorder or tempest in the passions , even ( like the prophets servant ) when no bigger than a man's hand , and so may dissipate , and scatter them with more case , that so they may not over-cloud the sky of their dawning reason , before the bright sun of their vertue can well be perceiv'd to be risen in their horizon . the next charge i have against parents , is their frequent removing their sons from one school to another , upon the slightest reasons , and sometimes none at all ; then which , nothing is more apt to rebate the masters diligence , who cannot tell but another may reap the fruit , and have the credit of his care and pains , and the child , by this means , is most certainly balk'd , for being put into one method by his first master , into another by the second , and perhaps into the first again by the third , or it may be into a new one , he loseth some years , and is not at last so good a proficient as if he had been intrusted , or continued with any of the three . they ought to be very great and cogent reasons , which oblige a parent to remove his child , if he has been a considerable time under a master , especially when the pupil respects him , and makes , tho' but a flow , proficiency under him . parents ought to say so to their sons as tully does to his : quamobrem disces tu quidem a principe hujus aetatis philosophorum , & disces quam diu voles , ' tamdiu autem velle debebis , quoad to quantum proficias , now paenitebit . some persons neglect to enquire into their childrens proficiency , even sometimes , tho' very learned themselves , perhaps , thinking it too mean a thing , or not their province , to concern themselves in examining school-boys exercise ; but marcus cato thought not so , who , tho' he kept a tutor at home for his sons , would notwithstanding himself , even in the tutors presence , give them not only precepts of virtue , but grammar too , exciting at once both the diligence of tutor and pupil . but the great augustus , tho' labouring under the weight of years and empire , thought not so , who constantly taught his two grandsons , lucius and caius . but tully thought not so , who , tho' of consular dignity , and a great states-man , supporting , as it were , with his own shoulders , a tottering common-wealth , made account he had not yet discharged his duty to his son , by sending him to athens , the most learned city and university of the world , to be instructed by cratippus , one of the greatest philosophers of the age , unless himself also wrote him a treatise of ethics , by which to form and regulate his manners . these examples i do not produce , because i would persuade learned parents to toil and labour at the oar , like these great personages , ( tho' perhaps , if they shou'd , their fere wou'd often make them amends ) but that they wou'd think it not so mean an employ , now and then at leisure hours , to inquire into their sons proficiency , that if either tutor or pupil be remiss , they may admonish him , or diligent , incourage him . these are the reasons of the great obstacles and remoras in childrens education , occasioned by the parents , some being tardy in one particular , and some in another . now come we to those , which on the masters part lie against their improvement in learning languages . some masters have a standing method , not only in teaching their pupils a language , but also in the motives , by which they propose to raise and fix their attention . this may proceed from a want of reflection , that chiidrens passions , as well as of elder people , are excited by different methods and motives . now whilst a master continues ignorant of the particular motives by which he must raise attention in every particular scholar , he must needs be often at a loss , let his general method be never so good , and let him take never so much pains . he had as good talk to the wind , and plough the shoar ; the one would as soon learn , and the other be cultivated , as several of his pupils . certainly therefore , the knowledge of his scholars temper must be the theory , and the proceeding by that knowledge , the practick of the most useful and excellent science any school-master can study , whether respecting his own ease , or his pupils advantage . some again ( i would hope not many ) preferr'd ( magis , ambitu quam merito ) having annual stipends in free-schools , in the erection and endowment whereof our ancestors have been very liberal , make no conscience of suffering their pupils to lose their time , their duty and credit being small motives to their diligence , where the main stake , their sallery , is secur'd . but i have not time to declaim against one of these , and if i had 't were lost labour . — caret culpâ , nescit quid perdat & alto demersus , summâ rursus non bullit in undâ . pers. others , tho' otherwise learn'd and conscientious , whether indeed approving their own method , or taking it from custom , without ever calling it to the touchstone of their better iudgment , enjoyn the herculean labour of getting lilly's grammar without book , perhaps two or three times over , and after that a long word-book of two or three thousand words jumbled together at a strange rate ; and it may be , should children , with prodigious labour and courage , conquer these , the hydra bubbles up again with more heads , their lessons out of their authors are to be learn'd memoriter too , which baffles our valiant champions to that degree , they dare encounter no longer , but slink away , and are not a pin better for all their former victories . i wou'd ask one of these gentlemen , should he set about the learning of the arabian tongue , carrying along with him an earnest desire , a firm resolution , and the terms of art , ( which are common to all languages ) and desiring his tutor to show him the most expeditious way of attaining it , should only receive this answer , sir , you must get erpenius's grammar perfectly without book , and afterwards fix in your memory two or three thousand words out of an ardbian lexicon , would he not be discourag'd at this ? would he not be apt to think there might be some more expeditious way of learning it found out ? undoubtedly he would , especially if the rules of erpenius's grammar were arabic as lilly's are latin. and does he think that which discourageth him , a man , with all these advantages , shou'd not have the same effect upon a child , without them ? not that i go about to depreciate lilly's grammar , especially with the oxford notes ; no , perhaps it is the best that ever was writ , but several rules , and many more exceptions , seem rather to be calculated for the meridian of riper iudgments , than to the latitude of childrens capacities . nor did the learned compilers ever design a fourth part of them to be learn'd without book by children ; they only propose a boy should learn his declensions and conjugations very well , which when he understands , not by rote , but reason ( as they phrase it ) , and is more cunning in understanding the thing , than rehearsing the words , which is not above a quarter of a years diligence , or very little more , to a painful and diligent man , if the scholar have a mean capacity : then they advise to let him pass to the concords , to know the agreement of parts among themselves , thence to the syntax , but not to learn the rules as they follow in order , but as occasion shall offer it self reading and persing some author , wherein not only the eloquence of the tongue , but some plain lesson of honesty and godliness is contain'd . and after some time of turning english into latin , and vice versa a little below , they add , if to this were adjoyn'd some use of speaking , ( which must also necessarily be had ) he shall be brought past the wearisome bitterness of his learning . this method seems to me so rational , that i am almost tempted to believe some school-masters have never read the preface to the grammar they daily teach , or if all have , i wonder ( tho' some learned and ingenious men may ) others should have reason to think they have found out a better way of teaching their grammar , than the compilers themselves had . in my iudgment , those masters who take a different method to their prescriptions , ( except as before excepted ) walk a tedious round ; but especially such as teach all the rules and exceptions as they follow one another , before their pupil reads an author . for if children should by the masters diligence , and continual beating their brains about the sence of this , or that particular rule , or exception , be brought to some little notions about them , 't is ten to one , but being forc'd to summon all their thoughts to understand the next , the ideas they had conceiv'd about the former are quite obliterated ; by this means it often comes to pass that one poor exception , which perhaps might not occur above once in an author , at last is understood at the loss of two or three general rules , and some leather in at the bargain . sure i am , that the learning this line , tartara taygetus sic taenara massica , &c. stood me in the latter , if not in the former , which had i never learn'd , had not been a pin of matter , since no word is of one gender in the singular , and another in the plural number . nor would i , by what i have said of lilly's grammar , be understood as if i thought that a perfect model . it 's greatest admirers have confess'd , there are many deficiencies to be supply'd , but more redundancies to be retrench'd ; and the modest compilers themselves thus preface it . wherefore it is not amiss , if one seeing by tryat , an easier and readier way than the common sort of teachers do , would say what he hath prov'd , and for the commodity allow'd , that others not knowing the same might by experience prove the like , and then by proof reasonably iudge the like , not hereby excluding the better way when it is sound out , but in the mean while forbidding the worse . this i believe i may venture to say , it may be easie for any master , on half a sheet of paper , to extract out of this grammar what is sufficient for any lad to know before he reads an author . but i proceed : the harshness and severity of others , is a great obstacle to childrens improvement . were they to perform their hard task , and carry burdens like slaves , and not for every little omission , or peccadillo , to be thump'd like them , i shou'd think their condition something different . nay , i fear they are beat sometimes for not performing impossibilities , for not making brick without straw ; i mean , for not finding matter as well as words . and is not this an aegyptian slavery ? if these gentlemen , whom a body would scarce take for romans , unless by their fasoes , pretend a liberty to scourge them , in order to their manumission , i should be rather content my son should be no denizen of rome , than pay so dear for his freedom . indeed , when ill principles , long indulg'd , are grown to ill habits , and a master has in vain , a long time , attempted to weed them out gently with his hand , there may be occasion for a spade or a mattock , to dig them up at once , but that being once done , i can see no occasion afterwards , in any case whatsoever . when boys , as quintilian has observ'd , facile sanabilibus labor ant malis , why should we always have recourse to the extreamest remedy ? correction , like physick , where it has no operation , commonly doth harm , and the often repetition of it either spoils the part , or at best fortifies it against it . few , i believe , have been whipp'd into virtue and learning , but many , to my knowledge , have been whipp'd from them ; and then it is the worse for them that ever they were sent to school , for either the severity of their treatment makes them have an utter aversion for their book as long as they live , or if they retain a love for it still , they commonly lard their discourses in common conversation with such scraps , and serve it in with such bombast , that i must needs think he has a strong stomach that does not nauseate it . i declare it , when i hear this horrid iargon , i know not which is greater , my pity or indignation . certainly , nothing is more unbecoming a gentleman , nothing more silly and ridiculous , than this pedantick humour . if the company be learn'd , nothing can grate their ears more harshly ; if unlearned , 't is an unmannerly abuse . this i take to be a worse plague than the former , and both of them are generally the effects of a rod. 't is strange to me that persons of qvality , nice enough of their honour in other points , should suffer their children to be whipp'd and abus'd by every little fellow , whose understanding a little latin and greek is the only title he has to the birchen scepter , wherewith he tyrannizes like the abdicated dionysius . curtius tells us , that the power of scourging the children of the macedonian nobility resided only in their kings , and a beating even by their command was look'd upon to be so disgraceful , that alexander the great , for executing it , had almost paid his life for satisfaction to the disgrac'd youth . but tho' our noblemen sometimes may indulge them this power , i wonder our strabo's should so willingly forfeit the favour and respect of their pupils in time to come . the reason of our obligation to our physicians , and schoolmasters , is not ( as seneca reasons very well ) because we have received health of the one , and erudition of the other , tho' both things unvaluable , because both of them set a value upon them , and that value we paid . quid ergo ? quare medico & praeceptori plus quiddam debeo , nec adversus eos mercede defungor ? quod ex medico & praeceptore in amicos transeunt , & nos non arte quam vendunt obligant , sed benignâ & familiari tractatione . what then ? what is the reason i am still oblig'd , and not out of my physicians and school-masters debt ? because of a physician and school-master they become friends , and do not oblige us by the art , which they sell , but by their kind and obliging devoirs . lastly , some both publick and private school-masters , being more devoted to their own interest , than to the good of their pupils , undertake more than they have time to manage ; so by taking in more pupils they send out fewer scholars . but this , indeed , is equally the fault of the parent , who sending his son to a master , whose time and labour being to be divided amongst so many , can hope for little of either to fall to his sons share . having thus gone thro' my reasons of , and animadversions upon the obstructions in childrens institution , let me beg of parents to beware of those failings for the future , wherewith i have charg'd 'em , by taking an especial care of the first 6 or 7 years the little ones are under their wing , and i hope i shall propose the best method to manage them afterwards ; for i don't doubt , if vertuous and ingenious men be encourag'd , they can ever want fit tutors , either in the following manner of teaching 10 or 12 together , or , ( which is next best ) in their own families . let them but take care of the main matters in their infancy , and they need not fear but languages will be had afterwards easie and cheap enough . childrens minds are soft and moist clay , such as may be easily thrown on the wheel even how you please , but age hardens it , and custom confirms it , and then your vessel , whether honourable or dishonourable , cannot be alter'd ; therefore be sure to fashion it right , and season it well . i admire to see several parents treat their children like bruits , till 6 or 7 years of age , which is the ready way to keep them so much longer . next to the care of forming their minds , succeeds that of teaching them to read ; and , methinks , this might be done without sending them out of doors , as is usual to a mistress , where , besides the inconveniences i have before recounted , among children of worse education , they often learn ill words , and ill things . since childrens minds are pure virgin parchment , is it not a thousand pities to suffer it to be scrall'd over with foolish and senceless characters , much more to be blotted and blurr'd with anger , envy , pride , and sullenness , when it may so easily be prevented ? when they read english very well , 't is time to dispose of them to a master , not only to teach them latin or french , as is usual , but enjoyn him to perfect and polish that work which you have begun with so much success , to take care they be instructed in piety and morals , in arts , sciences , and languages . but some will be apt to think , the perfecting of all this will be a matter of great difficulty , and many years ; and that the learning of latin alone taking up so much time , when will the rest be perfected , which are usually the studies of men , not children ? i answer : i do not mean they should be separate , and successive acts , but all carried on at once ; and that i believe the latin tongue may be learn'd so far forth as to understand very well a roman author , to write latin correctly , and speak it fluently , and a considerable knowledge attain'd in arts and sciences , by little children , by the proposals following , in two years time at most , and that with ease and pleasure , both to master and scholar . that a convenient house be taken , a small distance from london , with a large garden , and other conveniencies . that there be two masters , whereof one to be capable of teaching latin , greek and hebrew : the other , at least , to understand latin , and speak it fluently ; to be well skill'd in logic , rhetoric , geography , and history ; and that he write a good hand . that latin be made a living language in the family ; i.e. that no other language be us'd in presence of the boys . that one or both the masters continually be present with the pupils , whether reading , writing , translating , or playing , from 7 in the morning till 8 at night . that there be no rods , or any kind of punishment , but that a generous emulation be carry'd on by rewards ; to which use the parents shall allow per annum , of which they to have an account monthly in a latin epistle , by which they may be inform'd both of their proficiency and diligence from time to time . that the number of pupils exceed not twelve . that they read english well ; and that their master take care to improve it . that they be not younger than six , nor older than eleven years of age. that their authors , and masters , be their grammar , dictionary , and phrase-book . that nothing be impos'd on them as a task . here follow the reasons of each particular proposal , with obiections answered . to this i see not what can be objected : i think it ought not to be propos'd in london , because the air is not so good . and how much a good air contributes to the health of the body , and that to the health of the mind , no person can be ignorant ; nor far from london , because it not being convenient the pupils should ever be suffer'd to go home ; and , as i said before , requisite parents should frequently enquire into their sons proficiency , they may do it in summer , when they have a mind to divert themselves with a walk , and in winter by coach , at a small expence . their garden ought to be pretty large , and to have some choice plants and flowers , not only for the pleasure and use , but such a collection ought to be made , from which the argument of some useful discourse , as it were occasionally , may be treated of . hence they may not only be told the names which not often occur in their authors , or if they did , the name only being known , and not the idea , would easily ship out of their memory , and whilst it was there , was of no use . their use and natures also will be of great advantage to them hereafter . to which i may add . that from their very names they may learn a good part of the heathen mythology , as of daphne , narcissus , hyacinthus , &c. i cannot suppose any person can think the undertaking can be ( so commodiously ) perform'd by one . because it might grow tedious to any man never to have an hours liberty , either to mind his private studies , or enjoy a friend . because those qualifications which are requisite in these proposals , are more easie to be found in two than one . because there seem to be two distinct parts ; the one ought , tho' never strange nor angry , very to be so cheap as the other should necessarily be , his province is to take especial care of their morals , to give them the sense of their authors , which ought to be such , from whence with ease , and pleasure , he might draw instructions of more useful knowledge , to distribute rewards , to carry it with a certain coldness to such as are guilty of a fault , and with much kindness and affection to those that do well : the other 's with all sweetness and affability , to infinuate himself into their favour , to invent for them plays and exercises , tending to the institution of their minds , and health of their bodies ; and that i may express it in tacitus's elegant words , non studia modo curáque sed remissiones etiam lususque puerorum , sanctitate quadam ac verecundia-temper are . nor ought he only to invent such plays , but often to make one in the sport , and show himself very much pleas d and delighted in it ; also to teach them to write a good hand . not that i would have these two parts so separate , but that either of them might perform the others part , if one should happen not to be well , or have some earnest vocation for a whole day . the learning of languages being in it self , as consisting of hard , and uncouth words , unpleasant , or at best insipid , ought to be well cook'd , and made pleasant , before it is serv'd up to children . the recipe may easily be had , a little utile dulci , the one to season it , the other to make it palatable , for children we know love sweet things ; history and geography , especially with fine maps , and pictures , as falling under the sense of seeing , afford both these ; and their natural inquisitiveness and curiosity will give their master a large , and apt occasion to instruct them , for their whole instruction ought to be as it were occasional , and not design'd . the master ought to study their accessus & idone a tempora fandi . these , and several other arts and sciences , might easily be made so palatable , that the children would hang at their masters lips , and , as it were , devour his words , to have the better account of things ; so they might be brought to love the language for the art , and afterwards , yet more dearly , love the art for the language . their play hours , i mean , their absence from their books , ( for their whole institution ought to have no other name ) ought to be made as beneficial as any other . hear what the pious and learned author of the whole duty of man saith on this head : methinks it might very well be contriv'd , that their recreations might sometimes consist of such ingenious exercises , that they might at once both play and learn. if any one ask how latin is to be made a living language , i answer : their master , who is always to be present as before , shall ( after three months spent in learning so much grammar as may be necessary for them ) never speak any other language to them , nor suffer any other to be spoke before them . the mistress of the house , in some measure , should understand and speak latin , at least such forms as will suit her occasions , which are about dressing and undressing , and serving them with meat ; and no servant , at any time , be suffer'd to speak to any of them but before the master , and that in a prescrib'd form . but tho' i were assur'd my son may learn latin the same way he learn'd english , by conversation , in two years time or less , yet you mean , he shall only then speak latin as he now speaks english , i.e. improperly . if he now speaks english improperly , there is a proper reason to be assign'd for it ; because he has convers'd most with those that spoke improperly , his nurse or servants , than which conversation nothing can be more pernicious either to a childs language , or manners ; but now his conversation is to be with such as speak proper . but , it is not propos'd that he should learn the latin tongue purely by conversation , he ought , i think , to have thus much grammar : 1. to distinguish the parts of speech one from another . 2. to learn to decline a noun , and conjugate a perfect verb very well . 3. he ought to be acquainted with the terms of art , as number , case , gender , declension ; active , passive , mood , tense , conjugation , person . 4. to learn his praepositions . 5. his concords . 6. and since there are 6 cases , to have about 6 general rules of regimen . and a body would think all this might as well be done in three months as three years . he ought also to be instructed in the analogy of the tongue , that he may better understand , and fix his rules in memory . but how can the masters playing with them be so beneficial ? because he may teach them more there , than the other at their books , since ( as the ingenious mr. lock hath observ'd ) ` learning any thing as they should , may be made as much a recreation to their play , as their play to their learning . how many curious fabricks may be built on their natural curiosity , and busie humour ? and when sufficiently weary'd with those diverting plays , he may invent for them ; i question not but their natural activeness , ( for they hate to be idle ) will carry them to the equally diverting , tho' less useful play , their book . but many men will think it too great a condescention to play away above half their time with little children . i see no reason any one should ; especially since his imployment being to invent sports , and plays for the children , to introduce them into the per 〈…〉 of more useful knowledge , he may lightly hit upon some thing that will aboundantly recompence his pains . but if sometimes they should out-vote him , ( for i would not have him insist upon any thing too much ) and have a mind to play at nine-pins , cherry-stones , or cok-nut , he needs not be asham'd of that , which the greatest personages have delighted in witness augustus caesar. modo talis aut ocellatis nucibúsque ludebat cum pueris minutis quos facie et g 〈…〉 conquerebat . the noble pair of friends , scipio and ielius , even in their old age , wou●d , in the company of little children , gather shells , and pretty smooth round * stones at cajeta and laurentum , and play with them , and sometimes at ball. socrates himself , with children in his retinue , would publickly ride up and down on an hobby-horse . for my part , i should take this to be the most pl 〈…〉 life in the w●●●d to spend my life in a garden with such company . if any one thinks that children cannot be govern'd unless by the discipline of the rod , and the severity of reprimands , i am sure he only thinks so , and has never try'd the experiment , and i doubt not but thousands can inform him better . that pedants so often joyn together the idaea of a red and book , i have always conceiv'd to be the cause of their ill success in teaching . can such imagine , children should conceive any other of the latter than of the former ? can they think children should not do things much worse under dread ? i am apt to believe , few of these could have been perswaded to declain ad aram lugdunensem , tho' great orators themselves , and great rewards promis'd to such as came off with applause . and why ? because the punishment inflicted in case of failure , being so great , might have possibly so busied , and taken up their thoughts , as to have spoil'd the eloquent harangue . but a boy has rarely any reward in a school ; nay , scarce extorts an euge from his task-master if he doth well , and is certainly whipp'd if he doth not : can he blame him then if he withdraws his hand from the ferula , when himself , in such a case , would do the same ? himself knows how fear so often praecludes the thoughts , as to leave room for nothing else ; and will he expect from a child , whose passions are stronger , and reason much weaker , that fear should not have the same influence over him , which it has upon adult persons ? but the giving them frequent rewards tends to make them vain , proud , or covetous . some , perhaps , it may , but that the masters prudence ought to prevent , and he may do it several ways ; i will instance in one . it may be propos'd , when their praemiums amount to such a sum to buy this or that pleasant book , near and delicately bound ; this or that fine map or picture ; and when one has made up the money , and bought the book , an emulation will be excited in all the rest till another has got it . after which , every one will strive the more to ingratiate himself into the masters affection , the more have been serv'd before him , when he perceives his praemiums are purely the reward of merit . only the master ought to take care , that two or three of the last have their monies made up at the same time , least any should be discouraged . i hope none will object this number is too many , where there are two diligent and careful masters . certainly , so many may as well ( some of my friends have thought better ) be instructed in this method than two . and as the ingenious mr. walker has observ'd , is neither so tedious to master nor scholar . besides , a generous emulation will be more easily promoted than amongst two or three only . and lastly , the matter may be manag'd at lesser charge to the parents . nor ought the tutors , through covetousness , to think it too few . for having so small a complement , they need take none in but children very well descended , and such as have had a vertuous and sober education . and these proposals being perform'd , they will deserve the respect of persons of quality , whose interest may stand them in good stead . but not being perform'd , i think it too many , and their reward , if any thing , too much . i could wish that such as are negligent in this important matter , as they are accountable in foro conscientiae , might be severely animadverted upon by humane laws . certainly the cynic was in the right on 't , who trounc'd the master because the scholar was a naughty boy . this proposal seems very necessary . because all their discourses and authors being latin , it might be fear'd through a total disusc they might be at a loss to express themselves handsomly and properly in their mother tongue . the master ought to be very careful in this particular , and , as the aforesaid method of conversing with latin people , latin authors , and earefully observing latin analogy , will certainly prevent anglicisms in their writing latin , he ought to take heed that no latinisms creep into their translations , or english phrase , and diction . and this i take to be the most proper time for it , viz. when he begins to find they had rather speak latin than english ; ( which by the use of the one , and disuse of the other , i suppose may be a little more than a year ) then the scholar ought to be put upon comparing them both together , by heedfully minding their particular phrases , idioms and proverbs , and by almost an equal use of both the styles , to render them both equally easie and familiar , and yet so as neither of them may smell of the other , the analogy of both the tongues being carefully observed . for this reason a foreigner cannot be fit to undertake this charge , unless exactly acquainted with our phrase and indiom , which few are . the reason of this proposal is , lest a disparity in their age should cause the same disparity in their improvement . not that i fear the elder should get the start of the younger , but on the contrary ; for without doubt , the younger we put children into this method the better . the masters will have most trouble with the oldest ; yet when he is once manag'd , tho' he should exceed the age in this proposal , if he be a youth of a sweet and loving temper , and studious withal , ( but in this great care should be taken ) he may lead the younger whither he pleaseth , and do his master a great deal of service . but children are generally thought incapable of learning latin at this age. if people wou'd consider how soon they learn english , i dare say they wou'd be of another mind . these pretty little mimics , with a sweet and natural delight , listen to all our sounds , and very well understand them in a few months , so far ( at least ) as they any way concern themselves , as may be observ'd by many of their actions , and desire to be understood themselves . nay , they are so concern'd their little mimicisms cannot be conceiv'd , that they make a thousand signs to shew their meaning , which is as pleasant , and delightful a rhetoric , to such as have but the leisure , and curiosity to observe them , as the quaintest diction , and most celebrated haranguel children have , by nature , no greater aptness to imitate one tongue than another ; the children of iews , arabians , french , and english , come to speak much at the same time , and need not any particular rules and directions about the matter , nor indeed ever understand they are learning , and yet they all arrive at a tolerable proficiency in two years . the consequence is therefore , they would equally understand latin in that time , for none will think the roman children did not understand their , mother-tongue till 6 or 7 years of age. but some will say , tho' this be demonstrably true , yet they may not , perhaps , at 6 or 7 years of age , be so capable of foreign languages . yea , much more capable ; for if before that age they learn'd , their mother tongue , notwithstanding their weakness , frowardness , contraction of their faculties , and their want of assistance from art , and that purely by hearing their mother , or nurse , lisp a little broken english , what shall we expect from them , when their bodies are more firm , their poevishness abated , their faculties more dilated , when they may be assisted by art , and converse with men that speak fine and properly ? but what need these collections , when daily experience tellsus , that children , after having learn'd english , are in a years-time ordinarily taught french , or italian , and that with ease and pleasure , both to themselves and master ? nay , i am credibly inform'd of a child , of ten years of age , who speaks five languages very fluently by conversation only , of which latin is one : and undoubtedly , the learning of latin the same way as they learn other languages , must be most easie and natural . if authorities were wanting , where reason and experience speak so loud , 't were easie to accumulate them . 't was partly by this method , but since better improv'd , that roger ascham taught his royal scholars , elizabeth , edward , and the lady iane grey , latin , greek , french and italian , in three or four years time , to the accomplishment of those great personages , and to his own eternal honour . 't was this way , tho' not so happily propos'd , that our admirable cowley , almost by his own indefatigable industry , learn'd the latin and greek tongues , as is observ'd by the gentleman that writes his life in these words : his teachers never could bring him to learn the ordinary rules of grammar , but [ he ] chose rather to converse with the books themselves , from whence the others were taken . this , no doubt , was the better way , tho' more difficult ; and he found afterwards the benefit , that having got the greek and latin tongues , as he had done his own , not by precept but use , he practis'd them not as a scholar but a native . and this very consideration was the occasion of my for by making his authors and masters his grammar , dictionary , and phrase-book , he will better come to know the genuine significations from the translated , fee how the latter come from the former , with pleasure , and learn as a native of ancient rome to write , and speak , without encumbring himself with rules , or conceiving his sense in english , before he speaks , or writes . and here i cannot but observe the cause our learned gentlemen of england , whom all foreigners own to write latin very politely , attempting to speak it , do it so awkwardly , and ( as it were ) unnaturally ; because they have not learn'd it in this natural way : they must needs speak it slowly , who having been taught by multiplicity of rules , their mind is imploy'd in three different things at the same time : 1. thinking of the rules by which they learn'd it . 2. thinking of the english sense which they carry along with them . and 3. of the latin diction and idiom , ( which how troublesome it is , themselves knowing , can seldom be prevail●d with to speak it , and all others , who consider it , may easily conjecture ) whereas a man in speaking latin ought not to be concern'd about the two former , ( for what signifies the scaffold when the building is finish'd ) and , forgetting what country-man he is , imagine himself a citizen of old rome . the reason of this is , because children finding no restraint upon them but acting freely , act much more vigorously and to the purpose . when impos'd , they oft have an utter aversion to that , which otherwise they freely chusing , wou'd take a great delight in . bring but children into love with a language , art or science , and when that point is gain'd , and some of them desire to be taught it , you may tell them , a great many men do not understand it , and that it wou'd be the way to make them wiser than most men , and you will find they will yet have the greater inclination . when their desire is sufficiently heightned , you may pretend notwithstanding 't is so great a privilege , yet you love such an one ( your favourite ) so dearly for his diligence , and attention , that you could almost find in your heart to give him a little insight into it ; then proceed as tho' you were unwilling the rest should be admitted to this favour , and such a proceeding , i question not , will oblige some of the rest quickly , by their attention and diligence , in their own studies , ( when they find those are the only ways to recommend 'em ) labour to ingratiate themselves into your favour , to enjoy the privilege of your favourite . so by degrees you may wind up their inclinations to what heighths you please , and bring them all by degrees , with submission and thankfulness , to accept the favour . thus i have , as short as i cou'd , given the reasons of the proposals , and answer'd such objections as i cou'd think of , or have been made to me by parents , when i have desird them to tell me their opinion of mr. lock 's method in learning latin , which ( because upon the reasonableness thereof these proposals are grounded ) i shall transcribe from the learned and ingenious author . if therefore a man cou'd be got , who himself speaks good latin , who would be always about your son , and talk constantly to him , and make him read latin , that wou'd be the true , genuine , and easie way , of teaching him latin ; and that i cou'd wish , since besides teaching him a language without pains or chiding , which children are wont to be whipp'd for at school six or seven years together , he might , at the same time , not only form his mind and manners , but instruct him also in several sciences , such as are a good part of geography , astronomy , chronology , anatomy , besides some parts of history , and all other parts of knowledge of things that fall under the senses , and require little more than memory . but hold — i had like to have forgot the grand objection , not levell'd at any particular part , but at the whole design . the method is singular , i dare not venture upon it for my son. i hope 't is a singular good one , and then no matter . is it reasonable ? if so , it ought to be try'd . if this were any argument , there never would have been , nor never would be , any improvements in the world. christian religion wou●d never have gain'd ground in the world at first , nor its reformation since . philosophy , medicine , law , and all arts and sciences , had been thousands of years ago put out of a possibility of being improv'd ; nay , to speak more properly , not so much as the names themselves had been heard of . but if , for all that , any will think singularity an argument , i will beg of them to accept of it against our general method of education in england , as being different from that of all learned nations , and ages , that have been before us . i never heard that the iews , aegyptians , phaenicians , persians , graecians , romans , ever study'd languages , or if they did , that they were ever denominated learned from thence , much less order'd their children to spend ten or twelve of their best years in learning words and sounds , as tho' they were not only the vehicles of knowledge , but knowledge it self . no , no , their masters gave them a quite different institution , they admonished them to study themselves , and the universe , to converse with nature , to observe the heavenly influences ; were continually preaching to them iustice , fortitude , and temperance , in their tender years , and afterwards , oeconomics , and politics , to know how to steer and guide themselves first , and then the ship of the common-wealth , if they were to be public men : they made them acquainted with the constitutions of other governments , not by reading books , but sending them abroad , where their having learn'd languages , was reckon'd as one of the least benefits of their travels . nay , by many 't was look'd upon a disadvantage , and such as had them were always cautious of intermixing them with their own . and were not these better institutions of youth , than purely language and words , which our school-masters hunt after with such earnestness , neglecting the sense ? in which matter i could heartily wish a reformation ; when a boys lesson is that of persius . discite & ô miseri , causas cognoscite rerum , quid sumus & quidnam victuri gignimur , ordo quis datus , & metae quam mollis flexus , & unde , quis modus argento , quid fas optare , quid asper utile nummus habet , patriae charisque propinquis quantum elargiri deceat , quem te deus esse iussit , & humanâ , quâ parte locatus es in re ; would not any parent think it far better his son knew the meaning of this divine poem than the syntax ? were not a fair occasion given the master to read his pupil lectures of physics , ethics , oeconomics , politics ? &c. and by insisting a good while upon it , the child , perhaps , would remember it as long as he lives . nay , we are not only singular in our manner of education to former ages , but this too , in those countries which are more concern'd to admire latin than we , because the service of their church is in that tongue : for they take greater care about their childrens morals , and institutions of piety , than latin , but we postpone these matters of infinitely more concernment , or if we have taken any care in them , are willing to run the risque ; latin they must have , tho' at the expence of their vertue and innocence , and six or seven years of their best time , to be instructed in useful knowledge to boot . and does not this look like the proverbial purchase , pro thesauro carbones ? nor do they learn it as we do , confounding themselves with unncessary rules , and exceptions of grammar ; but chiefly by conversation , and the authors from whence they were taken , and by this method can often speak and write it tolerably well in a year , and , perhaps , have at the same time profited in some useful knowledge . and admit they do not understand it so well , as who have spent seven or eight years about it , yet well enough for their occasions , to read an author , and converse with strangers , ( which last we seldom , after all , can do ) ; and how gentlemen , tradesmen , and all persons , who do not design their children for scholars , shou'd think so many years in learning a language ( tho they were sure they would be critics in it ) which , after all , would be but of very little use , well spent , i cannot easily imagine , when to understand it , as abovesaid , may do as well to all intents and purposes ; nay , better for conversation , and may be attain'd so easily . here 't is proposd , because unexperienc'd in this way to take two years to do that , which the scots , french and germans , often do in one ; and yet to save a child four or five years , which wou'd have been spent at school in learning latin , which may be imploy'd to a far greater advantage , in writing a good hand , reading the best english writers , polishing and perfecting his english style , learning merchants accounts , studying the mathematics , improving those rudiments of arts and sciences , which he had so good a taste of in reading latin , learning the art of a decent carriage and comportment with a dancing-master , conversing with gentlemen of sense and experience in the world , whose conversation will be much more advantageous to him , than of any scholar : and are not all these accomplishments preferrable to the being a critic in a tongue , which existing only in books , can never perfectly be understood ? witness several things in cato of husbandry , ennius and plautus , which are not understood ; upon which , notwithstanding , people will comment and criticize in infinitum . but such as their parents design for scholars , in this method , after one year , their master may put upon reading sanctius's minerva , with scioppius's notes , and other pieces of criticism upon grammar ; or which , i take to be much better , to teach them from their observations upon authors , to make a critical grammar themselves , and when they have done it , they will not need so many rules of grammar before they read a greek author , as they had occasion for , before they learn'd a latin one ; and so the tutor may proceed much after the same way as before , reading lectures upon authors , and still improving the rudiments of useful knowledge . this is the method i think best , in the treatment and institution of children , which i hope , by the blessing of god , and careful endeavours of able and vertuous men , may be of use to the common-wealth . i shall leave the whole to the readers iudgment , desiring his candour and favourable opinion of this proposed method of institution ; and if he will vindicate the common method , or propose another he thinks better than that , or this , i will repay him , with thanks . finis . advertisement . such as desire to discourse the author upon these proposals , may hear of him at the booksellers , or at the marine coffee-house in birchin-lane , after change , who can inform them of undertakers . an idea of geography and navigation . containing easie rules for finding the latitude and difference of longitude of places by observation of the sun , moon and stars . the demonstration and use of the logline . the variation of the compass . the doctrine of plain triangles . the construction and use of all manner of maps and charts . to keep a iournal , and to work a traverse both by plain and mercators sailing . the solution of all nautical questions , geometrically , arithmetically , and instrumentally . also tables of the sun's declination and right ascension for ever . a table of the most eminent 〈◊〉 stars in both hemispheres , rectified for the year 1700 , with their use , and other tables necessary for navigation● by samuel newton , master of the math. school in christ●● hospital● london . printed ●● christopher hussey , at the flower-de-luce in little-britain . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26583-e150 * mr. iames hustler . notes for div a26583-e940 reason 1. reason 2. 2. obj. a. reason 3. reason 4. reason 5. cic. de offic. lib. 1. reason 6. reason 1. reason 2. reason 3. see the preface to lilly's grammar . reason 4. curtius , lib. 8. lib. 6. de beneficiis , cap. 5. reason 5. obj. answ. prop. 1. prop. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. proposal 1. prop. 2. reason 1. reason 2. tacit. dial. de orat. prop. 3. obj. answ. obj. answ. obj. answ. suet. in vit . aug. cap. 83. * umbilicos val. max. prop. 1. obj. answ. prop. 6. frop . 7. prop. 8. obj. answ. obj. obj. . 9th prop. prop. 10. pag. 196. pr. ed. obj. answ. an humble motion to the parliament of england concerning the advancement of learning, and reformation of the universities by j.h. hall, john, 1627-1656. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45023 of text r6718 in the english short title catalog (wing h350). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 80 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45023 wing h350 estc r6718 11894249 ocm 11894249 50533 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45023) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50533) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 32:11) an humble motion to the parliament of england concerning the advancement of learning, and reformation of the universities by j.h. hall, john, 1627-1656. [2], 45 p. printed for john walker ..., london : 1649. attributed to john hall. cf. bm. reproduction of original in british library. eng education. a45023 r6718 (wing h350). civilwar no an humble motion to the parliament of england concerning the advancement of learning: and reformation of the universities. by j.h. hall, john 1649 14541 473 0 0 0 0 0 325 f the rate of 325 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-04 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-04 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an humble motion to the parliament of england concerning the advancement of learning : and reformation of the universities . by j. h. london , printed for john walker , at the starre in popes-head-alley . mdc il. to the parliament . it hath been the usuall method of that eternall wisdome in the pursuance of any of his high designes , to render his instruments , while they continued faithfully usefull , full of honour and successe : but when they once began either to stand still , or look back ; to decline that honour which he had formerly cast upon them , and to wrap it up in a cloud of forgetfulnesse and misery ; and then raise up such other means , which though to the eye of reason they might appeare contemptible , should carry on his great worke to a just period , and make a full assertion of his glory , in despite of all the wicked cunning and resolution of men and the deepest theorems of contrary policy . that this assertion is neither vain nor new , i need not call in the aids of any remoter histories , if i appeale from the walls where you now sit in counsell , to the eyes wherewith you now see , you will finde as strange and as noble an assertion of this thesis , as was ever beheld by any age or nation . for whereas at first you met together by the conduct of a strong providence ( which in spight of all opposition and backwardnesse of these times and powers assembled you together ) and begun more seriously and couragiously to weigh what a heavy trust lay upon your shoulders ; such of you who were early labourers , cannot but with joy remember through what pangs and throws you were delivered of the first attempt of freedome ; when that great bugbear of a continuall and shining power ( which though it endeavoured to seem a great light of it selfe , yet was onely an opake dense body , and had no other splendour but the reflection of yours ) hung back , nay was possessed against you , when some ill-behold on to their education had not shaken off those prejudices which commonly attend men that judge according to their first thoughts ; and others who could not but make a right judgement of things ▪ being either byassed by interest , or poysoned with hopes , grew cold toward you ; what a labour was it to make one head , ( which had it followed the law , might have as much obliged the nation as any whatsoever ) an oblation to a betrayed and oppressed people ? nay when that was done , and an army not of our owne nation , with excessive care and charge removed ; how were you encumbred by a violent and sturdy humour , which would not suffer you to make use of those little advantages of liberty which you had ●lready gained , but assayed to returne you under the ●ormer , if not a severer tyranny . but the counsels of men were abortive , and you were reserved for greater matters , that humour burst forth like an impostume , and went out from you , which had it continued within , and not professed open hostility , had been dangerous , if not fatall . but when you were ●●…ce left to your selves , you had power to act more vi●●rously , and by a happy antiperistasis to grow more intense ; so being closely united in the centre , you bravely brake through that stiffe circumference that beset you , and were made the masters of many happy and signall victories . yet those victories seemed notwithstanding to carry ●●ate with them ; for whereas your excessive lenity had permitted some of your conquered enemies to lodge amidst you , they scattered such a quicke and powerfull contagion among those whom you represent , and especially the chiefe city , that there were apparent symptomes of a relapse , which was shortly followed by such a dangerous sicknesse , that if you had not been miraculously aided with an almost immediate hand of providence , you had never overcome , and yet you suddenly , and ere your selves could imagine , wrastled out of it . but when your victories were redoubled with these successes , there wanted not some who sate in counsell ●mong you , who to say no worse , either durst not , or would not be couragious in following those opportunities wherewith providence courted you ; nay they to retarded you by cunning crosse debates , that your ●tter peace seemed far more dangerous to you , then ●ther of your former wars , you standing strugling with this oppressive humour , and not discovering any signs of motion , unlesse it were of retrogradation ; whilst you enabled your conquered enemy to give you what was already yours , and stroke you with such concessions , as you had far more reason to dread , then any of his former proclamations or menaces . but how soon were all these corrupt counsellours purged from among you , and dis-inabled for to disperse any of their infection ? whilst you being loosed from those charmes wherewith you before were maleficiat● ▪ began to act powerfully and smartly , and indeed performed more in a few months , then you had done before in twice as many yeares , or your ancestour● could doe in the double number of centuries . i mention this with no other designe , then for you● glory ( for you have cleared our liberties , and set them now on the right base , having by a transcendent comprehensive peece of justice , removed the common oppressour ) and also to tell you , that unlesse you doe no● also not rest here , but even run forward to the end o● that course to which the divine will shall by apparen● signes direct you , the worke will be taken out of you● hands and put into others , who finishing it with the li●● and constancy which you ought to have done , must expect that reward and honour which waited on you . i say not thus much that either i feare it in you , o● that i can gather any even remote causes of feare , b●● that i would from it say , that unlesse you doe absolutel● alter the complexion and temper of the commo● wealth , and endeavour to your utmost to provide the best means to preserve it in the best constitution fo● the future ; all that which you have hitherto done fo● us , will prove nothing , if not evill . now by what means this may be effected , i have nei●her vanity nor impudence enough to direct you , especially since you seem to the exactest judgement of man , ●o be as happy in re-erecting , as you were fortunate in ●●l●ing down , and to take such a course both in matters 〈…〉 e , civill , and military , as may , as much as possible 〈…〉 or render abortive all the machinations of future ●●●ch●efe , and avoid those errours and imperfections ●●ich cannot be exempted from humane lawes . but ●et ( as here you must bee acknowledged for res●●ing that liberty which warrants this freedome ) all ●●ese cares , which are so pious , so noble , so worthy of ●●ch lawgivers , will be found neither intense nor large ●●ough , if ye remit one grand consideration which must ●●●fuse it selfe through all , and knit them together ; ●ay bestow on them both form and vigour : the most effectualll advancement , i meane , not the bare permissive ●●opagation of learning . somewhat you have done in this kinde , but how ●uch to this purpose i cannot judge ; for besides that it ●●ached no further then politicall aimes , it removed ●any persons of a more thriving and consistent growth ● learning , then it either left there , or planted in their ●●eads ; it medled not at all with a view or reformation of ●●ose fundamental constitutions , on whose happy on ●●ak designations ▪ the interest and prosperity , the decay ●●d ruin of such litterary republicks principally depends , 〈…〉 we shall shortly finde opportunity to demonstrate . but the wishes of the most knowing and best men are 〈…〉 far above these ●●ender performances ; they professe ●nd i do but now make their sighings articulat ) that ●●e body of learning lyes scattered in as many peeces as ever medea cut her little brother into , and that they are as hard to finde and re-unite as his was . that there is no publick encouragement given to these gallant industries that endeavour to gather them up , and as much as may be , recompose them : that we seem insensible of that great genius which animates and conducts this present age , and therefore sleight the discovery of that in particular persons , who being many times big with heroick designes , perish for want of assistance in the delivery ; or in case they be delivered , are found to have wasted themselves in the production of a weak or abortive infant , which otherwise might have been strong and goodly : whereas men if they would but se● themselves to awaite and receive every glimpse and dawning of knowledge ( or at least cherish those that would doe so ) would finde it easie to bring it into a just and beautifull body , and make an happy inversion of that common saying , that our ancients were gyants and we are dwarfs . and whereas some of the heathe● wise men could say , that those were the best personage that liv'd nearer , and lesse remoter from the age of the gods : we might contrarily by experience finde , tha● we had made up the decayes of humanity , and inforce ba●ke time into its first happy and lusty circle . for if we looke into the life of man , take him in the bare naked condition , in which nature thrust him upon earth , what a miserable helplesse thing shall we find him ? miserabler in this then the bruits themselves , wh● having at the most ( though this also be denied with a good reason as granted them ) the use of a dim an● darke reason , or rather sense , and that in a direct line cannot be judges of their condition , and therefore consequently want the greatest ingredient of misery , the sense of it ; man is betrayed by his reason , ( which cannot be smothered in him , but that there wil be some sparks and embers still alive ) to a discerning of his sufferings and some rude and unpolished wishes of a better condition ; which if he can ever get into , it is meerly by the collision of his naturall faculties , which strike out some small sparkes to kindle that fuell : so that he being in a manner in the condition of a beast , hath no other way to exempt himselfe from that misery and slavery , but that little knowledge which chance , or the darke axiomes of his owne reason can helpe him with . and if againe we consider men gathering into the primitive societies , and assisting each other with their mutuall endeavours and observations , we shall finde that they come nearer civill societies , by how much they have made greater inroads into experience , and were better versed in the acts of life . nay , how willing have they been to congratulate , yea idolatr●ze some of them , and put them into the lists of their gods , ( as wee may see out of the ruines of some histories which time hath not yet eaten up ) for some little inventions , which are at this day so common with us , that they seem to be among the postulated principles of nature , and to be borne with us ; so that these men who were ignorant of knowledge , and possibly would have sleighted it , if it had been offered to ●hem in its owne lustre ; yet did live , subsist , and were ●ivilized by it . but if we make a step further , and looke upon commonwealths , how easie will it be to observe , that as they flourished under the verdure , so have they withered under the decay of learning . nor have they been so fortunate under any governours as those who comming from a noble education , and a right observation and deduction of things ( which may well make a man learned , though he never had seen a book ) were neither subject to these wilde e●●●ations , nor savage rudenesses which untutored natures , through the want of a better discipline , were apt to fall into . nay , if we looke somewhat more narrowly into them , we may see that many private men born amidst the dregs of the people , & not capable of any such high hopes , have by this means far overtopped men of antiquity and ancient discent , and outvyed them with unequall services ; whether by way of prevention , as old appius a man wholly unacquainted with any systematicall knowledge , in disswading the romans from an inconsiderate peace they were about to shuffle up with pyrrhus ; or conservation , as that excellent reigne of augustus , one , who though his cradle was not private , yet in his first accesse to businesse , was not onely left in a private capacity , but surrounded by an inimicall faction : or if we look on augmentation what an illustrious time had rome under trajan , though a spaniard , that shee seemed to renew her age , and spread the wings of her eagle , where they could never have hoped to reach in her first period of greatnesse , which eve● after his dayes fell into a sensible and graduall weaknesse : not to note epaminondas that god-like theban ▪ who owed all his orient vertues to the light of the schooles , with whom ( though he came from a vulgar wombe ) the greatnesse of his country ( as plutarch observes ) di● shoot up and fade . but if we would goe no further than the ornaments and outward splendour of a place , what was it distinguished all the pallaces in rome and neroes golden house from the sabin cottages , or the dwelling of publicola ? or the imagery of greece and statues of corinth , from the first rude shapes of unpollished oake , but curiosity and art ; which yet notwithstanding had been vainly hoped , if there had not been a concurrent humour of men to entertaine and foster it ; and this humour hath been so fortunate to them , that notwithstanding time hath defaced all the bounds of the roman conquests , and left them as invisible and inobservable , as the flight of any bird that flew yesterday , yet in a few stones and medalls ( not to mention the monuments of her intellectuall greatnesse ) she hath left us such prints and measures , that we may justly trace and compute her ( as he did the giants bulke by his thumbe ) in her vast and stupendous symmetry : whilst other countries more remote from this greatnesse & happinesse that have not so much as their ruines left them to vindicate them from ●ables , and to testifie that they once were , live notwithstanding in all learned mouths , & that from the interest perhaps of o●e citizen , whose merits hath made him a part of posterity , and enabled him to a noble gratitude to his country , in rescuing her from the dotage and tyranny of time . and indeed without letters , and consequently the preservation and encouragement of them , to what a darknesse and mist should we be confined , and in what a shadow should we live , a darknesse worse then that of plato his cave , when our children , or childrens children , should be to seek for what we know to day , & no observation be left to mankinde ( for traditions must needs be in a few hands and soone corrupt ) to shorten the long journey of knowledge , and to bring it nearer an end : as we may see by one example : the best man upon earth , and the onely more than man , spake and did so many things as all the volumnes in the world could scarce containe ( as one of his own penmen witnesses of him ) and yet there is no more memory of them preserved amongst us , then what is left in a very few sheets , not at all to mention that question , whether all the integrall parts of that divine book were preserved or no . certaine we are what a great losse we have in humane stories , and what a large measure of time , was either not described by them , or not now to be found , so that in a trichotomy of time made by the learnedst roman sixteen hundred years since , there was one part unknowne , and the other fabulous ; and yet sure we cannot but beleeve , but that before mankinde had gleaned up some litterature , and was softened and polished by it , there were abundance of examples of either fortitude , and many invincib●e heroes before achilles , whose trophees are buried with them , and triumphs forgot as if they had never been seen , whilst those others that remaine , must be accounted just such with us as the favour or envy of poets and historians are pleased to make and represent them , so vast is the prerogative of letters , that they can dispense not onely life , but estimation and glory unto whom they please , and command the reputation of past , and the beleefe of present and future ages . but to advance knowledge to its highest and truest end , how necessary and subservient will it be to that great designe of religion , which without an immediate concourse and favour of providence , can scarce either subsist without it , or preserve it selfe untainted with grosse errours , or distempered imaginations ; how serviceable may it be to many sublime mindes and refined understandings , that calling all things to an exact test of reason , wil not be brought to the acknowledgement of their maker , or the truth of what is left concerning him ; if they be not guided by forcible demonstrations and porismaticall inferences of nature , which may not precariously , but irresistibly infer a deity ; and strong and naturall inductions of reason : without which , such mindes are but in vaine attempted , and difficultly overcome : or to goe further ; how shall we ever be sensible of the excellency and power of that divine book , which gods owne finger hath wrote and left us ; if wee want ability and eyes to looke upon the fulnesse and order of those treasures ; man indeed who is a determinate narrow thing , must necessarily confine his thoughts to one subject , and when he thinkes of one thing , of necessity desists thinking of another . but god who is such a free infinity , can with one intuitive knowledge see all things , and is the centre in every part of his circle . and therefore what he writes must needs be as universall as his owne spirit , and at one time communicate many knowledges ; whereas man can onely write of this or that , and therefore it is unprofitable industry , not to ●● undertaken without due assistances to attempt the search of that book , which like himself , hath an infinity and immensity of knowledge in it . not to speake of the forme of it , which being writ in tongues much removed from this place and age , and that surely with all height of elegance and fulnesse of expression ; t is not to be hoped for that any translations can come up to it , but that there must be abundance of exquisite knowledge smothered up in the originall . which though it hath been studied and pursued , by numerous exalted wits , & unwearied undertakers ; yet we know that there are abundance of ripe notions left to be found out by future and latter endeavours , which shall never think to want a crown from this attempt , till this earth burn i● her funerall pile , and we shall see all knowledge not in ● mist , but in a myrrour , and view the centre , the spring ▪ the root , the life of it face to face . nor can i see what ca● more heighten or beautifie this best science , then the regaining those trophees from the heathens which they stole from us , who , though they knew not how to use , yet triumphed in them : for all their glimmering notions , were but lighted at our candle , although they obscured and disguised them with false lights ; yet b● that light did they shine to themselves and after ages ▪ who cannot but looke up with reverence at their advanced natures , and wish they had been heightened b● a more noble principle , which had crowned all the● various sciences with the principall science , and in the● brave strayings after truth , helpt them to better fo●tune than onely to meet with her handmaids , and kep● them from the fate of ulisses , who wandring throug● hel , met all the ghosts , yet could not see the queen . b● there is a strange magneticall attraction in knowledg● which plucks and draws the soule towards it , which ● just so much nearer its due repose , by how much it fal● nearer to this centre ; and indeed it were a pity , that the great princesse of it should be lesse adorned , then some of her subjects ; and that she who is all glorious within , should want her garments of wrought gold and needlework , and not as well make her selfe glorious in the spoyles of her enemies , as the israelites steal away jewells from the egyptians , or solomon fetch gold from ophir to adorn the temple . i wish it were in my power , and your patience ( most noble senators ) rather to view this intention , in its many large particularities , then to propose it thus dead coloured in a generall draught , which can like a mercury on the way , onely point but goe no further ; but truly t is enough for me a person , ( hid in obscurity and neglected into retirement ) to make good wishes and breath after these huge attempts , which i hope the sublime disposer of all humane affaires , will as well put into your hearts , as he hath put into your hands to accomplish . you have done great things for us , and equall to what hath been done in any nation , either stoutly or fortunately . and if you will but now make good our hopes in this one thing , you will put an end to all our wishes , and settle us in a condition which will somewhat resemble that eternall fruition which we all breath after , a time of prayses . and indeed , if you were men that onely looked upon your selves , and studied no further then the propagation of your owne fame and interest . what better means have you to confute all the scandalls and imputations of your deadly adversaries , who have not spared to speake you worse then goths and vandalls , and the utter destroyers of all civility and literature , then by seriously composing your selves to the designe of cherishing of either . what directer caus-way could you finde to the aggrandization of your owne glory , then entertaining the celebrated care of so many kings , the onely splendour of so many republicks , the life and lustre of so many ages ? that which is certaine to make all brave men for the future , your admirers and followers , and to distinguish your government from theirs , who being hurried by confusion and barbarisme , shall hereafter vanish into eternall forgetfulnesse . what better way to your profit , then to command abundance of fruitfull wits , which shall every day bud forth with some invention , serviceable either to the necessities of the poore , or graver magnificence of the rich ? when mechanicall knowledge shall be multiplied and abbreviated , and you be able not onely to requite forreigne parts for the curiosities they have lent you ; but also invite them hither to be your schollers , when there shall be a confluence of the finest industries among you , and he shall be accounted to want of due civill accomplishments , that hath not come to perfect them from this place . how serviceable will it be to you when you overflow with retired sagacities and raised industries , whom you may either for gowne or sword by land or sea employ upon all occasions ; when you shall not need to put people in the places of greatest trust by reason of their titular borrowed gayety , but make use of such persons , as shall discover the greatest luxury and efflorescency of vertue ; such persons who may succeed you in the seats where you now sit , ( and may it be a fortunate omen ) exceed and outstrip your glories , such persons , which shall preserve us in a blessed peace ; ●herein yet there shall be neither sloath nor luxury , ●●d either enlarge our territories with wide forraigne ●●quests , or else pull downe those powers which are ●ow the hate and burdens of the face of the earth . but you that are men of sublime mindes , that have ●●rried you beyond all the doubts and objections of flesh and blood , above the extent of your owne designs , ●● almost the latitude of your owne wishes , beyond the dictates of common law and reason , will not give over while there remains so great a worke . that god who is abstract wisdome , and delights that his rationall creatures should search after it , and that his ministers should study to propagate it , will expect that you should be foster-fathers of knowledge . he may punish your naturall children with stupidity or ignorance , if you doe not take the day while it is yours , to lead them into the paths and mazes of science . and will he , think you , forgive you ( you being fathers of the publickew●ale ) if you forget those that are your children in that relation ? he cannot surely ; he that is just will expect from you the discharge of your duties , which how it can be without a compleat taking care of your charge your best selves can best consider . but certainly it is none of the probablest wayes to bring a people into a little shape of liberty , and free their estates , from some small inconsiderable burdens , and leave the better part of them , their mindes , no more re enlightned , no more tutoured , no more bur 〈…〉 ed , than you at first found them . by this time some may object , to what end i presse all this . have not wee universities as famous as any under heaven ? is there not provision in this case enough ? have not our ancestours been liberall beyond any of europe ? will we violate their wills ? discompose the present frame , before we be ascertained what other to set up ? beside running the common-wealth into an unnecessary charge , and that for an unnecessary end , and in a time unfit , if not contrarian● to these designes , and that for an idaea ? beleeve me these are pretty objections , and till the● be confuted , very probable ; but i beleeve well look 〈…〉 into , they will according to the usuall ingenuity 〈…〉 truth , prove both to conduce to , and further this in ▪ tention , and also to demonstrate unto you , that the thi 〈…〉 it selfe is so easie and feasible , that your selves canno 〈…〉 without imputation of a grosse neglect , and ugly discare of the publick , avoid this consideration . t is true that our universities for outward magnisicence , and a large , if not luxurious liberality , are equal if not superiour to any of those that we yet know of 〈…〉 the lettered part of the world . they are venerable so their antiquity , and have a long time thriven under th 〈…〉 indulgency of the past ages , & been ennobled by the p 〈…〉 duction of many rare and divine personages , who ha 〈…〉 made more illustrious the whole nation . but wheth 〈…〉 in generall their statutes be so exact and refined , 〈…〉 may satisfie the need and curiosity of this exalted ag 〈…〉 or that our accademies at the present teach either al 〈…〉 or the gallantest theories of knowledge , will be see 〈…〉 anon . and that being once made evident , it will no 〈…〉 be hard to inferre , that other universities of a late standing and poorer subsistance , have both in extent o 〈…〉 knowledge , and multiplicity of excellent persons , be 〈…〉 able to equall , if not out-doe them . nay that tho 〈…〉 present revenues whereupon they now ●ur●eit , have 〈…〉 hoaked abundance of active industries ▪ nay beene a meanes to thrust into ecclesiasticall or litterary offices 〈…〉 many of persons , who had they been suffered to obey their owne inclinations , and followed some trade or handicraft , might have ranked themselves amongst the ablest of their profession ; whilst others who had ●oules more towardly and capable , were by such ●rones as these kept out of the hives , and either for 〈…〉 d to seek their food from afar , or else sit downe ( unlesse provided for by their parents ) with no other gaine by their philosophy and reason , then a few s●oicall sentences in the contempt of wealth , and the commendations of poverty . now that there is provision enough , we shall both grant , and by it take occasion to insinuate , that the state need not multiply any of her expences in pur 〈…〉 ance of this wish . all our suit is , that these endowments , and pious liberality , may be converted into uses 〈…〉 table to the ends of the donors , and tend rather to a publicke advantage , then to the private fostering of 〈…〉 many idle pedantick brotherhoods . it now lies like 〈…〉 cke , and possibly is noysome to the place where it 〈…〉 ▪ but spread it abroad , it will manure all the land , and returne the increase of an unvaluable and happy har 〈…〉 st . there is none requires it to another use , but one 〈…〉 to a better use , and in the end it can be no more rob 〈…〉 y , then t is sacriledge to rescue a temple from the superstition wherewith it was defiled , to the use of a 〈…〉 er and more illuminated religion . i must needs confesse , ( and i speake it with a deale of religion to the memory of them that are gone before us , ) that among the many good examples they have left to this nation , their liberality , if not profusenesse , in things of this nature hath not been the least . but then i beseech you , honourable worthies , consider in what times they lived ; they were darke , befe 〈…〉 with mists of ignorance and superstition , and they could onely direct their charity that way so far as they knew it best . their ordinances and cautions , were , no doubt in their times , full of excellent wisdome and deep reason . but since they ceased to be mortall , it hath pleased the son of righteousnesse to breake through the clouds which shadowed their ages , and to let u 〈…〉 have more of day . and as the sun here below doth not onely in his rescuing the light , discover himselfe ▪ but also guilds and discloses all about him ; so that eternall sun , when he opens himselfe , opens at the same time all humane and inferiour knowledge , which 〈…〉 still more or lesse visible , as his rayes shine on it , o 〈…〉 withdraw from it . now he having every day made greater appearances of himselfe ; humane learnin 〈…〉 hath also been more enlightned ; and he is not acquainted with the businesse of knowledge , that knows no 〈…〉 what sensible increases ( i had almost said perfections it hath of late arrived to . so that what means was used before to preserve it from perishing , and to propagate it , must now be used for augmentation , an 〈…〉 splendor . what means were used to keep it in a few hands in a corner ( like a great exile , thrust away by 〈…〉 contrary power ) till some better times , must now b 〈…〉 used to disperse it through the face of the earth , and t 〈…〉 make it tread as far as mankinde . what meanes we 〈…〉 used before , for a bare historicall knowledge , mu 〈…〉 〈…〉 ow be turned into a censorious justice upon ov'r old opinions , and into severe and eager disquisitions of new truths ; for knowledge hath no limits nor land-marks but being ubiquitary , and therefore desirous to diffuse it selfe , she endeavours by all means her promotion and dil●tation . nor doth she ever meet with any that would enlarge her empire , but shee ambitiously encourages them , and willingly crownes them . now for any one to thinke , that one and the same meanes are to be used to preserve a state , either new curdled and moulded into forme , or else by outward violence retired to its last seat and almost first principles , and the same state when it hath overcome either its infancy or misery , and like a wakened gyant begins to rowze it selfe up , and looke where it may conquer , is utterly unvers'd in the affaires of the world , and below instruction . and doubtlesse , upon these considerations , were it possible that these happy soules could either returne 〈…〉 ither , or were it suitable to their blessednesse to minde things that are done under the moone , they could not but joyne with any that would undertake to serve them in so pious an ingagement , as to make their contributions more excellently serviceable to the ends they purposed . and therefore we cannot thinke it any more violation to their will , at all to advance their provisions to their owne ends by better wayes , then 〈…〉 e thinke that you ( noble senators ) are parracides to your country in rescinding those lawes which your predecessors made , yet through length of time , and 〈…〉 pine of those in whose care they lay , began contrary 〈…〉 their first intention , rather to oppresse , then defend and releeve us . for so long as humane reason is weake and imperfect , it can never provide any lawes against all circumstances of chance , length of time , fraud and weaknesse of mankinde , but it will bring forth a necessity to repeale them , equall , if not superiour to that which first enacted them . for discomposition of the present frame , may not , i pray this be a topicke for any government , though never so ill grounded , never so irregular , or never so tyrannicall ? should we sit still , and expect that those in whose hands it is , should quietly resigne it , or new mould it themselves , or some fine chance should do i 〈…〉 to our hands ? or should we not out of this very reason , if our houses were all untiled and obvious to all injuries of the weather , forbeare to pull them down o 〈…〉 mend them , because we would make no alteration , and so continue in our miserable patience , because we feare a change and some trouble ; like aesops plowma 〈…〉 crying to jupiter , to helpe our cart out of the mire , an 〈…〉 we never put to a hand ? or should we expect tha 〈…〉 some deity , or unthought of influence would rescu 〈…〉 us from these inconveniences which we saw , but would not remove ? i am afraid whether any can be serious upon this question : for as happinesse is the reward o 〈…〉 courage and industry ; so what ever people ever yet obtained any reformation without sweat or wounds , an 〈…〉 a just violence to the over-ruling power ; just i say though it clashed with the letter of some positive la 〈…〉 for with the fundamentall and true ends of government it could not . but there is no need in this ca 〈…〉 to urge this so hard to you , who so nobly bra 〈…〉 through this objection , and redeemed the supreme power , which being now so indisputable in your hands this wish requires no more of you then the exercising 〈…〉 it , wherein you will onely finde opposition from those who have endeavoured to blast , and yet continue a will to defeat and maligne your best actions . nay , and 〈…〉 hope you will give me leave to mention it for your honours ) we are encouraged rather to presse this from your owne example of magnanimity , and zeale 〈…〉 whipping those high priests , and buyers and sellers 〈…〉 t of our temple , and that when your power was 〈…〉 umbrage , that now you will ( when it hath obtained its just light and fulnesse ) employ it on so easie a take , as this last peece of reformation ; which will 〈…〉 balme your memories , and leave almost nothing to your successours to doe piously or justly . that this 〈…〉 e of time may not be capable of such a noble alteration , i am not afraid from the best comparison and recollection of times and reasons , not onely to 〈…〉 ny , but even to evince the contrary . for what more seasonable opportunity can we have , then that we see the highest spirits , pregnant with great matters , and in despite of these tumults and troubles which inviron them of every side , labouring with somewhat , the greatnesse of which they themselves cannot tell , and with a wonderfull deale of courage , attempting the discovery of a new world of knowledge ? these bodings cannot be of nothing , but upon 〈…〉 arrower recognition will appeare full of miracle , which amounts with me to no lesse then the chasing away of shadows before the breake of the great day . 〈…〉 d surely , that begins a fuller manifestation of himselfe , suffers us to approach him by these degrees , and therefore hath diffused a great and a restlesse genius in this age , far greater then any hath been of a long time . and as astrologers say , that there are at some certaine times some powerfull influences showred by the conjunction or positure of some planets , which if they be not received and magically applied at that very time , do immediately passe away , and become ineffectuall , and are not to be expected againe , till after many ages ; so any tract of time , when it meets a sublime and elevated spirit to assist and guide it , cannot certainly witho●t disadvantage and losse , refuse to entertaine it ; nay they cannot be so stupid , as not to thinke both that the time is unregainable , and that a judgement awaits them for being so bold as to resis 〈…〉 the discoveries of it . but i cannot thinke so ill of these men among whom i was borne , that they will shut their eyes against this light that breaks so brightly and glistringly in upon them , and be lethargically content to please themselves with the reverend follies and dreams of their forefathers . t is no matter what some frozen sadduces , or some others of a worse name if there be any , can scoffe ▪ that it is folly to entertaine any such vaine imaginations , and madnesse to prosecute them : t is folly will prove the happiest wisdome , and no more a deviation of the understanding , then the entertaining a new naturall exact scheame of heaven , and nature , in lieu of the old broken interfering hypotheses , which rely on no other probability but a sent of sense , distorted by education , and brawned by custome . t is no matter , what some purblinde polititians , or sneaking worldlings talke of the difficulty of times , and say , that these soft aires of peace , cannot be heard 〈…〉 midst the loud musicke of warre , and that mens thoughts , are too much broken and harrassed to fall 〈…〉 pon these things , which must be the fruits of the 〈…〉 eepest and most silent leasure , you have the highest destiny favouring your designes , put an end to all 〈…〉 ch tumults ; and we have now no more of war then 〈…〉 necessary to the preservation of our peace , which 〈…〉 ems to smile on us againe , and promise us , that she 〈…〉 ill not flye away , for fear lest her snowy ▪ garments 〈…〉 ould be stayned in blood . but put the case that your enemy were as visible 〈…〉 d powerfull as ever , yet i dare be knowne to thinke , 〈…〉 at it were much more honourable for you to assume 〈…〉 ese thoughts : nay that they both were not consistent together . what can you imagine to doe 〈…〉 re worthy of memory , or imitation , then in the 〈…〉 dst of your most urgent dangers to lay a modell , and 〈…〉 w the lines of happinesse and security for all poste 〈…〉 y ? how can you better demonstrate your selves 〈…〉 rlesse and hearty , in what you goe about , then by 〈…〉 wing such a severity and composition of spirit ; nay 〈…〉 h a contrary neglect of what opposition is set be 〈…〉 e you , as to minde those vast designes of litterall ●gnificence , or further acquisition ? what more 〈…〉 ning in all the annalls of rome , then the porten 〈…〉 us bravery of sending forces into spaine , when 〈…〉 nniball was at the gates , and selling that field 〈…〉 ereon he en camped at so deare a rate , as it would 〈…〉 e passed at , had he been prisoner within the walls , 〈…〉 d his army dispersed ? yea ( and to shew that these 〈…〉 er times want not parallels of the ancient gran 〈…〉 rs ) what will be more illustrious in the history of holland , then their high and visible cares , and al 〈…〉 prodigall magnificence for learning , while as they y 〈…〉 strugled with a sad war , and had not yet released the 〈…〉 necks , from the sway of a per●idious and horrid tyrant ? for the people whom you are to care for , it can not be but that peace might have softened and ema 〈…〉 culated them , whereas their calamities have brought them into a better agility and constitution , to promo 〈…〉 their excellent desires to liberty in any thing which they may conceive really conducible ; and there is n 〈…〉 cause to doubt , but they will facilly be swayed 〈…〉 that power under whose valorous conduct they 〈…〉 asserted themselves from all impressions and marks 〈…〉 dishonour and slavery , which usurpation , iniquity 〈…〉 time , or forreigne force had put upon them . it cannot be denied , but by the invaluable losse 〈…〉 bloud and treasure , the body of this nation is become thin and leane , and therefore he were a vi 〈…〉 that would offer to gnaw or suck it any more ( for 〈…〉 farther pressure , be it never so little is now excessi 〈…〉 and therefore it would be but just to wave a pet i 〈…〉 for any publicke contribution ( though possibly the hath been some liberality exercised to worse e 〈…〉 which had it been directed this way , might have 〈…〉 qualled any of the ancient magnificencies and hono 〈…〉 able profusenesses upon learning ) although if y 〈…〉 were urged to some small liberality , or rather p 〈…〉 vented any suit for it , it would be a huge further a 〈…〉 to what is desired of you , yet we onely beg ; nay o 〈…〉 jure you by all that is deare to you , or desired you , that you will imploy this which you finde 〈…〉 〈…〉 ady left to your hands , and doe these things without any charge , and onely lend us your authority , to 〈…〉 oe this longed for worke ; and no doubt if you cannot , or will not lend any fewell to it , god will stir 〈…〉 the hearts of many private persons , and inflame 〈…〉 em with equall intentions , and make their hands 〈…〉 ing it in in a full measure . and now that which remaines of me to doe ( for i 〈…〉 nceive i have quitted my selfe of the objections , 〈…〉 d therefore may dismisse them ) will be a triple 〈…〉 ske . first , to shew how farre the state of our uni 〈…〉 rsities needs a reformation . secondly , how it may 〈…〉 brought about : and thirdly , i shall particularize 〈…〉 me ends which i have transiently before glanced at , 〈…〉 t as ends , but as fruits and enjoyments of your 〈…〉 ble piety . and herein i shall the rather be short , 〈…〉 cause these being at the most , but the best sort of wishes , i shall observe that course which the best 〈…〉 en do in their devotions , to pray for the best things 〈…〉 ey can , yet not limit the power they pray to , to 〈…〉 ch or such a way of granting their requests , as being 〈…〉 olved by what meanes soever it comes , to receive it 〈…〉 earfully , and knowing that power which they ad 〈…〉 esse themselves unto , cannot onely doe it in a bet 〈…〉 r manner then they can thinke of , but in a fuller . for the first : i could never yet make so bad an idaea 〈…〉 a true university , as that it should serve for no 〈…〉 bler end , then to nurture a few raw striplings , come 〈…〉 t of some miserable country-school , with a few 〈…〉 eds of latine , that is as immusicall to a polite ear as 〈…〉 e gruntling of a sow , or the noise of a saw can be 〈…〉 one that is acquainted with the laws of harmony . and then possibly before they have survayed th 〈…〉 greeke alphabet , to be racked and tortured with 〈…〉 sort of harsh abstracted logicall notions , which their wits are no more able to endure , then their bodies the strapado , and to be delivered over to a jejune barr 〈…〉 peripatetick philosophy , suited onely ( as mounsi 〈…〉 des-cartes ▪ sayes ) to wits that are seated below mediocrity , which will furnish them with those rare imaginations of materia prima , privation , universalia , and such trumpery , which they understand no more then their tutors ▪ and can no more make use of in the affaires of life , then if 3000. yeares since they had r 〈…〉 through all the hierogliphicall learning of th 〈…〉 egyptians , and had since that time slept in their mu●my , and were now awaken . and then as soone 〈…〉 they have done licking of this file , to be turned t 〈…〉 graze in poor ethicks , which perhaps tell them 〈…〉 much in harder words , as they had heard their mothers talke by the fire-side at home . then are they turned loose , and with their paper-barks committed to the great ocean of learning ; where if they 〈…〉 not torne , they returne backe so full of desperation and contempt of their profession , and sad remembrance of their youth so trivially spent , that they h 〈…〉 all towardly engagements that way , and suffer themselves either to sinke in a quagmire of idlenesse , or to be snatched away in a whirlepool of vice . but in c 〈…〉 some with much adoe get a shore ( for a long or a 〈…〉 voyage upon these termes they cannot make ) and 〈…〉 the foresaid means stilt themselves into some profe 〈…〉 on ; what deplorable things ( unlesse it be those fe 〈…〉 which nature makes for o●tentation to be jewells i 〈…〉 this earth ) prove they , in filling the world with detestable quacking empericks , lewd , and contentious , gown-men , or ignorant mercenary divines ? againe , i have ever expected from an university , that though all men cannot learne all things , yet they should be able to teach all things to all men , and be able either to attract knowing men from abroad out of their owne wealth , or at least be able to make an exchange . but how far short come we of this , though i acknowledge some difference between our universities ? we have hardly professours for the three principall faculties , and these but lazily read , and carelesly followed . where have we any thing to do with chimistry , which hath snatcht the keyes of nature from the other sects of philosophy , by her multiplied experiences ? where have we constant reading upon either quick or dead anatomies , or ocular demonstration of herbes ? where any manuall demonstrations of mathematicall theorems or instruments ? where a promotion of their experiences , which if right carried on , would multiply even to astonishment ? where an examination of all the old tenets ? review of the old experiments & traditions which gull so many junior beliefs , and serve for nothing else but for idle priests , to make their sermons more gaudy ? where is there a solemn disquisition into history ? a nice and severe calculation and amendment of the epochs of time ? where a survey of antiquities , and learned descants upon them ? where a ready and generous teaching of the tongues ? free from pedantisme , and the impertinencies that that kind of learning hath been pestered with ? and all this done not by some stripling yongster , who perhaps understands that which he professes as little as any thing else ▪ and mounts up into the chaire twice or thrice a yeare , to mutter over some few stolne impertinencies , but by some stayed man , of tryed and known abilities in his profession , allured by a competent encouragement to stay in the university , who may at certaine times read , at certaine times attend the resolution of doubts , offering directions at other times , and ingaging them in sober and rationall disputes , in which being restrained from sophistry , they may chafe and polish their endowments , and whe● one the other by praise or emulation . if we finde very few , or perhaps none of them in our universities ▪ i suppose i offer no violation nor in ▪ jury to their hoarinesse and venerable fame , if i say , they are ●apable of farther promotion , and that they have not yet arrived to the exactnesse of the jesuits colledges , and many transmarine universities , the latter of which , if not the former , they far exceed in pecuniary endowments and outward statelinesse . and truly , but that i would not doe violence to the mother that bare me , and prophane that place which is in my account holy , i could lay open abundance of their customes , both superstitious , irrationall , uncivill , and ridiculous ; i could instance how some vices are growne generall in some degrees of them , how many slugs there are , how some courses they take will prove meerly the choaking of all literature . but since this would amount to a long ●abble , and degenerate into some satyre or pasquill , rather then an areopagitick , i will be content , having a publicke businesse in hand ; to lay aside all bitternesse , though it might be advantagious to my purpose , and with due mecknesse ▪ and 〈…〉 quanimity , draw to my last taske , and then sit downe with silent wishes and earnest expectation . two things then i have to beg ; some assistances 〈…〉 hat you would give the universities from themselves ▪ and some assistance that you would give them from without themselves . from themselves : that you would 〈…〉 educe those frier-like lists of fellowships into a fewer number , and those that you retaine , to be bestowed on men , excellent in their particular endowments , and peculiar for some use or other , that so the number ff the professours might encrease , and all of them be enabled to prosecute the hints and impetus of their owne inclinations ▪ and others of more patient heads 〈…〉 e tyed to instruct those severall persons which should make addresses to them ; a third possibly , worne out with ▪ contemplations and those greater labours of the minde , might sit warme , and know nothing lesse then necessity in their honoured old age . sixe fellowships thus ordered , with a sufficient allowance and encouragement would be more advantagious , and contribute more to the raising up of the despised head of learning , then sixscore at this present doe ; while the remaining portion of revenues might be sequestred by 〈…〉 select committee of able and knowing men ( wherein some representatives of the university should be mingled ) to be changeable and accountable every 〈…〉 eare : to be disposed of , for examining and pursuing experiments , encouragements of honour , compleating and actuating some new inventions , supplying the nee 〈…〉 y ones that really wanted these wings to take great 〈…〉 ights , relieving of strangers ; and lastly , provoking some sydereall and flaming soules to display themselves in their full and radiant meridian lustre . for then will it prosper with learning , when rewards fit themselves to men , and men are not forced to distort themselves to rewards ; when every mans genius moves in its owne orbe , and is not hurried aside in an eccentrick motion . from without the universities : that you would thinke of some better way of disposing those few colledges which are thinly scattered up and downe the land , and make them either collaterall or subservient to this designe ; whereas now they are of little or no other use then to nourish the supine idlenesse of a few lurdans , and foment their illitterate debates ; tossed to and fro among them without any delight to any but those who love bawling and canvasing such unlearned opinions which runne in this circle without end , and contribute not the least to the promotion or discovery of truth . secondly , that as you would ( with all due provision for the civill peace ) take off that hatefull gagg of licencing which silences so many truths , and frights so many ingenuities , and makes them abhorre the publick ; so you would put such a gentle imposition upon books , that upon every impression two might goe to the publicke library ; and that forreigne bookes , brought over hither in any number , might doe the like , or at least at some reasonable rate . thirdly , that all the medalls , statues , ancient rings , and other antiquities , pictures of learned delight , or famous men , that either were the late kings or any other persons whose estates stand confiscate to you ▪ might be appropriated this way . for by a cheaper 〈…〉 d more generous magnificence you cannot endeare 〈…〉 ur selves to all the lovers and sons of knowledge , and 〈…〉 refull patrons of mankinde ; nor secure the memory 〈…〉 your noble acquests by more illustrious trophees . and lastly , since that this island can no more possesse 〈…〉 the treasures of knowledge then it can the trea 〈…〉 es of the earth , that you would be ready to cast all 〈…〉 pect and honour upon learned forreigners , although 〈…〉 u use no largesse towards them . men that through 〈…〉 ●hirst of fame have beguiled themselves into large 〈…〉 d divine contemplations , cannot but thinke they reap a great fruit of their labours , and be surprized with it , when they see themselves smiled upon , and courted by 〈…〉 h a mighty state , and be ambitious to disperse their 〈…〉 eories there , where they see they are so much ho 〈…〉 red . now how by this policy your brethren of 〈…〉 lland , have in a manner monoplized all the spark 〈…〉 g wits of europe ; there are many that sit among 〈…〉 that can best informe you . nor is there yet any apparent reason to me why you should not also studde 〈…〉 embosse this nation with them . now to what 〈…〉 e particular designe all this should levell . there 〈…〉 e been so many modells , and those so various , 〈…〉 ugh to the same end , chalked out by the greatest 〈…〉 enuities , that it would be very hard ( lov'd i tran 〈…〉 ptions or largenesse never so well ) to represent 〈…〉 m all , each one abounding in his owne sense , and 〈…〉 possibly not so servient to the designations of ano 〈…〉 . it shall be enough for me ( waving my judge 〈…〉 nt or disquisition of them ) to set downe the resul 〈…〉 ce of a many diligent observations and iterated thoughts ; which as they have not strayed too much ●● to wilde idea's , so i know not why they may not ●● more particularly fitted for our elevation . first , i have considered that an endeavour to bring all persons under the sway of knowledge , could no● but approach very neare a pla●onicke commonwealth , and must in the triall enervate the people , and call them from those necessary professions of tillage an● war , and make them acquainted with the artifices o● delight . besides there were but a few inclinations so noble , as could overlooke the grosse entertainment of sense , and aime at a more pure and intellectu 〈…〉 happinesse . and among these men i found particul 〈…〉 temperatures as it were , and some secret sympat 〈…〉 and antipathies to some , or some particular studie whilst there were very few intellectuall complexi 〈…〉 that desired all ; and these enjoyed not the particula● so fully as those that bent that particular way . 〈…〉 found also that many men rudely educated , and 〈…〉 as would have proved no great clerkes , though th 〈…〉 had been bred up in the pedanticke way of t 〈…〉 schooles ▪ had notwithstanding through long a sore observation , so well tutored their reason , th 〈…〉 they proved many times persons fitter for busi 〈…〉 then those that had the assistance of much unpro 〈…〉 able literature . i had seen also some men after ma 〈…〉 yeares spent in the world , begin to retire into the●selves , and as seriously and effectually as they c●● apply themselves to books , which yet was commo●ly ineffectuall to them , if not quickned with so● live-voyce and knowing assistance . from this masse of observations i fell to consid 〈…〉 〈…〉 us , that if man were a creature both so excellent 〈…〉 d active , it were but justice to him that the naturall 〈…〉 rgency of his genius should be found out and assisted ; 〈…〉 d that surely could not be in any better time then 〈…〉 his infancy at the dawning of his reason , when he 〈…〉 ld not be employed any other way , and his inno 〈…〉 cy made him most susceptible of any impression or 〈…〉 ure . and if at such a time , then surely he was to 〈…〉 assayed by most easie trialls , and that by pleasant 〈…〉 stimes of sense , and not by any harsh abstractions 〈…〉 rough discipline . yet those recreations of his i 〈…〉 ought ought to be such as should be profitable , and 〈…〉 le to furnish his maturer thoughts with some solid 〈…〉 as and sound representations of things . and here made account i had found the right path , which our 〈…〉 hooles having so long left , was the reason they 〈…〉 re so seldome prosperous or fruitfull in great mat 〈…〉 rs . well , this being so , those that had spent their 〈…〉 ildhood thus , i supposed , might with much more 〈…〉 vantage and ease , retire into a more ignoble calling ; 〈…〉 d those whom some harder fortune alienated to o 〈…〉 er employments , might carry such grounds away 〈…〉 h them , as might conduct and dispose their obser 〈…〉 ions all their lives after ; whilst all those who had 〈…〉 greater vivacity of spirits , might be set apart to 〈…〉 orthy and suitable employments , and none be des●ired by ill methods , or tyrannicall tutors . thus far had i got , and there remained this with 〈…〉 ; that those men that were set apart for knowledge 〈…〉 st busie themselves about two things , either about 〈…〉 e dispersing , or augmentation of it : and about dis 〈…〉 sing of it , there could be no better meanes then to make it easie and amiable ; and this brought me to beleeve that that education would thrive the best in any place , that was the least cumbred with unnecessary notions , and did the most facilly and orderly insinuat 〈…〉 it selfe into the understanding ; and i tooke the duty of a master to endeavour these two . besides , i considered that that was the best which was the most reall and universall : and then i perceived that it was bette 〈…〉 to grave things in the mindes of children , then word 〈…〉 , for i had knowne some great speakers , though indiscreet , gazed on onely as strange sights and patra 〈…〉 ▪ where as i could not imagine , but that if a wise ma 〈…〉 came into any country , whose language he had neve 〈…〉 heard , he would by his deportment and insinuations make a shift to be entertained and respected . and this made me suppose , that many men that could count their languages by their fingers , might possibly be of no more use among mankinde , then so many apes or magpies . but such whose mindes were strengthened with realties , were onely men , and indeed so much men , as they were masters of the true use of reason , and knew how to guide it ; and that to them ▪ languages must of necessity adde beauty an 〈…〉 perfection , and acquaint them with a much of knowledge which was never writ in their mother tongue . and since that there were some men who would fortunately learn and teach the knowledge of others , though they could not augment it much themselves ; i judge that nature did principally intend these for dispensators and conveighers of it . and others of more vast and capacious intellectualls , that could never be bounded by the theories of one other , were onely fit 〈…〉 or augmentation ; and because there were some propensions and aversions , of which they themselves 〈…〉 ould not well render an account , which if disobeyed succeeded untowardly and unsuccessefully ; i presently 〈…〉 ferred , that the genius of each one was to be employed and cherished in its owne kinde ; and that there 〈…〉 as seldome any great matter to be expected from it , 〈…〉 preternaturally diverted , or dispersed into many va 〈…〉 ous thoughts and designes , which did onely distract 〈…〉 d weaken it . but when once i began to take a prospect of the whole landscap of knowledge , methought there was ●uch of it moorish and fennish , much of it overgrown with thornes and brambles , and some parts of it had 〈…〉 t been justly measured , nor indeed fully discovered , 〈…〉 that i thought it would be too stupid humility , to 〈…〉 st with the traditionall wisdome of our ancestours , 〈…〉 d not to looke after further enlargement and advancement . for there being much of it uncultivated 〈…〉 d unmanured ; i saw there was abundantly left , 〈…〉 r to provoke and satisfie each future industry , which 〈…〉 w they should be employed , i could not better tell 〈…〉 w to designe then thus ; first , considering the excellency of man , and the restlesse activity of his understanding , and the strange volutations of his affaires , i 〈…〉 ought the actions of so noble a creature deserved 〈…〉 r better , then to be covered in oblivion . and because experience was nothing but a sober deduction 〈…〉 d summing up of many observations , and man was 〈…〉 apish imitative thing ; i thought there was nothing better to abreviate the length of observation , and to 〈…〉 rnish him with good copies which he should follow , then being acquainted with past actions and time 〈…〉 ▪ and conversing with the images of the bravest persons that went before . and truly , all this , i for a while flatter'd my selfe , was supplyed us out of those histories which as yet survive . but after some acquaintance with them , i began to quit this beliefe ; for i found many of them clash , many of them rent , many ridiculous , most composed to pleasure , and therefore not descending to those particularities and circumstances , without which a history is but dead , and a bare skeleton without either flesh or sinewes . besides a many of them seemed to flourish up into ideas , and others were so larded and pestred with the private discourses and conceptions of their writers , that they seem to have been composed for no other end . besides most of them were but summaries and epitomes , so that those deductions which were drawne from them , were not so pertinent , but fallible , and such as seemed rather to follow the conceptions of the observatour , then to be naturally enforced from the things themselves . for this cause i began to wish that there were a place in some university appointed for a collection of all such papers , letters , transcripts , and relations , which should discover the inner side of negotiations , and events , and the true fa 〈…〉 of things , without the adulteration of common policy . and i thought it were profitable rather to ta 〈…〉 in many needlesse things , then to leave out one needfull , because a judging minde out of many particularities , could draw a better estimate of things , and deduce more certaine , and unquestioned axiomes . but because man is a creature of such infinite variety , and that in every one , there is somewhat shining and excellent ; i wished that some laudable diligence , had gathered a catalogue of characters , and that 〈…〉 f the lives of some of the more eminent ; which i 〈…〉 ould not care , how much they had been stuffed with particular actions , because man in businesse is but a theatricall person , and in a manner but personates himselfe , but in his retired and hid actions , he 〈…〉 ulls off his disguise , and acts openly . so that i judged by that meanes that characters were the best and 〈…〉 aithfullest to be gained , and we should come to a 〈…〉 ighter knowledge and judgement of vertue , and the ●assions . for i had seen abundance of things related as high acts of generosity , which possibly were but 〈…〉 e effects of weaknesse , cruelty and despaire . and withall seeing onely the greatnesses of some men mentioned , and neither their particular imperfections , nor the meanes by which they atchieved their 〈…〉 nds particularly set downe ; i thought it could not out stretch many weake mindes to disproportionate thoughts ; and like palme●ine or don quixote make them thinke of things beyond the moon . therefore 〈…〉 d ▪ i conceive it necessary to trace these grandees as much as may be , through all their windings and hidden paths . but because men must walke upon the earth , and 〈…〉 eeds receive those influeuces which are shed from 〈…〉 eaven , and therefore exceedingly differ according to their severall climes ; i thought not onely an exact 〈…〉 escription of the severall countries was to be obtained , and if it were possible , all their secret myste 〈…〉 ies , and retired criticismes of state ; that so , observative mindes , might have farre richer stuffe , and variety of formes whereupon to work . and also there might probably by this meanes in length of time , be found out severall satisfactory reasons , and wayes o● discovering and judging the many inclinations and natures of men : and so by that means a greater facilitation of businesse , and possibly greater successe in it , then have yet commonly happened . moreover , man that had solely the use of reason , and by it was separated from other creatures , 〈…〉 thought had all the interest in the world to endeavour the perfection of it , and the severall wayes of it● best advantages . and this i thought , was no bette● way attempted , then if ▪ the veynes of things were rightly and naturally cut up , and he had such principles placed within him , as would without any disturbance or confusion assist him in the pursuance of any truth , or in the examining of any thing doubtfull . this i thought had been done by logick ( as they call it ) but there the predicaments were so untowan●ly ranged , that a mans minde shall not without some hesitation know where to fasten ; and then when he hath pitched there , he is but engaged in a dispute . but i beleeve had the dissection beene naturall , the minde would instantly have pitched right , and the● have been inabled to have weilded that notion ▪ to her best use . here i expected reliefe from metaphysicks , but they were so abstrusely abstract , and so far remote from use , that they seemed to hurry the minde too far away , and make it too volatile and aery , and so difficultly attainable , that halfe a life need to beseverely spent in learning them . but the conduct of reason which i wished for , i wished natu 〈…〉 ll and easie , and such as might gently sinke into 〈…〉 unger mindes , and be there imbraced with no im 〈…〉 lsion ; but the delight which commonly tickles the 〈…〉 ule when she meets with any radiant and pregnant 〈…〉 uth . this made me imagine highly of the mathe 〈…〉 ticks for the clearnesse of their grounds and excel 〈…〉 t building upon them ; but these were withdrawne 〈…〉 m quantity , and besides had the liberty to make 〈…〉 eir owne suppositions , which to morall and politick 〈…〉 ason ( which was to judge of things as it found them 〈…〉 tracted into many casualties and circumstances ) was 〈…〉 ied ; and therefore that there was but little ad 〈…〉 tage to be had this way , so that i could not de 〈…〉 any better meanes then to make the minde pliant 〈…〉 passible to any truth , to free her from all these 〈…〉 uinated prejudices of education , tradition , or 〈…〉 ldish observation , and then withall to plant such a 〈…〉 btfulnesse in her , as should not easily ascent to any 〈…〉 e thing which was not fortified with strong reason 〈…〉 right experience . and to doe this , there cannot 〈…〉 be extream necessity of a person not meanly vers'd 〈…〉 he causes of errour , and stratagems of reason , who 〈…〉 uld dig out such axioms as should rectifie the mind , 〈…〉 lead her by the hand , in the most subtile contem 〈…〉 tions , and so refine her , that she might be able to 〈…〉 ract pure and large theories out of things most im 〈…〉 s'd and hid in matter . ●or the mathematicks themselves , i found them full 〈…〉 excellent variety and harmony , strongly fenced 〈…〉 h their owne truth , and branched out into many 〈…〉 irable inferences and productions . but yet methought that there was somewhat in them which was yet hid from us , and that the ancient founders of these sciences had been content to retaine somewhat not fully discovered . for i found most men imployed onely in learning those immense hea●s of demonstrations they had left us , but seldome enlarging them or going forward , which made me fear that the key of these sciences were hid , and that without such a key , or engine it had been unpossible to reare up such a huge super-structure of vast consequences . but this i found two or three great spirits had already light on , and had directed a way which if well followed , will make our mathematicall reason nimble and apt to finde the fountain head of every theoreme , and by degrees , as we may hope , inable us to the solution of any probleme without any more assistance then pen and inke ( so that a man may carry all these admirable sciences about him ) and direct us to more exact and easie instruments then any have been yet knowne , and recall mens minds by delicate ravishing contemplations , from the sordid jugling use of those instruments on which they now so perversly and unanimously doat . but when i once begun seriously to view that strange disposition of things which we call nature ; i could not even in my ruder estimation of it but be much astonished . for it was plaine to me there was more art and prodigious workmanship in a gnat or a fly then there was in the greatest engines or productions of man ; which if they were not casually found out , were but the meere promotions and pursuances of nature . by this i took my self deeply engaged for to looke upon that fabricke with more curiosity and diligence then they commonly use , who judge and suppute every thing according to the outward tickling and blandishments of sense . and as to this designe , i thought i was well provided for , by those many volumnes of naturall philosophy , which i found to flatter me with a many large and braving titles . and i thought that when i was once well acquainted with them , i should have had my minde fitted for excellent notions , and embellished with such rich principles , as could not but furnish me with a many excellent and sweet deductions . but when i had spent some time thus ; and began to shake off that implicite faith which must for a while binde up learners , and discovered what contradictions , loose conceptions , and endlesse controversies those volumnes were fraught with , i perceived i had gained nothing else but a multitude of vaine speculations , which in all reason of the world i ought to dis-beleeve . about this time i happened to bee acquainted with a sort of books that denounced a sharpe warre against the old philosophy , and very severely undertooke to put it all under the sponge , and withall to raise up such other new observations as should prove more handsomely , and truely make up the apparences and changes of nature . these men i hugged , and indeed expected from them , some performances equall to my expectations ; but then againe i found that man may be farre more happy in discovering of errours then in finding out of truths . for some of those treatises were meerly draughts and designations , others violently wrested the explaining of things to their owne principles , and rather forced nature to their conceptions , then enlarged their conceptions as wide as nature . othersome there were , who abusing a philosophicall liberty , strayed into some anticke theories , and made nature monstrous : others laid down very probable and neat hypotheses , but absolutely unsuited to the nature of the thing ; so that i collected , that though we had made some steps forwards , yet we were not at our journies end . and because i saw that a many curious notions were but like spiders webs , and that experiences have the greatest light , i thought we were principally to insist upon that way . but because most experiments were found out rather casually then by philosophicall reasoning , and some men out of one small observation could be bold to raise abundance of vaine consequences ▪ and for one and the same experiment , there were sundry reasons brought , and it was easily wrested , and salved by divers principles , i judged that as there was an extreame deale of diligence and nicity to the practicall pursuance of nature , so , that it was not safe to draw any one principle from any one observation , unlesse there could not possibly be any other reason given for it , or else alike discoveries had confirmed it , that if any other interpretation were put upon it , it was unproper and vaine : for as it is easie for men of acute wits to mis-judge and mis-expect nature ; so when an axiom is rightly gained , it is easie to work it up , and to draw from it many strange and magicall productions . and because there are abundance of extraordinary appearances both at home and abroad , i judged it necessary , that all these should be carefully gathered and registred ; so that those many varieties comming into a long catalogue , and digested by a sober minde , might afford many rare and beautifull discoveries of the glory of their creator . what other meanes might be used both in this and medicine , would be too large now to insist on , since i at first purposed but a synopsis , which , i cannot despair my selfe , if it were rightly or hotly pursued , could not but bring forth a more plentifull harvest then we at the present expect . there are , no doubt , many of nobler thoughts , who might furnish you with more exact and high designations ; and truly ; i shall thinke my selfe abundantly satisfied , if , from these poore reflections , you may be invited to take their advice , and follow their vast and judicious considerations in this nature . however for my part let this humble essay be as much neglected or revil'd as may be , i shall sit down quiet with a conscience of the discharge of my duty , though it can reap no farther , then the putting of these wishes upon the file , and transmitting them to posterity . these things , as i have but briefly touched , so to particularize them had been extreame folly , your wisdomes being so able to direct you , in case god stir your hearts for to take in hand this taske : which if you cheerfully goe through , no doubt but that gale of divine favour , which hath constantly gone along with you , will not now leave you , but bring you to the end . and as your eyes have been blest with many strange fights , and your mouths oftentimes filled , nay strucken dumbe with wonder ; so there is no doubt , but if you doe this one thing which now remaines , you shall see the taper of a learned piety burne among us , i hope , like an immortall lampe , fed w 〈…〉 refined ▪ and sublimest knowledge , whilst all those false ligh● of ignorance , humane forgery , and superstition shall vanish away , or be put out , and the stubborne pervicacy of humane reason turn'd into a gentle compliance to divine truth . you shall see nature traced through all her turnings , to a cleare demonstration of her first cause , and every day bring forth varieties of experiments , either to the reliefe , astonishment , or delight of men ; you shall then see us freed from all these fabulous illusions and impostures , which have hitherto beset either traditions or cures ; and nature which now disguises her selfe into so many shapes , forced into an open veracity and pure nakednesse . you shall see the number of arts daily increased ▪ and th 〈…〉 we knowne already , wonderfully promoted . you shall then see scheams of common-wealths brought forth , easie and naturall , and not varied into a multiplicity of crooked hypotheses . you shall then see policy reconciled to divinity , morality , and it self , and yet better able to lay designes and prevent dangers . you will then have it in its native simplicity , and your posterity may at once learne to be both wise and innocent . you shall have the use of the tongues daily increase , and that judgement of confusion , which hath so long and so heavily laine upon mankinde , by degrees removed . you shall have the wayes of education made smooth , and your children with a pleasant successe possessed of all the treasures of reall knowledge , ere they could have thought they had entred the gates . so that when you have added these fights to the former , and witnessed by a happy old age the blessednesse of this land ; you may see the reines also prosper in the hands of those that shall be your successours , and melting away in a soft dissolution , finde that crown above which is owing to fidelity , and that reward below , that the best law-givers have ever met with ; that is , your names shall increase in the silent motion of time , and all posterity shall looke backe upon you , with an eye of piety and adoration . the end . the reformed school by john dury. dury, john, 1596-1680. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a37084 of text r8953 in the english short title catalog (wing d2883). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 112 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 47 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a37084 wing d2883 estc r8953 11906143 ocm 11906143 50670 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37084) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50670) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 27:6) the reformed school by john dury. dury, john, 1596-1680. hartlib, samuel, d. 1662. [12], 89, [3] p. printed by r.d. for richard wodnothe ..., london : [1649?] "the publisher to the reader" (p. [3-11]) is signed: samuel hartlib. date of publication from wing. reproduction of original in british library. "a copy of mr. john dury's letter to samuel hartlib": [3] p. at end. eng education -early works to 1800. a37084 r8953 (wing d2883). civilwar no the reformed school. by john dury. dury, john 1649 20227 831 0 0 0 0 0 411 f the rate of 411 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-04 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-04 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the reformed school . by john dvry . london , ●●●●ted by r. d. for richard wodnothe at the star under s. peters church in corn-hill . the publisher to the reader . christian reader , nothing from without hath supported my spirit in the course of life , wherein god hath led me hitherto ( through manifold private difficulties and publick desertions , ) but the usefulnesse thereof towards the publick . & whiles the graciousnesse of providence hath from time to time succoured me , chiefly then when i was sinking under my ●●rdens ; i have been taught from within , to look up to god alone in well-doing , till he bring his salvation out of sion : for , to propagate this salvation of his with my poor talents , and to stirre up others to contribute ●●eir help thereunto , is the utmost aim which i have in the agency for lear●ing ; wherein the goodnes of the par●ament hath owned me . and althoug● towards the businesse it self , nothi●● hath been further done then to na● me for it ; ( which for the time ha●● made my burdens somewhat heavie● yet because my genius doth leade● this way ; and i hope still in god th●● he will not leave me without encouragements : therefore i am not weary in well-doing , so long as i have opportunity . having then , upon a motion made by some , made my self instrumentall to draw forth from others these following directions , towards the reforming of schools , and the advancement of piety and learning therein ; i thought it expedient to acquaint thee with them , christian reader ; that if thou doest think thy self any way concerned either in furthering the benefits of such a way of education towards others ; or in partaki●● thereof for thine own , thou mayest bethink thy self how to do that which is fitting and conscionable ; that such an endeavour as this may be set forward towards the publick good . for mine own part , i shall confesse freely , that amongst all the objects whereunto i have dedicated my thoughts and pains ( whereof the extent is as large as every good and rationall work in the whole life of christianity ) there is not any one which doth lie nearer my heart then this of the education of children in the way of christianity . for , all things being rightly weighed , we shall perceive that this endeavour alone , or nothing , will be able to work a reformation in this our age . for whiles the magistracy and ministry is made an object of violent contradictions , and thereby almost wholly put out of frame and made uselelesse , as to the reforming of vices in church and commonwealth ; it cannot be expected , although they be never so knowing and willing , that in the execution of their places , they should be able to bring matters to perfection . therefore , to meddle directly with the multitudes of aged people ( the objects of their charges ) who are now settled and habituated in the way of their own choosing , and to think to draw them from it , is to attempt , without discretion , an impossibilitie . for it is not possible , that the extraordinary strains and distempers , whereinto we are fallen in these times , can be reformed without some extraordinary abilitie , either of outward authority and power to restrain exemplary disorderlinesse ; or of inward conviction , to leade men captive under the yoke of christ , which are things 〈◊〉 decayed , now adayes , amongst the professions of men . seeing then , the corruptions of those that are of age , are too strong and sturdy to be conquered by ordinary and weak means , and none extraordinary or strong enough , are apparent ; it followeth , that there is none other way left , but to deal with the young ones , before any corrupt habits , and perverse engagements be confirmed upon them ; that they may be trained up from their infancy , to a course of reformation , both of virtue and learning . but because the training up of schollars in one school or two , though very great and most exactly reformed , will be but an inconsiderable matter , in respect of a whole nation , and have no great influence upon the youth thereof , where so many schools remain unreformed , & propagate corruptions ; therefore the propagation of reformed schools is mainly aimed at ; and to that effect , the training up of reformed school-masters , is one of the chief parts of this designe . now to endeavour to make out this , that the readiest way to reform both church and common-wealth , is ●o reform the schools of education therein ; and that the way to reform these , is to send forth reformed school-masters amongst them , is , as i suppose , altogether superfluous : for it cannot be thought , that any rationall man should be such a stranger unto the affairs of humane societies , as not to see , that from the ordinary schools , all magistrates , and ministers , and officers of state are taken throughout the nations of the world , to be set over others ; and that the impressions both of vice and virtue , which they have received in the schools , are exercised , and become effectuall , for good or evil , afterward , in their places towards the church and common-wealth : so that the schools are to be looked upon ▪ as the ordinary and naturall fountains of a settlement , as of our corruption , so of our reformation ; if god will blesse us with any . and the school-master in a well ordered common-wealth , is no lesse considerable then either the minister or the magistrate ; because neither the one nor the other will prosper or subsist long without him . i shall not need to adde any thing further concerning this subject , to make thee sensible , either of the usefulnesse of the undertaking , or of the scope of my negotiation in it . this onely i would have thee further to observe , judicious and truely christian reader ( for none but such can see any thing in this businesse ) that the authour of this new model of schooling was intreated to put it to paper , upon a serious motion made to him , and to some friends of his , by others ; for the entertaining and regulating of a christian association , whereof all the members might be serviceable to each other , and to the publick : therefore he speaks not in his own name alone concerning the association , but in the name of those , who were jointly called upon to give their assent thereunto , who agreed with him in these proposals . the motion is not as yet come to maturitie in the resolution of those that first made it , and the cause is of some conveniences to effect it , and the fears of unsettlement , after that it shall be set upon : and till there be a further ground laid for the prosecuting of this designe ; it is needlesse to give the directory concerning the education of girls . in the mean time , i have thought good to publish this , with an addition of some directions for teaching of logick ; that such as can judge , may see that there is an easier and readier way to attain the perfection of virtue and happinesse , known and practicable , then as yet hath been published to the world , or put in practice by any ; and that to set these wheels agoing , nothing is wanting , but a quiet place of abode , and some assurance of necessary protection . let thy prayer go along with it , to supply these wants , if thou hast any rationall or spirituall apprehension of the good sought thereby unto all : and if thou canst , say with the prophet psal. 14. v. 7. o that the salvation of israel were come out of sion ! when the lord bringeth back the captivitie of his people , jacob shall rejoice , and israel shall be glad . to the expectation and accomplishment of this hope and promise , i leave thee , in him who is the god of our salvation , and the confidence of all the ends of the earth , and of them that are afarre off upon the sea , psal. 65. ver. 5. in whom i rest , thy most willing servant , for the advancement of piety and learning , samuel hartlib . the reformed school . concerning an association for the education of children . upon the motion which is made of entring into a societie , wherin a certain number of children , boyes & girles , should be educated unto religion , to morall sciences & virtues ; we shall return this answer . 1. that we hope never to bee found unwilling to contribute that which we can , towards the advancement of godliness in any body or societie ; or towards the reformation of vices , which bring the judgments of god upon this babylonian generation wherin we live . 2. that we conceive the wayes of christian associations amongst those that are of riper years ; and the rules of christian education amongst those that are not yet come to years of discretion , to be most conducible unto these ends : therefore as we shall bee willing to become serviceable , and concurre with such as entertai● these thoughts ; so wee shall desire to see the hand of providence leading , and opening a door for action to us . 3. and that we may be able to discover whether yea or no , how far , what way , and with whom this aim should be prosecuted ; we shall offer ( to those that make the motion to us , and to all others whose inclinations may bend this way ) these following points to be taken into consideration : that if upon the proposall thereof , any just engagement doth follow ; we may see god before us in the prosecution of this enterprise . first of the association . 1. the association should be only of free persons : therefore we shall not consent to joyn with any ( specially with women ) but such as are free to dispose of themselves this way , either by their owne right , as being under no parents or tutors to whom they are accountable of their actions : or by the full consent of freinds that may pretend to have some right to oversee them , and controll their proceedings . 2. those that associat should not come together to live an easie life without all cares ; but their whole aime should be , to advance the life of christianity in themselves and others , with all diligence . 3. the way of 〈…〉 the societie , of staying in it , and of going out of it , should be free : only at the coming in , and going out ; the expresse motives should be declared for which the association is taken up , or left off ; that all things may be done openly and to edification , as it becometh the children of light . 4. the form of the societie should consist in the cohabitation of those that are associated in one house , for the joint exercise of daily worshipping of god , for the furtherāce of profitable employments by mutuall concurrence , for the comfort of table-communion , and for mutuall assistance in necessary consultations . as concerning the place of cohabitation , it may easily be found when the number and names are known , of those that will associat . the daily worshipping of god should be performed in prayers , meditations , and conferences about the word of god : whereof , the exercises ought to bee regulated in privat and public , jointly & severally , according to the capacity and free willing inclinations of those that shall engage to entertaine the same . 〈◊〉 furtherance of profitable employments should be partly for the improvement of rationality , discretion and prudency , to manage rightly the affaires wherin every one by his calling is bound to do service unto others . partly for the improvement of handy-works and tradings proper to either sex , which may become a relief to the poore ; according to the proportion which every one shall be willing to enlarge himself in . for the enioyment of table-societie ; there should be a certain rate set down for dyet and other things ; and a steward appointed who should have the care of providing all things according to the rates appointed ; who should give in his accounts weekly and monethly of all his disbursments . the mutuall assistance to be given in necessary consultations should respect three things : first , the matters of spirituall concernment in common ; secondly , the matters of common outward concernment ; and thirdly , the matters of particular concernment whether spirituall or bodily . concerning all matters of common concernment , whether spirituall or outward ; there should be of course some set times appointed , wherin , first , the spirituall state of the societie , and then the outward affaires , should be taken into consideration . as for the spirituall state ; matters of commō edification are to be minded therein , as the fruit of that watchfulness which christians ought to have over each other in the common profession of the name of christ . as for the outward affaires ; all orders tending to regulate the same should be setled by mutuall and free consent : concerning which , this fundamentall rule is to be observed : that , nothing is to be counted a matter of common concernment , but that wherein every one doth knowingly and judiciously professe himself to be concerned freely and willingly . concerning matters of particular concernment ; any time should be free for those that stand in need of councell , to call the rest of their associats , either all or some , to give them assistance there 〈◊〉 ▪ if these generall rule●●e first assented unto by those who are willing to ●●gage in such a way ; the particulars may be afterward set downe to be ratified by common consent , concerning the exercises of daily worship , meditation and conferences how to advance 〈◊〉 christianity in each other thereby , and concerning the course of their daily employments in other things . secondly of the education of children . the girles should all be lodged in the same house with the associated women ; to be under the perpetuall inspection of the governess , by whom , their severall tasks for all the dayes of the week and houres of the day , should be set unto them ; and the tymes of taking an account of them concerning every thing , ordered and strictly observed . the boyes should be in a severall house , or part of the house so , that they should not be able at any time to have free communication with the girles ; but should be alwayes under the inspection of their tutors who should be men belonging to the association , for such offices which women are not fit to be employed in : and these tutors and teachers should all be under one generall overseer , who should give them their tasks , and see the same performed according to settled orders . the main scope of the whole work of education , both in the boyes and girls , should be none other but this ; to train them up to know god in christ , that they may walke worthy of him in the gospell ; and become profitable instruments of the common-wealth in their generations . and in order to this , two things are to bee taught them . first , the way of godliness , wherein every day they are ●o be exercised , by prayers , reading of the word , catecheticall institutions , and other ●xercises subordinat unto the life of christia●ity . secondly , the way of serviceableness towards the society wherin they live , that they may be enabled each in their sex respectively , ●o follow lawfull callings for profitable uses ; ●nd not become a burden to their generation ●y living in idleness and disorderlinesse , as most commonly those do which come from the schools of this age . the rule then according to which their ●ducation is to be reformed fundamentally , ●s this . that no time of the day is to be lost without some teaching exercise ; and that nothing ●s to bee taught but that which is usefull in ●t self to the society of mankind , therin fitting ●hem for employments approvable by the gospel ; and which will bring them to be●ave themselves so as it becometh those who ●re called to walke with the lamb upon mount ●ion in the presence of god , that is , as saints ●n his church . upon this ground , all the matters of shew ●nd appearance , which please the fancies of ●en in the world , whether they be in points ●f knowledge or practice ; ( wherin all the ●ime of the youth is most commonly spent in ordinary schools ) are to be laid aside in the course of this education . therefore as to the girls , the ordinary van●●ty and curiosity of their dressing of hair an● putting an of apparell ; the customes and prin●ciples of wantonness and bold behaviours which in their dancings are taught them ; an● whatsoever else doth tend onely to fomēt pri● and satisfie curiosity and imaginary delights shall be changed , by this our course of edu●cation , into plain , decet cleanliness and health full wayes of appa●relling themselves ; an● into such exercises of their hearts , heads an● hands , which may habituat them through the fere of god , to become good and carefu● houswiues , loving towards their husbands an● their children when god shall call them t● be married ; and understanding in all thing belonging to the care of a family , accordin● to the characters which salomon doth give 〈◊〉 a virtuous godly woman . and such as ma● be found capable of tongues and science● ( to perfect them in graces and the know●ledge of christ for all is to be referred t● him above the ordinary sort ) are not to b● neglected ; but assisted towards the improv●●ment of their intellectuall abilities . as for the boyes ; the same rule is to be o●served in the way of their education , bo● for tongues , sciences and employments . s●●●at all the preposterous methods of teach●●g the same ; by which , not only their time is ●●st , but their spirits and affections are in●red to evill customes of disorderliness , of ●anity , pride and self conceitedness , which is the root of all our contentions about matters ●f learning and science falsly so called : and ●ll the unprofitable exercises of their mind ●nd body in things which take them off from ●e aime of christianity unto the customes of ●e world shall be altered into profitable ●mployments which may fit them to be good commonwealths men , by the knowledge of ●l things which are fundamentall for the ●●tlement of a state in husbandry , in ne●●ssary trades , in navigation , in civill of●●ces for the administration of justice ; in ●e●ce and war ; and in oeconomicall duties 〈◊〉 which they may be serviceable to their own ●●milies , and to their neighbours . and if these generall grounds be assented ●nto by those that have a mind to associat , ●d to help forward the education of youth ●r a beginning of some reall reformation in ●r age ; the particular models both for boyes ●●d girls institution , inspection and employ●ents may be soon added , and offered to their ●●nsideration . the directory for the particular education of boyes . if we suppose that fifty or threescore boye● are to be educated , according to the princi●ples heretofore mentioned ; we conceive the care which is to be taken of them should b● ordered after this manner . 1. let there be one governour over them and three ushers under him . 2. let these ushers do all things by the governours direction , which he shall afte● previous consultation with them , give : th●● they may the better understand their wor●● and go about it with cheerfulnesse . 3. and that these may without distractio● be able to attend their work ; let them b● provided with all outward things necessa●● for lodging , food , and raiment , without the cost or care , by the diligence of him the shall be steward of the association . 4. let the governour and ushers obser● the settled rights and duties of their severa● places , and the determined rules of educ●●tion towards the children . the rights and duties of the governour , and ushers places . as it is the governours duty to instruct and oversee the ushers in all ●ings which concerne the children ; so it ●all not be lawfull for ushers to alter any ●ing in the orders which the governour ●all settle , without his knowledge and ap●●obation . 2. the governour shall have power , as t , ●ovide and place , so to displace the usherso 〈◊〉 he shall see cause : which cause , it will be fit 〈◊〉 him to make known to any of the asso●●tion , who shall desire to be informed ●ereof . 3. the governour shall give all his di●●●●ctions in writing to the ushers . 4. every usher shall have a peculiar number 〈◊〉 schollars committed to his inspection ●●ose lodgings shall be together , all next unto ●s chamber , that in the night-season as well by day , he may oversee them . 5. the ushers shall see their peculiar schol●●s rise and go to bed , at the houres appoin●● : and when their schollars are retired or ●●ne to bed ; they shall come to the gover●●ur every evening before they go to bed ●●emselves ; that they may conferre about their ●●tters together . 6. the governour shall either by himself or some other see both the ushers and their scholars in their severall quarters at the set hours , before he goeth to bed himself : and the steward shall see the other servants retired and all the doores shut at the hour appointed , and shall bring such keyes to the governour as b● shall ordain to be brought unto him . the rules of education . the chief rule of the whole work is , tha● nothing may be made tedious and grievous t● the children : but all the toilsomeness of the● business the governour and ushers are t● take upon themselves ; that by diligence an● industry , all things may be so prepared , methodized and ordered for their apprehension ; the their work may unto them be as a delightfu● recreation by the variety and easiness thereo● the things to be lookt unto in the care o● their education , are 1. their advanceme● in piety . 2. the preservation of their healt● 3. the forming of their manners . 4. the● proficiency in learning . concerning their advancement in piety . that they may be advanced in piety ; the shall be exercised every day , 1. in prayers . ● in reading the scriptures . 3. in cateche●icall conferences . 4. and on the lords day ●n the duties of solemne worship . their daily prayers , reading of scriptures , ●nd conferences , shall go together in this order . in the evening when the time of retiring is ●ome , every usher shall see his scholars in ●heir chamber ( for if they could be all that ●elong to each usher made to sleep in one ●rge chamber like a gallerye , two and two ●● a bed ; the way of overseeing , and uniting ●hem in their exercises would be most commo●ious : ) and when they are going to uncloth ●hemselves , one of their number shall be taken ● his turn according to a list , to go before ●e rest in a short prayer or the usher himself all do it before they begin to put off their ●lothes ; each of them kneeling at the beds-side ●here he is to sleep : and the prayer being ●ded he whose turn it is shall read unto them ●me part of the holy scriptures , while they ●cloth themselves ; and pray in two or three ●ords for a blessing upon their rest . he ●hose turn it is to do this duty , shall sleep ●at night with the usher to whose care he is ●mmitted ; and in the morning shall rise with ●m half an hour before the rest ; to waken ● fellow-scholars ( at the hour appointed ) ● cause them rise , which whiles they are a doing , and putting on their clothes , and combing their heads ; he shall againe with a previous short ejaculation , reade some part of the scripture unto them ; and with a short prayer ( every one of the rest kneeling o● standing by the bed where he slept ) thank god for his preservation over them in the night past , and crave his direction , blessing and protection for the day following . this is to be done within the space of half an hour , to be measured by a sand glasse : after which time , every one shall go abroad for the space of another half hour to stretch , wash , and cleanse himself : till , by the ringing of a bell ▪ the whole family be called together : at thi● meeting , the women and girls shall be in on● roome by themselves , and the men an● boyes in another , so that they shall not se● one another , and yet both be able to hear him , who shall be appointed to go befor● them all in the family-duty . he shall be som● man of the association in his daily or weekl● turn , as they shall appoint it , who shall wit● a short prayer crave a blessing upon the● meeting , and read a parcell of the holy scrip●tures , and conclude the reading with a sho● prayer : all which shall not exced the space o● half an houre : and the next half hour fo●lowing shall be spent in catecheticall exerc●ses and conferences according to the ord●● which the governour shall settle in that mat●er differently towards the different ages and ●egrees of proficiency in the younger and more ●ged scholars . as for the members of the as●ciation ; their conferences shall not be ●inted within such a time , but may be exten●ed at pleasure : only the way how they ought 〈◊〉 be ordered , that all may profit therby , and ●●nfusion may be avoided ; is to be determi●ed by the governour , with their approbation . at dinner and supper-time ( which shall ●ot exceed half an houre ) one of the chil●en shall in his turn daily crave a blessing in ●●e name of all , upon their food : and read part of the scripture unto them while they ●e at table ; and when they have done , they all jointly sing a stave or two of a psalme 〈◊〉 thanksgiving . after supper , before they go to their ●hambers , they shall meet all againe in their ●●verall roomes each sex by themselves , to ●●yn in prayer , and in reading the word , as in ●●e morning they did , for the space of half an ●●ur : and another half hour afterward shall 〈◊〉 spent in conferences ; wherin the children ●●ll be encouraged , and accustomed to pro●●se questions to their teachers , or to one ●●other concerning matters of doubt which ●●y have been incident unto their thoughts , ●●her from the reading of scripture or some , other thing observed in the day-time : which being done , they shall all retire unto their severall quarters , and prepare to go to bed . this course of daily exercise in piety is to be continued without interruption , no bod● is to be exempted from it , but only in case o● sickness . on the lords day , over and above the daily sacrifice within doores to be observed the children shall be brought forth unto the public meetings , to joyn with the congrega●tion of others in the worship of god ; and 〈◊〉 the intervalles of times between the pub● meetings , and the last sermon and supp●● time ; conferences shall be entertained wi● them , concerning the things which they ha● heard . and if those of the association should e●tertain any propheticall exercises among themselves , or with others , from without ; the some of the most advanced schollars shou● be admitted to be present with them . this care of advancing piety and keep● the lords day , is to be made the chief ●f things belonging to their education . concerning the preservation of their hea● the next principall care is concerning 〈◊〉 preservation of their health , wherin 〈◊〉 ●hings belonging 1. to their diet. 2. their sleep●ng . 3. to their bodily exercises 4. and to their cleanlinesse are to be rightly ordered , and ●verseen ; that the orders may be observed . concerning their diet. their diet shall be appointed for every ●ay of the week what it shall be , and when it ●hall be given them . their breakfast , at 8 of the clock in the ●orning , of bread and butter or some other ●ing . they may be at it for the space of half 〈◊〉 hour . their dinner of good healthfull plain food . competency is to be upon the table for ●em precisely at 12 of the clock . their supper of some food of light and ●sie digestion is to be upon the table precisely ● half an hour past six of the clock , and be●re seven , taken away . bread and beer of good quality shall not be ●fused to any that shall desire it , in case of 〈◊〉 being satisfied with the ordinary al●wance . in case of sickness there should be a peculiar ●om appointed for them , and some to attend ●em , with such a diet as shall be prescribed ; ●d to entertain them with such thoughts ●d conversation , as shall be fitting for their ●position of mind . concerning their sleep and rest . in winter , the aged scholars shall be wa●kened at five ; in sommer , at four of the clock in the morning : the yonger , in som●mer at five ; in winter , at six in the morning and they shall all be in bed before , or at ni● of the clock at night . the governours , ushe● and steward , if they be in health , should n● go to bed till ten. concerning their bodily exercises . they shall exercise and stir their bodyes 〈◊〉 the morning-season before dinner from 〈◊〉 till 12 a clock , and before supper they sh● again exercise themselves in sommer , fro● half an hour past five , till half an hour pa● six , and in winter , from five till six , and fro● half an hour past twelve after dinner , t● half an hour past one , it shall be free 〈◊〉 them , to do privat businesses , in their cha●bers or else where . the particular wayes of exercising the bodyes shall not be left at random , but o●dered to some advantage of the associati● and of their own experience in matters eit● of husbandry , or manufactures , or of ●litary employments . concerning their cleanliness . they must be taught cleanliness without curiosity ; and made in love with it , as it is ●sefull for health ; in which respect the care of 〈◊〉 must be recommended to them , and obser●ed in them .x. in their feeding , that through ●rediness they eat or drink nothing that is ●asty . 2. in their body , head hands feet and ●lothing ; that they keep themselves from ●ilthiness of sweat , from vermine and other ●ncleanness . 3. in their chamber , that they ●efile it not with stench , or suffer it to be un●wept ; but that they keep it clean and sweet with refreshment of aire . concerning the forming of their manners . godliness and bodily health are absolutly ●ecessary ; the one for spirituall , and the other for their temporall felicitie : next ●nto these two , to make up and perfect the ●tate of their happiness ; care must be taken of their manners . by which word i under●tand their outward life , aswell in respect of the actions which they do , as in respect of ●heir cariage and behaviour in performing the same : that those may be just and honest ; ●his , civil and unblameable . for , good manners , in this sense , are farre to be preferred unto all humane learning of what kind soever ; because without morall honest● all the perfection of learning is nothing els● but an instrument of wickedness to increas● and aggravat the miseries of mankind : whera● without learning this alone with bodi●● health is a sufficient ground to partake 〈◊〉 temporall felicitie . and because in the ordinary schools the care is wholly neglected and the youth 〈◊〉 left to habituat it self to its corrupt inclina●tions , while their wits are sharpened a●● exercised in all the subtilties of humane a●●● and sciences ; therefore satan doth fortifie 〈◊〉 strong holds by these within them , to ma●● them impregnable : and their spirits ( as 〈◊〉 find by dolefull experience in these times ) a● heighthned to that degree of unconscion●bleness in deceit ▪ mischief and malice , th●● nothing in former ●ges can be compar●● therunto . which should make us so much 〈◊〉 more carefull to rectifie this evill in o●● scholars , by how much it is neglected 〈◊〉 others , and destructive to all . the way then to reforme our scholars this matter , and the care to be taken of the● should have two parts . the one should rel●● unto the inward principles of moralitie ; 〈◊〉 work the true impressions thereof upon the ●pirits . the other should relate unto their out●ard behaviour and carriage towards their ●eighbour , to make it decent and without ●ffence . and the first of these cannot be ●ightly taken up without the last , because without the observation of their unseemly ●ehaviour and offensive carriages ; a disco●erie can not be made of the diseases of their ●ules , that the remedies of wholesome in●tructions , admonitions and corrections ●ay be applyed therunto . this then is the master-peece of the whole art of education , ●o watch over the childrens behaviour in ●heir actions of all sorts , so as their true in●linations may be discovered ; that the inward ●auses of their vicious disposition and di●tempers being found out ▪ the true and pro●er remedies thereof may be applyed unto ●hem . and this is to be the subject whereof the governour and ushers are to have daily conference every night : that upon the parti●ular discoveries of the severall inclinations ●f their scholars by the qualities of their ●nruliness ; they may judiciously determine ●hat to do with them , and how to proceed ●owards them , to reforme that which is amisse . ●here we conceive this studie should con●aine these endeavours . first , to discerne the proper character of ●very childs humour by his behaviour ; to discover the predominant qualitie thereof , and what is good , and what is evill in it . secondly , to contemplate rationally the inward disposition and frame of his spirit ; to find out the principles , by which he is led , and from whence that humour and behaviour doth arise ; and the impressions of virtu● whereof he may be made capable . thirdly , to determine the way how to de● with him ; that is , not only how to corre●● his outward visible misbehaviours ; and 〈◊〉 incourage him in that which is good and decent : but how to make him sensible , and rationally apprehensive of the true ground● , both of the correction , and encouragement . here againe i conceive their studie m● runne in these channels . first , what peculiar restraint to lay upo● them , lest they get a custome in that whi●● is evill . secondly , what rationall maximes , an● rules of moralitie to infuse unto them , a●●cording to the degree of their capacitie , a●●bent of their inclination in that which ● good . thirdly , how to ingraft those rationa● maximes and rules upon the main princi●ples of godliness ; that their spirits may 〈◊〉 raised , and their resolutions exalted to 〈◊〉 things morally just and decent , not on●● because they are found in reason to be so , but because they who do them , are bound in conscience through love and feare towards god to do all things as in his presence , with ●elight and care to do alwayes that which is well pleasing in his sight . so that all morall actions to free them from hypocrisie , and make them truly virtuous ; that is , without ●ll leaven of pride and self-seeking ( which will mixe themselves with spirituall actions ●lso , if care be not taken to set our heart ●right ) must be reduced unto the grounds of christianity ; and made conformable unto the life of christ ; by comparing our way , ●nd our mind in following him , with his way ●nd his mind in walking before us amongst ●hen towards god . and except their educa●on by the reformation of their manners fi●ally tend and result unto this ; it will avail ●hem nothing towards the salvation of their ●●uls ; it will only make lesse them hurtfull ●nto the societie of mankind . now the particulars which are subordinat ●nto this care and studie are innumerable ; ●ut yet certain generall rules may be pru●entially set down , according to which , they ●ould be limitted and directed to order their conversation and behaviour towards the ●ds aforesaid , and by which , those that watch ●ver them should take notice of their wayes and give an account thereof unto the governour of which rules it will suffice at this time to give these heads . first , laws are to be published amongst them concerning their very looks , their angry words , and their hasty actions , proceeding from passion , and tending to the breach of christian love ; forbidding the same under the notion that they are contrary to the life of christ . secondly , rules and directions ( leading them to the practice of justice , equalitie , meeknesse , humility , love and liberality ; an● to the hatred of iniuriousness , pride and covetousness ) are to be published , and hung 〈◊〉 in their chamber and school , and made familiar and plain unto their capacity and memorie . both these sorts of laws may be gather● out of salomons proverbs for the main substance thereof , and from other scriptures ▪ and so be delivered as the will of god un● them , to oblige their conscience therunto . thirdly , the law of watchfulness ( whic● they ought to have over themselves for the ob●servation of these rules ) is not only to 〈◊〉 taught them ; but some that are more stay● then others , and better set , are to be ma● monitors of the rest , and besides the monitor● spyes are to be appointed to oversee them : an●●n cases of grosse failing , after due admonitions , some exemplary punishments of shame and smart may be used , that all may feare . fourthly , the great law of truth and of faithfulness ( to suppresse the basenesse of lying and of deceitfulness in words , promises and actions ) is above all other rules to be prescribed and pressed upon them in their dealings towards one another : and speciall care is to be had to observe the practise thereof . and , that the lying and deceitfull spirit may be hunted out from amongst them ; a speciall reward is to be proposed unto every one that shall , upon due admonition of his neighbour before witnesses , discover to the usher any matter of falshood practised by any . for , nothing doth more inwardly corrupt the spirit , then a course of falshood ; nor doth any thing more deeply discover the wickednesse of the heart and want of true virtue , then this . fifthly , the civilities to be used towards strangers , to receive and entertaine them courteously ; to be generously affected towards them , and the way to maintein the principles , and practises of publick spiritedness without ostentation and vain-glory , should be described and taught them . sixtly and lastly , the seemly way to carry their bodyes , to looke upon people stayedly and freindly in their salutation and conversation with them should be made known unto them by example and rule . concerning all which directions , how to propose , and apply them , towards the corrupt dispositions of children to rectifie the same ; the ushers themselves are to be taught their duty , what to observe in them , and how to proceed in dealing with them . and 〈◊〉 must be the governours great and speciall care to see the ushers well principled and practised in this way , for , upon their abilitie , faithfulness , and diligence all depends . concerning their proficiencie in learning . the last and least part of true education is only minded in the ordinary schools , and that in a very superficiall and preposterous way ; for children are taught to read authors and learn words and sentences before they can have any notion of the things signified by those words and sentences , or of the authors strain and wit in setting them together : and they are made to learn by hear● the generall rules , sentences , and precep● of arts , before they are furnished with any matter wherunto to apply those rules an● precepts . and when they are taught these things wherin reason is to be employed , they are lead into a maze of subtile and unprofi●able notions ; wherby their mindes are puft ●p with a windy conceit of knowledge : their ●ffections taken off from the plainnesse of ●sefull truths ; their naturall corrupt incli●ations to pride , vain glory , and conten●iousnesse not reformed , but rather strength●ed in perversitie ; so that they become ●oth unwilling to seek , and incapable to ●eceive any truth either divine or humane ●n its simplicitie : for their heads are filled ●ith certain termes and empty shewes of ●earning ; which neither containe any sub●tance or solidity of matter ; or give them any ●ddresse by way of method to make use of ●hat which they know for the benefit of mankind . now , to rectifie this cause of our igno●ance and disorderliness which hath taken ●ossession of all schooles and universities , and ●ath spread it self over all matters of humane learning ; wee shall endevour to seek out the ●rue method of teaching sciences , by the grounds and rules which , we hope , none , ●hat is rationall and free from prejudice , will contradict . concerning the grounds and rules of teaching sciences . we take this to be the fundamentall and undenyable maxime of all order to be kept i● teaching of sciences , and educating of youth unto any part of learning : viz. that the whole way of his undertaking must be mad● answerable unto the nature of the end , an● proportionat unto the property of the meane● and parts of learning : and whatsoever i● not subordinat unto that , and proportion● unto these , is done irrationally and unprofi●tably towards the advancement of lear●ning . the grounds therefore from when● we shall gather all our rules to direct us i● the true method of profiting , are three ; the first , concerning the end ; the scond , concer●ning the meanes ; the third , concernin● the parts of learning . concerning the end of learning . the true end of all humane learning ● to supply in our selves and others the defect● which proceed from our ignorance of the n●●ture and use of the creatures , and the diso●●derliness of our naturall faculties in usi● them and reflecting upon them . from this truth follow these rules ● teaching . 1. that nothing is to be counted a mat● of true learning amongst men , which is n● directly serviceable unto mankind towar●●he supply of some of these defects , which de●rive us of some part of our naturall hap●iness . 2. that if any doth teach or learne any ●cience for any other end but this ; he doth by the false end , which he proposeth to him●●lf in teaching or learning ) pervert the truth either of the science , or of the method ●ereof , or of both : by which meanes , the ●emedie of our disease being spoiled ; he ma●eth so farre as in him lyeth our sickness in●rable . 3. that none ought to be taught any ●atter of science , before he doth understand ●e true end , wherefore he is to learne it , and ●ow he ought to use it ▪ towards that end : for ● he be ignorant of these two , he will not ●nly lose his labour ; but may become hurt●ll to himself and others by his knowledge . ●or as a thorne goeth up into the hand of a ●unkard ; so is a parable in the mouth of fools . ●rov . 26.9 . and at the best he will be un●rviceable and disproportionat to others in ●s walking therby : for as the legs of the ●me are not equall , so will a parable be in the ●outh of a foole prov. 16.7 . now , he is a ●ole who knoweth not the end and use of ●e things which he hath . 4. that to marshall sciences rightly , that they ●ay be taught orderly and profitably ; the subordination of their severall ends to eac● other ( as they jointly relate unto man to sup●ply his defects ) and the way of teaching the same ( as it is sutable to the capacity of thos● that are to be taught ) must be observed : so if these things be not observed ; either the sciences will be made useless to each other , o● all of them , to him that is taught . for , ho● can he , that teacheth them , benefit his scho●lars therby ? for the encyclopedia of scienc● must answer the whe●l of humane facultie and this wheel must answer the circle of the creatures whence man is to supply his d●●fects . as then in a watch , one wheel right set , doth with its teeth take hold of anothe● and sets that a work towards a third ; and all move one by another , when they are 〈◊〉 their right places for the end for which 〈◊〉 watch is made : so is it with the faculties 〈◊〉 the humane nature , being rightly ordered 〈◊〉 the ends for which god hath created the● but , contrarywise , if the wheels be not right set , or the watch duly wound up ; it is useless ● him that hath it ; and so it is with the facult● of man ; if his wheels be not rightly order and wound up by the ends of sciences in the subordination ; leading him to employ ● same , according to his capacity , to make ● of the creatures for that wherunto 〈◊〉 hath made them ; he becomes not only usele●●●ut even a burthen , and hurtfull unto him●elf and others by the misusing of them . concerning the means of learning . the true means by which all humane ●ciences are attainable , are three , and no ●ore : the first , is sense ; the second , tradi●on ; the third , reason . sense is the first , because it conveighs unto ●ur imagination the shapes and images of all ●ings , which memory doth keep in store , that ●eason may make use thereof . nor can any tradition be entertained with profit , but ●at , whereof the imagination hath received ●om sense the originall representations . tradition is the second , because it is no●ing else , but a communication of those ●bservations which others have made of the ●reatures , wherby our want of knowledge ● them is supplyed . for we ought , to en●ire of the former age , and be willing to ●ake search of their fathers ; because we are ●ut of yesterday and know nothing , and our ●yes upon earth are a shadow . job . 8.8 , 9. reason is the third and last means of ●umane learning , because it makes use of ● the reports of our senses , and of other ●ens tradition ; and without these it can ●ake no inferences to enlarge knowledge , or teach us the right use of creatures for necessary occasions . from the subordination of these means to one another , and their properties to advance us unto learning ; we shall gather these following rules of teaching arts and sciences . 1. the arts or sciences which may be received by meer sense should not be taught any other way : for it is no wisdome to make work to our selves : frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora . 2. whatsoever in any art or science can be made obvious unto sense , is first to be made use of , as a precognition unto that which is to be delivered by way of traditionall o● rationall precept . 3 as in nature sense is the servant of imagination ; imagination of memory ; memory of reason : so in teaching arts and sciences we must set these faculties a work in this order towards their proper objects in every thing , which is to be taught : whence this will follow , that as the faculties of mans soul naturally perfect each other by their mutuall subordination : so the arts which perfect those faculties should bee gradually suggested , and the objects wherewith the faculties are to be conversant according to the rules of art should be offered in that order , which is answerable to their proper ends and uses and not otherwise : for the proportion of every thing to its owne end , doth determine the order and place wherin we are to make use of it : for nothing is truly usefull , but as it is , in its naturall place . 4. as childrens faculties break forth in them , by degrees to be vigorous with their years and the grouth of their bodyes ; so they are to be filled with objects whereof they are capable , and plyed with arts : whence followeth that while children are not capable of the acts of reasoning ; the method of filling their senses and imaginations with outward objects should be plyed : nor is their memory at this time to be charged further with any objects then their imagination rightly ordered and fixed , doth of it self impresse the same upon them . moreover hence followeth , that no generall rules are to be given unto any , concerning any thing either to be known or practised according to the rule of any art or science ; till sense imagination and memory have received their impressions concerning that wherunto the rule is to be applyed ; and so farre as those faculties are stored with matters of observation , so farre rules may be given to direct the mind in the use of the same and no further . lastly hence followeth , that the arts or sciences which flow not immediatly from particular and sensuall objects , but tend immediatly to direct the universall acts of reasoning , must be taught after all the rest : because their use is to regulat that , which is to make use of all the rest , viz. the rational faculty ; therefore it is a very absurd and preposterous course to teach logick and metaphisicks before or with other humane sciences , which depend more upon sense and imagination then reasoning . concerning the parts of learning . the parts of humane learning wherin children are to be exercised are first the grounds and precepts of profitable arts and sciences . secondly , the tongues which are most usefull to enlarge the knowledge thereof . by profitable arts and sciences , we meane all matters of knowledge which direct man to the right use of all creatures , and the ordering of his owne faculties about them . the tongues which are ordinarily most usefull to enlarge the knowledge of these arts and sciences , are latin and greek ; and that which in an extraordinary way will in due time be usefull heerunto , is hebrew , and the other orientall tongues which are a kinne unto it . concerning these parts of learning , we lay down these maximes as grounds of teaching the same . 1. arts and sciences are immediatly usefull by themselves to restore the defects of our nature by the creatures . 2. tongues are no further finally usefull then to enlarge traditionall learning ; and without their subordination unto arts and sciences , they are worth nothing towards the advancement of our happiness . 3. the immediat use of tongues is only to understand what others say to us , according to their custome of speaking ; and to expresse our mind unto them significantly according to our custome . from these maximes we gather these following rules of teaching . 1. the teaching of arts and sciences ought not to be suspended upon the teaching of unknown tongues , but made familiar unto the childrens capacity in their mother-tongue first ; and afterward enlarged by the use of other tongues . 2. the arts and sciences which lead us most directly unto the use of the creatures without any reflexion upon our own faculties are first to be taught ; because they may be taken up by the simple acts of sense , imagination and memory , without much reasoning . 3. the arts and sciences which lead us to reflect upon the use of our owne faculties , are not to be taught , till we are fully acquainted with their proper objects , and the direct ●cts of the faculties about them . 4. the knowledge of tongues is the proper effect of memory , and not of any reasoning abilitie , because they depend upon the observation only of that which is the constant custome of people ; and not upon any rationall inducement why they do so . whence followeth . 1. that those things which are most helpfull and subservient unto memory , are to be set a work in teaching languages ; rather then those that employ the judgement . 2. that the wayes which fix and order the imagination most effectually towards the sound of the words and the thing signified therby , are most advantageous to this way of teaching . 3. that the teaching of words , is no further usefull then the things signified therby are familiar to the imaginatiō , and that the teaching of rules before the materiall sense of the words is known , or before the formall coherence of things which their construction is to represent in a sentence , can be apprehended ; is wholly preposterous and unprofitable to the memory . 5. so farre as children are capable of traditionall knowledge : so farre in every degree of science they may be taught the tongues which serve for that use ; but till they be fitted for the one , the other is useless to them . 6. whatsoever in the teaching of tongues doth not tend to make them a help unto traditionall knowledge , by the manifestation of reall truths in sciences , is superfluous , and not to be insisted upon , especially towards children . whence followeth that the curious study of criticismes , and observation of styles ●n authors , and of straines of wit , which speak ●othing of reality in sciences , are to be left ●o such as delight in vanityes more then in truths . from these maximes and rules the ra●ionality of the ensuing method may be made ●ut to the full , if time did permit ; but we shall ●ot insist upon that now : only we shall shew ●hat by them we are led to teach and consider ●atters of learning in this order . first , to consider the children that are to ●e taught ; secondly , the things which are to ●e taught unto them ; thirdly , the manner ●nd way of teaching the same . concerning the children ; we must reflect ●pon their ordinary capacities , and distin●uish the same into their naturall degrees . concerning the things which are to be ●aught ; we must reflect upon a twofold pro●ortion therin ▪ first , we must find out that which is proportionat to the degree of every ones capacity . secondly , we must order every thing which is sutable to each capacity , proportionally to the end for which it is to be taught , as in its proper place it is subordinat● unto other things , which must follow in the course of education . concerning the way and manner of teaching and proposing the same ; we must studie by the properties of things to be taught , to find all manner of advantages ; and according to circumstances determine the way which will bring no losse of time , nor be wearisom● and tedious to the children , and which wil● make the matters taught most easie for the● apprehension , and delightfull to their affections in apprehending the same . for , i suppose that this conclusion in this matter is a● firme , as any mathematicall demonstratio● in other matters . viz : if all degrees of childrens capacities be fitted with proper objects , if none of the things , which any 〈◊〉 their faculties can receive , be left untaugh● if no time be lost in teaching , nor any thi● offered before it be seasonable , if that whic● is taught in the first place be not disiointe● from that which followeth after , but made 〈◊〉 steppe therunto . if all matters offered , by their conjunctio● make him that receiveth them a perfect ma●●eading him without distraction to his true end : and if no servile constraint be laid upon the inclination of him that is taught , by forcible meanes to break his spirits : but his af●ections raised to a delightfull willingness , to ●eceive that which is offered ; by allurements ●nd generous insinuations readily . if ( i say ) all these things be observed , in the course of teaching ; then little or no●hing will be wanting , which can be wished ●or towards the advancement of learning in ●his way , or can be prosecuted by rationall ●ndevours and humane industry . of the ordinary degrees of childrens naturall capacities . till a childs tongue be untyed and confirmed in some measure to speak and imitate the ordinary sounds of speech ; he is to be ●ounted an infant . and this ordinarily is not ●ll children be four or five yeeres old : ●et , before this time their senses are awake , ●heir imagination is not idle ; and therefore ●ught to be exercised with some objects fitt ●r the framing of their memory towards ●ture preparatives of learning . from the time of infancy , till the age of ●entie ; there are three different degrees of ●apacities , which ordinarily shew themselves in three periods of yeeres ; from foure or five , till eight or nine , is the first , from eight or nine , till thirteen or fourteen , is the second ▪ and from thirteen or fourteen , till ninetee● or twenty , is the third period of capacity . in the first of these periods , the capacity of children is none other but sense and imagination , with the beginnings of memory . in the second , it is imagination and me●mory with the beginnings of reasoning , an● now we count him past childhood , and becomes a youth . in the third , he is capable of all the acts 〈◊〉 reasoning , and of the principles of judge●ment and prudencie ; wherby he ought t● order himself in all things aright toward god and man . and when a schollar 〈◊〉 brought thus farre , he is not to be under tutors any longer : and till he be brought th●● farre , he is not safe , without some tutori●● and discipline . concerning the things to be taught to each degree of capacity . first , while a child is capable of nothi●● but what he receiveth by sense and upon t●● similitudes of sensuall objects , by imagination ; nothing is to be offered unto his memo● but what can enter in , by those dores . here t●● he is to be taught . 1. to speake his mother-tongue , di●tinctly . 2. to read his mother-tongue readily , ●telligibly , and without any affectat chil●ish tone , with his owne naturall sound of ●peech . 3. to write his owne mother-tongue le●bly ; or any other tongue what soever , ●s to the forming of any letters after a copye . 4. to draw all manner of lines and ma●hematicall figures with a ruler and com●asses ; and other lines and figures , which ●re the rudiments of painting to represent the lineaments and features of things . 5. to know the signification of all numericall figures ; and to observe by the eye , ●are and hand , the differences of things in re●●ect of their number , their parts , their quan●●ties , their measures , their proportions and ●isproportions , and the like . 6. to take notice of all things offered to ●is senses ; to know their proper names , to ●bserve their shapes ; and to make circum●antiall descriptions thereof by word of ●outh , and painting in black and white . 7. to mind , and repeate the things which ●re to be related unto him ; which should be the generall heads of the history of the ●orld ; whereof the ground work should be the historicall cathechisme of the bibl● and the superstructure , a description of t● parts of the world ; of the things that 〈◊〉 therin ; and especially of the nations of 〈◊〉 earth ; and the chiefest revolutions a● changes which are befallen to his owne n●●tion since the beginning thereof . these things ought to be taught unto ch●●●dren before they come to any of the ushe● belonging to the association ; for ( none un● eight or nine ) ought to be brought unto the● except they be sufficiently qualified before th●● age with these endowments : and that the things may be taught sufficiently , as a prepa●●●tive for their future education in sciences ; peculiar school should be appointed as a n●●●sery not farre from the place of the soc●e●● wherin children of this age should be train●● up according to the directions which may 〈◊〉 given to that effect : and although the gove●●nour should not be charged with any peculi●● inspection over them ; yet he might be oblig● to repaire thither at certain convenient ti●● to helpe with counsell , by conferring wi● those that should teach them these things , a●● to oversee their way , and direct them chie● in point of manners ; how to prevent e●● habits , and the customes of perverse incl●●nations , which then beginne to take head an● discover themselves : and for want of d●prevention become ordinarily a great prejudice to their education in after times . secondly , from eight or nine , till thirteen or fourteen , a childs imagination and memory is throughly to be cultivated and exercised ; supposing then , that a child can speake his mother-tongue distinctly and readily , can read and write , and hath gotten a generall view of all things , and is able to name that which is obvious to his sense by its proper name in his mother-tongue : yet these impressions and shapes of things are like a chaos or confused masse of notions in his head . these now in the second period of his education are to be ordered , and his memory so exercised about them , as to prepare him to entertaine the traditionall and rationall learning which in the third and last period of his education is to be delivered concerning them . heer then the children shall be exercised . 1. in writing faire and readily ; and in drawing the pictures of things whereof the impressions are to be fixed in their memories . 2. in observing all things naturall and artificiall extant in the world , wherunto their imagination shall be ledd in a certain method ; to cause them reflect orderly upon them , and observe in them their severall kindes , coherences , differences , parts , actions ▪ properties , uses , and references unto man by trades and manufactures . 3. in learning all the names of the things themselves and of that which doth belong unto them in latin , in greek and in hebrew ; which tongues they shall withal● learne to reade and write ; and to interpre● so farre , as their experience in the observation of things doth go , and no further : for so farre their janua's in each tongue shall go and be offered to them pari passu , with that which they have been taught to observe in the things themselves . 4. in the practicall parts of the mathematicks ; wherin they shall be taught ( togethe● with their latin , greek , and hebrew names . ) 1. the geographicall descriptions of the world , and of the kingdoms thereof in globes and in plain tables . 2. the astronomicall descriptions of the heavens , in models , globes and plain tables . 3. the arithmeticall rules of addition , substraction , multiplication , division , the reduction of fractions , and the rule of proportions called the golden rule , and no further . 4. the geometricall doctrine of lines , surfaces , bodyes , and the rules of measuring the same , and shewing their proportions , together with the experimentall way of measu●ing land , and the use of the instruments be●onging to that part of mathematicall studies . 5. in the observation of husbandry and gardening ; of fishing and fouling ; and the generall rules thereof . 6. in the anatomy of mans body by a model and picture of all his parts , with their names in the learned tongues . 7. in the summary knowledge of the history of the four monarchies of the world , ●nd of their own nation : together with a brief of the history of the church since christs dayes . 8. in the rudiments and necessary rules of grammaticall constructions ; so farre as may inable them to interpret their janua's whereof they shall have learned the single words with the observation of the things ●hemselves : and these rules in all the three languages are to be given , first in that wherin they agree ; and afterward in that wherin they differ : and exercised in the reciprocal translations of their janua's . thirdly from thirteen or fourteen , till ninteen or twentie ; the things which are to be taught them , and wherin they shall be exercised , are all the usefull arts and sciences , which may fitt them for any employment in church and common wealth . here then all the meanes of traditionall and rationall learning are to be set a foot ; and to this effect they shall be taught their gramma● rules more exactly and fully then formerly ▪ and brought to read authors in all the sciences whereof they have gained the foundations ; with directions how to observe the marrow , and method of them ; and out of them to gather to themselves an encyclopoedia . to this effect . 1. the latine authors of agriculture cato , varro , columella , may be put into their hands by parcels , to be an enlargement unto that which they have alreadie been taugh● concerning husband●y 2. the naturall history of pliny an● others , by choice parcels are also to be perused by them ; and brought home to wha● they have formerly seen ; together which the histories of meteors , minerals , &c. 3. in like manner some models and book● of architecture , enginry , fortification , fire-works , weapons , military discipline ▪ and navigation are to be lookt upon . 4. the greek authors of morall philosophie , epictetus , ●ebes , arrianus , plato , xenophon , plutarch ; and some latin tract● in this kind should be read by them ; and a● account taken of their proficiencie therby . 5. the doctrine of oeconomicks , of civill government , and naturall justice and equitie in the laws of nations should be offered unto them ; as the grounds of that jurisprudentia whereof the summe is to be given out of the institutions of justinian and regulae juris . 6. the theorie of all the mathematicks , with the full practise of that which was deficient in their former institution ; where the opticks with the instruments belonging therunto , and the art of dialing is to be entertained ; and in arithmetick the way of keeping accounts . 7. the principles of naturall philosophie and the main grounds of medicin , with the instruments of distilling and other chimicall operations , and the art of apothecaries , are to be offered unto them partly in books , partly in the operations themselves by an ocular inspection thereof , and of their drugges . 8. the art of chirurgery described in books , with an ocular inspection of all their tooles , and compositions of plaisters and ointments , and the use thereof . 9. the rules of logick , rhetorick and poesie ; shewing them first how to analyse authors , and observe their art of reason and utterance to perswade : and then how to order their owne thoughts and expression , to search out truths and to declare the same ; historically , philosophically , oratorically , poetically . 10. directions for the studye of all humane histories and what to observe in them , for the attainement of wisdome and prudencie in the government of a mans owne life ; where with the directions to observe the wayes of others ; the rules of judgement , discretion , prudencie and civill conversation to order their owne wayes aright towards all , are to be given unto them which is to be concluded with a speciall recognition and insight into salomons proverbs , and ecclesiastes . and so they are to be sent into the world to apply themselves to any employment , or more particular study wherunto god shall call them . for now they will be fitted therunto so farre as humane industry can advance them . amongst all these , i have not mentioned musick ▪ vocall and instrumentall , by it self , because it is a part of the mathematicks and the practise thereof is to be insensibly at spare times brought in use amongst them as a part of their recreations . nor have i mentioned any hebrew books which they should read ; because their daily reading of the scriptures should be in greek and in hebrew : and their analyticall exercises should be employed for the most part in resolving the rationality of the scripture about the most materiall doctrines of divinity . nor have i mentioned any particular body of divinity to be put into their hands ; because i speak only of the method of humane learning , how it should be delivered ; and no divinity is to be taken up from the teaching of men : it is to be received from the holy scriptures alone : and the daily catecheticall exercises and conferences which will be appointed for these of this third period ; will sufficiently by gods blessing enable them in all the truths of divinity both theoreticall and practicall ; so that there will be no need of any other institution in that kind . thus i have done with all the matters which are to be taught to each degree of capacity within the period of the years appointed for their education : now followeth the last point of this method ; how all this is to be taught and expedited within the time appointed with ease and delight . concerning the manner and way of teaching all these things , to each capacity . in the manner of teaching , experience will bring the way unto perfection , if it be prosecuted , according to the maximes , and rules heretofore mentioned , in a constan● course . and to be able to put the design in practise ; three main things must be ordered : first the taskes of both the lesser and the greater parts of the work must be determined according to times and seasons ; what and when every thing is to be done . secondly , the way of proposing to the schollars that which they are to receive , and of entertaining them to dwell upon it , till it be fixed in their mindes , must be regulated . thirdly , the meanes and instruments wherby , all taskes are to be performed on all hands , both by those that propose , and those that receive and entertaine learning , are to be had in a readiness and ordered for use . concerning the taskes what and when every thing is to be done . salomon tels us , that there is a season to every thing , and a time to every purpose under the heaven ; eccles. c. 3. v. 1. and v. 11. and that god hath made every thing beautifull and consequently , delightfull and acceptable , in its proper time . if then we can discerne this time , and determine the work to be done in it we shall find successe in it , and that with ease . in the first period , from five till nine ; an order of taskes must be observed in the preparatorie school , aswell as in the other following . but now we shall not speak thereof , because we suppose that such a school cannot be had speedily ; and that we must take such scholars at first as can be had , till schoolmasters be trained up who shall be able to follow the directions which may be given for the training up of children in such a nursery . in the second period , from eight or nine , till thirteen or fourteen , we have five years , to bestow upon the objects of learning which are proper to that age and capacity , whereof the perfection is nothing else but memory . these five years shall be divided into three parts , whereof the first and second shall each comprehend two years ; and the third , one . in the first part ( that is in the two first years of this period ) they shall be led through all the objects of fancy and memory belonging to that period in the method ; which shall be prescribed unto the ushers : and to every thing which shall be shewed them by their ushers ; the latin and greek names shall be added and commended unto their remembrance . so that here , in these two first years they shall be obliged to runne over all the taskes of the whole period , to take up the ideas thereof , and keep them in memory with their two learned names only . and to that effect , in the first quarter of the first year , they shall be diligently exercised in writing the latin and greek characters faire and readily ; and in copying out some pictures , and the figures of models of things . then in the last quarter of that year , when they are stored with almost the half of the words of those two tongues ; the rudiments of the grammaticall rules of both tongues are to be taught them , so farre as to help them , to make use of their janua's therin ; which from that time forward they shall be made to ply diligently , till towards the end of the sccond year ; then about the last quarter thereof , they shall be taught to write hebrew faire and readily . and when they have attained to some perfection heerin , the rudiments of the hebrew grammar also shall be taught them , so farre as it doth agree with that which they formerly learned of the latin and greek grammars . in the second part of this period ( that is in the third and fourth years thereof ) the same taskes which formerly were taken in hand and prosecuted shall be renewed by the same method of leading them through all the objects belonging to the whole period the second time , only with a twofold difference : first , that to the latin and greek names of things which were formerly taught and now are to be repeated , the hebrew shall be added . secondly , that in this second course of observa●ion they shall descend to some things more ●articularly in every object , then they did in the first course ; and in a way more exact and ●istinct : wherby they shall be taught to look ●pon every thing so , as to take up the notion ●hereof orderly in four things when they once ●ave gotten the generall shape thereof in their mindes . the first is , to look upon the parts ●hereof , and know their distinct names in the ●earned ●ongues . the second is , to look ●pon the properties of those parts and the forme o● frame of the whole arising ●rom thence . the third is , to look upon the action or passion or fitness to action or passion which ariseth from that frame and properties of the whole and parts . and the fourth , is to look upon the usefulness which the thing , with the parts , properties and ●ctions thereof , hath towards man . when ●very object formerly observed in the bulk ●hall be thus reviewed in these particulars , and the chief names formerly not mentioned added therunto ; the second course of this period will be also finished : whereof at this time , this only is further to be added ; that , at the latter ●nd of the third year , and the beginning of the fourth , the grammaticall precepts are ●ully to be delivered in each tongue in respect of their differentiall properties , which thenceforth are to be taken notice of in the use of their janua's . in the third and last part of this perio● ( that is in the fifth year thereof ) they shall r●●peat all what in the four former years the● have learned : but chiefly the addition●● part of learning , which the second cou●● had , more then the first ; that is , their he●brew janua ; the particularities , to be● take● notice of , in the observation of all sensu●● objects , and the grammaticall differen●● in the constructions of the three tongues . in the third period of learning , from thi●●teen or fourteen , till nineteen or twentie ; 〈◊〉 have six years to bestow upon the traditionall and rationall wayes of teaching 〈◊〉 sciences : those years also shall be divided in●● three courses , and to each course two year● shall be allotted . in the first course of this third period , a● the sciences belonging therunto are to be de●livered historically , which may be done thr●● wayes . first , by way of ocular demonstra●tion in things that can be shewed unto sen●● in every science , whose subject hath any thin● of sense in it . secondly , by way of schemes a●● pictures to represent hieroglyphically the● things that have no visible shape ; and fo●●mally those things which have a reall shape but are not at hand to be seen and shewe● unto sense . and thirdly , by way of narratives and relations , expounding both tha● which is shewed unto sense , and that which is offered unto it in pictures and schemes , whether hieroglyphically or formally . in this course ( besides their janua's which are to be repeated ) the easiest of the latin and greek authors which handle the sciences ( whereof the ideas have been offered unto them ) are to be read by them according to the directions which shall be given : and after the first year of this course ( or sooner as upon triall shall be found expedient ) their speech shall be wholly latin ▪ and to beginne to translate some remarkable passages of greek authors into latin , and of latin authors into greek ; shall be one of their exercises . in the last quarter of this course ( or in the last half year as experience shall direct ) the grounds of logick shall be taught them so farre as to let them see . 1. what the faculty of reason is in man , and wherin it doth differ from imagination and memory . 2. what the use thereof is in all sciences . 3. what the acts thereof are , in making up many single thoughts into propositions ; and of many propositions said together to draw thence consequences . 4. how that these acts are to be taken notice of , and observed in the authors which they have read who write of sciences ; in whom they shall be taught to analyse some of their rationall propositions and consequences . thus the first course of thi● period shall be ended . in the second course ( that is , in the third and fourth year ) of this period , all the sciences belonging to the whole period shall b● taught dogmatically ; that is , the rules and precepts thereof shall be delivered , according to that order wherin they are subservient unto the necessities of man , and branch themselves out one upon another ; the latter growing up from the principl●s of the former ; an● all tending to make the creatures serviceable unto mankind ; or to rectifie his disorders within himself . in this dogmaticall course of sciences , towards the latter end of the first year thereof ( that is , in the last quarter of the third year of this period of education ) the precepts of logick shall be fully taught , first the analyticall , and then the geneticall way of reasoning , to find out truths which are doubtfull , and towards the latter end or the middle of the second year thereof , the precepts of oratory and poetry shall be taught them ; and they directed to observe in the authors which they have alreadie perused , how those precepts have been put in use by them , that they may learne to imitate their practise . in the third course of this period , that is , in the two last years thereof ; all the sciences belonging to the period shall be taught practically , that is they shall be exercised in the practise of all that which they have been ●aught , in the whole former course of their education : and they shall be put upon the occasions of making use of their skill in every science for their own and others advantage , and the improvement of the wayes of learning : and here as their genius shall lead them , they shall be left a little larger scope to follow it : either in wayes of action , or of theorie , or of utterance : in the first year of this course they should be exercised and put upon the practise of all ; but in the last year , according as their faculty should be found most eminent ( with some few directions and manuductions to improve it ) they should be suffered to apply it to the subject which amongst all the sciences they should like best to exercise themselves in . and in the latter end of this year , that is , in the last quarter thereof , having received such directions for the future government of their life as will be found necessary to order it judiciously and prudently ; they may be dismissed to take some publick service in hand ; or follow some private calling which the commanwealth doth stand in need of . and thus i have reckoned up the main and generall taskes , as they are to answer the years ; the subdivision thereof into moneths , weeks , dayes and hours will not be difficult ; and needeth not now to be insisted upon , but must be delineated before we set upon the work it self . we come now to speake in brief of the way of proposing those taskes unto the scholars , and of their way of entertaining their thoughts about them . concerning the way of proposing all the parts of learning unto the scholars , and of their entertaining the same , to fixe their mindes thereon . the way of proposing matters of learning is as considerable as any thing else in the work of institution ; and next unto that is the way of entertaining that which is proposed : the first of these is the proper work and industry , of the governour and ushers ; the second , of the scholars themselves , although the ushers also may and ought to have some hand therin . for the proposall of every thing , the governour shall prepare the particular matters of every thing which shall be taught for every houre of the day , throughout the whole course ; and deliver the same in writing quarterly , or monthly ( at least ) beforehand unto the ushers ; that they may be in full readiness and perfectly exercise themselves in every thing which they shall deliver to their scholars ●●d the matters should be thus long predeter●ined before hand , and given to the ushers , ●at if upon good grounds they shall suggest ●y thing to the governour for an alteration ●● that , which he shall have prescribed ; it may ●● in time considered between them , and ordered as need shall require , or found most ●xpedient . the matters to be proposed being thus ●repared , when the time comes to offer them ● the scholars ; the governour shall for every ●ifferent kind of exercise and institution give directions unto the ushers , how to behave ●hemselves towards the scholars , to make ●hem affectionat towards the taske which is ●o be offered unto them , that is , attentive and ●reedy to receive it : and to make them more ●erfect in following the directions and rules which in this nature shall be given : he shall ●imself give them an example of the practise ●f it towards the children ; shewing them , at ●very change of exercise and different way of institution , how they should go about their work : he shall therefore teach the first lesson of every kind himself in the presence of his ushers , that they may observe his way : and at the second lesson , when they shall beginne ●heir work ; he shall be present at it , to observe them how they performe it , and tell them of their faults if any be committed . two things are fundamentally to be hee● in the manner of proposing every thing : fir● that the schollars before the thing be prop●●sed be made sensible of the end , wherefore it taught them , and they ought to learne it , 〈◊〉 what the necessity , use , excellency and pe●●fection thereof is in the life of man &c. s●●condly , that the way of offering it unto the be the same at once to all , by all alike percep●ble , common , plain , distinct and orderly every part . and to these two fundamental whereof the first relates unto the will , t● second , unto the understanding ; a third 〈◊〉 be added relating to the memory , which 〈◊〉 that in the method of proposing every thing this rule be observed . let the generall notion of every object or the shape of the whole ; be first offered 〈◊〉 the imagination , and then the parts which a● contained under it , to be represented unto t● thought by way of division . and this bein● done ; let the mind afterward be led retrograde to review the parts as they look to o● another ; and make up the whole by way 〈◊〉 collection . and at the conclusion of every lesson , ● brief and summary recapitulation of tha● which hath been offered unto them is to be proposed ; and the question should be aske● whether any hath a doubt of any thing ? or ●ould have so●●● king repeated ; or further ex●ained ? that they should speak . the way of enterteining that which shall ●e thus proposed is partly in the scholars by ●●emselves , partly in them together with their ●shers . by themselves they shall entertain the things ●hich have been taught them , by the exerci●●s of writing , of painting , or drawing figures , ●f compendiating , and of methodizing , as ●hey shall from time to time he directed ; for ●e fixing of their thoughts upon that which ●hey shall have received ; and by the reading , ●nd understanding , and translating of their ●anua's , or of their authours from one tongue to another , according to the way which shall be shewed them . now , as the proposall of a lesson shall not ●st above half an houre at the most ; so the ●●ertaining of that which hath been offered , ●all follow immediately thereupon , for ▪ the ●a●e of another half houre , so that to e●e● lesson , a full houre , and no more shall ●e allotted ; whereof the first part shall be spent 〈◊〉 receiving , the second , in entertaining the ●houghts thereof . the entertainment of things received together with the ushers , shall be two wayes . ● . by shewing the exercises wherewith they ●ertained their thoughts by themselves . 2. by a constant course of repetitions to b● observed daily , weekly , monethly , quarter● and yearly ; whereof particular directio● are to be given in due time : but the gener● rule of proportion in all repetitions to 〈◊〉 observed is this ; that the third or fourth l●son , or period of lessons , is alwayes to be r●●petitorie in some degree or other ; more lesse , as the matter is more or lesse di●cult , and generally rather the third is to 〈◊〉 made repetitorie of two , then the fourth 〈◊〉 three : but experience will best determ● what is most expedient to be done in t● concerning the means and instruments w● are to be had in a readinesse , and ordered for use , that these tasks may thus be prosecuted on all hands . the things necessary to be made use of 〈◊〉 bringing all this to passe , are 1. a co●nient house fitted with rooms , wherein 〈◊〉 scholars may be at their exercises . 2. the sc●lasticall furniture , & dressing of those roo● 3. the books and other implements , wh● the ushers and scholars must have at ha● . the house , where this course of educ● should be intended , must not be within 〈◊〉 city , but should be near unto it , in a g● air , large and spacious ; and as it were in 〈◊〉 countrey , with large gardens and orch●●ear the places of tillage and of pasturage , ●hat the countrey may afford unto the scho●rs the aspect and observation of all natu●all things , wherein they are to be taught , and be city may afford them the sight of all ●rtificiall things ; of all trades and manu●ctures , wherewith they are to be made ac●uainted . the rooms wherein the scholars should be 〈◊〉 their exercises , should be foure : three lesser ●nes , for each usher and his peculiar scholars ●ne , and one large one ; or father a gallery ●hich should be for common use unto all . the scholasticall furniture and dressing ●f these rooms ought to be this . the large common room ought to be fur●●shed with all manner of mathematicall , na●rall , philosophicall , historicall , medicinall , ●ieroglyphicall and other sort of pictures , ●aps , globes , instruments , models , engines , ●nd whatsoever is an object of sense in refe●nce to any art or science , these things ●e to be set in their order , according as ●ey are subordinate unto severall sciences ; ●●at at the times appointed , the ushers may ●ade their scholars into it ; to receive the les●ns which they shall give them ▪ upon the ●cular inspection of the things , which shall ●e shewed unto them . the lesser rooms each ought to be furnished with a high seat for the usher ; that he m● overlook all his scholars , and with twen● distinct places , so ordered for the schol● to sit or stand in ; that their fac●● may ●e 〈◊〉 towards him : and each in his place may ha● his own deck , to keep all his papers and oth●● things to be used in good order . in each ● those rooms there should be an iron forna● or stove to keep it warm in the winter . the books which the scholars shall have 〈◊〉 the school shall be none but such as th●●● usher shall put in their hands . in the seco●● period of institution , they shall have a ● books but their latine , greek and h●●brew janua's , and the bible of the old 〈◊〉 new testament in these tongues , and i● their mother-tongue . in the third perio● besides these books , they shall have fr●● time to time , such as their usher by the g●●vernours direction shall furnish them with● and none other ; nor any longer then thinks fit . the instruments besides pen , ink and ●●●per , shall be a pen or stick with black lead ▪ pen-knife , a pair of compasses , a ruler , s●ate ; and some other implements which f●●● time to time shall be put in their hands , a●● taught to make use of according to the ●●●grees of their proficiency . of teaching logick . by logick i understand the art or skill , to make right use of our reasoning facultie . the facultie of reason in man , is that abilitie , by which he can set his thoughts in order to judge of all things , which are in his imaginations . as large then as the imagination or fancy of man is , so large is the use of reason ; that is to say , it doth reach unto all things , that can be thought upon , for all the thoughts of the heart of man are contained under this notion of imaginations ; whether they have an idea or not expresly formed in the mind ; for some thoughts are negative to all ideas . by an idea i mean the shape and representation of something which the mind doth frame unto it self by the imaginative facultie : for , the imaginative facultie is like a looking-glasse , which being turned to any object whatsoever doth receive the shape thereof , and represents it to the eye of the understanding : if then the understanding facultie doth look upon the shapes of things , which are in the imagination not confusedly , but in an orderly way , to compare them and lay them together for some purpose and aim , for which they are taken into consideration ; then it is said to proceed rationally ; but if it hath either no aim at all or no command of its own thoughts or sk●● to rule and order them to that aim , which 〈◊〉 doth consider them for : then it doth procee● without reason . now because to man , t●● facultie of reasoning is that universall light by which he is to guide his wayes in all particular objects as well of meditation , as o● action ; therefore if this light be darkene●● in him , then all is nothing but darknesse : b●● if the eye of his reason be clear , then all i● full of light , which he doth undertake to ac● or meditate . for this cause the art of reasoning as to man , is the chief of all othe● arts and sciences in humane things ; for by i● all other arts are found out ; and whatsoever is amisse in them may be rectified : and consequently to teach how to make use of that reasoning facultie , which we have to some good purpose , is in all humane things , the matter of greatest importance that can be thought : and yet such is the miserie of our life , that there is scarce any thing lesse minded ; or when minded , lesse taught in a right and profitable way . i shall not at this time intend to make this charge good against the ordinary teachers of logick , who for the most part , are so farre out of the way of right reasoning , that their very precepts are less●●●en rationall , and they themselves incapable 〈◊〉 better rules , till they be wholly untaught ●●at which they have learned . but i shall ( as ●●iefly as may be , to be well understood ) deli●●r my conceptions of the right way of teach●●g young scholars the art of reasoning by a ●ositive method to direct them in it , that in●●nd to teach others . i will suppose then , that young scholar is brought unto me , who is 〈◊〉 puris naturalibus ( as we use to say ) that 〈◊〉 , who is capable of institution in this kind , 〈◊〉 being no wayes prepossessed with any ha●its , which may make him unfit to receive the documents which are to be given him : ●nd as being onely possessed with the com●on notions of naturall things which are the objects of humane senses ; and under●tanding no more , but the proper sense of all the words of the language , by which the notions are expressed in the common speech wherein he is to be taught . to such a young ●an i first would deliver some common pre●ognitions concerning logick , and afterward would exercise his reasoning facultie in the way of meditation whereof i should find him ●apable , growing upon him by degrees , till i ●hould make him master of the use of all his ●houghts , to all purposes , which he should ap●ly them unto . the precognitions should bring him to consider himself . 1. that he hath a naturall abilitie to think and meditate , as all other men have . 2. that men of understanding are distinguished from fools by this , that they ca● make use of this abilitie understandingly that is to say , that they understand themselves what they do think and meditate , i● what order and to what purpose . 3. that therefore there is some way to order and direct the thoughts of the mind : that they may not wander at random as fools thoughts use to do . 4. that this way to order and direct our thoughts , being taught and delivered by certain precepts is called the art of reasoning or logick : and that he who is exercised to follow the same is a rationall man or good logician . 5. that of all other studies , this is the most worthy of a man , most profitable and most necessary to attain to the happinesse of this life , so farre as by humane faculties it is attainable : and therefore , with most earnest affections and desires to be attended unto . having by such preparations as these are , fitted his understanding and raised his affections to docilitie and attention ; i would begin to deliver unto him some precepts concerning the use of his first notions , and single thoughts , to reach him to take notice of them , what they are : not reflexively by the term of a second notion ( as the ordinary logicians do , teaching their scholars to speak they know not what , nor to what use ) but directly in the terms of a single proposition , to cause him to take notice of the sub●ect and praedicat thereof , and of the conne●ion of each to other in a way affirmative and negative : shewing him that every word ●n our common speech , doth stand for a single ●hought or notion of the mind , and that the words which we speak , should in their order and coherence expresse the order and coherence of our thoughts . having then shewed him what a single proposition is , what parts it is made up of ; how these parts are set together in our thoughts : what the differences of single notions are ; and of the wayes of their set●ing together to make a proposition of them ; ●nd how a single proposition doth differ from ● compound : how a compound is made up of two , three or more single ones : and what the wayes of composition are , and their diffe●ences ; and consequently , how many sorts ●f compound propositions there are in our notions to make up a period of speech : ha●ing , i say , shewed him all this , not in abstra●o and notionally , but by an example of very kind , and in concreto , as it were sensibly in the period of some discourse laid open to his thoughts , and analysed before him ; that they may be as it were led by the hand to consider of it ; then i would set him a dayly task of new examples which he should be obliged to take into his consideration , to resolve analytically by himself according to these precepts , which i should have given him concerning single and compound notions and propositions ; to the end that by thi● exercise of his thoughts in resolving the ordinary periodicall discourses of rational men into these parts and particles of pa●●● whereunto they are rationally resoluble : he may be accustomed to observe what use me● make of their notions single and compound to the extent of one period of their discourses : now whether the notions which he i● exercised in be materially rationall or no ; not at all materiall to his instruction , becaus● in this first degree of precepts , he is one● taught to take notice of the difference 〈◊〉 notions , and of the frames wherein they a●● set together , in the expressions which ratio●nally men use or may be used , but wheth●● they be rightly used in this place , and in re●spect of such and such matter yea or no , th●● is not to be the object of his consideration● this time , that is to be taught afterward due time . this being done i would proceed with him to the second degree of precepts , which should direct him to understand the use of his thoughts in matter of consequence , when one proposition is drawn out of another and becomes a conclusion arising from it . here i would let him know what a consequence is , how many wayes consequences may be inferred from premises , and what the principles are , from which consequences are raised , and by which they are to be tryed , and may be made conclusions . in this part of the doctrine as in the former , i would shew him by examples of every kind , how men of understanding make use of their thoughts , analysing their discourses wherein such acts of reasoning are expressed , whereof he should have received precepts ; and then according to the pattern of meditation , which i should have given him in this kind , i would oblige him to exercise himself by certain discourses containing principles and consequences drawn from them in some authours , which he should be put to resolve , as to the matter of consequentiall inferences , and the acts of drawing conclusions from premises to observe ; how these that use to discourse rationally do order their thoughts and expresse the same to the capacitie of others . then the scholar whom i should have taught these things , should in the third place be directed to take notice of the acts of reason , which are employed about the apprehension of arguments , and the relation of one thing to another by the notion of an argument . here then he should be taught what an argument is , how many differen● sorts of arguments there are in the use of reason to be laid hold on ; what their different relations are , and force of arguing , towards that whereof they are conceived to be arguments . this also should be laid ope● to him by precept and example , and practically in the analysis of some discourse ; or parcels of discourse in an authour shewed ▪ how these that are most rationall make use of those arguments in their discourses ▪ and when he hath been taught to observe these acts of reason in an author , he should be pu● as at former times to analyticall tasks to resolve the matter of some discourse into the severall arguments which it containeth , a● they stand singly by themselves , whereby he should be able upon examination to tell me where his authour maketh use of an argument taken from the cause , or from the effect , or from the subject , or adjunct , or the whole or the part , or contrary or similitude ▪ &c. and when he should be complete in this kind of exercise , then he should be brought to the fourth and last degree of analyticall doctrine , which is to learn to consider the whole body of a discourse , and to observe all the acts of reason , which a man of understanding doth make use of therein . here then he is to be taught what a rationall discourse is , what is to be observed in it . viz. the subject whereof it speaketh : the scope and purpose whereto it speaketh ; the parts whereof it is made up ; their coherence and distinction , as well in respect of the main body , as of every particular member of this discourse , and the order of every thing contained in it , with a reference to the matter and scope , that the whole wisdome of the authour may be discovered . and to instruct him to observe all this in an authour i would analyse a discourse to shew him , how he should proceed in ordering his thoughts to reflect upon all these things in his authour ; and having both by precept and example shewed him what he ought to do : i would give him a task to exercise his mind to do the like , and wherein he should fail , i would rectifie him till he should be complete in this act , and use of his reason also . all this being done by these degrees of analyticall doctrine , and as it were experimentall manuduction of his thoughts to the practise and use of reason ; i woul● then bring him to exercise his reason genetically , that is by a way of begetting an● producing notions within himself concerning a subject which should be given him to meditate on rationally . here then he should be taught what the difference and use is of analysis and genesis : viz. that by the exercise of the former we reflect upon the acts of other mens reasoning , and by the exercise of the latter we stirre up our own facultie to make use of it , to produce acts answerable to the rules which we have been taught . and to make him complete in this way also , first the precepts belonging to the way are to be delivered , and then an example of those precepts is to be given , and according to these precepts and example he is to be exercised , first to meditate upon a simple thema . ( as they call it ) genetically , and then upon a compound thema . by a thema is meant a matter of meditation , which is either a single notion or a proposition , either simple or compound : of which things it is needlesse now to speak at large . the summe of all is this : that the right use of reason is to be taught first in the practise , before it be taught in the theorie , and the analyticall way of practice is to go before the geneticall , and in this teaching the severall degrees of every practice are to be observed , and in every degree , whether the precepts directing the to mind observe the rules of practice , go before the example which the teacher is to propose ; or whether they follow the same as observations , to cause the mind reflect upon the things to be imitated in the example , or whether some precepts be given by way of praecognita before , or some by way of observation after the example ; it is not greatly materiall : if they never be separate , but go in their own degree of exercise together , the one alwayes giving light to the other , and both fitted by the prudencie of the teacher to the capacitie of the scholar . and when the use of reason hath been thus fully taught in a practicall way ; then the scientificall and notionall precepts thereof are to be delivered reflexively upon the rules of practice , which have been fully conceived . for the direct knowledge must be proposed before the reflex be offered , because none can reflect upon his way of knowing before he hath attained it ; therefore the way of knowing actually must be experimentally proposed , before the theoreticall way of apprehending matters be reflexively taught ; which is quite opposite to the practice of those that teach logick in an ordinary way : who deliver all even to children reflexively and scientifically : before they exercise them in any point of practice , except in that of a confused , endlesse , unprofitable way of disputing about notions which is falsly called logick , by which means those that should be made scholars of right reason , are made habitually wranglers about the terms of an art , which they never have been taught : and in stead of making use of their rationall facultie , to set it in a way to order their imaginations aright , they are onely directed and exercised to subtilize their imaginations , and pride themselves in this mainly to have such conceptions , a● are beyond the vulgar capacitie . as if to speak things in the air and out of the common use were to be rationall : but of the originall of these abuses , of the way , how men should be convicted of them and the means , how to rectifie them : and of the more speciall method of teaching the true art of reasoning in all the degrees and parts of the practice and theorie thereof ; i hope i shall at another time be able to speak more fully , when god shall give me better leisure without distraction to elaborate such tasks as in this and other kinds lie upon my hand . in the mean while , take this as a taste of what may follow in due time ; both for the illustration of this way by examples , and for the more particular deduction of every thing belonging ●hereunto . i rest upon all occasions of ser●ice in this or any other kind , your affectionate and loving friend and servant in christ john dury . a copy of mr john dury's letter to samuel hartlib . dear friend , i am glad that the directory for the education of children , and teaching of sciences is to your liking ; i would be more glad if god would open it a way for us to put in practice : and although nothing should be done therein by our selves in these distracted times ; ●et it may be a satisfaction to our minds , that we have not been wanting ●o our generation , so farre as god hath ●nabled us to trace the wayes of doing ●ervice to the publick ; and that we ●ave not buried our talents in the ●round , when opportunities have been offered to us to employ them . you hav● told me once or twice at severall oc●casions , that the discourses which dr kinner hath sent you from beyon● seas tend wholly to the same sco● which i have proposed to my self in the directory which i have sent you ; an● that my conceptions are as it were 〈◊〉 abridgement of that which he ha●● written to you ; as if i had read h●● contrivement of matters ; and take the cream of his whole counsell . 〈◊〉 is very possible that men of the sa●● judgement and principles , setti●● themselves to order one and the sam● work , though they never have confe●●red notions , may agree upon one a●● the same way : i am glad that 〈◊〉 thoughts and his , though neither 〈◊〉 us have had the perusall of one an●●thers papers , or any communicatio● with each other about that subject , 〈◊〉 so concurre , as to confirm you in the way which is most satisfactory to you●●udgement : you may say then to the ●orld ; that you have two witnesses to ●e and the same truth , and way of righteousnes ; and that gods spirit , and ●ight reason speaks the same thing in all ●en ; in all the parts of the world . i shall be glad at a convenient time , 〈◊〉 see those papers , whereof you say i ●ave already given you the substance ●efore i ever saw them : for i suppose ●hey will not onely adde to my thoughts ●pon that subject ; but perhaps give me ●ccasion to adde something to him for the accomplishment of your desires , and the benefit of the publick , whereunto ●ou know i have dedicated my self ; and ●herein by gods grace shall persevere ●nto the end : i rest , your most affectionate and faithfull servant in christ , john dury . finis . a new method of educating children, or, rules and directions for the well ordering and governing them during their younger years shewing that they are capable ... : also, what methods is to be used by breeding women ... / written ... by tho. tryon ... tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. 1695 approx. 132 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 61 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a63806 wing t3190 estc r34678 14560949 ocm 14560949 102586 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a63806) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102586) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1076:13) a new method of educating children, or, rules and directions for the well ordering and governing them during their younger years shewing that they are capable ... : also, what methods is to be used by breeding women ... / written ... by tho. tryon ... tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. [8], 102, [10] p. printed for j. salusbury ... and j. harris ..., london : 1695. "recommended to parents, nurses, tutors, and all those concerned in the educating of children." imperfect: pages stained and tightly bound with some loss of print. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng child rearing. education. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 jennifer kietzman sampled and proofread 2003-04 jennifer kietzman text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a new method of educating children : or , rules and directions for the well ordering and governing them , during their younger years . shewing that they are capable , at the age of three years , to be caused to learn languages , and most arts and sciences ▪ which , if observ'd by parents , would be of greater value than a thousand pounds portion . also , what methods is to be used by breeding women , and what diet is most proper for them , and their children ▪ to prevent wind , vapours , convulsions , &c. written ( to dis-engage the world from those ill customs in education , it has been so long used to ) by tho. tryon ; author of the way to health , long life and happiness . recommended to parents , nurses , tutors , and all others concerned in the educating of children . london : printed for i. salusbury , at the rising-sun in cornhill ; and i. harris , at the 〈◊〉 , in the poultrey , 1695. price bound one shilling . to parents , tutors , nurses , and all others , concern'd in the education of children . it was for your direction , as well as for the advantage and benefit of children , that this small treatise was at first inended to be wrote and publish'd : 't is to you therefore that it is address'd , hoping that it may be found serviceable to you in the execution of your duty in many respects . for , first , it will constantly remind you of the necessity and obligation you lye under , in reference to the particular management and education of either your own or others children you have taken the charge of . nature puts upon you a necessity of taking care of the one , and your own voluntary act obliges you to the other . secondly , it will furnish you with directions , that shall be much easier to you , and more advantageous to the children you are to instruct . i need not undertake to shew the inconveniencies of the common method of education . the ill success that generally attends it , sufficiently detects it to be guilty of some grand mistakes and errors : it is not able to answer the end it proposes . for after abundance of useless pains , turmoil , and endeavours , whipping , exercising and instructing , when a child arrives at the years of maturity and discretion , ( as they call it ) he is not one jot mere vertuous , and scarcely ( if at all ) more learned than he was when he first set out . i have seen in holland , and other parts of the world , children entred upon businest , and very capable also of managing it , at those years , it may be , ours here in england are learning to spell and pronounce . is it not a scandalous thing , to see a great boy ; of fifteen or sixteen years old , trudging to school , with a great bundle of books under his arm , to learn to decline a noun and conjugate verb , and yet after all , remains uncertain , whether the genders of nouns be three or seven ? but by this time he is it seems a hopeful youth , and his master thinks fit that he be sent to the university . now there 's no help for it , he must be a schollar : and yet perhaps , when he comes to commence batchelour of arts , shall hardly be capable of determining whether the conclusion be part of a syllogism . this indeed is the craft of your common school masters , to keep children ( like spirits in a circle ) a long time under the terror of their iurisdiction and discipline , in order only to promote their own profit and interest . a mischievous way this , and ought to be taken nooice by the government . why sh●u'd the publick for so many years be deprived of the service of so many hopeful boys , who are ter a great deal to be entred upon action , and intrusted with the management of business , than to be compelled to sit in torment eight hours in a day under the grum and unpleasing aspect of an harsh vnd ill-natured pedagogue . we hope a great-deal of this may be prevented by the rules and methods we here propose : for what we here offer to your consideration , is neither so difficult , nor so chargeable : there is little but what is in the power , even of the poorest , to compass and accomplish , at least so far as concerns the making their children vertuous , and teaching them to write and read , which will mightily qualifie , and enable them to get an honest livelyhood in the world. by these , and such like methods , fathers and mothers may in a twelve-months time teach their children more of true and useful learning at home in their houses , than they learn at the common schools in five years . decem annos trivit legendo cicerone , to go ten years to school to learn to construe a latin author , and yet perhaps after all , not understand him to purpose . a very fine accomplishment , when in half the time he might have been taught to speak very readily three several languages . i shall no longer forestall your desires of reading and practicing these easie and natural rules that i have laid down . i had i declare no bye nor private respect in the printing of them , but was wholly influenced by my zeal to the service of the publick , that if it were possible i might contribute somewhat towards the ease , convenience and welfare of mankind ; which effect , if in any measure these papers shall obtain , i have all that i can desire . to his very worthy friend mr. tho. tryon , on his discourse of education . long since i wonder'd what the poets meant , when they a beard to aesculapius lent , ●nd yet deny'd apollo shou'd have one , ●ho ' he the father was , the other son. ●ut now the wonder ceases , having known , ●hat sons are wiser than their fathers grown ; ●nd what cou'd ne'er be done by ages past , ●s to perfection brought we see at last . ●hey made essays , but never cou'd arrive ●t the true course and method how to live . ●mperfect rules their glimmering light affords , ●dorn'd and dress'd in a fair robe of words , which please the ears , from whence contentment springs , ●n reading , but ne'er reach the truth of things . ●heir art might somewhat tow'rds the platform yield , ●ut thou , my friend , do'st the fair structure build . ●uch difference is 'twixt their attempts and thine , that thou perform'st what they cou'd but design . thou for mankind , chalk'st out the fairest way to truth and reason , where no man can stray . each single page such influence does impart , that it the fancy fills , and sways the heart . youth's best conductor , and its safest guide , steering a course betwixt contempt and pride . on this alone our welfare does depend ; here we see what 's amiss , and how to mend : what guilty education has deny'd , by these instructions may be well supply'd . this does the schools pedantick course o'er-rule , and makes a man of him they 'd make a fool. when a young spark has run thro' all the rules ; the flogging gantelope of hated schools ; and to the university repairs , to learn the terms of art and jargon there , the tedious discipline of seven long years . what is he better than my friend and i , an ant , or emmet , or a butter-fly , or any other thing beneath the sky . who reasons , dictates , solidly pursue , without regard to terms , of old or new : keep close to nature in her own plain away , by no new lights and notions led astray ? whilst all their art amounts to only this ; nego sequelam ergo falleris . a new method . of educatin● children . &c. of the capacity of children , together with a true method of their education . it is a truth generally acknowledged by christians , but seldom so well consider'd as it ought . that man is the compleat image of god and nature , and contains in himself the principles and properties of all things corporeal and incorporeal : that he is endued with an elemental or palpable body , actuated and informed by an ethereal spirit , which directly answers to the great soul of the world from whence it is taken , and whereof it is an epitome and abridgment or , if you please , the son and off-spring . and as the soul of man does contain all the true properties of the elements ●z . earth , air , water and fire , which are , as it were , the mothers of the body that nourish and sustain it ; so it has als● the principles of fire and light , that is spirit and life , that gives motion to the body , which bears relation to the sou● of the great world , or that mighty spirit which is the moving , vivifying creative , and conservative power o● god. now man being so wonderfully composed , his soul and spirit containing the true nature and properties of every being , he must consequently have a simile or agreement with the innat● nature , qualities , dispositions and inclinations of all beasts , fowl , fish herbs , seeds , &c. both in the visible and invisible world , and is thereby become a microcosm , a compleat image or resemblance of the universe . the earth essentially contains in i● self the vertues and qualities of all seeds , fruits and grains ; insomuch , that whatever is sown into it , immediately takes root , and attracts to it self an agreeable matter proper for the support and nourishment of its own body and spirit . the like is to be understood of the soul ; it being the universal humane ground , wherein whatever is sown , whether good or evil , takes root , and powerfully , though insensibly , draws agreeable matter out of all the powers and qualities of nature , to nourish and improve that seed , whereby it obtains a strong form in the soul , the essences whereof can never be destroy'd or defaced , especially if the seeds are sown in the first and tenderest age of the child . for then the soul is most empty and consequently most susceptible of impressions , and receiving any thing that is offer'd to it . all the powers of nature standing then , as it were naked , unbyass'd by custom and prejudice , with an earnest and ardent appetite , desiring to be stampt with some character or other , without any regard to either the beauty or value o● the impression , having no distinction betwixt good and evil. upon this account , whatever a child is first taught and accustomed to , not only takes the deepest root in the soul , but beget ; habits and complexions , and denominates the very constitution it self . this no wise man can deny , it being matter of fact , and common observation . besides , all the art and industry of the best tutors can never wholly remove or alter qualities and dispositions so earlily planted : tho● by continually representing to them good examples , back'd with wholsom and moral precepts , if the soul be of a mild and gentle nature , they may , for some time , seem to be subdu'd ; yet upon the least intermission , and neglect o● such a method , they shall be ready to exert themselves afresh , and perhaps , with redoubled vigour . therefore education and examples , in the infancy , and first ages of a child , that is , from two to eight , ten , twelve years , are the very foundation of vertue or vice , accord●ng as they are us'd or apply'd : for ●hen good and evil are indifferent to ●he soul ; and that which is first im●ibed , takes the deepest root , and begets the strongest habit . from hence it is manifest of what ●mportance it is , for fathers , mothers , nurses , &c. to whom the care of children is committed , to be watchful that ●he precepts and examples of vertue , have the honour in making the first ●mpression on their childrens souls : that they labour to acquaint them be●imes with the excellence of patience , humility and compassion : that they ●epresent to them the noble and tran●cendent dignity of justice , and shew ●hem the deformity of the contrary vice : that they make them understand , ●hat there is as much injustice in wrong●ng a man of a penny , as in cheating ●im of a pound : that writhing of the neck of a chicken with delight , is as great an evidence of the spirit of cruelty , as the stabbing a man. they are to ●ccustom their children to a proper and distinct method of speaking : i am perswaded , much of the stammering & lisping in many people , might have been prevented by a proper and due management in their childhood . they ought also to be very careful to teach them temperance in eating and drinking , and moderation in their sleep and exercises . by such methods as these , the seeds of vice might more easily , because timely , be subdued , and a foundation laid for the building up an excellent and accomplisht person . but seeing that the common custom of the world commands us , as soon as we are born , to be submitted to the care and tuition of women , on whose good or ill management of us in that tender age , a great part of the felicity or misery of our lives depend . and considering the impressions that women make , whilst they are impregnate and go with child , have a wonderful influence upon their issue , i think it will prove no worthless service to propose some observations and methods whereby they may be better directed to discharge their duty . ( 1. ) a good diet ought to be observed ; that is , they ought to accustom themselves to simple meats and drinks such in which no manifest quality is too predominant ; that is , not too sweet nor too bitter , too salt nor too sharp , &c. for all extreams beget their own qualities and complections . all strong drinks are to be avoided ; for nothing is more inimical to the nature of children , than things wherein heat has the ascendant . all spoon-meats are very proper and natural , except such as are made of spirituous liquors , as wine , ale , beer , cyder , &c. but if sweetned with sugar , as is commonly practised , they are exceedingly hotter , and ought to be avoided by all that value their own or their childrens health . but gruels , paps , rice , variously dress'd , are very wholsom . raw herbs made into sallads , and eaten with bread , butter and cheese , are excellently good ; and for drink ; midling beer or ale is the best , except water . ( 2. ) they are also , during their impregnation , to abstain from all foods that are made hot in their preparation , by boiling , stewing , roasting , baking , and the like . they ought to let them be quite cold before they eat them ; for their fiery sulphurous vapours do mightily generate windy diseases , and that epidemical distemper call'd the scurvy , both in the mother and child : for those fiery fumes and vapours that all hot foods send forth , are of a furious and unpeaceful temper , and contrary to the natural heat both of the stomach and the food it self . so that i affirm , the eating solid food hot , or before these deadly vapours have separated themselves , to be one of the grand causes of wind , especially in women and children , ( as we have largely demonstrated in our way to health , and other of our writings . ) ( 3. ) they ought to refrain the eating of all sorts of roots , as turnips , pa●snips , carrets , &c. for by reason of their crude and earthy qualities , they naturally beget wind. unripe fruit , and all things sharpned with viuegar oranges , lemons , &c. are hurtful : for being unequal in their parts , they generate cold windy humours , and afford a very small and imprope● nourishment , especially to persons u● der the circumstances we are no● speaking of . ( 4. ) they must be very careful , n● to exceed in quantity . all repletio● does in a very high degree obstruct the course of nature , and produces many diseases ; and utterly destroys the health and harmony both of body and mind , affecting both with some signal and irreparable damage , being of far more mischievous consequence than most do imagine . ( 5. ) they ought to forbear all robust , masculine labour and exercises , as likewise a soft and sedentary life : both the one and the other ought to be gentle and easie ; not too thoughtfully , engaging the mind , nor over-burdening the body . such a course wou'd strengthen nature , by removing obstructions , and causing the blood and humours to circulate with more freedom and facility . for it is observable in all countries where women live live temperately , use moderate exercises , eat simple foods and drink mostly water , that windy diseases are hardly ▪ ●wn to be found either in them or ●r children . ●astly . above all things , they ought ●beware that they do not give place passion , to suffer those irregular ●tions of the mind to reign and get 〈◊〉 dominion over them . these sort 〈◊〉 disturbances put the whole constitution out of tune , and make fierce and violent invasions on the sweetness of the good powers and qualities ; making the deepest impressions on the child , and powerfully incorporating with the ●erverse seed of their simile , whereby evil inclinations and dispositions are begotten , and do arise ; for there is a strong and unconceivable sympathy betwixt the mother and the child , both in vertue and vice : so that there is no evil indisposition that attends the mother , but the child participates thereof , receiving the nourishment both of spirit and body from her . nothing is more certain , than that every passion , when it arrives to extremity , begets its own complexion ; for it penetrates even to the center , joyns with its simile , and be●es strengthned by it . by this means , the irregular me● of mothers affect their children , 〈◊〉 often distempering their minds and 〈◊〉 dies ; which in a very short time becom● so deep and central , that they are hard● ever cured or eradicated . this it is to be an ignorant big● to custom and tradition . so unco● trollable is the dominion they have ob● tain'd , that they sway and biass us against all reason and experience . so preposterously is mankind blinded and depraved , that we can neither hear , see , feel , nor taste truth , nor the simplicity of nature's operations . all seed partakes of the nature and quality of the ground whereinto it is sown : if the ground be good , and the seed good , you may reasonably expect sound and firm fruit , without ble ▪ mish or distemper . proper method● must be observed , or all will be spoil'd . what crop can the husband-man hope for , if he neglects to till and manure his land , or sows it with improper and unsuitable seed ? or what profit can he expect from his horses , cows , and sheep , if particular care be not 〈◊〉 about the well-ordering his cattle , that ●hey may bring forth their young ones with strength and health ? the like is to be understood of the humane ground , if that be not dress'd and cultivated by good order and temperance , you must not look for a healthy and vigorous off-spring . in a word , the whole education , improvement and accomplishment of mankind , in a great measure , depends on the management and good conduct of women . for proof of which , let us a little consider what a powerful influence , from our very infancy , they have over us , and what a mighty ▪ interest and concernment they have in those very things that conduce most to our well-being , and have the greatest effect upon our constitutions and dispositions . custom , and common practise , has so order'd it , that as we spring from them , we must be return'd to them . no sooner are we born , but we are thrown into their hands . as they gave us birth , 't is judg'd reasonable they should give us education . it is not enough , ●at we must suffer under the impressions we receive so earlily from them , during the mistaken methods they too generally observe in the time of their pregnancy ; but we must be submitted to their discipline and direction , after we are produc'd , stampt with the image of god. do they not form in us our first notions , and prepossess the soul before it has leisure to understa●d its own power and liberty ? all the nonsence of our conceptions , and irregularity of our morals , is deriv'd from them , whilst through an over-fond tenderness they confirm and encourage those seminal principles of vice that they ought to discountenance and subdue . how many souls are ruin'd by mothers and nurses scaring their children with horrid and frightful names , when they would bring them to comply with their own humour ? hereby the seeds of fear are planted , which continually subject the soul to constant and unavoidable bondage . besides , the examples of their passions , and irregular actions , have a mighty influence upon our tender souls , insomuch that those first impressions can never be obliterated or removed . they also prepare childrens food , and order and appoint their diet and exercises . from hence it appears how much we are under their conduct and management , as to bed , board , and all things conducing to the preservation of life and manner of living . for this cause , it is possible to convince an hundred men of the errors o● life , before one woman ; they being the mistresses of intemperance , and mightily espouse the methods of that ancient gentleman call'd custom . hence it follows , that it is of great importance . that particular care be taken about the education of women themselves , since they sow the first seeds in the humane ground . when you ask children why they do this , or that ? they will answer , their mothers taught them , and they saw their mothers do it . so that the whole care and instruction of children , especially whilst they are most capable of impression , is committed to them . for few or no men mind it , their secular busi●ess calling them to the management of other affairs , which some term matters of greater moment . but this 〈◊〉 a great mistake ; for i affirm , that ●rudent education , and early discipline , are the sinews of all good go●ernment . and no man can reasonably ●xpect better success in publick affairs , except a more methodical regulation be observed in the education of children , especially amongst the females ; for if they are well brought-up , they will naturally . instruct and teach their off-spring . no tutors can teach children to that degree nor with that ease , ●s mothers . besides , the charge of tutors often-times becomes burthensom ; an● many neglect the learning of excellent things , because their circumstances will not allow them wherewith to pay their masters . if the mother or nurse be a linguist , and can well understand and speak three or four languages , the child will quickly learn them all with as great facility and readiness as the mother-tongue . the same is to be understood as to all arts and sciences . it is a great truth , though very little believed , that the females are naturally as fit for , and capable of all excellent learning , as men , even the mathematicks it self ; and if there be any difference , the advantage is on the womens-side . they are of curious and apt capacities , to apprehend all things that depend upon the power of the fancy and imagination , being of a more delicate contexture , and wrought with a finer thread than man. pray tell me , why were they thought fit , by the wise antients , to prepare , compound and dress our food , which indeed is true physick ? on the due composition and proportion of that , all the health , strength , nay , the life it self of men , depends . the art of preparation is not only deep and mysterious , but curious and ingenious : for , to understand preparation and composition , with the proper quantity and quality of the ingredients , is none of the least points in philosophy . i am sure , what the women fall short of in this mystery , is not for want of capacity ; for what they are once taught , and have made a custom , they will hold fast . therefore , that city or countrey is happy , whose women have been taug● good customs , and the orders of temperance ; and on the other side , that country is most unhappy , where the women have embrac'd evil custome . how preposterous is it ! you will trust women with the most material things , even the government of life , and health , and yet deny them to be capable of understanding meaner services . we affirm , they are as able to comprehend all arts and sciences to as high a degree as men , if not higher , provided their education be equal . indeed , we do not approve of their being employ'd in robust and masculine offices . is i● not a pretty sight , to see a parcel of women carrying of burthens , and crying of things in baskets upon their heads , about the streets ? these are unseemly employments , which render women rude , bold , surly , and unchaste . they are to be apply'd to soft and gentle exercises , more agreeable to their complexions . they are to be tutor'd in arts more suitable and proper for them , as in good writing and arithmetick ; to understand accompts , and the keeping of books , and all other things that may be done within the compass of the house ; for if they have timely instruction , they will soon demonstrate themselves to be very apt , sharp and ready in all curious arts , and oftentimes exceed even the men themselves . by these means , daughters would become altogether as helpful and serviceable both to themselves and parents , as sons ; and many times more , because they are not so apt and inclinable to travel and ramble abroad into foreign parts , nor list themselves in the armies of princes . besides , the true learning of all useful things , will render them fit and capable to answer the end of their creation , viz. to be helps-meet to their husbands . for timely education , and the teaching children the doing and active part , is , to sow in them the seeds of temperance , frugality , and good order . this wou'd make them thoughtful and serious , and teach them to have a value for those principles of vertue that are so timely implanted in them ; the practice whereof will be so far from being difficult and hard , that 〈◊〉 will be familiar and connatural to them : they will take care to cherish , preserve and improve these noble seeds , esteeming them the foundations of peace , comfort , and everlasting serenity of mind . like frugal men , that get money by their own industry , they will know the true worth of it , and how they part with it : while others are like a wanton and inconsiderate spend-thrift , who squanders away all he has , without any regard to the labour of those who got it for him , or considering that it might have much better been employ'd in the charitable relief of poor and better deserving people . for this reason , most rich persons children are foolish , idle , prodigal , and very expensive ; and their parents can never expect better fruit from them , till they give them better precepts , and better precedents . for , for the most part , they teach them wantonness and extravagance from their very cradles , till they are seven , eight , or ten years of age : which ill habits grow so very strong in them , that they become 〈◊〉 vincible , and no art or care possible can root out or expunge them . some few there are , indeed , that are born with more propitious and favourable natures , — queis ex meliore luto finxit praecordia titan , — whom phoebus has form'd of better clay , that by the help of instruction , surmount the difficulties of an ill and prejudicate education . but these are very little beholden to their parents and tutors for good manners and sobriety , but chiefly to the portion of good nature , and god's gifts , that are born in them . the fear of god , temperance , cleanness and frugality , are taught by precept and example , even as arts and sciences are ; as also are disobedience , intemperance and disorder . the principal time of teaching and confirming vertue and vice , temperance and intemperance , arts and sciences , industry and wantonness , is from three years of age to ten : whatever is fastened to them within that time , will continue for ever , and will naturally grow strong , and improve , with the least industry imaginable . if this be true , as certainly it is , ho● is it possible that the people of thi● age should expect their children should be temperate and industrious , when they do all they can , both by precept and example , to make them gluttons and debauched ? do not many parents at least permit , if not force their children to eat and drink not only beyond the necessity and exactions of nature , but also more than they are willing to receive ? and persons of all ages have an inclination to eat and drink more than the stomach can with ease digest , especially if their meats and drinks are well compounded and delicious ; which is often purposedly done , to entice nature out of her own plain way . now , if persons of mature age and experience are apt to exceed in this particular , and over-load the digestive power of the stomach , to the extreme prejudice of their body and mind ; what must children suffer , that without any restraint , eat and drink to the end of their appetites ? for the palat● continues the pleasure of tasting , many degrees beyond the necessity of the stomach , and the requirements of the digestive faculty . is not this teaching children , even in the very cradle , to be gluttons ? which being strengthned and improved by repeated practice , is at last so deeply radicated , that it becomes a second nature . so that it is no wonder to see so many men and women intemperate and debauched ; nay , it is very hard to conceive it should be otherwise , when there has been so much pains taken , and so many years spent to confirm and corroborate the habit ; and that even in their youthful age , when impressions are soonest and deepest made . for the soul of man is endued ( as i said before ) with an universal spirit both of good and evil. there is no property or quality in the whole nature of things , that does not find in man somewhat wherewith to assimilate and affix it self . upon this account it is , that he is capable of learning all things humane and divine ; and those precept and examples that are first presented have the strongest effect , and take the deepest root . temperance and order are the fi● things that ought to be taught childre● being the foundation of all excelle● learning . 't is by their direction a● and influence that man arrives to th● accomplishment of his nature , an● dignifies his species above the rank o● his fellow-creatures . so that if children are accustomed to these things from their birth , to twelve or fifteen years of age , it is almost impossible then they should become intemperate , without the hazard of sickness , or running the risque of many unpleasant inconveniences . which consideration , together with an early and habitual practice of those vertues , will make it as easie and familiar for them to be temperate , as men are now prone to be extravagant and debauch'd . besides , this method would extraordinarily contribute to the ease and satisfaction of all families , keeping them from many torturing diseases , and great expences , both in servants , meats and drinks , and render all things sedate , quiet and delightful . custom and precept have wonderful and amazing influences over all the ce● lestial powers and configurations of th● stars and elements , and over innat● dispositions , inclinations and com● plexions . so great is their power bot● in the good and bad , that they lead me● to commit the highest evils and out rages , even murther it self , without any trouble or regret . for example : tak● a boy of two or three years old , tha● is dignified in the fiery trigon in hi● nativity , under mars , who consequently is , by his complexion , addicted to practice all manner of wrath , fiercenes● and cruelty , ; let this child be unde● the tuition of a bannian woman , o● some other person that scruples all violence , or the killing either man o● beast , where they live temperately , an● observe sober methods , and you sha● soon discern , notwithstanding his ma● tial inclinations , and the power o● celestial influences , that the custom religion and example of those peopl● he is brought up among , will quickl● insinuate and conform themselves wit● their similes in the child's soul , an● and gain an intire dominion over all th● fierce and rude dispositions he was ●earen'd with , from his nativity , or ●edominating consteilation . for cer●n it is , that the soul contains the com●at and true nature of all things : ●nd though one quality or property be ●onger than another in the soul , yet the other cling to it , and come after , ●cording to their degrees of strength weakness ; and that form or quality ●at is weakest , can easily be made strong● by custom , precept and example . ●nd so , on the other side , that quality ●at in the nativity was most strong , ●n by the same rule be made weak ●d impotent . this is further manifested in religion , ●hich is made up of great varieties of ●otions , and practical ceremonies , there ●ing as much difference as there is in ●e nature of things ; many of them ●antastical , vain , and irrational , and ●ost of them ridiculous ; the zealous ●pprobation whereof , and formal pra●ise , are convincing and undeniable ●rguments of the force and power of ●ustom . will not those that have been ●structed in base and false notions , and constantly us'd to conform with humane and detestable ceremonies , as easily perswaded to die for their r●gion ( as they call it , ) as those that h● really embrac'd the truth , and l● under the most sober and agreeable m●thods of god's law ? without all p● adventure they will ; and the freque● instances mention'd in the records of histories , determine the question . ha● there not been turks and indians childr● that being educated in the christian ●ligion , have prov'd as zealous and f●ward in the defence of that cause , the child of a christian ? and on 〈◊〉 other hand , are not the ianizaries , 〈◊〉 the most part , the sons of christian● yet there are not , within the confi● of the ottoman empire , more obstin● and inveterate mussulmen . in sho● children may be brought to any thin● their souls are so cereous and flexib● that they may , with the greatest facili● be form'd into any shape , or any figur● good and evil are alike to them , th● know no difference nor distinction : t● that they are first taught , fixes the cha●cter , obtains the ascendant , and de●n minates the person either vertuous or ●cious . for this reason it was , that our saviour ●mmanded little children to be brought ●to him . which had not relation only their innocency , but to their capacity ; ●eir minds being , as it were , free and ●mpty , not yet bound apprentice to ●e vanity of custom and prejudice : ●he ground was clean , and exempt from ●e weeds of di●der and wickedn● ; ●hereby they 〈◊〉 render'd more fit ●d capable to ●ve the good seed . ●id not our g●at master likewise go ●to the streets and high-ways to preach ●e gospel to the common and ordi●ary sort of people ? why did he not ●tner honour the synagogues , and preach ●s doctrine to the scribes and pharisees , ●ose learned and strict observers of the ●aw ? no , the former were not fastned 〈◊〉 prejudice , nor so deeply rooted in the ●ormalities of the law , and tradition , ●nd therefore more likely to embrace the ●ruth : there were not those obstacles ●nd impediments in them , as were in the ●tter . for the more free any man is from ●e power of custom , the more room there is in the soul to entertain ver● as the proverb has it , no fool like the fool : because folly is so deeply gro●ded in him , that there is no place any thing else . on the other hand , children , at th● arrival into this world , are utter str●gers to custom and tradition ; they 〈◊〉 as it were , like the incorporeal being their imaginations and fancies are 〈◊〉 b●nded or mis-led 〈◊〉 that we call r●son ; they penetra● 〈◊〉 , and imitate● things that they hea● 〈◊〉 , o● see done , a● this without any consideration whet● it be good or evil , possible or impossi● being alike exempt from the fear of 〈◊〉 learning , and hope of future bene● they press forward and attain to 〈◊〉 knowledge of things with wonder expedition and accuracy . and t● younger they are , the more capable 〈◊〉 they of receiving instruction , but a and experience must improve the● early plants naturally take the surest a● deepest root , and with great vigour a● force attract the vertues of the earth 〈◊〉 their nourishment ; and being dres● and cultivated by the industrious h● bandman , the good juices soon grow ●ong , insomuch that they will over●me the weeds themselves . upon this consideration , of the won●rful nature and aptitude of the soul receive any thing that shall be offer'd it , it appears of what importance it is , ●at particular care be taken to sow good ●ed at first . that if parents neglect to ●ant , children will do it themselves : or the soul will not be empty , empti●ess having no being in nature . so that you do not teach and shew them good ●ethods and precepts , they will soon ●arn evil ones : for their whole em●oyment and business is , to learn and ●itate what they see and hear . as we ●ave observed before , all languages and tongues are alike to them ; the one is as ●asie as the other : but that which the child first learns , takes the deepest root , ●nd gets the government over all the ●est . so that it is in the power of the mother , if she be a linguist , to make latin , or any other tongue , the mo●her-tongue , as well as english ; and it ●ill be as easie , natural and familiar for ●he child to imitate her in three or four several languages , as one : likewise , arrive at a proper and distinct meth● of speaking , if the mother , nurse , 〈◊〉 whoever has the care of the child co●mitted to them , be a person so qualify and accomplish'd . which is also to b● understood of the attaining to all othe● arts and sciences . hence it follows , that the female ought to have the principal and best education , they being the first planters o● tutors , having the children always with them , whom they will imitate and observe . besides , women have a wonderful dignification in their natures and complexions ; god having implanted modesty in their constitution , which i● the foundation of all excellence and vertue . they are of a quick , penetrating fancy , apt to comprehend any thing that is fine or curious , as the ar● of housewifery , needle-work , painting , musick , writing , &c. in these thing● no man can exceed them , if they hav● timely and proper education and instruction ; being both by their genius and complexions naturally adapted for al● easie employments , and curious arts : the males are to tillage , the manage●ent of cattle , building , and all employments that require greater force and ●trength of body to perform ; which ●he females ought by no means to un●ertake , or meddle with . now , if the women were thus instructed themselves , how easie and natural wou'd it be for them to begin an● teach ●heir children all excellent things , even from the very cradle ? wi●h how little difficulty might they temper and regulate the methods of their eating , drinking , sleeping , and waking ? for i must tell you , that sobriety , temperance , and cleanness , are taught even as any art or science , tho' with much more ease , and ●ess fatigue , and with unconceivably more success and benefit . use and practise are the life and spirit that give vertue and skill to all persons whatsoever . if the children see no disorderly nor intemperate examples , but have the representation and character of the contrary vertues continually placed before their eyes , they will undoubtedly conform themselves to that image , in practice and imitation . if these truths were thoroughly believed , and right● managed , what an healthy off-spri● should we have , every way adorn'd wi● vertue , and the knowledge of all use● and excellent things ? thus you see ho● much it depends upon the care and sk● of parents , tutors nurses , &c. to for the souls of children , and make the● what they please to have them . wha● ever they see or hear , they will practio● do but shew them the way of vertu● and hide from them the contrary pat● they will walk in it , whether you wi● or no , to the end of their lives the● will never depart from such deep-roote● laws , and so timely implanted precept● for the soul takes the biass and tur● of its future inclinations from those fir● and early impressions . it is likewise to be consider'd , tha● children ought not to be kept to any employment , or art , too long : for th● humane soul being compounded and endued with the nature of all thing● ( as we have before mention'd , ) cause● all people to delight in variety , it being most like her self ; but especially children do mightily press after , and lov● variety , and there is nothing more ●rateful to their juvenile and unbounded ●ancies . so that they will never dwell ●ong upon any thing , nor be confin'd , ●ith pleasure , even to that sport or ●lay they seem to take most delight in , ●urther than their own voluntary incli●ations shall sway and induce them . be●ides , it would extremely dull and perolex , their understandings , and retund ●he tender acumen of their wit and spi●it . but when they come to years of discretion , ( as they call it , ) they will apply themselves closer and longer to some ●ne particular employment , or study ; ●ecause then custom , reason , and self-●nterest , engage and perswade them ●o it . moreover , as any one sort of grain , too often sown on any one piece of land , without intermission , exhausts ●ts strength , and makes it weak , so that ●it will bear but a poor crop ; because every sort of grain does draw and attract from the earth a proper juice suitable to the nourishment of its own body : for which reason the prudent husband-man will often change his seed , to give the ground variety ; by which means h● obtains a fruitful and plentiful cro● every year , if other causes do not im● pede . the like must be conceived o● the humane ground . for variety i● the very foundation and compositio● of our lives ; nothing conduces mor● to the health and prosperity of man● kind , nor is more agreeable to the nature of man , than change of diet , exercise and employment . besides , children are more inquisitive● by many degrees , and more violently desirous of knowledge the five first years of their age , than afterwards ; for their souls and minds are , as it were ; empty , and long to be filled ; which naturally moves the spirit to industry , and a● desire after knowledge . but so soon as those green years are past , and the fancy is filled up with the false and mistaken notions of custom and tradition , men become , as it were , full and satiated ; more or . less dull and stupid , and consequently unapt to incline to the study of any sort of curious learning . for this reason it is , that whatever a child is taught to imitate at three or four years of age , ( it is to be understood of ●ound and healthy children , which ●ost wou'd be , were the rules before ●rescribed to women , duly observ'd , ) ●akes double the root , and makes deeper ●mpressions upon them than what they ●re taught at five ; and that at five , double to what they are taught at ten ; ●nd so on proportionably till fifty or sixty years of age. for , as persons grow up into years , their souls and minds are not only filled up and sullied with the irregular dictates of invete●ate custom ; but the natural and animal spirits become muddy and impure , whereby the apprehension and understanding are less quick and penetrating . for the fineness and thinness of the spirits , begets acuteness of wit , and supplies the fancy with more curious and noble images of things ; seeing the finer any man's spirits are , the more capable he is of understanding the mysteries of arts and sciences . from hence it is evident , that order and method do mightily strengthen and advance the humane nature , and render all perso●s that observe them , more ready and adapt to learn , than such a● live irregular lives ; especially children who , through the fineness and tenderness of their spirits , cannot endure th● over-charging of nature , without manifest detriment and prejudice . so that those parents , tutors , &c. that press them on to a debauch , or permit or encourage them to eat or drink , or use any exercise , beyond what the necessity of nature exacts are guilty of horrid impiety against god , manifest breach of trust towards the children , and accountable for all the sad consequences of so fatal a miscarriage . again , since children , at first , do all that they do by example and imitation , it must of necessity be the indispensible duty of all parents , or others with whom the charge of their education is intrusted , to be industriously careful that they neither hear nor see any unseemly action . such precedents will be quickly copied and transcribed by them , and in a short time be so deeply fix'd in the imagination that all the art and pains they can administer shall never be able totally to deface or remove them . and if ever they wou'd have their children to bear any character in the world , and do any thing to purpose , ●hey must be sure to avoid that foolish half-speaking and lisping , when they wou'd prattle with them , and divert them . it is impossible to believe what damage they do their children by this absurd and abominable practise , pronouncing their words by halves , and not one in an hundred properly and truly as it ought to be ; thereby putting the children to a double and treble task and inconvenience ; first , by their own example , fondly instilling into them an huddle of imperfect and broken : nonsence ; and then , after they have discern'd the folly and mischief of stocking them with such trash , ridiculously hoping to make them unlearn it again by whipping and beating them . they ought to be us'd to plain discourses , and words properly , fully and distinctly pronounced ; not with a grinning kind of smile , and comick distortion of the visage ; but in a grave , folemn manner , and with a sedate and calm countenance , even as you would propound questions , and male answer to a judg● or senator . for when they are us'd t● such a pertinent and handsom way o● speaking , they will apply their utmo● diligence to imitate and practice th● same . for 't is the same thing to th● child , both as easie and natural to speak words distinct and pertinent , as lisping and abrupt . many children have reason to condemn their governors and nurses , all the days of their life , for those manifold inconveniences they are expos'd to by an uncomfortable imperfection in the utterance of their speech . their governors also are sedulously to instruct them to avoid all passion , anger and violence ; and as much as lies in their power , keep them from seeing any acts of that nature . there is a contagious infection in them , that ought as carefully to be shunn'd , as the plague or leprosie . they ought to acquaint and make their pupils sensible , not only of the danger , but also of the ugliness and deformity of such preposterous and irregular inclinations . their peace in this world , and happiness in the next , intirely depend upon it . all the preaching , precept and practice of our great law-giver , tended to this end ; to in●ulcate into his disciples a principle of meekness , love and unity ; to exercise a mutual charity and forbearance ●owards one another . a compassionate forgiveness of one another's faults , is the highest conquest we can gain over our selves , and the nearest approach we can make to heaven ; and the occasions of it , is the fairest field christianity has to display her self in with her true and proper colours . — ecce quam christiani amant ! behold how the christians love ! — was the heathen persecutors saying , of old , and ought to be the motto and character of all that would be called christians now . therefore our great master said unto peter , put up thy sword : my kingdom is not of this world. nothing but peace , love , and concord , can open the gates into those blessed realms of light and love. except therefore the first sallies and motions of the soul towards these irregularities be corrected and reformed , nothing but the most fatal and irremediable mischief will ensne . it is , i confess , a work of great difficulty ; yet that shou'd not discourage our endeavours : nay , 't is in the infancy of our children , if ever , that we can reasonably hope for success . besides , the practise of these vices , rencounters the oeconomy of the whole creation : for all things both in the animal , vegetable and mineral kingdoms , do proceed from one ground ; and though the multitude and variety of them be beyond any humane number , yet each and every of them do , in one degree or another , contain the true nature and property of the whole ; and in man they have their central being and existence , though not in all alike , but in some one quality is strong , in others another ; from whence proceeds mens difference in dispositions , inclinations , love , and hatred ; but the property which is strongest in the radix , ever sways and governs the whole life . there is another base and depraved custom too frequently used , viz. to scare and affright children with horrid and terrible names ; thinking thereby to bring them to their lure , and make them quietly comply with what they wou'd have them , not considering of what mischievous consequence it is to the child to have its tender soul so alarm'd and prepossess'd with such monstrous images of things as keep nature in a perpetual agitation and trembling . if the child's soul be of a strong and vigorous complexion , you thereby awaken the seeds of envy , hatred , malice , and many other surly dispositions ; and so by mistakenly endeavouring to lay one devil , you raise a thousand in his room . but if the soul be of a soft , meek , and gentle temper , you utterly confound and ruine it . it shall never be master of one regular thought , and by consequence never produce an handsom and commendable action . it shall be eternally subjected to doubt : irresolute in its designs , and wavering in its attempts . for those terrors and amazements awaken the internal or central spirits and powers of nature ; which incorporating and joyning with their similes , become , as it were , consubstantiate with the soul ; insomuch , that those dreadful conceptions which they form'd in their childhood , will never wholly depart ; but though , for a time , by a vigorous exercise , and use of reason , they may seem to be conquer'd , yet upon any sudden accident of danger or disaster , their fears shall start out a-fresh , and they shall soon be discern'd to be yet under the dominion of their youthful terrors . which timorous sort of disposition , how unfit it is for the business of the world , and how fatal it has prov'd to many that have been subjected to it , need not be insisted on ; what we have already said , may be sufficient to convict this abominable practice of ignorance , cruelty and madness . another very great evil and prejudice to children , is , to suffer them to play up and down promiscuously at all all sorts of sports , and with all sorts of play-fellows . is it not lamentable , for parents to let their children throw away that part of their time in idle , fruitless and dangerous exercises , that is the only proper season for them to learn the rudiments of vertue and knowledge in ? for one hour well employ'd , from three years of age to seven , is of more avail towards the true learning of any one art or science , than ten , when they come to a maturer age , ( as they call it . ) if they are not well and thoroughly grounded then , it will be very difficult to improve and accomplish them , when they come to riper years . it is then the seeds of true knowledge and philosophy ought to be sown , if ever they expect to reap any fruit from them hereafter . besides , the foolish and juvenile pastimes fill the imagination with strange images and conceptions of things , that like so many rank and useless weeds interrupt and divert the growth of real knowledge , and true literature ; corrupting the ground so much , that it will hardly be able to nourish and bring forth any thing of esteem and value . wou'd it not raise a man's spleen with indignation , to hear an old doating sot of a father , cry out of his son , this blockhead will never come to any thing : there is not such a dunce again upon the face of the whole earth : it has cost me the lord knows what , and yet i can make him learn nothing : i can make him understand nothing that is said to him . alas ! old fool , why did not you begin sooner with him ? why did you suffer him to squander away the best part of his time in idleness and folly ? oh , then he was an arch young rogue , a witty , forward child , and you 'd warrant he 'd be no fool , if he liv'd ; but now he 's a mere booby , a dunce , and a block-head . take him for your pains , old gray-bearded dotard ! you may thank your self for all this , and your child is bound to curse you . moreover , there are other ill effects that attend this custom . their sports are often-times , especially if from under the eye of their parents and tutors , &c. so rude and boisterous , that they over-doe their own strength , and in a violent pursuit after their play , strain it to a pitch many degrees above their ability , to the extreme prejudice , and often the irrecoverable damage of their limbs and body ; which perhaps , though not presently discover'd , yet if they live , succeeding years will give them many sharp and troublesom remembrances of it . like the effects of hardships , and youthful colds , that will not be forgot in the winter of old age. thus it is evident , what a disastrous and calamitous influence these irregular methods have both upon mind and body . now , those that would really promote their childrens welfare , and their own peace , must consult the degrees and abilities of nature , else they will soon run themselves into great inconveniences . the bodies and spirits of children are young and tender , so that they cannot endure hard and laborious exercises , without the imputation of manifest folly and damage to their health . for all labour , or exercise , ought to be measured in proportion to the strength of the body and mind : so that those appointed for children , ought to be gentle and easie , such as will not strain the body , nor dull the spirit , together with a simple temperate diet , rather partaking of moisture than dryness ; because their growth requires more liquid matter , by reason of their implanted heat and fire , than maturer age. besides , those rustick and laborious exercises do mightily offend and retard the growth of childrens limbs , far more than most people do imagine . hence appears the necessity of teaching children , from three years old , and upwards , some easie and useful things , instead of their idle and impertinent games and sports , such as musick , painting , housewifery , &c. also , to instruct them to read and speak properly and distinctly , to implant in them the seeds of vertue and good manners ; likewise to walk streight and upright , to run handsomly , and to make true and proper steps . this wou'd be a great ornament , and of good service to them , when they arrive to a more mature and adult age : it would cut off a great deal of their superfluous time , and employ it much better , and more advantageously than is generally practised . moreover , it wou'd soon discourage and discountenance the ill custom of sending children to be instructed at publick dancing-schools ; where they many times receive more prejudice in a month , than they can repair or remove , perhaps , all their lives after . for it shou'd be the care of mothers and nurses , to order the gaite , and direct the steps of the children ; wherein if they are well instructed at first , they will observe the same for ever . for by neglect of this it is , that so many men and women make such an odd and clownish figure in their walking and moving ; sometimes their steps are too thick , sometimes too short , and sometimes too long ; with some extraordinary and irregular motions of their backs and hips , as if their legs were too weak to support the weight of their body ; with many other unseemly postures ; which might more easily and less chargeably be prevented , were the directions we prescribe but follow'd and observ'd . for it is to be noted , that ill postures , and other habits , if they are taken up betimes , become so strong and powerfully grafted in the disposition , that it is almost impossible to root them out , or unteach them again . this is an undeniable truth ; and it is a thousand times better , if possible , that children should remain in an intire and and absolute indifference and neutrality , without learning or doing any thing at all , than to be taught or suffer'd to imitate preposterous methods . for if the child be born with streight , sound , and proportionable limbs , there is but one true , proper , and handsom way of going ; which they may be as easily taught and brought to , as they are to speak , provided a little care and pains be taken with them in the due time : for in the beginning every thing is alike to the child , and one thing as soon learned as another . neither should children , by any means , be permitted to ieer or laugh at any person 's deformity either in mind or body . it is a vain and lewd practise , and generally tolerated ; nay , you shall see a parcel of old fools stand by , and please themselves extremely , to hear children revile and reproach one another . these are things that of all others , ought to be severely corrected and punish'd . if once they are encourag'd to back-bite , envy , defame , or belye one another , there is no hopes of them ; they will be devils in spite of your teeth . for these are the seeds of all abomination , and will , upon occasion , as they grow up , break out into the most unlawful and criminal enormities : theft , murther , blasphemy , treachery , dissimulation , lying , perjury , and all manner of accursed villany , are the off-spring of such an unatural and unchristian connivance and tolleration . 't is for want of parents and nurses taking care timely to reform and destroy these mischievous seeds of vice that so many , every month , ride backwards up holbourn-hill , to tyburn . we may say , that through ignorance and inconsideration , most people do , as it were , intice and play their children into all manner of vice , laying such early foundations of wickedness ; which meeting with suitable occasions , in time , grow so strong , that they are never able to shake them off , or withstand them : all which might , at first , with a little prudence and care , have been prevented . for in lieu of these , they might with great facility and pleasure , have been taught all sorts and kinds of vertue , and degrees of temperance , the fear of god , arts sciences and language , several useful and easie works about houshold-affairs ; the names , vertues and uses of herbs and plants ; to distinguish which are proper for food , and which for medicine ; the managing of gardens , and art of husbandry , with a thousand o●her-employments more honourable and more diverting than their idle sports and games , which they usually practice , and whereof they are capable to a very high degree ; and then , in a short time , these little attainments , with small industry , will grow to very great improvements , and accomplish them to bear the character of excellent persons in the world. there are many other enormities and great evils , that parents ( even those of the best and soberest sort ) are guilty of , in the education of ther children . for , first , tho' they will not allow them to run about the streets , and play promiscuously with the crowd of other children , ( which indeed is extremely commendable , ) yet at home , in their own houses , they use all possible methods to destroy and ruine them , by continually suffering them to stuff their little paunches with all sorts of dainties , and richly compounded meats and drinks , over-charging them both in quantity and quality ; which undermines the very basis of health , there being very few of so sturdy and strong constitutions , that are not wounded by it in one degree or another . what is this , but laying a sure and lasting foundation for gluttony and idleness ? secondly , they give them all sorts of liberty , commanding their servants to humour and obey them in all their foolish and extravagant whimsies ; by which means they never or seldom arrive at any true discernment of things , being indulged in every thing that their extravagant imaginations can conceive , or their undisciplin'd appetites desire . they very rarely put them to any kind of the above-mention'd exercises or employments ; neither do they take care to set themselves before them as precedents of temperance and frugality , taking delight to see them hector and domineer over those that wait upon and attend them ; by which means they become haughty , ambitious and surly to all that are beneath them ( as they conceive ) in birth or estate ; given to passion , gluttony , ebriety and laziness ; whereas they ought to have the contrary vertues of affability , courtesie , and generosity , founded even in their very natures and constitutions ; which infinitely more become and adorn a noble birth , and fair fortune , than an ill-natur'd and untractable pride . besides , a nice and fond education does , as it were , suffocate and destroy all knowledge , and true understanding , even in the very bud ; and chiefly advances folly & ignorance , the greatest evils in the world ; for where folly and ignorance joyn , ( and they can never be separated , ) pray what expectation can there be of any great or honourable production ? the fruit must of necessity be bad , when all within the trunk of the tree , the very sap it self , is poyson'd and corrupt . for there are very small hopes of that person 's doing any thing to purpose , who has once indulg'd himself to an habit of idleness . consider a while the wonderful active powers of god , the marvellous operations of nature , the daily motions of the celestials , the glorious company of stars , their rising and setting ; the variety of their lustre , courses and configurations . behold the rivers and streams of water labouring continually , though in in a long and difficult progress , to pay their tribute to the ocean ; and the ocean again , by industrious tides , fluxes , and refluxes , striving to supply the land. observe how the sun , the bright luminary of heaven , by his circulations , and mysterious powers , does not only give life and being to all elemental things , but exhales moisture from below , and wonderfully bottles it up in the clouds till the appointed time , and then returns it , with interest , to refresh and replenish the earth . there is no such thing as idleness among all the works of god. an idle person is none of god's creature . shou'd the primum mobile stand still but an hour , the world wou'd be at an end , and the whole globe of the universe fall into its original chaos . all the accommodations of life are procur'd by labour ; nay , life it self cannot be otherwise maintained : the blood must be always in circulation ; and the pulse , nature's clock , continually striking : the stomach must labour hard in her kitchin , to prepare and separate aliment for the other parts . you see then , that there is nothing idle a moment in the greater or lesser world : how much then is it the duty of parents and tutors , &c. to see that children are constantly and commendably employed ; idleness being a manifest breach of the command of god , and an open contradiction to the whole course and operation of nature ? it is the mother of all oppression and violence ; an inlet to all sin and wickedness ; and never goes alone , but is attended with a black train of horrid and abominable vices ; rendring men subject to the dominion of the gross , inferior and spiteful powers , and evil demons , who incessantly prompt them on to commit all kinds of outrages against god , man , and beasts . from hence have all unlawful sports and games their rise ; such as cards , dice , billiards , lotteries , whimsie-boards , stage-plays , drolls , hunting , hawking , prize-playing , bull-baiting , bear-baiting , cock-fighting , wanton and lascivious dancing , racing , &c. with a thousand other vanities that parents and elder people , by their own practice , teach their children , whereof some are rude , rustick , unmanly , and unseemly ; others cruel , bloody , and oppressive ; others mean , base , and effeminate : but all sinful and detestable , and ought to be condemn'd to the darkest and deepest pit of hell. and all this , forsooth , must be excus'd with the ridiculous name of pastime : as if our time , which is the greatest blessing we have , were so intollerable a burthen , that we must be beholden to the devil's invention to help it off our hands : surely we shall , one day , find , that all we had , was but little enough to do our duty in . now , when i speak of idleness , 't is not to be understood of an utter insensible stupidity of soul and body , a state of absolute inactivity , or the doing nothing at all ; but the doing of evil , or that which children ought not to do ; which is the worst sort of idleness : for , in the other sence , there is scarce any thing idle in the whole course of nature . if children be not exercised in some useful art and things tending to vertue , they will be always doing the contrary . for in their first and second age , which is from their birth to seven years of age , and from thence to fourteen , their spirits are extraordinarily brisk and airy : their imaginations & desires cannot stand still , but will be endeavouring to penetrate into the knowledge of things . upon which account , good and wholsom examples ought to be set before them : their particular tasks ought to be assigned them , that they may betimes learn to dress the gardens of their souls , and sortifie them against the over-spreading weeds of vice and ignorance , and keep their bodies clean from diseases and distempers . for idleness and ignorance are the most inhumane tyrants in the world ; and mankind's greatest enemies , which this present age has brought into great favour and esteem : and because they are resolved to have their children intirely under their subjection , most parents accustom 'em to 'em even from their birth ; and as soon as they beg●n to speak , fill their heads with a rhapsody of idle prattle , nonsence and lies ; and so , as it were , erect a school in their own houses for the nurture of ignorance and vice , and take no pains to inform and instruct them in the rudiments of vertue and true knowledge . it is a grand mistake , not to begin to teach children any thing of value till they are eight or ten years of age : as if they ought to commence then , when they shou'd almost have done learning . they are early and timely plants that take surest root , and thrive amain , ( as the experience of all mankind can testifie . ) in india they teach their children to spin fine callico's and muslins at three years old : nor cou'd they ever bring them to perfection , did they begin later . italy abounds with fine painters ; and holland and england , with curious spinners of thread and wool : in which arts , all that have any reputation , are very earlily instructed . pray tell me , what excellence can age attain to , in writing , reading , speaking languages , musick , painting , &c. if there have not been first some youthful instruction implanted in them ? it is a certain truth , that the sooner we begin , the surer and better progress we are like to make . it is no wonder then , that the princes , and great men of this world , are so mightily given up to wrath , fierceness , and fighting ; when we consider , they are bred to it from their very cradles . as soon as they can handle a sword , they must have a small one provided ; and when the child shall in the least degree imitate any warlike and fierce action , his tutor and people about him praise him to the skies ; i 'll warrant ( say they ) my little master will be a general before he dies . then , when he 's able to ride , a horse must be bought , with holsters and pistols , and all other proper furniture ; so his little lordship must be forthwith mounted . now his ears are open to nothing but war and battles ; he dreams of nothing but fighting , killing and conquering ; all the discourse about him , is of nothing but armies and sieges , of battalions and squadrons , of trenches , bastions , half-moons , parapets , and counterscarps , with such impertinent iargon , that the little warrier fancies himself already in the battle , just now a going to enter the breach , and the town 's our own . by such methods as these , they animate and excite the spirit of the child , and stir up the seeds of fierceness and wrath in his soul ; which they ought , with the greatest care imaginable , to suppress and mollifie . thus all children are taught , from their infancy , the trade of killing ; and by practising on inferiour creatures , arrive , by degrees , to the perfection of murther , in killing of men. this makes so many rash young men leave an honest and profitable trade , where they have all things convenient and necessary , to run heedlessly in the wars of princes ; blindly , though voluntarily , submitting themselves to almost intollerable fatigues and hardships , opening their breasts to guns and swords ; and yet , after all , if they offer to quit their colours , they are sure to be hang'd , having bound themselves apprentice to the worst sort of slavery in the world. and this also makes the gentlemen leave their wives and children , and all the delights and enjoyments of their estates , to travel into foreign countries , and there fight like mad , and venture their lives against those they never had any quarrel with . now , i say , if men are not well fraighted with good store of this unlucky commodity call'd wrath , it wou'd be impossible for them to act as they do , contrary to all humanity , and true vertue : but the power of education is very great , and captivates all mankind in one degree or other . therefore , of whatever spirit fathers , mothers , tutors , &c. wou'd have their children to be , let them take care to sow the seeds thereof betimes in the child's soul. wou'd you have your child to love and fear god ? you may easily do it , to what degree you please , provided he does not hear nor see contrary examples . wou'd you have him temperate in meats and drinks ? then accustom him to proper quantities and agreeable qualities in his diet. wou'd you have him hardy , strong and healthy ? then use mean foods , and give them in order , and with constant exercise proportionable to the strength of the child . or , wou'd you have him a curious and excellent artist ? then keep him constant to the practice of that art , and where he may always see examples of the same . the like is to be understood of all other things . some rules concerning proper foods for children . it is agreed on by all prudent men , that simple meats and drinks are most friendly and acceptable to nature , and healthier than those that are rich , and compounded of various ingredients , but more-especially for the tender nature of children . did mothers and nurses truly understand and consider what was most agreeable to the simplicity of nature , this age wou'd be happy ; and the pains and trouble of bringing-up children would hardly be felt . if their foods were made of corn , as gruel made of oatmeal ; water-pap , which is made only of wheat-flower and water , with a little salt and bread in it ; their children wou'd be , for the most part , plump , brisk , strong and lively . when the child is costive , then water-gruel , with more or less flower'd-pap , eating a little bread and salt with it , is very good and proper . this sort of food is not only healthier than pap made of milk , but much more strong , and every way more substantial . it generates better blood , and causes a more free and undisturb'd circulation . for i affirm , if children shou'd never have any other food for the first seven years of their age , than water-gruel , and pap made with flower , bread , and salt ; their constitutions wou'd be much healthier and firmer , free from innumerable diseases wherewith thousands are now tormented ; withal , adding good spring-water for their drink . the world is not so grossly mistaken in any thing , as in the due preparation of meats and drinks , especially as they relate to children . nothing is a greater evil than ignorance . all meats and drinks that are rich and delicate , are not in the least agreeable to the nature of children ; such as milk-foods mixed with sugar & spices ; also butter & cheese , if not eaten sparingly : all fish , flesh , and foods wherein eggs are mixed , as custards , cheese-cakes , &c. are pernicious , especially to some children ; likewise pies made with unripe fruit , mixed with sugar , which must indeed be eaten sparingly . but what unaccountable and preposterous methods do we follow ? our governours fondness and ignorance destroys us . mankind would be as healthy as any other creature ; and healthier too , provided his food was as natural and simple as that of other creatures . i say , and i affirm nothing but matter of fact , a man may do as good a day 's work , nay , better too , that eats but a penny-half-penny's worth of oatmeal made into thick gruel , than he that stuffs his carkass with the greatest varieties he can think on . a gentleman of my acquaintance told me , that he liv'd for a half-penny a day , on that sort of food , for 3 months together . but be the quantity what it will , i am sure a man may live very well on it ; and be more strong , brisk , and lively , than with beef and mutton . besides , if childrens diet were simple and natural , they wou'd be of larger growth , finer and straiter limb'd , and every way more compleat ; especially if their exercises were gentle , and suited to their strength . this is evident , from the difference in health and strength between the children of poor people , and those of greater persons . are there any people that have generally more or healthier children than the scotch women ? yet most of them live chiefly on gruels made of oatmeal ; and their cawdles , when they lye-in , are no better then spoon-meats made of oatmeal & water , sometimes boiling therewith a little small-beer or ale. besides , in those northern parts of the world , no people dandle , or carry their children less about in their arms : they are compell'd to it by their poverty and want , being forced customarily to labour abroad in the fields for their livelyhood , as well as at home ; so that they have leisure to give but little more attendance on their children , than just suckle and feed them at the usual times . for the constant carrying and lugging of children about , is very prejudicial to their health , by often-times over-heating the blood ; especially if elder and stronger persons take upon them that office ; for by an unaccountable sympathy , they powerfully attract those fine spirits from the child , which would abundantly nourish and strengthen it . for children being tender in their constitution , and their spirits volatile , every little disorder inflames and precipitates them into feavourish indispositions ; from whence proceeds a long train of other troublesom diseases : ( which i have often labour'd to acquaint mankind with , to very little purpose ; so much is inveterate custom too powerful for me . ) children are likewise very much prejudiced by lying in bed with old persons ; and being kept too hot , whereby they become uneasie and froward . for if things were rightly and orderly managed , there wou'd not be so much business and perplexity to tend upon four or five children , as there is now upon one. they are preposterous in all their methods ; they over-feed them , over-cloath them , over . tend them , and over-bind them : and in other respects they are as much remiss as they exceed in this . if the generality of women wou'd but exercise the least grain of sence or wisdom , or if their infallible doctors wou'd be so kind as to tell them the truth , they might quickly give themselves more ease , and their children more health . where there is no order , there can be no good effect , but every thing tends to division and irregularity . if they will observe no proper methods , but do every thing without order or discretion , they must take what follows : for the child will do every thing it is accustom'd to ; and that custom that comes nearest the simplicity of nature , will soonest and easiest be embraced . if the child be used to suck and feed at such and such certain times of the day and night , it will soon be contented with it , and expect no other treatment . there is another thing commonly practised by mothers and nurses , every way as ridiculous and hurtful as any of the rest ; and that is , whenever the child is out of humour , or any thing is amiss , presently to clap the breast or a spoon into the mouth of it ; so inhumanely forcing it to suck or eat : which , instead of quieting the child , does the more disorder it ; and though , perhaps , not for the present , yet afterwards they shall find the effects . for , the too often eating , when nature does not require , must of necessity disturb , heat and burthen the whole body . a lamentable piece of egregious folly this , and never enough to be exposed ! wou'd it not look odly , if when a man or woman is out of humour , or any thing else is the matter , they shou'd immediately fall to eating and drinking , when perhaps they have been at dinner not above an hour before ? there is another thing , of great moment , to be observed ; viz. that to begin to teach children betimes any art , science , or other employment , and keeping them moderately to it for the most part of the day , generates better and more manly thoughts in them ; improves the natural genius , constantly supplying it with good notions , so that they become more serious and thoughtful : for , necessity is the mother of invention ; which is ever encreased by exercise and practice . now , at play there is no such necessity , but children ramble from one thing to another ; and are no further obliged , than their own fancy inclines them . for , constraint to any thing , dulls their parts , fatigues and incapacitates them for the learning of those things they stand most in need to know . this sort of instruction wou'd abundantly advance and beget frugality and order , even to a miracle . for having obtain'd their knowledge by their pains and industry , it wou'd be as valuable to them as an estate or money procured by a man 's own toil and labour . so innumerable are the advantages that wou'd hereby accrue , that it is impossible to do any more than hint at the many benefits and vertues that result from an early , prudent , and well-methodized education . there wou'd be little reason then to reflect , that boys and girls play away that time with drums and babies , which they might employ to more profitable uses , and turn to a far better account . and the reason hereof is evident ; because ( as we have already demonstrated ) they do all things by example and imitation . having before no prepossession , or prejudice , they must of necessity own that for their sovereign , and be subjected to its conduct . methods and institutions of a school , for the advantagious education of young persons , propos'd . first , there must be a skilful master , or governour . 1. one that has been well acquainted with the world , and knows the mystery and intrigue of it . he must , in general , be a good natural philosopher ; and have some knowledge of the mathematicks , and astronomy ; together with a competent measure of ethicks , which is the life of all . in short , he must be a person able to bear the character he undertakes , and instruct the inferiour tutors and assistants in all the particular methods that contribute to the promotion of learning , vertue , and true knowledge . it is not much insisted on , whether he took his degrees at the university ; and his learning ( as to point of scholarship ) is less to be regarded than his discretion . for as the greatest scholars are not always the best preachers , so neither are the academicks ever the best tutors . 2. there must be a sub-tutor under the governour , that can speak latin and french readily and properly . but if one that is a general master of both languages cannot be found , there must be two chosen , one for each . 3. twice a week a musick-master must come and teach those that are willing to learn that science . there must be one in the school that understands it also , to hear and keep them to their business , and tune their instruments . likewise a painter must come twice a week , to instruct and give patterns to such children whose inclinations lead 'em to practice that art. 4. now , when such masters are provided as are every way accomplish'd for this purpose , you must proceed in a regular order and method : which will not only make all learning easie to the children , but also to the masters and tutors . 5. take ten or twenty children , from three years old , to five or six at most , who are not to be suffer'd to speak one word of english , but all keep silence and observe : and as much as may be , the master and tutors must make it their business continually to speak latin and french to them , commanding them to do this , and fetch that : and when the children do not understand them , they are to teach them by example , doing and fetching the thing themselves . by this means they will understand the names of most things about the house , in six weeks , or two months ; and in the interim , they must be taught to read the languages they learn : so that in a year's time they shall all speak both latin and french , as well as any children shall do english at that age. and when these first children speak the tongues , then all that are admitted into the school will naturally learn it of course , by conversation and reading , as easily as any learns english from their mothers , &c. nay , they shall speak it better , and more properly pronounce it , than most children do their mother-tongue . 6. the maids , and nurses , and other servants , shall not speak any other tongue but what is learn'd and taught in the school ; and before they arrive to it , they shall be silent , and do all things by signs . 7. the day shall be divided into so many parts as the children learn arts or things . the master and tutors shall neither whip , beat , nor shew anger or passion toward any child , be he never so dull : but instead of such correction , shall take the dull child aside , and commend and praise him for his endeavours ; inform him how many men of mean birth have advanc'd themselves to a noble pitch of eminence and glory , by their learning , vertue and sobriety ; and by these means they shall excite and prompt him on to an honourable ambition and emulation . this , no doubt will have a good effect : for both wise men and fools do a-like love to be praised . but other methods shall be used for the executing of justice , if at any time the children become vicious and criminal ; such as shall not irritate the spirit , or provoke passion ; which is a great enemy to the souls and and faculties of most children , and too too frequently practised in most schools ; which will be wholly prevented by the good and regular methods we prescribe . for order , when children are accustom'd to it , has as great power and influence as disorder . 8. the school shall be at some distance from other houses , or any town , that there may be no communication between the children of the school and other wild children ; that they shall not know what swearing , or any such frothy discourse is , or that there is any such thing in the world. and so of all other evil communication . so that it will be easie to govern them , when order and custom have their free influences ; and where there is nothing else seen or known but the practice of vertue , and study of learning . 9. in the winter , the children shall go to bed at seven a clock at night , and rise at seven in the morning ; and in the summer , at eight at night , and rise at six in the morning . for , above all things , children shou'd have rest enough , and sleep enough ; which does mightily strengthen and refresh nature , and renders them brisk and alart at their learning . 10. as soon as they are up in the morning , they shall spend one hour in reading , and then eat their breakfast : after which , such as love musick , shall play and practice one hour , and those that are for painting , the like : the others shall walk in gardens for the same time with their tutors , and discourse of the nature and vertues of herbs , p●ants , and flowers , and of the art of husbandry and gardening , all in the language they then learn ; then they shall all return into the school , and learn their books for one hour . after which , they shall be instructed in the business of the house , and the art of oeconomicks ; also the manner and preparation of the food they have each day for dinner , and have the reasons of every thing discovered to them . then they shall all go to dinner ; after which , in the summer time , they shall rest an hour and a half , sitting silent in a chair , where they may sleep , if they are inclined to it , which will greatly enliven , and sit them for the afternoons business . after which , they shall read half an hour , or an hour , and then such as are for painting or musick , must spend one hour in the exercise of those arts , and in the mean while the others shall be employed in writing ; arithmetick , and accompting . when this is done , they shall be employ'd again in gardening , planting , sowing , weeding , digging , &c. every one having a little garden of their own , which they shall be taught to dress and cultivate ; and such as are not capable of that exercise , shall walk among the others , and learn from them to do it themselves , always having their tutors along with them : after which , they shall walk , run , and play about for half an hour , their tutors carefully observing that they do every thing with decorum , and handsomly ; for all those exercises that are perform'd by the motion and activity of the body and limbs , are to be used in the afternoon , or near the time of going to rest , and not after fullness , or dinner , as the custom is . 11. thus they shall all learn latin and french by custom and conversation ; for there shall be nothing else spoke in the school . likewise they shall learn to read the same tongue , which may be done a quicker and easier way , than the common method , and by many degrees more to the purpose : for after any child has learn'd the letters , this will not take up above three or four months at the most , to teach the dullest capacity to read tolerably well , and in any book , and some mercurial children will learn it in half the time . this method of ours will be natural , and furnish the child with more variety of words than the common way ; by this way they shall lay a foundation for the knowledge of all things that are convenient and needful for mankind to know . french and latin shall be as their mother tongue , and in two years they shall speak and read , and understand it perfectly , and withal , in the same time learn many useful arts and sciences : the day being divided into several pairs , they shall easily pass out of one thing into another , without any weariness or lassitude , by which means it will be like play to them ; for it is call'd play , because children do with pleasure pass from one thing to another of their own inclination . but if they were confin'd to it , they would find it very hard work , and be more unwilling to continue at it , than others that are put to the study of any useful art. 12. now the learning and practising several arts , will mightily acquaint them with the knowledge of words ; for every art or science has particular terms and proprieties of expression , adapted to it , which they will be obliged to understand in the reading books , french and latin , that treat on those subjects , so that they will have but little need of a dictionary , when they are put to write , or discourse of the nature of things , which many great schollars are forc'd to have recourse to . 13. thus , when they have learnt to speak these languages perfectly , then they shall be taught the true grammar of them , which will be easily done . for to speak is one thing , and the art or reason of speaking is another . the first must be done by imitation and practice , the other is the work of time , and must be improved by degrees . they that learn the art of speaking before they can speak , invert the true method , and as they say , put the cart before the horse ; and i do affirm , that if there be a true method taken , the dullest boy alive may be taught to speak good latin and french , as well as he has the use of his mother-tongue . no man can speak any language well , and discourse handsomly of all things , but he that learns young , and by conversation , all the rules in the world can never make him a master afterwards . all other methods of learning are like the mystery of the lawyers , who have used all possible skill and endeavours to make honesty and justice intricate , and hard to be understood , which the plainest man upon earth knows perfectly , without being beholden to their books , or being skill'd in their art. true pronunciation and speaking is learnt by hearing . those children that are accustom'd to hear a noble and elegant way of speaking , will imitate the same . this is the way to make eloquent orators , and good artists . pray tell me , if the best of doctors of them all would not be at a loss , if they were call'd to assist a person in the buying and selling most sorts of the commodities of merchants and shop-keepers , to discourse of all the parts of housewifry , agriculture , navigation , ships , their tackle and furniture , and a thousand other useful things ? most of them i believe would be forc'd to their dictiona●ies , and i am sure in many respects find but little assistance there neither . no man can possibly be a master of any language , but such as learn it very young , and by conversation ; neither is he then a m●ster any farther than the custom of the country allows him ; for 't is that which makes all words proper and improper . 14. it is believ'd by some , that if a child shou'd never hear speaking , he wou'd never speak ; tho' there is indeed a real ground in nature for language . it is a noble thing , and distinguishes mankind from the beasts , and wou'd do much more , if man had not lost the true knowledge and understanding thereof by his fall and degeneracy , viz. the language of nature , which was the original tongue that in the first ages of the world the antients had some glimmering knowledg of , as appears by their giving such names to their children and other things , that by the word and sound the nature and qua●ity of the person , or thing named , might be understood , whereof there is now little or no knowledge remaining . 15. but the fowls of the air and beasts of the field do still retain their original language , which the great creator of all things at first endued them with , for they have not degenerated nor broken the law of god and nature , but have continued under the government thereof ; and tho' they cannot express their minds and inclinations in articulate words ; and tho' for the most part they have but one tone or sound , yet they have by the various alteration of that tone a quicker , and more natural way of communicating their sentiments to each other , suitable to their occasions , and the respective state of their minds and desires . than mankind can , by articulate words . i am almost bold to say , that if mankind had not education , he wou'd be much more ignorant than the meanest of beasts . now the chief difference between the education of men and beasts is this ; the latter have their education from nature , and act according to their first and necessary law. and the former from depraved custom and tradition , great part of which is vicious and devilish : he is hurried on with the spirit of error into all acts of violence and injustice , being the devil's slave , yet boasting of his knowledge and understanding , which knowledge and understanding is not manifested in any thing , so much as in the works of darkness . thus i have given you a short draught or delineation of what i judge very necessary to be copy'd out into practice . many oth●r useful directions might be laid down , which shall be made use of if ever these proposals shall have the good fortune to be approved of , and encouraged . i am confident , such methods as these would abundantly contribute to the improvement of true learning , and the reformation of men's manners . there is one evil practice that i find parents and nurses generally , guilty of , and cannot conclude without some reflection upon the horrid and wicked consequences that attend it . from the very cradle they use all means possible to learn their children pride and vanity : if they have any thing new or fine , they never let them alone till they have made the young things sensible of the worth and value of it , thereby laying unremovable foundations for self-conceit and flattery , which grows up in them by degrees , till they are seduced into presumption , and a contempt of others , and so begets and nourishes indignation , self-love , anger , hatred , &c. which produces irreligion , unbelief , superstition , impenitence , a●rogance , and a long train of d●abolical mischiefs . pride destroys the faculties of the intellect , and will never suffer it to make a right judgment . is the inlet to credulity and falshood , the gare of error , and the first step to oppression and violence , inhumanity and madness . it blinds all the inward senses of the soul , subjecting them to all malignant influences , destroying the image of god , poysoning the imagination , and all the good virtues , and active powers of god and nature . it fills the fancy with dark ideas , and destroys the harmony of the universe . it is a stirring power and quality , and may be justly styled the son of the devil . every man hugs and caresses it in himself , but abhors and abominates it in another . it is a mortal enemy to mankind , and the spring head of all war , devastation , depopulation , self-murder , lying , distraction , and whatsoever is odious and wicked in the world. what ignorance , blindness and madness then does posses mankind , that they shou'd be at such continual charge and pains to improve and nourish this hellish quality , that sets the world and all nature in a flame ? let all people then in time consider the sad effects of this vice , and not intail on their posterity such a distemper , which utterly ruins both the soul and body . let them consider what a christian ought to be , and the condition on which our eternal salvation and happiness depends , and examine whether the educa●ion of their children be correspondent and agreeable to christ's rule . i say , when this is consider'd , and compar'd , a man must necessarily conclude , that men do not believe what they talk of , and p●etend to ; for if they did , they could not be contented with such vicious methods , in bringing up their children . poor peoples children , for want of necessaries , are brought up in swinishness and beastiality , and the rich educate their children in all the degrees of court haughtiness , intemperance and idleness ; so that a man of 1000 l. per an . that has four or five children , ought to have an estate better than the whole for each of them , every child beginning his trade of life , where the father and mother left off ; insomuch that if an account were taken of all the genmen's families in england , you wou'd hardly find one in twenty of their children that live any thing handsomly in the world. of all the youths that yearly come up to london , to be apprentices to mer●rs , drapers , silk men , &c. there is not one in twenty that serves his time out , or lives on his trade , which can be attributed to nothing else but the effects of those : poysonous weeds of pride and arrogance , their parents sow'd in them in their childhood . the same is to be understood of common servants ; are they not bold , surly , nasty , and ignorant ? so that you must teach them every thing before you can have any service from them ; and when they can do your business , upon any light occasion they grow sawey and impudent , and will leave you , without any acknowledgment of your kindness to them , which only proceeds from the want of publick schools , and due and timely methods of education . let no person therefore that falls under this character , think to excuse himself , by murmuring at , and upbraiding his creator , as if he had dealt unkindly with him ; but if the blame must be laid somewhere else besides , than upon himself , let him charge his miscarriage upon his father and mother , who by their ignorance and madness , have stif●ed and beclouded vertue , and advanc'd and encouraged wickedness and folly , whereby men become contemptible in this world ; and miserable in the next . the true and most natural method of teaching children to read latin , french , dutch , italian , or any other language , as well as their mother-tongue , with great ease and pleasure , so that they shall pronounce all their words fully and properly , which is the greatest difficulty in the learning of languages . the understanding tongues and languages is a sort of learning , highly useful and convenient , and unspeakably serviceable , as well in the management of any trade , business or employment the divine providence shall place us in in the world , as in the spiritual advantages , in reading the holy scriptures , and other good books . the common method is not only tedious and difficult , whereby many are discouraged , and grow weary before they are able to read tolerably , but also very chargeable , so that poor people are not able to defray the charge of schooling for their children . upon consideration of these things i gave my mind to think of some more expeditious course , and more natural method , viz. a more easie , quick , and familiar way of learning letters , so that it be very delightful , both to schollar and teacher . first , teach your child the letters , and to spell a little in the primmer , which may be done in a quarter , or half a year , by often naming the letters to them , and asking what they are ; for the frequent sounding or speaking them goes in at the ears , and penetrates to the center , it being the sense that records what is spoken ; so that the oft repeating , and speaking of the letters in the hearing of of the child , makes a deeper impression upon the powers of the mind . when this is done , take any book that treats of temperance and ve●tue , and distinctly read one , two , or three words , or so many as your child or schollar can readily speak after you , and so proceed , making the child point to each word , and look with the eye upon them , expressing each word distinctly after you , and making a pause after every word , till the child hath done repeating ; and when you come to any words or word that the child cannot easily pronounce or express , then you ought to reiterate it with a plain strong voice , assisting and helping the child in his pronouncing ; but if it be still hard , leave it , go on , it will perhaps be easilier done at another time . thus when you have read one book , or as much of it as you think fit , chuse another , provided always that your books be innocent and pleasant ; by this means you shall accustom your schollar to a variety of prints , letters and words , which will be of great use to him ; whereas in the common schools you see a child that can read tolerably well in one book , or one chapter , and yet not be able to read a word in another : but by practicing the method we prescribe two or three hours in a day , in eight o● ten weeks time the child shall be able to read in most books . all the sences have their appointed offices . now the particular office of hearing is , to receive in , and distinguish sounds , and bring them thro' the proper organs , and present them to the memory , which is a retentive faculty of the soul , whose office is to register all the ears have presented it with , that they may be forth coming , when any occasion shall call for them . now the ears being the natural organs to receive all sounds and words , that sound , voice or word that is spoken by another person , and receiv'd by a third , makes a far deeper impression on the memory , than that which he reads himself : so that he that reads aloud , remembers more than he that reads softly to himself , because the strong speaking enters the organs more forcibly , and conveys the sound and sense to the memory , which records and presents it to the judgment , which is the guide of actions , and judges of what passes and repasses thro' the little world man. for this cause never any man did or can pronounce any language or tongue truly and properly , by reading of it only , if he has not heard it spoke , and truly pronounced to him , which is the reason that many speak most of their words improperly , tho' they have read them a thousand times , but the ears immediately catch what they hear properly spoken , and convey it to the memory , so that it shall never be forgotten . now the sense of hearing is made good by hearing ; as in musical harmouy , by the common use , and hearing of good musick and singing , the ear can distinguish sounds , and know when it is well perform'd , and the like , is to be understood of the speaking of tongues . for any person shall learn to speak any language by ten degrees sooner and better , by hearing and conversation , than by any other method . therefore children shou'd be taught to speak the tongue or language by hearing or conversation , before they think of learning the rules . for the reason and philosophy of speaking , is a great art , and the work of time , and not at all to be taught children . this preposterous method does rather distract and confound them , than improve and profit : so that by the methods commonly used in the schools , very few ever arrive to speak of many things . it is conversation that giveschildren an universal tongue , or way of speaking . by this means , viz. by frequency of speaking and discoursing , the hardest words will become easie and familiar ; for as we said already , they , ought to speak and read perfectly , before they enter upon the reason and rule of speaking . now the advantages of the fore mention'd methods are : first , it saves expence of time , which is of great consequence ; in our schools , a boy learns for seven years , and after all , can neither write nor speak a line of true latin. besides the difficulty in their way of proceeding damps and discourages the child's industry and inclination to learn. secondly , he shall pronounce his words more properly , and exactly . thirdly , he shall more readily read in any strange book , offer'd him at first sight . fourthly , it does wonderfully benefit and imprint the matter on the memory of the teacher ; so that there is as it were a co-partnership in learning , between the master and the schollar . fifthly , by this way any father , mother or friend , may with ease and delight teach their own children to read at home , without the charge or trouble of sending them abroad to school where for the most part they learn nothing but lewd words , and ill manners , and in short , lose all their time . sixthly , this method will not be only beneficial to children , but to those of maturer age , that would learn to read well , who may hereby be improv'd in three or four weeks , to admiration , and be made capable of pronouncing all words with their right tone and accent , as well as if they had been bred schollars . for example , when they have heard , and been used to pronounce this word [ participate ] short , they will never say [ par-ti-ci pate ] making the last syllable save one long , which wou'd be ridiculous ; yet these , and a many other absurdities , are the effects of the common methods of teaching . a true method of teaching to write a good legible hand . let there be copies engraven , and printed on good paper , not one line , only on the top or side , as is usual for writing masters to place their copies , but in lines quite through the books first , the beginning strokes of every letter , and then the next added , and so on till the whole letter is finished , that the child may know how and where each letter is to be begun and made . after that , let there be several lines of small letters , and the like of capitals : and lastly , copies of joyned-hand , all well writ or cut with the due strokes of a neat mixt hand , which is now most in fashion , easily learnt , and best for general use . then let the child with a good pen and the best red ink , go over the letters , and make them red , and so proceed to the whole letters , and then to the joyning ; only at the first it will be necessary that the father , tutor , or some one that can write pretty well , should show the child how to hold his pen , and guide his hand for two or three weeks , and not suffer him to run rudely and hastily over the copy , which is but wasting ●me and paper , and spoiling the the childs hand ; it must be done heedfully , and when he has made his letter to observe what is amiss , and mend it in the next , till he can make all his le●ters exactly , and then and not before let him proceed to the joined-hand copies , and when the book is writ out provide another in the like manner . this writing over the copies , will by frequent use and cu●om bring his hand to an habit of making his letters without them in a short time . for if you keep him to this practice two or three hours in a day , and make him diligent a●d intent upon it , there is no question but in two or three months he will be able to write a very good hand . and suppose now in that time he writes four or five of those copy books , that will be but four or five shillings charge in the whole . likewise people of mature age may learn this way with ease , secrecy , and expedition , it being a method that cannot fail of perfecting any that shall carefully practice it for one half year . of retaliation , or rewards and punishments . retaliation both in good and evil , is the original foundation of the law of justice ordained by god and nature , which no man can escape or avoid . the secret and sure hand of gods justice will certainly meet and find the transgressor either publickly or privately in this world or in the next . upon this consideration moses and all the wise ancients founded and framed their laws of government in conformity to this original law of god in nature , which our saviour christ has confirmed , saying such measure as you mete to others , such shall be measured to you again . pythagoras , and all the rest of the philosophical law-givers endeavoured by all means to make their followers sensible of the importance of this law , being the first principle and foundation on which all true religion and vertue does depend . so that it is imposible for him to be a sober , vertuous , temperate , and good man , that has no regard to this law. christ also told his disciples , that they must do unto all men , as they would have others do to them . which is the compleat fulfilling of all laws both divine and humane . therefore there is the greatest necessity imaginable , that every man be made sensible of the worth , value and bounty of this eternal ●aw , and that children should be instructed even from their very cradle , that rewards and punishments assuredly attend the observers and violators thereof . for if little children were well educated in the fear of god , and the methods of order , temperance and cleanness , and taught that every evil of what kind soever if not repented of , and forsaken must be retaliated either in this world or the next , it would immediately stem the tide of those enormities that are every day committed without either reproof from their elders , or regret to themselves . now i say , did men firmly believe these things , the dread of retaliation would keep them from oppressing either their own kind , or creatures of inferiour ranks and species . for all sorts of intemperance and oppression be they little or much , must be retaliated , as well in private families , as in publick states . what else is the occasion of changing and transferring of governments , from one to another , and the shifting of private estates and families ; so that it is rare to have an estate continue in one family for three generations , which proceeds from the neglect of living in , and observing god's law in nature . kings , princes , and great men , with force and power , break all bonds and obligation of justice , violate and oppress their inferiors having no regard to that golden law , of doing unto all men as they wou'd be done unto , with a thousand other evils they commit , as if no mercy or sense did dwell in them . so that oftentimes they are depose from their government , out off by violent and immature deaths , or else these evils are retaliated upon their posterity . the like is to be understood concerning every private family and person . when a sober industrious person has got an estate , what does he then but by his own mistaken conduct , together with the women's idle and nonsensical methods in the education of his children , make way for the transferring of it , and by this means sets it agoing much faster , and in a shorter time than it was got ? now some think this swift motion of transferring estates is occasion'd by the ill getting of them , which indeed is too often true , but not always ; for it is visible that the ill conduct of parents , in bringing up their children , does frequently do it : for all idleness , intemperance , and mispe●t time are certainly punished ; and tho' it be done by children , yet they must undergo the retaliation , both in the good and evil. no creature under heaven that breaks god's law can escape the punishment , due for such a violation and transgression . and on the other hand , god is no respecter of persons ; but whoever lives and obeys this sacred law , is blessed with the sweet influences of heaven , and accepted of god , whether young or old . now if parents did but give themselves leizure to think , they wou'd never suffer their children to run headlong to destruction as they do ; nay , many give them precedents and examples for their evil practices and disorders . which plainly declares them to have no faith , and that they do not believe one word of the scripture , or the commandments of god and christ , recommended to them . for i must take leave to tell you , believing is quite another thing ; for where-ever faith is , it is accompanied with great power , which does as it were compel those that enjoy it , to a conformity and obedience to its commands . it hath a secret sympathetick operation upon the inclinations , gestures and intentions , and can powerfully change the innate nature of the mind . suppose any sober person chances to be at some distance from home , and at the same time a servant or messenger comes and tells him , that his house by some accident was on fire , and that it burn'd so violently , that his only child and wife were consumed to ashes in the flames . now do you not think that this report would alter and change this person from a chearful , sedate condition , to a melanchollick anxious state of mind , as not doubting the truth thereof ? how many examples have we of this kind ? of persons , that upon the news of ill events accidents , have been so surprized , and overwhelmed with grief , that they could not be perswaded to eat , drink , or converse with any body . some have been so overcome , that they have entred into vows of abstinence and self-denial , and others so disturb'd , that they have thro an innate power of the mind , and strong imagination of the belief of the truth of it , shook off the bridle of reason , and broke the chains of their senses , and run mad and distracted ; which would never have happen'd , had they not firmly believ'd what was reported : which instances are wonderful evidences and manifestations of the power of faith. and it is clear in the business of religion , that men will hazard their lievs and estates as freely , in the defence of a diabolical opinion , as for the truth it self ; and the reason is , because they believe it to be true . pray therefore do but consider the nature and operation of undisturb'd faith , and how powerfully it works on the mind , and how it alters and changes nature to all intents and purposes . now i say , if faith hath so powerful an operation on man for the least of momentary enjoyments , what shou'd be the effects of true faith , for , and of things , that are durable and eternal ? especially if we reflect that mankind has not in any degree liv'd answerable to the rule and condition , on which salvation and happiness is promised and intail'd . hence it is plain , that most men in the world do bely themselves , when they say they have faith , and that they believe ; for christ saith , that if we had faith , tho' no bigger than a grain of mustard seed , we might be able to remove mountains ; that is , all sins and evils that lie in our way . faith is an ineffable spirit and divine power . it is higher than all heighths , and deeper than all depths . it is a spiritual and holy virtue , that does penetrate , even to the very centre of all beings and commands over all the celestial and terrestrial powers , having as it were the mighty fiat in its self , making something where there was nothing . man's soul is its chariot , where it rides in glory and triumph , altering and changing all essences , forms and qualities : all things submit to its influences , and nothing is able to withstand its power . now the true season of sowing and planting this true faith in children is from three or four years of age , to ten or twelve ; and being well fastned and secur'd to them in those young and tender years , a small industry afterwards will improve it to a very high degree . and as it lays a sure and deep foundation for all things , both in virtue and vice ; so it is clear and most true , tha● the that believes god's commandments , and his law of justice and retaliation , dares not abuse nor violate any of his kind , nor inferior creatures , nor be intemperate , idle , lewd or disorderly . i say , and affirm , that it is impossible for men to be so extreamly brutified , and act as they do , had they but the least grain of true faith. it is only talk , and nothing else , there being no greater evil in the world than the evil education of children , and certainly parents must , and are obliged to make a retaliation for their neglects , and ill management of their children . all the great wickedness , violence and pollutions that are frequently committed in our parts , owe their original to mistakes in this point . and shall not there be a reckoning ? for certain , there must be an account given ; and tho' men forget themselves , yet in god's providence and his law in nature , there is no forgetfulnes . raro ant●cedentem scelestium deseruit pede poena claudo . tho' justice and punishment come slowly oftentimes , yet they surely come . and men shall then , when it is too late , bewail their neglect of that duty , which now they might with the greatest ease and satisfaction perform . some further thoughts concerning the education of children . by another hand . in a letter to a friend . esteemed and worthy friend . the subject you were pleased to recommend to my thoughts , which was concerning the educution of children , i have consider'd , and according to my capacity , have given here at present what hath rise in my mind concerning it , which i humbly submit to your better iudgment , having engag'd my self herein , n●t with any thoughts of my own ability , to perform so great a task , but purely in obedience to your motion . my first consideration in this matter is the great benefits , which must certainly accreu by the well performing so noble and worthy a design , it being the chief means to attract the divine blessings on that nation , that universally and earnestly engage themselves therein . it lays a solid foundation of virtue , wisdom , iustice , temperance , industry , ingenuity , love to mankind , truth , humility , &c. and at the same time roots out the contrary vices . a child in its tender infancy is the most helpless creature . which by the way teaches us that this is not our home . in this state the mother hath the care and direction ; and that her tenderness and love to her infant may not run her into error , she ought to consider the needs and necessities of nature , and provide against them , what exceeds those bou●ds , may prove burthensome to the tender babe . for good nature hath provided the breast , and whilst the infant hangs there , it is well provided for ; without fear of surfeits and excess . cleanness and necessity ought to be observed in its dress or cloathing , rather than custom or fashion , and for food where may we take a better pattern than from nature ? the mother's care extends ov●r the child for near the first seven years , with respect to the necessities and weaknesses of nature in those tender years : and here ought to bo great caré taken , both of body and mind , to lay a solid foundation of virtue and goodness . what children ought to be instructed in , the method of it , the grounds from whence the capacity of children ariseth , ought to be taken notice of , and well observed , of which i can give but brief hints , without enlarging beyond my intended bounds . i conceive that a general rule or maxime , to be laid down for the education of children , may be . that examples of what you would instruct them in , ought constantly to be presented to them . the capacity of children to receive and learn what men are capable to offer to them , may easily be apprehended ; for that they participate of the same power and faculties of mind and body with men : it must be owned that they are in the bud , not yet come to ripeness : there is as certainly a growing in understanding , as well as a growing in stature , also a growing in virtue , or gaining strength in the exercise of truth , modesty , &c. it must considered that there are opposite vices , which the degenerate nature of man is pro●e to embrace and entertain ; and if they are used before children , the base example prevails in viciating them , more than all precepts to the contrary can oppose : for where pride , sloth , voluptuousness , fraud , self-love , &c. are exercised ; children are readily infected , and become as seed , sown into a fertile ground , that in time takes such rooting , that it is hard to be weeded out , if not almost impossible : but according to the nature of all weeds , spreads the whole country , and on this occasion it is said by the wise man , prov. 24 31 , 32. i went by the field of the slothful , &c. and lo ! it was all over grown with thorns , and nettles had cover'd the face thereof , &c. therefore all example of vice ought most carefully to be supprest ; for that they ruin the present practicers , and sow a seed for the corrupting and spoiling the next generation . this consideration cannot be too much , nor too earnestly pressed ; for knowledge , accompanied with vice , serves but to exalt it to its perfection ; and when a nation or person have thus fill'd up their measures , they are fit objects for ruin and destruction . the nature thereof is such , that it draws divine vengeance on their heads , except infinite love and forbearance steps between , to give an opportunity for repentance . this being premised , and due care taken to prevent the sowing of this evil seed , and also to root up as much , as may be such evil weeds ; as may arise of themselves in children , thro' the power of depraved nature ; then it may be proper to offer to their understandings things worthy the nature of man to receive . we find that speech or discourse by words , used by men to communicate their thoughts , to explain the nature of things , to detect falshood and vanity , &c. is only peeuliar to man , and differences them from the rest of the creatures , being a character of a divine stamp , and shows the excellency of the humane nature . we find by common experience , that children learn speech very early and easily , and it is equal what ever language is offered to them , they will with the same ease acquire it , which i conceive is a clear argument for what i before offered , that example ought to be presented to children of what you would instruct them in , and we find also , that whatever language children are brought up in , and use till they come of age , that becomes so natural to them , that it is difficult to learn another language , commonly the first is so imprest , that many cannot express themselves in another language , but it shall have somewhat of the first mixt with it , which showsnot only how how easie it is to instruct children by example , but also what is learned in childhood , is rooted so deep , that it is not easily eradicated . if for example sake we here in england would instruct our children in the latin tongue , or any other language , would it not be easier , quicker , and more effectual to perform it after the same manner they learned their first speech , than by artificial methods , and grammar rules , which i conceive ought to be offer'd them afterwards ? but this notion hath of late obtained with many men , who are proper iudges therein ; and therefore the less may be said thereof , it carrying so strong an argument forit self , even in the very proposal . it is found by experience , that in some parts of europe , where two or three languages are spoke , that the children there commonly learn them together ; as in flanders the dutch and french ; in switzerland , the german and french. what may be the reason that here in england we speak not the latin so readily as in some other countries ? may it not be for want of frequent examples ? another instance may here be very fitly offered , to show the capacity of children , and thereby induce us to an early application for their instruction , and that as in musick , which formerly hath been thought too hard and difficult to instruct children therein , and that it would rather oppress and burthen , than instruct or improve them ; which opinion hath sufficiently been confuted of late years , by a person , not fetter'd by such common thoughts or custom , but breaking through , hath produced examples in children at four years old , that have attain'd a proficiency to be admired because not common , viz. playing on the viol several things with great swiftness of hand , and at six or seven years old , playing divisions and sonato's in consort : therefore i think , many words need not here be added , for that matter of fact carries an undeniable proof along with it . i might instance in that common art of spinning , and in that dare appeal to those most knowing therein ; if children , instructed 〈◊〉 that art very young , are not capable to spin a finer , and more even thred , than any elder person can possibly do , that was not put to it young ; and altho' this may seem a mean instance , yet it is pregnant , and the art highly useful and acceptable with men , the making curious fine linnen and lace . this is also matter of fact , and not to be deny'd . the like may be said in painting , drawing , graving , &c. such a foundation may be laid , if begun as well , might produce wonderful effects . that good doctrin of the wise man may serve here in general ; prov. 22. 6. train up a child in the way he should go , and when he is old , he will not depart from it . we ought to desire that the whole nation were a school of virtue , and every family as a branch of the whole , were found in the exercise thereof ; such a school would certainly prove the most efficacious for the end proposed , but this is rather to be desired than expected , and indeed it is to be lamented , that publick examples should ruin private instruction : for as the more publick and general examples of virtue are , so are they more teaching , and on the contrary , the more publick and general examples of vice are the more infecting : therefore it is that many lovers of virtue decline the publick ways and methods of instructing , for fear of being infected with the vices , publickly practiced , and so lose a benefit , to avoid a certain mischief , retiring within the narrow limits of their own families . and when youth comes forth , virtuously educated in private , to see the lic●ntiousness used in publick ; the danger is great , if many are not corrupted therewith . this is not only incident to youth , but also to elder years , till the mind comes to be in love with virtue for its own sake . if for the attaining the end proposed to , viz. the well educating of children , that at present a school might be erected , where such children designed to be taught , should constantly reside : that such language proposed to be taught , should there constantly be spoken , and no other . that such arts or sciences , worthy the knowledge and practice of men , were there duly and clearly proposed and exercised . that truth , industry , temperance , &c. were there strictly observed , and in fine , all vice studiously avoided , we might hope for a good effect and issue in the thing designed , and that the more sublime truths relating to god and immortal life , might be more explained to us , which at present is wrapt up in the books of the scriptures , nature and our selves . it would very much contribute to the im● 〈◊〉 ●th of virtue ; were it set in a true light , it ought not to be obscured with that frightful vizard , as it is commonly represented , as if there was no beauty or pleasantness therein , but only melancholly , dullness , unsociableness , and folly : therefore , examples should be set before children in the conversation of those about them ; that as they pursue virtue in its many excellencies , they may not forget that chearfulness , ingenuity , affability , generosity , &c. that compleat the harmony of the whole , without which , instead of attracting the affections of those young ones they should instruct , raise an aversion in their minds against that , which otherwise they would rejoyce in , it being fasly exhibited to them . i will only instance that great saying of solomon ' s , pro● 3. 17. speaking of wisdom . her ways ar● ways of pleasantness , and all her pa● are peace , &c. i beg your candid acceptance hereof , and pardon for such weakness , as may appear herein , and am , sept. the 4th . 1694. sir , yours intirely , finis . vindiciæ academiarum containing some briefe animadversions upon mr websters book stiled, the examination of academies : together with an appendix concerning what m. hobbs and m. dell have published on this argument. ward, seth, 1617-1689. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a67575 of text r12478 in the english short title catalog (wing w832). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 162 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 34 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a67575 wing w832 estc r12478 11913100 ocm 11913100 50857 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67575) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 50857) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 44:3) vindiciæ academiarum containing some briefe animadversions upon mr websters book stiled, the examination of academies : together with an appendix concerning what m. hobbs and m. dell have published on this argument. ward, seth, 1617-1689. wilkins, john, 1614-1672. [2], 65 p. printed by leonard lichfield ... for thomas robinson, oxford : 1654. signed: h.d. [i.e., seth ward, bishop of salisbury] ; prefatory epistle signed: n.s. [i.e., john wilkins, bishop of chester] cf. dnb. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. eng webster, john, 1610-1682. -academiarum examen. hobbes, thomas, 1588-1679. -leviathan. dell, william, d. 1664. -tryal of spirits. education, higher -early works to 1800. a67575 r12478 (wing w832). civilwar no vindiciæ academiarum containing, some briefe animadversions upon mr websters book, stiled, the examination of academies. together with an ap ward, seth 1654 29527 16 80 0 0 0 0 33 c the rate of 33 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-00 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2001-06 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2003-07 spi global rekeyed and resubmitted 2003-10 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-10 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion vindiciae academiarum containing , some briefe animadversions upon mr websters book , stiled , the examination of academies . together with an appendix concerning what m. hobbs , and m. dell have published on this argument . oxford , printed by leonard lichfield printer to the university , for thomas robinson . 1654. sir , there came lately to my hands since i came to this place a discourse stiled the examination of accademies , ( which i herewith send you ) it pretends to the reforming of publick schooles , and the promoting of all kind of science . i must confesse my selfe at first sight , very much pleased with the undertakeing , as being suitable to my owne frequent wishes , and what i conceived might with some reason be hoped for in this inquisitive age . and therefore i came to the reading of it , with great expectations of finding somewhat answerable to the noblenesse of the attempt . but i quickly discovered , that i was like to be much disappointed in that hope , & that besides a torrent of affected insignificant tautologies with some peevish unworthy reflections , & the repetitions of some old & trite cavills , together with severall bundles of grosse mistaks there was litle else to be expected from this author . two grand incapacityes for such a worke , he quickly discovers himselfe guilty of , that are not to be pardoned or excused in such an undertaker . 1. his ignorance of the present state of our universityes which he pretends to reforme . 2. his ignorance in the common grounds of those arts and sciences which he undertakes to advance and promote . in both which respects he must needs fall under that censure of folly and shame , which solomon doth ascribe unto those that will venture to judge of a matter before they understand it . 1. for the present state of the universityes . he supposes and takes it for granted , that they are so tyed up to the dictates of aristotle , that whatsoeuer is taught either against or besides him by way of refutation or supply , they do by no meanes admit of , so much as to any consideration or debate , but are wholy ignorant of it . which is so notoriously false , that i should very much wonder with what confidence he could suppose it , if i did not finde mr hobbs likewise guilty of the same mistake . whereas those that understād these places , do know that there is not to be wished a more generall liberty in point of judgment or debate , then what is here allowed . so that there is scarce any hypothesis , which hath been formerly or lately entertained by judicious men , and seemes to have in it any clearenesse or consistency , but hath here its strenuous assertours , as the atomicall and magneticall in philosophy , the copernican in astronomy &c. and though we do very much honour aristotle for his profound judgment and universall learning , yet are we so farre from being tyed up to his opinions , that persons of all conditions amongst us take liberty to discent fom him , and to declare against him , according as any contrary evidence doth ingage them , being ready to follow the banner of truth by whomsoever it shall be lifted up . witnesse the publick lectures of our professors , the positions or questions maintained in the publick exercise of the vniversitie for degrees , & in the private exercises of colledges , besides the instructions and readings of many tutors , wherein the principall things which this author doth accuse us to be ignorant of , and enemies unto , are taught and owned , and i can assure him they are so well learnt , that for all his contempt of the universityes , we have here many young boyes ( who have not yet attained to that very proud & vainglorious title of bachelours of art , ( as he is pleased to phrase it ) that are able to reforme this reformer , in those things , wherein he thinks us all so ignorant , and himselfe so great a master . 2. and for his ignorance in the common grounds of those things which he undertakes to advance and promote , his whole discourse doth not so clearely prove any thing else , ( not that which he intends by it , ) as it doth prove this . let any serious man but consider the two first chapters of it , wherein he endeavours to prove , vniversities are not in any kind usefull to fit men for the ministry , but opposite thereunto , pag. 3. and that those systems of theology , which are therein taught are not only uselesse but hurtfull , pag. 10. one might reasonably expect that upon flinging out his gauntlet for the defence of such positions as these , this author should muster up his forces , and appeare at least with some seeming strength and reason . and yet he doth nothing lesse . his arguments to this purpose being generally so triviall , coincident , inconsequent , that we sh●uld looke upon it as a signe of very great negligence or ignorance in many of our young boyes , if they should debate matters in so impertinent and loose a manner . and i must observe by the way , how this author doth herein give sufficient warning what we are to expect from him in the reforming of logick , of the use of which he himselfe understands so little , that will teach a man how to define and distinguish , to understand consequences and method , and by this meanes to speake clearely , strongly and plainly : to which he is altogether a stranger . nor is it to be much wondered at , if he appeare an enemy to syllogismes , ( as he afterward professes ) considering how wildly his own arguments would looke , if they were to be put into that dresse . he supposes in both these chapters , that the universities doe undertake to teach spirituall knowledge , and to furnish men with such gifts , as do only proceed from the spirit of god . and this is the chiefe foundation that he doth erect his following heap of arguments upon , then which nothing can be more groundlesse or false . there being no man , ( that ever i heard of ) who hath believed or asserted any such thing . and i cannot think it any great presumption to believe that i understand the tenets of the uniuersity in this point as well as he . i am sure it hath been the common opinion amongst them , that there are three kind of gifts materially requisite to compleat a man unto the ministeriall function . 1. something to be infused by the spirit of god , which must illuminate him to understand the misteries of the gospell , and affect his heart with an experimentall savour , and acquaintance with those sacred truths wherein he is to instruct others . 2. some naturall abilityes in respect of solidity of judgment , strength of memory , warmenes of affection , readinesse and volubility of speech , by which he may be rendered much more serviceable in that worke , then those that want these abilities . 3. something to be acquired by our own industry and the teaching others ; namely , a distinct and methodicall comprehention of the severall subjects to be treated of , together with the meanes or advantages that helpe to facilitate the worke of instructing others . in which respect it may be of singular use for a man to be acquainted with the severall scriptures and reasons , that are more immediately pertinent to any particular head in theologie , as concerning god , his attributes , workes : the fallen estate of man , the meanes of his restitution &c. the dutyes of the law and gospell together with many particular cases of conscience which are incident to the various states and businesses of life . concerning all which things , sure it can be no hinderance to a man ( as this author supposes ) to have all the most materiall notions upon any subject , put together , cleared up and stated by the concurrent labours of many wise and good men , after much consideration and experience about them . and this is that theologie , which the universities do pretend to teach , and though it doth not exceed the sphere of those common gifts which meer naturall men are capeable of , yet is it of such singular use to enable a man to speake distinctly unto severall points , to confirme truth , to cleare up difficultyes , answer doubts and consequently to help in the worke of informing others . that i am not able to imagine any reason , why an eminent ability in this kind might not be sufficient to make a man capable of a civill degree , as well as skill in any other faculty . i am sure the preparatory studies required to the profession of physick or civill law , are not more then for this theology , nor is it lesse copious for its extent , or of lesse importance and usefulnesse for its end , then either of the other faculties . now unlesse this author will say , that he who has grace , and is without these gifts , is better able to teach , then he that hath both grace and these gifts too , he hath no reason to complaine of the uselesnesse and danger of academicall education , in reference to the worke of the ministry . whereas he doth object that these common gifts are a temptation to pride , confidence , boasting : that is meerely accidentall : so is health too , and liberty , and all other naturall or acquired abilities , and he may upon as good grounds , hope to perswade men to love sicknesse and slavery , as to preferre ignorance before that knowledge of this kind that is to be learnt in the universities ; the best things that are ( even grace it selfe ) may be accidentally hurtfull by the abuse of them , but that is no argument against their proper usefulnesse . as for his objecting that place of the apostle , where he bids to beware of philosophy : if that prohibition be to be understood absolutely , and without limitation , why doth he here pretend so much to the knowledge of it himselfe , and to the advancement of it in others ? the same answer that he will make for his own vindication , will serve for his objection . but besides if he consider the place better , he will find the words to be , beware least any man spoile you through philosophy and vaine deceit . where 't is the abuse and not the use that is prohibited . i cannot passe over this subject without taking notice of the neare affinity betwixt his third and fourth argument against schoole theologie , pag. 14 , 15. in one he quarrells with it because t is drawn into a strict logicall method . and in the next , because t is a confused chaos . are they not judiciously put together ? and is not the man very quarrellsome ? that out of zeale to contradict his adversaries , takes no care of contradicting himselfe . what a loose and wild kind of vapouring is that cap. 3. about cryptography , and the universall character wherein he supposes the universities to be wholly ignorant , none of them having so much as touched at these things . pag. 24. but above all , the man doth give me the freest prospect of his depth and braine , in that canting discourse about the language of nature , wherein he doth assent unto the highly illuminated fraternity of the rosycrucians in his large encomiums upon iacob behem , in that reverence which he professes to judiciall astrologie , which may sufficiently convince what a kind of credulous fanatick reformer he is like to prove . how wretchedly doth he abuse some ingenious opinions by his ignorant managing of them , particularly the copernican hypothesis ; in the defence of which he urges such pittifull arguments as are enough to fright a serious man from the beliefe of it , & to breed a prejudice against it in such as are that way inclined . it is enough to nauseate and make a man sick to peruse his crude and jejune animadversions upon logick , mathematicks , physickes , metaphysickes , &c. with the expedients or remedyes which he proposes , wherein he has abused some good authors , by his ill managing the notions that they have suggested to him . i must needs confesse that at the first sight of this book , i had a very great desire to know what the person was who had put himselfe forward to so noble an attempt , as reforming all schooles , and advancing all arts . but for that he doth in his epistle at the beginning referre wholly to his booke , whereby he saith he will discover himself as hercules doth by his foot & the lion by his pawe . but if i were to judge of him by the impressions which he therein makes of his foote or pawe , i should not by that guesse him to be either a hercules or a lion , but some more weake and lesse generous animal . i have heard from very good hands that he is suspected to be a friar , his conversation being much with men of that way , and the true designe of this booke being very suitable to one of that profession , besides that his superficiall and confused knowledge of things is much about that elevation . i should have been apt to have conjectured him to be some obscure person , whose peevish malecontented humour had brought him into the gang of the vulgar levellers : amongst whom his ability to talke of some things out of the common road , hath raised him to the reputation of being {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , some extraordinary person ; and by that meanes hath blowne him up to such a selfe-confidence , as to think himselfe fit to reforme the universityes . and thus sir have i given you my suddaine thoughts upon the cursory reading of this examen . and though the booke will appeare unto all judicious men but slight and contemptible , yet because it may light into the hands of some weaker persons , who may be apt to take accusations for convictions : it would not be amisse if for their sakes some body would vouchfafe more particularly to examine this examiner , and to disabuse such as may be seduced by him . it is part of that scholastick imprudence , which men of our profession are subject unto , to sit downe and satisfie our selves in our owne knowledge of the weakenesse of such adversaries , without taking any paines to satisfie others , who are not so well able to judge . i shoud think that mr alex : rosse might in some respects be very fit to enter the lists with this champion . but i know not how farre he may at present be engaged in the confutation of some better booke . i am very sure sir there are many of your acquaintance , who if their leisure and patience would permit , are able to play with this hercules , and i should think it a good recreation for some of their spare howers . and the hopes that you may be instrumentall for this is , the chiefe occasion that provoked me to trouble you with so large an account of my present thoughts upon this subject . it may seem somewhat odde and strange to consider what severall kinds of adversaries have of late appeared against the universityes . mr hobbs , mr dell , mr webster . the first of them being a person of good ability and solid parts , but otherwise highly magisteriall , and one that will be very angry with all that do not presently submit to his dictates , and for advancing the reputation of his own skill , cares not what unworthy reflexions he casts on others . it were not amisse , if he were made acquainted , that for all his slighting of the universityes , there are here many men , who have been very well versed in those notions and principles which he would be counted the inventer of , and that before his workes were published . and though he for his part may think it below him to acknowledge himselfe beholding to mr warners manuscripts , yet those amongst us who haue seen and perused them must for many things give him the honour of precedency before mr hobbs . the other ( as farre as his character may be pickt out of his writings ) is an angry fanatick man , who wanting himselfe such academicall learning as would become his relation , would needs perswade others against it , like the ape in the fable . but there is reason to hope that he may be shortly called to an account , and lay'd openby a person of eminent worth , whom he hath weakely provoked . the last is this worthy author , who by a smattering and superficiall knowledge hath raised himselfe a repute amongst his ignorant followers . in the strength of which he comes forth to teach the universities . i should have used him with much more tendernesse and respect , if it had not been very evident to me that it was not so much an ingenuous affection to the advancement of learning , as a froward and malicious prejudice against the universities , that put him on to this worke . but by this time i have tired you as well as my selfe , let me crave your pardon for this tediousnesse , and that you would continue to esteeme me for sir your most affectionate friend and servant n. s. sir , if i should gaine no other fruit beside the pleasure of my giving testimony to the service and respect i beare you , it were a reward exceedingly beyond the labour of the taske which you ( by recommending ) have imposed upon me . the advancement of learning and the consideration of designes tending that way , are things exceedingly suitable to mydesires , these things have beene the argument of much discourse , which i have had the hapinesse to have with you . i must needs say that i should not more desire ( next to the matters of the highest concernement ) to meet with a booke of any other argument , then such an one as should propose expedients for the perfecting and promoting of all kinds of science . and that is the undertaking of the booke you are pleased to send me , ( in the title-page of it ) so that the pleasure you are pleased to give me in offering me under the notion of satisfying your desires that which is so suitable to my owne , takes off all consideration of labour in turning the times of my diversion to scribling , and yet leaves me the hopes of your acceptance , as if i had taken paines , or done something in your service . i can easily conceive , that upon the ground which i have laid ( of my delight in writings tending to the advancement of learning . ) i may raise a suspicion that out of compleasance to you i would diminish the service which herein i offer you . seeing the disappointment of our earnest expectations in things we seriously desire , doth use to be unpleasant to us , and such a disappointment you have sufficiently fore warned me of in your epistle . but i must professe i am farre from any such reach in complement . designes that way , do allwayes please me however managed , prouided it be not in the way of a dull and nauseous mediocrity . you may perhaps sir , impute this to some peculiary in my disposition . yet i have observed in other men , that they have expressed as great a pleasure at the combate of clinias and dametas , as of amphialus and musidorus , and when punteus was in towne , i saw the soberest of the spectatours as much affected at the imitations of the zany , as at the active , and ( in their kind ) admirable performances of the cheife actor . there is an excellēcy in that which is uncouth , aswell as in what is handsome ; and it is enough for me if any thing be excellent in its kind , and such i found ( upon my slight perusall ) to be the booke you sent me , which to my lord bacons advancement , and those which some others have designed , beares such proportion as i have intimated . it remaines therefore that i humbly thanke you for so farre considering my genius , which allwayes inclining me to idlenesse , you have found out a way to imploy my vacancyes with a just satisfaction , such as doth arise rather from being slightly busied then not at all , rather from trifling then perfect idlenesse . in complyance therefore with your desire , i mean to runne over this reverend authour , not staying upon his expressions , or making a toyle of a pleasure but briefely touching upon the things he mentions , taking no care either of my passions or expressions , any farther then to reteine them within the compasse of civility . those things which you have taken the paines to confute , i shall not so much as once recite , the remainder i shall carelesly and slightly ( that is , in my apprehension most becomingly ) speake to . 't is true , you have given us a perfect character of him in your epistle ; but because some may conjecture that he knowes himselfe , better then you know him ( though in truth you are much a better judge of him then he is of himselfe : ) i suppose it may not be unusefull to gather together that character which he hath given of himselfe , that doing him no wrong , and forming a just idea of him in the beginning of my discourse , the reader may be prepared for a due reception of that which followes . we may understand him by his stile ( oratio indicat virum ) and by his passions , wherein its hard for a man to dissemble . he enters in feare & proceedes in jelousies . his first feare is ( of affrighting the tender scholars ) least he should be looked on as some goth or vandall , hunne or scythian comming like a torrent from the boreall mountaines of cold stupidity &c. but for that his comfort is , that others cannot more experimentally and apodictically anatomize his idiocracy then himselfe , wherein besides the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of his elloquence , there is likewise a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of sence not fathomable by common understandings ; as how others should at all experimentally , or he himselfe should apodictically anatomize his idiocracy . his next is a doubtfull pang , least he should be charged with over much confidence , & the proposall of fame for his guerdon but here againe his bosome is his sāctuary , i find him valiant ( your petifull men are alwayes so ) the sanctuary of his brest and a sentence of the accedence are his retreat ; & this is his comfort a man is a man though he have but an hose on his head , and homo is a common name for all men . 't is to be hoped his examen may be favourable to the gramar , who is thus beholding to the accedence ; yet some men think he could not want an high degree of confidence that should expect fame from compiling such a worke as this . his next encounter is against the suspition of avarice , as if he would ruine universities to share in the spoile . but this he doth sufficiently confute by an argument of such a weighty consequence , as i hope no man will be so uncivill as to deny . for he is no deane nor master president , nor provost , fellow , nor pensioner , and least any man should suspect him to be of another order which he hath omitted viz. a scholler ; he gives assurance to the contrary by that new ellegance which he hath added to an old verse , qui cadit in terram non habet unde cadat . which he hath reformed it into nonsence : indeed although we hope that none could suspect him of any such interst ; yet all those parties ought to thank him for his care in giving the world this satisfaction . by this time he supposes the drousy world awakened by the sound of his thundering stile ( and by the proclamation of his heroicall designes ) to enquire into the origine and education of him that dares censure ( and defy all the universityes in the universe though he might chose to answer ; he won't be cinicall but say , that hercules is eastly known by his foot , and the lyon by his paw , his treatise shall shew that he is a free borne englishman ( of the house of the websters ) and that 's enough for modest inquirers . and now one would think this herculean lyon should be no more afraid , but againe behold he trembles , least some should think his treatise to be like plato's republick : sr thomas mores vtopia , or the ld. bacons new atlantis . but if they should do so , they were surely much to blame , and 't were an unpardonable errour , i should be very glad to rid him from this feare , but i consider it is the destiny of such heroes , borne for reformers of the world , to be men of working fancies , subject to māy feares & trances . his predecessor in the military way ( the famous hero of the mancha mistooke a windmill for an inchanted castle , and this man ( man did i say , this hero ) lyes under the same delusion , relieve him i cannot , lament him i must , o webster webster quae te dementia cepit . he hath a petty scruple yet remaining , least he may possibly be charged with an infirmity of pilfering or nimming : but he can say , with macrobius , omne meum , nihil meum , the treatise is of his own invention ( he found it in helmont , verulam , gassendus , and some others ) he hath indeed taken some hints to the mountenance of three quarters of the treatise , but he took them from strong men , fighting with the steely instruments of demonstration &c. and no man can accuse him of singularity , whilest noble heroes beare him company . thus have you sir , a character of this noble reformer , given us liberally by himselfe , he would not calumniate the academies , ( but censure the corruptions of the present generation ) he professes he hath not done all he could , so that if he faile , we must blame his weaknesse not his will ; where by the way , observe the consequence of his reformed logick , he could have done more if he would , and yet we must blame his weaknesse not his will . hitherto you have had his apologies , he will now put us to ours , for explicit epistola , incipit examen academiarum . cap. i. of the generall ends of erecting publique schooles . he acknowledges , that no nation hath been so ferall as not to honour literature , for the indians had their brachmans &c. and these had their publick schooles . the man we see thinks it brutishnesse not to honour learning , & the way for learning to flourish , to be by instituting academies . how infinitely are we beholden to him for this testimony . yet they had not so farre as he can gather ( and that 's as farre as some milder author will furnish him , for its hard to name from whence he had his catalogue of brachmans , magi , and druides , there are so many who taken with the bombast of their names love to recite them ) any publick salaryes : but their merit was their maintenance &c. here first it will be worth the while to observe his course of reasoning , how it differs from ours in the universities . 1. he cannot gather they had publick salaries . 2. therefore they had no salaries at all ( for their merit was their maintenance . ) 3. yet their excellence in arts procured them advancement . i see the reason why he is offended at our logick ; but ( to answere seriously ) if he have any meaning in this touch , it must be of bad signification to the revenues of the universities . but it would be sad , if things should be modelled by this mans reading , or universities were to subsist upon his collections . t is true , we never read of aesculapius , what fees he took , nor of the price of homers ballads , yet we know that homer had a mouth , else how could he sing ? and by the immortality of his workes we know that his drink was not water . — nec vivere carmina possunt quae scribuntur aquae potoribus . this mans predecessor in the way of knight errantry , had like to have runne into a grievous mistake , because he had never read in any author , that they used to carry money ; and if m. webster compose himselfe to the model of what he reads concerning those ancient worthies , i confesse i should feare to keepe him company ; for not reading of any shirts or shooes that they made use of , i know not how sweet & cleanly i might find him . well sir , that which followes is very sad , and you having answered the theologicall part , i intend to skip it over . the ends of erecting academies , have been in his account , the same in generall to all people , though they have differed in particulars . viz. politick , in reference to the common-wealth military . civill . religious , serving to idolatry amongst the heathen . the ministry amongst christians . the politick use he approves of , to the great happinesse of the universities , rejoyce therefore o ye academies , for ye may remaine notwithstanding the strenuous endeavour of the scythians , the gothes , the vandalls , and the huns . dicite , io paean . but the religious use of them he disapproves , and here it is that you have sufficiently contunded him , and saved us the labour of a reply , i shall not therefore need to speake a word to his theologicall arguments , the judicious reader will excuse this chasme , being so happily prevented by your learned strictures , i shall touch upon that which you took no notice of . it fell within the compasse of his wit , being so vast and comprehensive to discerne , that languages may be judged usefull to theology , see therefore how he will elevate their reputation . it is not ( he saies ) concluded which are the originall copies : and tongues teach but the grammaticall sence . it is indeed disputed which copies are authenticall , betwixt men of his religion , and those of ours , but the want of grammar , hath made a protestant of a friar , for by translating the word authenticall , into the word originall , he hath ( by meer chance ) renounced the tridentine councell , tacitely acknowledging the vulgar latine not to be authenticall . but his logick is as fortunate as his grammar , he argues tongues to be unnecessary to theology ( for i am loth to offend his tender eares or head ) because they teach but the grammaticall sence , and a literall understanding : sir , you may perhaps demand a reason of the consequence , thinking the knowledge of the grammaticall sence , to be necessary to the attaining of the spirituall meaning , but i shall desire to be heard as to the antecedent , and to be his remembrancer , that tongues , nay letters , have taught a way of mysticall theology , as mysticall as need to be , and not unworthy to be compared to his which followes ; 't is pitty he had not heard of the mysteries of the gnosticks , nor the ziruph gematry and notariacon of the cabalists , that one might have gained his favour to the greek , the other to the hebrew tongue , to the advancement of marcus and colarbasus , and the sparing of behemen & de fluctibus . but the knowledge of tongues is built upon no surer a foundation then traditionall faith . alasse ! who knowes there ever was such a language as greeke or hebrew or latine , or that the words do signify as we are told . mr webster is a deepe thinking man , and will not be put off without a demonstration or revelation ( you charge him wrongfully with popery he hates traditions ) and will not i warrant you upon tradition believe that caput signifyes a head , or that this word head , can represent that noble part of his stiled in the verses before his book his bonny sconce , where so much wit & learning is inskulled , in this point surely he may say , if he be not guilty of too much dubi●ation , with pyrrho , he is not over confident with aristotle . but there are errours in all translations , therefore toungs are unnecessary , how necessary to renounce their reason , is it for those who deale with them of the mystery . some would have thought because there were errours therefore the study of languages are necessary ; that were indeed the logicall consequence , but the other is the misticall . his last argument of making men proud of their skill you have answered , and this for the first chapter as to what you thought worthy of your notice , the second concerning schoole-theology , hath felt likewise the weight of your hand : i passe on therefore to the third , being earnest to tast of his humanity . cap. iii. of the division of that which the schooles call humane learning , and first of tongues or languages . that which he proposes in the third chapter is to speake 1. of the division of humane learning , made by the schooles . himselfe . 2. of languages , where he proposes , 1. their uselessenesse . 2. a dispute about the way of attainement , whether that by grammar be the best . 3. errors of grammar . 4. advancements , by hieroglyphicks . symbolismes . steganography . universall character . language of nature . the first part of his undertaking , i shall not stand much upon , because the good man ha's hinted at some others worthy of more consideration , the good man ( for i feare i offend when i call him master webster , because of pag. 11. ) is offended that knowledge should be divided into speculative and practicall : naturall philosophy hath for its object , corpus naturale mobile , and the end is not speculation , and so its practicall . mathematicks hath taught men to build houses , &c. therefore that is practicall , and the schooles would have them speculative . a sad thing , and worthy the animadversion of this great reformer . now if the schooles should answer , that the end of these sciences may be practised , and yet they may be speculative , i know not what he would reply . i am much given to observe the course of his ratiocination , which alwaies ends in mystery . see then how he proceeds for naturall philosophy : this cannot be speculative , for the end of it is more sublime then to rest in speculation . well , what 's the end ? to behold the eternall power and godhead , that 's , speculation : but farther , to be drawne to worship him , that 's indeed practise ; but lastly , to worship him , that we may come to the vision of him , that 's speculation ; the end therefore of it may be speculation , and so the schooles escape a whipping . for what he saies concerning the mathematicks , as you know sr it cannot choose but move mee , they have bin sōetime accounted my mistresse , and jealousy must work when i find another courting her , and that so passionately that he falls into an extasy : ( o sublime , transcendent , beautifull , and most noble mistresse ( quoth he ) who would not be enamoured on thy seraphick pulchritude &c. ) but making my approach to him , i find him at his distance , praying ( like some moping friar to the lady of lauretto , or like ) the nephew of the queene of faery , and uttering a speech to her , made by iohn dee in his preface , enough to satisfy mee , that she is yet pure and untouched by him , and hath not entertained him into any familiarity . seriously sir , had he read the book as well as the preface , nay had he understood but the two first propositions , he would have perceived , how theorems doe serve in order to problemes , and practise may be the end of contemplation , and so againe the schooles might have escaped him . well! but see him divide now the arts and sciences , behold him coming to it with his cleaver , or rather with his herculean beetle endeavouring to split them in three peeces . 1. the first are those that though they seeme to conferre some knowledge , yet they doe it in order to a farther end , and so are instrumentall . and this part , according to this author , ought to comprehend all arts and sciences , and so the block of sciences , hath escaped the wedge , though it hath felt the beetle-head . 2. those which conferre knowledge of themselves , and are not instrumentall to others , as naturall philosophy , &c. here the beetle rebounds , and gives himselfe a blow , for can the science of naturall things , whose subject is corpus naturale mobile , p. 18. chuse but be subordinate and instrumentall to the discovery of god , and the preservation of health ? p. 18.19 . 3. the third sort are those , which though they conferre some knowledge , and have some peculiar uses , so they seeme necessary as ornamentall . we see the blow the beetle gave him , hath wholly bereft him of his sence , a sad example upon a man , that not contented with the old , would set himselfe to make amongst us new divisions . well may he loose his senses , but he will never loose his mettle , he no sooner awakes out of his trance , but biting his tongue by chance , upon that occasion he falls upon the thought of tongues and languages . wherefore woe be to them . 1. the knowledge of tongues beareth a great noise in the world ( and is it not strange that tongues should keep such a noise ? ) and yet there is not much profit by them . the profit that is by tongues is only 1. to understand one another . 2. to make forreigne negotiations and to traffick and therefore 't is not worth the while to learne them . the argument is somewhat mysticall , i shall endeavour a little to unfold the mystery ; all good things relate only to the body or mind , and the lives of men are divided into these foure kinds {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} riches or pleasure carry the greatest sway , and those are carryed on in the world by negotiations and traffick , these administer to every nation whatever is the peculiar advantage of any one , & furnishes them all with gold & silver , &c. which men have agreed to make the common measure of riches , and with all things conducing to health and pleasure . now there is no traffick without the use of languages , therefore there is not much profit in them . well these are commonly counted good things , but our zeletique or sceptick may be in that a stoick , these are commoda not bona , things that are good and profitable are the goods of the mind , and those are attained by making use of the discourse and writings of men of all ages and nations , and that is not to be done without skill in languages , so that againe there is but little profit by them . 't is true no sort of men can well be without thē , as they cannot be without the sun , ( his heat to nourish , his light to guide them ) therefore the use of them is little , this is his logick , but i am apt to forget my selfe as oft as i shall fall into his mysteries . 2. but if languages were worth the while to learne , yet the way of teaching them ( by grammar &c. ) is not the best . either the way must be by grammar , or by exercise in colloquy , if the latter it must be gained by cōversation either at home or abroad . first for the learned languages , latin , greeke , hebrew and the rest of that ranke , whether shall a man travell to converse with such as will speake to him in those tongues : as for other tongues , as french , italian , spanish &c. his advice will be to travell into those nations . but if any man make it his businesse to comprehend them all , he must either hire men of all sorts to be with him as conversers , or must apply himselfe to all , ( travelling till he meet with them ) so that the result will be that instead of some daies in his study , a man spends many years in travell or conversation , and all for saving the expence of time and charges . the way of conversation , makes men ready and confident , but that alone will never make them accurate , an instance whereof we have , in that none that have no skill in grammar , can ever amongst us ( though they speake excellently ) attaine the true writing of our english tongue , and though many have come to be knowing men , as to the substance , and vastly read , yet i never knew an accurate man , fit to write or speake in any learned language , who neglected the grammar of it . this i thought proper enough for an academicall man to take notice of : as for his exceptions to the grammar , as being void of evidentiall perspicuity , and not coapted to the tender capacities of young years &c. i leave them to the schooles of the lower forme to answer . the man supposes that universities , like to the scholae illustres of the jesuites , teach the latine grammar , and to goe through even the lowest elements of learning : but you know sir , that it is neither usuall nor lawfull to teach the latine grammar in the universities . if this man have ever seene any universities , they have been the romish schooles and academies , to whose elevation , the learning which he discovers , and the reformation he proposes , are ( to use his excellent phrase ) coapted . but in truth i am extreamly ravished at the defects he finds in grammar , and his proposalls for its advancement , how sweetly and congruously hath he drawn in to the reliefe and advancement of grammar and language , those things which mortall men intended to set in opposition to them . it is reported of friar bacon , that time was when by the strength of alchymy he made a brazen head to speake time is &c. but how farre hath our friar exceeded him , who taking of hieroglyphicks , emblemes , symbols , and cryptography , and according to his capacity , hath extracted out of silence , an advance of eloquence , and from dumb signes a grammar . sir , i doe not deny that the consideration of these things may very well accompany the consideration of grammar , and the defects in these kinds may be spoken of very methodically , together with the defects of grammar , they being all conversant ( though in waies as absolutely different as the eare is from the ey ) about signification , and generally referring to it : but to make them all one , or parts of each other , amounts to no lesse then a great want of consideration . it is a thing to be acknowledged by all considering men , that knowledge is conveighed by signification of our notions to one another , that signes may be made ( by institution of men ) in any way which doth admit of a sufficient variety , and that knowledge may be communicated , as well by the eye as by the eare , but to say that by introducing that way , either grammar or languages should be advanced , it were as mysticall as to affirme , that the day light is advanced by the coming of the night , or that he would kill a man for his preservation . to discourse concerning hieroglyphicall ( or emblematicall ) and cryptographicall learning , is as needlesse , to men that know any thing , as uselesse to m webster , who out of the abundance of his ingenuity , confesses the cryptographicall bookes of porta , agrippa , trit●hemius , &c. to be written to his wonder and amazement ; what was the designe of them , and to whether pallas they referre , he troubles not himselfe to know , it is enough for him , that orthography and cryptography have the same end , and he hath heard that the first is a part of grammar : and why may not emblems be a part of grammar , as well as etymology , they begin both with a letter , the word sounds as well , and emblematicall is a neater word , and suits perhaps better with his mouth then etymologicall . besides . hierogliphicks and cryptography , were invented for concealement of things , and used either in mysteries of religion which were infanda , or in the exigences af warre , or in occa●ions of the deepest secresy , ( such as those of love , which is not to be owned , or of the great elix●r , and the like ) and grammar is one of those arts and language one of those helps , which serve for explication of our minds and notions : how incongruous then is it , that the art of concealement , should not be made a part of the art of illustration ; surely it would make much to the advancement of children while they are learning the elements of grammar , to be put upon the speculation of the mensa isiacae , the canopi , and obeliskes , the thesaurus hieroglyphicus , or grosschedel's magicall calendar ; this would certainly effect , even in children , what porta & agrippa have done to m. webster , bring them to wonder and amazement . but he hath extreamely disobliged whosoever have been authors of the symbolicall way , either in mathematicks , philosophy , or oratory , to bring them under the ferula , and make those who have exempted themselves from the encombrances of words to be brought post liminio , into the grammar schoole , it was little thought by vieta , m. oughtred , or herrigon , that their designation of quantities by species , or of the severall waies of managing them by symbols ( whereby we are enabled to behold , as it were , with our eyes , that long continued series of mixt and intricate ratiocination , which would confound the strongest fancy to sustaine it , and are with ease let in to the abstruseft , and most perplexed depths , wherein the contemplation of quantity is concerned ) should ever have met so slight a considerer of them , as should bring them under grammar . it is very well known to the youth of the university , that the avoiding of confusion or perturbatiō of the fancy made by words , or preventing the los of sight of the generall reason of things , by the disguise of particular nūbers , having passed through severall formes of operation , was the end and motive of inventing mathematicall symbols , so that it was a designe perfectly intended against language and its servant grammar , and that carried on so farre , as to oppose the use of numbers themselves , which by the learned , are stiled lingua mathematicorum , with whom {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and numero inexplicabile are equipollent : but mr w. makes me wild to follow him in his mysteries . the use of symbols is not confined to the mathematicks only ; but hath been applied to the nature of things , by the pythagorean philosophers , and diverse of the cabalists , and to the art of speaking , by diverse both jewes and others : and this symbolicall art is that ars combinatoria , frō which picus mirandula & others , make such large undertakings . the pythagoreans did make symbols of numbers , designing ( ex arbitrio ) the parts of nature ( as the supreme mind , the first matter &c. ) by them , an instance whereof is platos , timeus ; the combinatorian jews ( viz. the author of iezirah and others ) and from them i. picus : schalichius lully , and others , have made symbols of the letters of the alphabet , so that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} signifies with them god : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the angelicall nature &c. the use of this way with all symbolicall writers old or new , ( numeralls , literalls , algebraicalls ( for there want not such as have designed things by the notes of cossic powers ) is to discourse ( that is to compare subjects and subjects , subjects and predicates , and to deduce conclusions ) freely without the trouble of words , upon which while the mind of man is intended , it neither sees the consequence so cleerely , nor can so swiftly make comparison as when it is acquitted of those obstacles , an instance whereof every man hath in casting an account by sarracenicall ziphers , which is much more certaine and speedy , then if the numbers were designed either in words at length , or in the letters of any alphabet ; if ever there be a speedy way made to the attainement of knowledge , it must be by making a shorter , and clearer cutt to the understanding ( by the way of signification ) then that which is travailed now by words ; which advancement of learning and knowledge , will bring ( not an advance , as this man innocently supposes , but ) an elevation and uselessenesse upon language and grammar . for this effect is that which is pretended to by the vniversall character , about which he smatters so deliciously viz. to take away from every nation the necessity of learning any other beside their mother tongue ( which no nation is taught by the rules of grammar ) by designing all things & notions by certaine common signes which may be intelligible by all alike though diversly expressible ( as our numerall notes , the notes of the 12 signes &c. ) you see sir how methodicall the man is by bringing this under grammar , however i shall take this hint to speake a little freely concerning this argument . sir when i first fell from that verbose way of tradition of the mathematicks , used by the ancients , and of late by almost all ( such as clavius and the like ) who have written huge volumes of particular subjects ; into the symbolicall way , invented by vieta , advanced by harriot , perfected by mr oughtred , and des cartes : i was presently extreamly taken with it , finding by this meanes , that not only the substance of those vast volumes might be brought into the compasse of a sheet or two , but that the things thus reduced were more comprehensible and mannageable ; the labour of the braine much taken off , and a way layd open ( by the various comparisons and applications of quantities ) for invention and demonstration of infinite propositions with more ease then before we could vnderstand those which others had invented for us . and i was put upon an eranest desire , that the same course might be taken in other things ( the affections of quantity , the object of universall mathematicks , seeming to be an argument too slender to engrosse this benefit . ) my first proposall was to find whether other things might not as well be designed by symbols , and herein i was presently resolved that symboles might be found for every thing and notion , ( i having found the variety of many millons of signes in a square of a quarter of an inch ) so that an universall character might easily be made wherein all nations might communicate together , just as they do in numbers and in species . and to effect this , is indeed the designe of such as hitherto have done any thing concerning an universall character . and the thing thus proposed is feasible , but the number of severall characters will be almost infinite ( at left as great as the number of primitive words in the most copious tongues and the learning of them either impossible or very difficult . of this kind i have seen severall essayes , one in print , another in manuscript shewed to k. charles ( containing the first book of homers iliads done into characters , ) but in truth such as would never be received , or if they should , would give us no other benefit , besides a communication without language ( which is that which is spoken of the china characters . ) so that the tradition of learning , or faciliation of it would be but little advanced by this meanes . but it did pesently occurre to me , that by the helpe of logick and mathematiticks this might soone receive a mighty advantage , for all discourses being resolved in sentences , those into words , words signifying either simple notions or being resolvible into simple notions , it is manifest , that if all the sorts of simple notions be found out , and have symboles assigned to them , those will be extreamly few in respect of the other , ( which are indeed characters of words , such as tullius tiro's ) the reason of their composition easily known , and the most compounded ones at once will be comprehended , and yet will represent to the very eye all the elements of their composition , & so deliver the natures of things : and exact discources may be made demonstratively without any other paines then is used in the operations of specious analytics . and to such a character as this , there is but one thing more desireable , which is to make it effable , because it is a dul thing to discourse by pointing & indication : and as to this there is thus much obvious , that if the first & most simple things & notions are so few as is the nūber of consonants , & the modall variations so few as may be expressed by vowels and diphthongs , this also may be done with great ease and clearenesse , otherwise not without admitting homonymies and synonimies into that language . and here also , a successe hath been found much beyond expectation , viz. that the characters before described may be utterable , and the names be made up of the definitions of things , or a complexion of all those notions , whereof a complexe is compounded , every simple notion being expressed by one syllable , and the most complexe notion , consisting of as many syllables , as it doth of simple elementall notions . this designe if perfected , would be of very great concernement to the advancement of learning , and i know one in this university , who hath attempted some thing this way , & undertaks as farre as the tradition of reall learning , by which i understand the mathematicks , and naturall philosophy , and the grounds of physick . however m. webster will be brought by this , to acknowledge that these things are considered in the universities , and that they only are not dry , whilest he and his friends are madid . such a language as this ( where every word were a definition and contain'd the nature of the thing ) might not unjustly be termed a naturall language , and would afford that which the cabalists and rosycrucians have vainely sought for in the hebrew , and in the names of things assigned by adam , which m. webster , passing the bounds of sence and reason , would bring under the laws and regulation of donatus , although as he concludes most grammatically , c. ult. it be not acquisitive but dative . sir , familiarity with m. webster makes me bold with him , and that hath encouraged me , to deny that ever there was any such language of nature , and to offer him this demonstration . the paradisicall protoplast , being characteristically bound to the ideal matrix of magicall contrition , by the symphoniacall inspeaking of aleph tenebrosum , and limited by shem hamphorash to the centrall idees , in-blowne by the ten numerations of belimah , which are ten and not nine , ten and not eleaven ; and consequently being altogether absorpt in decyphering the signatures of ensoph , beyond the sagacity of either a peritrochiall , or an isoperimetrall expansion . the lynges of the faetiferous elocution , being disposed only to introversion , was destitute at that time of all peristalticall effluxion , which silenced the otacousticall tone of of the outflying word , and suppressed it in singultient irructations . but where the formes are thus enveloped in a reluctancy to pamphoniacall symbols , and the phantasmaticall effluviums checked by the tergiversation of the epiglottis , from its due subserviency to that concord and harmony which ought to have been betwixt lapsed man and his fellow strings , each diatesseron being failed of its diapente necessary to make up a diapason no perfect tone could follow . and consequently this language of nature must needs be impossible . i am apt to suspect that this demonstration may to some seeme somewhat obscure , but i am very sure that if mr webster doth understand what he hath transcribed upon this subject it must have to him ( to use his own phrase ) an evidentiall perspicuity . thus having demonstrated what i undertooke , i make an end of this chapter , and proceed to comment upon your text , concerning that which followes . cap. iv. of logick . how great a favourer of sciences mr webster is , will appeare in this , that in every chapter his discourse ( if i may be bold to call it so without a catachresis ) equally runnes against the schooles , and the arts themselves . i am perswaded he used to be sorely beaten in the schooles with stripes , and that hath raised up in him , this fatall indignation , wo worth the hand that gathred the twigs , that made the rod , that whipt the — for what if he were uncapable of arts ? ex quovis ligno non fit &c. & what though frō a child he were given to pilfering , & to plagiarisme , we know that every thing would live , & if he now can make a book from whence he hopes that he shall volitare — vivus per ora virum , & yet take of that booke , whole sheets together from other authors , mentioning them only now and then in the margent , as if he quoted a line or two of them , if i say by this trade he can live , yes and rant amongst the levellers , and be suffered to spend much paper , let them say what they please , the man is to be regarded both as a wit , and a great paines-taker . that which followes & is considerable in this whole booke , except his raptures when he falls in contemplation of magick , astrology , or behmens workes is intirely taken from others , but they are strong men , there 's his valour , and they are none of his acquaintance , there 's his ingenuity this chapter begins pag. 32. and reaches to the 40. pag. of these , his 33. pag. is taken from gassendas his exercitations pag. 162. his 34th from l. bacon pag. 33 ( in 160 ) his 36th from gassend . exerc. pag. 100 , 101 , 102. his 37. and 38. out of helmont . pag. 42 , 43 , 44. the rest of the chapter out of verulam and agrippa , and thus i could give an account of all the rest were it not to be jejune and troublesome . but to come to our examen his scope being to speake against the logick taught in our universities , his discourse runs upon these heads . 1. logick is a meere verball contest . 2. it is ill applyed for the finding forth of verity , induction being laid aside and syllogisme taken up . 3. it teaches no certane rules of abstracting notions . fitting words to notion . 4. it is made a part of physicks , intricated with thorny questions &c. 5. aristotles logick is defective &c. as followes in gassend . locis ut supra . 6. there are errours in the parts , viz. 1. in definition . 2. in division . 3. in argumentation by syllogisme . 1. their conclusion not necessarily compels assent . 2. syllogizing doth not teach that which we are ignorant of before . 3. syllogisticall conclusions beget but bare opination . 7. lullyes art ( an alphabeticall way for syllogizing ) better then the other , deserving wonderous great praise , yet leaves the mind vast and unsatisfied . so great is the difference betwixt putation and true knowledge . if the man had intended to speak to our capacityes , he should have first examined what logick is usually taught in universities & disputed against it ; now he hath roved at all and some interchangeably , accordingly as the fortune of his collectors hath enabled him , speaking first against the boyes , for hissing , then against syllogisme , then against definition , then against aristotle , then against definition &c. and after that against aristotle and syllogizing : you see sir the generosity of this man he will not make use of logick against it selfe , and you will think me ridiculous in answering to his allegation ( the university being wholy inconcerned , ) but i le be exceeding briefe . 1. a systeme of rules directing us to the knowledge of the truth begets no intestine warre no humming , hissing , nor obfuscation . 2. the use of induction is taught in the university as well as the use of syllogisme ; logick is universally subservient to the enquiry of all truths ; induction is ridiculously applyed to mathematicall truths , and syllogisme is to be applyed to physicks ; it was a misfortune to the world , that my lord bacon was not skilled in mathematicks , which made him jealous of their assistance in naturall enquiries ; when the operations of nature shall be followed up to their staticall ( and mechanicall ) causes , the use of induction will cease , and sylogisme succeed in the place of it , in the interim we are to desire that men have patience not to lay aside induction before they have reason . 3. logick doth teach certaine rules of abstracting notions viz by examining the agreements and disagreements ( which they call the genus and difference ) of things , and if our notions of things have been rashly abstracted , the fault hath been either in the obscurity of nature , or in the dullnesse or impatience of phylosophers & not in the logick of the academies . the notions of things being rightly abstracted they are rightly assigned to words by definition . 4. the questions concerning the entity of logicall notions , and other physicall and metaphysicall things , are not ( to my knowledge ) mingled with the tradition of logick , ( otherwise then to afford examples to the rules of it ) so that this complaint may concerne others , but not our universities . 5. aristotles organon is not read to the youth of this university , ( how justly i contend not ) neither was it ever understood , or ever will be by m. webster , then why should we fall out about it ? 6. 1. it is a prodigious ignorance in helmont ( from whom m. webster without regard to common honesty , hath taken what ensues ) to think there are no other , or scarce any differences known , beside rationall and irrationall : this is frequently met withall in the vulgar systems of logick as an example , and he thought no more was knowne : without regard to all demonstrative mathematicall knowledge : but he could not speake of things he understood not ; why then should the blind lead the blind ? 2. something he would have spoken against division , but he had it not about him ; so we can only thanke him for his good intentions in that particular . 3. his exceptions against syllogizing ( i meane his new supply out of helmont are these . ) 1. their conclusions doe not necessarily compell assent . viz. m. webster is one who can grant the premises in a true syllogisme , and yet deny the conclusion . i answere this is by a speciall gift . 2 his second exception , i say , that the eduction of a third proposition , or truth from two that were known before , is a teaching of what we knew not , otherwise no man living need to study for any demonstrative knowledge : t is possible m. webster may know that totum est majus sua parte , and the other axioms in euclid , yet i dare say , he understands not , that in a rectangled triangle , the square of the hypothenuse , is equall to the conjoyned squares of the other sides , much lesse any of the propositions concerning the regular bodies , or conic sections . 3. and whereas he saies , that syllogisticall conclusions beget but bare opination ; we ought to pardon him , helmont told him so , and he knew not that there was such a thing as syllogismus demonstrativus , and what would you have of a cat ? &c. 7. but though he have despised these waies , he will give an excellent account of the art of lully , and indeed his description argues him a man of profound search into the things he deales with : it is he saith , an alphabeticall way for syllogizing : a description sunke many fathoms beyond the profundity of truth or sence , and if there be any sence assigneable to this description , it will amount to such a definition of geometry as this , it is an art of knowing something by the helpe of letters , syllables , words , and figures : a matter of grievous skil and judgement to discover sir i need not own my conversation in that art of lully : yet i meet with few that have considered much more of it then my selfe , and this i undertake to be accountable for to m. webster , that neither that , nor logick are unusefull ▪ yet that logick conduces more to the invention , and search , and strict examination of truth , and that other more to the invention of arguments for discourse : the one more appropriate to logicall , ( as 't is called ) the other to rhetoricall , or poeticall invention ; the one is a very good way for beginners , the other extreamely usefull to men that have already attained to the knowledge of things , to fetch the notions of things with ease and celerity in their view ; and fit men for secure and ready speaking . i have now done with his chapter of logick and come to that concerning mathematicks . cap. v. of the mathematicall sciences . the mathematicks are extreamely beholding to him for his favours ( but sure without any speciall desert from him ) he hath heard of their perspicuity , veritude , and certitude , and complaines they are so slightly handled , without any solid practice , or true demonstrations . you know sr , how much this makes towards a bribeing of mee ; my clamour is against the neglect of mathematics in our method of study , & you would think i cannot chuse but receive a cōplacency from his concurrence ; lyet such is the perversenes of my nature , that i have not upon any occasion , felt my spleen so high , streining upon a downe-right indignation , as when i find him and mr dell praising the mathematicks : for why ? what have the mathematicks deserved ? that these men should render them contemptible by their commendations : you know sir , it was heretofore accounted an instance of mathematicall skill , to give the dimensions of hercules from the measure of his foot , what if i should adventure to give you the measure of this mathematicall hercules , or herculean mathematian . sir i le begin to rant the society with these men having brought me to it , and i will give you the ( mathematicall ) measure of two of them together mr webster and mr dell. the measure of their pous ( for they tread both in the same steps and are mathematitians both of a cise ) i take meerely from their buzzing discourse about mathematicks , and lay this for my assertion as the result & summe that may be collected from what they have said in that argument ( where i put with the jejuner discourse all the rhetorick poetry . all all the raptures , extasyes and exclamations , & bring them into this aequation ) & that if a be a symboll of a known measure of skill to be expressed in the number 666. the skill of them both put together will be equall to aq — aqccc , ( the mischiefe is they do not understand me ) and thence it followes as a corollary , that neither of them ever understood one demonstration or aequation , and for assurance of what i say , i undertake , that if either or both of them joyntly or severally be able to resolve a common adfected aequation , or give the geometricall effection of it ( that which many boyes in the university are able to do ) i will procure them one of our mathematick professors places . but he sayes the schooles have done little or nothing to advance learning , or promote science , t is true that my l. nepair , mr briggs , and mr oughtred , ( private spirits ) have done something &c. will he be allwayes so mysterious ? was not mr oughtred fellow of k. colledge in cambridge , and mr briggs first fellow of st iohns , afterwards professour of geometry at gresham colledge , and did he not lastly live and dye professor of geometry at oxford , did not most or all of those he mentions afterwards , professe and read the mathematicks in severall schooles and academies , and is not gassendus ( from whom he takes whole sheets together of this rapsody ) professour of astronomy at paris . what then doth this man meane , to say the schooles ( as he termes them ) have not advanced these sciences ; dos he expect that the colledge buildings , or sr thomas bodlyes frame should do it ? indeed they will do it as soone as he . but i forget my selfe , the summe of his complaints is this . 1. that arithmetick and geometry are neglected , the schooles contenting themselves with verball disputes of magnitude , &c. 2. that opticks have received no advance . 3. that the theory of musick is neglected . 4. that the astronomy schooles teach according to the ptolemaick system , which they maintaine with rigour . and against this his spirit runs out in very many arguments . 5. they are ignorant of the other parts , as geography , hydrography , chorography , &c. 6. they doe not professe the divine art or science of astrology . 7. somewhat he would say of staticks , architecture , pneumatithmy , &c. commemorated by dr iohn dee . concerning these , i shall speake as briefely as is possible . 1 arithmetick and geometry are sincerely & profoundly taught , analyticall algebra , the solution and application of aequations , containing the whole mystery of both those sciences , being faithfully expounded in the schooles by the professor of geometry , and in many severall colledges by particular tutors , and were he an idoneous auditor , i undertake he should receive full satisfaction here in that particular , however i will be bound he shall be wrought upon ( as he expresses it else-where ) even to wonder and amazement . 2. his next complaint is , that the opticks are neglected , ( i cannot say what they are generally , but this i know , that there have been lately given by some persons here instances of more solid knowledge of all sorts of radiation or vision , then ever were here , or indeed elsewhere before , and that such things are ordinary now amongst us ( done by some amongst our selves ) as heretofore were counted magicall . 3. the theory of musick is not neglected , indeed the musick meeting , by the statutes of this university , appointed to be once a weeke , hath not of late been observed , our instruments having been lately out of tune , and our harpes hanged up , but if such men as he should please to come among us , and put us to an examen , without doubt we should then have a fit of mirth &c. 4. but of all things the astronomy schooles he is most offended at , as maintaining with rigour the ptolemaick system : and against this he disputes with arguments able to turne a copernican into a ptolemaick : the thing , as to our university , you know to be most false ; i believe there is not one man here , who is so farre astronomicall , as to be able to calculate an eclipse , who hath not received the copernican system , ( as it was left by him , or as improved by kepler , bullialdus , our own professor , and others of the ellipticall way ) either as an opinion , or at leastwise , as the most intelligible , and most convenient hypothesis . for my selfe , you know well my principles of phylosophy and astronomy , and how little this whole pamphlet concernes me , yet in defence of ptolemy this may be said with justice , that there is no astronomicall book in the world , which may not be better spared then his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} : sir h. savile ( then whom in his time , europe had not a better judge of things of that nature , ) saies of it , nihil illi par aut aequale : and i heard this lately discoursed and demonstrated , by one ( having relation to him ) who himselfe is yet a copernican of the ellipticall family ; had this man ever seen the almagest , or ptolomies hypo●yposis , he would have known , that ptolomy never medled with solid orbes , he only salved the phenomena , which were left him by excentricks and epicycles , and medled notwith the physicall part at all : and indeed there is no mathematick book in the world more learned or usefull in its kind , then ptolemies almagist , but it is above the capacity of m. websters cise to understand either his solution of triangles , his investigation of apogees and excentricities , his demonstration of the inequalities of the planets , his concluding of them from the phenomena of nature , and his exhibition of them by his hypothesis . the method here observed in our schooles is , first to exhibit the phenomena , and shew the way of their observation , then to give an account of the various hypotheses , how those phenomena have been salved , or may be ( where the aequipollency or defects of the severall hyppotheses are shewn . ) and lastly to shew how the geometricall hypotheses are resolvible into tables , serving for calculation of ephemerides , which are of quotidian use , and if mr webster have any thing to amend in this method , and will afford it our professor , i will undertake he will be thankfull for it . the puerility of his arguments your selfe have noted , they are sacred i will not name them . 5. it is not faire to say we are ignorant of cosmography , unlesse he had tried us , indeed , if we be so , i know some must answer for it , sir henry savile hath laid it upon one of his professors to read publickly after the body of astronomy , these arts he mentions , and if he be ignorant of them , let m. webster informe against him , and take his profession , winne it and weare it . you will give me leave sir , to publish in our vindication , what your selfe and i know to be true . these arts he mentions , are not only understood , and taught here , but have lately received reall and considerable advances ( i meane since the universities came into those hands wherein now it is ) particularly arithmetick , and geometry , in the promotion of the doctrine of indivisibilia , and the discovery of the naturall rise and mannagement of conic sections and other solid places . opticks and perspective , by various inventions and applications on gnomonicks and picture astronomy in polishing , and indeed perfecting the ellipticall hypothesis , and rendring it geometricall ; and surely if we may still enjoy the encouragement of the higher powers , we may hope in a little time , to give a good account of our selves , as to these particulars . 6. but the mischiefe is , we are not given to astrology , a sad thing , that men will not forsake the study of arts and languages , and give themselves up to this high and noble art or science , he knowes not what to call it : nay call it that ridiculous cheat , made up of nonsence and contradictions , founded only upon the dishonesty of impostors , and the frivolous curiosity of silly people , so as none but one initiated in the academy of bethlem , would require of us , that we should be philosophers and mathematicians , and yet not to have outgrowne this gullery . i speake not to him ( for he understands as much of astrology as of other things ) but to those he so highly adores ( for one of whom viz. mr ashmole , i have a very good respect ) i make this proffer , that if they can assert either upon the grounds of reason , or constant experiment , any one rule of judiciall astrology , nay if they can maintaine , that the very foundations of them , are not frivolously and ridiculously laid and retained , i shall joyne with mr. w. in desiring that the thundering pulpit men , may submit to the blundering hell-pitmen , and that divinity ( he will let me use that word rather then loose a conunrim ) may give way to divination . the pretence of astrology is to divine by the syzyges of the planets . the planets are considered , as they respect either ( 1 ) the 12 houses , or ( 2 ) the signes of the zodiac , or ( 3 ) one another , or ( 4 ) according to their site and native powers . against them i assert , that their houses have no foundation , for whereas there are three waies of assigning them , either by dividing the ecliptick , the first verticall or the aequinoctiall into 12 equall parts , they have forsaken the two former , and called the last the rationall way ( as condemning the two former of irrationality ) yet this rationall way serves but for some parts of the sphere , and those that live under a right or parallel sphere ( if any doe ) must be deprived of the benefit of astrology , because in a right sphere they are confounded , and in a parallel there are no houses . 2. in relation to the signes of the zodiac , the planets are conceived to have their exaltations or diminutions , and here they discover a most profound stupidity : about the time when this folly took place , the apogees and perigees of the severall planets being by astronomers determined to be in certaine places of the zodiac : this exaltation or depression , in respect of distance , they coxcomically have understood in respect to their virtue , and though their apogees be changed , they still retaine in those very places their exaltations . 3. their number of aspects is arbitrary , and there may as well be made 600 as 6. and granting there were any reason or ground for their good or bad signification , they must signify to one another , not to us . 4. lastly , the vertues of the planets themselves , that they are hot and cold , male and female &c. is ridiculously founded ; who ever felt the heat of mars , or cold of saturne ? the whole theory is formed with respect to the peripateticall system , the conceit of the foure elements , and if they should be granted , conduce nothing to the fortune-telling which they professe . i have but touched these things , yet so as i have strook at the root of their whole imposture , and if they can satisfy in these things , i will be their proselite . 7 seeing mr webster had nothing to say of staticks , architecture , pnemaththmy , &c. i only shall say that all or most , have received some improvement in this place , as we shall make appeare when he makes his visitation . cap. vi . of scholastick phylosophy . this chapter of his consists of two parts , an affirmative and a negative ; the first concernes the way of phylosophy , which he saith is professed in the schooles viz. the aristotelicall way : in the other he would exhibit the desiderata , those things whereof the universities are ignorant . he disputes against the aristotelicall philolophy in more then twenty whole pages of this chapter , but his dispute is interrupted by the desiderata : for from pag. 53. to 67. inclusivè , he is ant-aristoticall ; thence to the 78. p. come in his other exceptions , and from the 78. page to 83. ( viz. to the end of the chapter ) he hath another bang at aristotle . you know sir , how little either i my selfe , or our universities , are concerned to interesse our selves in this quarrell , considering the liberty that is here allowed and taken , this discourse may perhaps concern collegium conimbricense or some forraign universities , and let them answer it . yet i must confesse i wondered at this chap. both at the learning , the inequality , and the method of it ; i presently found some things in it to exceed the genius of our reformer , and some things well becomming him both in respect of his learning , method , and ingenuity . concerning his desiderata i shall speake briefely by themselves , after i have given an account first of his antaristotelicall matter , then of his method . i have formerly intimated how good he is at taking hints , i forgot to give notice in the last chapter of that faculty of his ; now i will not see him wronged , my proposition is , that there is not one argument against aristotle , which he hath not taken entirely out of gassendis exercitations adversus aristoteleos , beside a little out of helmont , to spare words i have annexed this table . webster . page gassend . page here come in the desiderata , afterwards 53 53 , 54 , 55     54 56     55 58 , 59 , 60     56 60 webster . gassend . 57 62 , 63 page page 58 64 78 141 59 78 79 146 , 167 60 79 80 167 61 81 , 83 81 170 , 171 , 172 62 84 82 186 63 90 , 92 83 189 , 195 64 93     webster . helm .     65 46     66 & deinceps .     67       you may think sir i love the man , otherwise i should not take this paines with him ; this concernes his learning , that which discovers his ingenuity is , that in the transcription of all these 18 whole pages out of gassendus , he never quotes him ▪ only for a line or two by the by , pag. 66 ▪ he names him . q. but you will wonder why this chasme should be betwixt pag. 67. and p. 78. and why he could not have given aristotle his lurry altogether ? ans. i answer because his translator failed him , who should have brought it to him altogether . mr webster being above , or without all skill in languages , and destitute of revelation , was forced to get another to translate ( he onely attempting at one small parcell pag. 64. accedebat ad haec ingenium viri ( aristotelis ) tectum & callidum &c. which he construes , there happened to these things the close wit of the man &c. though his translator stayes , yet ( sensible in how great need the world stood of his labour ) he goes on , and when his translator brings in his remnant , he claps it into the rest crying first come first served , and that 's the just account and reason of this method . the summe of his complaints is this . 1. naturall magick is abominated , and prosecuted with fire and sword , and not only so , but the name of it execrable &c. 2. the sublime science of pyrotechny , or chymistry neglected . 3. medicine 1. turned to flattery &c. 2. ill bottomed upon false phylosophy . 3. the galenicall way not advanced . 4. discoveries in anotomy 1. vselesse ( as circulation ) 2. defective , as to the discovery of the signatures of the invisible archeus . 5. chirurgery defective in curing the lupus , cancer , &c. againe , that the schooles are ignorant of 1. celestiall signatures , and subcelestiall physiognomy , viz. meteorologicall , mineralogicall , botanicall , anthropologicall . 2. the three great hypostaticall soule-ravishing principles , salt , sulphur , and mercury . 3. magneticall phylosophy . 4. atomicall learning . to all these i shall make a very briefe reply . ans. 1. it is surely a wonderfull thing , that naturall magick should not only be prosecuted with fire and sword , but that it should be execrable also . yet notwithstanding this lamentable persecution , i dare adventure my life , that m. w. may passe safely with this examen , carrying it either in his pocket , or in his hand , or in his mouth through both the universities of this nation , the severall colleges of eaton , winchester &c. the college of physitians at london , and all the rest , ( provided he have a care how he passes by the college at bethlem ) without any danger of bell , booke , or candle , fire , sword or execration . as for those authors who have treated of that argument such as agrippa , porta , wecker , & the rest , you know sir how oft they have deluded us how very slender a proportion of truth is conteined in their volumes , that they are not respected here because of the name magick , much less for any conjuring they teach , but for the cheat and imposture which they put upon us , eluding credulous men with the pretence of specificall vertues , and occult celestiall signatures and taking them off from observation & experiment ( the only way to the knowledge of nature ) the discoveries of the symphonies of nature , and the rules of applying agent and materiall causes to produce effects , is the true naturall magick , and the generall humane ends of all pylosophycall enquiries ; but m. webster knew not this , 't is plaine therefore he is no witch , and is therefore free from persecution . 2. chymistry you know is not neglected here ( there being a conjunction of both the purses and endeavours of severall persons towards discoveries of that kind , such as may serve either to the discovery of light or profit , either to naturall philosophy or physick . but mr webster expects we should tell him , that we have found the elixar , ( surely we are wiser then to say so ) yet we can recommend him to one of his faith , who hath been threescore years in the pursuance of it , and two years since believed he was very neare it . 3. by what chymicall operation physick should be turned into flattery , in truth i cannot fancy . the practice of physick hath been bottomed upon experience and observation . 4. and that is the reason , that the discoveries of the circulation of the blood , of the venae lacteae , both mesentericall and thoracicall , of the vas breve , and severall new ductus , vasa lymphatica &c. have not made an alteration in the practice of physick , answerable to the advantage they have given to the theory ; and the security and confirmation they have brought to the former waies of practice . as for his postulatum of discovering the signatures of the invisible archeus by anatomy , it is one of his rosycrucian rodomantados ; would he have us by diffection surprize the anima mundi , & shew him the impressions of a thing invisible ? yet the schematismes of nature in matters of sensible bulke , have been observed amongst us , and collections made of them in our inquiries , and when the microscope shall be brought to the highest ( whether it is apace arriving ) we shall be able either to give the seminall figures of things , which regulates them in their production and growth , or evince them to lye in quantities insensible , and so to be in truth invisible . 5. if neither physick nor surgery should be defective , he ought to believe , that man should be immortall , or at least , be as long lived as the rosycrucians tell him . yet surgery as well as physick , hath even in our time been extremely advanced , this place hath given late instances of both ; ( particularly in recovering the wench after she had been hanged at least halfe an hower , and others which i could mention ) and the colledge of physitians at london is the glory of this nation , and indeed of europe , for their learning and felicity , in the cures of desperate ulcers and diseases , even of the cancer , and those he ( ignorantly ) mentions , which have been diverse times performed , by d. harvey and others . as to the ignorance he charges upon us , i answer . 1. it is the destiny of proud and ignorant men , such as having nothing of science , have yet the unjust desire to be reputed rabbies , and the impudence to attempt to be reformers , that being diverted from the reall and solid wayes of knowledge , they dwindle after the windy impostures of magick and astrology ▪ of signatures and physiognomy , and the like , and if we follow them not madding in these pursuits , we pray that we may be excused . 2. i have formerly given some intimation of our chymicall society , so that i hope it will be charitably concluded , that we are not ignorant of those hypostaticall principles : yet how they should come to ravish the soule of m. webster , i cannot tell , unlesse it should be in contemplation of the benefits he hath received from them , viz. of salt at dinner , of sulphur in the mange , and of mercury in salivation . 3. magneticall philosophy is not neglected here , your selfe sir , are conscious of some instruments that are prepared for those experiments ( as loadstones rough and polished , armed and naked , a terrella and diverse others ) and how it is a reall designe amongst us , wanting only some assistance for execution , to erect a magneticall , mechanicall , and optick schoole , furnished with the best instruments , and adapted for the most usefull experiments in all those faculties . 4. how happy are you and i sir , and our ingenious acquaintance , ( whose studies are toward physick or philosophy ) in this place , who are all employed to salve mechanically , and statically the phenomena of nature , and have in some parts advanced the philosophy of those he mentions ? how will it comfort us that we do , and have done in many things , what he would have us ? qui monet ut facias , quod jam facis ipse &c. but least we should be lifted up , behold him in the next chapter thundering against the remainder of arts and sciences . cap. vii . of metaphysicks , ethicks , politicks , oeconomicks , poesy and oratory . you see sir , how thick they come together , and yet the chap. consists but of three leaves , and part of them is taken up with the repetition of that learned proverbe , hercules is knowne by his foot , and the lyon by his pawe . do not you think sir , that this man lookes like hercules ? he thinks so , and he knowes how he lookes ; even like hercules furens , and thence is the inequallity of his ravings . you had him in the former chap. in his combate with strong men to take from them their steely armes of demonstration ; but no mortall wight , no hero is able to persist to perpetuity : we see here the great alcides or goliah fainting , not able to weild his weavers beame , or fustilogge , letting it fall at all adventures , himselfe forlorne of friends , his strength and reason fled away . but though the storme be past therere may be danger from these after drops , alcides may stūble , & oppresse the sciences with his fall and a man may be wounded with the convulsive graspe of a dying lyon . let us observe , therefore and either decline or repell these last attempts against the learning of the academies . against metaphysicks his exceptions are these . 1. it brings no better instrument for the discovery of truth , then the operation of the intellect . why ! hath mr w. any better instrument then this ? is it sense , or is it revelation ? what is his instrument or toole , that he preferres before the intellect of man ? the man is mad why doe i trouble him ? 2. it containes no certaine principles , the principle of mens cogitans , is more certaine , and undeniable then that of the schooles , impossibile est idem simul esse & non esse . it seemes he is in a case to swallow contradictions , and can assert that a thing can simul esse & non esse ( i warrant this man doth believe transubstantiation ) how is his throat widened since he was so streight as not to admit the inference of a conclusion in a true syllogisme ? but then was then , and now is now , omnium rerum est vicissitudo . yet des cartes will give him little thankes for acknowledging his principle , cogito ergo sum , if a thing may simul esse & non esse . 3. the summe of the remainder is this , ( though by a speciall gift he hath multiplyed it into three arguments ) that metaphysicks is of no profit but to obscure the truth , hath produced none but weake frivolous opinions concerning god &c. and the poisonous cocatrice egs of altercation . i answer sir that i have no inclination to grapple with the wind , or deale with wild universalityes , i am of opinion , that there is much to be considered of , & amended in the metaphysicks ; but that upon this occasion , he hath only discovered an art he hath which might have saved him the labour of all particulars , by saying at once both to the schooles and sciences that they are evill and not good , yea even wicked frivolous and abominable . his next touch is at ethicks , and his exceptions are 1. against aristotle , who was a heathen , and did not acknowledge god . and you say sir , mr webster is a friar , yet aristotle acknowledged a first mover & if that be not god what is it . 2. he placed the summum bonum in the exercise of virtue , but the summum bonum is not attaineable in this life . but he was disputing what was the summum bonum in this life , and if virtue be the way to life eternall , it is certainely that summum bonum . 3. they have taught nothing practicable . we are sorry that mr webster finds justice , prudence , temperance , modesty &c. unpracticable , but so it seemes it is with him , and yet he will be our reformer . 4. aristotle takes the preheminence of that which is deduced from the principles of christianity , and is unjustly preferred before socrates , plato , zeno , seneca , epictetus , who containe more precious treasure . but where is it o thou roaring lyon , ( seeking whom thou maist devour ) or rather thou essex-lyon , that aristotle is preferred before christ ? is it at oxford or at cambridge ? are not the christian ethicks of daneus , scultetus , amesius , aquinas , others , beside all those authors you have mentioned , read & studyed and preferred before him in the universities ? what shall be done unto thee o thou leasing toungue ? politicks . his exception against the politicks read in the universities is very faint and thinne being only this , that plato , bodin , machavell , are as good as aristotle ( though he have many things of singular use , which is the first good word he hath given him ) and that our country man , m. hobbs , is more profound , and yet we read aristotle in the vniversities . rhetorick . and the same is his exception against rhetorick . we read aristotle , and spend too much time upon ornamentall oratory and poetry , which are gifts of nature . ans. had this man found any one that had written whole bookes against these arts of aristotle , so as gassendus , helmont , &c. against his logick and naturall phylosophy , and a translator ready to assist him , these arts and sciences had not thus escaped him , now he can only clatter at aristotle , and clamour against the schooles for reading him . plato , bodin , macchiavel , are as good as aristotle : well , and aristotle as good as them ; what then ? but mr hobbs is more profound &c. 't is true our theologues say he is bottomed in the great abysse . againe , aristotle in his rhetorick must give way to plato ; i will not repeat what i have said , and you sir before me , concerning the liberty and variety amongst us , but i affirme , that supposing those morall authours which even now he mentioned , zeno , seneca , epictetus , or these politick writers or rhetoritians , did conteine things better in their kind then aristotle , yet they are not so fit to be read in universities by way of institution , as he . they have written diffusedly stilo oratorio , or use by way of dialogues , but have not given a briefe methodicall body of the things they handle . the businesse of such as have the institution of youth , is to give them , first a briefe and generall comprehension of the kinds and natures of those things , about which their studyes , and endeavours are to be employed , and so to excite & stirre them up to a deeper & more thorough consideration of them , to set them into a way of study and knowledge , but no man is made perfect in any kind by the meere endeavours of a tutor , but for that they must have recourse to their industry , their ingenuity , and their inclination . now the chiefe reason as i conceive , why aristotle hath been universally received as magister legitimus in schooles hath been ; the universallity of his enquiries ; the brevity and method of them ; fitting them for institutions , and not the truth or infallibillity of his workes : ignorance or want of consideration of that end , mixt with pride and arrogance and an ambition to be a reformer , hath produced this glorious worke of mr webster . he hath now done with the learning of the universityes , indeed he had done with it long agoe , and will have a fling at their customes and method . cap. viii . of their customes and method . what erasmus said concerning the popes crowne , and monkes bellyes , is more fit for a fryar to speak , then for us who live upon college commons . to come therefore briefely to his exceptions . 1. his first is , that all our severall colleges are tyed to one method , carried on in one way , bound to the same authors . the charge is utterly untrue , yet were it so , it were no inconvenience ( unlesse he could demonstrate an errour in our institutions ) that those who are to engage in the same scholastick exercises , should be trained up in the same authors and method . 2. but our exercises are slothfully performed , our publick acts being kept but foure times in the yeare , that is in the termes , which , if one should tell them in plaine termes , are but usually idle termes . would not some man as knowing as himself imagine our terms to last some four dayes or thereabouts ? but you know sir , they take up the greatest part of all the yeare , and that in the vacations our schollars are not exempt from exercise , either in the college-halls , or in their tutors chambers . as for his quibling about termes , ( it being the only wit that he hath offered at ) i will upon no termes spoile his conundrum , yet i must confesse some grudging i have , that he should set up in two trades at once , quibling and reforming . 3. the custome is injurious which ties men to a set time of yeares and acts , before they can receive their laureation . of all men living i know no reason why such as he should complaine of this : alas ! why should such men be left behind their over nimble fellowes ? me thinks he should be comforted , in being suffered to leird it in a crowd of better company . but seriously sir , i use to admire in this the prudence of our ancestors ; to stay a while for a degree ( which yet this mā would not have us so proud and arrogant as to conferre ) it is no prejudice to mens worth or learning ; those colledges have not been least renowned where the locall statutes oblige them to stay the longest ; we are not destitute of other equivalent encouragements , in case of an egregious proficiency : and if upon such pretences , time and exercises should be dispensed with , the overweening of men , and the partiallities of friends , would prove very prejudiciall to the true and sincere interest of worth and learning . 4. his next scandall is , at the humming and hissing of boyes , rather like geese then bees &c. indeed sir , the boyes are to be chidden , yet i must needs tell m. webster , that all are not bees that buzze , and it appeares their hissing hath been his great vexation ; but that he was never troubled with their humming . 5. he complaines , that their disputations are about notions and paper-idols . was there ever , or can there be a disputation about any thing else but notions ? would he have them bring forth bread and cheese & dispute de gustibus ? or would he have the consecrated host brought in , and paper-idols converted into wafer-idols of more savour ? 6. and in earnest , it is a heavy thing , that they make use still of the latine tongue in all their exercises . indeed sir , this is a sad and grievous complaint , and hath not fallen from him without reason . his reason i discovered in his chapter about philosophy : let others admire his wit , i am for his judgement : you say sir , he is a friar ( whether black or gray , of the family of the creepers , or the skippers it matters not ) now sir , if he could reforme out of the universities , our studied arts and languages , so farre as to banish from us the use of even the latine tongue , and put us into a course of studying magicall signatures , astrology , and iacob behmen ; his modesty might admit of demanding a canonization , and this great mathematician , might justly conclude his account to his holinesse , with an {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . p. 8 , 9 , his next three complaints i shall make bold to put together , as containing our adhering to antiquity , our being sweyed by plurality of voyce , and our adhering to aristotle . o aristotle , are you there ! i wondered where he was all this while , when m. webster was in distresse for want of him : but he is a peripatetick , and will never leave these courses , till m. webster turne him out from among the academies ; however for us , let m. w. answer for our affectation of novelty and singularity , and we shall well enough evade the charges of these paragraphs . 10. his last complaint is , that we doe not read the mathematicks . indeed we doe not so much and earely as is fitting , yet this i must needs say , that we read ptolemy , apollonius , and euclide , &c. and he hath read nothing but iohn dees english preface : make roome now for his expedients . cap. ix . of some expedients or remedies in theology , grammar , logick , and mathematicks . did not i heretofore intimate , that i found m. webster to be a pittifull man , and now sir you see it plainly proved by this chapter , and those which follow , vna eademque manus vulnus opemque feret . he that hath hurt the universities will heale them . you know it is the custome of those generous soules , who for the health and safety of the generality of men , doe use to ascend the banke or publick stage , to give poyson to some that are about them , to wound or scald them , not that they delight in torturing the creature , ( that were cruelty ) but by the smart of some few , to convince the unbelieving multitude of the celestiall energy of their balsames ; they only wound , that they may cure the wounded . and now for application in short , that 's the designe of this noble gentleman : yet least any man should think the remedies worse then the diseases , i am resolved here to joyne with him , and with steely arguments , to confound his gainsayers . for theology . 1. his first remedy is , that men should lay aside the suffering of themselves , to be stiled by the blasphemous title of divines , and that the people should call them theologues , as they doe in scotland . i am for theologue , divine is a thinne stingy word to it , this fills the mouth better , and is fitter to astonish , comes nearer too to a magicall noise , ( and magick is almost divine p. 68. ) i would have the people call them theologues , and this is my reason ; his reasons are mysticall , because the other is blasphemous : yet nothing more frequent amongst the antients then {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} : and those who have sought epithites for plato , aristotle , and ptolemy , called the first of them {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the second {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and the last {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , i am perswaded without any intention to blaspheme . in the last place , i must pray you not to mistake him , as a favourer of the scottish interest , for it is well known he is a leveller , and by consequence an adversary to the high-lands . 2. his next remedy is , that the scriptures be wholly laid aside in scholastick exercises . the truth is sir , he hath spoken so excellently in his remedies , that all the service i can doe him , is only to unfold his meaning . i say then that his meaning is not , that the scripture should be laid aside in morall exercises , ( for he would have them deduced from the principles of christianity p. 87. ) nor yet in physicall exercises , ( for he would have some physicall learning introduced into the schooles , which is grounded upon scripture principles p. 105. ) but his meaning is only , that the scriptures should be laid aside in theologicall exercises , and who does not see what a remedy to theology that would prove ? 3. that the discoveries of god by reason , may be a part of naturall philosophy . for why ? the subject of naturall philosophy is corpus naturale mobile . concerning languages . 1.2 . his first and second remedies for languages are , that we should advance our owne , and have a compendious way for teaching forraigne languages . who ever thou art that deniest these to be speciall ( or rather indeed generall ) remedies in this malady , i say unto thee , thou liest , and art stiffnecked : moreover i say , that they are excellent remedies , as being part of the universall medicine . 3 , 4. that in teaching languages , comenius way in his ianua linguarum . grammar , m. brinsleys way in his grammar schoole . may be followed . comenius i know , and that his way is usefull , mr brinsley i have not the happinesse to know , any otherwise then by m. websters commendation , being one of his favorites i should be glad to serve him : i conceive by m. w. his designe is , that children should be well instructed in the accedence before they learne their grammar . 5. in his fift remedy he discovers a maine secret , that irregulars should be learned without rule , and that the irregulars being learned , the rule also of the regular nounes and verbes would be facile and briefe , as being but one rule for all . indeed the children ought to cry gratias , for if for one play-day , and that a broken one , they use to doe it , how many play-daies hath he procured them ? besides the present sport he makes them . after all this he feares it may be imagined , that he should proffer at advancing symbolicall and cryptographicall learning , the universall character , and language of nature . i testify they doe him wrong that thus imagine , and never understood well what formerly he delivered in that argument : i had him presently in the wind , ( such was my felicity ) and durst then have sworne ( if need had been ) that it was even just as now i find it : that concerning cryptography , symbols , the vniversall character , he knew nothing ; and that his discourse of the language of nature , did signify only this , that wanting the use of other languages , even of the latine , he had obtained a gift as usefull , viz. a canting language . next in order followeth logick . 1. his first remedy is , that we find out what reason is in its intrinseck nature and operation . and examine wherein mans reason exceeds the reason of other animants ; and here he saith it will be found , there is no specificall but a gradual difference . m. webster having discovered that betwixt his reason , and his horses , there is only a graduall difference , hath given much light in the present enquiry ; only he hath concealed from us , which of them hath the advantage of degrees , and whether those degrees are divided by minutes , seconds , and thirds , and whether in the sexagesimall or decimall way . when he shall have holpen us in these scruples , i pray sir , let us make the best we can of this remedy . 2. that the principles of syllogisme be cleared and demonstrated . because 't is very hard for him to understand , that quae eidem sunt aequalia , vel inaequalia ; sunt inter se aequalia vel inaequalia . or quae conveniunt in uno tertio vel non conveniunt ; inter se conveniunt etiam vel non conveniunt , his reason differing but gradually from the reason of other animants . 3. that some prevalent way be found out , for discovering and rectifying the fallacies of the sences , for abstracting adequate notions , and giving apposite denominations to them . now sir , what say you to m. webster ? had he had the luck to have added the quadrature of the circle , with its appendices in geometry , and the phylosophers stone in chymystry , what could more judiciously and comprehensively have been required ? 4. that induction may be improved , and to that end experiments frugiferous and luciferous may be made . the thing that is here proposed i do exceedingly like , and seeing it is an amphibious argument , belonging to physick and logick both , i will not be so unreasonable as to quarrell with him about his method or disposition . the mathematicks . the mathematicks should come to be spoken of , but they being what they are , ( able to shift for themselves ) and he being able to make a ( scambling ) shift without them , and it being terrible hard for one utterly unacquainted with them to speake any tollerable sence in this argument , he being wisely-wary , wishing well to the mathematicks and mathematicians , ( l meane the copernican astronomers ) having spoken against ptolemy , having had a twitch at aristotle , and having no more to say , concludes the chapter . cap. x. of some helps in naturall phylosophy . how can it chose but be well help't up , when he shall set his hands to it who is so great a naturall-phylosopher ? in this chapter he first discusses that great question , what shall become of aristotle ? and then proceeds to his remedies . the first in truth is decided ( in my opinion ) not without some judgement , how ever it comes to passe . there are many things in him good ( in truth very many excellent things , all his historicall parts of nature are excellent , and so is his rhetorick , and all his other workes ) only his physicks is to be eliminated , it being founded upon either false , or not intelligible principles , referring all things to that system , and modell of the world , which time and observation have manifested to be untrue : the astronomy depending thereon ( upon that system of foure elements , and a quintessentiall solid heaven ) falls necessarily upon the removall of his physicks , or rather the physicall part of that astronomy . you see sir , how loath i am to vary from m. w. my opinion concerning aristotle being even coincident with his : yet i think aristotles bookes , the best of any philosophick writings , & that when these things are laid aside , that which remaines deserves for him the honour that ought to be given to one of the greatest wits , and most usefull that ever the world enjoyed . farther , i must enforme m. webster , that the thing he doth desire , is already performed in our academies , there being no man , any thing deeply seene in naturall philosophy , who goes about to salve things upon the principles , of matter , forme , and privation , or the first and second qualities . so that i feare his molimina against aristotle , will by some witts , be accounted disingenious , and his reflections upon our universities , unworthy and impertinent . but to come to his remedies . 1. his first is , that my l. bacons way may be embraced . that axioms be evidently proved by observations , and no other be admitted . &c. i am wholly of his judgement , yet i have an itching desire to know what lilly , and booker , behmen , and all the families of magicians , soothsayers , canters , and rosycrucians , have done to vexe him , since he was writing of mathematicks , and scholastick philosophy , that having cherished them then , and put them in hopes of his blessing , he should now of a sudden cast them off , betaking himselfe to their deadly enemy . 2. the second remedy is , that some physicall learning may be brought into the schooles , that is grounded upon sensible , rationall , experimentall , and scripture principles , and such an author is dr fludd ; then which for all the particulars , the world never had a more perfect piece how little trust there is in villainous man ! he that even now was for the way of strict and accurate induction , is fallen into the mysticall way of the cabala , and numbers formall : there are not two waies in the whole world more opposite , then those of the l. verulam and d. fludd , the one founded upon experiment , the other upon mysticall ideal reasons ; even now he was for him , now he is for this , and all this in the twinkling of an eye , o the celerity of the change and motion of the wind. 3. his third remedy is , that the philosophy of plato and democritus , of epicurus and philolaus , of hermes and dr gilbert , be brought into examination and practise . he meanes that these be examined by those that can understand them ( himselfe being unprovided in that kind , ) that we chuse the good , and refuse the evill . you will say , if de fluctibus be so perfect , what need we go any farther ? i warrant you sir , he knows both why and wherefore , though i can see no reason for it . 4. that youth may put their hands to labour , and their fingers to the furnaces : that the mysteries discovered by pyrotechny ; and the wonders brought to light by chymistry may be familiar to them . all that i can do here is to explaine his meaning , least the remedy should loose its operation [ it is not his meaning , that the youth should put their fingers into the furnaces , for that would make them dread the fire , nor yet unto the furnaces , for that would smut them , but to , that is , towards the furnace . ] he hath likewise taken care that we should not confound in this paragraph chymistry and pyrotechny , the wonders of that , and the mysteries of this . chymistry is well knowne , pyrotechny is the method of fireworkes , the mystery of making squibs and crackers . 5. the last remedy is , that galenicall physick may not be the prison that all men must be enchained in . see sir how one may live and learne ! i ever thought that galenicall physick had served to make men loose , and not to be a prison to them . i can but thank mr webster for this discovery , ingratum si dixeris , omnia dixeris . metaphysicks . his remedy for metaphysicks is to read des cartes . yet had he read him till he had understood him , the world had been deprived of this herculean labour . ethicks . ethicks is better taught by president . which made him shew his manners in dealing with the universities . rhetorick and poetry . rhetorick and poetry are gifts , and he hath nought to do with them , for why ? kings and emperours cannot make an orator or poet , much lesse can he make either of them . a sows eare will never make a silken saile . cap. xi . some expedients concerning their custome and method . whosoever shall consider the errours charged upon the universities in his eight chapter , and the expedients here proposed , if he do not acknowledge the remedies here applyed to be the very genuine & naturall ones hinted by the indication of the diseases : i say he labours in his judgment , and is a dis-idoneous auditor of mr webster . for if the disease be , that the body of the university is bound , ( bound to one method ) can there be a surer remedy , then to use a solutive medicine , to give them a purge and set them loose ? if it labour of idlenesse or a consumption of time , can any remedy be more naturall , then that time should not hence forth be trifled away ? these are his recipes , carried on thus to the last , against which the tongue of envy , cannot say but they are proper to their maladyes . yet i must speake to them in severall . 1. that there be a liberty in the way and method of study . i have formerly hinted to him , that our universities are pretty well furnished with this medicine , so that he shall doe well to vent it upon those forraigne ones from whence he is come . 2. that time be not mispent in the universities . some captious ones have asked , why then he would not take care , to keep his workes from coming hither to be read ? to whom i answer , that he never did intend they should come hither , he meant them to a party in the city , and takes no pleasure i dare say , that i should spend this time about him ; well this is not the only thing wherein it is my happinesse to agree with m. webster . 3. that there be not a set time for degrees , but that merit , not years should take place , and be rewarded . how fitting this is , i have endeavoured to shew p. 40. 4. that in their exercises , it be tried what they can doe , that ( nature having given them two hands ) they may learne to worke &c. the reasons of this may be many , i shall name only two . first , because he hath been used to weed the garden , and to other labour in his covent : then why should not we ? secondly , because if his reformation shall take place , we must be put shortly to work for our livings , therefore t is good before hand , for each man to be provided of a trade . 5. that exercises may be in english . his reason is , least we forget the english tongue , which would be very sad if it should fall out : mine is , that m. webster and others of his measure , be not deprived of the benefit of them . 6. that neither antiquity nor novelty take place of verity , nor the authority of aristotle , or any other , should enchaine us . what ? againe at aristotle ! nay verily now he is to blame : this remedy had been a pure one , if he could have let aristotle alone : the fetching him in here , i feare , may give occasion to some , to think he does it out of spight . 7. lastly , the order he prescribes is this , that they be taught , 1. mathematicks . 2. tongues . 3. physicks . 4. logick . 5. metaphysicks . &c. not that all men should be bound to the same method , ( as is above expressed ) beside m. webster studied all these together , which hath made him so equally skilled in all , that there is not any thing to chuse betwixt his skill in every one of them , no man being able to speake , whether he be a greater mathematician , a linguist , or a philosopher . and now sir , you judge that i have faithfully performed what i undertook , at the opening of his remedies : i having stuck to him as close as needed to be , and to speake truth , as close as his sent would suffer mee . sir , i have ran through this pamphlet , and i think i have in some measure , made good the character you gave me of him in your epistle ; you know sir , i am not of those who hate to be reformed ; it hath been my earnest desire , that men of parts and experience would meet together , and consult about the advancement of study , by the most convenient method , that would produce something worthy of our age of light ; the raw and crude attempts of such men as these , are slight and very ridiculous , no waies considerable , unlesse it shall be in their excitations of us , to reforme such errours as we find , to assert and vindicate the honour of these places . a thing which would speedily and plentifully be performed , if our designe of printing bookes , and setting up a forreigne correspondency were once accomplished . there is one thing which this sort of pamphleteers insist on , which as it is pursued by my l. verulam , so it carries weight with it , but is very impertinently applied , either as an exception against us , or as a generall rule to be imposed upon us in our academicall institution . it is , that instead of verball exercises , we should set upon experiments and observations , that we should lay aside our disputations , declamations , and publick lectures , and betake our selves , to agriculture , mechanicks , chymistry , and the like . it cannot be denied but this is the way , and the only way to perfect naturall philosophy and medicine : so that whosoever intend to professe the one or the other , are to take that course , and i have not neglected occasionally to tell the world , that this way is pursued amongst us . but our academies are of a more generall and comprehensive institution , and as there is a provision here made , that whosoever will be excellent in any kind , in any art , science , or language , may here receive assistance , and be led by the hand , till he come to be excellent ; so is there a provision likewise , that men be not forced into particular waies , but may receive an institution , variously answerable to their genius and designe . of those very great numbers of youth , which come to our universities , how few are there , whose designe is to be absolute in naturall philosophy ? which of the nobility or gentry , desire when they send their sonnes hither , that they should be set to chymistry , or agriculture , or mechanicks ? their removall is from hence commonly in two or three years , to the innes of court , and the desire of their friends is not , that they be engaged in those experimentall things , but that their reason , and fancy , and carriage , be improved by lighter institutions and exercises , that they may become rationall and gracefull speakers , and be of an acceptable behaviour in their countries . i am perswaded , that of all those , who come hither for institution , there is not one of many hundreds , who if they may have their option , will give themselves to be accomplished naturall philosophers , ( such as will , ought certainly to follow this course ) the paines is great , the reward but slender , unlesse we reckon in the pleasure of contemplation ; that indeed is great and high , but therefore to draw all men that way , by reason of the pleasure , were to present a feast all of custard or tart , and not to consult the variety of tasts , and tempers of our guests : but i have been too much and long extravagant and idle : if out of all this you shall be pleased to raise a contemplation of your power over mee , and shall from thence receive a complacence , it is the only aime and interest of , sir , your most &c. h. d. an appendix concerning what mr hobbs and mr dell have written touching the universities . sir , when i consider how i have spent that little time , which i have hitherto bestowed upon mr websters examen , and into what a temper of mind i have fallen upon that occasion , the satisfaction i receive from what i have done , is so small , that were i not held on by the power you have over mee , in truth i would excuse my selfe from any farther trouble . now it seemes i must goe on , and being tired with idle play , i must addresse my selfe for a much more considerable encounter . you know sir , and have observed in your letter to mee , how vast a difference there is , betwixt the learning and reputation of mr hobbs , and these two gentlemen , and how scornefully he will take it to be ranked with a friar and an enthusiast : the answer to this , if he complaine , will be , we found him inter grues , and could not without prejudice let him escape : however i shall deale with him as respectfully as i can , giving him leave to heare himselfe speake at large , ( a thing he is infinitely taken with ) and making such replies , as truth and reason shall suggest in our concernements . i intend only to consider what he hath spoken of the universities in his leviathan , or rather what i have therein observed to that purpose , laying together such passages as may make him to be understood . that men may be able fully to comprehend the meaning of this author , we must carefully by way of preparation , search for his 1. end and designe . 2. judgement , concerning the meanes of attaining it . 3. expectation as to successe in his designe , and the consequences of it . 1. it appeares that the end he proposes to himselfe ( in his leviathan ) is , that the world should be regulated exactly , by that modell which he there exhibits , and that his reason should be the governing reason of mankind . this is ( i conceive ) so evident , that he will not denie it , and so frequently insinuated , that it 's needlesse to be particular . the close of his second part , and 31 chapter , is with an intimation of a desire , that by the exercise of entire soveraignty , his truth of speculation may be converted into the utility of practise . 2. the meanes he proposes to accomplish this end , is the publicke teaching of his leviathan : which he would have protected by the exercise of entire soveraignty . ibid. now this publick teaching may be either in the pulpits . universities . the divines and others who make shew of learning , derive their knowledge from the vniversities , and from the schooles of law , or from the books which by men eminent in those schooles and vniversities have been published . it is therefore manifest , that the instruction of the people , dependeth wholly upon the right teaching of youth in the vniversities . p. 179 , 180. so that the way he proposes to accomplish his great designe , is , the publicke reading of his leviathan in the universities , ( especially of england ) and in order to this , he hath declared himselfe concerning his booke , the universities , and himselfe . 1. concerning his booke in the review . p. 395. " that it may be profitably printed , and more profitably taught in the vniversities . 2 , and 3 concerning the other two . p. 180. in answer to these two questions . 1. are not the vniversities of england learned enough already ( to teach the people their duty ? 2. is it you ( mr hobbs ) will undertake to teach the vniversities ? where the answer to the first , is , that the vniversities have not been able to plant the true doctrine ( which is his . ) and to the other , that any man which sees what he is doing , may easily perceive what he thinkes . his immediate desire and judgment is therefore , that his leviathan be by entire soveragnity imposed upon the vniversities , there to be read , and publickly taught . 3. it will now concerne us to consider his expectation and hope , concerning the accomplishment of this ( sober and modest ) designe . upon the prevailing or failing of which hope in his mind , the destiny of the universities ( as to his endeavours ) shall depend . if he have hope that he shall be publickly taught in the universities , it will be convenient for him only to endeavour this peice of reformation , and to assert their usefulnesse being so ordered . if there be little hopes of obtaining this publick authority for this great leviathan ; to what end then serve the universities ? shall other things be taught there publickly , and this be looked upon as the writing of a private author ? it will then concerne him to fall downe right upon them , on every occasion to endeavour to blast them , and to proclaime them uselesse to the world . and here indeed we find him fluctuating betwixt despaire and hope , p. 193. sometimes , at the point of believing this his labour as uselesse as the commonwealth of plato . at other times recovering hopes , that one time or other this writing of his may fall into the hands of a soveraigne , who by the exercise of entire soveraignty , in protecting the publick teaching of it , will convert this truth of speculation into the vtility of practise . how happy sir had it been , if his hopes might have reigned perpetually in his mind , that so the universities might have obtained a patron of this great man , but he is well in yeares , and jelousy and spleen have prevailed over him , and in conclusion , he deales with us accordingly ; indeed sir , somewhat puerilely , in insulting over us without cause , tetrically striking at us without any occasion , vnreasonably , in charging us with some things we are not guilty of , and condemning us for other , without convincing us of any fault . this is that we shall demonstrate in our just defence , there are two passages by the by , and one entire chapter which will concerne us to consider . his first passage is in the 1. chapter p. 4. where having determined sence to be nothing else but a perception of a motion made upon the organ , he adds , but the phylosophy schooles through all the vniversities of christendome grounded upon certaine texts of aristotle , teach another doctrine ( viz. that sence is made by a species &c. ) 1. as for the thing here charged upon all the schooles of christendome , you know it sir to be untrue . the other theory of explaining sence upon the grounds of motion , was almost generally received here before his booke came forth . being sufficiently taught by des cartes , gassendus , s. k. digby , and others , before he had published any thing in that kind . 2. that which he so much glories in , is not his owne invention , but is contained for substance ( as i am certainely informed by one who hath seen it ) in mr warners papers , which mr hobbs had long since in his hands , and is delivered in the very beginning of that tract of vision , which treats de penicillo optico . 3. if mr hobbs had invented this , who hath not ( so farre as i can learne ) added any thing considerable to the inventions of other men : it might have been needlesse , upon so slight an occasion , to insult over all the schooles of christendome ; but his mind was intent upon his designe , and at this time his hope had possession there ; he sayes not ( therefore ) that , as disapproving ( yet ) the use of vniversities , but to let men see what would be amended in them . page 4. but that which followes after is indeed of worse consequence , and is ( to speake the best and mildest of it ) an evidence of a fuming spleene , and an instance of despondency in his designe . a touch he is thought to give us in his kingdome of darkenesse , where he makes a comparison of the papacy with the kingdome of fayries . the words are ( p. 386. ) in what shop or operatory the fayries make their enchantments , the old wives have not determined ; but the operatories of the clergy , are well enough known to be the vniversities , that received their discipline , from authority pontificiall . in truth sir , i hardly know how to behave myselfe upon this occasion . first , i know not whether he intended this to concerne our universities or not ; if not , he might have done us the justice , to have separated our case from that of popish vniversities ; if he did intend to cast a contumely upon us , i am yet at a losse how to answer him . this whole discourse is freakish and unbecoming the archipoliticall gravity of a master of the world , our universities have bin modelled by commission from the civill power . seeing the old women have found no operatory for the fairyes ; it was a needlesse sollicitude in this reverend old man , to seeke one for the clergy . well sir , seeing he will have his frollick , i am resolved to answer this passage with a crotchet of a friend of mine , whose observation , is that however the fayries are sayd to be harmelesse in their dancings , he is sure the hobbe-goblins are spightfull and mischeivous in their friskings . but hitherto we have been but girded at ; his maine forces he hath gathered into the chapter preceding this , viz. the .46 . whose title is of darkenesse from vaine philosophy , &c. but its designe is against universities . and this chapter containes , 1. a discourse concerning , the beginning and progresse of philosophy . 2. concerning the originall , & progresse of schooles . 3. the unprofitablenesse of schooles . 4. of universities , and a generall charge against them . 5. their particular errours . the two first parts of this chapter , seeme not to be of any speciall concernement to us , and i shall have that regard to him , and to my selfe , not to oppose him without necessity : were it requisite so to doe , it were easy to manifest , that his sentence concerning the beginnings and progresse of knowledge , is neither suitable to reason nor history : the supposition laid as a lemma to that sentence is , that hearding of men like beasts together , their feeding upon akornes , and drinking water , their wanting for some time the use of speech , &c. things neither suitable to those authentick histories which ought to have authority amongst us , nor yet to the conclusions of reason , running back from the present state of the world , to the temper and state of earlier times . but to drive this home were to unravell the whole body of his politicks , and to dissolve this goodly work , which is not to be done occasionally in such an appendix ; the time may be , when after mr hobbs shall have published his other philosophicall workes , from whence the rise of this great one is fetched , some friend or other of ours may set apart some time , to weigh and examine all his labours , and then to render him what shall be due to the truth and demonstration of his assertions . you know how much may be said for that origine & derivation of knowledge , which the bookes of moses deliver to us ; and for the origine of schooles , which is the second part of this discourse : as we cannot deny them to have been the productions of peace and leasure , so i conceive it is an excessive instance of spleen and melancholy , prejudiciall even to the whole course of life and profession of m.h. to call the discourses and contemplations of the antient philosophers , by the name of talke and idlenesse , and to compare the exercises of plato , aristotle , zeno , and the antient worthies , ( without some of whose endeavours , there had scarce at this time been either oportunity of knowing much , nor had the world perhaps set so high a price on knowledge , ) to the prating and loitering usually exercised in pauls church , and more-fields ▪ the world had then another esteeme of those exercises , who publickly upon this occasion erected schooles for lectures , and disputations , almost in every common-wealth . and it is in the strength of the reputation of philosophy gained that way , that m. hobbs findes a regard amongst men , desirous of knowledge , and not for the eminence of what he hath published , in any kind exceeding the productions of those men whom he despises . thus much in generall concerning the two first parts of this chapter . the third is , the inutility of the antient schooles . the distast he hath conceived against our universities , hath not suffered him to containe his rage within any bounds . what hath been the utility of those ( antient ) schooles ? what science is there at this day acquired by their readings and disputings . p. 369. the meaning is , there never was any profit by publick schooles . this concernes us , and we will examine it particularly . the substance of his reasoning is this , ( ib. ) naturall philosophy cannot be had , without having first attained great knowledge in geometry that we have of geometry ( which is the mother of all naturall science ) we are not indebted for it to the schooles . plato forbad entrance to all that were not in some measure geometricians , &c. sir , here it is that i cannot but complaine of misguided rage in m. hobbs ; against this passage i assert , that not onely geometry was taught in the antient schooles , but that to those schooles , we owe the geometry which we have . much we owe to the schoole of athens , and even to plato's schoole ( the academy ) much more to that famous schoole of alexandria . plato was he , who when the oracle required the duplication of the cubicall altar , expounded it of the recommendation of the study of geometry to them , shewed them that the particular solution of the problem , must be by the invention of two meane proportionalls betwixt two lines given , propounded the problem to his scholers , who wrote severall things concerning it . proclus doth often referre the invention of propositions in euclides collection , to the schoole of pythagoras . theudius magnes , cyzicinus the athenian , and others , are delivered to us by proclus , in the second book of commentaries upon the first element of euclide , in academia simul vacasse quaestionibus geometricis enucleandis . but the schoole of alexandria , hath been so renouned for delivering of the mathematicks , that in truth i cannot but wonder at the assertion of m hobbs . it was begun by euclide there , not long after the building of that city , in the time of ptolemaeus lagi . it was continued by the disciples of euclide , who left many behind him as pappus acknowledges in his collections . to it we owe all the great mathematicians , which ever were amongst the antients , such as eratosthenes ( who set up the instruments at alexandria , by which men made the observations of hipparchus , and ptolemy the foundation of all astronomy ) archimedes , apollonius ( the great geometrician ) ptolemy , theon , diophantus , and very many others . nay , sir h. savile hath asserted , that from the time of euclide to the saracenicall times , there never was a great mathematician , who was not borne at alexandria , or had not studied some yeares there . i would gladly know , what is there in geometry , or all mathematicks , which we are not indebted for to some of these , i speak not of propositions , but of the way and method of mastering all kinds of problemes . the analyticks was their art , the exegeticall part hath indeed been found out by vieta , and the geometricall effection of solid and lineary problemes , by the immortall wit of des cartes , but had it not been for those , we never had enjoyed the benefit of these . i have heard that m. hobbs hath given out , that he hath found the solution of some problemes , amounting to no lesse then the quadrature of the circle , when we shall be made happy with the sight of those his labours , i shall fall in with those that speake loudest in his praise , in the meane time i cannot dissemble my feare , that his geometricall designe ( as to those high pieces ) may prove answerable to a late opticall designe of his , of casting conicall glasses in a mould , then which there could not be any thing attempted , lesse becoming such a man , as he doth apprehend himselfe to be . briefely as to the case in hand , either m. hobbs did know of these schooles , or not ; if he knew not of them , i dare undertake him not to be so great a geometrician as he pretends to be , and that he is defective at his chiefe weapon . if he did know of them , where is his ingenuity in asserting the inutility of schooles ? and that we are not beholden to them for our geometry ? it is not in vaine sir , that i have charged these things upon his spleene , which yet will more appeare by that which followes . pag. 370. 4. that which he there asserts concerning universities is , that whereas an university is an incorporation of many publick schooles in one towne . 1. the principall schooles were ordained for the romane religion . the romane law . the art of medicine . to this it is easily answered , that however the ordination of them hath formerly been , the two universities have since the casting off the papall yoke , been regulated by the civill power , and been conformed to it , so that the discourse of the romish religion or law , with reflexion upon us , is disingenious , and nothing to this purpose . 2. for the study of philosophy , it hath no otherwise place , then as a handmaid to the romish religion . this is in truth so barbarous an assertion , as nothing beside the reverence to his grey haires , restraines me from speaking bluntly of him : what friends to the romish religion our universities have brought forth , that party have felt . and it is said that mr hobbs is no otherwise an enemy to it , save only , as it hath the name of a religion . 3. and since the authority of aristotle is only current there , that study is not properly phylosophy but aristotelity . how farre the authority of aristotle is current amongst us , sir both you and i have spoken . what his designe is concerning the publick reading of his leviathan himselfe hath told us . from whence it is manifest , that the only thing which paines him is the desire that aristotelity may be changed into hobbeity , & insteed of the stagyrite , the world may adore the great malmesburian phylosopher . 4. for geometry till of very late times it had no place at all . and if any man by the ingenuity of his nature had atteined to any degree of perfection in it , he was commonly thought a magician , and his art diabolicall . geometry hath now so much place in the universities , that when mr hobbs shall have published his philosophicall and geometricall peices , i assure my selfe , i am able to find a great number in the university , who will understand as much or more of them then he desires they should , indeed too much to keep up in them that admiration of him which only will content him . and if in our times these studies have been advanced , we might have expected from a temperate man , rather the commendation for our advance , then an exprobration with the ignorance of our ancestors . the truth is sir , about that time when mr hobbs was conversant in magdalen-hall , the constitution and way of the university might ( likely ) be enclining to his character of it , but now his discourse seemes like that of the seaven sleepers , who after many yeares awaking , in vaine addressed themselves to act according to the state of things when they lay downe . i shall speake no more to this fourth head . and to the fift , containing an enumeration of particular errours : they all or most are resolved into that aristotelity he charges us with , and require no answer , save that we enjoy a liberty of philosophizing , and that if he should do us the honour to come amongst us , i am perswaded he would hardly find any other fault with us , except that great unpardonable one , that the publick reading of his leviathan , is not by a sanction of the magistrate imposed upon us . 5. the particular errors which he would charge us with , are neere twenty in number , amongst which there is not one , either in philosophy , politicks , or divinity , which he hath proved , or can prove , both to be an error , and to be maintained by our universities . i shall give a briefe account of them all . 1. his first error charged upon us , is the doctrine of abstracted essences , and immateriall substances . concerning which , as i cannot but acknowledge his ratiocination to be good , as to the former part , viz. of vniversalls , and formall entities : so i am willing to make good upon a just occasion , that being is a superiour notion to body , that immateriall substance , or separated substances , is no contradiction , and that the truths of philosophy , are better salved upon that ground , then upon his imagination . 2. his next quarrell is at nunc stans , the common definition of eternity : this i affirme to be more intelligible then a successive eternity , or a progresse in infinitum , which is the contrary position . of all that which followes , i doe not know one thing which is held by any of us . 3. as that one body may be in many places , many in one . 4. that gravity is the cause of heavinesse . 5. that quantity is put into body already made . 6. that the soule of man is poured into the body , meaning it literally and grossely . 7. that the power of willing is the ( totall ) cause of actuall willing . 8. that fortune or ignorance , is an occult cause of things , although we may not professe to know the causes of all things . these are the errors in naturall philosophy charged on us , and yet not one of those positions generally maintained by us . morall errours are these . 1. that one makes things incongruent , another the incongruity . 2. that private appetite is the rule of publick good . 3. lawfull marriage is unchastity . 4. that all government but popular is tyranny . 5. that not men but law governes . 6. that humane lawes ought to extend to the inquisition of mens thoughts and consciences , notwithstanding the conformity of their speeches and actions . 7. that private men may interpret the law , and restraine where the soveraigne hath left a liberty concerning all which positions , i am perswaded he cannot instance in one university man , who hath published such an opinion , as he would put upon the whole universities : it is true , that in the first of these , when the question is , whether there be free will in man , or god be the author of sinne , men fall frequently into very great difficulties : but either mr hobbes ought to have cleared one part of these two ; or not to have charged upon us , either the obscurity of truth , or the imbecillity of humane nature . as for the rest of them , he may better assert , that there are universities in the moone , and that they maintaine all those positions , then impose them upon us . there it will be hard to prove the contrary , we now challenge him to make proofe of what he hath delivered , and promise to give him satisfaction . there remaines three other charges , viz. 1. the insignificant language of the schoolemen ( the commenters upon peter lombard . ) 2. errors from tradition ( as the histories of apparitions and ghosts , &c. ) 3. the suppression of reason and true philosophy . but these with the other charges , are so extravagant , and so much forced to appeare against us , that had he not been in great necessity , and much constrained to it by his passion , i am perswaded , he never would have produced them , as arguments of our disgrace . what is the language of peter lombard , or the writers upon the sentences , to the universities of oxford or cambridge ? when were we troubled or frighted with ghosts or apparitions ? whose reason or philosophy have we supprest ? or is it such a crime to assert the attributes of god , and the naturall immortality of the soules of men , that it shall exempt our adversaries from the common lawes , honesty , and ingenuity , and excuse the most grosse and palpable calumniations of us ? nay , the delation of us to the civill magistrate , and the endeavours for our extirpation ? but he hath done what becomes a man of his judgment and principles , let us be answerable to ours , not returning railing for railing , or scorne for scorne , but making an end of this contention , let us release the reader from farther trouble . concerning mr dell . it remaines now , that i should take into consideration what mr dell hath written in our concernements , but that which he hath done , is so little either in magnitude or vertue , that i can hardly perswade my selfe to make a businesse of it . the cause of learning , its necessity and usefullnesse to the ministers of the gospell , though it be of generall importance to all men , whose interest it is , that the blind be not leaders of the blind , yet seeing the defence of it is taken up , by one so able and ready to maintaine the truth , ( mr sydrach sympson ) i look upon it as forreigne to our present engagement , and shall therefore wholly decline it . our view is only of a post-script to his book , called the triall of spirits , where he delivers his judgement concerning the reformation of universities . the piece is short , it containes many things wherein we agree with him , and some few wherein we differ . 1. he would not have children have nothing to doe , but to doe nothing . very witty , no more would we . 2. he thinkes it meet , the magistrate take great care for the education of youth . we also think it meet . 3. that schooles be erected in greater townes and villages , that none but godly men , and sober and grave women have charge of of them . very good . 4. that they first teach them to read their native tongue , [ very necessary ] and presently to read the scriptures . very convenient . 5. that in great townes they teach them latine , greeke , and hebrew , and the latine and greeke especially from christian authors . ( not from heathen poets &c. ) this also is very honest . 6. it may be convenient , that there may be some vniversities or colledges , for the teaching liberall arts , as logick of good use in humane things , though in divinity gladius diaboli , and mathematicks , which as they carry no wickednesse in them , so are they 〈…〉 usefull . this sentence , though as it concernes the use of logick in divinity , it be of an occult and not investigable sence , yet as it concernes the mathematicks , it carries in it neither non-sence nor dishonesty , and is besides very allowable . thus farre then we are agreed , in that which followes , reason will that we should differ from him . 1. he complaines that our universities should only be at cambridge and oxford , and here he 1. charges them of encroachment against the law of love , for monopolizing humane learning . 2. he charges them to have been places of great licentiousnesse and profanenesse . 3. he asserts it to be more suitable to a common-wealth , ( if we become so indeed , and not in word only ) and more advantagious to the people to have vniversities in every great towne . to answer first to his criminall charges . 1. if mr dell be a graduate in the the university , he hath sworne to defend the priviledges of it , to do it all the honour and right he can , if so how doth he encroach upon the law of nature , sacred amongst all not given over to barbarisme ▪ unlesse he can prove the matter of that oath to be unlawfull which is yet retained in every corporatiō ) i do not know any thing which can here excuse him from unrighteousness . if he himselfe be no graduate , he doth indeed discover no more , but a disingenuous envy and ( considering his relations ) an unworthy ingratitude . 2. but particularly , first , that which he calls the monopolizing of learning by those two places , it is not to be charged upon them ( neither is it f●rther chargeable then upon any corporation of men whatsoever ) but it reflects upon the soveraigne magistracy of our nation by whose ordination , the priviledges & statutes of both the universityes have been alwayes regulated . 2. his second charge is generall , unproved , and no wayes concernes us ▪ i am sure that this university cannot now be justly taxed with any such licentiousnesse or profanenesse : indeed the care and prudence and successe of our immediate governors , as to the advancement of religion and learning is such as mr dell may envy but he will never equall it , i should be very loath to injure him , yet common fame hath brought his name hither with a character upon it of one whose studyed designe is ( by letting fall all discipline ) to let in licence with all its usuall traine , both into cays colledge , and that other university : an i that the consequence of what he hath done hitherto hath been such as tends manifestly rather to the ruine then reformation of that place . 3. his third assertion containes in the parenthesis an unworthy reflexion upon those who have the mannage of the supream power , and is in it selfe such as he cannot prove ; were his designe put in execution , it would tend undoubtedly to the disadvantage of learning ; there is nothing in the world more conducing to the enlarging of the minds of men and the compleating of their knowledge , then the cōversation with men eminent in all the severall parts of learning , and the honest emulation of those that doe excell . this is to be had only where there are great numbers of students and professors , and the cause of the advance in learning encreases alwayes with the variety and eminency of mens wits and learning who converse together . to spare more words in a theoreticall discourse of this nature , we may cōpare together the learning of the universities , and religious houses of foreigne parts , where it is evident , the difference in learning is vast ; those are dispursed according to great townes , and remaine pittifully ignorant , these are one or two in a nation , flourishing with the profession of all ingenious learning . now that which he alleadges as a convenience in his way , that people may maintaine their children at home while they learne in the schooles , hath not been observed to tend to an advance in learning but to the contrary . we have not generally observed that towns-mens children prove the greatest schollars and those who would have their children excellently learned rather choose to send them abroad to schoole , or to travell , then keepe them at home . having briefely examined this proposall , i shall need only to mention his second ; which is , 2. that youth may be so trained up that they may spend some part of the day in learning , and another part in some lawfull calling ( suppose of weaving or making shooes ) or one day in study , and another in businesse . how much he hath in him either of learning or judgement , he hath manifested by this proposall ; i am much assured , there is not a learned man in all the world who hath not found by experience , that skill in any faculty ( so as to exceed the smatterings of such trifies as mr dell ) is not to be attained , without a timely beginning , a constancy and assiduity in study , especially while they are young ; had not mr dell abstained from reading of the poets ( rather because they are too hard for him , then for any wickednesse which is in them ) he had long since been perswaded of this truth , multa tulit fecitque puer , sudavit & alsit . vdum & molle lutum es , nunc , nunc properandus , & acri fingendus sine fine rotâ — it is very probable that mr dell may have given as much of his time to some other trade , as he hath done to learning or study : indeed his learning and judgement shewes it , ( notwithstanding which he may be ( for ought i know ) an excellent artificer , his wit perhaps lying that way ) but if this course shall be set up , as the only authorized way of institution , we may by this meanes have ignorance enough to think highly of our selves , but we shall become the scorne of all the gallant men in the nations about us , and mr dell shall not need to torment himselfe about tithes , and maintainance of ministers , the romans will come and take away their place and nation . sir , i have now done what i intended , ( as slightly as i could runne over what you recommended , ) and am ambitious only to continue in the acceptance wherein i stand with you , as being your most humble and affectionate servant h. d. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67575e-150 prov. 18.13 . coloss. 2.8 . notes for div a67575e-1110 epistle . preface ▪ pag. 19. stat. cant. considerations concerning free-schools as settled in england wase, christopher, 1625?-1690. 1678 approx. 181 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 61 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a65215 wing w1015 estc r38239 17242795 ocm 17242795 106270 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65215) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106270) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1162:1) considerations concerning free-schools as settled in england wase, christopher, 1625?-1690. [8], 112 p. printed at the theater in oxford and are to be had there, and in london at mr. simon millers ..., [oxford] : 1678. epistle dedicatory signed: christopher wase. t.p. contains printers device: sheldonian theatre, oxford. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -england -early works to 1800. 2005-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-07 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion considerations concerning free-schools , as settled in england . printed at the theater in oxford ; and are to be had there . and in london at mr simon millers at the signe of the star near the west end of s. pauls church . anno 1678. imprimatur . henricvs clerke vice-cancel . oxon. may 25. anno dom. 1677. to the reverend dr. henry clerke president of magdalene college , and vice-chancellor of oxford . to the worshipful dr. tho. bovchier , kings professor of the civil law in the same university . much honored patrons , the subject of this enquiry low in it self , and accordingly apt to be deprest , is yet a part of this state not altogether inconsiderable , since it hath formerly engag'd the concern of personages great for parts and quality . onely that probleme must needs have somewhat topical in it , upon which able men , and well-affected , and on both sides in earnest , are divided ; though , perhaps , unequally : the practice of some few who had manag'd their own affairs with discretion , and whose good meaning is not doubted , bearing up against the declar'd sense of many of like unquestionable prudence . this address in a cause conjectural and prejudg'd by popular fame , being devested of other authority from the reporter then what the matter furnishes , can onely hope for a reception , as upon tryal it shall approve it self to you ; before whose impartial determination , those ill-grounded prejudices , which have , for these not few years , averted many charitable intentions for the incouragement of learning , will abate . reverend sir , that which gave occasion to this small discourse receiv'd hopes of life from the right reverend lord bishop of bath and wells , at that time our vice-chancellor , in whom , without respect to this instance , was a prudence watchful against surreption : a judgement known to be stable : back'd with courage , as being the result of his own clear reasonings . he therefore is advanc'd to an honorable government in the church . suffer now with the service of the author , the patronage of this work to devolve upon your self . in the vniversities are helps of study , examples of accurate performance . the favors of oxford to me great , as undeserv'd , not obscure . all motives from without command an humble deference of honor eminently to you , which your own inward worth invites . give your self the importunity with patience to glance over this piece , and allow some of the imperfections to difficulties to my present circumstances insuperable : which difficulties , upon a nearer review , may give way to a right understanding through your favourable acceptance . nor may i worshipful sir , without due veneration tender these papers to your perusal . provisions for school-masters while ecclesiastical benefices , for students in the vniversity while portions of tythes lying originally in the canon-law , before what more competent judge can they justify their reason ? the privileges of students are there most amply deduc'd : with us in england laid up in charters through the royal indulgence : their revenues indeed fenc'd by the statutes of the realm , whatever court take the cognisance of school-causes , let them prove their claim by tenderness to the interess'd : you are more zealous for justice then enlarg'd jurisdiction . thus you do right to that faculty , which manag'd with such knowledge , prudence , and integrity must reconcile commerce with church-judicature ; and by authority justify'd from the strongest reason happily advance all the ends of right government . many are the blessings vouchsafed to this place : among the chief of which we thankfully acknowledge a prudent magistracy : wholesome laws and statutes : intent exercise of discipline : administration of justice temper'd , but not corrupted , with mercy . reverend sir , these genial influences of your unwea'rid cares , cherish the studies of oxford : propagate a lasting honor on your memory : and lay up for you the blessing of many orators . give me leave from sense of particular duty to add , increase of happiness on both your persons to be the unfeigned prayer of your most obedient servant christopher wase . the analysis . 1. the scope of the work. 2. education granted universally necessary . 3. learning doubted whether universally useful . 4. some learning argu'd universally necessary . 5. the good understanding between learning and trade . 6. schools necessary . free-schools advantagious to the publick . 7. erected by heathens . 8. catechistical schools in the primitive times . 9. the congregation of canons under the fathers . 10. cathedral and parochial schools of christianity in the german empire . 11. since the councel of trent , seminaries . 12. upon the english reformation free-schools . 13. necessary to the subsistence of the church . 14. as left by k. henry 8. 15. as under edw. 6. and q. mary . 16. as it proceeded under q. elizab. 17. since the q. represented too many . 18. many free-schools necessary to this church . 19. useful to the state in law. 20. in physick and divers other professions . 21. many scholars diverting to no faculty , admitted inconvenient . 22. scholars in england not prov'd too many from the late differences , nor present divisions . 23. nor from the discontent of others . 24. nor from the many schools . 25. nor from divers thence highly preferr'd , 26. scholars in england probably not too many . 27. free-schools probably not too many . 28. schools how far in equity free . 29. church and schools , with empire flourishing , encourag'd ; decaying , neglected . 30. an instance that there is room for new foundations in some places of england . 31. free-schools would be cherish'd by augmentation of the masters wages . 32. by further exhibitions to scholars . 33. would not be deserted by the gentry . 34. have not all of them been declin'd by the nobility . 35. country free-schools somewhere improvable by having their patronage annex'd to some house in the university . 36. consist in a right understanding between town and master . 37. advantag'd by their enfeoffement● 38. orders . 39. catechising . 40. special and general visitors . 41. library . 42. writing-schools to be kept within the esteem due . 43. the conclusion . considerations concerning free-schools . §. 1. there is an opinion commonly receiv'd , that the scholars of england are over-proportion'd to the preferments for letter'd persons . hereupon the constitution of free-schools cometh to be question'd , as diverting those , whom nature or fortune had determin'd to the plough , the oar , or other handicrafts , from their proper design , to the study of liberal arts , and even divinity it self . but the multiplying these foundations is yet higher represented as dangerous to the government . these jealousies have gain'd upon the prudent , the powerful , and , not the least , upon the scholar : as indeed allegations of such consequence deserve not to be slighted ; when proceeding from a men of authority , and publish'd in books by a repeated impressions they have pass'd into a constant fame . schools , a name against which many have an antipathy carrieth in it , at the best , an unpleasing notion of restraint . free-schools sound mean , and illiberal : yet had bin fafe in their contemt . this charge admitted , if they escape present suppression , or diminution , they must nevertheless ly under the perpetual displeasure of the magistrat , more grievous then dissolution it self . besides , an imputation laid on the judgment of former founders leaves small encouragement to the devout rich to dispose their charity upon a subject avow'd unnecessary , or suspected by the state . now because the public peace , and increase of commerce are desirable to any nation ; and parents , in particular , make it a principal concern , that their children be brought up to sound principles , and employment , which may be hopeful of an honest livelyhood , it may be convenient to call under examination whether the free grammar schools of england be so notoriously multiply'd beyond their occasion , as is demanded we should believe ; if first their usefulness can be evinced to reasonable satisfaction . §. 2. it is agreed on all parts , that education is absolutely due to man , either as in his imperfect or corrupt estate . did not our early follies require di●cipline and restraints , yet knowledg is gradual , and habits of good , not at once contracted . add hereto snares and discouragement from abroad ; the necessity of nurture and manud●ction in a ●ight and steady course , especially for those of unripe judgments , and in the slippery paths of youth is yet more evident . good in●●itution prevents or reforms vice ; nor doth it improve particulars only , but seasons families , and communities : whereby it mightily promotes the common peace and pro●perity both of church and state. §. 3. now this wholesome breeding allow'd n●cessary for all , so far as it respects those that are born in a lower condition , some would have understood only what may train them up to work ; for as to what is commonly call'd learning , and which would engross the name of education , the same effects either on policy or religion are not so universally accorded , to belong to the general propagation of it . there are places and have bin times ( these observe ) abounding with a people very devout , and tractable to all commands of superiors , that ●ever s●te years at school , have heard few sermons , nor were ever trusted with reading the bible . a light is indeed pleasant , but in its full luster scarce suited to our weaker sight ; discovers blemishes in others , even the most beautiful objects , disturbs rest in all , & in what regions it makes the longest stay , is there accompanied with least heat : the scythians ignorance being found more innocent then the athenians knowledg . discourse and reading entertain , but working supports life . arts and labour are the poor mans indies : the surest fond of a nation : the inexhaustible mine of princes . trade is that stock from whence not only private necessities are plentifully supplied , but also the public charge defray'd , and a portion by the thankful separated for uses truly charitable , in a just and pious offering . b letters indeed may without much difficulty be admitted as to the faculty of reading , and writing , for thus far they minister to commerce to which all arts and labor in their issue refer . but to make a profession of teaching obsolete languages , poetical fancies , or , what hath more appearance of gravity , the art of suiting colourable arguments , whereby to hold any question in matters sacred or civill eitherwaies indifferently : to set up schools throughout a land to this purpose , and by rewards take off the youth from following labor to sedentary studies , a while the fields ( say they ) want hands to till them : is this a benefit to the publick , or grievance ? to be encourag'd or redrest ? for if the providence of the state hath thought fit at times , and places by sumptuary laws to limit the rich in spending their own ; with much more reason doth the government take cognisance , whether such as have no visible estate for their support , take to some calling . §. 4. here it may be seasonable to interpose , whether there be not a general as well as particular calling . all ages , sexes , ranks , relations in every condition , all capacities , ly under some duty towards god and man. now that any persons can be too early instructed in this duty or too often admonish'd of it , that any nation can be too universally learn'd in the laws of well-living , would be positions hard to be conceiv'd , were they not the dictates of safe guides , men reputed wise and honest . particular callings may through different providences , at least in the timely retreats of old age from business , be decently laid down ; but the general runs parallel with life . this regulates the better part of man , and looks forward to eternity . now could it be made out that this duty requir'd of us were a common notion , spontaneous in our n●ture and sufficiently clear in all its parts to the light of our reason , in its present condition , there were less need of teaching . then might the scriptures without much danger remain unsearch'd : the preacher betake himself to some calling necessary , and beneficial to the community : and schools for catechizi●g to better account , be converted into work-houses . indeed morality , the law written in our hearts needed not to have bin learn'd out of books : it was to man in his first institution catholic religion ; and however those characters be defac'd , remains inseparable from the rational nature . but the doctrine of faith being an ingrafted word , not from nature , but by culture , needed to be reveled ; to be couch'd in holy w●itt ; exhibited under sacraments ; and entrusted to dispencers not only faithful , but able also . fo● reason irrad●ated with the light of supernatural truth ceaseth not to be rational . again of those that admit revelation , some argue that whatsoever is prophecy cannot be acquired : thereupon disclaim reading , meditation , and whatsoever other methods preparatory for the ministery , were recommended to the apostolical men . others , of opposite judgment , contend that whatsoever is acquir'd cannot be prophecy . these are scandaliz'd that the minister should demand audience of the people in the name of god ; or pretend to speak with demonstration of the spirit . neither of them , i think , duely distinguishing between extraordinary gifts and a standing office : both furnish'd by the same spirit suitably to the different exigences of the church : for the bread of canaan was no less the gift of god , then the manna in the wilderness . further of those that could allow schools of the prophets , all have not equally favor'd popular enquiries into the rule of faith and manners . some persons who have taken up for a principle that ignorance is the mother of devotion , and obedience , are wont to magnify the peace and prosperity of those days , wherein knowledge was not yet vulgar and cheap : while the priest and the oracle were inseparable ; nor examin'd , but obey'd : since , as admiration , so no less hath reverence of the clergy decreas'd : in the mean time dissembling that those parties which at present divide christendome , truly date their original not from the breaking out of any clearer light , but from the blindness of former ages : whil'st what opinions & practises were then insensibly admitted , must now be studiously maintain'd . it may indeed so fall out , that people may owe a temporary quiet to the not searching in to their state , through an entire acquiescence in long obtaining customs . a judgment resign'd supersedes the trouble of examination , silences all disputes : is very zealous too , but at the instinct of other mens passion : and needs must it be a frail , and ignoble obedience , which acts not according to knowledg . scriptures translated , there may be who pervert to unsound opinions ; there were who wrested them at their first revelation in the vulgar tongue : at their own peril , tho not without others danger . both of them men a unlearn'd , and thereupon unstable . all that learn , are not presently learn'd . some may be proud upon their little taste of knowledg : become intractable to superiors , prepar'd to embrace new doctrins . be there stif necks that struggle with the yoke of discipline ? this cometh not from having bin kept in aw , subject to statutes , and orders . be there unstable minds , not yielding themselvs up to be grounded upon firm principles : they learn'd not that in their catechism . they who have a more favourable opinion of their own proficiency , may do well to suffer a strict judgment to pass upon their notions least they be found to know nothing as they ought . for indeed it is not the being end●wed with more or less knowledg , ( if per●aps , little knowledg be an endowment ) but the grace of charity with either , that accordingly makes men sober and useful : without which they become conceited and factious , whil'st a ignorance is of it self the certain mother of error . to decry the publishing of truth , upon pretence of securing peace , argueth a consciousness of some opinions , which must be indulg'd because useful , would be conceal'd because unwarrantable . a dark shop giveth suspicion of corrupted wares , that would escape the magistrat and impose upon the buyer . again , admit the most knowing teacher , yet subject to human frailties , if his hearers come unprovided of a judgment of discretion , they cannot have assurance in practice , whether they be the discipl●s of divine verities , or servants of human passions . and the more laborious the one is in teaching , the more diligent and affectionate the other in hearing : nay , in repeating what they have heard , they will run the greater risque . so that to take away the rule of discerning doctrins from the people , and confine them to the sense of particular pastors , hath as small probability of advancing catholic religion , as it hath appearance of promoting commutative justice to call in standards , and warrant every sellers weights and measures , upon his private seal . in short , that the canon of faith be communicated to all believers is honest to the people . a the law of moses was the inheritance of the circumcis'd : the whole bible is the birth-right of all the baptiz'd . now , because some unhappy instances may have bin found of particulars , who have embezill'd their patrimony to their own damage , and the injury of others , with what colour of justice can it be urg'd that the community of their country be disinherited ? it is also honorable to their faithful pastors . would not a good musician desire his whole auditory well instructed in the art of musick , that they may the better judg of his ayres ? and an accurate limner be pleas'd if all spectators of his pieces were competently skill'd in proportions , colours , shadows , and what else is requisite that they might rightly discerne the beauties of his pictures , and set a due price on them ? lastly it is safe to the magistrat . a people deliver'd up to implicite faith in their leaders is in the next disposition to be seduced , they are only by accident loyal : and their virtue owing to fortune , because at another mans choice . right and well grounded submission to civil and ecclesiastical government is the genuine issue of knowledg to sobriety . for the manifold benefits of order , and in conscience of the divine institution and command , obedience is not to be withdrawn from morose and hard masters ; but therefore to advise to keep a people low in understanding , and fortunes are the misadventurous politiques of such as serve themselves of governors , and set up a private against the public interest : whereas , when truth and civil beatitude are intended , the more any nation encreases in wisdom , the more intrinsecal inforcements of loyalty will they derive from the eternal reasons of that law which injoins their obedience ; and the bands of such government become indissoluble . §. 5. there is therefore a learning which cannot be too universally dilated : a fast friend both to policy and religion : nor is it an enemy to trade , but by strict injunctions a commands labour . mechanical and manual operations are several times stil'd a good works . handy-crafts exercis'd by the ancient rabbins , did not upon their conversion unqualify for the b apostolical dignity . nay the author of our profession , and common master of all did not disown a parentage conversant about an honest art. nor do kings his followers account it any diminution of their majesty to be enroll'd in company with artisans . again , as the right bred scholar sees reason not to magnify himself against the industry of other honest laborers and artists , since god hath charg'd his support in good measure on part of their labors ; so we find the more ingenuous both of city and country to bear a true respect to learning . this they have testified among other proofs by many monuments of their piety in all parts of the land erected to the breeding up youth in good manners and literature . these worthy persons had bin so far proficients under the ordinary means of instruction in the church , as to acknowledg the good success of their labors to have bin from the gift and blessing of god : had tasted the fruits of wisdom , and highly priz'd it . whereupon in humble retribution to the divine goodness , and out of compassion to the plaee of their nativity or preferment , founded there some free-school , especially for the poor , that they might also be provided with means of knowledg . others have added exhibitions that if children at the school should give hopes of profiting they might receive farther encouragement to proceed till they arriv'd at fitness for emploiment suitable to their education . a zeal unanimously allow'd to have proceeded from a pious intention : only for the matter , by some disputed . these favor learning yet are not reconcil'd to free-schools . nay , great contention hath bin needful to convince towns , after many years , to admit such foundations , tho fairly endow'd , as any wayes beneficial to the neighborhood ; with so much the more reason may the gentry require that such as would have the liberal arts and sciences should pay for them : without censure keep their blood unmixt with mean conversation , by immuring them at home , or sequestring them into some convenient recess , to be train'd up in society with their equals , remote from markets and towns , nor countenance such places with the education of their children . upon these allegations duely consider'd it may not be improper to examine what is the import of free-schools to a state , especially christian ; since upon the issue of this question , not only the discretion of founders cometh to be decided , but the hope of obtaining future benefactors doth in great measure depend . §. 6. to the acquiring this learning above argu'd universally nec●ssary , domestical institution cannot be universally sufficient . the rich are not always at leisure to attend private occasions . court and camp avocations from house and nursery : voiages and journies , in this ambulatory condition of life often unsettle them ; at last , bands of families come to be dissolv'd . the poor , they can less teach their children what themselvs are too commonly , ignorant off , now the want of good principles , at first lay'd , proves an impeachment to profiting under the public instruction of the ministry , that is , to growth in all christian vertue . besides , if particulars , however able ( for the charge must be great ) might entertain tutors , who did not employ chaplains , this would render the scholar numerous and unprovided for . schools therefore and masters are nec●ssary . these would be in ev'ry parish , nay township : for petty scholars . further it cometh to be enquired whether others for grammar are not requisite to be had at distances not grievous . there is occasion for some that are learned in all places . where there are no men of language and reading , particular governments can scarcely be well administred : nor many offices executed . the professions of them , as their entertainments , some higher , others of inferior rank . again the temper and inclination of children whether of rich or poor in their first rudiments will discover themselvs who give hopes of being to good use advanc'd to further studies . seeds of modesty and diligence , from a pregnant wit would by no means be supprest in what ever condition they were found . yet through their own unfavorable circumstances , as soon as they have exerted their vigor , must languish unless they find some other expedient . their only relief therefore remains in the favor of princes and patriots , this is , public endowments . these whether advisable , and how far , is the adequate matter of this present disquisition . that there should be champions of justice and truth with great diligence train'd up may seem a public concern , since the enemies of church and state are not seldome polite in language , subtle in distinctions , and pugnacious in dispute : nor to be otherwise repell'd then by sound arguments , clear judgment , and copious utterance . a prize hardly attainable without legitimate study , in places regulated by establish'd orders for direction ; and no less , for restraint . that philosophy be free , but not licentious : bounds set to speculation : and the wantonness of calling in question , then exposing , principles of religion & government , ( which hinders action , disaffects society , and embroiles the world ) by authority curb'd . §. 7. but why doe i dwell any longer on private reasonings ? in controversies of this moment , it is safer to consult the approv'd practice of ages & nations . monarchs as well as free-states have of old agreed in this , a at the public charge to reclaim their subjects from natural wildness . hence to wave times and places commonly call'd barbarous , b the greek and c latine empire ( successively the pale of the civil world ) did in cities and towns of most note hire at honorable salaries , professors of philosophy and rhetorick . these , mainly to direct in pleading ; that the civil law might run . a learning of great importance to the security of empire , because not only doctrinal , but coercive . philosophers to inform the mind in things human and divine . these not only stak'd out the bounds of honesty , but left marks to discern truth of conclusion from appearance : and withal by dextrous application of number and proportion , made the way of commutative justice plain . these produc'd the kalendar , the globe , the mariners chart and compasse , by their labours now render'd easy . in a word , much of that , which now is polite in arts , or facilitates labour , is owing to the methodical invention of the contemplative ; be it spoken without derogation from the honour due to the casual experiments of the practick . as to grammar , neither hath that been unprovided for , or ungrateful to the publick . for to omit the elder grammarians , who after speech resolv'd into its distinct parts , proceeded to expound the poets ; when empire had once embrac'd nations of diverse languages , it became necessary to the preservation of peace to plant a right , which must , at least , be a common understanding between them . the structure of words , composition of sentences , with all the reason of interpretation , was now form'd into an art : and render'd the comprehension of divers tongues not difficult . onely turn the key ( grammar was the p●sse per-tout ) the gate of several idioms was unlock'd : and learners from the narrowness of their home-bred simplicity , at once lett into all the benefits of rhetorick and philosophy above-mention'd , with whatever other advantage the learned languages can communicate . which good to promote , schools were erected in the imperial city , and about the provinces . masters invited at liberal pensions issuing out of the exchequer , or from the stocks of corporations : nor were endowments of country schooles then unknown . and academ●es had their revenues . that which was first call'd a academy was a school-house within a grove in the suburbs of athens : by an heroe of that name dedicated to the propagation of wisdome . b plato living there had onely a garden valuable at some three pound of yearly rent : a small pittance in comparison of what his c successours enjoi'd . for at last the revenue came to be a thousand pound a yeare or upwards . this augmentation arose from devout men and well dispos'd to learning , as , at times , such dying in their wills left several donations to those that would espouse a contemplative life , that so they might with more freedome attend the rules and study of philosophy . as for country schools , take one instance . d pliny the yonger , upon occasion , finding that his townsmen of new como sent their sons to milan to school for want of masters there , advis'd the burgers how much it was their interest , who were fathers , to have teaching upon the place . for where can children with more delight reside then in their country ? be more watchfully guarded then under parents sight ? or cheaper kept then at home ? that it would be no such great expence to contribute towards the entertainment of school-masters : considering what is now expended upon boord , upon journeys , upon purchase of all necessaries abroad at the dearest hand , would pass upon account in a masters salary : bids them agree what to subscribe : he that had no child yet , for his countrys sake , would bear a third of it . the whole he would have undertaken had he not fear'd least in process of time his cheap beneficence might be , through sinister ends , misapply'd , as he observ'd to have faln out in many places where the community were patron . bids them confer together , conclude upon a bold sum ; he should be the better pleas'd the higher his proportion were rais'd . they could do no act more to the credit of their children , or their countrys profit : that those be bred there , who were born there : that from their infancy they contract an habitual love to their native soyl , and be there much resident . in fine , he wish'd they could invite such eminent masters as the neighbouring towns might be content to study with them : and as now other places drew their children to themselves , so by that faire reprisal they might win over others children thither . a he furnish'd his towns-men a library : b setled a stock for the breeding up the children of honest decay'd and over-burthen'd house-keepers : not to mention c the portion given to the daughter of quintilian his old d rhetorick master , or other benefactions of that good natur'd moralist . e in the palace of augustus was a college where the young caesars , in the head of the most promising flower of the nobility with silence attended the dictates of their tutour . in other places should i enumerate the illustrious grammarians among the ancients greek and latine , their successions with the noted towns where there chair stood , it would require a just volume : suffice it to our purpose , that we shall not find any free-citizens , what ever their rank were , desirous to profit in learning , debar'd ftom their lectures : such care to provide means for training up the youth of all sorts in liberal arts and sciences had those empires while heathen . §. 8. christianity , sure , having greater inducements to the attaining of wisdom , affords men of every condition not less encouragements to follow the study of true knowledge . in the church is a standing occasion for teachers , to whom learning is necessary : other advantages of fortune may at sometimes be greatly serviceable , but were never indispensably required . the first effusion of gifts fell upon the willing and faithful , at least in disposition , however in opinion erroneous : nor did lowness of estate put a bar . upon this , the a apostles train'd up such novices as minister'd to them while they were call'd from place to place and refer'd their viaticum to be taken at the churches through which they past ; which those churches esteem'd themselves under an obligation to confer upon them ; such was the fervour of primitive charity . nor is it a wonder if the apostolical conversation were a constant exercise to all christian knowledge and vertues b when the verge of the roman court carrieth about with it , whithersoever it removeth , the priviledges of an university . we may not here presently expect publick and endow'd schools ; since neither do we now know what churches were yet erected , or what setled maintenance was for the ministery . some adult proficients in the jewish and heathen schools were by the power of truth brought over to be instructed and then teachers in the christian church . indeed a catechistical school was kept at alexandri● about the latter end of the second century successively by a pantaenus , clemens , origen , heraclâs , dionysius , and athenodorus . here it were worth the considering , whether under the modest name of catechistical and school , were not couch'd over and above the delivering a compleat circle of arts and sciences , whatsoever is with us preparatory to the highest degrees in divinity . b gregory sur-nam'd thaumaturgus , that is worker of wonders , upon departure from his catechist to be bishop of neocaesarea in pontus , made a valedictory oration ; which he recited before origen in the presence of many auditors : in this panegyrick of thanks , having premis'd by what maze of providence he had been led to caesarea in palestine , whither that excellent professour was then also remov'd ; he recounts with much affection the several arts and faculties in which he had been instructed for five years by that eminent person : whereas he had before onely laid the foundation of rhetorick in order to the study of the law. first he won him over to philosophy : prest him with gentle compulsions ; how disingenuous , how short of religious must that man needs be , nay scarce worthy the name of man who neglects philosophy , that is , the study of wisdom , the priviledge peculiar to his nature above all others in the world by the divine favour indulg'd ? here he instill'd into him the principles of christian doctrine . and , because we are apt to give an over-hasty assent to what-ever is confidently asserted ; and again without sufficient reason contradict what is decry'd by the multitude ; he would direct his scholar in general to suspend his sentence , till he should rightly inform his judgement : and withal trac'd him out the methods , whereby to demonstrate truth and discover fallacies . a skill most necessary for men in all conditions of life , if it be their interest not to be impos'd upon in any of their communication with others . farther , whereas our spirits left to themselves are ordinarily low , scatter'd , or narrow , he would erect , dispose and enlarge his hearers thought by displaying at other times before him the mighty and wonderful and various and all-wise work of the creation : the beautiful order of nature : abstracting the mass of first matter collected from the continual motion of particular sublunary bodies , of different properties , compounded of elements , diversified by forms , resolvible into atoms alike fine and imperceptible by our grosser capacities in their source , course and resort : all which attest providence and a first cause ; although his worke cannot by us be perfectly comprehended . then would he let his pupil into the knowledge of the mathematicks , made him ascend that ladder whose basis are the unshaken maximes of geometry ; whose steps , conclusions rightly deduc'd ; whose top , astronomical speculations . but , what is of most intimate and cheife importance to the comfort of human life , he labour'd in delivering sound and divine morals about passions , vertues and vices : what was inordinate , rectifi'd : what immoderate , retrench'd . by seasonable discourse ; to mind the concerns of our soul , he would give out for the true justice . a man to know himself , and see god with a pure spirit : for the onely prudence . to guard from incursions of pleasure & passion the evenness of our temper , right temperance . to persevere in holy purposes against all discouragements , the highest fortitude : these precepts he render'd visible by a lively practice . his attentive and well-dispos'd scholar although he assum'd not to himself the present possession or near approch to this divine treasure or even human perfections , through the dulness of his own apprehension , or deadness of his mind , yet withal did avow a love to vertue , a pursuit after it , and affiance to obtain it through the divine benediction . this rare proficient magnifieth above the rest his masters sacred metaphysicks : and lectures in divinity . his talent was singular in expounding difficult texts , and the mystery of religion : to speak the things of god as from god : to the instruction of men , man as he was : till both speaker and hearer were rapt up into the same transports of devotion . he would allow his scholars to range through the philosophers and poets , not to espouse any sect , but hear all and excerpe out of their works what might conduce to good manners , or give testimony to the deity . onely caution'd against the atheist and voluptuary , who deny god or providence : counting him beneath the reasonable nature , who disown'd the cause of all being . when gregory had taken solemn leave with this publick acknowledgement , and many other pathetical expressions , he was dismiss'd by origen with a prayer suitable to the occasion : and prov'd an instrument in the church to such admiration , that having found at his return in the city where was the see of his residence but 17 christians , at his decease he blest god that he left not more pagans in the city and country of his diocese . this instance of catechistical education in a place yet almost warm with the foot-steps of the apostles and apostolical men hath been the more particularly specified to leave some intimations that the primitive discipline was not laxe : onely consisting in an affected simplicity : that academical studies have been of old apply'd to the better enabling for the work of the ministry : and principally that the assistances of divine grace are not contra-distinguish'd to human preparations , which , as time and opportunities are offer'd , it rather prerequireth . in the same city and century pamphilus set up a like school and library : wherein he was succeeded by eusebius : such care of breeding up youth in religion and learning was there amidst the hottest persecutions . §. 9. a second age of the church followeth from constantine the great . in general , letter'd persons of whatever profession , receiv'd then from the state great immunities and a priviledges . at rome , and to be sure at constantinople , was a kind of university call'd b the auditory of the capitol : here under theodosius the great were entertain'd three latine oratours , ten grammarians , five sophisters , one philosopher , two lawyers . but this seminary seems to have been principally for secular occasions . the empire now become christian , churches and monasteries were erected in all provinces . large endowments and priviledges conferr'd on the clergy in particular . what time , besides the teaching in monasteries , there were in mother-cities especially , in the western church a close and house for the bishop . at the first entrance of whose court was an appartiment where the yong students who were train'd up for the ministery had their common dormitory and hall with other convenient roomes : under the charge of some grave guardian : having a master to instruct them in arts , and another to oversee their manners : all under the inspection of the bishop : whom they did assist in the publick divine service , according to their degree : maintain'd at a portion from the canonical dividend of diocesan tithes and offerings : with a prospect of being placed in the churches of the same diocess as they became vacant , nor to remove elsewhere without leave of their ordinary . these deacons , a levites , canons , clerks , or nurslings were the probationers for the priesthood and the congregation of canons is b judg'd to have lay'd the platform of cathedral and collegiate schools and the modern seminaries . c hither s. austin when bishop of hippo did not refuse sometimes to come and dine in the common refectory among the presbyters and clerks , to countenance and oversee the students sequestred to the service of god , and entitled to the nurture of the church in those days by a voluntary , and often by a necessary poverty : yet if any did embrace a married life and which consequently admitted possessions ( such as were call'd secular ) he admonishes them to be circumspect , yet would by no means deny them ordination ( though they quitted their title to the community . ) after all this care heresies broke out , and contentions between the eastern and western empire , follow'd with an inroad of barbarous nations , whereby religion was much eclips'd and learning almost wholly exterminated . §. 10. come we therefore to a third period of christianity from the times of charles the great . italy was now become gothish ; spain , moorish ; and france spoke generally dutch. germany it self but newly converted to the faith. the offices of the church were then in latine ; a language not well understood by many that did officiate ; and by very few that assisted at them . in these circumstances the necessity of school-masters greatly increas'd . since the good grammarian is now become previous , and in some measure conditional to the good christian : at this time the emperor apply'd his latter years to the learning of arts and sciences : call'd in from forraign parts learned men in great numbers and among them that eminent britan albinus , alcuinus or gwyn ( his grammar is yet extant with us ) at whose perswasion he erected the famous university of paris . his son a lodowick the pious ( in the non-age of that university ) laid his command upon rectours in their respective churches to train up stout souldiers of christ by whom god might be appeas'd . hereupon , that order being slackly obey'd , provincial councels finding b a general decay of piety through ignorance of the holy scriptures required that the several rectors should exhibite their young scholars at those assemblies . articles were drawn up upon which arch-deacons should enquire in their yearly visitation : by c herard arch-bishop of tours ; by d theodulph bishop of orleans ; e walter bishop of the same ; by f hincmar arch-bishop of rheims . whether their g priest had a clerke ; and whether he kept school in the church . a these schools were free and seem at first to have been chiefly to teach the b lords prayer & creed , or perhaps the psalter , at least some select psalms ; and what may amount to our primer , only in latine ; though the meaner sort were permitted to say the lords prayer and creed in their vulgar tongue . schools of christianity which carried on others of a higher form to c prick-song , and the use of the pye with grammar . the care of farther propagating divine and human learning was a common head in the councils of those ages : still recommended to the bishops , d acknowledged the principal means whereby the commandements of god are declar'd and made manifest to the people . hence that act of the third lateran ( e inserted into the body of the canon law and mention'd in our chronicle of gervase in the reign of henry the second . ) whereas the church of god as a tender mother is bound to find such as stand in need , both in what belongs to their bodily sustenance and in what may conduce to the improvement of their soules , least convenience of reading and advancement in learning should be withheld from the poor who cannot be assisted in it by means from their parents , be there a competent maintenance in every cathedral church allow'd a master to teach freely the clerks of the same church and the poor scholars : that so the teachers wants may be relieved and a door set open for the studious to attain learning . this sort of schools might be better borne with because colleges have often some provisions for the collegers and means of preferment . but the complaint is , that besides these , there are of late grammar schools founded and endow'd in almost every market town of england where the children of the town are onely to be taughr gratis without any other allowance . consider we therefore though these erections have been of late whether the practice be so modern . in the yeare 1215 it is expressly further enacted in the fourth lateran a that not onely in every cathedral but also in other churches whose means be not able to beare a divinity lecture , there be at least appointed an able master to be chosen by the prelate with the chapters consent to teach the clerks of those churches freely grammar , and others according to his ability : and that a prebends place be assign'd every master by the chapter . this was ordain'd in the times of king john , in whose reign newbury schoole is said to have been founded and endow'd with many other in sequel which were supprest or continued by king henry the eighth , or king edward the sixth . §. 11. thus are we arriv'd at the fourth and present age of the church , being that of the reformation , and about the times of the councel of trent . this councel wanted not some men of politiques profound enough . these awaken'd with the revolution of national churches ; well advis'd that conduct of conscience , that is ( if i may so speak ) of the reasonable subject , is most safely committed to such as can render a reason ; and that to the gaining consequences it is ordinate to deliver principles ; made eminent provision for seminaries a whereinto poor mens sons especially should be elected , not excluding the richer . this order was accordingly put into execution in the provincial councels of divers countries : most effectually in that of milan : where all their offices with their particular charges are amply deliver'd by that eminent of cardinals , the since canoniz'd borromaeo . others in flanders at the sollicitation of cardinal allen : nor hath this constitution devis'd for the maintaining that power , then shaken , been wholly unanswerable in the success to its first intention . §. 12. about what time upon the several dissolutions of religious houses in england , some schools were reserv'd , some erected : with general licence for well-dispos'd persons to found others and endow them within a mortmain by the state determin'd . according to which gracious liberty such as have contributed to so pious a work seem to have deserv'd well of their town , for however we may be prone to judge of the forward accommodations of life , all is not in present food and raiment . there is improvement of mind , the fruits of discipline , not to be despis'd . a learned slave would sell for more . a youth brought up at school will be taken apprentice with less mony then one illiterate . the broken colt , tam'd heifer , polish'd diamond ; known instances : nay , ground reclaim'd by culture will set at the higher rent . grammar-learning is requisite to very many honest callings : and with industry , faith , and other vertues qualifying for trust , hath open'd a way for high preferment : nor is it a priviledg to be meanly priz'd by any people , to have such education provided , that out of their children , in due season , may be chosen such as may beare the office of the ministry . hence too accrues advantage to the state . that instruments be fitted for emploiment imports ; but more , that officers of trust be prevented with sound principles . miserable is the face of any nation where neither schools nor universities be frequented : no law , no safe commerce : a general ignorance , and neglect of duty both to god and man. now that universities flourish , and schooles are in many populous towns erected , from those places of public education especially , persons are sent into all parts of the land , ingag'd in the strictest bonds of allegiance . § 13. lastly , as to the church , these foundations have to that a more immediate respect . the statutes of these houses generally injoyne a diligent and decent attendance on the publick worship . nay , learning well the first rudiments of religion , and bearing a yoke of government , prepares a people to be more docile under their proper ministers , stay'd in judgment , and compliant with the discipline , as well as doctrine , of their spiritual pastors . further , what is a manifest advantage , the salaries to masters and exhibitions to scholars provide in great mesure that the church be not burthen'd : since , upon supposition of their being withheld , ecclesiastical benefices are taxable to the breeding up of students , as , in fact , at the a beginning of queen elizabeths reign they were tax'd a thirtieth part . b when the fathers at the councel of trent assembled , had propounded a fair model of seminaries knowing the advantages that arise to religion from learning , and the necessity of endowments to the attaining those advantages , till such endowments could be had , for the immediate bringing that designe to effect they levied a tax on all the rents assign'd for the bishops , and the chapters table , on the profits of all dignities , personages , offices , prebends , portions , abbies , priories , benefices as well of regulars , as peculiars , on the fabrick of churches , and other religious houses ; on colledges , corporations , guilds and fraternities , monasteries , and exhibitions . of such importance was this work by them then esteem'd : as indeed it hath since prov'd a great accession to the relatives of that exempt and peculiar jurisdiction ; and firmest support of the papal throne . §. 14. now the better to form in us a right sense of what regards we ought to beare to these worthy patriots , whom god rais'd up to be founders and benefactors , it may be not improper to examine in what posture the state scholastick was found at the entrance of king edw. 6 , upon the government . it is well known that a great part of the former teaching was in monasteries . a now there were in england 118 monasteries of royal foundation whereof 27 mitred abbots : and 2 priors held their estates in barons fee , and gave vote in parliament . all these were dissolv'd with the others which were many more during the reign of k. hen. 8. first b 40 of the lesser by cardinal woolsey : with the leave of clement 7. c then such as were under two hundred pound per annum to the number of 376 : d afterwards the greater : e the year following , the great priory of s. johns of jerusalem . f at last , all hospitals , chantries , schools , colleges were without any condition given into the kings hands : to be dispos'd of according to his better intentions . then was the survey of eaton and winchester colleges return'd up : but the death of the king that year interpos'd between the act and its utmost execution . a henry the fifth when he supprest the priors aliens , had thoughts of going farther , but was diverted upon a french war by the prudent address of that most vigilant and reverend prelate chichly . strange may it be thought here why the lords spiritual and temporal should agree with the commons to put up these bills to king henr. 8. in so unlimited a manner : b unless it did argue , as to the incumbents of those monasteries and chantries , a publick dissatisfaction about their having answer'd the pious intention of their founders : and as to the king , an affiance in his royal purpose to settle those means in a more decent and convenient order for the service of god , and safety of the realm . and indeed having dispossessed the monks that had intruded he reestablish'd c canterbury , winchester , ely , norwich , worcester , rochester , duresme , carlisle upon dean and prebendaries : erected upon a new foundation westminster , d ( osney first , then ) oxford , glocester , chester , peterborough , bristol , into bishopricks , a and had before him the project of other collegiate churches to be erected in the place of eminent monasteries , upon a fair proportion for maintenance of divine service , hospitality , learning , alms and other necessary expences . much of this drawn up , first in an ample scheam , then contracted , at last , his death intervening , was lay'd aside . thus stood the affaire : monasteries dissolv'd : appropriations , that is , once church-revenue sold . indeed the erecting of free-schools recommended to purchasers ; which shew'd the good inclinations of the king to the work , however not fully accomplish'd in his life time . §. 15. after his decease , the parliament b pass'd an act for taking away the remnant of those houses not yet actually dissolv'd ; but with a distinction between religious and superstitious uses , and with reservation of some places by name . ( whether experience had rectified their former opinions , or that they did repose less confidence in governors during the minority , then in their natural king. ) schools were among other pious uses reserv'd in that remnant , c hereupon commissions are issued out by a set day returnable . the surveyors of each county , after examination upon the place , return certificats sign'd : among the rest , where a grammar-school had been continually kept , with the revenue of what chantry , who the incumbent , what stipend , and whether fit to be continu'd . then were warrants made from the two commissioners to that purpose authoriz'd , and sent to the auditour and receiver of his majesties revenue in the respective counties , to continue the school , and pay the master out of the crown-revenue , till farther order . the salaries were but small , as in a dry rent charg'd on old tenures : and those priests were otherwise assistant at the divine service . a table extracted from several warrants all dated july 20. 1548. and in parchment engross'd , might be here inserted for 25 counties : but the provision of it self amounted to some stay , yet no great relief . one or two instances may be not ungrateful whether to the curious , or judicious reader ; shewing the county , the town , the former title , the incumbent , and revenue continu'd . herefordshire , ledbury , trinity service , richard wheeler . 3 l. 11 s. 3 d. bosbury , parish reven . tho. keyling . 2.9.9 . ob . richards castle , serv. of our lady , and st. john baptist . jo. parkyns . 4.16.7 . pembredge , serv. of our lady . jo. roode . 3.13.0 . k●ngisland . two stipendaries at the alter of our lady . jo. hartley . 8.4.3 . delwyn . chant . of s. nicolas . tho. nicolls . 3.11.6 . ob . q. k●nnersly , lands finding a priest . will pyke . 6.2.0 . bromyard , lands to find a priest . jo. battenall . 3.9.11 . yardsley , lands and tenements to find a priest . will stone . 4.13.10 . bucknell , lands and tenements to find a priest . laur. johnson . 5.6.8 . oxfordshire . cheping norton . trinity guyld . hamlet malban . 6.0.0 . herefordshire . ayshewell . the guyld . thomas daye . 6.13.4 . besides these and divers others throughout the land , continued , as may seem , for the laying the first grounds of religion and orthography , the same most religious prince , in lieu of many country-schools formerly supprest , erected a new several others in many towns ; in sherbourne principally dorsetshire , and after that form macclesfield , cheshire . chelmsford , essex . leominster , herefordshire . grantham , louth , lincolnshire . morpeth , northumberland . shrewsbury , shropshire . bath , bruton , somersetshire . stafford , staffordshire . s. edmondsbury , suffolk . brymycham , nun-eaton , warwickshire . marlborough , wiltshire . stourbridge , worcestershire . sedburgh , yorkshire . all of them upon considerable revenue establish'd : however partial any modern historian hath appeard to the fame of that most worthily renown'd prince . under the government of queen mary some foundations were yet added : she was a lady not less accuratly bred then highly born . the unhappiness of her reign consisted in troubles from ill subjects ; and , more in giving way to privat resentments , heighten'd by the artifice of those men , who knew no way so effectual to ingratiate themselves with a power they had abjur'd , as to be officious in impeaching their brethren more innocent then themselves : wherein she hearken'd to her own princely motion , gave tokens of innate clemency : zeal for the religion she profest , and a propension to favour whatever belong'd to learning . banbury , oxfordshire . boston , lincolnshire , may testify that : nor would it be past over in silence , that the salaries of the beadles in the universities are ftom her royal donation . §. 16. but a far greater accession came during the long and flourishing reign of queen elizabeth . this gracious princess receiv'd the crown from her sister much in debt , was embroyld in divers and chargeable wars ; yet found such blessing upon her councels and conduct , bore such piety and love to learning , that she did in great measure effect what her father had design'd , and her brother so happily advanc'd . her first liberality was , a to discharge hospitals and schools of first fruits and tenths : after that , the b statute of provision , by which all colleges at this day subsist . lastly , the c act ordaining the commission for charitable vses . a seal of publick trust added to all charities : not long before her death . a law by which the throne is for ever warranted against sacrilege , having appointed ordinary means to redress abuses , the pious intention still preserv'd . but in particular her own royal foundation the most famous school of westminster : supplying a noble part of each university beareth witness to her zeal comprehensive of both : after which munificence , i need not instance in lesser donations . this inclination of her majesty once known , excited like affection in her subjects of all ranks and estates upon the first fervors of the reformation : nor did bishops onely , and men of dignity and place in the church , but the secular nobility also and gentry , the judges , mayors , and aldermen , with the more wealthy citizens , with much devotion raise up monuments of their love to the places of their birth or settlement , in making provision for their instruction . and this virgin queen may be observ'd in her charters to such corporations , to have taken a particular delight in adopting those foundations into her own name , a being not asham'd , like a tender mother , to take into her especial care the breeding up the children of her country . should i here recount by name the several schools by her endowed , augmented , or at least erected , i should anticipate the greatest part of what history could follow . in a word , the tax , which at the beginning of her reign had been laid upon ecclesiastical benefices for the maintenance of students at the university , was no longer continu'd : so far had the church repair'd her almost fatal dissolution §. 17. not long after the queens decease , some men of no mean reputation for wisdom and place , upon whatever occasion or ground of conjecture , represented these foundations as too numerous . the great advancer of learning , pursuant to that presumption , labors with king james to disannul suttons will , as to that point of the intended teaching of children . upon such like suggestions was the accomplish'd sir robert dallington ( as is said ) really diverted from setling twenty pound per annum on his fair school-house at geddington in northamptonshire , where he was born . now if such opinion took place so long time since , which notwithstanding , schools not a few have been erected in the reigns of king james , king charles the first of blessed memory , and are daily under our present soveraign : with much more force ought it now to prevail . there are yet living , who ( as i am credibly inform'd ) would have bestow'd fellowships in the vniversities , were they not dissuaded from that sort of charity by men on whose parts and integrity they repose intire confidence , as having in other causes had experience of them . divers persons of catholick principles , who pay reverence to antiquity , submission to councels and canons , who no less approve the prudence then the zeal of founders , as seeing great use and necessity of free-schools , yet believe in process of time they may grow too many ; and from some occurring appearances , perhaps , they have been apt to conclude that they are so : the resort of the whole question is therefore , whether the english free grammar-schools be overproportion'd to the occasions of the church and state of england . the cause imports , especially the esteem of later founders , and direction of present charity : but withall , it is exceeding perplex'd to state what professions have need of learning : and define within what proportions of men any profession should be stinted . then for schools , to compute their number ; distinguish of their nature , discover their true revenue , carrieth with it no small difficultie ; yet more then all this must go to the right determining the case propos'd . §. 18. the first necessity of raising learned men , is for the church . about 10000 parishes in england and wales duely to be supply'd with pastours . add hereto dignities , curacies , and whatsoever else may give title to h. orders ; not omitting the plantations : the residue of ecclesiasticks hath been judg'd some 5000 more . a great harvest requireth many laborers . those therefore that attend on the preparatory part , incumbents on schools and colleges in the universities would be not a few . but might not the collegiate and cathedral schools furnish sufficient to this exigence ? those who understand what of these are remaining in england , whereof some are little more then choral , and what proportion of scholars are maintain'd in each of them , with the fall of places yearly , are convinced how vastly short of the necessity that single supply must needs be : since in collegiate schools , and their correlative colleges , not the standing bodies come here to be consider'd , but the succession . besides these therefore , in succor to a church left almost destitute at that juncture , several country schools have been erected , not onely in some market towns , but elsewhere : with freedom to the poor inhabitants , and convenience to those who need not make use of that priviledge . these provisions , as rivulets scatter'd through the vallies , have render'd the breadth of the whole land fruitful : which benefit could not have been so conveniently deriv'd from the greater collection of seminaries ; not upon church exhibitions , because an exhausted church , in many places scarce able well to sustain its pastours , could ill defray the training up such students as should be for supply necessary : nor upon pensions from home , for , where cures are great , and maintenance hardly competent , if the parent must purchase all at the full rate , the consequent benefice would rarely refund the charge of boording abroad , and schooling ; both which circumstances upon free-schools inconsiderately diminish'd , have in themselves a manifest tendency to render the ministry of the church of england impracticable . §. 19. nor would less dis-service redound to the state civil then ecclesiastick from such diminution . counsellers at law , whether civil or common , in a nation ample and mercantile , and in a church aptly organiz'd and order'd , cannot be a few : and that courts of judicature administer right judgment , would be , not in the law onely , but in arts of reasoning and utterance , not unlearned . the militia of the bar is a standing army by parliament allow'd : the surest life-guard of king and people , since other force ordinarily in a well settled government is onely to protect the ministers of justice , and execute their decrees . as to a multiplying law-suits and immoderate charges , orders for the regulation of those courts have in no small measure provided against them : though , i know not , whither with some advantage , as to those points , in the civil law ; where a suspicious allegation is presently stifled by the oath of calumny , and the bills of expence tax'd by the judge . but the decision of this i submit to the impartial and more experienc'd : this insertion might have seem'd forreign to my argument , had not the clamor against the relatives and retainers upon this noble faculty been so managed to the odium of schools , that it could not be wholly omitted . §. 20. there is another occasion for learned men , which nearly concerns the welfare of our state. in 25 populous cities , and 52 counties , practitioners of phisick may be some hundreds ( there being hospitals not fewer ) whereof many have in their life given proof of excellent learning , and at their death left estates not inconsiderable . these superiour faculties , as they consist of men to whom learning and industry , is of absolute necessity , rais'd fortuns not always requisite ; so cannot they be well exercis'd without the ministery of subordinate professions . attorneys , sollicitors , scrivenors , have their honest use . a the justice of contracts is best preserv'd by those that are least distracted from attendance on their privat occasions : and must lawyers and justices of peace have no clerks , ( to omit the clerks of several offices in courts of judicature ) or must means of their education be with-held ? nay , the nobility and gentry require servants of different abilities ; and education . the doctors credit , and what of more momenr depends upon it , the life of the patient may miscarry through the ignorance of an apothecary : and the chirurgion by forreign discourses be more accomplish'd . booksellers , printers , have been for learning very famous and instrumental to it : briefly , knowledge of grammar is of use in navigation and in travel , and in most of the politer handicrafts , in its degree ; for ( as the a roman surveyor saith ) an architect neither is nor should be as good a grammarian as aristarchus , yet not illiterate : nor as good a musician as aristoxenus , yet not unmusical : nor as good a limner as apelles , yet not unskilful at designing : nor as good a founder as myron or polycletus , yet not ignorant of the way of moulding : nor again , as good a physician as hippocrates , yet not unacquainted with the grounds of physick : nor in the other faculties singularly eminent , but not ignorant of them : even in hedging and ditching men of improv'd sense and forecast , that comprehend lines and numbers , and seasons , will be master work-men among the other laborers : nor is it for the particular or publick more advantageous , that any who may honestly hope to arrive at the grand jury-man , or to assist in the government of his corporation , be a meer plough-man or grazier . §. 21. what hath been on this occasion by some alleadg'd , that a surcharge of poor scholars draws inconveniencys with it to the publick must reasonably be allow'd . the consequences are doubtless bad enough . all is summ'd up in this . too many ecclesiasticks must either amortise an over-proportion of the land , which creates envy , or live indigent , which exposeth to contempt . but here it is worthy to be consider'd , whether the case may not so fall out , that necessary emploiment may be wider then competent maintenance . a counsells do provide , that in monasteries and religious houses greater numbers be not maintain'd then the means of the place will support : nor clerks multiply'd beyond the occasion of their churches . but here the same cure of souls remains , as when the church-revenue was greater . this condition deserves pity , not scorn ; rather that the poor vicarages be augmented , then the vicars diminish'd . in this low estate that many congregations are not left destitute of the means of publick worship , and all the benefits that accompany it , is , in great measure , owing to the opportunities of learning , so largely provided by charitable benefactions : so that they who would depopulate the clerks , are fellow-laborers with such as would exterminate the priests and bishop . in israel a twelfth part serv'd at the altar , and was instated in a tenth part of the increase of the land. an unlimited proportion of attendants on the work of the temple might divert from the function of the magistracy , the exercise of arts and labor , and the guard of the country . §. 22. but that england should be overstock'd with scholars for the occasions of the land , is not sufficiently concluded from the late civil commotions : if we will be still looking abroad for the causes of divine displeasure , it is precarious to fix it upon this education . grand authors of the troubles were politicians of a higher form ; and noted officers that executed their designs were many men illiterate , pure instruments , beneath such ingenuous breeding . besides , if some bred up under this discipline have fail'd of their duty , through a deceiv'd or deprav'd judgment , notwithstanding all engagements to the publick and long habit of privat obedience ; must the master be censur'd ? as though the minister or magistrate reclaim'd all , nor yet can this assertion be certainly collected from our present divisions , the equally pernicious effects of those dismal distractions : for as through the divine goodness in these benefactions no remarkable failleur appears among us in the carrying on his publick service , so need not any certainly that are in holy orders be unemploy'd , if in the common faith there were unity of affection . §. 23. neither can this excess of learned men be necessarily inferr'd from the discontents of others . much heed should not be giv'n to casual complaints of such who are always apt to conceive their proceeding short of their merit . for whither should we turn over these supernumerary scholars ? to the more profitable plough ? alas ! corn is a drug . farmers through up their leases , they are so undon with plenty . to grazing ? wool bears no price in the market . but yet to other more beneficial manufactures , the tailer , the hatter , the weaver , others ; these abound with men , want work . all trades think themselves overstock'd : some have fancied the world to be so , that if men did not in wars kill one another , they must eat one another . this supposition may yet be perhaps ill-grounded . all men are not thriving in any profession . some in all would live alone upon the earth . magistrates here moderate and by the prudence of their orders remove obstructions to trade , that work be not wanting to the industrious ; as also provide encouragements for industry , that laborers be not wanting to the work. §. 24. neither yet can this abundance of scholars be enough evidenc'd from the multitude of country free-grammar-schools : for , if the matter be nearly regarded , many of these foundations by their constitution or narrow revenue are onely nurseries of piety and letters , as preparatory to trade . this discrimination in every county duely made , would depress the swellings of minds possest with prejudice arising from the growing numbers of these houses of all sorts , yet suppos'd to prepare men for an unactive life onely . a wise commissary will soon discern what passeth barely for muster , from what is firm and effective . some counties , both in england and wales , slenderly provided of the conveniences of this education . in wales , where some counties have good establishments , others not any , yet that defect is in no small measure repair'd by the marches , well fortified with these foundations in more then ordinary number , through herefordshire , shropshire and the rest : elsewhere in england a free-school , sometimes not erected , or without scholar , or without school-house , or unendow'd , or with incompetent endowment , or arbitrary for a towns convenience , and revocable at the patrons pleasure : some wholly , very many in part , having stocks to bind out for husbandry or trade . at best , the maintenance but of very few in a county , such as may vindicate masters from being necessitous and contemptible ; of the rest scarce what may invite the able , and give them freedom to be diligent . this preparation is not like to give terror to the state , though the provision may minister some relief to the church . §. 25. whether it were hen. 8. by dissolving monasteries , and alienating their possessions : or his norman and saxon predecessours that erected them , and by the indulgence of popes annex'd benefices to them , made their lands tith-free , or occasion'd the tith of them to be redeem'd at a mean composition ; whether of these parties it was that impoverish'd the church , is controverted . farther how far what is devoted to god upon false suggestions is confiscable to the king. again legal settlements upon the faith of kings and popes how advisable it was to move , i suppose the privy counsel then concluded for church-revenues granted to votaries tith-free , were in effect so to their tenants , who also upon the attainder of their land-lords had the opportunity of praeemption . but to pass over these nice points . the free-schools have bred up such pastours as have much dispell'd the ignorance that had over-spread the whole church : and with the better men cut of that entail of contempt under which the parochial curat so long lay . and indeed had free-schools furnish'd meaner vicarages onely , they might then have been born with silence : but from these nurseries have been sometimes taken such who passing through subordinate steps of preferment have been at length seated in the highest pitch of ecclesiastical dignity ; the seat of princes . arch-bishops have founded free-schools ; and if piety , prudence and learning by their king approv'd have advanc'd any to that seat which at times hath becn with like vertues adorn'd by persons of noble and royal extraction , what room is left for envy ? by such steps have others ascended in the state to great trust . why then should it seem cause of offence to any that in a matter of highest moment to be manag'd with prudence and courage the scrutiny should not alwaies run upon favour or wealth ? princes would not be confin'd to employ men of title or mony , but in some affairs of state require abilities well purchas'd at the expence of both the other . should then the lord of all have less choice in his ministers ? indeed if the certain labors and danger of the sacred function be put in the ballance with the possible honour and profits , there is no place for just resentment that either nobles or the sons of the menu ( as one stileth those that are born of the commonalty ) should partake of both indifferently . this place seems proper to rectify an opinion about the multitude of poor conceiv'd to be bred up to learning . that i may keep close to our age and nation , the gentry , the plebeians , and the poor consider'd , of those that come to the university , the poor servitour in all colledges is for number inconsiderable . the plebeian , that is , son of the yeoman or trades-man , not many , and for subsistence oftentimes not worst provided for . may not then this ungentle reflexion , however let fly , light upon the yonger sons of the gentry . there are privileges in the way of an ingenuous education allow'd the poor , and since upon the issue of an unnatural war , or otherwise ; many families of gentlemen may have render'd their children honestly poor , nothing but an aversness to learning can dispauper them . but suppose we otherwise . obscurity of birth is no canonical obstruction . the poor receiv'd the gospel : and sure they that receive it , may deliver it . there is an honest ambition in many of mean fortune : generous seeds which would be cherish'd . the jewish doctors enjoin children be taught a trade : but above all trades the law. the better gifts all should follow : though all cannot in the same degree obtain . §. 26. the temper of the world in variety of dispositions as in diversity of sexes is order'd by a providence more then human . but , besides our own inclinations , the will of parents , our fortunes narrow or over-large alike avert from attendance on studies , and determine our counsels so , that we are dispos'd by a choice mix'd , with necessity . but work to be sure directs as to the number of laborers , though ordinarily reward excite industry . he that saith england is over-stock'd with scholars for the proportion of its preferments , and for its employment for lettred persons , would do well seriously to consider who may with any right be term'd a scholar : what is to a modest mind preferment : and how large the employment for lettred persons is in so great a church and state. suppose we therefore first adult proficients , such as are fit to be employ'd and may need as well as deserve , to be prefer'd to a subsistence : what , i mean , may not discredit their profession , and may comfort them in their labors . then , not insisting , at present , upon other of the superiour faculties , regard we nearly the occasions of divinity . this emploiment is large ; as conversant about divers millions of persons in england and wales . it is of necessity ; as wherein the care of souls is concern'd . it must be perform'd with diligence ; fidelity and prudence , as being the lords work . compute we therefore the yearly number of inceptours in arts in the universities : in both perhaps about three hundred by which number 15000 incumbencies or titles being divided , will produce a quotient of more years then masters , after their commencing do usually attain unto : in which the succession of ministers circulates . but must the collation of h. orders , or benefices be restrain'd to degrees ? what the canons of the church and statutes of the realm , have not positively injoin'd neither doth this disquisition suggest : but because some knowledge in languages and arts with skill in the h. scriptures hath been ever accounted preparatory to the ministry ; because proficiency cannot amongst us be otherwise more publickly known , and because dignities have been usually confer'd upon those , who by this means have been found eminent , i know no argument in this case more decretory . this also , with other proofs , bishops doe respect as a good testimonial : and arch-bishop chichley did in his time order that livings of the greater value should be confer'd on persons that had taken the higher degrees . before this account pass for evidence it may reasonably be demanded whether many are not us'd in the church before any of the compleat degrees taken . to which this reply will be offerd , that if many leave the university before the taking of such degree , and enter upon emploiment , a great part of them afterwards return to take it : the rest were they not streightned in maintenance or perhaps incumber'd with domestical cares would proceed ; and therefore , further , towards satisfying the demand , if we resume the former calculation , not one in five will be found to arrive at 50 years master : so large is the period of succession assign'd . indeed the matter in question is in its own nature incapable of full demonstration because the term of life is uncertain . such estimate however as may nearest approach truth is needful to direct practise . and , unless a paralogism can be discover'd in the present account , it will remain highly probable that there are not too many scholars in england for the necessary emploiment for lettred persons , whatever the provision for them be . §. 27. neither want there grounds of conjecture that the number of free-grammar-schools is not excessive , else what means it that so many privat ones are every where judg'd allowable ? that divers parishes find themselves necessitated to entertain masters upon a voluntary contribution ? no specious reasoning can conclude against experience . with far greater reason do the canons of our church give liberty to all vicars and curats to take out a licence to teach grammar . and the canon-law forbids under severe penalties the not granting freely , that is without purchase , such licence to any a person duely qualified desiring it . much better catholicks are they therefore that have promoted the good institution of many by providing maintenance for teachers , then those who being otherwise dispos●d propagate evil surmises to the disparagement of these charities , and avert the purposes of such who had intended further incouragement to learning . §. 28. free-schools not too many ! ( will they say ) the case is plain , for where are there any such in england ? hereupon with heat enough urge the intention of donors every where abus'd : salaries paid , yet tutorage , for all that , no where remitted : not without some imputation upon masters , as from the canon-law of a certain species of simony : but , as to this , more cannot in equity be desir'd then that the number of free scholars be proportion'd to the revenue : b if the maintenance be not competent , masters may require moderat consideration for their labor : what is offer'd , they may receive ; however sufficient their allowance be . onely provided that they regard the poor with equal diligence , and affection as any others what ever they pay : charity would not that the painful teacher be over-burthen'd to ease the a rich scholar : nor that the means intended for his relief be made a pretence to oppress him : but rather that a b honorary be set him out according to his dignity and knowledge . the prudence as well as piety of some bishops hath appear'd in deciding this controversie , where the stipend hath been narrow , and the freedom express'd in terms not particular ; they have limited the number of such as should enjoy it to a just proportion . arts , and sciences , and faculties , have analogy with gifts spiritual , and therefore the law which enjoins to impart our temporals to such as have communicated their spirituals to us holds in the catechist as well as in the priest : indeed the same peter is pastor of the lambs as of the sheep . and after a sort one lot is common to the school-master and the minister ; the flock , the warfare , the labor , the hope not unlike : but to dwell upon this subject might incur a sinister interpretation . the more ingenuous of this land , such as have regard to learning , are not wont to undervalue the right manners of their children nor the tutors pains . the rest nothing can reconcile to put their sons to that way of breeding , but a visible assurance that it shall in the issue turn to more advantage then it is ordinarily seen to doe . §. 29. the connexion between church and state hath rightly been observ'd to be intimate : their interest , inseparable : their growth , state and declination uniform : and the crisis of both in the neglect or favor extended to schools . learning , the nurse of civility and religion , is ordinarily found in flourishing empire : whether as cause or effect , or rather as being mutually productive each of the other ; whereas in extreme degeneracy of manners a contempt of teachers of its own nature and merit tends to farther calamity . a augustus founder of the roman empire protected professours . b domitian the later nero and last emperour of the flavian family banish'd philosophers the town . trajan , hadrian , antonine the philosopher , and alexander severus all of them men of refind parts , and eminent for encouraging lettr'd persons ; were also not unsuccessful in their government . a licinius insense against letters ( which not for want of ignorance he would call the very bane and plague of the state ) especially the pleading in courts of judicature , and withal the christian faith , through his boisterous and brutish valour , being of rude and rustical extraction embroyled his country in civil wars , and with the blood of many thousand citizens , and his own , quench'd those fiery persecutions which had for several ages try'd the church as in a furnace . b constantine the founder of new rome , and who render'd the empire christian favour'd learning . a decree of his is extant whereby having granted physicians , and especially doctors that waited in ordinary on the emperor , or that had waited in ordinary on the late emperors , grammarians and other professours of learning with doctors of law to be free from all publick charges with their wives , children and all they possess , not to be burthen'd with free-quarter in the provinces , nor to bear office , nor to be arrested , nor impanel'd , nor bound to any personal appearance , nor molested ( otherwise the delinquent to be punish'd at the judges discretion ) he further adds his command , that their wages and salaries be effectually paid that so they may with more liberty attend the breeding up many in liberal sciences and the arts above mention'd . a julian the apostate , by an ungratious edict , worthy to be wrapt up in eternal silence , shut up schools against the christians , and prohibited all masters of rhetorick and grammar to teach any of that profession those arts and faculties which he fondly termed peculiar to the greek , as he would have meant , heathen , but his fall in persia prov'd infamous to the roman name . on the other side b theodosius the great settled large immunities on students . afterwards upon the incursion of the northern nations , while schools were either wholly neglected , or not competently encourag'd ( for both failings in their degree redound upon the publick ) into what barbarity of learning , manners and religion did europe soon revolt ? and was not the study of the holy scriptures , the integrity and truth of divine service at once with good arts and disciplines restor'd ? a passage which shall be subjoin'd take onely as an argument of that light esteem of this calling which is easy to be impress'd upon the vulgar by men true to their own interests at the hazard of others reputation . the ingenious boccace in his decameron ; the first days discourse a novel 4. had told a tale of a monk that having fall'n into a sin deserving the most grievous punishment yet with credit saved himself from suffering any at all , by recriminating upon his abbot , the very same fault . this foul charge the inquisitors appointed by pius v. thought no ways expedient to remain upon the file to the scandal of the brotherhood as taxing the luxury of friers in an author so much in the hands of all italy , and the most neighboring countries , and therefore having eras'd monk and abbot they dextrously substituted scholar and master : as though that relation were less sacred . not to aggravate this disreputation beyond the jest , impos'd more to the convenience of the relators then the merit of the subject defam'd ; they who should goe about to perswade a suppression or diminution of country grammar schools in england besides that they seem not duly to have examin'd the occasions of this church : so neither understand they the temper of our kings and people ; donations however small have been in good measure rescu'd from the dissolutions of religious houses and preserv'd amidst the sales of fee-farm rents : nay , even in the late invasion of church and crown-lands . kings of spain know best what matters are inconvenient and prejudicial to their kingdome . perhaps their schools might be too many . the same degree of light is not convenient to all eyes . perhaps else their state hath not thriv'd the better since the diminution of them . kings of england have graffed upon these policies , this conscience ; that their subjects pay them a rational obedience : that they ground their faith upon principles of sound knowledge : and where men have fail'd of duty , their cause hath been pleaded by a superior power : so that in the issue , those principles and that reason of their subjects however a while clouded through prejudices , or through wrong insinuations seduc'd , hath return'd upon them more powerful , then standing armies : hath strook the top-gallant of their ill-victorious fleets to waft home their natural soveraign and the royal family : nor can there any surer pledge be given for a durable loyalty to be transmitted to posterity then a conscience rightly inform'd by good education . §. 30. since then the crown of england hath been so munificent in erecting , so chast in preserving the schools of this land with their revenues : since the lords both spiritual and temporal with the people of divers ranks , have with no small success carried on the work : this work so necessary to the church and beneficial to the state , let not our ingratitude retard or frustrate . there are corners of the land yet but thinly furnish'd with these helps . there arise also not seldom persons touch'd with strong inclinations of disposing some portion of what means god hath bless'd them with , to such use as may best serve their country . amongst other charities , some are apt to conceive what is extended to children , to be to the publick , not the least fruitful , and to them most helpful , especially wherein it improves them in knowledge , and good manners : and thereupon would determine upon that object , if the occasion were evident . now if convenient place offer , as such foundations have been argu'd , to bring a local and publick benefit , so that they do not necessarily overstock the land with scholars , but rather improve such as shall design that way , this instance may render somewhat probable : that from those counties where are hardly any free-schools , there come not the fewest scholars to the vniversity , though not allways so well grounded as where better means of learning is publickly afforded . §. 31. now as prime founders are worthy to be had in perpetual and blest memory ; so following benefactors , which have left any augmentation of revenue , deserve no less to be celebrated for their like pious affection . were the particular salaries of masters throughout the land , as in a table set forth , it is not to be fear'd least their ample patrimony should excite the covetousness or envy of the reader : nothing rather might seem a more effectual motive to the well dispos'd to enlarge their beneficence , then the weighing the assiduous labors of teachers against their incompetent maintenance . be it the condition ordinarily do's not require those large expences which higher stations exact : yet to be abbridg●d in necessaries , must needs discourage labor : and the mind under daily distractions can less intend its more desirable charge . add hereto the manifold indecencies of indigence in the exercise of the meanest authority , accompanied with many temptations : nothing is of its own nature more expensive then want : whether it seek out diversion from the importunities of care , or call in forreign aids to repress the insults of danger . the divine providence is not to be limited , nor yet tempted . he that can work above or without means , yet requires of us all possible endeavor after honest means . should i perchance here intimate that the streightned laborer is some object of pity , especially in towns populous well traded and replenish'd with youth , where the number of scholars cannot be well taught without an assistant ; when the stipend already appointed is but tolerable living for one man ; the train of this discourse , would by no means be interpreted to reflect on the munificence of first donors . it is well known what was really plentiful in our fore-fathers days , is now become really less then sufficient , nor would it be understood to move a promiscuous and unseasonable compassion . the nobility and gentry of this land , would be found upon the review ; to have been greatly favorable to scholars ; but since the furies of these civil-wars , domestical wounds bleed inwardly . the rude have run down the ingenuous . onely the prince and an industrious age can cure these breaches . other laborers there are , who may come in for share of relief . the sum of this discourse is , that , whosoever are so dispos'd , and with whose particular affairs it may comport , be assur'd , that among their other charities , whatsoever they bestow in augmentation of poor school-masters living , is not unacceptable to him who hath ordain'd that whosoever labors , should upon his labors competently subsist . §. 32. then , because want of sufficient maintenance , and consequently of like residence at the university renders men less firmly grounded in arts and divinity ; and thereby less capable of serving church and state to that degree which otherwise they might : not onely those kings , prelates , and other nobles , who have largely endow'd ample colleges , deserve honorable commemoration with posterity ; but such other patriots , who of less abundance have yet conferr'd to the maintenance of one or more students at the university . upon which this twofold question may arise , whether such exhibitions as are appropriated to a school , county , or certain counties ; or such other as are indefinitly giv'n without limitation of place , be more conducible to the publick . again , whether such as are for a certain term of years , or those as to time undetermin'd . the question is not , but that the will of donors be kept inviolable . local benefactions were given out of peculiar respect to the inhabitants of such place to which the benefactor was some way related : but over and above these , some men of enlarg'd fortunes and spirits , have out of regard to their whole country left full choice of their exhibitioners to the free discretion of their feoffees . again , temporary provisions at a certain period expiring , engage the pensioner to seek out early emploiment , and returning upon others , communicate the beneficence to a greater breadth : though the longer the term is , they more assist to maturity and constancy of judgment , so that exhibitions of shortest date may be said most to mul●iply scholars , while the perpetual may more advance learning . and were there more of these exhibitions , whether to schools or counties , or otherwise unlimited then as to the character of the receiver for a competent time , or till preferment to sufficient maintenance in the judgment of the trustees , perhaps , we should not have more scholars , but more graduates : fewer virulent invectives and unlearn'd disputations about nice questions , to distract and grieve the consciences of those whom they should rather support and direct : which may probably have contributed to that opinion , as if there were already too many scholars . as to the greater schools whereon any exhibitions are settled , the very expectation of the reward draws resort thither , and excites an emulation in learning and good deportment . this extends a benefit farther then what the actual exhibitioners receive , and is a lottery in truth without hazard . as the use of prize-plates in a county is not terminated in the pleasure or profit of victory , but propagates a love and care of that generous exercise of horse-man-ship throughout the whole land against necessary occasions , and upon any suddain emergency : nor do these provisions , nor would they , were they more numerous then they yet are ( respect being still had to the country wherein we live ) burthen the land with multitude of unnecessary scholars , but furnish the functions both of church and state after their several capacities with apt instruments without impeachment to the rich and noble , who stand alwaies recommended by their more benign stars whensoever they please to offer themselv's to undergo the fatigues of preparation and business . §. 33. and could indeed the education in free-schools approve its qualification so that the gentry who now frequently judge themselves under a necessity of entertaining a tutor at great charge in their own houses , or of boarding their sons abroad at rates answerable to their quality , might be induc'd to trust their children in their town-school whereof they likely are governor , then would they augment the stipend of the master with the diminishing of their own expences . a gentle-mans son in a free-school , if of his town , converses with neighbours , or perhaps tenants children ; receives respect , returns courtesy : political vertues less capable of being exercis'd in a parity , growes into an habitual esteem among his people , and is so much the greater as he is known to be such by those , who are conscious of their own meanness and distance . having escap'd from the indulgence of parents , and flattery of servants , he is not translated into a select society , being unacquainted with emulations and formalities , unwary of friendships , onely durable till by respective interests divided ; but betimes engages in a mixt conversation , the true image of life : here strips himself , i mean , to severe labor : with his form as in a ring , takes the place due to his industry , not his birth , and begins to see somewhat in persons of lower fortunes worthy to be honour'd . moves strongly after wisdome , whether born on by the press , or himself , leading a troop of fellow-students : profits by the praises , reproofs , admonitions made to others ; nay , the very dross of vulgar rudeness and misdemeanor , the onely momentous dissuasive from a promiscuous breeding , even that will make his domestical vertuous education shine the brighter , and by the punishment of others , he will stand corrected or confirm'd in good habits , and stick the closer to them as to his chief security when afterwards he comes into the world. judicious persons , such as these parents generally are , cannot affect to purchase this seperate way of breeding , because privat masters are in less subjection , or dwell better . the room for study is but a sojourning , not an habitation , its meanness the more endears the parents house . other arguments , i think , weigh to the advantage of the publick , if the master be allow'd of parts and discretion : now country foundations are not seldom provided with teachers , that have been bred up themselves in the greater and collegiat schools , or otherwise very sufficient . §. 34. one word , though possibly not required , may yet not unseasonably be here interpos'd . these measures of reasoning would not be too boldly extended to the nobility . they are design'd for highest operations in the state : born peers of the realm : the most antient and presiding part of the great councel of the kingdom . their honor and interest in the country safe and planted , so that what is prudent in the best of the commonalty may not be ordinate to their affairs . a pale not of caution onely , but of veneration is to be set about them : and therefore they may challenge a priviledge of peculiar education . domestical , if they judge it expedient : though were the annals of eaton , westminster , and winch●ster extant , not excluding some other schools of note , many very excellent personages of the nobility , would stand recorded in those places where with arts and languages they received those deferences which their honorable birth might justly require , and were instructed what offices of duty or civility , from them especially , would be expected : there have they understood in the prime master of latine comedy improv'd , poor old hegio bespeaking the great and wealthy demea a quam vos facillime agitis , quam estis maxume , potentes , dites , fortunati , nobiles ; tam maxumè vos aequo animo aequa noscere oportet , si vos voltis perhiberi prob●s . as best you are to pass , as you are most potent , rich , honorable , high of blood , so you of all men should be most content , reason to do , if you would pass for good . there have they drawn from the fountain sarpedons speech to glaucus ( it is render'd out of greek from the prince of poets in an english paraphrase by the late most ingenious sir john denham . ) a divine sarpedon , since he did not find others as great in place , as great in mind . above the rest , why is our pomp , our power , our flocks , our herds , and our possessions more ? &c. but that as well in danger , as degree , we stand the first ; that when our lycians see , our brave examples , they admiring say , behold our gallant leaders ! these are they deserve the greatness ; and unenvied stand : since what they act , transcends what they command &c. §. 35. but , to digress no longer from the streight course of this inquisition ; resume we what even just before came cross into observation that the fruit of country schools in good measure depends upon an opinion of the master , to the electors of whom more then truth and honesty is requir'd : therefore prudent founders have been circumspect as to that point ; and where certain towns-men upon the place have been allow'd most proper governors as to the management of the revenue , and execution of the statutes , yet colleges in one of the universities have been judg'd sometimes more competent patrons , and rather with the diocesan , consulted in the compiling those ordinances of government : for instance in a one college . that eminent school of shrewsbury when it was first founded by king edw. 6. by procurement of mr. edwards ( ancestor to sir francis now living in the college ) had an upper and under master onely , nominable by the bayliffs and burgesses of the town of salop , who had also power of making ordinances for government of the school and salaries of the masters , yet with advise of the lord bishop of coventry and lichfield . but when afterwards q. elizabeth visited the place upon occasion , a fairer establishment was made for 4 masters and a catechist . in drawing up the orders the head master us'd ( who had been instrumental in procuring the new settlement ) with the advice also and authority of the then bishop of coventry and lichfield : this was done upon better stipends for all the masters ; and uses appointed for the stock remanent or surplusage . but what directly concerns the purpose of this allegation in this following article ; that , when any of the 3 first school-masters places shall be void , the bayliffs ( now mayor ) of the town shall within 20 days after notice to them ( or him ) given , make advertisement thereof to the master and fellows of saint johns college in cambridge , with request to them to elect and send to the said bayliffs ( now mayor ) one able , meet , and apt person for that purpose . the composition runs thus . 1 one born in the town of salop , the legitimate son of a burgess there and having been a scholar in the free-schoole ; in defect whereof . 2 one born within the franchises of the said town legitimate son of a burgess , and that hath been a scholar also in the same school . 3 one born in the county of salop ( the preference given to cherbury and brought up in the same school . 4 one born in any other county the preference alwaies had to such as have been of the school . the school-master so nominated by the master and fellows of saint johns college cambridge shall be allow'd and sworn by the bishop of coventry and lichfield , and afterwards by the bayliffs ( now mayor ) of the town , who if they have reasonable cause to mislike him , shall certify such cause of their mislike , to the said master and fellows who are then to proceed to a new election in form abovesaid . in sedburgh yorkshire founded by roger lupton doctor of the canon-law and provost of eaton , the master and fellows of saint johns college in cambridge are always to nominate and elect a master within a month after every vacancy certified ; upon default the governors with the consent of the diocesan for that turn elect . in pocklington , the same county of yorkshire , the free-school founded by john dowman ( or dolman ) doctor of laws , and arch-deacon of suffolk at first intrusted to the master , wardens and brethren of the guild there : upon that dissolution was by act of parliament . 5 edw. 6 so far transferr'd to the master and fellows of saint johns college in cambridge that the nomination of school-master within two months after vacancy belongs to them which otherwise for the turn lapses to the lord arch bishop of york . in rivington lancashire , founded by james pilkington bishop of durham the governors within 6 weeks after the vacancy of a master recommend to the master and fellows of the same saint johns 2 persons who have been students in either of the universities for 4 , or 3 years at the least , of the age of 24 years ; one of which the said master and fellows are to elect . in stamford lincolnshire , founded by master william radcliffe of that town , the mayor with the advice and consent of the master of saint johns in cambridge appoint the school-master there . in spalding in the same county founded by mr. john gamlin and mr. john banks if the 4 governors or major part of them fail to elect a school-master within 40 days after vacancy , the master and senior fellows of the same st. johns shall nominate and appoint a fit man school-master there . lastly , in aldenham hertfordshire , founded by richard plat citizen and brewer london . the master was appointed at first to be chosen by the masters , wardens and assistants of the company of brewers london , the governors of the school at a court wherein 12 or more shall be assembled , by an instrument dated june 1. 41 eliz. but , upon later thoughts , by a new instrument dated nov. 28. 43 eliz. the aforesaid governors are bound within 14 days after notice of the avoydance , or sooner , to direct their letters under their common seal to the master and fellows of st. johns camb. to desire them to commend to their election and nominate within one month after , 3 masters of arts , one of which is to be chosen by them . after this why should i mention sydney sussex college for houghton conquest ? why emanuel fot godmanchester ? why trinity coll. for stevenage hartfordshire , for vtoxeter , staffordshire ? or what need i dilate in oxford upon new college for adderberry or for the nomination of two for thame wherof the lord norris elects one ? upon corpus christi for chelt'nham ? upon queens college for childrey barkshire , norleech gloucestershire , appleby westmoreland ? upon brazen-nose for charleberry , steeple-ashton oxfordsh . middleton lancashire ? the sum of this large enumeration would amount to this inference ; that the annexing the patronages of country free-schools to several houses in one or the other university hath been experienc'd mutually beneficial : and may be practis'd under such articles of composition , as that the towns may reserve what real priviledge of presentation they can value , and , what is of greatest import , secure an able master , while at the same time they communicate to such hall or college the collation of their school , the resort of their exhibitioners : and as they may pleasure them with the supplying of pensioners , so may no doubt at times be pleasur'd in the having their hopeful poor scholars receiv'd . the connexion between collegiat schools and their correlative colleges conduces to their common good , and evinces that there are cases , wherein restraint may be to advantage : though neither would that be so rigid as that the pension presently desert him , who upon some farther step of advancement removes from that roof . since the attacking small exhibitions to inconvenient houses , is , by an incompetent provision to avert the receiver from the pursuit of a reasonable subsistence ; but this cause having different merits nor to be determin'd by any general rule of practise would be reserv'd entire to the discretion of the trustees . what hath been thus freely discours'd would be understood strictly of country schools , since all corporations stand not in the same terms for skill , or choice of candidates as do collegiat churches and ecclesiastical patrons or noblemen , or the greater companies of london . §. 36. but let , whatsoever circumspection may , be granted in the choosing , this good opinion can be no otherwise durable then in the right comportment of town and master , each with the other . in all conditions of life regarding settlement and society this observation or experiment universally recurs that a fair esteem may be acquir'd from abroad , must be maintain'd at home . now that a master be able , of sound principles , and good example is suppos'd : that he be diligent in laying the foundations of religion , and of arts and sciences is requir'd : ( a task which conscience and affection to the work can onely make easy . ) and which will not want its reward : that he be dextrous in teaching and sagacious in discerning the temper of his scholars are felicities of nature , yet improveable by experience . now the former of these being secur'd , as to the two latter there is a latitude may be safely allow'd . a growing teacher , is not to be despis'd . and perhaps such difference is not with reason insisted upon by all . true , alexander the great would not sit to any but apelles , nor be cast in brass by any other , but lysippus : and though every ones darling , be his little alexander , yet every age and place cannot furnish him an aristotle for his tutor . it is not necessary that all towns at all times be supply'd with the best . he that professeth the art of dancing should be well behav'd , of a modest garb and meen , nor unready at usual dances , the receiv'd laws and performances of his profession ; and then persons of very good quality may without danger either enter upon learning , or practice with him , what they have elsewhere learn'd : although he be less airy , nor so absolute a master of the foot as some others may pretend to be . townsmen do not all understand greek and latine yet they can read deportment and industry either directly in the school-master ; or in the more obvious reflexions at home upon their children committed to his charge . onely they would be desir'd not to suspect what they less comprehend . those who profess the study of wisdome they see to be men : have like passions with themselves : short of perfection . but they should nevertheless perswade themselves that learning is the nurse of diligence , bridle of the appetite , exercise of unfeign'd humility , and in every condition the surest antidote against discontent and faction ; and therefore they would be desir'd to think their faithful school-master what in a sort he is , a fellow-laborer with their minister : one who hath put on all the affections of the father , except fondness : that so by forming a right esteem of his work , they may set a true value upon his person . §. 37. now because the patrimony of school-masters , for the generality , whether small or somewhat greater , being wholly committed to the custody of feoffees , must needs in the dispensing be streightned or enlarg'd upon motives to the teacher unavoidable ; the matter of enfeoffement in this consideration would not be altogether neglected . the ancient way therefore of enfeoffing most parochial donations since the conquest was to invest the trust in the two church-wardens and the parson : where the stipendiary priest was removeable at the will and pleasure of men not alwaies of the greatest judgement : the latter practice since henry the eighth hath repos'd these trusts in corporations themselves who have often aim'd at as large power of suspending the continuance of the school-master , not on his behavior , but their privat discretion ; whereas , by the way , the patents last age run , juxta eorum sanam discretionem : now a legal will in a corporation is different from their will and pleasure : a style incommunicable to any subject ; for though soveraigns need not alwaies declare and remonstrate , but rest often satisfied with a conscience of the justice of their proceedings , yet is it an essential property of subordinate authority to render an account . this absolute dependance cannot but retard the endeavors , and may endanger to shake the stedfastness of the best resolv'd teacher . some founders have nominated the chief of their neighbors to the government of their foundations . these were intent on their ability to protect them : on their plenty , judg'd not to stand in need of retribution ; and therefore call'd in worshipful and honorable assistance without other regard had to them then the counting them worthy to undertake the overseeing their charity . but practice rectifies that opinion . and persons of high place and emploiment not obtaining leisure from their own , or the publick important occasions to attend the rule of a petty school , have often wav'd the trust . for what honor is there in an accession of trouble without profit ? or where the reward of business is not specified , would the reward there ( may some think ) be meant unlimited ? though charity may more particularly require this liberal inspection of some great ones upon whom the title of their family-beneficence descends . local governors are certainly most proper , and the highest would be rather not past by , then affected . one instance of enfeoffement may be here worthy the remark . upon the latter erection of that great school of shrewsbury above-mention'd which was in the thirteenth of the queen , the statutes upon mature deliberation revis'd , and a new settlement made , it was ordain'd ; the mayor of the town and head-school-master joyn in letting out the school-lands . an honest constitution since by that means neither will the townsmen lie under a temptation to misconvert the pious use , nor shall the master be able to impair the school-revenue . besides it may be accounted not very reasonable , that a master of arts formerly at the university thought fit to be intrusted with the disposal of his pupils allowance , should now be again reduc'd into pupillage : the onely man in the parish judg'd proper from whom the value of his estate be conceal'd . be the tenure in almain it is not without president , that even in hospitals some chosen almesmen have enjoy'd the like power and priviledge . every body consists upon its own laws : but that constitution is less liable to corruption from at home or abroad , where not onely conscience but fame is secur'd . indeed where the wages for teaching issu'd out of the publick stock of corporations , the masters were to be allow'd antiently among the romans by 7 of the a decuriones or aldermen , and receiv'd a licence for teaching from the bench , or town-hall of that borough , whereby they were entitl'd to several profits and immunities . these were limited to a certain number , which number was in the same order of election supply'd upon the vacancy of any place upon the b death of the former incumbent or his c removal . for gordian the emperor declares it as a rul'd case that if upon tryal the master were found unuseful he was removeable by the same authority whereby he had been approv'd . thus to survey differing feoffments , although it draw with it no necessary consequence of innovating unduely what is already establish'd , yet where the matter is under consultation , and in settlements not yet made , variety of paterns compar'd may be serviceable towards determining the choice with more success . §. 38. the divers orders and customes of schools upon such occasion too consider'd might have their use . let none expect here a body of scholastical policy : herein the statutes of many eminent foundations prescribe with great authority , nevertheless it may be needful in this place to mention , that publick schools are ordinarily regulated by some statute of superannuation : if children give slender hopes of proving scholars after 7 years tryal in learning of the grammar , they are to be remov'd out of the number : now those years are usually the more unfit for labor , and most capable of good impressions , during which time the more averse they were to their book , yet having been inur'd to watchfulness and diligence , to subjection and hardship , they prove often from that very frustration the more resolv'd and active in such other emploiment to which they freely betake themselves . idle drones and hurtful wasps no where less safe , more readily discover'd and sooner expell'd then from these hives . again , methods of teaching sound and sufficient here strictly enjoin'd , and legitimately carried on have past into a regular course of studies . consistent with these publick injunctions is a liberty still allow'd improving stud●nts of retrenching some superfluous rule , adding an exception , altering a particular hypothesis ; grammar maxims and the system establish'd by act of parliament , always sav'd . but to demolish foundations out of privat opinion daily changeable is a presumption of ill consequence to the publick . our modern januists of the latine and greek tongue seem in great measure to leave grammar and build upon dictionary ; as do others who practise without rule , or by a rule not catholick . due length of time and depth of culture withheld rather palliate ignorance then produce scholarship ; and errors in the ground-work first lay'd are rarely corrected by the scholars after-diligence . directions for delivering languages and arts , this enquiry dares not attempt : it is the work of master builders : and some judicious treatises are extant upon the same subject : to pass over forraign didacticks , at home ascham , hoole , and the latest mr. william walker yet surviving hath after his wonted manner solidly discoursed it . i shall onely take leave at this present to consider one opinion which hath of late obtain'd among persons of very good quality ; they have design'd a son for the profession of the law of the land : thereupon would bar the master from teaching him poëtry and greek as no ways ordinate to their childs pretence . this declared pleasure of parents will find no difficult admission with masters , whatever their judgement be , and is readily embrac'd by the scholar , because it saveth both of them much labor , whereof no man , at his own choice , is prodigal . upon this occasion i shall not digress into a just defence of poëtry , nor enlarge upon the excellencies of the greek tongue : but to speak to both connexly and with submission ; what of this reason falls under my comprehension onely amounts to a caution against dwelling among gentile superstitions , turning after the levity of some pieces , the chimaeras of others , being lost in empty ravishments , in a word , against making an emploiment of this however pleasing diversion to the prejudice of his further design : for when it shall again be consider'd , that the seasonable and moderate reading of poëts , whether greek or latine , elevates the thought ; furnishes upon all occasions succinct , pertinent , well-humor'd discourse ; impresses the passion requisite ; nor contented with terms barely proper sets on strength of argument with facetiousness of sense , and gayetie of phrase ; these vertues consider'd , it may appear more adviseable to restrain this candidate of the laws with due cautions that he may rather bind himself , then stop his ears with wax , while he passeth by these sirens : besides , that , mispronouncing latine in prose , incident to those that are unacquainted with verse , blemishes the best orator . his judgement rightly inform'd , this hopeful student may profit himself , at these ingenuous recreations , and at spare-hours to no small advantage converse with the poëts of our own language especially . whether polite literature accomplish a common-lawyer , for more reasons then one is not for me positively to determine : some shining instances in our own age favor those that shall affirm it . there is a reason and equity common to all laws : the roman youth soon as design'd lawyers were deliver'd to some master of poëtry and greek . a tully saith of aulus licinius archias , that from the utmost of his child-hood as ever he could remember , that poët and grecian had been his director both to undertake and carry on his course of studies . now because the greek poët was then questionable whether subservient to the roman orator he subjoins by way of prevention that he never was resign'd up to be a meer lawyer : and that all the liberal arts and sciences have a mutual affinity and connexion . orderly disposition of matter of fact , apposite application of law , with graceful utterance in opening a case may do a cause right . poëts furnish whereby the thought exhausted with pleading may be recruited , and the ears wearied with the din of the bar find repose : for having been strain'd at waging hard controversies , men are best relax'd and unbended by the more soft yet moral divertisements : soon after he adds , that the studies of other faculties are comprehended in teaching , in rules and art ; a poët hath his excellency in his very nature , and is elevated on the wing of fancy and as it were inspir'd with certain divine raptures . wherefore old ennius doth by a just prerogative call poëts sacred : because they seem to stand recommended to us by some especial grace and favor of heaven . be therefore sacred with men of so great humanity this name of poët , which no barbarity ever violated . rocks and deserts echo sounds : and savage monsters oft are charm'd and stop at musick . should not we that have had ingenuous breeding be affected with the voyce of poëts ? thus the prince of advocates with much more in his masters behalf : somewhat might be farther added on the subject , but what hath been loosely noted here may render men less forward upon privat notions though taken up with some color of probability to recede from the approv'd ordinances of publick schools without like authority . §. 39. but that which is of far greater importance to parents is best secur'd in publick schools , that their children be train'd up in the principles of christian religion , entire and uncorrupt : that they be built up in the fundamental points : by catechism and other seasonable address . as for catechism ; the church hath provided all her children means of instruction , chargeth parents with their spiritual nurture , enjoyneth masters to promote this especially : and exacteth of the children when grown , to account for the summary of christian doctrine receiv'd . a form is given to convey the substance : and therefore the church hath not prohibited explaining that , or joyning others with it . nowells catechism is enjoyn'd to be taught in the school of s t. pauls by their local statutes . vrsine translated into greek by hen. stephens , with the praxis of berchet hath been elsewhere with good success learn't : neither of them , i think , to exclude the church catechism ; nor ought any other ; for is it reasonable the examinand should prescribe his examinor what he should ask him ? the child his pastor , his bishop ? or would a child despise the indulgence of his poser , who should prompt him before hand , to every question the answer wherewith he would rest satisfied . there are many catechisms , but one faith . there are many grammars to one language ; yet that is the best to the learner , that is taught in his form : though perhaps a scholar brought up in another method to some perfection in the tongue the master would not put back to be initiated in the same elements . the mother , the nurse may teach a child the church catechism , the master must hear him repeat it : and may be thought most proper to carry him on to farther perfection . it is requir'd of every one that is matriculated a member in either university to subscribe the articles of faith and religion which supposes him to have been inform'd in them : either by his minister , or school-master . neither would discourse , more particularly at certain seasons , be without a prudent direction to serious and useful points of doctrine . in the greek a asceticks we may see a novice putting questions to an old father upon heads of practical divinity . b the jews record memorable sayings of the rabbins and bring in their disciples asking the solution of what was allegorically deliver'd : prescribe rules to the scholar of a modest liberty in propounding c his doubts apposite to the present lesson and subject in discourse : as also to the master of a gentle condescension in resolving those doubts : that he think it not grievous to repeat , to inculcate his instructions with regard to the difficulty of the matter in debate or slowness of the learners comprehension . thus have many teachers been improv'd by forming an apt answer to pregnant questions propos'd by their auditors . and for our instruction doubtless was d the child jesus found in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them questions . this work hath been carried on by exercise , or books . as for sundaies and festivals , verses upon the proper gospel , or psalms : reading sacred poëms , dialogues , epistles , meditations , confessions , and such like pieces which have been set forth in a small form fitted for the use of young learners . in divers places the statutes require over and above decent attendance on the publick worship , that the scholars be call'd to render an account of what they were taught . when s t. chrysostome upon occasion had prest his auditors to the repeating at home what they had at church heard : that every house-keeper being return'd would spread a double table the one of bodily food , the other of the word of god and the husband to recount what had been there spoken , the wife to learn , the children also to hear , nay the very servants not to be debarr'd from that repetition . a make thy house ( saith he ) a church as being accountable for the souls of thy family as the minister stands charg'd with those of the whole congregation : the people of antioch hereupon broke out into loud b acclamations , which that father accepted , not as an empty applause , but as the pledge of their obedience . as to the religious conduct of youth , i shall onely add upon this head that there is extant a treatise of the same fathers , anciently styled the a golden book of education , brought to light by the learned combefis and render'd into english by m r. john evelyn : a person whose fruitful industry hath oblig'd his country , nor ever to be mention'd by me without much honor . §. 40. further , as care is taken that the masters salary be duely paid , so because the tenure is not frank-almain as was that of abbies , and may that of hospitals be call'd , but what implys a duty to be perform'd which gives title to the reward , in many places besides the governors , special visitors are appointed ; whether some gentry by the designation of the founder thought fit and willing to oversee the discharge of the trust , or some three or four neighbor ministers , who annually at certain prefix'd time or times preside over the sollemn exercise of the scholars , and from their proficience estimate the abilities and diligence of the master . after all which the bishop as general visitor both superintends the master , and is head of the commission for charitable uses . indeed subordination and dependency is the form of bodies collective , without which nothing is strong : nothing is beautiful . the more immediat concern of the church organical successive is commended to the bishop not onely by the a holy scripture but by the ancient b canons , by c canon-law and by the d statutes of this realm , and practise of all ages and places christian : the ordinary gives licence to the school-master and exacts his duty , but withall the same with other commissioners by him engag'd vindicates school-revenues detain'd by executors , or interverted by trustees . as much fond as any are of liberty , no man surely envys the greatness of that power which he apprehends for his own interest . e and interest in the highest prelate may the poorest school-master assure by assiduity and vigilance over himself & his small flock . i shall onely add upon this head , that such seeming not to have consider'd enough their own weakness , draw upon them●●●●es the low rate and esteem set upon this profession , and gratify that whether overt hatred or inconsiderate policy of others in impeaching the growth and flourishing of the state scholastick , whosoever do not with humble gratitude embrace that superabundant strength which god hath vouchsaf'd them from the kings majesty the common nursing father of publick schools , in his gracious letters patents : from the high and honorable court of parliament , in laws made for their immunity and vindication : from worthy neighbors or worshipful companies of the great city , their vigilant and faithful governors : from many of the nobility , gentry , or neighboring ministers , often their special visitors : lastly , from the right reverend their diocesan , and spiritual father , always their general visitor . §. 41. there remains another advantage of publick schools : the greatest benefit to learners after the master , is a good library . before the art of printing was discover'd , when books all written by hand were rare , and however less correct and compleat to be purchas'd at excessive rates , those that set up schools in the provinces of the empire greek and latine heathen or christian , provided themselves ordinarily with some store of copies to promote the common studies of their scholars with themselves . and even in that affluence of books , which this present age daily furnishes , although a parent can afford to provide his son of such as are cheap and portable for his present use as he proceeds in learning , yet there are voluminous authors , pillars of a library , which would highly advance study , yet are not the purchase of every one that is most studious : and therefore best able to use them . in which regard a library would even at the present be reputed a necessary member of a school-house . this would not consist of promiscuous books . english histories , treatises in faculties , of law , physick and divinity , unseasonably read intervert the time due for other studies preparatory to the scholars daily exercise : and therefore universities lay a prudent restraint on artists , according to their several progress in the facultie , to keep some years in seats at the entrance of the publick library under books of those arts about which they are for that time conversant . some having been question'd how it came to pass that former ages who fram'd the very theoremes of those sciences , in compiling and transforming the systemes whereof we so much glory , could advance so far , have been ready to attribute it to the fewness of their books upon this very account ; not without some appearance of reason , though how truly , i list not here farther to enquire . be therefore onely proper and organical books hither admitted and few of that sort would be excluded . he is a good workman , that can use every tool . even those writings that are earnestly censurd as hindrances to scholarship ; allow'd with careful directions in their time and place , prove helps to proficiency . better were it for the peace and comfort of life if it fell out in matters of higher consequence that we were never prone to condemn and inveigh , where we should rather limit and caution . this book is to be read over , that consulted onely . this to furnish matter , that disposition , a third ornament . words and phrases are not sufficient to form a discourse ; nor a concordance , to make a sermon : they do not therefore obstruct , they may conduce to the work. a systematical artist , is not the worst artist . they that always despise helps to perfection may as much prejudice their own profiting , as those that continually rest in them . best editions , as latest are ordinarily , may be desirable , yet former are not to be rejected . so much judgement in dealing with the bookseller as not to buy corrupt copies at the rate of the best , but at a price vile as they are , is frugality in a scholar : when to be skil'd in the choice of editions and withal so ice as to nauseat what is not most elegant in print and binding is not discretion in a poor student , but luxury . few books , well chosen , may be of much use , and the benefaction considerable : but because scholars grow , these also range themselves into suitable classes , and because schools grow , they may spread . were i able to pursue this argument particularly and at large it might be perhaps with some readers of use but would arise to a just volume both beyond the bounds and besides the nature of this short essay . some heads of matter it may be nevertheless not amiss to draw over . therefore consider we learning in its birth , growth , and ripeness ; and distribute we our scholar into the grammarian , the linguist and critick ; both in greek and latine . in the first class grammar and dictionary : each small , middling , or large . the large dictionary would be ety mological , as a latine scapula : which method seems most natural to words and best complys with the memory of children . now whilst sentences , fables , dialogues , epistles are carrying on , the practise of translation , for instance of english-latine , latine-english mutuasly best advance here with truth of interpretation . noun and verb join'd , as congruously , so proper each to other : particles rightly us'd fall in , and from these result a phrase lively , and in some sort elegant . distinct helps to these are rather to be sought then refus'd , as phrasiologies , elegancies , idioms , directions for the use of particles , and the like guides of imitation . of which form are rolls of names , glosses enterlin'd , or side by side , literal translations , in a word ; locks and keys and doors of language not successless as may be attested by many late-learners especially to furnish fluent discourse upon all subjects : the greek yet wider in its dialects and curious in its tone . for a second class , when style cometh to be form'd , and the scholar proceeding to the classical authors , is enter'd upon theam and verse , aids are here most needful . select orators , poëts , historians fair and true printed at least , with the life and testimonies concerning the author , with arguments ; and some with plain and useful comments : apart or in bodies as the greek and latine poëts and authors of the imperial history . abridgements too not to be disparag'd . match me l. florus and justine : these conduce not to the memory onely but to the understanding also , while they bring actions disjoin'd in time and place under one view : accommodated to the narrow capacity of unripe judgements : especially when illustrated by tables genealogical , chronological , geographical ; and what , perhaps , are beyond comments to studious children profitable , would be had the approved translations of historians , orators , and poëts into our own tongue : since by them a child cometh at once to understand writers how-ever abstruse equally with the man that had particularly at leisure inform'd himself in that author . but for assistance in theam . invention is a hard tax to be layd on the barren and unfurnish'd minds of children . therefore , let these busy bees fall upon those flowry meads that have been fenc'd in by the industry of others ; let the young merchants trade in witts common-wealth for an apophthegm , an example , a similitude till they can set up a staple at home : the wisdom of proverbs is not to be neglected ; and therefore adagies at large , or in their abstract would be procur'd . symbols and emblems are embellishments rather pleasing , when offer'd , then requir'd . when ripe for institutions of oratory , there would be prepar'd a small , middling , and large rhetorick : such are extant old and latter , a greek and latine , till they arrive at declamation and panegyrick . as to poëtry ; steps not unlike do well . a poëtick institution small , middling and large . then authority for quantities in making a copy of verses . their matter will be scant : enlarge it with poëtical fables and fancys : these too moraliz'd by b mythological applications of such as have unlock'd the mysterie of poësy . their language mean : open to them the store-house of poëtical phrase . flowers of speech : proper epithets : fashionable terms : and choice of expression : all which are yet further'd by select sentences , epigrams , epistles , orations and pieces of history : thus the very fragments of sallust and cornelius nepos and polybius may compare with the most compleat volumes of divers other writers . a third class of school-books , to finish this library , would be further serviceable , when the style being well form'd , and the judgement grown to some maturity , the scholar sticks no longer in the bare forms of speaking or composition of sentences , but can so read whole books as to compare one book with another , and some parts with other parts of the same book : ( and yet be glad at times to have recourse to an index or synopsis ) can raise higher observations from them for common life , for morals , for policy . here would he be help'd in antiquities , in presidents of solemn acts , in several pieces of particular eruditions as of measures , weights , coins , habits , and the histories of other like species ; now begins he to discern readings true from false : authorities genuin from supposititious : a skill that hath done the church service in allegations of greater concern . therefore would relish variant lections compar'd diligently . he begins now to control time and place : therefore would he be enter'd into rationaries of time , and geographical institutions the greater by the less : not unacquainted with maps , and globes , wit cannot be taught : but may be provok'd ; and emulation ariseth betwixt persons chiefly where no great inequality is apprehended . therefore modern poëts , orators , historians or other late writers in greek and latine that have well imitated the ancients would have their due place and respect ; since it may deservedly move disdain in an ingenuous spirit , if that should be feasible to others of the age wherein he lives , unto which he might not aspire . this collection cannot every-where be made in one day . if gentlemen could once judge these publick schools worthy to be trusted with the education of their children ( as in almost all counties some are undoubtedly most fit ) they would without difficulty be induc'd at the entring of their son to bestow some useful book , such as the master should propose : this in process of time would furnish such places , at least with the more necessary helps ; and leave a standing treasure to the house ; not to be despised by the town . in divers late foundations a room for books hath been annex'd to that of the school : elsewhere desks or presses ; for indeed without a certain repository provided all utensils are expos'd either to be lost or injur'd : nor are there presidents wanting of this sort of gratification , if it might be conducing to provoke beneficence in this nature i would not pass over what hath fall'n under my notice , more particularly , upon occasion . the right honorable my l. crew was content to sever two books from his own library ( they were hen. stephense's thesaurus of the greek tongue in 4 volumes , and athenaeus his dipnosophists with the notes of isaac casaubone in 2 volumes ) and give them to the use of northampton school and master , at a sole request made by the means of that a school master . one of the present honorable secretaries of state conferr'd a set of excellent school-books such as the a master signifie to have been there wanting ; a decent respect to that borough which had elected him their burgess of parliament . the worshipful company of the merchant tailors of london at the motion of their worthy b school-master erected a fair library , and replenish'd it with store of choice books : some contributing 50 pounds others too very considerable sums towards it . these books were through the great industry of the master preserv'd as to the main in the fatal conflagration of that city : and remain a monument of the donors munificence , still growing to the advantage of the foundation . other examples of bounty in the same kind , not wholly unknown to me , though in themselves worthy of honor , i yet forbear here to specifie , since multitude of instances rather overwhelm then excite the reader : in a word , these gifts are a multiply'd benefit to the giver : when contributed by divers among many , they yet all remain entire to each particular . after due endeavors to provide , the next care is to preserve such library . the library-keeper to be charg'd with a threefold book the register of benefactors : the catalogue of c books : and a note of what of them are lent out and on what day ; the same to enter into these respective records what shall be needful : nor would he be requir'd to open and shut the door at its hour daily without some salary : to engage his watchfulness and constancy . a piece or 2 yearly chargeable upon the community ( for this occasion is incident onely to schools of some note ) will betimes acquaint him with the just and advantageous connexion of work and wages . he would be taken out of the uppermost form : the more studious , faithful and discreet that will undertake such trouble : studious , that he be acquainted with the use of what he hath in charge : faithful , for it is a trust : and discreet , because on him chiefly would rest the execution of those orders which should concern the students or books in the library . those laws would not be so rigid as to debar all lending forth of any book as if it disappointed others : since in the place but one can read the same author at once , nor yet so laxe as without occasion , without memorial , to part with them : and for time unlimited . again they would not be so loose as to receive the wounds , or flourishes of every malicious or wanton pen : nor yet so strict as to prohibit the masters occasional animadversion : the very trace of whose hand is suppos'd to leave some useful direction . §. 42. before the conclusion of this discourse , it may perhaps fall under some observation , that in this loose range of enquirys , a most material point hath been omitted . writing an universal advantage , ought certainly to have place in publick and free schools . for though , perhaps , it be not the principal benefit of that education , yet to write is in common life necessary , and to write well commendable . the truth is in petty schools ( and such are the most in every county ) no small regard is to be had to it : that the master bring his scholar to a fair engrossing secretary , or the neat italian cursive : and if he be design'd for the law to acquaint him with the large exemplifying court hand : and the lesser wherein old rolls are written with their abbridgements would be of singular use to him . i do not say that in the greater grammar-schools masters can much attend to that business : yet there also is exacted that the child bring his exercise written fairly , as he can , without blots , and without dashes , the marks of precipitate negligence . that censure heretofore ordinary as if a bad hand were the property of a good scholar may seem to have receiv'd its original from such like occasion . a in former times , when books were rare , scholars took in notes their masters dictates : which that they might more readily dispatch they practis'd abbridgements , and fell into deficient characters . this habit improv'd the learning , but withal impair'd the writing of those ages . a legible hand endeavor'd seems to carry with it some respect to the reader : and easy flourishes , in their place add grace and distinction , sometimes dignity : but though it be useful for all to write , it is not therefore necessary for all to embellish : yet in schools destin'd to farther operations , the place for writing though it be not a distinct room , would be furnish'd with proper instruments and so more solemn ; and also for the general works of numeration . whatever of this be needful as to the question in debate , none , i think , in these days are of opinion that the skill and practise of this art can be too universally propagated : some may with reason fear it is by many perverted from its noblest end , when emploid to the discouragement of other more excellent arts and sciences , or restrain'd in a manner wholly to the service of secular advantage . §. 43. rather , to sum up what hath been alledg'd on the present occasion , whatsoever opinion any may have entertain'd concerning the multitude of schools , the multitude of scholars in england ; before they pass any peremptory sentence to withhold their own charity , or to discourage the benevolence of others upon this subject , they would be desir'd withal seriously to consider several millions of inhabitants in this land , in the plantations , in factories abroad , the subject of pastoral cure : then to set before their eyes with such compassion , as the matter requires , the provision remaining for many vicarages : afterwards to descend in their inquisition into the manifold exigencies of the state , in offices , and professions requiring men not illiterate . whether they retain upon the ministery of justice in either law : or upon the profession of physick , or other polite arts. the nation would be reputed , as it is , ample : the traffick copious : the course of justice regular : the cities , and country populous . now when youth is multiplied , should we diminish means of instruction ? when necessities enlarg'd , streighten supplies ? again on the other side they would be desir'd to measure the fluid body of the universities , by degrees , as it is let out ; and duely inform themselves whether the number of yearly proceeders upon an indifferent estimate may not rather seem underproportion'd to the publick occasions . at the best , i fear , they will find many raw students for want of sufficient maintenance at the university thrust forth upon emploiment before any just proof of their proficiency given , who needs must bring weak shoulders to the weightiest work : whereas counties and companies of the city before late calamities and various troubles of the age , have exhibited liberally to the support of divers at their studies , what time the nation enjoid a long peace , as charities of this nature , if rightly consider'd , will be found to return upon any church in fruits of sound doctrine , and an establish'd judgement . but we have too many ecclesiasticks already : there are among us who say so . and indeed do they who have suffer'd themselves to receive such perswasion know how many they are in spain ? how many they were in england in the reign of k. hen. 8 ? do they reckon thus , that however revenue may vary , the same work abides ? but have we not free-schools in almost every market-town ? did we depretiat benefactions receiv'd : we should be unthankful to god and unjust to the memory of many worthy patriots , ornaments of their profession , who have so far extended these provisions towards the preparing youth for business religious and secular : of which benefit , others more directly , but the whole country in some measure partakes . lastly we should ill deserve of that faith , whose charity we dishonor'd . yet may it be not unneedful to consider whether there be not still parts of the land capable of new foundations to good advantage . let not any be offended at the seeming multitude of present schools . certainly we all bear no less affection to the common christianity , then the jews express to the law of moses , who have ordain'd a that school-masters be appointed in all cities , and the inhabitants of that city wherein are no scholars be excommunicated till they provide themselves of school-masters . farther , if upon this they take no care to get them any ; then , that city to be executed ; subjoining this reason that the world would not subsist if it were not for the babling of litle schoolboys : as who should say , the world would fall from the law and worship of god , and would fall into all dissoluteness of manners , were it not for that contemptible emploiment of preventing children before they can well speak plain , with an early instruction in the principles of religion . to the erecting such new foundations wheresoever they shall be found wanting , whosoever shall at any time consult upon the matter will be the rather induc'd , because many free-schools at proper distances dispos'd , not onely minister help to the poor , but with all opportunity to the rich of their childrens institution at less charges then abroad . one word onely concerning the old foundations submit we to further regard : the masters stipend is usually below envy : but what was well sufficient in the time of donors though faithfully dispenc'd by feoffees , in fact is now become incompetent of it self for his reasonable maintenance ; it were for the honor and no less for the advantage of towns , that he be so far encourag'd , at least , as to be enabl'd to attend his calling without distraction , especially if he carry on many to the university , such as perhaps in all counties of england some masters are found to be ; so will this church and nation be blest with apt instruments for service and the age to come season'd with a sense of their duty in all capacities . upon these considerations referr'd alwaies to better judgements , the memory of worthy persons the former donors of these charities hath been with us hitherto concluded pretious : their honor stands inviolable : nor , till other circumstances appear , ought we to have a less grateful esteem for present founders , benefactors and exhibitors to students : but acknowledge it owing to their pious munificence that many are encourag'd , who may promote the peace of the catholick church : and be examples of constant loyaltie to their soveraign , and the royal family : in the prosperity of both which , the welfare of these nations is contain'd . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65215-e960 a the l. verulam advice to the king touching mr. suttons estate . bacons resuscitation . a francis osborne esq ; advice to a son. edition 7. 1673. ▪ present state of england . edition 9. 1676. a advice to a son. a too universally dilated learning hath bin found upon trial in all ages no fast friend to policy , or religion ; being no less ready to discover blemishes in the one , then incongruities in the other . b epicurus in his b. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approves of reading and writing , tho he seem to impugn the learning all other sciences . sextus empiricus adversus mathemat . b. 1. ch. 6. a lucan . desuntque manus poscentibus arvis . hath bin to this purpose long since quoted . a 2 pet. 3.16 . a synod . exon. an. 1277. c. 20. omnium mater errorum ignorantia . a deut. 33.4 . a 2 thes . 3.10.12 . a titus 3.8 , 14. b dist . 91. clericus . conc. carthag . 4. cap. 51.2 , 3. de clericis ut artificio victum quaerant . r. moses ben . maimon . tract . de studio legis cap. 3. sect. 8 , 9 , 10. quisquis legi operam dare vult , laborem autem recusat . &c. a ex viribus reip. eumenius . constantius ( constantini m. fil . ) c. de praebendis salariis l. 1. è fisco . sueton in vespasiano 18. publicè . plin. secundus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . suid. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , b besides athens , at alexandria , tarsus upon cydnus , antioch , rhodes . strabo . suidas . c rome , spain , gall-land ▪ in province , autun , bourdeaux . sueton , eumenius , ausonius . a suid. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . b idem in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c speusippus , xenocrates , polemo , crantor , crates . d plin. secundus , b. 4. epist . 13. a plin. secund. b 1. ep. 8. b in the same place , b. 7. ep. 18. c b 6. ep. 32. d b. 2. ep. 14. e sueton. de illustrib . grammat . in verrio flacco . a s. paul , timothy . s. peter , mark. b the roman court hath university priviledges since the sitting of innocent . 4. gloss , upon clementines b. 4. tit. 1. ch. 1. in studiis rom. curiae . a pantaenus , a stoick philosopher , taught the alexandrine school under commodus . niceph. callist . b. 4. c. 32. clement succeeded him . ch . 33. origen at 18 yeares old : under severus by the bishop demetrius made catechist . b. 5. c. 4 , 5. heraclas admitted in the 12. of alexander , after bishop . then dionysius , after bishop . sixthly athenodorus . c. 18. b s. gregorii oratio ad origenem panegyrica & valedic●oria . a c : de professorib . & medicis l. 6. medicos & maxime archiatros . b c. de studiis liberalib . urbis romae & c. politanae . a concil . toletanum quartum anno 633. in veteri lege ab an . 25. levitae tabernaculo servire mandantur cujus auctoritatem in canonibus & s. patres sequuti sunt , a 25 annis aetatis levitae consecrentur : & a 30 annis presbyteri ordinentur . s. laurence is call'd levita in prudentius ; and a ms. kalendar in balliol col. b by binnius . c augustin . de communi vita clericorum . serm. 22. ad presbyt . s. 36. a concilium paris . an. 829. l. 1. c. 30. a domino ludovico jussum & admonitum est , ut rectores ecclesiarum , &c. unde omnibus nobis visum est ut abhinc postposita totius torporis negligentia &c. b concil . valentinum anno 855. quia ex hujus studii longa intermissione , pleraque ecclesiarum dei loca & ignorantia fidei , & totius scientiae inopia invasit . concil . tullense apud saponarias , anno 859. quia quod nimis dolendum est & perniciosum maxime divinae scripturae verax & fidelis intelligentia jam ita dilabitur ut vix ejus extrema vestigia reperiantur ; & idcirco ingenti cura & studio remedium procurandum est . c 858. d 859. e 871. f 874. g walteri capitula . cap. 6. ut unusquisque presbyter clericum & scholam habeat . a theodulphi capitulare 20. cum summa caritate doceant : nihil ab eis pretii pro hac exigant : accipiant quod eis parentes caritatis studio sua voluntate obtulerint . b concil . mogunt . 1. anno 813. ut fidem catholicam recte discant , & orationem dominicam ut domi alios edocere valeant . et qui aliter non potuerit , vel in sua lingua hoc discat . c capitulare aquisgranense , an . 784. psalmos , notas cantus , computum , grammaticam per singula monasteria vel episcopia discant . sed & libros catholicos bene emendatos habeant . d dis . 37. de quibusdam : quia in his maxime divina manifestantur atque declarantur mandata . e decret . lib. 5. tit 5. de magi : & ne aliquid exigatur pro licentia docendi . quoniam ecclesia dei , sicut pia mater , providere tenetur , ne pauperibus , &c. the clerk was then to the priest companion in conversation , assistant in divine service , master of his school , and design'd successour in the living . a decr. l. 5. tit . 5. de magi . c. quia nonullis &c. a counc . of trent . sess . 23. ch. 18. pauperum filios praecipue eligi vult , nec tamen ditiorum excludi . a injunctions by queen elizabeth , 1559. the twelfth art. b conc. trident. sess . 23. cap. 18. a coke upon littleton . lib. 2. cap. 6. sect. 137. b 1524. c 1536. d 1538. 9.40 . e 1541. f 1546. a 1415. b 37. hen. 8. for as much as it is right well known that the said governors or the greatest number of them hitherto have not , nor yet do use &c. and for that the kings highness of his godly and blessed disposition &c. c bishop godwyn . rerum anglicarum annal. l. 1. henry 8. 1539. d 1540. translated 1546 a records in the augmentation office. b 1 edward vi. c office of the augmentation of the kings revenue . warrants , surveys , erections of schools . a 1 eliz. b 18 eliz. c 41 eliz. a the clergy at paris recommend to hlodowig and hlothar setting up three publick schools at convenient parts of the empire . quoniam ex hoc facto & magna utilitas & honor sanctae dei ecclesiae & vobis magnum mercedis emolumentum & memoria sempiterna accrescet . concil , paris . anno. 829. a stat 3. jac. 7. a c. de professorib . & medicis , l. 6. medicos & maxime archiatros . a vitruvius of architecture book 1 ch. 1. a concilium rhemense primum an. 813. cap. 27. ut in civitatibus & monasteriis non major numerus servientium deo mittatur quam possibilitas eis ministrandi fuerit . a r. moses ben maimon . tract . de studio legis . cap. 2. sect 6. crescat lex & magnificetur . b joannes de turrecremata sup . decr. 2. part. in c. non solum . 1. q. 3. si magistris praefatis non sufficiant stipendia ecclesiae vel si etiam nullum stipendium habent ab ecclesiâ possunt exigere salarium moderatum : & si sponte offertur , possunt accipere , etiamsi sua sibi sufficiant . a glossa in pauperes gratis instrueret . divitibus gratis laborem suum impendere non tenetur . the master may impart his doctrine freely , yet set a price on his labor . the lawyer rightly demands his see for pleading . the judge , witness , lawfully demand their charges to be born . the bishop his procuration at visitations de cr . l. 2. tit . 26. cum ex officii . b 1. q. 1. cap. qui studet gloss . in sanitatis . magister non recipit pecuniam pro scientia , quam dat , sed pro labore vel honore , sicut propheta recipit . gloss . decret . b. 5. tit. 5. cap. de magist . &c. beneficium ei constitui debet secundum dignitatem & scientiam suam sicut advocatis . a sueton. aug. 42 b id. domit. 10. a sextus aurelius victor , and paulus diaconus . b c. de professoribus & medicis . l. 6. medicos & maxime archiatros . a ammian . marcellin . b. 21. illud autem inclemens , obruendum perenni silentio , quo , &c. greg. naz. stelit . 1. b c. de professoribus & medicis . l. 11. grammaticos , oratores , atque philosophiae professores . a edition at venice , anno 1552. a terent. adelph . act. 3. sc. 4. v. 56 ; 7 , 8 , 9. a homer ii. 12. from v. 310. to v. 329. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; &c. a advis'd by letter , from the reverend doctor david morton , of saint johns college in cambrige fellow . a c. de professoribus & medicis l. 7. magistros studiorum doctoresque . b l. 10. siquis in archiatri defuncti locum : with l. 5. nec intra numerum . c l. 2. grammaticos seu oratores . a oratio pro archiâ poetâ . a s. maximi confessoris & martyris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alternis interrogat : & respons . b talmud . tract . de sab . quoted by buxtorfe . c r. moses ben maimon tractatu de studio legis c. 4. sect. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. sect. 7. dixerunt sapientes neque aut verecundum bene discere , aut iracundum bene docere , as in a ms translation of m r. isaac abendana , eminently skill'd in that learning . d luc. 2.43 , 46. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. chrysost . edit . savil . tom. 5. serm. 6. p. 21. lin . 34. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . id. serm. 7. p. 22. l. 25 , 26. a this treatise is not to be found in the savillian edition . a 2 tim. 2.2 . b canon . apost . 2. c concil . tolet. 2. anno 531. de his quos voluntas parentum à primis infantiae annis clericatus officio manciparit statuimus observandum ut mox cum detonsi vel ministerio electorum contraditi . fuerint , in domo ecclesiae , sub episcopali praesentia , à praeposito sibi debeant erudiri . constit . eugen. ( 2 ) 37 dis . de quibusdam . conc. rom. 7. an 1078. ut ommes episcopi artes literarum in suis ecclesiis doceri faciant . d 23 eliz. 1. jac. 4.14 car. 2. act of vniformity . e rom. 13.3 . 1 pet. 2.14 . a demetrius phalereus , &c. b apollodorus , &c. palaephatus , &c. all three set out with notes by the learned and industrious d r. tho. gale master of st. pauls school . a m r. ferdinan . archer . a m r. jo. keen . b m r jo. goad . c to be call'd over by the master or vsher some hour in th● month or year least any be diminish'd or impair'd . a quicquid roma legis , quicquid studuistis athenae , quicquid chaldaei dogmatis indus habet ; quicquid aristoteles divino pectore sensit , cumque platonistis pythagorea cohors ; quicquid ad elenchos arguto disputat ore gallus , & in medicâ jactitat arte ligur ; crescit ab auditu : prudens , docilisque periret litera , si surdis auribus esset homo . bernardus sylvester . ex cod. ms. a r moses maimon : in tract . de studio legis cap. 2 sect. 1. a consolation for our grammar schooles: or, a faithfull and most comfortable incouragement, for laying of a sure foundation of all good learning in our schooles, and for prosperous building thereupon more specially for all those of the inferiour sort, and all ruder countries and places; namely, for ireland, wales, virginia, with the sommer ilands, and for their more speedie attaining of our english tongue by the same labour, that all may speake one and the same language. ... brinsley, john, fl. 1581-1624. 1622 approx. 187 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 51 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a16864 stc 3767 estc s106549 99842263 99842263 6904 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a16864) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 6904) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1058:9) a consolation for our grammar schooles: or, a faithfull and most comfortable incouragement, for laying of a sure foundation of all good learning in our schooles, and for prosperous building thereupon more specially for all those of the inferiour sort, and all ruder countries and places; namely, for ireland, wales, virginia, with the sommer ilands, and for their more speedie attaining of our english tongue by the same labour, that all may speake one and the same language. ... brinsley, john, fl. 1581-1624. [16], 84, [2] p. printed by richard field for thomas man, dwelling in pater noster row, at the signe of the talbot, london : 1622. dedication signed: iohn brinsley. the first leaf is blank. with a final imprimatur leaf. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education, elementary -great britain -early works to 1800. 2003-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-11 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-11 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a consolation for ovr grammar schooles : or , a faithfull and most comfortable incouragement , for laying of a sure foundation of all good learning in our schooles , and for prosperous building thereupon . more specially for all those of the inferiour sort , and all ruder countries and places ; namely , for ireland , wales , virginia , with the sommer ilands , and for their more speedie attaining of our english tongue by the same labour , that all may speake one and the same language . and withall , for the helping of all such as are d●sirous speedilie to recouer that which they had formerlie got in the grammar schooles ; and to proceed aright therein , for the perpetuall benefit of these our nations , and of the churches of christ. london , printed by richard field for thomas man ▪ dwelling in pater noster row , at the signe of the talbot . 1622. ¶ to the right honourable his maiesties lord deputy of ireland , and to the right honourable the lord president and lord lieutenant of wales , and the principalitie thereof , the gouernours of the iles of gernsey and iernsey ; and to the right honourable and right worshipfull , the treasurer , councell and company for virginia , and of the sommer ilands ; and to all other gouernours within his maiesties dominions , to whom the charge and care of schooles ; namely , those of the inferiour sort , are assigned : with all true fauourers of good learning , who vnfainedly wish the perpetuall flourishing of the church of god , and of their natiue countrey , i. b. wisheth all happinesse in christ eternally . after many thoughts to whom i should more particularly dedicate this my hoped consolation , ( right honourable able and right worshipfull , ) the lord in his wisedome and mercie ( i trust ) directed me vnto your selues , as those whom it doth in a peculiar manner concerne . that like as he hath appointed you to these places , so ye may euer haue before your eies , the speciall ends for which he hath assigned them to your trust , & for which you must be answerable to his heauenly maiesty . the first and chiefe whereof ( as i conceiue ) is this , that his pure religion , honour , and true worship , may be set vp , and aduaunced in them ; the next , that the wealth and sauing of all his poore people in those places , both of their soules and bodies , may be by you procured , so farre as in your power shall lie . and these things to be effected principally , by a learned , holie , and faithfull ministerie , protected and assisted by a godlie magistracie , and by propagating and spreading all good learning and knowledge amongst them . to this purpose god hauing ordained schooles of learning to be a principall meanes to reduce a barbarous people to ciuilitie , and thereby to prepare them the better to receiue the glorious gospel of iesus christ ; as also for the breeding and nourishing of such a holie ministerie , with a wife and godlie magistracie , and people to be perpetuallie preserued ; your care as i take it , in the next place ( that i may speak with all reuerence and submission ) ought to be for prouision of meete schooles and seminaries for them , according to the natures and conditions of the places , and as god shall raise vp meanes thereto . and for those which are alreadie so prouided and established , that the best orders may be knowne and receiued , for the speediest aduancement of the best learning in them , and for accomplishing all the good thereby desired ; and withall for supply of what priuate helpes gods goodnes shall vouchsafe , for breeding , and nourishing , and also preseruing all true pietie and grace amongst them . the benefit therefore and comfort of such small mites , as his heauenlie bountie hath vouchsafed me , which may be helpefull hereunto , i do most thankefully and cheerefully , as from his goodnesse , tender vnto you to this end ; and more specially to you , right honour able and right worshipfull the gouernour , councell and companie for virginia , and of the sommer ilands ; that planting in a right order , beginning with the lord , and the carefull planting and watering of his sacred religion , you may finde a more happie growth , and increase , and euermore sound and lasting ioy to your owne soules . first , the mite of my schoole-labours trauelled in , now manie yeares for all inferiour and ruder places , whereunto what blessing his heauenlie bountie hath giuen , i leaue to the iudgement of all true harted wel-willers vnto good learning . secondly , i desire to commend vnto you , for them , and that vpon vndoubted experience , the helpe , and benefit of another poore labour , which he of his goodnes hath likewise granted vnto me , namelie of a little treatise called , the true watch , and rule of life : which hauing receiued the witnesse of sundrie godlie learned , ( of whom i haue for manie yeares intreated the examining ; and censuring of it , after the publique authorizing thereof ) to be that waie of godlines , wherein we all who truelie professe christs gospel do agree , and that narrow path , in which all that walke conscionablie , and carefullie , shall certainely finde eternall life : i dare be the more bold in ●●tie to make tender of , for the furtherance of their perpetuall comfort and felicitie . and vnto the same adioyned the rule of true prayer , the second part of the same true watch ; wherein i haue followed , ( so neare as i haue beene able ) the perfect patterne of our blessed sauiour : which two so conioyned , may be for directing priuately euerie soule ( which hath grace to vse them , and to put them so in practise ) as their sea-card and compasse , to keepe them in the right course to their intended point ; that they may not be carried ouer farre , nor fall too short of their desired hauen ; yea to performe that for them , which neither card nor compasse can ; to wit , that they may not onelie be k●pt from splitting ; or dashing vpon the rockes or sands , but that they may saile securelie amongst the most dangerous rockes and perillous tempests . that arriuing happily , they may likewise euer after be kep● safe , in the midst of all sauage and cruell enemies . and finally , what straits or miseries soeuer they shall come into , either by sea or land ; that but onely crying vnto the lord , they may be graciously heard ; and mercifully deliuered in due time , according to that which shal be most for the glorie of his maiestie and their owne saluation , with the good of his people . though the dedication and patronage of my schoole-labours belong vnto our most hopefull and illustrious prince , and so in like maner of my watch vnto most honourable personages ( to whom i am euer bound ) yet i know that the tender of the assured benefit thereof , after so long triall in the right vse and practise of them , euen vnto your honours and worships , for these poore soules , and for your more happie execution of your charge , will be most pleasing vnto them , as who desire the wealth of all . yea ( giue me leaue to speake iointlie and freelie , yet in all humble duty vnto you all before mentioned , both right honourable and right worshipfull ) euen yee are they to whom the charge of these poore countries and places are committed in speciall manner , and the prouiding for them . if therefore you should not vse all holie meanes for the honour of our god , with the sauing and preseruing of all those soules , and their posteritie , and gaining the verie sauage amongst them vnto iesus christ , whether irish or indian , but onelie respect your owne ends and proiects , you could neuer stand before his heauenlie maiestie , to answere his highnesse for it ; especiallie , if hee most graciouslie offering you helpes thereto , you should not embrace them accordinglie , and to your vtmost abilitie see them put in execution . you cannot be ignorant of the wofull estate of all sorts , so long as they remaine in ignorance and blindnesse , without the sauing knowledge of our lord iesus christ , and much more of all such , as haue bene nourished long in fearefull superstition and idolatrie : and aboue all other , those who haue bene bred in a manifest , and most palpable , and euen a visible adoring of sathan ; nor , how the holie ghost hath told vs plainelie , that our lord iesus will come , in flaming fire to render vengeance to all who know not god , and which obey not his heauenly gospell . who must then be punished with euerlasting perdition , when he shall come to be glorified in his saints , and to be made maruellous in all them that beleeue . oh set before your faces the miserable condition of the damned , and so the danger of all liuing in blindnesse , whilst they so remaine . if we beleeue the word of the lord , and looke stedfastlie with the eies of faith , vpon the wretched estate and wofull torment of that rich glutton in hell ( by whom our sauiour fore-warneth all sorts for euer ) it will surely cause vs to looke vnto our selues . or if we set before our eies the lake prepared for all the vngodlie , and where the bloud of those soules must be required , if they perish for lacke of warning or instruction . and finallie , if we consider aright , that the righteous can scarcely be saued , as the holie ghost witnesseth most plainelie , and we may see it by d●ilie experience , ( when as m●nie a good soule , which hath bene carefull to walke with god , yet in distresse of conscience , and a little left to sathans buffe●tings , for their humbling , endure such miserie , and is so hardly rescued from him and from vtter destruction ) it will surely awake vs all to looke more carefully to all committed to our charges . yee are those whom our blessed god hath appointed ; vnder our dread and gracious soueraigne to be as foster-fathers vnto them , and therefore it concernes you neerelie , to thinke seriouslie hereof ; for if that way of godlinesse , which we professe according to the word of the lord and our good lawes ( which i haue long endeuoured to set plainely before , our faces , in that little tr●atise , the vse and benefit whereof i desire to commend vnto you for them ) be that narrow way of life , as wee are assured from the mouth of the lord it is ; then their contrary courses must needes be the way of death and hell . though therefore , wee should haue no commiseration of the poore soules themselues , yet remember the things that may concerne your owne blessed estate and posteritie , and your ioyfull appearing before the high tribunall of our lord and sauiour , and then there will be no more need to mooue you therein , nor anie other whom the charge of soules concernes , who shall consider hereof aright , to do your vtmost endeuour for their saluation . there will be no more need to call on you to see the gospel of christ planted among them , or to prouide them of faithfull ministers , and to procure by all possible meanes all other helps , or that , that which hath bene most charitablie giuen , and formerlie collected to these ends , may be rightlie employed , and whatsoeuer else the lord shall hereafter affoord for their benefit , chieflie to bring them into and keep them in this narrow path . wofull is the case of all those , amongst whom sathan reignes , and who worship him instead of christ , as all such do , who know him not , and much more those poore indians , among whom he ( as is reported ) is visibly adored & sacrificed vnto , as their god. maruell not if honest and vnderstanding christians be so hardly drawne ouer to these places , as namely into virginia , or so much as to perswade their friends to such a voyage , when as there are in the same so manifold perils , and especially of falling away from god to sathan , and that themselues , or their posterity should become vtterly sauage , as they are . this holy care being first had , for their soules and eternall happinesse ; and withall , that there be no wrong offered to the poore sauage there , nor scand all giuen to them , there may be a greater hope of a happy plantation , and that he will in mercy afford a plentifull supply of all good things , and raise vp many to be benefactors and furtherers , and giue a prosperous successe to all your holy endeuours , with assurance of his fauour present , and for euermore . but if thorough the wickednes or offensiue carriage ef ministers or people , minding nothing but for their owne aduantage , these poore soules shall take occasion to conceiue euill of the lord , and his religion , all this hope is vtterly ouerthrowne , in the very hauen . here upon in my desire of their conuersion and saluation , with the sauing and preseruation of our owne countrie-men there alreadie , and which hereafter shall go to them , and of all other in these ruder countries and places , i haue bene bold to tender these my poore trauels , vpon much hope and confidence : that first euen this course of instruction , to be presented vnto you , being embraced and rightly put in practise , a most speedy and sure foundation , may be layd for all future good learning , in their schooles , without any difference at all from our courses receiued here at home ; and whereby both maisters and scholars , may proceed speedily , and cheerefully , and with certaine assurance of a blessing ; and that so from vs may be sent continu●ll supplies of teachers to proceed in the same order . the triall whereof i dare ( through gods goodnesse ) tender to any by your selu●s appointed to m●ke full demonstration of it to them , like as i haue formerly done to the most learned and fit that i could chuse to this purpose , as appeareth in the examiners ce●sure , in the closing vp of this little treatise . and withal , to help that we may haue by the same , not onely the puritie of our owne language preserued amongst all our owne people th●re , but also that it may be readily learned in the schooles , together with the latin , and other tongues , and so more propagated to the rudest welch and irish , yea to the very heathen & sauage , brought vp amongst them , the more easily thereby to reduce them all ( as was said ) to a louing ciuility , with loyall and faithfull obedience to our soueraigne , and good lawes , and to prepare a way to pull them from the power and seruice of sathan , that they may ioyntly submit themselues to iesus christ. and for the watch , being agreeable to the word of the lord , as i trust euery one that tries aright shal find it , i dare boldly a vow , that euery soule that shall truely put in practise , first that rule and way of life to walke in it , shall find more true comfort by it , then by all the commodities in virginia , yea more true ioy , with all heauenly riches and felicity , then all the golden mines of the indians can possibly promise vnto them . secondly , for that rule of praier in the same , that euery one who shall learne to exercise it , as the lord iesus hath taught him , shall obtaine whatsoeuer good thing his soule shall desire : and finally , that so watching and praying , he shall be kept safe , euen in the midst of diuels and ten thousand other perils , and haue the lord to be vnto him , as he was to abraham , god all-sufficient , whither soeuer he calleth him , to be seene of him in the mount , and the inheritance of abraham , to him and his , so walking , for an euer lasting possession . thus haue i presumed to tender vnto you ( right honourable and right worshipfull ) whatsoeuer the lord hath vouchsafed me , whereof i haue had hope , that it might help you in your gouernments and charges , for the good of those poore people committed to you , and specially which might further the happy successe of that so much desired plantation , for the conuersion of the heathen , and training them vp in good learning , and the feare of the lord , and that so from the children , it may please god more easily to deriue the same vnto their fathers , from the younger to the ancients ; and so in time , by some of themselues so trained vp , to propagate it to all their posterity : which ( if after further triall made by you ) it shal be as curteously accepted , as it is heartily and cheerefully offered , according to that which i haue receiued from the lord , i shall not onely haue more cause to blesse his heauenly maiestie , but also be encouraged still to prosecute these poore trauels , and to study the further good of them all during life , especially for drawing the poore natiues in virginia , and all other of the rest of the rude and barbarous from sathan to god , and so rest , yours in all humble obseruance and hearty prayer to god for you , iohn brinsley . a consolation for ovr grammar schooles . the vncomfortable and fruitlesse toyles , which the lord hath left vnto men , to humble them thereby , haue euer caused many to bēd their wits and beate their braines , to find out more plaine and profitable wayes , both to rel●eue themselues , and to make their burdens more light . amongst others , my selfe hauing first had long experience of the manifold euils which grow from the ignorance of a right order of teaching , and afterwards some gracious tast of the sweetnesse that is to be found in the better courses truly knowne and practised , i haue betaken me almost wholly , for manie yeares , vnto this weightie worke , and that not without much comfort , through the goodnesse of our blessed god. and thence the more earnestly haue i pursued this same , for that i haue bene fully perswaded vpon happie experience ( i trust ) that i could neuer employ my thoughts and trauels more acceptably in anie earthly thing , or whereby a greater benefite might redound both to church and commonwealth , and in some sort to euery soule , then in searching out , and setting forth to the view of all , the shortest , surest , and most easie entrance to all good learning , and how with certaine hope of good successe all may proceed therein . who knowes not the grieuous complaints , which ( to the disgrace of learning ) are made almost in euerie place , for the iniuries done to countries , townes , parents and children ; because in so manie schooles , the children , which are the chiefe hope of parents and posteritie , are either spoiled altogether , or else do profite so verie litle ? and for the most part , wherein any good is done , that it is ordinarily effected by the endlesse vexation of the painfull maisters , the extreme labour and ●errour of the poore scholars , with enduring far ouermuch and long seueritie . now whence proceedeth all this , but because so few of those who vndertake this function , are acquainted with anie good method , or right order of instruction , fit for a grammer schoole ? this therefore hath bene in my heart , to shew my loue and dutie to all sorts , in seeking for my part to deliuer the poore , painfull & honest minded schoolemaister from this reproch and griefe , and to helpe withall to supply this so great a want . and in stead hereof my earnest desire hath bene to procure a perpetuall benefite to all estates and degrees , euen to euery man for his children and posteritie ; by endeuoring to make the path to all good learning more euen and pleasing in the first entrance , then former ages haue knowne ; and thereby also in the continuall proceeding afterwards , so farre as the lord shall vouchsafe me his mercifull assistance in this great attempt . that children being so entred in a plaine manner , may striue towards the goale with vndoubted certaintie of obtaining their desire , with pleasant delight and chearefulnesse throughout all their time . concerning the singular benefits and blessings which come by good learning , like as to euery particular soule , and so to whole nations , no man truly wise did euer yet make doubt . no not anie one who hath knowne aright what learning meant ; or who vnfainedly loued his coūtrey , the soules of gods people , or the gospel of christ. for what maketh a nation to be a glorious nation , but that the people are a wise and an vnderstanding people ? what is it whereby we come so neare vnto the highest , or to that blessed estate from which by our first parents we are so fallen , and to which we must be renewed and restored , if euer we shall inherit againe the tree of life , as by true vnderstanding and knowledge , especially if the same be sanctified vnto vs ? yea , what is it else whereby we excell the beastes , but by this diuine reason , with which the more we are enlightened by the spirit of the lord , through the meanes of learning , the more we differ , the more we do excell ? or who is he that can giue god that glorie for which he was created , and redeemed from hell , or can in anie measure honour him as he ought to do , to his owne saluation , but onely he who is endued with right knowledge and vnderstanding ? contrarily , whence is that inhumanitie , as amongst manie of the irish , the virgineans , and all other barbarous nations , but frō their extreme ignorance of our holy god , and of all true and good learning ? if anie man should dislike of learning , or thinke that there is ouer-much of it , for the strange licentiousnesse and outragious courses of sundrie learned ones , or for that so manie do abuse their learning , euen to their own perdition , without vnfained repentance ; why doth not the same man dislike also of the light , yea of riches , honours , and pleasures , all which are abused commonly by the selfe same men , as they haue occasion , as much as learning is ? good learning is indeed the heauenly light , the truest honour , the best riches , the sweetest pleasure . learning is all , and all in all , if we beleeue that wise salomon , or anie of the graue sages who haue euer liued since the beginning of the world . neither is the learning of these men the cause of their licentiousnesse , but this is it in truth ; either that being left vnto themselues , to humble them thereby , they haue put out that light of learning which checked and controlled them , and haue chosen , in their courses , to liue in darknesse rather then in the light ; or for that god hath therfore in his heauie displeausre and most iust iudgement ( as we are to feare of manie of them ) giuen them vp to such palpable blindnesse in the midst of the shining light of this last age , because they loued darknesse rather then the light , or at least for that they receiued not the loue of the truth , that they might be saued . but wholly to conuince all sorts , that learning is the true light , and that principall part of mans glorie ; let any naturall man aske of his owne heart , whether if he would haue his child brought vp to make a worthie man , he would not haue him trained vp in the most excellent learning , notwithstanding all the abuses of it , and whatsoeuer can be deuised against it . and why should anie one who knoweth but the law of nature , much more the diuine law of our holy god , ( that whatsoeuer we would that men should do to vs euen so we should do to them ) once grudge or disdaine that vnto others , which of all other things he most desireth for himselfe & his ? why should he not as well repine against them for the vse of light , seeing the lord in his rich bountie , in like maner granteth the light of true learning to be communicated to euerie one , chiefly for his soule , as he shall be capable , as well as he hath the light of the day for the bodie ; and also hath charged all most strictly , to seeke after it aboue all other things . according to that of salomon : wisedome is the principall thing , therefore get wisedome , and with all thy getting get vnderstanding . exalt her , a●d she shall promote thee , she shall bring thee to honour when thou doest embrace her . wisedome is that one thing without which a man is not in truth a man , nor can euer honour his creator as he ought . yet to passe ouer this point , as not so needfull ( i hope ) amongst vs , especially the true professors of christs glorious gospell ; whereof neuer anie one was a sound fauourer , who was not likewise an earnest furtherer of the best learning : & contrarily , they onely who haue sought the ruine of the church , as iulian , haue sought ( cunningly at least , and vnder other faire pretences ) the shutting vp of the schoole dores , and the bringing of all good learning into open contempt or base esteeme . and the rather do i represse my selfe herein , for that this point hath bene so worthily handled and cleared by some of high place now sundrie yeares agoe , and all obiectours put to silence . to ret●rne therefore towards our proposed marke , & to consider of the meanes whereby the lord bestowes this heauenly gift of all true knowledge and good learning ; is not the first and principall the right education of children in the grammer schooles , which god hath ordained to be his nurseries of all learning and vertue ? in verie many of which schooles abroad the contrarie rudenesse is notwithstanding verie much to be pitied and layed to heart of all ; like as it hath bene long , and is at this day too generally complained of , and that to be feared not without iust cause . of which sort are all those wherein the schollers are so brought vp , as that they are made more vnfit for anie calling , or so much as to take paines in anie profitable employment . but these true nurseries are onely such , wherein learned maisters and vshers , being incouraged with meete maintenance and due rewards , do follow the best & most approued courses , labouring constantly to put the same in vre . for in these a wonderfull difference will appeare , when they are compared with those other , in which the right meanes and orders are litle knowne , and lesse regarded to be put in practise . and first to begin with the matter of learning , which ordinarily and in it selfe , through our naturall blindnesse and dulnesse is so hard and vnpleasant ; it is made in these schooles most easie , and replenished with all sweete delight . secondly for the manner of proceeding , it is in these schooles so direct and orderly , to the verie highest top of all perfection in the same , that the things taught before do euer giue light to those that follow after ; and the later do so hang vpon the former , as that they haue a continuall dependance , and also the scholars haue a continuall helpe and vse of all those things which they haue learned before . there is moreouer in them a very comely array , as in a well gouerned armie , each knowing his owne ranke and office , without the least disorder or confusion . whereupon the painfull schoolemaister may , through gods blessing , as certainly expect much comfortable fruit of his labours , as anie other man in all the world . that euen as the best husbandrie bringeth forth vsually the greatest increase , the shortest and safest cut in nauigation , doth fetch in soonest the double gaine ; so the shortest and fairest way of teaching , shall bring in speedily double learning without anie losse or danger . so as it must needs be great follie to go further about with more trouble and perill , where a shorter and more sure line is plainly directed and pointed out vpon infallible experience . but for the fruits hereof they will be found such , as are able to allure and encourage euerie one , to take the vttermost paines to seek out & to practise the best meanes which euer god shall afford . for in the meaner schooles will soone appeare such a change , from raw and rude behauiour , vnto all commendable qualities , as if they had bene cast in a new mould . so that verie children will begin to vnderstand , write , speake , oppose and answer , and in all thinges so to demeane themselues , as to gaine the hearts of all who shall rightly make triall , and compare them with most others . whence it must needs follow , that whereas learning is now commonly so basely reputed of , and so few in the countries abroad regard to set their children to it ; yet if the best courses were in vse , euerie one would desire to haue his brought vp in some learning and nurture , and all of the better sort and qualitie should be prouoked to become benefactors to schooles , to augment their maintenance and encouragements for the nourishing & increasing of the same . these things likewise will certainly accompanie such a right order of proceeding ; both a maruellous freedome of the maisters from their wearinesse and discontent , and from that ouer-great seueritie which they are enforced to exercise , or else to do litle good ; and withall a ioyfull deliuering of the poore children from that continuall feare , whereby in manie schooles , the greatest part haue bene wont to be exceedingly dulled and to be made most vnwilling to their bookes . that now contrarily maisters may teach with much delight and comfort , and scholars learne with an ingenuous emulation , like as they recreate themselues in their ordinarie sports . and for the time spent in getting learning , assuredly more true , sound , and substantiall learning will be found to be gotten in such places in seuen yeares , then is in others commonly in seuen and halfe seuen . for this is a thing notorious , that in the greatest part of our common schooles abroad , ( some few of principall note excepted ) the scholars at fifteene or sixteene yeares of age , haue not commonly so much as anie sense of the meaning and true vse of learning , for vnderstanding , resoluing , writing , or speaking , but onely to construe and to parse a little , to steale an exercise , and to write such latine as anie of iudgement will disdaine to reade . that in respect of being fit to be sent to the vniuersities with credit , that they may proceed with delight and vnderstanding , when they come there , they are commonly so senslesse , as that they are much meeter to be sent home againe . and if they be admitted into the vniuersities , it is not without the griefe of all who respect the credite thereof . so as that they enter commonly with fowle disgrace , and continue with much contempt , to spend their friends monie & their owne precious time , which might haue bene farre better employed . that they become there a great deale more readie to anie kinde of exercise then vnto the studie of good learning , the ignorance whereof proues such a reproach vnto them . hence also after sundrie yeares so euilly spent , manie of them return home againe , almost as rude as they went thither , or are sent abroad to be vnprofitable burdens , both of the church and common-wealth perpetually . or if such do light into the hands of painfull and conscionable tutors , and fall to their studies , yet their tutors must then act for them the school-maisters part , which must needs be verie harsh and vnpleasing , yea rare to be found amongst them . so that in stead of their academicall readings , they must be enforced to supplie that which was wanting in the grammar schoole . such schollars must likewise vse extraordinarie paines and industrie , and be of most happie capacities , if euer they shall come to that pitch and height of good learning , which being trained vp rightly from the beginning , they might verie easily and in shorter time haue attained vnto . hereof the complaints of the worthiest and most carefull tutors in the vniuersities giue too sufficient testimonie . and though such scholars proue neuer so well , yet shall they feele the want of the grammar schoole all their life long . but to leaue the vniuersitie a litle , and to returne to our schooles againe for the gracing of thē . whereas now in sundrie of them , yea some which are of good maintenance , there are to be found some few like vnprofitable drones , not by the vnaptnesse of nature , but for lacke of better guidance and education ; then contrarily should we haue all such schooles generally , as the litle bee-hiues , euerie one in his owne cell , and each knowing his owne taske , and all gathering iointly to fill the hiues with the most excellent life honie . so that tast wheresoeuer you pleased , you might euer find most sweete contentment ; if thus the best courses were alike made known to all , and care had that they might be constantly put in practise euerie where . yea then it would come to passe , that whereas now there is litle or nothing in verie manie of them , wherein the eye or eare can take delight , but rather those who come to make triall haue enough at the first , and euer take iust cause of griefe , that there should be such lamentable spoiling of so manie toward youths , so wretchlesse mis-spending of their golden age , with such inualuable and irrecouerable losse and iniurie to all , yet in short time we should see the same as the goodly gardens , & as amongst the litle singing birds , in the flourishing spring ; where we still looke and hearken after more sweete varietie of pleasant flowers , and of melodious tunes . then should we find by ioyfull experience , that each meane schoole would ●ot onely excell it selfe , but be equall to manie of chiefer note . and as much as the goodliest garden doth excell the place ouer growne with briars and nettles , the litle bee-hiues the nests of drones , so much should these each way surpasse those same which now they are . that as we haue bene grieued formerly for the one , we should be rapt with admiration of the other , and thinke all our paines and cost farre too litle to be bestowed vpon them . maisters should be much more encouraged to go on with cheerefulnesse , in seeing gods blessing vpon their labours , and by hearing the due commendations giuen to their scholars , then by anie other rewards whatsoeuer . the children should euer likewise haue their emulation increased , which of them all should most excell . and to conclude this point , hence it should come to passe , that although all could not be expected to excell in learning , ( for then should we be left destitute of husbandmen to till the ground , and much more of meete supplies to furnish all other callings ; neither is it possible , by all the meanes or paines in the world , to make such to be scholars , to whom god in their naturall co●stitution seemeth to haue denied it ; chiefly where parents or teachers thēselues are too indulgent or remisse : so that their children are disobedient , much absent from schoole , come and go at their pleasures , neglect their exercises or the like , or haue bene spoiled by ill entrance at the first , ) yet these things would follow through a right and carefull gouernment . that a good part would be found in euerie forme to credit the schoole : some to store the vniuersities , others to adorne all other places and conditions of life ; that thereby might be had men expert in each kinde as necessitie should require , for the common benefite and good of all . all these things we may see verified in some few and rare schooles , by comparing of which with most others , and so by considering what a difference there is ( onely through the better courses practised constantly in them , ) we may fully iudge of the truth of all that hath bene said , and most necessarily be enforced to subscribe thereto . vpon the due consideration hereof , and vpon much and loug experience of diuerse places , together with the certaine assurance of these and the like vndoubted benefites , which must needes ensue generally vpon the best courses of learning and good education , first diligently sought out amongst all , and then diuulged for the publike good , to be put in practise , i haue presumed to endeuour to my poore abilitie , as the lord hath vouchsafed me mercie , to make all sorts partakers of this blessing , and thus to be paying my debts to all , in communicating the same vnto them . this trauell therefore hath bene , and is my dutie and seruice , first vnto you all ( ye worthies of the chiefest ranke ) who are vnfained fauourers of good learning , and more especially to you to whom the lord hath engaged me and mine ; yea my heartie wish ( with all thankfull acknowledgement ) towards you , in your children , and posteritie , in whom you are to remaine after your departing hence , & by whom you would haue your names and dignities still preserued euen in the earth . that they may with sporting , in a pleasant kind of recreation , attaine vnto that heauenly gift of learning , and excell all others therein , according to their places and degrees . and that hereby they may adorne your houses , increase their owne honour in euerie kinde , to become principall lights , and pillars of their countrey , and not to liue to the ouerthrow , or the dishonour of your houses , and names , much lesse to the euil example , or to the spoiling of the poore people amongst whom they dwell , as those who leaue their names for a curse behind them . it hath bene and is my debt , and true desire to all parents , to further their comfort in their beloued children , that they may see before their eyes their childrens forwardnesse in learning and vertue , which may be vnto them some recompence , of all their loue , care , and cost . and also that being hereby encouraged to bring them vp vertuously , they may alwayes haue the testimonie of a good conscience , to cause them to reioice , in that they haue had this first care to prouide them this portion . hereby they may depart hence with gladnesse , when they may leaue those in their places , in whom they may see iust hope , that they shall liue still in the earth with worthie reputation . and in more especiall manner hath it bene my studie for all such who in their naturall and tender affection , would haue their children brought vp in the most louing and gentle manner , as it were in playing , and with ingenuous strife and emulation , without that sharpnesse which they cannot endure , so much as once to heare of . yea to all likewise of the meaner sort , that euen their children may the more easily attaine vnto learning , that so some of them being aduanced thereby , may become a stay to their parents , a comfort to their kinsfolkes , a credit to their countrey which brought them vp . and to come vnto our schooles , for whose comfort i haue chiefly spent my strength , it is my loue vnto you all , that you may be such fertile seminaries , of the best instruction and nurture , as to replenish all places and callings . such as from which all crueltie and terrour may be driuen farre away ; that you may be ludi literarij , truly so termed ; when the maisters may teach with delight , and scholars learne with delight : yea when the greatest delight and comfort may follow in the end , in reaping , and enioying the fruit of all your trauels . when as the meaner schooles may be either equall , or at least come neare to those of greater name , & the chiefe may seeme as litle colledges , euerie yeare sending forth their new supplies , vnto our renowned vniuersities , our innes of court , and to all other places of principall note ; not onely to match our aduersaries herein , but also to surpasse them in that , wherein they haue sought to gaine the chiefest credit , & to giue our church the sorest blow . it is the debt of my loue , and token likewise of my thankfulnesse to you , famous vniuersities , by endeuouring that ye may be replenished with the choisest plants , when tutors may be wholly employed as tutors ought to be , that so you likewise proceeding in the best courses after , may euer flourish more and more , in all the liberall and worthie arts , adorned with the sweetest rhetoricians , the sharpest logicians , most acute and wise philosophers , skilfull physitians , holy and great learned diuines ; for beautifying and fully furnishing the sacred ministerie , to your eternall praise and commendation , and to the euerlasting glorie of christ. my loue to you who haue mis-spent your time , and estate in vnprofitable courses , which will be bitter vnto you in the end , and who know not how to employ your selues or your talents . that hereby you may retire your selues in time , and not onely recouer in a few moneths , that which you haue formerly got in schooles , and now haue lost , ( as experience warrenteth you may in good sort ) but that you may moreouer grow on forward in the konwledge of good learning , to become at length some way profitable to the church of god , and your countrey which bred you . that at least you may betake your selues , if not to the more fruitfull reading of the sacred story with other learned works helping thereunto , to your eternall saluation ; yet to the diligent studie of the famous and ancient grecian or roman history , & their noble warres ; to helpe the better to preserue , and defend your natiue countrey ; or for the succour of the distressed parts of gods true church , and the poore members of christ against that roman antichrist , as you now see the lord to neede your helpe , and call you forth thereto . that thus you may receiue comfort to your owne soules , of the pardon of your former courses , and of the lords fauour , when you shall walke with him in some profitable calling : which otherwise i can neuer see how you can attaine vnto , but that you shall find the flashing of h●ll within you , when your consciences shall be once thoroughly awakened , to consider seriously how vnprofitable you haue bene ; and of that fearefull doome denounced against the vnprofitable seruant : cast that vnprofitable seruant into vtter darknesse , where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth . this will surely be executed vpon you without your vnfained repentance , and laying liuely hold on the lord iesus christ. finally it hath bene , and is mine vnfained desire to all functions and places , and more particularly to euerie ruder place , as to the ignorant countrie of wales , and more especially that poore irish nation , with our louing countrie-men of virginia , or where euer else , if it might please the lord to cause the light to breake forth vpon them , which now fit in such palpable darknesse , and in the shadow of death , and wholy vnder the slauerie of satan . to the end to make the way of knowledge more easie vnto them , not onely to the attaining of the latine tongue , but also that hereby they may much more easily learne our english tongue , to helpe to reduce the barbarous to more ciuilitie , and so to plant gods true religion there , that iesus christ may reigne amongst them , sathans kingdome fall , and they saued eternally , if the lord vouchsafe them that mercie . to this purpose i cannot but oft thinke of the speech of a worthy learned man whom cambridge in his time much reuerenced , who hauing laboured many yeares with little fruite , amongst a blinde , and superstitious people , was wont much to lament , that he was enforced to labour in a barren soyle where salt had bene sowen : whence he vsed to affirme that the chiefe hope of gods church for all such pleaces so nuzled vp in rudenesse and superstition , was to come out of our grammar schooles . and indeede for bringing men vnto ciuility , the very heathens saw this to be the onely way , according to these verses of the poet , which are familiar to euery child . adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes emollit mores , nec sinit esse feros . right learning of ingenuous arts , the sauage frames to ciuill parts . this was one chiefe cause that all the wisest among them did so much prefer , and euer so aduance learning , and learned men . to shut vp this point ; this ( i trust ) shall bring a blessing in due time to euerie one , when this way of attaining to learning , shall become so plaine and direct , as that each poore mans child may with a litle cost and labour get some vnderstanding , to know how to serue the high god , and his owne necessary occasions : and that the children , and posteritie of those , may come to the knowledge of the truth , who themselues haue liued in most grosse ignorance , and extreame blindnesse . by the meanes hereof euery one shall be the better enabled to pay that debt , which by his very birth he oweth vnto the lord , and to his natiue countrey . for we are none of vs borne vnto our selues , but as the heathen oratour could say , our countrey doth challenge a part ( of our life & seruice , ) our parents a part , our freinds a part , &c. so that all the course of the life of euery one of vs should be bent , to the faithfull discharge of this our debt : so to leaue to posterity a thankfull remembrance of our well deseruing of them . if the heathens professed this , how much more should we christians oft bethinke our selues , how much we owe not onely to our countrey , & to the church of god in generall , but euen to euery particular soule , and more specially to those whom he hath linked vs to by nearer bonds . and to this end ought each of vs to seeke , as he offereth opportunity , to be alwayes paying this debt of ours ; which none are likely to discharge , so well as they , who haue bene best instructed in their youth . hereupon there shall neuer be wanting many cheerefull aduancers of all good learning , from which so many blessings do proceed , especially when learning shall come into the right estimation . this also shall be the chiefest glorie of all such in the earth , to haue bene benefactours and furtherers vnto the best learning and true pietie , and likewise a notable euidence of the eternall happinesse prepared for them . to this purpose if that heathen orator could likewise say further , euen by the light of nature : that to all who haue preserued , helped , or any way augmented the happinesse of their countrey , there is a most certaine place ordained in the heauens , where they shall enioy eternall happinesse ; how much more boldly may we christians auouch the same , vpon certaine grounds out of the word of god : that there is indeed a place of euerlasting happinesse , and glorie prepared for all those , who in witnesse of their loue & thankfulnesse to iesus christ , and to their countries , shall employ their studies , and their wealth , to the greatest aduancement of all heauenly learning , and vnto the vertuous education of youth , the hope of the succeeding ages ? finally , from all these shall the glorie of our nation be enlarged continually , when men of true wisedome & godlinesse , do both rule and obey euerie where . a state most certaine to endure long . a prince ten times happie , and renowmed to be the head of a people so excelling in all true wisedome and vnderstanding . being thus vndoubtedly perswaded of so manie and rich blessings to ensue , vpon the right finding out , and making knowne the best courses of teaching in the grāmar schoole , without the least euill that i can surmise , i haue thought , that this shall be a speciall part of my comfort , and a mercie aboue all other outward fauors , which the lord hath euer vouchsafed me , if i may but do the least seruice herein , or but shew my desire to further so great a good . hereupon haue i bene encouraged ( as i said ) not onely to trauell thus farre in it , but also to tender this my poore seruice vnto all , presuming vpon the kind acceptance of it amongst all sorts ; which the lord hath hitherto vouchsafed , so far forth as i know . because my confidence hath bene , from my first entrance into this trauel , according to the desire of my heart , that these small beginnings might soone receiue such plentifull augmentations , as in time to accomplish all the good which hath bene mentioned ; and as the lord hauing verified amongst verie manie , will i trust euerie day more manifest vnto all . i also at the first edition of it , hastened it the more , because , as we are borne for all , ( as before was said ) and receiue all our talents for the benefite of euerie one , to whom they may do good , and are thereby each so deeply indebted vnto them , so i haue endeuored since to increase my former experiments , and to make them vndoubted , by full , and most certaine triall ( as i trust and heartily pray : ) that all sorts for whom they haue bene written , may reape some benefit by them , so long as schooles or learning shall remaine . and what is my life but a vapou● , so that i might haue bene taken away before the work● had euer come to light , like as some of my fellow labou●ers in this kind haue bene , ( of whom i receiued some of these directions , and those not of the smallest moment ) who had bene able to haue done farre greater seruice in this kind ; most of whose worthie experiments in this behalfe , were buried with them ? or how could i haue euer stood before the lord , if ( being so fully resolued & assured of the good that might come by this labour , and for that likewise , by the bond of the communion of saints , all to whom this benefite of it might redound , had interest in it ; the lord also hauing offered me so fit oportunitie , ) i should not haue sought the discharge of this my debt to the vttermost farthing ? might i not iustly haue feared , that he would haue bene displeased for my negligence and loitering in so necessarie a worke ? why should i not then still communicate from time to time , what he hath further vouchsafed me in my continuall trauell ? yea why should i not stirre vp all my louing brethren , to the full perfecting of that , which hath bene by his goodnesse brought thus far forward towards the same ? why should we suffer the industrie of the enemies to be a condemnation to vs , for omitting our opportunities of accomplishing any seruice , which may concerne the glory of our god , the welfare of this people , and the perpetuall benefit of this our deare nation : when they watch all occasions not onely to hinder whatsoeuer good they can amongst vs , but to put out for euer the candle of israell . when as they will toyle day and night with the perill of their liues , to vndermine , and blow vp our royall king , and prince , our nobles , and worthies , with all our glorie at once ; thereby to make an easier passage to their most bloudie and accursed massakers , to murder all who beare anie loue to christs gospell , yea to destroy vtterly all the people of the lord , euen through the whole world , if it were possible , as their furious rage doth at this day proclaime , though with the endlesse destruction of themselues both soules and bodies , and euen of their natiue countrey their mother which bred them . notwithstanding , i haue not rashly attempted to enter into this so great a worke , but , i hope , that i may truly say , that the lord our louing god , who hath holpen me hitherto , hath called me vnto it . and this hath he done , partly enforcing me by necessitie , to seeke out the easiest , speediest , and best meanes to manage this my calling , and wherby i might do most good in my place , to be thereby in some sort answerable to the same . partly by giuing me a confident assurance , euen from the beginning of this my trauell , what a benefite might come to all sorts , by the read●est courses once found out ; and more also in this , that i haue seemed to my selfe , by his goodnesse , to haue from time to time gained euer somewhat by my search : & haue withall obserued how much some few schooles haue excelled others , chiefly through the better courses which they haue followed . partly by vouchsafing me strength , and cheerfulnesse to proceed thus farre , still adding vnto me some new experiments . more specially by causing me to haue an earnest desire , and an hope by this meanes to answer the loue of certaine worthie friends , in seeking that good to theirs , which i was not able to performe vnto themselues . but aboue all , hath he called me hereunto , by the encouragement which i haue receiued from some principall benefactors to schooles , & good learning ; who though they might by their authoritie and fauours haue commanded all my seruice , yet knowing my endeuour herein , haue both most louingly cheared me , and withall somewhat supported me to goe through with this so weightie a businesse : for the good of their own schooles and places , and of all others . who haue not thought it enough to found or bestow the places , and to endow them with meete maintenance , vnlesse they shall also do what may be to leaue in them the best meanes of all good instruction and education . to whom not onely my selfe , but the church of god ( as i trust ) shall euer be beholden . but to passe ouer this point . that worthie desire of our royall soueraigne ( whom the lord long preserue to his glory and the good of all his people ) namely to haue all good learning to florish in these his dominions , declared so many wayes , & specially in that his gracious incitement to all schoolemaisters ( in the conclusion of his maiesties letters , set before our common grammar ( ought not onely to prouoke , but to binde vs all , who haue this function and charge , to indeuour our selues to the vttermost , to search out still the best meanes for the most fruitfull training vp of our scholars , in all good literature and vertuous conditions , where he so royally assureth vs , that as we shall receiue reward of almightie god for the same , so of his maiestie worthy commendations . and therefore whatsoe●er comfort we shall finde by our trauels therein , to make the same fully knowne for the generall good of all , as god shall vouchsafe vs fit occasions thereunto . for the manner which i haue vsed in all this proceeding ; the preface to the reader in the same our common grammar hath directed me ; where hauing affirmed that the varietie of teaching is diuerse , and alwayes will be , for that euerie schoolemaister liketh that which he knoweth , & seeth not the vse of that which he knoweth not , and therefore iudgeth that to be the most sufficient way , which he seeth to be the readiest meane to bring a learner to haue knowledge therein ; it directeth vs thus : wherefore it is not amisse ( saith it ) if one seeing by triall an easier and a readier way then the common sort of teachers do , would say that he hath proued , and for the commoditie allowed it , that others not knnwing the same , might by experience proue the like , & then by proofe reasonably iudge thereof : not hereby excluding the better way when it is found , but in the meane season forbidding the worse . this course haue i followed in all directions which i haue here obserued , & set them downe accordingly . whereas it may be obiected and said , that sundry haue written very learned treatises , concerning the trayning vp of youth : i answer , that it is so indeede ; yet ( that i may speake in modesty as the truth is ) all the learned do well know , that they are such , as do onely set downe the same in a generall maner ; or do write of some one piece or two alone , or at most of some few parts of grammar learning and matters appertaining thereunto ; and the principall of them vnknowne to the common sort of teachers : or else they are beyond the capacity and reach of the meaner sort ( for whom this is cheifly intended ; ) or at least , they haue specially fitted their course , for the instruction of two or three alone , to be trained vp in priuate houses , as our renowned maister a●kam . but none whom i know , or haue heard of , haue in this kind of search and triall , gone through the seuerall parts of our grammarschoole learning , applying themselues for the weakest , & for the common countrey schooles , thus leading them as by the hand , thorow all the whole courses thereof , onely according to our common grammar and most approued classicall authors . neither haue i in this , followed mine owne priuate conceit , but besides searching by reading , triall and obseruation , i haue first for many yeares inquired further ( as i said ) the best courses , from the most experienced , who haue proued them : euen of such as haue sent most excellent scholars vnto the vniuersities ; as i haue bene assured from some of the chiefe in the same . secondly i haue made triall to see a demonstration of euery thing . thirdly i haue had ( so much as i could ) the iudgement of all the learned , with whom i could confer or communicate . fourthly , so far as i haue bene able , i haue procu●ed yearely trials to be made by some of the best authoritie , learning , and iudgement that i could obtaine this fauour of , & haue intreated them to censure all things frankely , and to direct vs wherein they found or thought vs defectiue , to confirme and encourage vs wherein we proceeded in a right course . neither haue i conferred with any louing friend hereof ( so farre as i remember ) who hath not approued of the course , and wished all good successe to this my trauell . so that i haue not posted it forward , but hasted slowly ; and vsed so farre as god hath granted me opportuniy , all meanes of due preparation , and of mature deliberation : thus enquiring of ( as i said ) and conferring with so many of the best experienced , as either my calling , or greatnesse of the charges in trauell would permit . and moreouer before i published any thing hereof in print , i sent some draughts , vnto sundry learned , for their helpe and direction , though not to the hundredth man to whom i desired . for that i was neither able to get copies enow written , nor to procure them written truly , much lesse to be at the charge to send thē abroad into all parts , to many , who i know would willingly haue laid to their hands , and added their experiments . therefore herein also , in steed of sending any moe written copies abroad , i after a time , by the coūsell of some faithfull and iudicious welwillers to this worke , thought it best to follow that worthy president of most happy labours , maister perkins ; who when he was in hand with his probleme , being aduised to send some copies first to his learned freinds , answered that he could not get copies enow written , & though he procured some writtē forth , and by good scholars , yet they were so defectiue , as that he could not well send thē . and for that cause he would print some few of them first , which might go forth to the view of the world , and so he might heare the common censure of all , and receiue the helpe of his freinds , and then reforme accordingly . thus did i aduenture to send forth the former draught of my grāmar schoole , with some other parts belonging to the same to the publique view of all , that i might the sooner heare and receiue the free censures and better directions of all louing freinds , and welwillers vnto this worke , so to be forthwith trying , reforming and supplying , like as i haue continued vntill this day . in the whole worke , as i promised not any thing but my trauell , which i haue striuen to performe with all the poore ability which the lord hath vouchsafed me , so i take nothing to my selfe , but onely the wants and errours . the rest is his who hath giuen this desire , and prolonged my life , granted me vnderstanding , strength , and opportunitie to bring it thus farre forward . what directions or experiences herein , i haue receiued from others , as yet , or lately liuing , i would haue set downe with their names adioyned , like as i haue done of some ( which i know might haue brought much credit to the worke , for the authority of sundry of them ; and thereby euerie one of them haue had their due ) but that they did not thinke it meete , desiring to be concealed . what i haue gathered out of the writings of the chiefe learned who haue reuiued learning in this last age , as sturmius , melanchton , erasmus , & others , either shortly set downe , or plainly poynted at in them ; i haue omitted likewise to mētion particularly ; not any way to wrong or detract from them , but partly for that i did not note the places at my reading of them ; and moreouer for that i thought that labour more troublesome then profitable to the reader . neither take i vpon me any way to prescribe to the meanest , knowing my self so far inferiour to the greatest part , but do begin to thinke more and more , of this weightie calling , as paul did of the sacred ministerie , and to breake out into that his admiration , who is sufficient for these things ? who is meete to haue the treasure both of church and common-wealth , with the hopes of all posteritie committed vnto him , and much more to prescribe perpetuall rules in this behalfe ? much lesse do i pre●ume to teach them of most excellent gifts ; but as a poore fellow labourer for the common good , and a willing learner of all , i do humbly desire the iudgement and helpe of all the chiefe learned , both for their cause who wish this , and for the vniuersall benefit of the present age , and of all posteritie . that i may see still both what they approue in the courses set downe , also what they disallow , and likewise vpon what grounds ; what may be bettered , what is yet wanting , and what is superfluous . thus is my hearts desire , to trauel in it still , according as i haue begun , vntill the lord shall accomplish the whole worke , which although it should be seuen yeares more , yea many moe before ; yet the lord prolonging my dayes , i shall euer increase in reioycing in my vndoubted assurance of the rich blessing , which god will giue vnto it , & thinke all my labour most happily spent . but herein let not any man expect from me great matters , in a lofty kind of verse or prose , or eminency in declamations , orations , or the like , this i leaue to our worthy renowned schooles of westminster , eaton , winchester , and the rest both in london & elsewhere , and to our schoolemaisters of chiefe fame , whose breeding & imployment in schooles hath bin accordingly ; and who haue ancient scholars long exercised in these kinds . cōcerning whom i am so far off frō enuying any excellent learning in them , that i wish all others partakers of the like in their kind . and for my selfe i content me with this mercie from the lord , and blesse him for it , that i haue trauelled chiefly for our meaner & ruder schooles ; and that he hath vouchsafed me this fauour , to bring my worke so farre forward , as to helpe to direct hitherto , according to the things mentioned in the contents . yet this i humbly desire of all such of principall note , for education , gifts and experience , to further vs with their better directions in all these exercises and the rest ; & now god hauing so accomplished my desire for the first foundation , and let me see his blessing vpon the little on s , i will labour to follow them in what i am too short , as fast as his goodnesse shall enable , vntill i shall likewise find by experience , wherein that excellency and comfort of theirs doth consist , and come as neare vnto them as i can . though therein , cum in primis non liceat ; in secundis tertijsve consistere pulchrum erit . for the length of the worke in the grammar schoole , i haue in many things contracted very much in this edition . and for those things wherein i may seeme ouer tedious , as namely in the first entrance of children , in teaching accidence and grammar , also for construing , parsing , and making latine , i would haue all consider how therein i haue contended to direct the carefull maister , to incite both himselfe , and his little ones , as by play , to make the least to loue the schoole and learning ; and for that those things being well performed , all the difficulty is past . yea in all such places i would wish you euer still to remember this , that i wrote not for the great learned , but chiefly for the simplest , & yong beginners , both teachers and learners , with whom i cannot be too plaine ; although i haue and do still striue to abridge whatsoeuer can be , so as i may be well conceiued of all , for whom i labour ; and in the end of euery chapter haue vsually repeated briefly the sum thereof . and knowe withall , that i haue thought it my dutie to set downe whatsoeuer i haue found to be profitable , that out of them all , the best may bee setled , being confirmed by the trials of many . in which respects some of great learning , who perused the work formerly , haue not seene how it could well be any shorter , nor what might well be spared , especially being thus offered to the publique censure . consider moreouer what great volumes haue bene written of some one of these points alone , whereas my indeuour hath bene to go thorowe them all , shewing in euery one , what i take to be principally necessary or behooffull . and finally remember that which martiall wittily and truly affirmeth : non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis . things are not long , wherin there is not ought to spare . those for whom it hath bene labored in , who wil not vouchsafe it the reading because of the length , would much lesse haue taken the paines , or haue bene at the cost , to haue trauelled , searched , and tried to haue found it out . although this i dare constantly auow , and keepe within my bounds , that it had counteruailed vnto me both the labour of an hundredth times reading it ouer , and as manie times the charges , if i had knowne but the things from my first entrance into teaching , which god hath now thus made knowne to all ; besides the freeing both of my body and minde from much toyle and griefe . notwithstanding that i then both read all whom i could get in this argument of teaching , and also had from the beginning for sundry years the aduice and direction of * one in whose house i liued , who was well knowne to be inferiour to few in all excellent learning , and euen in this kinde amongst other . neither do i doubt , but that whosoeuer he be that would do good in this function , especially of the new beginners , and shall peruse the worke with desire to make his benefit of it , shall meete with some one thing alone or other in it , ( which if he will practise it aright ) he will freely acknowledge to be worth all his labour , as i haue done sundry of them at the receiuing and triall of them , and much more shall he do the same for all the rest . yet for those who would not reade ouer the whole treatise at large , they may see the sum briefly in the margents , & so in the table in the end , to reade what they desire , to passe ouer the rest . but for them for whom i haue trauelled , i had much rather to be ouerlong , to the end that i may omit nothing which concerneth their helpe , & may be vnderstood of all , then by being ouer-short , to omit many things , or not to be vnderstood of the greatest part : as it falleth out in most compendiums . for as i once heard a great learned and holy man say publikely in the vniuersitie concerning compendiums , that they brought ordinarily but a compendiarie knowledge ; so it will be found certainly true , amongst all learners of them in matters of any difficulty , vnlesse they haue the help of good readers , or of most familiar commentaries and expositions , to make them plain . because cōmonly the learners do imagine that they haue gotten that learning by them which indeed they are ignorant of , and so ceasse from searching further ; although for those who vnderstand them fully , or haue meanes to haue them plainly opened , they are of most singular vse , for the easie remembring and practise of the things contained in them . moreouer howsoeuer i should not be able to attaine to each point aymed at here , and wished , nor to any one of them in the absolute perfection , yet i euer thought from the beginning that my trauell should be most happily employed , if i might effect but only these things following , or some of them , as namely : if i might but set others on work , to search yet further , or to make trial of these experiments or better , for the ful assurance of all sorts , to finde out at length , that which is desired . or secondly , if it were but to gaine the experiments of some others who haue most happily trauelled herein . and the rather , for that sundry of chiefe experience in this kinde , are so hardly drawne to impart that which they know ; either for lacke of opportunities , or lest they should be thought to presume ouer much , or suspecting the censures of others , or for some like by respects , wherby both church and common-wealth are depriued of their due ; to wit , of such singular helpes as might exceedingly tend to the benefit of them both . or thirdly , if i might but make known amongst alsorts , sundry most profitable bookes and helpes which god hath to this end prouided , both for maisters and scholars , which haue formerly bene hid , and are vtterly vnknowne to the greatest part . or fourthly , if i may but only help such of my brethren as toile without fruit or comfort , wearying themselues in an earnest study to do good , and do mourne and sigh , wishing better directions . and much more those , who neuer knew any good proceedings , and liue as burdens to the publike hurt , for lacke of direction in this behalfe . that so not any one , who maketh conscience of his calling , and will inquire , should be vnprofitable . yea fiftly , if i might but helpe the common sort , how to gaine but one yeare only in the getting of learning , & lessening of charges , chiefly for the poorer . albeit that my vndoubted hope is , that by these courses alone almost double sound and good learning may be gained , in regard of that which hath bene and is in many country schooles , for vnderstanding , speedinesse , certainty and delight . that little children being rightly trained vp , may do more at nine or ten yeares old , then in many places at fourteene or fifteene , as master askam saith , concerning the northern parts in his time ; when they went to the schoole little children , and came away great lubbers ; alwaies learning , little profiting , learning without booke euery thing , and vnderstanding within booke little or nothing , as he rightly affirmeth . and for the further euidence hereof , that so much more good may bee done hereby , it is very apparent in this . that a great deale may be gained by three or foure of these helpes alone , which either are not knowne , or not practised in the ordinary schooles . as first , by winning a yeare or two in the beginning , by ●etting them to schoole so soone as they are able to learne . secondly , by causing all things in schools to be done with vnderstanding . of the benefite whereof see chap. 5. of the grammar schoole . thirdly , by making the scholars very perfect , first in their grounds , viz accidence , chiefly in nounes and verbes , after the maner which is shewed there ; and after likewise in the grammar it selfe , for the perfect vse , vnderstanding and applying of the rules . this will gaine much in time , and more in ease and certainty then can be imagined . fourthly , by making them very perfect in their authors , as they proceed . fiftly , by the knowledge and practise of the rule of construing , and of translations formed according vnto the same , for all the lower sort . sixtly , by hauing in all things the most easie , sure , and excellent patternes to follow ; which , they being kept vnto constantly , must needes come in time to expresse very liuely , or at least come neere vnto them . to omit the benefit of increasing in our owne toung as in the latin ; and all things for going certainly without staggering or doubting , and much more by their growing in their writing , together with their other learning , & that by one and the same labour . now if by these few so much may be gained , and much more by all the rest together , being constantly practised : then let euery man iudge what we might certainly expect , if many moe learned well-willers , would adde still but each his seuerall experiment . these same , amongst others , haue bene the seuerall ends , whereat i haue aimed , and thought my labours should be happily emploied , if i might in any sort attaine vnto them . wherein how farre the lord hath vouchsafed to fulfill my desire , i refer it to euery one who hath or shall duely make triall of that which i haue written . that i do in this worke so much account of grammaticall translations , which i so oft mention in the grammar schoole , as namely chap. 8. where i shew the manner , vse and benefit of them , i hope that this wil be found true by experience , that after children haue bene well trained vp in their accidence , and a litle entred and acquainted with them , following the courses directed for thē , they will go ouer their whole authors so translated , by the help of thē , before they could haue gone through one third part of them without . and also that they will learne their authors far more perfectly for each good vse , and keepe them much more surely , with lesse labour or trouble ; besides that they shall continually learne by them to make latine truly and purely , and to get matter and phrase , aswell as to construe and parse . and furthermore because in all the formes which shall vse them , chiefly in the higher , they wil be found for the most part to be in stead of the maisters or vshers labour , and euer certaine , teaching english as wel as latine , without any of the inconueniences vsually imagined ; so that there be a wise direction and ouersight , as in all other things , that they be vsed aright . besides experience , the reasons are most euident , as i haue shewed in their place ; especially by making all their authors to be so easily and soone vnderstood , and then for the continuall practise by them of the grammar analysis and genesis : and finally that by them may be such a daily vse of translating both into english & latin : all which are so highly commended by the learned , for the speedy getting of any tongue . and hereunto the two first leaues of master askams schoolmaster whom i principally esteeme and propound , do giue sufficient testimony . hee in the very entrance of his booke , sharply reproouing the common order of making latins practised in schooles ; and hauing shewed how by that ( as it is comonly said ) children are vtterly marred , and also hauing giuen most manifest reasons of the hurt which comes thereof , for the feare that children are driuen into : affirming moreouer , that nothing hath more dulled the wits , or taken away the wils of children from learning , then that : and lastly how they learne euill choise of words , wrong placing , and ill framing of sentences , and that which they must vnlearne againe ; he afterwards speakes thus , concerning this kinde of translating , and the benifits of it . there is a way ( saith he ) touched in the first booke of cicero de oratore , which wisely brought into schooles , truly taught , and constantly vsed , would not onely take away that butcherly feare of making latines , but also with ease and pleasure , and in short time , as i know by good experience , worke a true choise , and placing of words , a right ordering of sentences , an easie vnderstanding of the tongue , or readinesse to speake , facilitie to write , a true iudgment both of his owne and other mens doings ; what toung soeuer he doth vse . then he setteth downe the manner , how the child should be taught to translate a peece of tully , or a like author thus plainly , & afterwards out of his translation to turne it into the latin of the author againe ; and then by comparing with the author to see how neere he came , and where he missed ; so to amend it , still striuing vntill he come to expresse his author truly . by this he saith , the maister may teach all those things which are most tedious and difficult without any errour , and the scholar may learne without any great paine , the maister being led by so sure a guide , & the scholar brought into so plaine and easie a way . this is the summe of maister askams speech . now these grammaticall translations of our lowest schoole authors , do performe the same things for all young scholars farre more surely and speedily . more surely , because the scholar translating into english of himselfe , vnlesse the maister vse maruellous diligence , before in making him very perfect in the true construing of it , and as much after in perusing & amending euery thing which is faulty , the child wil misse in translating ; and if he translate falsly into english , or misse of the grammaticall order , he can not translate into the same latine againe , vpon sure grounds and reason , vnlesse he go by rote , as we say . moreouer that labour for so perusing the translations , of euery one of each forme thorough a schoole , would be endlesse in the greater schooles , and much more when they haue turned it into latine , for comparing all with the author , and reducing each thing into the right order ; whereas these being so translated vnto their hands , do first guide them certainly how to construe or to translate , to reade all things which they learne by them , into a true translation , and consequently to turne them perfectly into the latine of the authour againe . these do it also more speedily , in as much as they may reade ouer many lines turning them into english or latine before that they can write one . although that kind of translating by pen of themselues , both into english and latine , hath also her due place and singular vse , for some speciall benefits thereof , as writing true orthographie , and the like , as i shall shew in the handling of it . furthermore , this very course of translating peeces of tully or the like good author , into plaine naturall english , by the maister himselfe , and giuing them to the scholar to turne into latine , to trie how neere he can come to the author , and then comparing it with the author , he sets downe in the beginning of his second booke , page 2. by this meanes he saw that experience which might seeme almost incredible , in that hopefull young gentleman ( whose death he so much bewaileth ) maister iohn vvhitney , in sir anthony dennies house , where the ladie elizabeth did lye , when he came to serue her ; that within lesse then the space of a yeare , he had so profited in writing pure latine , that ( as he saith ) some in seuen yeares in the grammar schooles , yea some in the vniuersities , could not do halfe so well . so afterwards he saw the like in his happiest schollar that euer england had bred , our late queene , who made vs all happie ; who , as hee saith , did so farre surpasse all of her yeares in excellencie of learning , and knowledge of diuers tongues , that verie fewe of the rarest wits in the vniuersities could any way reach vnto her . and this seemeth euidently to haue bene the chiefe meanes ; like as he prooueth at large , by the authoritie of many great learned , this way of translating , to be either the onely , or at least the chiefe , readie , and sure meanes to attaine speedily to any tongue . and that i may adde but one other testimonie of a rare and knowne experience in this kind . at the commencement of that right noble , and memorable gentleman , sir iohn harington , ( who now rests and reignes with the lord ) hauing speech with maister touey , who had bene a schoolmaister , equall ( as he was indged ) to most of the chiefe in that kind ; but was then wholly employed for the attendance and tuition of that young noble-man ( with whom he also liues now in heauen , ) i desired to know this of him : that whereas i had writ vnto him formerly , to haue taken some paines , in setting downe the shortest and best way of teaching , according to his experience ; and now there was a rare fame , that god had giuen an extraordinarie blessing to his endeuours with that young noble-man , so that he did of a sodaine go farre beyond most others of his time , ( aboue all former expectation : ) that he would vouchsafe to impart vnto me , in a word or two , what were the principall meanes he had vsed thereto . he acknowledging thankfully , that he had indeed seene much experience of gods mercie therein , told mee , that this was the principall and summe of his course : that he had bene enforced to begin againe , euen from the verie accidence , causing him to get the perfect vnderstanding of the rules , for the meaning and vse , though he could not the words in so short a time ; and after that , he had caused him to practise continual translating into latine , after this manner . that he himselfe had chosen easie places of tully , and other familiar authors , which the gentleman knew not , and caused him to turne them into latine , and after brought him to the author , to compare that which he had written , to the same , iust according to this last manner mentioned out of maister askam . after , rounding me in the eare , he said ; but shall i tell you , it was by prayer , quoth he . hereupon , after my returne , i set my selfe to put all these in practise , yet more seriously then formerly i had done . but for this kinde of translating , finding the toyle and impossibilitie of it , first to translate peeces fit for euerie forme , and after to examine euerie ones exercise , how he had translated , and to correct them ; i wholly bent my selfe to trie how this might be done , thorow the seuerall lower formes , that they might haue most practise of it . thus trying sundrie waies , which were ouer-long to recite , and amongst others , hauing seene in a chiefe schoole in london , good vse of verball translations ; amongst some other things , i began to thinke , that by the meanes of translations of the first authors which scholars learne , this translating might be practised in each lower forme continually . but there were yet two maine difficulties , which had formerly hindred me from any such vse of them . first , that our vsuall translations did direct the young scholars vncertainly , and sometimes amisse , being oft rather to expresse the sense , then the words in anie right order of grammar ; and that the learners must go by memorie , and as it were by rote , more then by anie certaintie of rule , vnlesse they were of better iudgement . and secondly , that for this and other inconueniences , translations were generally in disgrace in schooles . therefore , this then i thought necessarie to be my first labour , to finde out some certaine rule to follow , according to which to frame these translations , and which might be the guide of all . and herein i , vnder iesus christ , acknowledge my selfe be holden for the rule of construing and translating , in the beginning of my schoole labours , now aboue 30. yeares ago , first to maister crusius : since to the reuerend and ancient schoole-maister , maister leech . thirdly , after them to that painefull , maister coote , of hunsden in essex , now with the lord. and fourthly , to that learned go●leuius , and to some other of my acquaintance , who had likewise taken paines in this rule , which they willingly imparted vnto me . and so from that time vntil this day , i haue still bene labouring to find out the rule more exactly , & to frame the translations according to the same . secondly , this hath bene my next studie , to seeke out the right vses and benefits of these translations , and so in all things to set them downe , as they might be a certaine direction , wherby most easily and surely to reape the fruite of them . lastly i haue trauelled herein specially to haue full triall & assurance in euerie thing , that as i had gathered these amongst other experiments , for the vse of all schooles , so vpon certaine proofe by my selfe , and other of better iudgement , i might at length commend them to all learners , and so helpe to bring in that excellent vse of them ( which maister askam aduised ) euen into the schooles , in which they had bene so formerly distasted , as that it was thought a paradox , but to name the vse of translations i● them . now vpon this rule , and the expressing euerie thing in the translations , both in proprietie , and also according to the sence and meaning of the author , with varietie of other english phrases , and supplying what is wanting , to make vp the construction , with the other things obserued therein , especially vpon the rule , depend all the chiefe benefits , for a certaine analysis and genesis ; both for construing , parsing , making and tying latin surely , and sundrie of the rest , as is shewed at large in the eight chapter of the grammar schoole . by the right practise of these translations , so framed , as i am fully assured , by long experience , through the lords mercie and goodnesse , an increase will be found in learning , farre more then can be well conceiued , before due triall made , and that with much lesse trouble to the maister then otherwise : and with farre more delight , certaintie , ease , and cheerfull emulation to the scholar . i haue therefore thought it my dutie , after my vnfallible experience of them , rightly vsed , so as i haue plainely set downe the maner in this second edition of my grammar schoole , and after my so long and painfull trauell , to find out the rule most certainly , with the best , and most profitable vses thereof , to commend them more confidently vnto all our schooles , and to all desirous to recouer speedily the knowledge of their latin tongue , or to increase therein . in a certaine affiance , that all who shall vse them aright , shall see a rich blessing , without inconuenience : yet lest in anie thing i should be thought too peremptorie , i intreate the learned first to make proofe , then to iudge hereof according as they find . for anie further apologie therefore for my bold attempt , in these endeuours , i trust that some few of the reasons lightly touched before , may be defence sufficient . and first my vnfained studie to do all this good to all sorts , without the least iniurie to anie one , so farre forth as i shall know it , or without inuerting anie approued course . and that howsoeuer i haue bene the vnfittest of manie of my brethren , to enter vpon so hard a taske , yet the weaker , the more meete haue i bene , to haue a compassionate feeling of the wants of others ; and more like to applie my selfe to the capacitie of the meanest and most ignorant : whereas the great learned and acute do oft times thinke , that what they themselues vnderstand , all others should presently conceiue , though the most of the simple comprehend litle or nothing of it fully , as they should . secondly , for that in these my poore labours , euerie one may haue the wearie trauels , and comfortable experiments , of manie learned thus gathered into one , and brought therby vnto his hands without labor or charge , which otherwise might haue cost them manie miles trauelling , and some yeares triall , as well as my selfe , and yet they might haue failed of manie things , which here they may find , and more hereafter , as god shall vouchsafe moe supplies vnto it . thirdly , because there is no man , hauing the nature of a wise father , who would not haue his child to haue some learning , howsoeuer he purpose to employ him afterward , and who to that end would not haue him so instructed , as whereby to get the best learning , in the shortest time , and with the least seueritie , or who will not giue almost double , if he may be assured to haue his child so trained vp . fourthly , for that i haue him who searcheth & trieth the hearts , and whose good hand hath bene with me in goodnesse , in all this worke , to beare witnesse vnto my conscience , that i haue not either in this , or anie other my trauels , aimed at vaine praise or commendation ( for that our holy god would turne into shame ) or at anie other sinister end ; but that i haue striuen with all my heart , so farre as in my weaknesse i haue bene able , to aime at those verie ends alone , which our blessed sauiour hath taught me , in that diuine patterne of heauenly prayer , which hath bene in all my labours my principall direction . and namely , to manifest my dutie & thankfulnesse to my heauenly father , like as for all other his mercies chiefly in heauenly things in christ , and for innumerable temporall fauors , in his fatherly prouidence , protection and direction vouchsafed vnto me ; so more especially for those three great deliuerances ( to be had in euerlasting remembrance ) not onely of our church and nation , & of all other the churches of christ with them , but euen of my selfe particularly in euerie one of them . and this i haue desired to do , by seeking first to honour him , and secondly to aduance and enlarge his kingdome , and to these ends searching to know and accomplish all his holy will , tending thereunto , and so all the other subordinate ends , as he hath directed me . thus haue i endeuoured to rely vpon that his gracious promise , that thus seeking first the kingdome of god , and his righteousnesse , all these other things should be added vnto me , ( as an ouer-measure ) so farre as should be good . and herein indeed i haue felt no breach of promise from his maiestie , but found him faithfully and true ; yea , exceeding bountifull , aboue all that i could conceiue , in all things wherein his goodnesse hath enabled me so to seeke him . vpon all these grounds i can nothing doubt , but through the mercie of the lord , this labour being intended to these verie ends , and prooued to be answerable thereunto , without inconueniences in the right vse of it , as my assured confidence is ; i cannot but fully hope , that it will in due time be most welcome , and acceptable to all , that euer shal make triall by themselues or others . lastly , for that i willingly submit it , with all my labours , to the louing censure of all the learned , who truly loue christs gospell , being readie to be taught of the meanest , who shall in anie thing shew me my error , or giue me clearer light . and though the defects should still be verie many ( as in so difficult a worke it is no great maruell ; ) yet sith i am most desirous to be continually reforming , euerie ingenuous well-willer vnto good learning , will ( i trust ) louingly pardon them , and thankfully accept of that which god of his goodnesse hath granted . thus i put forth each first copie of translations or others , as not set forth , but to go more generally to all my louing friends , and well-vvishers to this worke , to craue of them further helpe , as i sayd before . to this end , i do still humbly request , euerie true fauourer of good learning , to lay to his hand , that so i may be continually learning , amending , and perfecting , so long as the lord shall lengthen my daies . if in anie thing , i haue or shall seeme to reioice ouermuch , yet consider first , that in my generall work , in my grammar-schoole , i haue thought the forme of a dialogue most fit ; wherein more libertie is granted to incite and incourage others . secondly , that i haue not , nor will speake anie more , then either what i haue seene experience of , or whereof vpon good grounds , i am fully assured , and which i take my selfe bound to relate , onely to the praise of our god , & the good of others , to make all others partakers of the comforts , which to that end he hath vouchsafed vnto me , following so neare as i can , that direction mentioned before , in the preface before our common grammar . thirdly remember that report of maister askam , cōcerning maister iohn whitney , farre greater then all mine are together : and then i doubt not ( these things being rightly weighed ) but all who are wise hearted , will easily beare with me , in my confident reioycing , trusting moreouer that god will verifie all things , to euerie one who shall duly make triall . and in this affiance , and testimonie of my conscience , before his sacred maiestie , i wholly relie my selfe . therefore , before i conclude , giue me leaue a little to turne my speech to you , ( my deare fellow labourers , ) and namely to all you of the weaker sort , for whom i haue and do still chiefly trauell , whose hearts are set as mine to do all the good you can , in your seuerall places , all your dayes . to you all i wish , that as we haue bene sometimes companions , in fruitlesse toile , and vexation ; so we may be now in reioycing at , and admiring the new fruites of our labours . what a griefe may this iustly be vnto vs , when one shall come , and crie out of vs , to our faces : my sonne hath bene vnder you six or seuen yeares , and yet is not able so much as to reade english well ; much lesse to construe or vnderstand a peece of latin , or to write true latin , or to speake in latin in any tolerable sort , which he might haue bene well able to haue performed , if that you had taken that course and those good paines with him which you might haue done ; for in such a schoole others much yonger then mine are able to do it . another shall complaine ; my sonne comes on neuer a whit in his writing . besides that his hand is such , that it can hardly be read ; he also writes so false english , that he is neither fit for trade , nor any employment wherein to vse his pen. when all in a towne generally , shall murmure against vs , in this or the like manner , that their children do no good vnder vs , but lose their time , and spend their friends mony , being brought vp idlely , made fit for nothing , and therefore what should a schoole do amongst them ? that it were much better to turne the maintenance giuen to the schoole , to beare the charges of the towne for other duties and seruices , then so vnprofitably to employ it . moreouer how must this needs trouble vs , when manie shall crie out of our seueritie : some shall wish , i would my child had neuer knowne him . if he had not dealt so cruelly with my child , he had bene a scholar , wheras now he is vndone . or when our scholars coming to mans estate , shall curse vs , for that by our blowes they were made dunses or deafe ( though this oftentimes vniustly ) or to hate all learning . or shall generally bewaile the losse of their time vnder vs , complaining as the vsuall maner is , my maister neuer taught me anie vnderstanding , or right vse of good learning , that though i was with sundrie , yet i was neuer the better . i got more sence , and saw more light for the vse and excellency of learning , and also felt more sweetnesse therein , in one halfe yeare in the end , with one who directed me in a better order , then in all my time , with all others . the rest deceiued my parents , and were my vndoing . or when they shall thus complaine : our maister had not anie care of our gouernment and manners . he neuer taught vs the feare of the lord , nor made the least conscience to plant anie religion or grace in vs. finally , what a terrour shall this be vnto vs , and what a wounding to our consciences , when we shall but thinke , how the lord and all good men , may most iustly lay this vnto our charge , that the cause hath bene chiefely in vs , that gods religion , hath not thriuen any better in our land , in so long a time ; but that popery , ignorance , atheisme , and all irreligiousnesse , haue farre more growne vp in many places ? if we had bene as carefull to season our youth , in the truth of christ , and to settle them in the grounds of his holy religion , truly professed amongst vs , to their saluation , as the popish schoolemaisters are to corrupt them with idolatry , and superstition , vnto perdition , the knowledge and loue of gods true worship , and pietie , had flourished amongst vs , euery where long ago , all popery and atheisme rooted out . and what answer can we thinke to make to god , for his religion , and people , for so many who haue bene lost , chiefly through our lacke of care ? how should these things touch euery one of vs , euen to the very hearts , and cause vs to bethinke our selues at length , of this our weighty function , to the end to take away all this reproch , and to begin to recouer the credit of our worthy profession . you know well , that we are they to whose charge that rich treasure , both of church and cōmon wealth is committed in trust , ( as was said ) and the hope of a more happy age hereafter yet to come . we are they who helpe either to make or marre all ; for that all the flower of our nation , and those who become the leaders of all the rest , are committed to our education , and instruction : that if we bring them vp aright , there is great hope , that they shall prooue goodly lights , and marks to all the rest of the land , especially , to the townes and countries where they are ; and cleane contrarily , most wofull ensamples ( as are euery where to be seene ) if they be spoiled through vs , or for lacke of our better care . so that we must needs do the greatest good or the greatest euill . as we are before them , so we may expect , that they shall prooue for the most part after vs. we are therefore the men , vpon whom the flourishing of this our canaan , doth very much depend . we cannot then but know , that as our worke aud charge are so weighty , and in course of education next vnto the worke and charge of the holy ministery , which we also are to helpe to furnish : so our account must be according to that which our god hath trusted vs withall , and our reward answerable ; dreadfull , if we haue bene negligent ; glorious , if we haue bene faithfull . we cannot be ignorant , how our enemies the iesuits , not onely in their semina●ies , but also in their lesser schooles , do bend their wits , to go beyond vs in this verie kind . giue me leaue to put you in mind of that which was written vnto me , from an ancient acquaintance in the vniuersitie , now sundrie yeares ago , and which i do gladly acknowledge , to the praise of god , that it hath from the first relation put more life vnto me in this businesse . the summe of it was this . the iesuites , the popish schoolemaisters beyond the seas , do combine themselues together , and all , or at least manie schooles do reade the same bookes at one time , and the same places , and do change euery quarter , and set vpon the schoole dores , the authors , place , lectures , exercises , euerie quarter , newly printed , and for this they haue great suite made vnto them by the printers . this haue i lately learned of certaine whom i vsed beyond the seas to this end . thus farre my louing friend . whether this report was true in each particular , i cannot certainly affirme , yet for the generall , we all who vnderstand anie thing , do know that it is most certaine . now who are these who thus combine ? are they not the principall plotters of the ruine of all the churches of christ , and of common-wealths , as they are cried out of , euen in the popish countries themselues ; the arch enemies of christ and his gospell , and the chiefe vpholders of the throne of the beast , to make him king of kings , and lord of lords . and what is their purpose in seeking out the most excellent courses of getting most speedily all good learning as they would pretend ? surely their purpose is nothing else , as all the world may plainely see , but by that their learning to ou●-countenance the heauēly learning , the sacred truth of that euerlasting gospell , and all the learned , who professe christ iesus throughout the earth : to gaine all the flowre of the nobility , and gentrie , yea of all the youth in all places where they come , to bewitch all with an opinion of their learning , the more easily when their time serues to cut the throats of all , who truly and sincerely professe christs gospell , and to possesse their places . yea if it were in their power , or possible , to destroy all the churches of christ , to extinguish vtterly all true learning , to bring in againe all their old learning , as ( they call it ) their palpable delusions , and abhominable idolatry . we all saw , how nea●e we were to be consumed by their fornace . we with our royall king , our prince , our nobles , and rulers , the church of christ , with the glory thereof . now our god hauing so miraculously plucked vs out , and we all being in a speciall manner ( next vnto our gracious soueraigne , and his royall progeny , together with these our nobles and rulers , the holy ministery and noted professors ) designed in their hearts , as flesh for their caldron ; let vs shew our selues thankfull , euery one in our places and callings : and in token of our thankfulnesse , to our most mercifull and blessed god ( whose name is for this aboue all other outward deliuerances , to be extolled for euermore ; ) first for our liues , and then for our religion the life of our liues ; let vs all be prouoked to bend our studies , and euen to spend and end our liues , for our christ , and for our dread soueraigne , vnder him . by whose hand ●e so ( euen miraculously ) deliuered vs , the second time , like as formerly he had in a most wonderfull manner , at his first comming to the regall crowne , and his entring in amongst vs ; whereby all their long hopes , and bloudie designes against vs were dashed in a moment , and that heauenly light continued to vs , and to our posteritie ( i trust till christ shall come ) which they certainly accounted at both those times , to haue put out for euer . let vs now contrariwise stirre vp our selues , more then euer heretofore , that the light of all good knowledge may breake forth , and be as the morning brightnesse before the sunne rising , to prepare the way to that glorious appearing , and kingdome , when we with all the children of the light shall shine eternally in the heauens : and when all those who haue sought deuices to bring in againe darknesse vpon all , or but to hinder the glorious light of truth , shall without their vnfained repentance liue perpetually in their place of vtter darknesse . oh that these enemies could thinke of this , and be warned in time , to turne their thoughts another way , euen for the king of kings , that they might haue boldnesse at his appearing . but to leaue them , praying for them , that so many of them as belong to gods eternall election , may haue their eyes open to see their miserie , and be conuerted and saued ; and to returne to our selues . there is no cause at all for vs , why we should feare or doubt of a glorious triumph and crowne hereby ; if that we will but cheerfully ioyne hearts and hands ; prouoked by the combinations of these our bloud-thirtie aduersaries , and all sticke close vnto our lord and sauiour , our captaine and teacher . with them is but an arme of flesh , the spirit of man , of sathan , and antichrist : but with vs our christ , commanding and assuring vs. he who is king of kings and lord of lo●ds . with vs is he who must reigne , vntill he haue vtterly ouerthrowne , and abolished that man of sinne , ( though now exalting himselfe aboue all that is called god , or worshipped ) and all those his souldiers with him . he will be with vs , and guide vs , he will direct and blesse vs. he can make the meanest of his to do more seruice for the vphoding and furthering of his owne kingdome , which must come with power and glory , and endure for euer ; then all their combinations shall do to the contrary . and much more when we shall louingly and faithfully , as of one heart and soule , vnite all our forces , and labours in one , to this so happy and blessed a worke , wherein we are sure to preuaile , if we will but go on manfully , and stand fast to our captaine , and great commander . the victorie is his , he hath gotten it already ; he rideth on the white horse , conquering till he haue accomplished all his worke . if we of the weaker so it can for the presen● , but attaine neare vnto those things mentioned in the contents of the grammar schoole , viz. what may be done for sp●edy & certaine attaining to learning in schooles , which are also hereunto adioyned ; our labour shal be most pleasing to our god , profitable to all , sweete and comfortable to our owne hearts . euen we shall helpe to restore learning againe to her ancient reputation and honour , and ●●ee our selues from all reproch , being able to liue with credit in our places . and that we may come vnto them all , make ye no doubt . my selfe and many others , haue seene so much experience , in as weake meanes , as most of vs haue , as whereby to assure vs , that by our constant labour and diligence , but in the courses set downe in the grammar-schoole , we shall through the helpe of our good god finde them in such sort , 〈…〉 let vs therefore double our diligence , and 〈…〉 we have made triall , in these , or in better , item god haue or shall vouchsa●e them vnto vs. you see how much through his mercifull goodnesse i haue 〈◊〉 herein ( though the vnablest of very 〈◊〉 ) and how farre the worke is proceeded in ; to the end hereby to prouoke and encourage you . you who haue not better , proue these , which god hereby offereth vnto you ; or at least so many of them , as you shall most like of , and as your leisure and opportunitie well serue ; yet not ouerloading your selues or your children . that we may approue , what is best , reforme what is amisse , and draw euery thing still more shortly , euer receiuing better , as his goodnesse shall affoord them . and so in time by our ioynt consent , we may confirme all the surest , both vnto our selues , and to all other whosoeuer shall succeed . you that haue more excellent in any kinde , communicate them with vs , as we haue presumed herein , in duty to tender thus much vnto you . but let none of vs be discouraged though we do not find our desires at the first ; set to it cheerfully , and in due time our eyes shall behold it . thus also our brethren , who are of the most excellent gifts , i meane the maisters of all the principall schooles of our nation , and all other sound hearted fauourers of good learning , seeing our louing contention , shal be enforced to ioyne hearts , and hands , and to affoord vs likewise their vttermost helpe and countenance ; which , in the name of our lord iesus christ , and by our appearing before him , as they tender his glory , the good of our church & their natiue countrey , i againe humbly intreat at their hands : especially their directions for the best performance of these chiefest and most necessarie excercises mentioned , and whatsoeuer else they find vs too short in , for the full adorning of the grammar schoole . by this means , shall the worke of god prosper in our hands , going forward happily , that we shall vndoubtedly find the desires of our s●●les , and wherein the excellency of the speedy attaining to all good learning doth consist , to the endlesse glory of our most holy and onely wise god , the lasting honour of our nation , & of the church of christ , the safe preseruation of our liues and religion , with the happinesse of posteritie , euen to match & go beyond our aduersaries . thus finally all true learning shall be had in lasting honour , and all vnfained fauourers and furtherers of the same , shall triumph eternally . which that it may , let me onely adjoyne that worthy incouragement , wherewith christophorus hegendorphinus incited one of his scholars , now many yeares ago . tu verò in liter as & graecas & latinas , vt soles gnauiter incumbe . nec te deterreat , quod in hoc seculo , tam literae quam literati contemptui sint ; redibit , crede mihi , redibit suus honor , & literis & literatis : nam omnium rerum vicissitudo est . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , inquit sophocles . but applie you your selfe cheerfully vnto greeke and latin studies , as you are wont . neither let this terrifie you , that in this age , as well learning as learned men are in such contempt . there will returne ( beleeue me ) there will returne , their due honour , both to learning and to learned men : for there is an intercourse of all things . for vnto them that shall liue in the last age , pleasant things shall be made bitter , and yet pleasant and beloued afterwards againe , as saith sophocles that ancient greeke poet. thus farre hegendorphinus , as foretelling ( truly i trust ) the glorie of this last succeeding age , whereto let all heartie friends of good learning euer say , amen . contents in generall of svch things as may ( by gods blessing ) be easily effected in our ordinarie grammar schooles ▪ 1. to teach schol●rs how to be able to reade well , and write true or orthographie in a short time . 2. to make them ready , in all points of their accidence and grammar , to answer anie necessarie question therein . 3. to 〈◊〉 without booke all the vsuall and necessarie rules , to 〈◊〉 their grammar rules ; to giue the meaning , vse , and order of the rules , to shew the examples , and to apply them : which being well performed , will make all other learning easie and pleasant . 4. in the seuerall 〈…〉 and authors to construe truly , and in proprietie of wor●s and sense , and also in pure phrase ; to parse of themselues , and to giue a right reason of euerie word , why it must be so and not otherwise ; and to deliuer the english of the lectures perfectly out of the latine . 5. out of an english grammaticall translation of their authors , to make and to construe anie part of the latine which they haue learned , or do presently learne ; to proue that it must be so , and so to reade the latine out of the english , first in the plaine grammaticall order ; after as the wo●ds are placed in the author , or in other good composition . also to p●rse in latine , looking onely vpon the translation ; and to all their poets which they so learne : to do all this without booke , which is farre the surest , viz. to repeate , construe , and parse with their booke vnder their arme . 6. to take their lectures of themselues , except in the verie lowest formes , and first entrers into construction ; or to do it with verie little helpe , in some more difficult things . 7. to enter surely in making latine , without danger of making false latine , or vsing anie barbarous phrase . 8. to 〈◊〉 true latine , and pure tullies phrase , and to proue it to be true and pure . 9. to 〈…〉 , imitating tully and the best a●thors in that kind , 〈◊〉 and pithie , in pure latine , and familiar . 10. to translate into english , according to proprietie both of words and sense ▪ and out of the english to reade the latine againe , to proue it , and giue a reason of euerie thing . 11. to take a peece of tully , or of anie other familiar easie authour , grammatically translated , and in proprietie of words , and to turne or reade the same , out of the translation into good latine , and verie neere vnto the words of the author ; so as in most , you shall hardly discerne , whether it be the authors latine or the scholars . 12. to correct their faults of themsel●es , when they are but noted out vnto them , or a question is asked of them . 13. to be able in each forme ( at anie time whensoeuer they shall be apposed of a sodaine , in any part of their authors , which they haue lately learned ) to construe , parse , reade into english , and in those authors , whereof they haue translations ; forth of the translation , to construe and to reade into the latine of their author . first into the naturall order , then into the order of the author , or neare vnto it , and in their poëts to do all this without booke , as was sayd before , and so to giue an account , at each quarters ●nd , what they haue learned in that quarter ; so from quarter to quarter to do the like . 14. in virgil , horace , and other the chiefe and most approued schoole authors in poëtrie and prose , to resolue any peece , for all these points of learning , and to do it in good latine : in construing , to giue propriety of words and sense , and also to expound in good phrase . scanning the verses , and giuing a reason thereof . shewing the difficulties of grammar . obseruing the elegances of rhetoricke in tropes and figures . noting phrases and epithets , with other principall obseruations . 15. so to reade ouer so much of the chiefe latine poëts , as virgil , horace , &c. and of other the best authors , as shall be thought necessary , by that time , that by reason of their yeares they be in any measure thought fit , for their discretion , to go vnto the vniuersity ; and to be able to go thorough the rest of themselues , by ordinary helpes . 16. in greeke to take their lectures of themselues , to construe perfectly , and parse as in the latine ; to reade the greeke backe againe , out of a translation , latine , or english ; also to construe , parse , and to prooue it out of the same . 17. in the hebrew to be able to construe perfectly , and to resolue so farre as is necessary for the grammar-schoole ; and to reade the hebrew also out of the translation ; which practise of daily reading somewhat out of the translations into the originals , must needs make them , both very cunning in the tongues , and also perfect in the texts of the originals themselues , if it be obserued constantly ; like as it is in the daily reading latine out of the translation . 18. to answer most of the difficulties in all classicall schoole-authors ; as in terence , virgil , horace , persius , iuvenal . 19. to oppose scholar-like in latine of any grammar question necessary , in a good forme of words ; both what may be objected against lillies rules , and how to defend them . 20. to write theames full of good matter , in pure latin and with iudgement , and how to inuent matter of themselues . 21. to enter to make a verse with delight , without any bodging at all ; and to furnish with copie of poëticall phrase , out of the best poëts . 22. so to imitate and expresse ouid or virgil , as you shall hardly discerne , vnlesse you know the places , whether the verses be the authors or the scholars : and to write verses ex tempore of any ordinarie theame . 23. to translate forth of english or latin into greeke . also to write theames or verses in greeke . 24. to pronounce naturally and sweetly , without vaine affectation ; and to begin to do it from the lowest fourmes . 25. to make right vse of the matter of their authors , besides the latin , euen from the first beginners : as of sententiae , and confabulatiunculae pueriles , cato , aesops fables , tullies ●pistles , ouids metamorphosis , and so on to the highest . to helpe to furnish them with varietie of the best morall matter , and with vnderstanding , wisdome , and precepts of vertue , as they grow ; and withall , to imprint the latin so in their minds therby , as hardly to be forgottē . 26. to answer concerning the matter contained in their lectures , in the latin of their authors , from the lowest fourmes and so vpward . 27. to construe anie ordinarie author ex tempore . 28. to come to that facilitie and ripenesse , as not onely to translate leisurely and with some meditation , both into english and latin , as before in the sections 10. and 11. but more also , to reade anie easie author forth of latin into english , and out of english to reade it into latin againe , as corderius , terence , tullies offices , &c. to do this in authors and places which they are not acquainted with , and almost as fast as they are able , to reade the author alone . 29. to write fa●re , in secretarie , 〈◊〉 , gre●ke , hebrue ; 〈…〉 . 30. to ●aue all the principall 〈…〉 latin , greek and hebrue , with the etymologies both latin and greek : 〈…〉 worthie helpes and meanes to be had in the vniuersities . 31. to be acquainted with the grounds of religion , and to haue the summe , and all the chiefe histories of the bible . to take all the substance of the sermons , if they be plainly and orderly deliuered : and to set them downe afterwards in a good latin style , or to reade them extempore into latin out of the english. to conceiue and answer the seuerall points of the sermons , and how to make a briefe repetition of the whole sermon without booke . 32. to be set in the high way to attaine to the puritie and perfection of the latine tongue by their further labour aud practise in the vniuersitie : hauing both the rules & grounds thereof , and also varietie of the best phrase meete and necessarie for them . 33 to grow in our owne english tongue , according to their ages , and growths in other learning : to vtter their 〈◊〉 in the same , both in propriety , and purity ; and so to be fitted for diuinity , law , or what other calling or faculty soeuer they shal be after employed in . 34 finally , thus to proceed together with the tongs ; in the vnderstanding and knowledge of the learning , or matter contained in the same , to become alike expert , in all good learning , meete for their yeares and studies ; that so proceeding still , after they are gone from the grammar schooles , they may become most exquisite in all kinds of good learning , to which they shall be applied . these things may be effected in good sort , through gods blessing , in the seuerall fourmes , as the scholars proceed , by so manie in each fourme as are apt and industrious , onely by the directions in the grammar schoole constantly obserued . if the maisters being of any competent sufficiencie will take meete paines : and the scholars being set to schoole , so soone as they shall be meete , be kept to learning daily , without loitering , hauing bookes and other necessarie helpes and encouragements : and by their par●nts care caused to do their exercises at home , and be euer kept in meete awe , and submission to their maisters . but out of these i will extract onely those which i take most necessarie and profitable for schooles ( not to trouble with ouer manie ) and set them downe briefly in the grammar schoole . that so all scholars of anie towardnesse and diligence , may be made good grammarians and euerie way fit for the vniuersitie by fifteene years of age , or at least by that time that they shall be meete by discretion and gouernment , which is commonly sixteene or seuenteene . and all this to be done with delight aud certaintie , both to maisters and scholars ; with strife and contention amongest the scholars themselues , without that vsuall terrour and crueltie , which hath bene practised in manie plaees , and without so much as seueritie amongst good natures . how greatly all this must needs tend to the furtherance of the publike good , euerie one may iudge ; which it will d● still , so much the more as the lord vouchsafeth a further supply , to the seuerall meanes and courses after set downe , by adjoining daily moe helpes and experiments , especially of the learned . of whom my hope is stil , according to my earnest desire , that they will lend their helping hands , to the full perfecting of so profitable a worke . for the vndoubted certaintie hereof , and of each particular , first reade and consider of the meanes aright , then try according to the directions in their seuerall places in the grammar schoole , and so giue sentence . for mine owne selfe , i trust ( god assisting ) to be euer able to make such plaine demonstration of euerie thing , as to giue full satisfaction to any one indifferently affected , that by labour and diligence all may be in good sort accomplished , so farre as shall be requisite . or wherein i shall be found too short , i am resolued ( god willing ) neuer to giue ouer , during life , vntill i shall therein likewise see the desire of my soule , vnto his glorie , and the generall good of all . ❧ helps for attaining to those things mentioned in the contents . these helps god hath prouided for our grammar-schooles , more then in former times , or at least more then are commonly knowne and vsed in them : whereof experience teacheth , that there may be excellent furtherance in a right vse of them , for all the seuerall parts of good learning in schooles , for obtaining the same more speedily , easily , surely & profitably : and namely for thus running through all our ordinary classicall-schoole authors , and attaining to the best exercises and faculties in schooles , as any one shall haue occasion to vse them . first , for the more speedy and right reading of english , and so leading the childe as by the hand to the grammar schoole , as a preparatiue thereto . the english-schoolemaister , of that honest and painfull maister coote . there is also a little briefe , of a sheet of paper named , a plaine method for speedy learning to reade , by iohn merest : of whose directions there might be very good vse , if his rules and style were amended by some scholar , and brought to perfection . other directions and helps for teaching to reade , see in the grammar-schoole , chap. 3. for further growth of young scholars in our english tongue , to expresse their mindes in proprietie and puritie , for their proceeding therein , as they proceede in latine : and also for them who would teach strangers our language , or learne it . see after . secondly , for better learning the accidence and first grounds of grammar ( whereas children are vsually very long in getting their accidence , and oft , when they haue done it , are little the better for it , especially for the vnderstanding and right vse of it ) to the end that the learner may get it sooner & more profitably : for a right vnderstanding and vse thereof , and for answering any necessary question belonging to it , and for better keeping all in memory , to be able thereby to proceed most speedily , pleasantly and certainely in their construction , is prouided the booke called the posing of the parts . as also m. leeches questions of accidence and grammar . other helps , especially for directing the maisters , see in the grammar-schoole , chap. 6. thirdly , for more speedy construing the latin grammar , to saue much labour therein , and for keeping the same with ease , which is otherwise very hard to the children , and ouer troublesome to the maister , lillies rules construed . fourthly , for better conceiuing , vnderstanding , applying , and making vse of all our grammar rules . the grammar of this last impression hauing the summes of the rules in the margents more perfectly and fully then formerly , and in the syntax , the words noted wherein the force of each ensample lieth . in the first impression of them many things were mistaken and corrupted in the printing . fiftly , for speedy and profitable learning of all our first and lowest schoole-bookes and authors , ( whereas children are commonly very long in learning some little peece of them , as of sententiae pueriles , coufabulatiunculae , cato , &c. and so the rest ; and when they haue learned them through with much toyle to themselues and their maisters , they are commonly little the better for them , for any good vse , and doe after presently forget them , for the most part ; ) to the end that they may soone runne thorow all of them , or so much as shal be thought good , and that for construing , parsing , vnderstanding , reading them forth of latine into english , or forth of english into latine ; for making the same latine , and prouing it ; and finally , for leading the learner by the hand with delight , vntill hee be able to go of himselfe by ordinary helpes , with much lesse trouble to the maister , are prouided grammaticall translations of them , as namely ; first , of sententiae pueriles : confabulatiunculae pueriles : corderius dialogues chiefly for the ready helpe of speaking latin of ordinary matters in a very good and pure phrase . catoes morall disticks , with the sentences adioyned , and also isocrates ad daemonicum , translated into latine by rodolphus agricola : part of esops fables : the first booke of tullies offices : part of ouids metamorphosis : virgils eclog●es , with that excellent booke de aptbus , of the gouernement and ordering of bees . all these are made so plaine , as that children , if they be any thing studious , and well trained vp in the first grounds of grammar , by the former helpes , may with a little direction , euer prepare their lectures afore-hand at home ouer-night : such peeces ( i meane ) as they are to learne in lectures ; and that , as was said , fo● euerie good vse , without neede of other commentaries in any of them , or so much helpe of the maister as is vsuall . so that they will , by the helpe of them , fall to their priuate studies of themselues . and for things to be learned without booke , namely their authors in verse so translated , they will be able thereby so to keep them , as by the meanes thereof , and their other helpes , from quarter to quarter , to say them without booke , construe , and to giue all the chiefe difficulties of them , with a very little priuate labour , thus to keep them better in memorie , and haue vse of them continually . hereof i might giue you instances of experiments , according to which you might iudge of them ; but i passe them ouer , standing vpon so euident grounds of reason , as hath bene shewed before , and as i shall more fully manifest ( god willing ) in the grammar-schoole , chap. 8. where i shall set downe the vse of them , with th● benefit in a right practise . if you desire a praxis of all or most of the chiefe rules of the syntax or construction shortly comprized , take maister leeches dialogues , set downe in the end of his grammar-questions : which dialogues are so contriued of purpose for children to that end : and so likewise translated into english , as they may be gone through for each good vse so soone as any of the former . by that time that children haue gone through these bookes so translated , and haue by this practise attained vnto the knowledge and right vse of their grammar rules , especially that golden rule of construing : for construing , parsing , &c. they will be able , easily , with much lesse toyle of the maister , to go through all other classicall-schoole-authors , by such helpes and meanes as god hath further prouided . for speedy running ouer the rest of the lower schoole bookes , which are not so translated grammatically : first , the other translations of them may be of very good vse thus farre foorth . as namely , first to giue the learners some light for the right vnderstanding & meaning of the authors ( which vnderstanding of the matter is a maine foundation for the speedy attaining to any such learning , especially for getting the languages , as i haue shewed elsewhere ) as also for resoluing the authors , and affoording some good english phrase , with varietie thereof to expresse their minds . and withall , that by the right vse of such translations , they may the more easily learne the manner of our vsuall translating of authors , or anie other worke , respecting onely the matter and intent of the author , whereof our commonest vse is : and so for reading forth of latin into our owne tongue , to expresse the sense onely , not directly , verbatim , or grammatically , but obseruing perfect sense , good phrase , and purity of our tongue , and so back againe out of the english into a good latine style in like manner . for the right learning of these authors doth not so much consist in the construing and parsing of them , as in getting by them the matter , phrase and style of the author , and to these ends and purposes amongst others , as i take it , they haue bene translated , and are many of them vnknowne to most . the translations are these . 1. for the rest of tullies offices , which are not translated grammatically ; as namely the two latter bookes , maister grimmald his translation , which yet would be much more profitable to this end , to them who would make vse of it , if the english were separated from the latine , set in a booke by it selfe , as the grammaticall and other translations vsually are . 2. for tullie de amicitia , senectute , &c. thomas newtous translation . 3. for the rest of ouids metamorphosis , arthur goldings translation in very good english meeter . 4. for ouid de tristibus , the translation hereof in english meeter . 5. ouids epistles , the like . 6. for the rest of virgils georgickes , not translated grammatically , maister abraham flemmings translation in english meeter , comming next to the grammaticall translations . 7. for virgils aeneidos , maister phaer in english meeter . 8. for terence , if you thinke good , and especially to furnish with english phrase to answer the latine , and by reading out of the english into latin , to helpe more speedily to obtaine the latin phrase and style , maister barnards translation . prouided alwayes , that this be with great caution , for auoyding all danger of corrupting their manners by lasciuiousnesse or otherwise ; considering the pronenesse of our nature , like to tinder or gunpowder , if neuer so little a sparke fall into the same . the like caution is to be had for other , as horace , iuvenal , persius , martial , &c. for higher authors . for the more profitable , easie , and speedy reading ouer caesars commentaries ( concerning the roman warre a●chiued chiefly by caesar ) to the end not onely to giue light : first , for the true vnderstanding of the author , but also to expresse the same in the best and fittest words in a pure english phrase ; and likewise for notable obseruations for warre , gathered all along out of it , which is one principall vse of the booke . the translation of it by sir clement edmunds , clarke of the councell . this booke , as it is wel knowne to be the purest style , and an excellent history for matter of warre and martiall affaires , and therefore most necessary for our dayes , for the better helping to preserue the church of god and our natiue countrey ; so it is difficult for children , in regard of the subiect , viz. matter of warre , which they are not acquainted with . yet by the translation rightly vsed , it is made so plaine & easie , that children of twelue or thirteene yeares of age , rightly trained vp , may be able to go through it for all the vses mentioned in short space , and much more others of riper iudgement . so that it were great pitty , in regard of the benefit that may come by it to all sorts , that so worthy a worke should lie hid as it were , being vnknowne to the greatest part . the like we may say for these following . for lucans pharsalia of the like argument in verse , viz. of the warre betweene caesar and pompey , sir arthur gorge in english meeter . for liuy his roman history , d. hollands translation . for that excellent part of the roman history by cornelius tacitus his foure bookes , translated by that worthy fauourer and rare promoter of all good learning , sir henry sauill . for florus his roman history , from the foundation of rome to tratanus , the translation of it , dedicated to the lord marquesse of buckingham . for seneca , that admirable moralist and sweete latinist , the translation of it by maister lodge . commentaries . besides these translations for the ordinary schoole-authors , there are also commentaries for them who desire their helpe ; as , for all ouid , not onely that large commentary of sundry together , but more particularly , for ouids metamorphosis , sabins morals briefly . also raphael regius , a large commentary . for virgil , besides the large commentary of seruius and donate , with the annotations of sundry other , set out by frabricius : see , the analysis of ramus on the eclogues and georgicks for the logicke and rhetoricke thereof . a very sweete paraphrase of friskiline on the eclogues and georgickes . meins annotations on virgil. so for the vse of the maisters , and all of riper yeares and vnderstanding : taubman on virgil , a very profitable worke . moreouer , for the speedy and more profitable reading of all the rest of the chiefe ancient poets , are prouided short and pithy commentaries , or annotations , containing the substance and whatsoeuer is of worth in all the ancient and large commentaries , and the same made so plaine , as that very children , rightly trained vp , may be able , by them , to reade their lectures of themselues , or with very little helpe : whereas formerly they were ouer crabbed and obscure for the maisters in many places to vnderstand ; as namely , maister bonds commentarie on horace and persius . maister farnabee on iuvenal , persius , lucan , senecaes tragedies . martiall . also , for the more cleare and full vnderstanding of these and of all the romane historie and antiquities ; romanae historiae anthologia , viz. a short and very plaine exposition in english , of the romane antiquities , by maister goodwine of oxford , for the vse of abingdons schoole . theames . for helpes for theames both for matter and maner , besides the vnderstanding of aphthonius common places , and the chiefe heads of inuention by ramus and others , see maister vicars his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or manuductio , leading the scholar ( as by the hand ) to the vse of rhetoricke ; especially for making theames , declamations , or orations . for matter , viz. for short , witty , and easie sentences for the yonger sort , maister drax his bibliotheca scholastica . flores senecae . epitome sentent . stobaei . for store of the best examples for theams both roman and forren of most morall matters , in stead of new , they may vse valerius maximus . this is made plain for the better help of the teachers where need is , by two ancient commentaries together , the one of them by oliuerus arzignanensis , the other by badius ascensius , expounding euery thing clearely , and almost grammatically , besides the annotations of others . for further help of theames , both latin and greek , stobaeus sentences , or his anthologia of the largest : a most excellent worke , gathered & digested by him common place-wise , in greeke , out of all the famous greeke authors , translated into latin by gesnere that learned phisitian , hauing the latin set ouer-against the greek , and may be singular for acquainting the higher and better sort of scholars , with the best morall matter of sundry kindes . for phrases in generall , maister drax his cilliepeia . for epithets , ciceroniana epitheta . for some select phrases to this purpose , and the like , maister farnabees phrases . epistles and letters . for patterns of short epistles and pithy letters of all sorts of matter ; see the laconicall epistles , to wit , the shortest and pithiest gathered out of tullie , manutius , politian , erasmus , and many others , comprized by buchlerus in a little volume of purpose to this end . for examples , seruing and directing for imitation of sundry kindes of epistles , both consolatory , gratulatory , and also hortatory , with all the rest of the kinds of examples : see flores & sententiae scribendique formulae illustres . for pure phrases more peculiarly belonging to epistles , see manutius phrases . orations . for orations : the orations of sundry , and those of diuers kindes of morall matters , and vpon sundry occasions , gathered and set forth by melchior iunius . examining of phrases in prose . for helpe in examining of phrases , and so for obseruing propriety and purity therein . 1. godscalcus his obseruations of the latin tongue digested alphabetically . 2. schorus phrases , shewing also the manner how to obserue phrases in the reading of authors . 3. erasmus his epitome of vallaes elegancies , of the last edition . 4. popma de differentijs verborum . for flourishing and amplifying in prose , see ciceroniana epitheta , antitheta & adiuncta . poetrie . besides textoris epitheta , see buchleri thesaurus poëticus , a booke of notable vse for each scholar : for helpes of epithets and poeticall phrases : and also for his direction of the right manner of making a pure verse , with other things belonging thereto . for quantities of syllables , smetius his prosodia . dictionaries . for both english and latine , especially for finding out the fittest latin words to the english , and most naturall ; and according to propriety first , together with the etymologies or notations of the latine words , riders dictionarie of the last . for giuing the greeke to the latine , and for supply of sundry of the best latin phrases expounded , and the vse shewed , thomas dictionarie of the last . for a short comprising of most latine primitiues in sentences ( except those which belong to the seuerall arts and trades &c. ) and so to furnish with most words of all sorts , for reading of any ordinary author belonging to the grammar schoole , or otherwise , ianua linguarum , a booke in twelue hundred sentences containing the most of the ordinary words , to be euen as a dictionarie in the childrens heads , translated into english , to the end it may be more easily and speedily gotten . analysis or resoluing of authors . for a plaine and easie resolution of the matter of authors meete for young scholars , see the grammaticall translation of the first booke of tullies offices . also of the first booke of ouids metamorphosis . and withall , the like translation of the first and last eclogue of vìrgil , and of his fourth booke of the georgickes de apibus , some of these in the inmost colums , others in the outmost . for a more learned analysis in latine , both logicall and rhetoricall , see ramus commentaries on the eclogues and georgickes , and also vpon all the orations of tully , on which he hath commented . also piscators analysis of tullies offices . for a short and methodicall analysis of the seuerall bookes of the scripture , and of each chapter therein , see gemma fabri . disputing scholar-like of grammar questions , and to prepare for more learned disputations in the vniuersities . 1. in english , by way of questions and answers to make children perfect in the accidence and grammar ; the posing of the parts . 2. in latine , for the better scholars in a more large and scholar-like dispute , maister stockwoods disputations of grammar . 3. for the like dispute in tullies offices by questions and answers , the better to vnderstand the rare and almost diuine matter , for direction of manners , in that booke , maister brasbridge his questions of tullies offices . proper words for seuerall arts and sciences . to be able to get and remember words appertaining to arts , trades , sciences , histories of diuers kinds , and the like , as any one desireth them ; first maister stanbridge his vocabula in verse . these verses are some of them amended already ; the rest so purposed . after him , where he ends , others may be adioyned , in the end of hunters cosmographie , in verse likewise . for words belonging to astronomy and cosmography : and also the ancient proper names of places , as countries , cities , and riuers , &c. hunters cosmographie in verse . if the names of the places , riuers , &c. as they are termed at this day , were set directly ouer the heads of each of the ancient names there , after the manner of stanbridges vocabula , it might be of most excellent vse , and soone gotten , or set on the opposite page directly against them . all other words of like nature , belonging to the seuerall histories , or whatsoeuer else , might be thus comprised in verse , after the manner of stanbridge or hunter , or otherwise , they might be set downe in a short narration , in forme of a dialogue grammatically translated , after the manner of corderius dialogues , wherein he sets out , to the like purpose , a very sumptuous banquet in an historicall narration , in the 22. dialogue of his fourth booke . such a booke might easily be compiled by a iudicious scholar , of a pregnant wit , hauing meete leisure , by the helpe of hadrianus iunius his nomenclator ; and the speciall dictionaries for seuerall vses , and so any such words be very readily gotten , by studying and reading them oft forth of english into latin : as experience teacheth in the like . but all these would be gotten much sooner , if being thus verbally translated into english , the english were set by it selfe , so to study it out of them , like as the grammar translations are . greeke . whereas there is nothing in any tongue for the perfect obtaining of it , but grammar , words , and practise of them in a right composing and setting them together : i meane , first , the knowledge of the grammar rules , belonging to that tongue ; words to expresse the minde , and practise of both in reading authors , and in writing ; for most easie and speedy attaining to the greek tongue , which hath bene wont to be so difficult and tedious : god hath prouided these readie helpes . 1. for the grammar , maister camdens is of all other most easie and profitable ( as i take it ) like as for westminster , so for all our schooles ; for that it followes the order of our latine grammar most directly , chiefly in the syntax , wherein many of the rules are the very same , or neare vnto them . the anomalies in the verbs being set alphabetically , so as they may be found very readily ; and the dialects set directly after the order of the declensions and coniugations , that by it alone well studied , most difficulties may be easily vnderstood and answered . for all other difficulties , and wherein it seemes to faile ; see cleonards greeke grammar , with antesignanus , set foorth by sylburgius , wherein by the help of the large index , you may be resolued of most doubts . hereunto adioyne , if need be to enquire further , the anomalies , dialects and other difficulties set downe alphabetically in the end of scapulaes dictionary . secondly , for attaining very speedily to all the greek primitiues or radices ; which being had , all the rest are easily and plainely learned , as deriued from them , god hath prouided , 1. the clauis linguae graecae , by lubine . in which litle briefe , all , or most of the greeke radices are included in some seuen hundred little sentences , in imitation of ianua linguarum , with a double index adioyned , viz. both latine before the greeke , and greeke before the latine ; whereby they may be soone gotten , and easily kept , or recouered being forgotten . 2. for the more full vnderstanding of the tongue , for propriety and right significations , notations or etymologies , deriuations , and the like , see fundamentum linguae graecae ; a little epytome gathered briefly of purpose , according to the order of scapula . for the larger explication of the same , with phrases and vse of words ; see scapula . for practise in reading some vsuall authors . the fittest for yong scholars ( so faire as i can iudge ) after they haue runne through their clauis , if you will begin with poetry , that they may learne to make a verse in greek , is theognis his sentences with the other poets ioyned with him ; as namely phocilides , pythagoras , &c. with the latine translation and annotations thereof , set forth by silburgius . some whereof being learned without booke perfectly , is a speciall helpe that scholars may haue quantities , phrase , and apt morall matter for verse . 2. if you please to reade hesiode his opera & dies , you may vse ceporine and melancthons commentaries set foorth by iohannes frisius tigurinus ; and the new translation of it by erasmus schemidt professor at wittenberg . or if you desire to reade homer , which is most generally approued of all , as the most excellent poet : besides the latine translations , especially that which expoundeth it most neerly and properly . for the better vnderstanding and expressing of it in english , maister chapmans translation in english meeter ; whom we may rightly call , the english homer . to these you may adde , if you will , eustathius , and the large commentarie of spondanus . for the best and fittest authors in prose to be read in schooles , as namely isocrates ad daemonicum , are the translations of wolphius : and also of rodolphus agricola : and like wise the translation of antonius scorus , with his annotations adioyned to his booke de ratione discendi ▪ linguae graecae . 2. for zenophon , the translation of his 3. first bookes de cyri vita & disciplina . for more speedy reading the greeke testament , pasors dictionary gathered of purpose to that end . what is defectiue may be supplied by the fundamentum , piscator and others . vvriting in greeke . for writing exercises in greeke , or translating into greeke : besides , the clauis linguae graecae for words , and also thomas his dictionarie , for phrase you may vse garthius his lexicon : and withall for prose poselii calligraphia : elegantiae graecae by vollandus . in verse for epithets and authorities , dinnerus his greeke epithets . for morall matter in greeke , with excellent sentences and discourses out of all the ancient and best greeke authors , for the vse of translations , theames , verses , declamations or orations . stobaei sententiae , called anthologia ; or cornucopia of the largest . speaking greeke . for speaking of ordinarie matters in greeke , poselius his dialogues . hebrue . for a most speedy attaining to the hebrue . 1. for the grammar , though euery one may take for his owne vse what grammar he hath learned , or is most familiarly acquainted with , and supply out of others what is wanting therein ; yet for him that is newly to beginne , or desires most easily to teach or direct others i take ( vnder better iudgement ) martinius to be the best . my reasons are , 1. for that it is most methodicall , proceeding according to the right order of nature and rules of art. 2. for that it hath answering vnto it , maister vdals hebrue grammar in english , being in effect a meere translation of martinius , onely leauing out some things which he thought lesse necessary , and making most things in martinius very plaine , in stead of a commentary , as the translations do the authors . 3. for that the martinius grammar printed by raphalengius and by abrahamus vveerlinus at berne , haue a praxis adioyned , for the parsing of three psalmes , viz. the 1. 25. and 68 , like as maister vdals hath in english : which praxis is so orderly for the right examining or analysing of euery word according to the order of nature and art , and according as all things are set downe in the grammar in order of the chapters , that they leade the learner directly , as by the hand , to the plaine parsing and resoluing of those three psalmes ; and by them , auy other part of the hebrue bible . and lastly , for that maister vdals grammar , ( which i commend as a short commentarie to it ) hath also a briefe epitome of the hebrue lexicon adioyned , for the more speedy finding out any word , and so attaining the tongue . or in stead of martinius , maister vdals grammar it selfe , which i finde to be farre more easie for the learner , and much sooner gotten , for the vse of it , and also may be readily deliuered and vttered in latine , at least by comparing with martinius . for the best lexicon or dictionarie , buxtorphius his epitome for continuall vse : and also his thesaurus for more exquisite knowledge : or , for giuing the hebrue words to the latine ; lexicon latino-hebraicum , in the end of the epitome of pagnine by raphalengius . for helpe for construing , and so reading priuately , and knowing the radices . the interlineal bible , by arias montanus . for the psalmes , tossanus may affoord some helpe . english. concerning our owne language , whereas some great learned , haue much and long complained , that in most schooles there hath bene litle care , to teach scholars to expresse their mindes readily in proprietie and puritie of speech , so to helpe to adorne our owne tongue ; whereof wee haue continuall practise , to the end that they may grow herein with the latine and other learned tongues , god hath prouided these helpes . 1. the vse of the grammaticall translations ( hauing to that end , both proprietie and also varietie of words and phrase to expresse the minde ) may be a good entrance for the yonger sort . 2. after them , all the other translations , vsed onely in such sort , as hath bene and shall be further shewed in the grammar schoole ; so to ascend to those who haue written most exquisitely in that kinde of translation . 3. dictionaries , where fit words are wanting , to make choise of those english words in them which best agree to the matter in hand . 4. adioyne to these , for them who would grow to more exquisite perfection , the bookes of such as haue written the purest style in english in each faculty , which they purpose to exercise themselues in . for strangers , who vnderstand the latine tongue , at least in some sort , and would learne our tongue themselues , or would teach it vnto others publiquely or priuately , besides the former helpes for reading english. 1. the english grammar , called grammatica anglicana , a little epitome written according to the rules of art , by p. gr. printed at cambridge anno 1594. 2. logonomia anglica , by maister gill schoole-maister of paules . 3. translations , first grammaticall ; which leade the scholar directly to learne our tongue ; after other translations , and so the best english authors and dictionaries as before . rhetoricke . for rhetoricke , so farre as shall be necessary for the grammar-schoole . 1. for tropes and figures of rhetoricke , and so for other figures of grammar , maister farnabees tropes and figures , so shortly comprized in verse , as that they may be most easily gotten in a very little time , and so likewise kept in memorie , to serue for euery good vse . 2. for a more full vnderstanding of that little booke , and of all other matters belonging to rhetoricke , as for a methodicall handling , and short comprizing of the whole art , by precepts , illustrations by examples , and the like . m. butlers rhetorick of magd. colledge in oxf. with a short commentary adioyned , now the 4. time printed . 3. for the vse of rhetoricke , viz. for the practise thereef in theames , declamatious , orations , &c. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or manuductio ad artem rhetoricam , by maister vicars of queenes colledge in oxford . religion . concerning religion ; for laying surely the first grounds of our holy religion in schooles , according to our good lawes ; and for seasoning the first and tender yeares of our children therewith : ( wherein the iesuites shall rise in iudgement against vs , being farre more vigilant and industrious to destroy , then we to saue ; to ouerthrow the gospell , then wee to propagate and spreade it . ) 1. to the end that scholars may speedily get and euer keepe in fresh memorie with ease and delight , the whole summe of the sacred story , viz. the holie bible , ( being the sole foundation of our religion , ) and so the summe of euery chapter therein ; wherby they may become sound christians , and in time ( through the lords blessing ) admirable diuines , god hath prouided a litle booke called bibliorum summula , which comprizeth the arguments or sums of euery chapter of the whole bible in disticks , viz. each chapter in two verses , beginning alphabetically , that they may be more happily committed to memorie , and recalled more easily when they are forgotten . this booke is most painefully and profitably composed in a familiar and easie verse , by maister shaw , according to the contents of the seuerall chapters . hereunto is adioyned in the end , for further helpe of memorie , the same contriued farre more briefly , viz. in a very few verses : as namely genesis hauing fiftie disticks in the summula , according to the fifty chapters , is comprized in ten verses , euery verse whereof comprehends fiue chapters , & almost euery word notes a seuerall chapter ; thus notably deuised by math. martinius . 2. for the first principles or iudiments in religion , to be taught in catechizing ; and for building soundly vpon the sacred scriptures , according to the doctrine of our church : besides our ordinary catechismes by law established , for a further vnfolding and demonstrating of the principles out of the expresse texts of the word , maister perkins six principles expounded , with many other , and chiefly such briefe ones , as by their oftest printing do testifie the greatest liking , and most generall approbation of the godly learned . vvriting . for faire writing in our owne , and all the chiefe learned tongues . copie bookes , prepared of purpose for the grammar-schooles , as in secretarie for our english , so for the latine , greeke and hebrew , together with directions for writing in the beginning of them , printed by maister thomas man ; whereby all scholars , well entred and practized from their beginning , euery day a little , may come to write commendably , and many of them verie faire euery of these hands , without hindering their learning , as is proued by experience . memorie . for the helpe of memorie , besides all directions for briefe summes of euery matter , as are set downe in their places in the grammar●schoole and others ; and besides diuers good rules and precepts for memorie in a little booke called the castle of memorie , chap. 6. maister vvillies his booke of memorie , called mnemonica siue reminiscendi , are gathered out of the best who haue written thereof : out of which the most profitable things may be selected and vsed by them who are judicious . other bookes and helps , some of them readie for the presse , others in good forwardnesse to be soone prepared , if they shall be generally desired , and the desire signified to the stationers , as necessarie or profitable for the ends for which they haue bene trauelled in , as namely ; 1 for furnishing with fit matter for theams in prose or verse , latine and greeke , which so troubleth young scholars , and discourageth them , for that they know not where to finde such fit matter for them , and must needes be very difficult before a great deale of reading and practise ; there is an index or booke of references , gathered out of their schoole-authors and others , onely pointing at the places where to finde them . 2. for patterns for theames , tullies paradoxes translated grammatically , with a short analysis in the margent , whereby they may be learned more perfectly , and vnderstood more fully to that end . 3. for direction and patterns for writing pithy and short letters in english , which is amongst vs , both most commendable , and of principall and daily vse . the laconicall epistles , translated into a good english style , with the grammar order and propriety in the margents . 4. for the more speedy and profitable learning the ianua linguarum for euery good vse ; whereas now , the english , in many places keepeth onely the sense , but varieth both from the verball and grammar order , and also from the propriety of the words in the latin , wherby the learners are oft exceedingly puzled and carried amisse : there ●s prouided a grammaticall translation to be set in the margen●s in the english , to carry the learner aright , both for proprietie and grammar . and also in the index or table , are set downe the declining of the nownes and verbs , with the genders of the nownes , to serue in 〈◊〉 of a dictionarie for all of them : and withall , both the doubtfull quantities , and likewise the etymologies or notations of the words briefly , being examined by comparing the best authors in that kinde , and conference with other learned . so that the learner may soone runne through it , to get both english by the latine , and latine by the english , with certainty , and for the other vses mentioned . for furnishing with terence ●phrase , with the best matter , terentianus christianus , translated grammatically . for the greeke . 1. for getting speedily the greeke radices or primitiues , the clauis linguae graece is made much more plaine , easie and profitable ; first , by the latine set in the margent , according to the greeke , answering word for word in such places where it now differs , and the whole latine sentences to be placed in the page opposite to the greeke , to leade the learner rightly by the hand to the knowledge of the greeke , whereas now many of the sentences in latine do onely expresse the sense , and so set the learner at a stand , or carry him quite amisse . 2. by the principall etymologies set in the margent of the greeke sentences , directed with letters to know them speedily . 3. by a grammaticall construction of the same in english , answering the greeke so neare as may be , adioyned in the end of the clauis , with proprietie and varietie of the sense in the margents . by the h●lpe whereof ( as experience will soone shew ) all the sentences may be gotten in a very little time , both for latine and greeke , by studying them out of the english , onely helped by looking vpon the greeke and latin , as need requireth ; to be able thereby to giue the greeke and latine words to the english , and contrarily , so to serue for any good vse thereof : and euer easily by this means to keepe all perfectly , without any trouble or charge of memorie , through the help of the perfect vnderstanding of it by this translation . also for the easier entrance of the young scholar to runne cheerefully and speedily through the best greeke authors in prose , as well as in verse , is prepared isocrates ad daemonicum , translated both in latine grammatically ; and also with another translation in a more pure latine style . so likewise the first booke of zenophons cyropaideia in like manner . which three bookes being well gone through , scholars will easily and speedily run through all other greek authors , by the ordinarie helpes of translations , and the like meanes which god hath so bountifully prouided for this last age , especially if they haue said a good foundation in the grammar first . hebrue . for laying speedily a sure foundation ; first , for the right knowledge of all the hebrue primitiues in their first and proper signification ; secondly , by what tropes their significations are changed into other senses : and so thirdly , by what reasons or notations all their deriuatiues and issue come thereof : and finally , for getting speedily all the hebrue primitiues without booke ; and with the getting of them , to learne also so much of the hebrue bible in most profitable matters and sentences , there hath bene long thought of , and is now in preparing . first , a briefe hebrue lexicon , after the manner of the fundamentum linguae graecae . and secondly , another little booke after the manner of clauis linguae graecae , wherein all , or most of the hebrue primitiues are to be comprized , in certaine choise sentences of the sacred scriptures , of sundry kindes of matt●r . this may be called fi●ly ianua linguae hebraicae ; the other , the clauis vnto it . as these two may be of notable vse , to make speedily perfect hebricians , and likewise to helpe to prepare the way to the calling of the iewes thereby , so they require the cunningest workemen for the more curious framing and finishing of them : whom god hath also prouided , if some noble minded fauourers of good learning , and of the church of christ , will but a little lay to their helping hands , for defraying the charges of their maintenance , till they shall be able to go through the worke , to bring them to perfection , for the full accomplishment of all the good therein desired . for all these bookes and helpes more particularly , and for the right vse of euery of them , and how to auoid all the abuses and other in conueniences ; and so for attaining all those parts or learning mentioned in the contents , see the booke called 〈…〉 , or the grammar-schoole in this second edition : where , in a familiar dialogue betweene two schoole-maisters all these things are full discussed and set foorth , and yet the booke in many things abridged , and made lesse then before . for matter of charges to prouide so many helpes , the gaining of one yeares learning will plentifully recompence , if we vse onely the necessarie : and all the other benefits be a sufficient ouerplus . for all other obiections , i referre you likewise to the grammar-schoole , where ( i hope ) you shall see your selfe well satisfied in all . and what is still wanting , i trust the same good hand of our god will , in his due time , f●●ly supply . finis . ❧ the examiners censure : march. 16. 1620. where as this author , still desirous to communicate all the new comforts , which god hath vouchs●fed him in his long and painefull trauels , for the generall good , and specially for our grammar-schooles ; and fearing lest in anie matter he should deceiue himselfe or others , hath intreated vs to make some further triall of the things which he hath written h●rein , for the better confirmation of himselfe and of all others ; we could not denie his so honest a request . therefore 〈…〉 labours in this kinde , by 〈…〉 of worcester , at the first 〈◊〉 of his gramm●r-schoole , as appeares in the 〈…〉 preface before it , and by other 〈◊〉 since ; yet now that it is to come foorth 〈…〉 , much more compleate and perfect after so much long trauell and experience ) we haue her●upon made new and further triall accordingly . in which we haue found so much content in euery forme , from the lowest to the highest , for the time which we then had , as perswaded vs of the trueth of whatsoeuer he hath written concerning the same ; and giues vs withall much assurance of a very great blessing to be hoped for , both to church and common-wealth in all places for which he hath trauelled , by these his happie labours rightly put in practise : which all well-willers to religion and learning are to wish to their countrey , and by all meanes to promote , for the good of the present and of all succeeding ages . iames vssher doctour and professor of diuinitie in the vniuersitie of dublin . daniel featly doctour of diuinity , and chaplin in house to his grace of canterburie . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a16864-e180 2. thes. 1. 8 , 9 luke 16. 24. ● 〈…〉 1 pet. 4. 18 notes for div a16864-e560 occasion of this worke . the vsuall complaints against non-proficiencie in schooles . where good is done , how hardly it is effected commonly . a chief cause hereof , want of knowledge of a right course of teaching . the authors desire to help all this . and to procure a perpetuall benefite to all posteritie . of the rare benefits of learning no good man euer doubted the licenciousnesse of some learned or abusers of learning , ought not to cause vs to thinke the worse therof . iob. 3. 19. 2. thes. 2. 10. learning is the glorie of man , in the verie naturall mans account prou. 4. 7. the first and principall meanes of good learning , the schooles of learning . in what schooles the best learning & nurture are to be found . a wonderfull differēce betweene those scholes wherin the best orders are obserued , & the rest . 1. the matter of learning easie in such schooles . 2. the maner of proceeding in a singular order without confusion . the painefull schoolmaster may there expect a rich blessing . the fruite hereof able to encourage each maister to take the vttermost paines to follow the best manner . hence wil ensue a maruellous chāge in schooles . the bringing learning into esteeme , and to make it to be desired , & honored of al ▪ the stirring vp many benefactors to learning . things accompanying a right course in proceeding . deliuery of the maisters from much vexation and ouermuch seueritie . of scholars from terrour . that all things in schooles may be done with delight and comfort . more substantiall learning in such at 7. yeares ▪ then in others atten . state of most schooles and scholars of 15. yeares of age . vnfit for the vniuersities . euils in their entrance and continuance in the vniuersities . tutors must playe the schoolmasters if euer they shall do good . such scholars must vse extraordinarie paines . and doing best , shall yet euer feele the want of the grammar schoole . if the best orders were had the schooles should be as the bee-hiues as the goodly gardens & sweet singing birds . and generally excell thēselues . that wee should as much reioice in these , as euer we grieued for the other . maisters and schollars should proceed with all alacritie . though all should not excell , yet all should be fitted to some good emploiment , for the benefit of the whole . all these ve●ied in some few schooles . this endeuor to di●charge a debt to all , by making all sorts partakers of the blessings , which he hath vouchsafed . dutie to all in high place for their children and posteritie . desire to all parents . to all more tender hearted parents . wel-wishing to the poorer sort . to the schooles thēselues . to the vniuersities . loue to all who haue lost their learning to repaire it , and recouer them selues . matth. 25. desi●e to all functions . to all ruder places , as to wales , to the irish , virgi●ia the sommerlland● . maister iohn ireton of legworth in leicestershire . ouid. discharge of debt to all . that euerie one may pay the debt of his birth . for that none of vs are born to our selues . learning being in reputation , shall neuer want multitudes of benefactors . the chiefest glory in earth to be aduancers o● learning & piety . the glorie of our nation shal be increased as learning increaseth . a part of our happinesse to shew our loue in furthering so great a good . why this work was the more hastned to the publike view . the vncertaintie of our liues ought to make vs to do all the good we can whiles we may . m. to●ey . m. coote . m. richardson we cannot appeare before our ●od , if we haue not done our vttermost endeuour to pay our debts , and to employ our talents to bring most aduantage to our maister . considering well the industrie of our enemie . witnesse for euer the powder fornace . this worke hath not bene set vpō rashly , but vndertakē by an holy & warrantable calling . by special benefactors to schooles such who had author●●y to cōmand ●y seruice . the ●ight hon. e of h. m. iohnson archdeacon of leicestershire . from his soueraigne maiesties desire for all his ●hooles . for the manner of proceeding in this worke , the preface to our common grammar doth direct it . though many haue written hereof , yet none haue proceeded in this particular manner for the helpe of he meanest . this worke hath not bene proceeded in by priuate conceit . nor posted on , but hastened slowly . the author assumeth to himselfe onely the wants & errors . prescribeth not to anie . reasons for the length of the worke . martial . epig. * master iohn ireton of kegworth , mentioned before . the vse of it to the learned , who would not reade the whole . better for the learners that the worke should be ouerlarge then too short . d● . 〈◊〉 . this trauell happily emploied , if but to effect these things following . 1. if but to set others on work hereby . 2. or to gain moe experiments , which men are so hardly drawn to communicate . 3. or to make known sundrie most profitable bookes and helpes . 4. to helpe all desirous to doe good , and yet toyle without fruit . if but to gain one yeare . thogh there may be hope of almost double sound learning , to that which hath bene in manie rude places . for that so much may be gained by three or foure of these helps alone . reason of the high account of grāmatical translations . chap. 8. master askams testimonie of the practise of translating . this is well worthie the marking of all . more speedily . this verie course in effect practised by maister askam . experience of the singular benefit of it in maister iohn whitne● . this way of translating the chiefe & sure meanes to attaine speedily to any tongue . maister askams schoolemaster . lib. 2. p. 33. a late known and worthie experience in a young noble-man of rare hope . to whom the finding out of the rule , and of translations thereby is acknowledged . labour to find out the rule ▪ and to frame the translations accordingly . and also the right vses & benefits of them . and finally , to haue ●ull assurance of euery thing . vpon what things all the chiefe benefits of these translations depend . chap. 8. certaine benefits of these translations rightly vsed . further apologie needlesse , except , 1. the authors desire to do all this good . 2. the hauing all these experiments gathered to our hands . 3. assurance of each mans affection , to haue his child so brought vp as is here desired . 4. for the testimonie of his cō●cience to be vpright & faithfull 〈◊〉 all his worke . 1. anno 1588 2. the death of queene elizabeth , and peaceable bringing in our soueraigne . 3. powder ●reason . 5. for willing sub●ission of al● things to the publike cen●ure . and desire to be still learning of all . the cause of the confi●nt reioycing in it . exhortation & encouragement to the weaker teachers . griefe to all honest hearted maisters , for complaints and murmurings against thē . complaints of parents for the●● children not profiting . murmurings of townes for charges ill bestowed and children spoiled . some to crie out against our seueritie . scholars comming to mans estate to bewaile losse of their time . that they were not taught any religiou . terrour for for lacke of growth of gods religion . the charge committed to vs. the combinations of the iesuites ought to prouoke vs. october , 28. 1608. what our state was almost by them . our miraculous preseruations , and their deadly malice , ought to put new life into euery one of vs. we haue no cause to fea●e our bloud-thirstie aduersaries , if we will but sticke vnto our christ. our confidence in our captaine . 2. thes. 2. 4. the power of our christ , with vs , & certainety of victorie of his side . 〈…〉 〈…〉 assurance that we may come vnto them . an 〈…〉 to double ●u● diligence none to be discouraged , if he see not his desire at the first . christoph. hegendorphinus l. e. discipulo suo , 2. for the speedy and profitable learning all our first and lowest school authors , gram. translations . books grammatically translated . plainnesse & readinesse of these translations . for a practise of the chiefe rules of construction , maister leeches dialogues for the rest of the lower schoole-authors , other translations . for the rest of tullies offices not translated grammatically , m. grimmalds translation . for the other parts adioyned to the offices , tho. newtons translation . for the rest of 〈…〉 virg. a●neid maister phaer . for ●erence maister b●rnards translation . caution to be vsed in this and other authors . for higher authors , as caesars commentaries , sir clement edmunds his translation . this author , with those which follow next , are worthy workes for noble gentlemen and all other , who would doe seruice to the church of god ; and their natiue countrey , to bestow some of their trauels and idle houres in . for lucans pharsalia sir arthur gorge . for liuy d. hollands translation . for cornelius tacitus , sir h. sauill . florus . seneca . comments ▪ on all o●id . for the metamorphosis sabine . on virgil , seruius donate , &c. ramus , on the eclogues and georgickes . friskilines paraphrase . meins . for the rest of the ancient poets short and pithy commentaries . maister bonds ▪ maister farn. for the roman histories and antiquities maister goodwin his anthologia . for theams m. vicars his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for inuention and manner . for matter , bibliotheca scholastica . exampls , valerius max. stobaei anthologia . phrases for theames . drax his calliepeia , maister farnabees phrases . patterns for epistles , laconicae epistolae . examples for imitation of epistles of all sorts , flores & sententiae scribendinque formulae illustres . orations , melchior iunius . examining phrases in prose . godscalcus . schorus . erasmus epit. of vallaes elegancies , popma . in poetry . text. epith. buchleri thesaurus poëticus . smetius . dictionaries . rider . thomas thomasius . for a short comprising of the latine primitiues , ianua linguarum . for resoluing authors , gram. trans . of &c. disputation of grammar questions , in english ; posing of the parts . in latine , m. stockwoods disput . disputing of morall questions , master brasbridge questions of tullies off. for words belonging to historie , trades , &c. stanbridg . vocabula . hunters cosmographie . how this might be more profitable . how such a worke might be easily compiled . how best learned . for speedy attaining to the greeke . for the grammar maister camdens most profitable for vs. for other difficulties concerning grammar , cleonards gram with ant●sign . the short abridgement in the eud of scapula . for speedy attaining the greeke primitiues . clauis 〈◊〉 graecae . for a more full knowledge of thē , fundamētum linguae graecae , siue epitome lexici & etymologici graeci proschola br●mensi . authors in verse , theognis , &c. with sylburgius . hesiode with ceporine & melancth . for homer . maister chapman in english meeter . eustathius . spondanus . for prose ▪ isocrates translated by vvolphius . schorus his translation with annotat . zenophons cyropaideia . for the greek testament , pasors dictionarie . for writing in greeke , clauis , thomas●●s , garthius . poselij calligr . elegantiae graecae . in verse for epithets and authorities , dinnerus . for morall matter out 〈◊〉 best greeke authors , stobaei anthologia , cornucopia . for speaking greeke , poselius . for hebrue grammar . martinius printed by r●phalengius at berne . reason of it . maister vdals grammar . lexicon buxtorphius . tossanus . for our owne tongue to grow in proprietie and puritie . 1. grāmatical translations for all the first beginners . 2 other translations . 3. dictionaries . 4. best authors in each kinde for english. for strangers . the english grammar . logonomia anglica . translations . for tropes and figures briefly in vse , maister fa●nabees tropes and figures . for a more methodicall tractate ▪ m. butlers rhetoricke . 3. for the vse of rhetorick , maister 〈◊〉 , manuductio ad artem rhetoricum . religion , for laying surely the grounds 〈◊〉 . for know●edge of the historie of the bible , bibliorum summula . a more brief abridgement memoriale , biblicu● . for the p●inciples besides those by law appointed , maister perkins ●ixe principles expounded . for faire writing , copie bookes for secretarie , romane , greeke , hebrue . for memory . maister willies mnemonica . bookes prepared for the presse . helpe for matter for theames . an index gathered out of the fittest schoole-authors and others , with references to the places . tullies paradoxes translated grammatically for patternes for theames . the laconicall epistles translated . 4. for the more speedie & 〈◊〉 learning 〈…〉 it is prepared to be 〈◊〉 , printed as to supply what is wanting or grammar order , prop●●etie , declining , quantities , and e●ymologies . for speedie getting the greeke primitiues , clauis linguae graeca● , made much more plaine . for entrance in the speedie the running thorough the best greeke authors in prose , grammatical translations of isocrates ad daemonicum . the first 〈…〉 z●nophons cyropaideia . for the speedy and sure attaining all the hebrue radiees , are preparing a ●word and a 〈◊〉 thereunto like 〈…〉 and greeke . for all these helpes more particularly , and the right vse of them : the grammar schoole in this last edition . matter of charge , and all objections there answe●●● ▪ a reformation of schooles designed in two excellent treatises, the first whereof summarily sheweth, the great necessity of a generall reformation of common learning : what grounds of hope there are for such a reformation : how it may be brought to passe : the second answers certain objections ordinarily made against such undertakings, and describes the severall parts and titles of workes which are shortly to follow / written ... in latine by ... john amos comenius ... ; and now ... translated into english ... by samuel hartlib ... pansophiae prodromus. english comenius, johann amos, 1592-1670. 1642 approx. 244 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 49 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a34114 wing c5529 estc r9161 11807118 ocm 11807118 49470 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34114) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49470) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 528:6) a reformation of schooles designed in two excellent treatises, the first whereof summarily sheweth, the great necessity of a generall reformation of common learning : what grounds of hope there are for such a reformation : how it may be brought to passe : the second answers certain objections ordinarily made against such undertakings, and describes the severall parts and titles of workes which are shortly to follow / written ... in latine by ... john amos comenius ... ; and now ... translated into english ... by samuel hartlib ... pansophiae prodromus. english comenius, johann amos, 1592-1670. hartlib, samuel, d. 1662. [2], 94 p. printed for michael sparke ..., london : 1642. a translation of his "pansophiae prodromus" (1639), originally published in slightly different form as "porta sapientiae reserata" (1637). reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -early works to 1800. schools -england. schools -early works to 1800. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-02 john latta sampled and proofread 2006-02 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a reformation of schooles , designed in two excellent treatises : the first whereof summarily sheweth , the great necessity of a generall reformation of common learning . what grounds of hope there are for such a reformation . how it may be brought to passe . the second answers certaine objections ordinarily made against such undertakings , and describes the severall parts and titles of workes which are shortly to follow . written many yeares agoe in latine by that reverend , godly , learned , and famous divine mr. john amos comenius , one of the seniours of the exiled church of moravia : and now upon the request of many translated into english , and published by samuel hartlib , for the generall good of this nation . london , printed for michael sparke senior , at the blew bible in greene arbor , 1642. a reformation of schooles . to all those that love wisedome , light , and truth , health , and peace from christ , the fountaine of them all . wisedome is said ( by aristotle ) to be the knowledge of many and by marvellous things : ( cicero ) the knowledge of divine and humane things , as also of the causes in which they are contained : ( by solomon ) the maker and teacher of all things : which with how great praises it hath of old beene celebrated , those who have spent any endeavours in the study of it , cannot be ignorant . the wisest of men saith , it is more pretious than rubies , and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto it . length of daies are in her right hand , and in her left hand riches and honour . her wayes are wayes of pleasantnesse , and all her paths are peace . she is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her , and happy is every one that retaineth her , prov. 3. 15. cicero saith , there neither is , nor can be any better gift bestowed upon mankind . but horace goes further : ad summum , sapiens uno minor est jove , dives , liber , honoratus , pulcher , rex denique regum . i 'le speak 't at once . the wiseman yeelds to jove above or none , he 's rich , and free , esteem'd , and faire , and king of kings alone . if you aske the cause , why this one vertue is so much magnified , seneca will answer , that without the study of wisdome it is impossible to lead an happy , or even an indifferent life . and cicero saith , that wisedome is the mother of all arts , teaching us first how to worship god , then how to observe justice in humane society , and also framing our minds to modesty and magnanimity : she drives away darknesse from our mind's , as it were from our eyes , that we may discerne all things both above us , and below us , and things of all orders , natures , and degrees whatsoever : and lastly , that she is the onely soveraigne medicine of the mind . and solomon addeth , that wisedome strengtheneth the wise man more than ten mighty men , that are in the city , eccles . 7. 19. and that wisedome is a treasure unto men that never faileth , which they that use , become the friends of god , being commended for the gifts , that come from learning . for god loveth not any , but him that dwelleth with wisdome , vvisd . 7. 14 , 28. not without good cause therefore have the most excellent men in all ages , neglected the care of transitory things , as of riches , pleasures , and honours , applying their desires , and endeavours to this end , that by a serious contemplation of all things , they might comprehend whatsoever the mind of man is capable of , and so bring the whole world into a kind of subjection unto themselves : which kind of men in respect of others , are indeed ( as the gift of wisdome is in comparison of other good things granted unto men ) most glittering pearles , or starres rather , that do drive away the darknesse of the world . we ought therefore thankfully to acknowledge this divine worke of gods mercy , that hee hath not onely opened unto us the theaters of his wisdome in the bookes of nature , and of the holy scripture , but hath moreover endued us with sense , and reason , that we might be able to behold them , and to collect wisedome out of them , supplying us farther with divine revelation , where our sense and reason are deficient . yet this is not all we owe unto his goodnesse ; for he hath moreover preserved unto this our age the knowledge of humane learning , by which the study of wisedome is cherished , and transmitted unto us from our progenitors ; yea and hath made it to flourish more now , than ever heretofore . so that this present age may in respect of learning justly take content , and pleasure in its selfe , expecting still a further discovery of its light , and lustre . for it must needs be in the world , as it is with man , that wisedome comes not afore old age , which we may easily see , if wee consider the nature of it . for wisedome is gained by much experience : and experience requireth length of time , and variety of occurrences . now the longer a man liveth , the more varieties still passe by him , whence his experience is encreased the more , and by his experience his wisedome , according to that of jesus the sonne of syrach , a man of experience will thinke of many things : and that of the poet , per casus varios ariem experientia fecit , chance hinteth many usefull things , which to an art experience brings . we therefore in this presentage being so well stored with experiences , as no former ages could have the like , why should we not raise our thoughts unto some higher aime ? for not onely by the benefit of printing ( which art god seemes , not without some mystery , to have reserved to these latter times ) what soever was ingeniously invented by the ancients ( though long buried in obscurity ) is now come to light : but also moderne men being stirred up by new occasions , have attempted new inventions : and wisdome hath beene , and is daily miraculously multiplied with variety of experiments . according as god hath foretold of these latter times , dan. 12. 4. whereunto may be added the erecting of schooles every where more , then any histories record of any former ages : whereby bookes are growne so common in all languages and nations , that even common countrey people , and women themselves are familiarly acquainted with them ; whereas formerly the learned , and those that were rich , could hardly at any price obtaine them . and now at length the constant endeavour of some breakes forth to bring the method of studies to such a perfection , that whatsoever is found worthy of knowledge , may with much lesse labour , then heretofore , be attained unto . which if it shall succeed ( as i hope ) and that there be an easie way discovered of teaching all men all things , i see not what should hinder us from a thankfull acknowledgment , and hearty embracing of that golden age of light and knowledge , which hath beene so long foretold , and expected . to the attaining whereunto one matter of speciall moment seemeth yet to be wanting , that as a more compendious , usefull , and easie way of teaching the tongues hath lately been found out , and published ( in the janua linguarum ; ) so also some means should be thought of for the making of an open gate unto the things themselves , whereby mens minds may finde an easie entrance into all arts and sciences whatsoever . which how necessary , and worthy of our most serious thoughts it is , ( if we tender as we ought , the good of mankind ) i will first demonstrate : next i will consider of the meanes for accomplishing so worthy a designe : and lastly i will discover upon what occasion , and with what successe i my selfe have attempted so rare a work . and first i take it for granted , that the studies of learning , to which youth is every where set , ought to bee the dressing and culturing of their minds towards the attaining of wisdome , without which end it can be nothing else but meere vanity . for whether we seeke knowledge for curiosity , or to please , and delight our mind , or to raise our selves in esteeme , and credit in the world , or as the meanes to better our outward estates , and fortunes , we are too grossely minded to propose so base , and temporary ends to a gift so high , and so divine . it must therefore be agreed upon , that wisdome is the thing we are to seeke . and because wisdome is said to be the worker of all things , teaching all things , wisdome 7. 22. it is evident , that learning ought to be used , and improved as the meanes to bring us unto the universall knowledge of all things , ( unto pansophie , that is , a wisdome every way compleat , both in the largenesse of its extent , and in its perfect agreement with it selfe ) that we be not ignorant of any thing which is secret , or knowne , wisd . 7. 21. that so mans mind may become indeed , as it ought to be , the image of god , who knoweth all things . secondly , whereas wisdome is said to give unto the young man ●nowledge and discretion , prov. 1. 4. and that her wayes are wayes 〈…〉 easantnesse , prov. 3. 17. it is manifest , that the studies of wis 〈…〉 ght not to be involv'd in any intricate , and thorny difficulties , but plaine , and easie to be apprehended by all ; yea , delightfull to their minds . thirdly , whereas the wayes of wisdome are said to be a shining light , pro. 4. 18. it followes that they ought to be free from all darknesse of errors . fourthly , wisdome is said to be usefull unto men for the understanding of their wayes , ( prov. 4. 18 , 19. ) and all things that they doe , deut. 29. 9. it followes therefore , that the studies of wisdome ought to prepare mens minds for doing , and suffering of all things incident to this life . lastly , wisdome is said to make men happy , prov. 3. 13. because it leads them to god the eternall fountaine of happinesse . therefore the study thereof ought necessarily to stirre up mens minds to the seeking of god , to shew them the way how to finde him , and to prepare their affections for the straiter imbracing of him in the bonds of love . otherwise all endeavours of this sort are utterly unprofitable . for if men hit not upon this end of their knowledge , it were better for them to know nothing , yea , rather that they had never beene borne . now then let us examine whether the common course of studies be sutable to these ends , that if we find any defects therein , we may thereby know the better what is to be amended . it is the common complaint of many , that the learning which is now taught in schooles , is a thing too tedious , and long in regard of the shortnesse of life , too laborious for common capacities , too narrow in respect of the amplitude of things , and in regard of the subtilty , and solidity of their truth many wayes defective . and the wiser sort have noted , that it is not answerable to the proposed end ; seldome attaining to any substantiall uses of life , but rather ending in the smoake of opinionative brawlings , and contentions : which that they are not idle sayings and surmises , but even reall defects , we must first declare , before we undertake to seeke remedies to redresse them . we must , i say , make it good , that the studies of learning , as they are now managed , and commonly taught in schooles , are not well proportioned . 1. to our life : in regard of their tedious prolixity . 2. to our capacities : in regard of their difficulty . 3. to things themselves : in regard of often mistakings . 4. to the use of life : because of the great difficulty of reducing things therein taught into practise , and of reconciling and applying them to things that are to be done in this life . 5. to god himselfe : they being not sufficiently subordinate to the scope of eternity . the first argument of their prolixity i take from the common confession of all . for who is there that hath not usually in his mouth that saying of hippocrates , life is short , but art is long ? the second argument is from the greatnesse of the bookes , in which things are described . good god! what vast volumes are compiled almost of every matter , which if they were laid together , would raise such heapes , that many millions of yeares would be required to peruse them ? thirdly , it is manifest enough , that learning is too farre diffused , and scattered about , beyond the modell , and reach of mens capacities , seeing that among so many learned men , with which the world is replenished , scarce one of an hundred , or of a thousand is to be found , who hath tasted of universall learning , and is able to give any reasonable account of all occurrents that are to be found in divine workes , and humane affaires . so rare is the generality of learning , even in those that are held to be learned , that a man of much learning , or of much reading , is reputed almost for a miracle . hence comes that ( so commonly used ) parcelling and tearing of learning into peeces , that men making their choyce of this , or that art , or science , take no care so much , as to looke into any of the rest . divines there are , that will not vouchsafe to cast an eye upon philosophy : and philosophers againe , that have as little regard of divinity . lawyers for the most part neglect the study of naturall causes : and physitianslikewise of law , and equity . every faculty boundeth out a severall kingdome for its selfe , without those common , certaine , and immovable grounds and lawes , which should bind them all together . and even in philosophy it selfe , one chooseth this part , and another that . some will be naturalists not regarding the mathematicks : and others will be morall philosophers , without any knowledge of naturall things ; they will be accounted logicians , rhetoricians , and poets , though they have scarce a whit of reall science in them . who knowes not , that this is so ? and who sees not , that this distribution , and sharing of arts , and sciences , proceeds from this supposition , that it is not possible for the wit of one man to attaine the knowledge of them all ? as if god had not proportioned man the lord of all things to those things , that he hath set him over . not that i am so fond , as to thinke one man may be excellent in all things , but that i rest well assured , that every one may , and should , as be eminent in his owne profession , so also know all things that are necessary . ii. the difficulty ( i meane , that it is not easie for men to attaine , even unto such particular parcels of learning , as they make choyce of for themselves ) is too notorious by frequent testimonies . first , by the common complaints , not onely of youth , who are learners , but even of their masters , and teachers . then by those stripes , lashings , and outcries , wherewith schooles continually ring . whereas the holy scripture commends wisdome , and the study thereof to be delightfull : and the ancients seeme to have so esteemed them , terming schooles * scholas , & ludos literarios , meaning , that the study of learning was but a pleasant paines-taking , or serious recreation . what a monstrous thing is it then , that such pleasures are turned into pressures , and such pastimes into torments ? whence , i say , can this proceed , but from the difficulty of making any progresse according to our present method of teaching ? for it is that which makes the study of learning , not onely laborious , but even nauseous , that the greater part of such as are set unto it , abandon it , and forsake it , never minding to returne there to gather flowers , where they have encountred with so many thornes . and common practise also will prove the same : for who can be ignorant how much easier it is to learne a language by use among those that speake it , then in the schooles ( which is the common way ) where it is hardly learned in many yeares ? and even the same advantage might we make use of in attaining of knowledge in things themselves , which yet hath not hitherto beene put in practise . iii. many wise men have long since observed , that the truth of the sciences is but lame , and unperfect , and thereupon have vented forth frequent complaints of those deepe gulfes , wherein it is plunged : yea , some over-conscious of their imperfections , have beene bold to pronounce nihil sciri posse ( i. certo & sine errore ) that nothing could be certainely knowne . which saying , they that ( upon confidence of their owne firme , and stable knowledge ) did deride , and hisse at , as a dotage , and folly , yet have in the event themselves almost confirmed it to be true . for whatsoever any one of them affirmed , others were presently ready to gaine-say it . and even unto this day there is no end of their perplexities . for learning is full of nothing but dissentions , contradictions , and wranglings . which , what can it be else , but astrong testimony , that the truth therof every where staggers , and is unstable for by this very argument josephus ( against apion ) asserteth the truth of the wisdome of the hebrewes , and proves the vanity of that of the greekes , because the former continued alwayes one and the same , but the other was divided into many sects . for truth alwayes retaines one simple , and native forme : but errors walk in a thousand shapes . seeing therefore , that in this our age also there arise so many sects , both in divinity , and philosophy , and so many contrary opinions are tooth and naile defended , which differ from themselves , as much as light from darknesse ; what is it but a most certaine testimony , that all the learning our age can yet make boast of , is deepely plunged in the darknesse of ignorance ? since the judgement of charity presupposeth , that none doth erre willingly contrary to his knowledge , or rebelleth against the light , as job speaketh , chap. 24. vers . 13. the last testimony hereof shall be those many bookes which are daily published , which are nothing else but sparkes , that rise from the striking of wits together , every one flying his severall way for to raise a flame . but the darknesse of dissentions , and doubts still continuing , is an evident argument , that there are yet no true lights kindled , and that the bright sunne of truth is not yet risen among us . iv. learning as it is commonly taught , is not enough accommodated to the uses of our life ; and of this we have notable witnesses . philosophy , saith a famous man , is imprisoned in the schooles , neither is there any man that brings it forth to common use : for it is full of thornes , and busied altogether in tying of such knots which cannot be loosed , and in raveling out , what her selfe hath woven . she feeds men with nothing but gravelly bread , such as breakes the teeth , and tireth out mens wits with trifles , and vanities , which are full of stings . another saith , that the study of philosophy is nothing else but ( otium occupatum , & impeditum ) a busie , and distracted vacation to no purpose . and like as squirrels that are shut into a turning cage , how fast soever they tumble forward , yet are they no farther then they were : so is it with us philosophers : we learne but little , though wee take great paines , and that little seldome makes us better , but worse . that which common experience proveth to be true : for not onely doe the learned seldome excell those that are illiterate in the study of vertue ( which is the basis of civill conversation ) but also in the dextrous managing of businesses they are for the most part excelled by them . i speake it not onely of a few odde grammarians , for the most part the deepest philosophers , & divines , though they seeme eagles to themselves , with their abstracted speculations , yet are they as blind as moles in matters of this life , and of humane society . hence arose that scoffing proverb , bonus scholasticus , malus politicus , a good scholler , and a bad common-wealths-man : whereas indeed the schoole ought to prepare us for things incident to our lives . but to particularize a little : every one knowes how the study of metaphysicks is praised , and even extolled unto heaven , as the firmest ground-worke and highest accomplishment of all learning . and if we consider aright of it , so it is . yet because this queen of sciences is so beset with thornes , and so involv'd in obsurity , that few can reach unto those subtilties , and those that understand them , know not how to make any use of them in inferiour sciences , it comes to passe , that it rests , and dies with it selfe , and , except a little momentary and tickling pleasure which it yeelds to those that doe affect it , it is of very little use in humane affaires . whereupon , some doe not onely forsake it , and utterly exclude it out of the compasse of philosophy , ( as the ramists doe ) but even out of universities , as an unprofitable , and fruitlesse vanity . for johannes angelius werdenbagen witnesseth , that the king of sweden , gustavus adolphus , of famous memory ( whose exploits testifie , that he was not borne to trifling , but to serious action ) did by a publike edict exterminate all studies of the metaphysickes out of his kingdome , so that no booksellers might cause any such bookes to be imported upon paine of confiscation , nor any of his subjects might reade them , lest his kingdome should be bewitched with a new kind of barbarisme , and himselfe served with disputers , and glossers in stead of such , as would throughly follow his affaires . the studie of logicke and rhetoricke should indeed be more appropriated unto the affaires of our life , seeing they are intended as directors of reason , and speech , on which two bonds all humane things so much depend . but the testimony of jacobus acontius is too truly verified : there is every where , saith hee , a great number of logicians , but if you observe their writings , and disputations ; you will find but little logicke in them . and againe , you may observe many well seene in rhetoricke , whose speeches and orations , though they be copious , elegant , well trimmed , and significant , yet you will find the strength and power of perswasion wanting . and we may passe the same judgement of the other arts and sciences : that we are rather busied and detained about them , than that they do any wayes promote the businesse of our life . v. lastly , to prove that our studies of learning are not yet so ordered , as to lead us the true , and certaine way toward our end , which is god , what need is there of any witnesses ? the prophanenesse , the luxury , the pride , and revelling , the quarrelling and impudencie of our universities speake it out too loud . and alasse ! even the learning it selfe , which is there obtained , proves unto many but a whetstone of mischiefe , and an helpe to do evill all their daies : so that it is most true of the greatest number of those that are learned , which god himselfe complaineth of ; they are wise to do evill , but to do good they have no understanding . jer. 14. 22. and to such their wisedome is but a guide unto destruction : hence is that voyce from god , that not many wise are chosen , because the wisedome of this world is foolishnesse with god. indeed that this sentence may not fall flat upon our selves , we use to interpret it of the wisedome of the gentiles , but yet we our selves seeke not for any farther wisedome . for that which the schooles have hitherto commended to us , is derived from gentilisme , and infected with serpentine venome , affecting onely the knowledge of good and evill , which puffeth up , but not conducing to charity , which edifieth . and because wee are according to our hereditary perversnesse readier alwaies to excuse , than to amend our faults ; we grow moreover , by pretending the corruption of our nature , to flatter and content our selves ; as if it were impossible to be againe transformed , since we are thus depraved . as if the feare of the lord ought not to be an antidote against that corruption , which god hath so often pronounced to be both the beginning , and the end of wisdome . therefore we conclude it to be true , that the common studies of learning are , i. a businesse never comming to an end . ii. a most troublesome distraction of mens minds . iii. a road of perpetuall by-waies , and errours . iv. an hindrance to the affaires of our lives . v. and lastly , an occasion of our manifold wandrings out of the wayes of god , which is most to be lamented . many worthy men have in former times beene much affected with this hard condition of learning , and learned men , and according to their several fancies have sought severall waies to salve this sore : some being of opinion , that all that ancient learning borrowed from the gentiles , was to be quite rejected : others , that philosophie , and the other arts were to be used sparingly , and with much care , and choyce : some have attempted the transforming , and altering of all the sciences , one after this manner , another after that . and indeed it is more than necessary , that all such , as are able to afford any ayd or counsell in this matter , should put to their helping hands . first , that that little knowledge , which common learning supplies us with , may not cost us so much sweat and paines , or if we are willing to employ our labours therein , that they may be more beneficiall and profitable to us . and againe , that we may vindicate our selves and learning from the reproach of the illiterate rout , who ( while they behold such as are for their learning preferred before themselves , and see them neither excellent in morall honesty , nor pious zeale , nor even in reall and common skill , and cunning , but many times to come behind many of the meanest and sinplest sort , they ) often fall into derision , and contempt of learning . and lastly , lest we incurre gods anger ( who seekes by that heavenly gift of wisedome , to repaire his image in us ) if we be not faithfull despensers of so divine a gift unto his glory . but because it is a rash thing to undertake the cure of any disease , before we have found the true cause of it , let us now make triall , whether wee can espie , and make discovery of the true rootes and grounds of this so great a mischiefe that learning groaneth under : that so we may the more safely apply fit remedies thereto : i will therefore give you a true account of those things which i conceive to be the causes of the fore-mentioned evils , and withall what may be done for the rectifying thereof . i. the prolixity of studies , as they are commonly ordered , seemeth to arise from three grounds ; first , because there is not care enough taken to leave out unnecessary things from among those which are necessary ; for thence according to seneca's complaint , we are ignorant of necessary things , because we busie our selves too much in learning those things , which are not necessary . and if these things should be sequestred from our studies , we should have twice as much time , ( to speake at the least ) or but halfe as much taske to do . now these things are to be accounted unnecessary . first , whatsoever is not of the essence of learning , of which sort are the most part of the vanities of the gentiles , the name of their petty deities , together with their lying histories , and fables . next , such things as weary out mens braines to little benefit , of which sort are most of the rules of grammar , which overburden childrens minds , and consume their yeares , and other things of like nature , which have no use but onely in schooles . lastly , all circumlocutions , and windings , and turnings of expressions , which fetch not out the kernell , but onely make a few assayes upon the shell . such kind of stuffe is it , wherewith most of our bookes of learning swell , which must needs both detaine and straine the minds of youth with unnecessary , and unprofitable things ; what wonder then can it be , that so few attaine unto any solid , and substantiall learning ? the remedie for these things will be to compose a seminary of learning of such things , and words , as are of solid , true , and certaine use : for you shall have as great increase of one acre of ground sowne with cleane wheat , as if you should mixe ten times as much chaffe therewith , and sowe it in ten acres . ii. secondly , because the study of learning is such an intricate , and confounding labyrinth , that few can find the way out of it ; such a sea as swallows up those , who would goe about to empty it ; which proceeds from hence , that those things which are to be learned , are not yet reduced into any cleare and certaine order . now these things which being collected together make but a small heap , if they be scattred in sunder , seeme very many , and breed a great confusion . the remedy for this will be to bring all things both great , and small , which are to be learned , into such a perspicuous order , that students may have them before their face , as plaine as their owne fingers , and that they may from the first beginning have somelight of that , which followes unto the end , and be assured that this one ship which they lanch forth in , will carry them over the whole sea of learning unto the ports of desired perfection . iii. thirdly , another ground of the vastnesse , and prolixity of the study of learning is that needlesse diligence of some in following all sorts of vaine , and trifling nicities . for there is no end , nor measure of such things , either in things themselves , or words , seing the chances , and sports both of wit , and nature are infinite , therfore such as set themselves about the particular descriptions of things in whatsoever science or art it be , whether it be to take paines therein , or to please and humor their owne fancies , they may indeed take a pleasant and delightfull journey to their minds , but of necessity , it will hinder them in , if not lead them out of the way of universall wisedome : yea , and there will be scarce any roome left for other things , when their minds are thus possessed with particulars of one kind . the remedy hereof is to frame such a booke , wherein by a true anatomy of the universe , all things that can be thought of may be reduced to their generall kinds and species : and so , that whatsoever is to be said of any thing , may at once be said of all things , whereof it can be said . by this meanes wee shall find all things both better grounded and more contracted , even beyond our hopes : because the understanding being by a few rules freed from an infinite number of hops and barres , will runne through and dive into all things of its owne accord . seneca saith truly , precepts of wisedome need not to be many , but rather efficacious ; they are to be used as seed , which though it be small , yet if it find a fit soile , it quickly displayes it's owne vertue , in a numerous , and vigorous encrease from one onely small graine . as for the difficulty and roughnesse of the waies of study , i thinke the causes thereof are these . i. first , because there hath not beene used a due preparation of the minds of youth , for the readier embracing of learning , neither hath profit and pleasure beene sufficiently proportioned , and mixt together for the winning of them , but every one is taken in as he comes without farther care . and for their entertainment , they have not beene used , as friends at a banquet , with curtesies and delights , but even like slaves in a mill , with force , stripes , and reproachfull speeches . for fists , and ferulars , roddes , and scourages have beene the usuall dainties in schooles , and their daily dishes . and is it any wonder then that they have proved nauseous , and dulling unto any ? nothing is so easie which may not be difficult to an unwilling mind . how then can learning be easie to those that come to it trembling , and in feare , which is not to be found in learning of any mechanick art ? for severity doth necessarily breed feare , and feare confounds , and troubles the mind , that it loseth it selfe , and knowes not where it is , yea and breeds a giddinesse too in a weake and tender mind . therefore there is need of great art for the taking , alluring , & gentle handling of their minds : which art will be made up by a sweete and mild carriage of the teachers , and a prudent disposing of their method ; which will cause the studies of learning to be nothing else , but enticing baits , and meere recreations . ii. secondly , a great part of this difficulty lyes herein , that things are not presented unto the very eyes and hands of those that are learners , but rather delivered to them in vast , and dull narrations , which make little impression upon the understanding , and are hardly retained by the memory : so that they either easily vanish againe , or onely a confused species of them remaines . the remedy hereof will be to represent every thing to its proper sense , visible things to the eyes , things that may be tasted to the palate , and so for the rest . for by once looking upon an elephant , or at least , upon his picture , a man shall more easily , and firmely apprehend his forme , than if it had beene told him ten times over , what manner of beast he is . for , the eyes make true report unto the mind , but eares are duller , and come farre behind . iii. the third and chiefest part of this difficulty lies in the common method of teaching the arts , and sciences , which is neither well proportioned to things themselves , nor to humane understanding . it is indeed the common voyce of all , that we ought according to the order of nature to proceed from those things , which are first , to those that follow , from generalls to those which are more speciall , from things knowne to those which are more obscure . but who is there , that takes this course ? for as yet no such thing hath been practised . except but only the mathematicks , and all other arts & sciences are confounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it is easie for him that is but provided of feete , to clime to the top of the highest mountaine , if there be steps cut out in it : and if those bookes , which are extant , did but lead our minds by degrees without any interruption from knowne things to those which are more obscure , it would be as easie for all those that bend their endeavours to learning , to attaine to the most difficult , and excellent knowledge . indeed some have the prerogative of able parts , and can by maine strength raise themselves , and pierce into things by the sharpnesse of their native wits ; others by often inculcation of the same things , at last begin to see things , as through a cloud : but if we cast up the generall summe , we shall find very few , that can make any thing to purpose of those bookes ; which is an evident argument , that the understanding is not directed in a plaine , and continuall way , but rather dragged , as it were , over pits and ditches , and cragged interruptions . the remedy hereof will be by laying such a platforme of all the arts and sciences , that we may alwayes beginne with such things as are knowne , making a gentle progresse unto those that are unknowne ; i meane , that every thing may shine upon , and give light to that which followes , even as in a chaine , every linke receives and drawes its fellow after it , which if we can but prescribe a right order for the due effecting of it , we shall thinke our time to be bestowed to very good purpose . the reason why truth is so estranged , and scarcely to be found in the whole compasse of the sciences , seemeth to be threefold . 1. the tearing of sciences into peeces . 2. want of due fitting of the method unto the things themselves . 3. the carelesnesse , and extravagancies of expressions and stile . for first , i professe seriously , that as yet in all the bookes that ever i saw , i could never find any thing answerable unto the amplitude of things ; or which would fetch in the whole universality of them within its compasse : whatsoever some encyclopaedias , or syntaxes , or books of pansophy , have pretended to in their titles . much lesse could i ever see the whole provision of humane understanding so raised upon its certain and eternal principles , that all things were chained , and linked together , from the beginning to the end , without any rent , or chink of truth . and perhaps no man ever aimed hereat as yet , so to square and proportion the universall principles of things , that they might be the certain limits to bound in that every-way-streaming variety of things : that so invincible , and unchangeable truth might discover its universall , and proportionate harmony in all things . i say , no man ever yet seemes to have intended to cleare any universall way for the knowledge of truth , with the helpe of those universall principles , and according to the true lawes of deductions even to the last conclusions . metaphysitians sing a requiem to themselves , naturalists applaud themselves , moralists make their owne lawes , and politicians fix their owne grounds , mathematicians have their triumphant chariot , and divines their over-ruling throne , every one in severall by themselves . yea , in every faculty , or science almost every man laies his particular grounds , and principles , whereupon to build and fasten his particular opinions , not regarding what others have deduced from theirs . but it is impossible that truth so scattered , and obscured , should be this way raked up together . for while every one followes his owne fancie in this manner there is as much hope of agreement , as there is in a company of musicians , when every one sings his severall song without respect of common time or melody : and who would beleeve a common-wealth to be well ordered , wherein there are no publique lawes established , but every one liveth as he listeth ? we see the boughs of a tree will quickly wither , and die , except they receive nourishment from the common stocke , and roots : and can the faire branches of wisdome be thus rent and torne in sunder with safety of their life , that is their truth ? can any man be a good naturalist , that is not seene in the metaphysicks ? or a good moralist , who is not a naturalist ? ( at least in the knowledge of humane nature ) or a logician , who is ignorant of reall sciences ? or a divine , a lawyer , or physician , that is no philosopher ? or an oratour , or poet , who is not accomplished with them all ? he deprives himselfe of hands , and eyes , and rules , that neglecteth , or rejecteth any thing which may be knowne . astronomers ( for example sake ) would never have had the faces to introduce , and maintaine such contrary , and absurd hypotheses , or positions , if they had been to raise them upon the same ground of truth : neither would other things be , or at least seeme to be so slippery , and uncertaine . for the common fate of all learning is this , that whosoever delivers it , others will take the paines to demolish it , or at least to lay it bare . plato's philosophy seemed most elegant , and divine : but the peripateticks accused it of too much vaine speculation . and aristotle thought his philosophy compleat , and trimme enough : but christian philosophers have found it neither agreeing with the holy scriptures , nor answerable enough to the truth of things . astronomers for many ages carried away the bell with their spheres , eccentricks , and epicycles , but copernicus explodes them all . copernicus himselfe framed a new and plausible astronomy out of his optick grounds , but such as will no way be admitted by the unmovable principles of naturall truth . gilbertus being carried away with the speculation of the loadstone , would out of it have deduced all philosophy : but to the manifest injury of naturall principles . campanella triumphs almost in the principles of the ancient philosopher parmenides , which he had reassumed to himselfe in his naturall philosophy , but is quite confounded by one optick glasse of galilaeus galilaei . and why should we reckon any more ? truly , if every one would ground their judgements upon the same common principles , it could not be , that they should rush into such contradictions , not onely to the hinderance of their hearers , but even to the detriment of truth , which for the most part in such contentions falleth to the ground . for when needles , obscure , and ambiguous things are propounded , they cannot but breed distast , and thwarting in the minds of those that heare them . and when for the gaining of their assents , principles are assumed , ( whatsoever trash they be ) which are neither knowne , nor yeelded , nor of undoubted truth , but rather obnoxious to severall limitations , and exceptions ( of which sort are most of the canons of common philosophy and divinity ) what can ensue from hence , but most tedious contradictions , and contentions ? that a man would be weary to heare such doubts , and differences , in things perhaps cleare enough of themselves . another course therfore must herein be taken , & care must be had , that truth approaching us in a most cleare light , may not be mired in doubts , nor wounded with contradictions , but may over come all errours : which we think cannot be effected , unlesse the beames therof dispersed over all things , be united into one , that so there may be one and the same symmetry of all things , both sensuall , intellectuall , & revealed . now this we cannot behold without a perfect squaring , and unseparable consolidation of the principles of knowledge ( sense , reason , and divine revelation ) which alone will make it to appeare , and consequently put an end unto those many controversies . for upon the discovery of the ground of things , necessarily will follow either the manifestation of an errour in one part of an opposition , or else that each part perhaps , both thinketh , and speaketh true ( though they understand not one another ) in regard of the divers respects , and considerations of things , the ground whereof they doe not yet perceive . certainely those errours which on every side besiege mens minds , may this way be subdued , and their minds brought into the open light , or no way else . for it must needs be , that the bright sunne of truth arising , infinite mists and clouds of opinions will vanish of themselves : yea , and by gods help , the very darknesse of atheisme it selfe may at length be dispatched away . 2. the second cause , why truth is so staggering , and uncertaine , i before declared to be the loosenesse of method , that writers doe not wholly tie themselves unto the things themselves , to deliver them , as they are constantly in themselves , but rather draw them unto some trimme and neat conceits of their owne to expresse them by , abusing them a thousand wayes : which is nothing else , but to wrest and transfigure things from their native , into strange formes , even in face of the mind : and what then can it behold , but monsters in stead of things themselves ? againe , it is impossible to find any method parallell unto things , unlesse all things be reduced unto the same harmony in the understanding , wherewith they are knit , and fastened together out of it . i told you but even now , of many sorts of philosophy , which were devised at pleasure , and shortly after demolished by others . and we may say the same of many decrees , yea , and whole methods of divinity , that they may be built , and pulled downe againe , seeing they are not squared by the immutable rule of things , but by the leaden rule of this , or that noddle . i wish therefore that all these straggling methods fancied by luxuriant braines might be quite removed out of the way , that at last all things might be handled in one order , and method . for such is our christian philosophy , or rather pansophy , which we labour to promote , that therein all things arise out of unmoveable principles , unto unmoveable , and stable truth , so knitting and clasping one another with the armes of their perpetuall harmony , that this worke of the mind is as little subject to fall in sunder , as the world it selfe . so that as the world is not ordered at our discretion , but proceeds on immutably according to the lawes implanted in it : in like manner pansophy , which is nothing but the glasse or mirrour of the universe should be delivered in such a method , from which there is no starting aside , if a man would even burst himselfe with desire of change , or disagreement . which will be effected if all things be delivered demonstratively by their proper causes and effects . but hereto it will be requisite not to trust to externall testimonies , and traditions , but to the inward truth of things themselves . for authorities may as easily cast false colours over things , as yeeld them any light or illustration ; at least they doe distract the learner , and estrange his mind from the things unto themselves : but things themselves cannot make another manner of impression in the senses , then as indeed they are . and wheresoever sense is deficient , there reason furnished with its certaine rules must also act its part ; but when reason is a stand , we must then have recourse unto divine revelation . which three principles of knowledge are to be laid as the basis , and groundworke of pansophy , that the speeches and writings , which philosophers , or divines have vented forth , may not presently be held for oracles , but that rejecting all false spectacles , we may looke neerely unto things themselves , and by a diligent-search discover , what they will owne themselves to be . for wise , and able men have many times uttered such things as sound of levity , and vanity , which notwithstanding men-admirers admit promiscuously , and adore . it were easie enough to produce many examples hereof , but i forbeare , hoping , that when once a clearer light of truth is kindled , abundance of such things will lie open of themselves . 3. the third thing whereby truth is prejudiced , is , as i said , either the carelesnesse , or luxuriance of the stile wherein things are expressed . we call that a luxuriating stile , when in the explication of things , improper , tropicall , hyperbolicall , and allusive words or sentences , and expressions are used : especially when poets , or oratours ( and sometimes philosophers and divines acting their parts ) falling upon any subject , which they would amplifie , or extenuate according to their manner , use with their figures , and colours so to alter things , that for the most part they appeare not in their native , but in a borrowed , and adventitious forme . which is nothing else , but a painting , and false glasse , whereas truth ought to be beheld with a pure , and unaltering light . carelesnesse of stile is , when obscure words are used , or termes borrowed from a language which is not understood , such as greeke words are to the most part of men : or lastly , if such things as are not stable . truths , are set to sale , as the rules of truth . of which sort ( we must needs confesse , though it be shamefull to speake ) the bookes of philosophers and divines are too full . i may therefore boldly affirme , that the originall , and continuall cause of errours in learning , is that unhappy triplicity whereof i have spoken , i meane that divers sundring ; that divers transplacing , and changing ; and lastly , that divers moulding and mixing of things . for who can understand things as they are , while they are presented but in snatches and pieces ? while they are out of their proper series and order ? while they are under a strange forme ? for it is easie to erre in any particular object , while the generall symmetry of all things is unknowne ; and while their series , or order is not duely observed , it is easier to finde a labyrinth , then a guiding path ; and truth is very ready to glide away , while the eyes are bewitched with the false colours of their objects . hence is the off-spring of those infinite errours , and hence comes that fastidious multiplication , and confused chaos of bookes , that the world is scarce able to containe them . hence is that penury , and want of light in this enlightned age , ( as it will be termed ) that as tantalus in the water seekes for water ; so we seeke for light in light , and in bookes , want bookes , yea , and learning in the learned . i will not insist upon that too fruitfull mother of errours , partiality , and siding with sects . for galen hath bestowed a true and deserved character upon them , that those who addict themselves to sects , become both deafe and blind , so that they neither heare , nor see those things , which others easily both heare and see , yea , and dumb also , that they will not speake what is true , but rather oppose those that teach it ; like the drunken lapithae , who with their fists , and kickings , drove away the chirurgeon , that would have applied remedies to their wounds . the next thing is , that learning is not enough accommodated to the uses of our life , to teach us how to behaveour selves in the occurrences thereof . the fault whereof must be laid upon that inveterate custome , or rather disease of schooles , whereby all the time of youth is spent in grammaticall , rhetoricall , and logicall toyes ; those things which are reall , and fit to enlighten mens minds , and to prepare them for action , being reserved for the universities , that forsooth , their judgements being more ripe , and they able to undertake such things , they may make the more happy progresse . but it comes to passe for the most part , that as soone as the heat of youth is over , every man settles upon his severall way , and faculty , never minding any due preparation , or accomplishment for it . yea , and most of such as intend to be divines , politicians , or physitians , doe of set purpose skip over the studies of the metaphysicks , mathematicks , and naturall philosophy , as if they would be unprofitable staies , and hinderances in their way , whereas it is a great errour in them , seeing a solid judgement can never be attained without solid learning . the way to remedy this , will be to propound all things seasonably unto youth , and to make serious exercises the preparatives of serious employments . for seeing no man becomes a smith , but by hammering , nor a scribe , but by writing , nor a disputant , but by disputing ; children also must be framed to be men by handling humane things ; and by having all manner of occurrences of this life represented both to their notice , and practice while they are in schooles . yea , and all philosophy in generall must be so ordered , that it may be a lively image of things , and a secret fitting and dressing of mens minds for the businesses of this life . and for the last thing , what wonder can it be that learning doth not enough advance youth towards god ? for it is not yet purged , and cleared of the prophanenesse of the gentiles , which treateth rashly of god , and of his workes , without any knowledge , or due reverence of him , changing the glory of the incoruptible god into the similitude of corruptible things . for this is the cause , as the apostle saith , that the heathen philosophers became vaine in their imaginations , and thinking themselves wise , became fooles , and were given over of god unto the lusts of their hearts , and to uncleannesse , because they changed the truth of god into a lie , and worshipped , and served the creature , more then the creator , who is blessed for ever , rom. 1. but even unto this day the like gentilisme is in practise : the most part of those that are esteemed wise , are , as the others , wise without god , neither deriving their wisdome from him , nor directing it to him , but beginning , and ending in the creatures , without any thought of god ; and regarding , and serving onely themselves , and other corruptible things . god hath said , that he is alpha , and omega , the beginning , and the end of all , from whom , by whom , and in whom are all things . but who is there that makes him ( that is , his feare ) the beginning of his wisdome ? who makes him ( that is , his word and spirit ) his conductor unto wisdome ? who is there that terminates his wisdome in him , devoting himselfe , and all his endeavours to his glory ? these things are hidden from most mens eyes . our selves are all in all unto us : we beginne in confidence of our selves , we goe on by our strength , and light , and we intend all for our selves , for our owne profit and reputation . thus are we drawne about through the vanities of the creatures , slipping about by our selves , to our selves , and from our selves , untill even our selves also returne to vanity . this is the sad and dolorous way of all flesh , wherein many of the wisest of men stray unhappily from their god. the cure of this last and worst disease must be , by sowing and sprinkling abroad the seeds of the true knowledge , and feare of god through all this field of pansophie , that whither soever a man turne himselfe , he may see , that all things are nothing without god. yea , all our pansophie must be so husbanded , that it may perpetually spurre us forward to the seeking after god in every thing , and point us out the way where to find him , as also prepare our minds for the due embracing and acknowledgment of him ; that by this meanes it may be as a sacred ladder for our minds to clime up by all visible things , unto the invisible top of all things , the majesty of the highest god ( which by its splendor will shew us , how all inferior things are but the shadow of the true light ) there at last to repose our selves in that center of rest , and end of all our desires , and to bath in that fountaine of life , from which all the streames of blisse and pleasure flow for evermore . unlesse this end may be obtained ( with the other ) our selves , and all our actions , and endeavours are but vaine : wits will be still wandring in their perplexed labyrinths , schooles will be still rolling of their sisyphean stones , yea , and the whole world will goe on in its madding and reeling pace . now , seeing it is a matter so throughly serious , as wherein the glory of god , and the safety of mankind consisteth , we ought to solicite god with ardent supplications , that he would take pity upon us , and open our dimme eyes , that in his light wee may see light . and because christ said not onely , aske , and yee shall receive , but also , seeke , and yee shall find ; knocke , and it shall be opened unto you , matth. 7. 7. our desires , and prayers must be seconded with unwearied , and constant endeavours , that all veiles may be plucked off from things , and men may of all sides be prepared to behold in open , and cleare light all those wondrous things of god wherewith we are encompassed . and now behold ! i my selfe , the least of all , come forth to bring either a new light into the world , or some few sparkes to kindle it withall : conscious indeed of my too much weaknesse , yet by gods grace encouraged in humble expectation , that aid from heaven shall be supplied upon these my endeavours , which are intended for gods glory , and much peoples good . god is privy to the secrets of my heart , and knoweth that it was not confidence of mine owne abilities , which led me hither , but that i was , and am forced on by the pricks of mine owne conscience , that if i be any way able to profit others , i should desire and endeavour it , at least if i may but stirre up others , who are able to effect greater matters . for indeed this is the time above all ages that are past , both to hope , and to attempt greater things . for if the reader will but consider , he will easily see , that those many polishings of sciences , those trimmings of arts , those searches of secrets and hidden things , those conflicts of wit , and those many workes , and writings almost concerning every thing , which hitherto have beene made or published , are nothing else , but the materials of learning sought , as it were , out of every wood , and quarrey throughout the world , thence diversly wrought by divers workmen , and so brought together into various heapes , which yet lie severed , and not united . what then remaines , but that now at last we should use a skilfull hand in bringing these heapes of materials into their due forme and order ? that so there may be erected some universall temple of wisdome , truly glorious , and refulgent with the ornaments of harmony , and the light of truth : such as wee might justly apply that of lucretius unto it , sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere edita doctrina sapientum templa serena , despicere unde queas alios , passimque videre errare , atque vias palantis quaerere vitae . thus in english . no worldly pleasures may compare with this : well fenced to possesse faire wisdomes temples ( beauties rare ) high rais'd on learnings solidnesse . thence you may see , how others goe astray as men bewildred , groping for the way . or rather , that of solomon , wisdome hath builded her house , she hath hewen out her seven pillars ; shee hath killed her beasts ; shee hath mingled her wine : shee hath also furnished her table : shee hath sent forth her maidens ; shee crieth upon the highest places of the city , saying , come , eate of my bread , and drinke of the wine , which i have mingled : forsake the foolish , and live , and goe in the way of understanding , prov. 9. unlesse such a palace of true wisdome be attempted by the followers of wisdome , they will be like a slothfull builder , who is alwayes doing something about his building , but never drawing it towards an end . yea , and it is to be feared , that learning it selfe will at length fall with its owne weight , and be over-whelmed with such a vast floud of writers , if no dams be opposed thereunto . but in deed such skil in architecture is hereto requisite , as is not to be expected in any humane wit. for none but wisdome her self , can build an house fit for her self to dwel in . but where shall wisdome be found , and where is the place of understanding ? god alone understandeth the way thereof , and he knoweth the place thereof : he which looketh to the ends of the earth , and seeth under the whole heaven ; which maketh a weight for the winds , and spreadeth out the waters in measure ; which setteth lawes for the raine , and maketh way for the lightning of thunder : he alone seeth it , and declareth it , because he hath prepared , and searched it out , job . 28. 12 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27. therefore moses could not build a tabernacle for god , untill he was instructed of god himselfe , looke , saith god , and doe according to all the patterne which was shewed thee in the mount , exod. 25. 40. and praised be thou , o lord , for ever , which dost likewise give us thy workes and word for a patterne , whereby to erect this pansophy , or temple of wisdome : that as thy word and workes are a true and lively representation of thee : so this , which we are about , may prove a true , and lively image of thy word and works . i desire the learned to pardon me , of whose labours i now presume to shew my judgement . the most exact encyclopaedias , or sums of art , which i could ever lay my eyes upon , seemed to me like a chaine neatly framed of many linkes , but nothing comparable to a perpetuall mover , so artificially made with wheeles , that it turres it selfe : or like a pile of wood , very neatly laid in order , with great care , and diligence , but nothing like unto a tree arising from its living roots , which by its inbred vertue spreads it selfe into boughs , and leaves , and yeeldeth fruit . but that which we desire , is to have a living tree , with living roots , and living fruits of all the arts , and sciences , i meane pansophy , which is a lively image of the universe , every way closing , and agreeing with it selfe , every where quickning it selfe , and covering it selfe with fruit . that is ( to reflect a little to our former intentions ) we would have such a booke of pansophy compiled , which might be , i. a solid breviary of universall learning . ii. a cleare light for humane understanding . iii. an exact , and stable rule of truth . iv. a certaine and directive register of the affaires of our life . v. and lastly , an happy ladder leading us to god himselfe . or ( that i may otherwise expresse my desires ) i thinke that seeing god hath ordered all things in number , measure , and weight , wee ought also to take care , i. that all things that are , were , or shall bee throughout the world , may be numbred , and summed up , that nothing escape our knowledge . ii. that the just proportion of all things , as well in respect of the universe , as also among themselves may be laid open before our eyes . iii. that the weights of causes may be evident , and extant among us , whereby we may make exact triall of the truth of all things . the first will make learning to be universall , which is our first intention . the second will make it cleare , and distinct , which we also earnestly seeke . and the third will be a meanes to have it true and solid , which is our chiefe desire . i say , we would have such a booke compiled , which alone , instead of all , should be the spense , and store-house of universall learning : in which nothing should be wanting , and by reading whereof , wisdome should of its owne accord , spring up in mens minds , by reason of the cleare , distinct , and perpetuall coherence of all things arising out of their true veines , and rootes , that every thing may plainely appeare to be , as it is said to be , and that it can be no otherwise then it is , in regard of the immutable truth of things every where interwoven with it selfe . but all this we would have done compendiously , because we must have respect to the shortnesse , and frailty of our lives : and in a popular stile , which may bring light , and not darknesse into the understanding : and lastly , solidly , by a perpetuall connexion of causes , and effects ; because we seek for a true and firm foundation of truth , and not for any forged and false props of opinions : that so all things which may be known ( whether naturall , morall , or artificiall , or even metaphysicall ) may be delivered like unto mathematicall demonstrations , with such evidence and certainty , that there may be no roome left for any doubt to arise . by which meanes , not onely such things as are , will be certainely , and truly knowne , but also the floud-gates of infinite devices , deductions , and inventions , will be set wide open . o how much are these things to be desired ! what an improvement and bettering would this be of our mortality ! for seeing bookes are the instruments of transplanting wisdome , and an instrument perfectly good , or a rule without any default , keepes the workemans hand from going awry ; if such an instrument of learning , and teaching universall wisdome , as we have projected , and described , were extant among us , it would be beneficiall , not onely for the dextrous fashioning and instructing of youth , ( which melanchton in one place saith is an harder matter then the taking of troy ) but also for the opening of a way , wherby all the sonnes of men may readily attaine unto the true knowledge , and conceptions of things , that they may be wise both in beholding the works of god , and ordering of their owne . as for the darknesse of errors , it would flee amaine from the face of so cleare a light : and men , being busied onely about solidities , and bending through assured and certaine wayes unto serious ends , would easier leave off those dissentions , strifes , and warres , wherewith the world is now consumed . for a disordered , and stragling search of the truth of things must needs breed difference in opinions , and that againe will as easily produce a mutuall crossing of mens wils , and inclinations , which , when it comes to irritate , and exasperate their minds , breakes forth into open strife , and conflicts . but these occasions of differences , and contentions , and all by waies of error , would of themselves vanish away , if that one , and onely way of things , which is the way of truth , were but enough discovered . for by gods goodnesse this would be the meanes to heale up those wounds in schooles , churches , and common-wealths , and to restore peace to the christian world , that not onely all christian nations might flourish in the studies of true wisdome , and piety ; but even infidels themselves might partake of the same light , and be won to the embracing of christianity in this divinely revealed way of truth . and so at last we should see ( what gods sacred oracles have foretold , shall at length come to passe ) that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the lord , as the waters cover the sea , isa . 11. 9. and that the lord shall be king over all the earth , and there shall be but one lord , and his name one , zach 14. 9. and that the way of sion shall be so plaine , that even fooles shall not erre therein , isa . 35. 8. which is the same that another prophet hath foretold , that in the last dayes the mountaine of the house of the lord shall be established in the top of the mountaines , and it shall be exalted above the hils , and people shall flow unto it . and many nations shall come and say , come and let us goe up to the mountaine of the lord , that he may teach us of his wayes . and afterward : and they shall beate their swords into plough-shares , and speares into pruning-hookes : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation , neither shall they learne warre any more , micah . 4. 1. take pity upon us , o lord , and let thy peace rest upon jerusalem : let thy glory arise over us , that the nations may walke in thy light . but may such things be hoped for ? certainely we must not despaire of them , if this guide and director of humane understanding be once framed , whereby mens minds may be infallibly led by continuall degrees , and in open light from the groundworks , and fundamentalls unto the highest tops of things . for if wee come once by this meanes to behold the theater of gods wisedome , mens minds cannot but be filled with joy , and gladnesse , so that they will call one unto another , come and let us goe up to the mountaine of the lord , that he may teach us of his wayes . now that such a director ( or perfect method of pansophie ) is not to be despaired of , we have these perswasions . first , although things may seeme infinite and innumerable in respect of their multitude , not to be measured in regard of their divers disproportions : and unsearchable , by reason of that depth wherein truth is plunged : yet it is most certaine that all things are beneath man and subject to his understanding . for all things are made for his sake , but in an inferiour degree : hee therefore being the last accomplishment of the creation , and the most absolute image of his creator , containing in himselfe onely the perfections of all other things , why should he not at last habituate himselfe to the contemplation of himselfe , and all things else ? for seeing god hath appointed him to be a spectator of his wisedome , it is most certaine that he hath made him suitable to that e d : which would not be if he had made either things unproportionable to his understanding , or his understanding uncapable of the things . it may then be cōcluded that god alone is great over all , and his greatnesse is unsearchable , psal . 145. 3. all things else are made in number , weight and measure , wisd . 11. 20. isay 40. 12. they are therefore to be numbred , measured , & weighed , untill this universall harmony do clea ly appeare unto us . secondly , god hath made all things well , as the scripture saith , but every thing in his time , that is , by degrees . is it then in vaine , that god hath set the world in mens hearts , that is , a desire to find out those things which he worketh from the beginning to the end ? eccles . 3. 11. it would be in vaine , if that desire could not obtaine its end . but we must not ascribe any frustraneous actions unto that soveraigne wisedome . thirdly , wee have already great store of provision hereto , those bookes and monuments of mens diligence , compiled with great care and industry . can we thinke that all these have done nothing ? that cannot be in regard ( as i have shewed already ) of the supreme governour of all things , who will not suffer any thing , even errours themselves to be in vaine . let us grant therefore that they have erred , and beene deceived in most things , yet god who is the eternall , and unchangeable foundation of truth , will surely order the matter so , that even errours themselves will at last perforce be made subservient to the farther discovering and establishing of truth . now it is manifest , that many things are already found out , and why should we not hope , that the rest will follow ? it it no small matter that euclides , archimedes , and others have brought the knowledge of quantities to such evidence , and perfection , that even miracles may be effected by numbers , measures , and weights . it is not a thing of nothing , that hermeticall physitians , and others have by meanes of chymistry found how to extract the qualities out of naturall bodies , and to separate even the very essences of things . it is a matter of moment , which the lord verulam hath effected in his excellent novum organum , where he shewes the infallible way of making a narrow search into the natures of things : and that which jungius the saxon is now about , who laboureth to bring the art of logicke to such perfection , that the truth of propositions may be upheld , and all fallacies avoided , with as much certainty as any of euclides's problemes can be demonstrated : why should i adde any more ? as one pinne drives out another , so doth one invention thrust another forward , especially in this age so fruitfull of wits : and why should wee not hope for some invention of inventions , whereby the severall inventions , and endeavours of so many wits , may not onely in their matter , but even in their manner of discovery be united into one , and made common to mankind ? it would surely be an excellent thing . for if every one hath formerly had his owne sharpnesse of wit , his owne rules of proceeding , and his owne weights of judgement ; what might not be effected , if all these wits were united into one , their lawes into one , and their judgements into one ? the more candles , the greater light . if only the way be found out ; how all these lights may be united into one : that is , how those divers and infinite devises , inventions , and knowne truths , may be reduced unto one perpetuall , immutable , and eternall rule and manner of inventing , knowing and devising . for if this be found out , that which we seeke for , is easily obtained . and why may it not be found out ? we are already possessed of more than a contemptible store of knowne truths ; and for our farther progresse , we are provided of such light of method , as wee need not feare walking in the darke . onely let us presse forward unto the utmost bounds of method , and of things themselves . for where there is a progresse , there will at last be an end . eternity onely , to which we are appointed , doth bound our minds , but all temporary things are within the bounds , and compasse of our minds : if only we be but acquainted with their rootes , and grounds , those immutable , constant and eternall conceptions , and lawes of things , by which all things are first made , and so continue . we have also an expresse promise concerning the latter times , that many shall runne to and fro , and knowledge shall be encreased , dan. 12. 4. many have already passed to and fro , and have searched out ( in this our age more than ever ) both heaven , and earth , seas , and islands , even the whole kingdome of nature ; as also the holy scriptures , and those divine oracles after a various manner . and what remains then , but that the other part of the prophesie should also take its turne to be fulfilled ? but let us now at length come up closer with the thing in hand , i meane , the meanes whereby so great a designe may be duly accomplished : which though it may somewhat appeare from that , which hath beene already said concerning both the causes , and the remedies of that confusion , which is in learning ; yet we will enter into a more expresse , and particular discourse of them . i thinke therefore that we can never attaine unto the universall knowledge , possession , and use of all things , unlesse by a new and universall , i. revising of all our goods , with all the inventories of them . ii. comparing of those inventories , with the things themselves , to see whether they are so indeed , as our registers , and accounts relate unto us . iii. by a new and universall disposing of those things , which we find certaine , unto new , and universall uses . the revising of our goods shall be to this purpose , that we be not ignorant , what is our proper inheritance , and what is worthy for us to employ our minds about . for it is too true , that men know not their owne goods ; i meane , that the whole world , and the creatures thereof are their possession , and that they partake of eternity with god himselfe . the little thought and knowledge , or beliefe whereof , is the cause that most men casting themselves into vaine , base , and pernicious courses , are at last disherited for their unworthinesse . therefore christians must be taught throughly to consider , what is meant by that of the apostle ; whether the world , or life , or death , or things present or things to come , all are yours , and ye are christs , and christ is gods , 1 cor. 3. 22. neither was it any word of course , when i said , that we must revise our inventories : for our riches are so abundant , and so various , that few know what names to give them , much lesse do they comprehend , what they are , and what care is fitting for us to bestow upon them . all those things are therefore to be described to men very plainly , and clearly , like the law , deut. 27. 8. and because they must be accurately described , we must have a speciall care , that nothing be left out ; wee must therefore search all former registers , both generall and particular , old and new , by whomsoever set forth . for although there is a vast number of them , yet he , who will undertake to make a true survey , and synopsis of all things , must of necessity undergoe this taske . and it is greatly to be wished , that more were extant . but many famous monuments of learning are utterly lost , among which are the histories of living creatures , and plants compiled by solomon the wisest of kings , which seeing it is in vaine to hope for ; or desire : we must make use of such as we have , especially gods owne booke , the holy scriptures , which are nothing else but gods owne commentary upon those things which god bestowes upon us in this life , and reserveth for us in the future . and because gods spirit scarcely descendeth unto things of a lower nature , but chiefly teacheth us that which concerns our spirituall estate , we must therefore make use of those which treat of inferiour matters , as philosophers , physicians , historians , cosmographers , lawyers , mechanicks , and all such as are happy in various inventions , that out of all particular sciences may at last result one universall science of sciences , and art of arts , which is pansophy . but our intention is not , that the various opinions of severall authors should be heaped up in this booke , as their practise is , who esteeme of learning by much reading , and who take no further care , if they can but recite the divers opinions of divers men , or spread their names a little by publishing some botcherly mingle-mangle of collections out of others . nor do we drive so much at this , that severall opinions may be collected and compar'd among themselves , as they do , that fill up large volumes with handling questions to and fro , on both sides , and confuting such as agree not with themselves . but our maine aime is , that all who have written any thing concerning piety and good manners , or concerning the arts and sciences , not respecting whether they be christians , or mahumetans , jewes or pagans , and of what sect soever , pythagoreans , acadmians , peripateticks , stoicks , esseans , greekes , latines , ancient or moderne doctors , or rabbins , every church , synod , and councell , that all , i say , be admitted , and heard to see what they will bring in for the compiling of this philosophicall worke . and this we advise for these reasons , i. because that which we goe about , is an universall treasurie of wisedome for the common interest , and behoofe of mankind , therefore it is just that all nations , sects , ages , and wits , should contribute towards it . ii. all of us , as soone as we come into this world , sit as spectators in this common amphitheater of gods wisedome : and wee christians have moreover , the light of divine revelation equally granted unto us all : and why should not the very meanest have liberty , if he thinkes that he seeth any thing worthy of observation , to point it out , and shew it unto others . iii. it is not likely , that any one alone , or some few men of an age or two , have had the priviledge to see all things , and others to see nothing : but as no soyle yeelds all kind of fruits , and yet every one yeelds something in their seasons yeare after yeare : so god also scattereth in mens minds various sparkes of his light respectively , in divers nations , and ages . the wind bloweth where it listeth , saith christ , speaking of the holy ghost , and his operations . and there want not examples of some , out of the bounds of the church , whom the spirit of wisedome hath severally inspired : as job , elephaz , elihu , mercurius trismegistus , socrates , epictetus , cicero . therefore none must be contemned , especially in such things , wherein the light of nature may guide us : for , quandoque est olitor satis opportuna locutus : the delving gardner often hits aright upon those things , which flee our soaring sight . the lord verulam saith very well , that the divers opinions of men concerning the nature of things , are like divers glosses upon the same text , whereof one is more exact in one part , another in another , each of them helping you to something observable . let it therefore be agreed : that there is no booke so bad , wherein some good thing or other may not be found : and if nothing else , yet it may occasion us to amend some errour . iv. it is certaine that no man would willingly erre ( for to what end should he do it ) but then men erre , when they are deceived by some similitude of truth . for errours also have their pretenses of reasons to maintaine them , which must therefore be heard , because we have to do with man a reasonable creature . so by collation of reason , the false colours will easily be discovered , and the shadow will fly away before the light . v. when any one is condemned before he be heard , how just soever his condemnation be , yet justice her selfe suffereth violence thereby : for it is possible that the case may be otherwise , than it was apprehended upon hearesay , therefore all things must be first certainly known . that i may onely mention that phantasticall , and supercilious practise of some , who for some opinion , or suspicion , which they have formerly entertained , beare such prejudice against others , that they will not so much as give their reasons the hearing . is not this to say racha to his brother ? matth. 5. 22. vi. let it be granted that some men have committed great errours in this , or that matter : yet who knowes not , that wisemen by seeing others errours , learne to avoid them ? many usefull things will be continually suggested from former errours , and their occasions , to those that will be undertakers in this worke of pansophie , for the better trimming and polishing of it . vii . it is to be wished , that men may once at last be unburdened of their troublesome dissentions , and that sects and strife may cease , but that will never bee , unlesse first all suspicions be left off , wherein men are intangled one with another . now suspicions cannot be avoided , where either part is unsatisfied in their owne , or the others meaning , and doubts . and these things can never be cleared , unlesse both opinions be mildly heard , and compared together , and then examined by the same lawes of cleare and undeniable truth , which both sides shall consent upon . viii . lastly , it is very observable , that at the building of the tabernacle by moses , and of the temple by solomon , the israelites offered not onely of their owne , but also of the spoiles , which they had taken away from the enemies of god , as the egyptians , philistines , and ammonites ; and that they were accepted of by the builders . for gold was sought for on every side , and there were pretious stones offered before they came to the holy land , and cedar wood was brought from libanus , at the building of the temple , all making for the glory of the god of israel , and the splendour of his house . as also in the re-edifying of the temple by zorobabel , god stirred up the heart of cyrus the king , that he not only offered of his owne royall treasure , but also gave commandement to his subjects through all his dominions , to helpe the israelites every one in his owne place of dwelling , with silver , and gold , and substance , and cattell , ezra 1. v. 3 , 4 , 7. and why should not the builders of the temple of wisedome accept of every thing from what hand soever , which may make for the beauty and ornament of it ? even the gibeonites themselves , though accursed , may be employed for the hewing of wood , and drawing of water for the house of our god , josh . 9. 23. if any man taxe mee , that i have formerly beene of another mind , that i have inclined to partiality , and sided with a particular sect , instilling into others a dislike of aristotle , and the heathen authors . i will not deny but that i have beene carried away by the example of those , who with nehemiah were piously zealous , because the children of the israelites running up and downe jerusalem , knew not how to speake the jewes language perfectly , but mixed it with the language of ashdod , nehem. 13. 24. i meane , because the wisedome and eloquence of the gentiles beare more sway in our schooles , than true christian , and saving knowledge , which is abominable , and better it is a thousand times , that heathen wisedome should be utterly stripped of all her inticing dresses , and allurements , then that any soule , which christ would have to be filled with his spirit , should be thereby endangered , or subverted . but seeing , that we meddle not here concerning the sway , which paganisme beareth , or of the dangerous mixture of it with christianity ; but only how to make all the earth tributary unto christ the king of all the world , and how all those rivulets , which have any way dispersed themselves from this fountaine of wisedome may with the losse onely of their filth , be returned to their fountaine head ; let even the gentiles , and arabians therefore be admitted to furnish us with such ornaments , as they are able for the beauty of this house of god. especially seeing not onely the maine businesse of our salvation is regarded in our pansophie , but even the affaires of this life also , wherein seeing the gentiles chiefly imployed themselves , they cannot but have observed profitable things , which to loath , and reject for their sakes , would be but fond , and superstitious vanity . we will therefore give them admittance , but upon this condition , that whatsoever they have thought , written , or found out , which appeares to be true , considerate , and pious , shall be applyed to common use , and benefit : but wherein soever they are convicted to have done , or said any thing unmeet , or contrary to truth , or piety , therein they shall be for ever silenced , lest piety be any more borne down by profanenesse , truth by errour , or light by darknesse . but herein wee had need to deale fairely with much judgement , and moderation , lest wee be too facile in passing censure upon others . for if we be prepossessed with suspicion , or carried away with affection , we oftentimes are ready to fasten errours upon others , which they themselves will not owne , and to wrest their expressions , and words contrary to their meaning : whereas every one is , and ought to be his owne best interpreter . aristotle himselfe in this regard hath not the best report , for his practising to raise the credit of his owne workes , by his confuting of the ancient philosophers without making any true and just report of their opinions . which if it be true ( as i will not determine ) it may be a warning for all the undertakers of pansophy , where no partiall victory , but an universall harmony is to be sought ) that as much as may be , all differences in opinions may be reconciled , and brought to consonancie , by reducing them to the meane and certaine truth . thus farre concerning a review of all things , and their registers . i told you moreover , that it is needfull we should compare them one with the other to see whether all things , that are to be found in nature , are duly entred , and whether all things that are entred , can any where be found , and whether things are so indeed , according as they are registred ? for unlesse things be truly stowed , as they are in themselves , mens understandings are easily confounded and entangled in errours . now it is most certaine that many things are entred in the catalogues of the learned ( especially by some sects , which vent dreames and shadowes instead of realities ) which can no where be found among things themselves : and againe , that the treasuries of god , and nature containe many things in them , which are not yet come to our knowledge : and lastly , that very many things are otherwise in themselves , than our bookes tell us : so that it is exceeding necessary to have such a collation made between these commentaries , & the things themselves . for when this is done ( and not before ) as well all defects as superfluities , and errors will be manifest : so that then it will be an easie matter to supply , or amend them , or to take them quite away . but what mortall man is sufficient for such a taske ? seeing the multitude and variety both of naturall and supernaturall , morall , and artificiall things is so infinite ? for if those who have formerly laboured in the search of particular things , have met with such knots , and rubs , that their endeavours have for the most part sate downe , and rested themselves upon that grand complaint of the intricate subtilty of nature , of the unsearchable complication , and intervening of causes , of the implacable hostility of contraries every where occurrent , and lastly , of the great weaknesse , and insufficiencie of humane understanding for the compassing of them all : what then may hee expect that shall goe about to rip them all up from the very bottome ? but we must not utterly despaire . art many times helps us to effect that which no strength is able to performe : which seemeth not to have beene enough observed by those which have hitherto searched into the nature of things , who have strained to breake through those great lets , onely by the force and strength of wit , and the assaults of continuall diligence ; whereas notwithstanding the understanding left unto it selfe , like a naked and empty hand , is able to do no great matters : but every thing is more easily and certainly accomplished with helps , and instruments . therefore herein it will be requisite to be furnished with some rules , by application whereof unto things themselves , and to all opinions , and decrees concerning them , we may be able to discerne necessary things , from such as are not necessary , profitable things from unprofitable , and truth from falshood . such a kind of rule , for the searching out of nature , seemeth to have beene found out by the famous lord verulam : a certaine artificiall induction , which indeed is the onely way to pierce through into the most abstruse secrets of nature . but because this requireth the continuall industry of many men , and ages , and so is not onely laborious , but seemeth also to be uncertaine in the event and successe thereof ; hence it comes to passe , that though it be a most excellent invention , yet the most part of men neglect it as unprofitable . yet notwithstanding it is of no great use , or advantage towards our designe of pansophy , because ( as i said before ) it is onely intended for the discovery of the secrets of nature , but wee drive and aime at the whole universality of things . it will be therefore requisite for us to search out some other more universall rule , which perhaps god of his great mercy will upon our diligent endeavour vouchsafe to reveale unto us : who therefore hides himselfe , that he may be sought , and therefore will be sought that hee may be found , esay 45. 14 , 15 , 19. he which hath inflamed thine heart to seeke him ( saith beatus fulgentius ad monimum ) will by no meanes suffer thee to lose thy end of seeking ; for his faithfull promise can by no meanes be made void , which saith , aske , and ye shall receive , seeke , and yee shall find , knocke , and it shall be opened unto you . being now therefore about to unfold , what god hath revealed unto us , and given us to see upon our asking , seeking , and knocking . i first crave , and humbly begge the pious attention of all such as are able to judge of things of this nature . and for the thing it selfe i will briefly dispatch it in a few aphorismes . 1. there are three things which accomplish that knowledge which is possible for our condition , yea , which rather raise it to a kinde of omniscience , the knowledge of god , nature , and art. by art we understand whatsoever is compassed by humane industry , as our thoughts , words , and actions : by nature we meane whatsoever comes to passe of its owne accord by those dispositions implanted in things : by god , all that power , wisdome , and goodnesse , which lying hid from eternity , hath hitherto displayed it selfe unto us , either in divine words or workes : he that knowes these three , knowes all things , for of these three the whole world consists . 2. a perfect knowledge of these three ought to be sought for . lest we should thinke we have enough , if we know something of god , something of nature , and something of art , ( for so much may be said of the veriest fooles and idiots ) but that we may have a full and perfect understanding of all things that may be knowne . 3. knowledge is then onely perfect , when it is true . for if it be not true , in stead of realities , it exhibits phantasmes , and ends in a meere mockery . 4. knowledge is true , when things are knowne as they are . for if they be otherwise apprehended then they are , it is no knowledge , but errour . 5. things are knowne as they are , when they are knowne according as they were made . for every thing is so as it was made , or else things must have degenerated from that they were . 6. every thing was made according to its proper idea , that is according to to such a conception , by which it might be such as it is . for unlesse things could be , they should not be , and unlesse they could be such or such , they should not be so : that possibility therefore of being such , or such , is called an idea , whereby a thing is such as it is . 7. therefore all things that are , are made according to their idea's , whether they be workes of god , of nature , or of art. for seeing an idea is a certaine rule of things , god cannot bee thought to doe any thing without idea's , that is , without a certaine rule , as who is of himselfe the rule of all rules : so likewise nature when she effects most orderly workes , cannot worke without a rule ; as neither can art , which is natures ape . 8. art borrowes the ideas of its workes from nature , nature from god , but god hath them onely from himselfe . it is commonly enough knowne , that art is lame without nature , that art is the daughter , follower , and imitator of nature ; and as truly may we speake it of nature in respect of god , that without him she can doe nothing , that she is his daughter , follower , and imitatour . but god imitates none but himselfe , because he neither can , nor will doe otherwise : he cannot , because he can behold nothing but himselfe in his infinite eternity : whence then should he borrow either the beginning , or rule of his works ? neither will he , for seeing he is most perfect , he can will nothing but that which is most perfect : now nothing can be said to be most perfect , but that one , onely eternall , and perfect good , which is himselfe . if any man say , that god did take liberty to himselfe to thinke of other rules for the forming of things , i aske then to what end he did so ? if god doe nothing in vaine now in his ordinary concurrence with nature , why should he be thought to have done so at the beginning ? why should he bethinke himselfe of any other way , when himselfe was the most infinite patterne of all perfection ? was it , that he might conceale his owne majesty , no ; for it was his owne good purpose to display it visibly , rom. 1. 20. was it that he might manifest the depth of his wisdome by that looking off from himselfe ? neither ; for this would prove a diminution of the fulnesse of his glory , if he could find out any perfection , which was not in himselfe , which is impossible . therefore it is most certaine , that both the creatures , and their idea's have issued from this one fountaine . and seeing that among the creatures every agent naturally labours to assimilate its object unto it selfe , why should we not acknowledge the same in god , who hath imprinted this property in the creatures ? especially seeing god can find nothing fit to be the end of his works , but himselfe . therefore we conclude that god takes from himselfe the rule of his workes , as well at the end of them , and power to effect them ; the matter onely whereof the creatures are compos'd , and wherein they differ chiefely from their creator , he takes out of nothing . 9. god therefore in framing of the world , figureth out himselfe so as the creature is wholly proportioned to the creator . even as the impression answereth alwayes to the stamp , although sometimes it be more , sometimes lesse evident ; whence arise divers degrees of this proportion . so the sonne of god is called the expresse image of his father , heb. 1. 3. and yet man is said to be made after the image of god , gen. 1. 26. 1 cor. 11. 6. yea , and all other things are said to resemble him in some sort ; for it is said , that the invisible things of god are seene from the beginning of the world in those things which are made , rom. 1. 20. and that in the greatnesse and beauty of created things their creator may be proportionably knowne , wisd . 13. 5. and hereupon it was that the gentiles entitled nature not onely the daughter of god , but said that its selfe was god. nature is nothing else , saith seneca , but god , and divine law implanted in the whole world , and all its parts , de benef. 4. c. 7. 10. and because all things are partakers of divine ideas , hence also it comes to passe that they partake one of another , and are proportioned one to the other . for those things that agree in any third thing , agree among themselves . 11. therefore the conceptions of all things are the same , nor is there any difference , but in the manner of their existence , because in god they are as in their * originall , in nature as in the * coppy , in art as in the * counterfeit . even as in a seale the form is one and the same , which is first conceived in the mind of him , that graves it , or commands it to be graven : then as it is engraven in metall ; and lastly , as it is stamped upon wax : for although it be threefold , yet it is the same , because the second is formed by the first , the third by the second , each of them after the resemblance of that which is next before it in order . so these ideas being first conceived in god , imprint their likenesse in the creatures ; and likewise the reasonable creatures in things , which they themselves effect . 12. therefore the ground as of the framing , so of the knowledge of all things is harmony . that which the musicians call harmony , is a sweet consonancie of diverstones : the like exact agreement is to be found in the eternall perfections of god , with those which are created in nature , and those which are expressed in art : for each of them is harmonious in it selfe , as also in mutuall respect one to the other . nature is the image of divine harmony , and art of nature . 13. the first thing required in harmony , is that there he nothing dissonant . musical harmony is composed of most different , & contrary tones , and yet there is a certaine consonancie to be found in their contrariety : so the whole world is composed of contraries ; ( because without them the truth , and order , & essence of the world would fall ) as also the scripture containeth many things in it , which seeme to oppose one another , all which notwithstanding have a perfect agreement in themselves , and so are to be disposed in our understandings towards a perfect harmony ; that so there may bee an universall consent , as in divine , so in humane workes and words , all seeming dissonancies vanishing of themselves . the want of the understanding of this mystery , is the reason that philosophers , and divines doe picke out of nature and scripture , one this thing , another that , opposing nature to nature , scripture to scripture , and thereupon drawing out contrary senses fall into contentions , and differences among themselves : which thing cannot chuse but vanish of it selfe , if once the light of this universall harmony doe but appeare . for truth is one , and every way agreeing with it selfe . 14. the second thing required in harmony , is that all things have a perfect consonancie and agreement . it is manifest both in naturall , and artificiall things , that all are framed according to harmony : so in a beast , a tree , a musicall instrument , a ship , a booke , an house , all the parts are necessarily proportionate , as to the whole , so to one another . but some men may make a question , whether divine things have any proportion with things naturall , and artificiall ? for it may be thought , that it best becomes the divine majesty to have nothing common with the creatures . but we must observe , that whatsoever is to be found in the counterfeit , is first , and by way of excellencie in the patterne : so the river proceeds from the fountaine , the shadow from the body , and the image in a glasse from the thing it represents . againe , if the workes of nature are so absolute , and exact , that there is no place left for new additions thereunto , ( as galen confesseth , lib. 6. de usu part . cap. 1. ) and if the nature of nature be unchangeable , and unalterable ( as tertullian witnesseth against valent. cap. 9. 29. ) what then is nature , but a lively image of him in whom all things are first , and by way of excellencie , good , perfect , and unchangeable ? lastly , in the scripture god attributes to himselfe eares , eyes , a mouth , hands , feet , an heart , a face , and back parts : also he stiles himselfe , fire , a rocke , a tower , an anchor : to what purpose is all this , if these things cannot represent god ? but if on the otherside they can , and doe represent him , then it is certainely no otherwise then he is , seeing the word of god is the rule of truth . we are not ignorant , that all these things are spoken figuratively , ( for we will not goe a madding with the anthropomorphites ) but no man can deny , but that all these figures have their ground , and foundation in the proportion , and identity of the things themselves : for every thing must first be , before it can be predicated . therefore as artificiall things are proportioned unto things naturall , so are naturall things unto divine . 15. the third property of harmony is , that though the variety of sounds and melodies be infinite , yet all ariseth out of some few principles , and certaine different moods . for all different harmonies , whatsoever have , or can be invented , arise onely from seven notes , and three concords . all corporeall things that are contained in the world , are composed of those few elements , and some few differences of qualities : and so of the rest : so that the multitude and variety of things is nothing else but the various iteration of the same things : as for example upon a tree , though there are millions of leaves , yet all are of the same figure , colour , and vertue ; yea , and all trees of the same kind through the whole world grow after the same sort , and have the same active and passive dispositions . so also the trees of severall kinds agree in many things among themselves . 16. therefore all things will be knowne , if their principles , and the manner of their differences be discovered . for as in musick , he that knowes the nature of the severall tones , and moods , will easily be able both to sing , and compose any kind of melody ; yea , such a way is found out , that players on instruments , are able by looking upon one onely generall base , to play many parts at once without any kind of discord : so also it is infinite , that he may both understand , and performe , that doth but comprehend the generall natures of artificiall , naturall , and supernaturall things . as for example , he that knowes what fairenesse or beauty is of it selfe , and whereof it consists , will easily be able to know what is meant by a faire soule , a beautifull body , a faire colour , faire manners , or the like . againe , whatsoever doth not agree with that idea , will easily appeare not to be faire or beautifull . the opening of these fountaines will afford us the knowledge of a world of things . 17. now these common natures of things are to be abstracted from the things themselves , and to be laid for the common rules of all things . as for example , the nature of faire , good , perfect , profitable of life , sense , &c. is to be sought for in things which are faire , good , perfect , &c. and this must be done by a prudent , and diligent separating of those things which are not of the essence of beauty , goodnesse , or perfection ; untill the formes and natures of them remaine cleared from all other conceptions . for all things that are , have their common nature , or conception , whereby they are : therefore they all necessarily meet in some common manner of being : as also all living things in some manner of life ; sensitive creatures in their sensation : and those things that are beautifull in some manner of being , for which they are so called : and so of others . if therefore such common notions , and ideas were accurately abstracted from all things , it would prove a generall key to let us in unto the knowledge of things , a rule for all sorts of operations , it would point out many new inventions , and be the touchstone of all opinions , in a word , a most large field for all pleasant speculations . 18. but these rules of truth must be abstracted from such things as cannot be otherwise then they are , and such as are obvious to every one for making experiments in them all , i meane from naturall things . for divine things are of themselves unsearchable , and are knowne onely so farre , as they are shadowed but in nature , or revealed by the word of god : on the other side , art borrowes all its reason and certainty from nature , and is often deceived . therefore the field of nature chiefly is that , wherein we must search for these idea's , yet not neglecting the help of gods word , the holy scripture , wherein the truest , and amplest designment of the workes of god ( that is , what he hath done , doth , and will doe , and to what end ) is to be found . therefore the rules , whereby our pansophy is to bee evected , must be borrowed from these two , nature , and scripture , whereby all things great and small , high and low , first and last , visible , created and uncreated , may be reduced to such an harmony ( or pan-harmony rather ) as which is true , perfect , and every way compleat , and satisfactory to it selfe , and to things themselves . thus farre have we proceeded in the laying downe of rules for the revising of all things anew : it followes now , that we declare the manner how they are to be disposed of . for we thinke such a method is necessary for our pansophy , as is absolutely perfect , whereunto nothing may be added , and such an one as may so knit mens minds unto the things themselves , that they may find no end , but in the end , and may first reape some solid fruit of their endeavours , before they perceive any difficulties therein ; which we conceive may be attained , 1. by an accurate anatomizing of the whole universe , if all the veines , and joynts thereof be so cleared , and laid bare , that there may nothing lie hid from our sight , but every thing may appeare in his proper place without any confusion . 2. it is necessary , that the true signification of words ( especially such as are of more generall use ) be fully agreed upon , that homonymies , and ambiguons expressions breed no more dissentions ; and this will be effected by accurate definitions of things , such as mathematicians usually premise before their demonstrations . 3. next after the divisions and definitions of things shall follow their rules , lawes , and canons , with their demonstrations annexed . 4. it is also requisite , that both divisions , definitions , and canons , should be 1. very cleare and perspicuous , 2. of certaine use and benefit , 3. altogether true * , in themselves , in all times and places . for the want of these three conditions , hath not without cause beene hitherto excepted against , both in the writings of philosophers , and divines . many things are set downe so obscurely , that even mercury himselfe would want another mercury to explaine them . many things againe of very little , or no use , and some things which are onely accidentally true . for example , that metaphysicall theoreme substantia non recipit magis & minus , is neither true , nor if it be true , is it of any use . for he that is fully growne up is more a man then an embryo , or infant in the womb : an eagle is more a bird then a bat : the sunne is more light then the moone . and is it not a vaine thing to say , every hogge is an hogge , and every horse is an horse ? for who would gain-say this , or who needs to be told it ? therefore the precepts of pansophy ought to containe nothing in them , but what is worth our serious knowledge . 5. the generall precepts of pansophy ought to be nothing but reall and practicall axioms , that is , sentences gaining credit of themselves , not to be demonstrated ( a priori ) but onely to be illustrated by examples : as which , so soone as they are understood , cannot but be allowed by all men for a rule of truth . for such generall notions naturally stamped upon our minds , will be like fire-brands to kindle the light of truth , that it may shine unto us in all particulars , and withall will be the first moving wheeles in all our operations . but we must have a speciall care , lest we admit any things for axiomes , which are not so indeed . for it is not without cause that the l. verulam , streso , and others complaine , that the vulgar canons in logick are so farre from being exact rules of truth , or usefull in demonstrations , that they serve onely for disputation , which is performed by excepting , distinguishing , limiting , instancing , and retorting , and indeed appeares to be nothing else but a learned brangling . 6. all particular theorems throughout the whole pansophy , must be onely speciall diductions of those generals , which went before , without any new addition ; as we see it comes to passe in the growth of trees , and living creatures , new boughs , or members are not brought forth ever yeere , but the former onely grow towards perfection . pansophy being prepared after this sort will be , 1. easie to be apprehended , for one thing will issue out of the other ; 2. it will be satisfactory in matter of truth , when all things that follow are grounded in those that went before ; 3. it will bee of excellent use : for it will be as a cleare mirrour , wherein to behold the natures and grounds of all things that can be known : and indeed such a booke would not onely prove a nursery for all sort of knowledge , but it would also water it , and make it take the deeper root : so that learners should no more be allured by perswasions , but rather compelled by demonstrations to assent to that which is truth , which is the onely way to make one firmely grounded in knowledge . as it is not usuall therefore among mathematicians to say , pythagoras affirmes , that three times three are nine , or euclides makes three sorts of continuall quantity , a line , a superficies , and a solid body . all geometricians agree in this , that the three angles of a triangle , are equall to two right angles ; and he would be hissed at , that should in such things vouch their authorities ; but their manner hath beene to prove by demonstration , that those things are so , and can be no otherwise , though there had never beene any such as euclides or pythagoras : so we would have men ashamed to alledge authorities hereafter , either in metaphysicks , physicks , ethicks , or politicks , wheresoever reason may suffice . now we have designed this in such a method , as that the whole worke of pansophy may proceed on without any repetitions , and that the succinctnesse , and brevity thereof may not ( though the worke be full of closely-couched solidities ) make it the more obscure : for seeing it proceeds on by degrees , those things that goe before will easily cast light upon such as follow . and so may that rule of fortification , no place defends it selfe , but is defended by another , be happily put in practise also in writing of bookes , if all things that are delivered , receive both light and strength from such as were formerly knowne , but in matters of greater moment , the authority of the holy scripture will be requisite to be added , as the witnesse of god himselfe : as also such things must be shewed , and manifested to the very senses , that every man may have liberty to make experiment himselfe of their truth : that , as among mathematicians upon the demonstration of a theoreme necessarily ensues the perfect knowledge thereof , and also a probleme being demonstrated the effect certainely followes : so the precepts of pansophy may supply us with a certainty both of knowledge and operation . 7. but if there remaine any thing , which cannot be so certainely demonstrated , and yet is profitable to be knowne , let such things be referred among those that are farther to be enquired of , or else the reasons of both parts may be set downe ; that every one may have liberty to use his owne judgement in enclining to either part ; as also that an occasion may be prepared for some or other afterward to dissolve those doubts , and to find out the certaine truth of them . for god communicates his light unto men , but by degrees , and we know that soft and faire goes farre . in the meane while , such things , as shall be perfectly demonstrated , though perhaps they will be few in number , yet they will be of excellent use . for it is farre better to possesse a certaine , full , and perfect knowledge , though but of few things , then to tumble about in uncertainty through the whole intellectuall world . now betweene this booke of pansophy ( if it be once perfected ) and other bookes of continuall use amongst us , there would be as great difference , as there is betweene a musicall instrument exactly framed for a full harmony , and many others that are bounded in compasse of a few notes , and out of tune : or as there is betweene a tune accurately set , or prickt ( by looking on which alone an organist or other musitian is able to expresse most various melodie ) and those sets of musicall bookes in parts , which can onely be made use of by many together , and perhaps many times are full of discords . which booke so often as i consider with my selfe , how greatly it would advance the study of wisedome , i have not , nor do not cease to put up my humble requests unto god , that he would please to stirre up some noble , and heroick minds for the kindling of so great a light in the world . and seeing that he hath made mee one of those , who are sensible of humane imperfection , and do earnestly desire that things may be brought to a better stay : i thought that i should not transgresse the bounds of my duty , if i my selfe should make triall , whether his divine goodnesse would make use of mee ( for that heavenly wind bloweth where it listeth ) for the communicating some small light unto others , or at least , that i should be a spurre unto others , upon whom that divine goodnesse hath bestowed more leisure , parts , and learning for the effecting of greater matters of this sort , then can be performed by me . and what blame can it be to mee , if my desires have beene very vehemently bent towards the benefitting of christian youth , either by my selfe , or others ? yea , and i did greatly feare , lest this so necessary a designe should go no further than mens desires , if my selfe should publish my owne good wishes onely . i have therefore attempted something according to that little which god hath bestowed upon mee , that by that small taste , i might be the better understood , and others also whom god shall please to excite thereunto , may have an example for to follow . but i may not passe over in silence , what the occasion was , which set mee upon so great a worke , as also what order , and method i have used in the compiling of it , and lastly , what successe i have found according to mine owne apprehension : all these i must say something of , because without propounding my owne intentions , i cannot expect from others either any sound or favourable censure of them . but for that which i have performed herein , it shall speake for its selfe in our booke of pansophie , by perusing whereof it will be easie for judicious minds to resolve themselves . it is now above twenty yeares since i was first touched with this desire of searching out some meanes for the easing of those difficulties , that are usuall in the study of learning , and that by occasion of mine owne unhappinesse , which , alasse ! deprived mee of the most part of my youth . for loosing both my parents , while i was yet a child , i began through the neglect of my guardians , but at sixteene yeares of age , to taste of the latine tongue . yet by the goodnesse of god , that taste bred such a thirst of desire in mee , that i ceased not from that time by all meanes and endeavours , to labour the repairing of my lost years : and now not onely for my selfe , but for the good of others also . for i could not but pity others also in this respect , especially in my owne nation , which is too too sloathfull , and carelesse in matter of learning . thereupon i was continually full of thoughts for the finding out of some meanes , whereby more might be enflamed with the love of learning , and whereby learning it selfe might be made more compendious both in matter of the charge , and cost , and of the labour belonging thereunto , that so youth might be brought in a more easie method unto some notable proficiencie in learning . but beeing shortly after at the age of 24. called to the service of the church , because that divine function challenged all my endeavours , these scolasticke cares were laid aside untill five yeares after : when being by gods permission banished my country with divers others , and forced for my sustenance to apply my selfe to the instruction of youth , i gave my mind to the perusall of divers authors , and lighted upon many , which in this age have made a beginning in reforming the method of studies , as ratichius , helvicus , rhenius , ritterus , glaumius , coecilius , and who indeed should have had the first place , joannes valentinus andreae , a man of a nimble and cleare braine : as also companella , and the lord verulam , those famous restorers of philosophy : by reading of whom i was raised in good hope , that at last those so many various sparkes would conspire into a flame : yet observing here and there some defects , and gaps as it were , i could not containe my selfe from attempting something that might rest upon an unmoveable foundation , and which if it could be once found out , should not be subject to any ruine . therefore after many workings , and tossings of my thoughts , by reducing every thing to the immoveable lawes , and rules of nature , i lighted upon my didactica magna , which shewes the art of readily , and solidly teaching all men all things . according to the canons and rules whereof , when i had assayed a compendious way of teaching the languages , and had published it ( under the title of janua linguarum reserata ) that so i might see how others would approve of it : it happened that it was accepted with much applause , and unanimously approved by the learned , as the true , and most genuine way of teaching the languages . whereupon i apprehended a new occasion to be offered mee of attempting to make an open gate unto the things themselves , or if you will , a key of humane understanding , whereby it might have accesse unto all sorts of things . from which worke , if it proved successefull , i thought there was so much more benefit to be hoped for , by how much it is better to be wise , than to be able to prattle a few latine words . there wanted not some indeed , who were of opinion , that such a gate or key of the things themselves , was altogether impossible : for i did communicate my intentions with my friends : yet that perswasion which i had conceived of the universall , and constant harmony of things , did encourage mee very much to thinke that all such things as come in the compasse of humane understanding , might be reduced unto some certaine rules , which being finite , and perhaps not very many in number , yet should be of infinite use . for thus i reasoned with my selfe : if the tongue , that nimble intepreter of the mind , when it doth most luxuriate in variety of expressions , is yet so bounded , that of necessity it must utter all conceptions of the mind in a few words , why may not also those wandring conceptions be reduced , and brought into bounds according to the nature of things themselves ? for although things as they are in themselves may seeme to have a certaine infinitie in them , yet is it not so indeed : for the world it selfe ( that admirable worke of god ) is framed of a few elements , and some few kinds of formes : and all arts whatsoever have beene invented , may easily be reduced unto a summary and generall method . because therefore things themselves , and their conceptions , and words the expressions of those conceptions are parallel one to the other , and in each of them there are certaine fuodamentalls from which the rest of them result : i thought that it is not impossible , to collect also the fundamentalls of things themselves , and their conceptions , as well as hath been done already in words . also the practise of the chymists came into my mind , who have found out a way so to cleare , and unburden the essences , and spirits of things from the surcharge of matter , that one small drop extracted out of mineralls , or vegetables containes more strength , and vertue in it , and is used with better successe , and efficacie , then can be hoped for from the whole , and entire lumpe . and is there no meanes to be found out , thought i with my selfe , whereby the precepts of wisedome ( so divided in the severall enclosures of sciences , yea and infinitely dispersed out of their due bounds ) may bee united and concentred together ? why should i despaire ? all despaire is a dishonour to god , who hath promised to hearken unto all , such as aske , and seeke , and knocke . therefore i concluded with my selfe , that it was possible to plant such an universall nursery of learning . and then in the name of god i set upon this worke , observing the same method herein , which i used in composing the gate of languages . first , that ( as i did there with all the words of the latine tongue , so here also ) all things worthy of mans knowledge should be collected together , as into a treasury . secondly , that nothing should be set downe above once , unlesse onely such , as by reason of their connexion , and relation with others were necessary for the others explication . thirdly , that nothing should be set downe but in its owne place , and proper sense , according to the most naturall order of things , and in most cleare expressions , that herein might be summarily , and clearly learned all things that are contained in all bookes , and libraries , and in the whole world it selfe . which if we had so effectually performed , as to set open a gate to the understanding of all things , and all bookes , without the helpe of others to guide men therein , it may be wee might have shared of that praise which timothy bright ascribes unto such , as are inventors of brevity , and perspicuity . for saith he , among all the parts of philosophy , wherein such as are lovers of truth , and of the best things , have taken paines , there is none more profitable for life , or which gives the mind a more reall content , then that which helps the other arts with brevity and perspicuity . therefore we ought thankfully to acknowledge their endeavours , who have bestowed their paines to this end , that learners may be eased of all tediousmesse and prolixity , and freed from all ambiguous labyrinths , and thorny difficulty . ( super scribonii phys . cap. 1. ) it suiteth very neere with the present case , for when we first attempted this worke , our intentions aimed no farther than onely at a short and perspicuous comprehension of all things that are to be knowne . but in the progresse of the worke , gods goodnesse suggested a more sublime care , and thought into our minds , that wee should labour to rectifie all things so , as wee might have them truer , and better , and more fitted ( for us christians ) for the intents both of this present , and the future life . of the necessity of which intention , i have already discoursed sufficiently . that therefore this worke might indeed prove a gate , not onely into the reading of authors , but rather into the whole universality of things , i referred hither all things , that i could find extant either in divine or humane workes or writings : not by an unprofitable , and superstitious diligence , making catalogues of all , and singular things , but rather by a true discovery of the grounds of all things , and in things of greater moment , by a more speciall explication of what is most observable , which might easily conclude the rest . whence perhaps some things will be here found out , and pointed at , not onely such as are newly invented , but even such as remaine still to be invented , which are no where else to be found . for wee have found our selves so farre carried in this new , and generall order of things , that no man seemeth hitherto to have reached thereto . and to the end that this booke might also prove a dore into the holy scriptures , i have endeavoured to insert all the decrees of holy writ every one in his place among the rules of pansophy , & to bring most of the histories thereof for examples : to this intent , that youth being acquainted with all those great , and pretious promises bestowed upon us , by which wee are partakers of the divine nature , ( 2 pet. 1. 4. ) may not onely be fore-armed against the infection of prophane authors , when time shall require the reading of them , but also against all other stumbling blockes in the whole course of their lives . 2. i have laboured to bring in all the most obscure passages of scripture in their proper places , that so the due citation , and alleaging of them might be as a comment , and cleare apprehension of their meaning , ( of which kind of places of scripture there may be annexed a particular table . ) 3. i have laboured so to make use of the phrases , and acute expressions in holy scripture throughout my booke , that youth may be acquainted both with the matter , and stile of the holy spirit , and may not easily meete with any thing in the whole body of the bible , which they knew not formerly . neither do wee addict our selves unto any particular sect in our divinity , but we deliver the universall , and catholique truth : as for those things which lead unto dangerous by-wayes , whence it is hard to find the right way out , wee meddle not at all with them . for we judge it better to be ignorant of some things , than to know them amisse ( as the apostle intimates , philip. 3. 15 , 16. ) although i hope our grounds , and fundamentals are so well fitted , and so firmly closed , that the understanding reader will easily judge , that there remaines little danger of by-wayes , and errours , most part of stumbling blockes being removed out of the way . for as it is impossible for him , which in two contradictory propositions ( of which many may be found in the scripture according to the letter ) addicts himselfe irreconciliably unto the one , but that the other will urge , & strain him very far : so also it is impossible , but that they being reconciled , & combined together in a true , & middle sense , all difficulties , scandals , & doubts wil vanish of themselves to the great rejoycing of our minds . for by this means whatsoever truth there is in either opinion , it groneth sweetly into one , & whatsoever is vain , or erroneous on either part , presently it disappeareth ; which that it is the only means of uniting all truths in the center of harmony , & of ridding all controversies out of the world , we have already declared . for our order of handling the sciences , we hope that by gods grace we have attained so farre as that men may finde here an handfull of such a method , as doth divide and dispose things for our sight , according as they are . for i trust we have discovered the true veines of things in our metaphysickes , which if wee follow them will most easily conduct us unto all individuals , and to the true nature of the least and nicest conceptions and words : so that we may hereby make a new anatomie of the universe , and truer than any hath hitherto beene seene . neither doe they consist of such intricate subtilties , as can be discerned onely by the learned , and those that are already versed in such matters , but they are so plaine and pervious unto any , though but of moderate apprehension , that even children of eight yeares of age may easily conceive of our whole metaphysickes , and ( by benefit thereof ) of all the inferiour arts , and sciences with very little paines , but with much delight , and contentation . that which is the strength , and nerves of science , i frame it into aphorismes , or axioms , but , as i hope , into such as are true and solid , not such as are trifling , and exposed to the blows of contrary instances and exceptions , not such as must be defended with the weake shields of limitations , but such as will persist unmoveable of themselves , by the lustre and force of their universall truth . neither in the delivery of these things , though evidently true , do wee presuppose any thing , as if we would gaine mens assent by stealth or flattery , but we premonstrate rather , that is , wee deduce one thing out of another continually , from the first principles of metaphysickes , untill we come to the last , and least differences of things : and this with such evidence of truth , as the propositions of the mathematicians have , when they are demonstrated , so that there is a necessity of yeelding to the last as well as to the first , for the continuall , and no where interrupted demonstration of their truth . onely in our introduction or bookes of the praecognita ) we could not observe this course , by reason of the causes of things not yet delivered . therefore there wee deale with humane understanding , as horse-riders do with colts , when they first breake them . for at first they use easie bits , such as will rather delight then trouble them , and runne them first on smooth and pleasant grounds , before they use them to the ring . one thing is singular , and even wonderfull in our method , that all the chiefest divisions of things are made by a trichotomie , which i protest i sought not by any superstitious affectation , but that it offered it selfe freely unto mee in things of greatest moment , even from the first attributes of things ( one , true , good ) that i was for a while at a stand , being amazed with the newnesse of the thing . but being erected in expectation by those examples that i first lighted on , i began to try it other where , and found it every where to proceed . therefore not daring to oppose the truth of things , which represented it selfe so in a threefold mystery , but rather heartily embracing so great an harmony of the sacred ternary , i prosecuted it in other things also , without offering them any violence ( as i am fully perswaded ) but even as they divide themselves of their owne accord . and i thought this would be very profitable for learners also : first , in regard of their memory , which useth to proceed methodically , both in bestowing , and reviving of things . secondly , for the understanding of the things themselves , because their nature doth for the most part discover it selfe most clearely in this way ; wherein i appeale unto the judgement of all such as shall piously , and seriously , and in the feare of god , weigh these things : being confident , that thereby they shall perceive not any vaine fancies , but even the truth of things themselves . let therefore this christian pansophy , unfolding the ternary mysteries be sacred unto that eternall trinity , jehovah , god onely wise , almighty , most good , and ever to be worshipped . let no man be offended with the word pansophy ; wee know there is but one truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the onely wise god , rom. 16. 27. that which we professe , is humane pansophy , or the knowledge of such things as god will have us to know , together with a discreet ignorance of such things , as our great master hath concealed from us . secret things belong unto the lord our god , but such things as are revealed , unto us , and to our children , deut. 29. 29. and we counsell men not to neglect these things by a carelesse , and unthankfull ignorance of them . and because in christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdome , and knowledge , coloss . 2. 3. and we chiefely labour to unfold the mysteries of christ , that men may understand how by him , the eternall wisdome , and power of god , all things have beene , and are to be made , untill the end come ( when he shall have delivered the kingdome to his father , and shall have put down all rule , and all authority , and power , 1 cor. 15. 24. ) and that they may yeeld themselves to the guidance of his spirit ; seeing , i say , we teach such things , why may we not justly assume unto our selves the teaching of the true and saving knowledge of all things ? it becomes us christians , and none others , to professe pansophy , for out of christianity , there neither is , nor can be any pansophy . which augustine of old mantained ( lib. 3. contra acad. cap. 19. ) proving that onely christianity is true philosophy . and not without cause , for seeing divine revelation is no where to be met withall , out of the church , and without it our understandings can reach no farther , then this present life , and our lives themselves are so short , that we beginne even to die , when we beginne to live ; what can there be considerable in such wisdome as is gathered onely from the senses , & from natural reason , which is not much before them ? it may in deed for a few dayes feed us with some painted joncates , and afterward send us empty away . he therefore is wise in deed , who is wise for eternity : yet so that he learn withal , for to passe over this present life with as much wisdome as may be . worthily was it said by a spiritual man , christians onely may be said to know , because they have it from god , all others doe but trifle , because they have it of themselves . and i will adde , that true pansophy is the onely way to holy ignorance , because it alone teacheth us , how all our knowledge is but like a shadow , if it be compared with the splendor of that eternall wisdome which is in god. we have therefore a threefold ground , why this manner of study , which we counsell others to , and which wee are now about , should be called pansophy , or universall wisdome . first , in regard of the proportion of the things themselves to humane understanding , for we would not have them torne asunder one from another , seeing the understanding is capable of them all . secondly , in respect of the sciences themselves , which we propose not as severall , and divers , but as one science comprehending all things within its owne compasse . thirdly , in regard of those , for whose benefit it is intended , i meane of all christians in generall : so that the fruit of this worke may be reaped by three sorts : by the learned ; by youth in schooles ; and by all the vulgar in generall among christians . but because we have not undertaken to write a perfect pansophy , but onely the gate thereof , we doe not prosecute all things , ( which would be infinite , and farre beyond any one mans abilities ) but onely the hinges and bases of all things . and s●eing i professe my selfe a divine , who doe , and ought to make it my chiefest end , to shew others the way how they may see through visible , and externall things unto those , that are invisible , and eternall ; who can justly blame me , if i have passed over some things more sleightly , which conduce to this end ? of which sort is almost the whole science of the law , which is employed in nothing but contentions about earthly and transitory things , that is , in trifles , and vanities . and the lawyers themselves confesse that there is little sublime wisdome in it . for befoldus , one of the most famous lawyers of our age ( near the end of his discourse concerning the comprehension , or content of all the arts and sciences ) writeth thus . i may justly determine that that high , & excellent learning , which men for the large extent of it , call polymathie , is exceedingly beholden to divinity , and not a little to physick , but the law only contributes very little towards it . therefore i doe not goe about to excuse the matter , that i being a divine should attempt to circumscribe this polymathy , i will rather rejoyce , that god pleaseth to honour me by making use of me ( how meane an instrument soever ) for the discovering of his goodnesse unto men . i account the gospell , which christ hath committed to me , most sacred , and dearer then my owne life , neither doe i desire or endeavour any other thing , then to be found a faithfull dispenser of his mysteries . but because i know , that christ hath said unto peter not onely , feed my sheep , but also , feed my lambs , john 21. 15. i am most confident that it is the duty of all divines to take care , that as well these , as the other , may be brought backe unto the rich pastures upon the high mountaines of israel , where they may lie in a good fold , and feed in a fat pasture , ezech. 34. 13 , 14 , 15. that those sheepe , and lambs of gods flock , may be gathered together againe , especially then when the beasts of the field cause them to be scattered one from another . therefore with the prophet , i will blesse the lord , who wakeneth mine eare , that i should be , as he that attendeth and learneth . neither will i stand to excuse the rudenesse of my stile ; as for tickling of mens eares , neither can i , nor will i doe it . there are more then enough of such kind of men in the world : and there is more need of composing mens minds , that they may embrace pure , and untinctur'd wisdome , which may the better be effected , if things be nakedly delivered without any plaistring , or bravery of expressions . i desire nothing , but to expresse the sense , and therefore with pliny , will rest upon the wisdome of such , as are good and learned , that they will preferre reall benefit and profit , before gracefull pleasing , and esteeme better of a compendious , and close wrought serious matter , then of a lavish , and flashing stile . this is rather my desire and request , that men would not out of a precipitancie of judgment condemne things before they understand them , which i have great cause to feare . for i know there are many , that being bewitched with the great fame , and report of antiquity , will presently , though not without some blemish of indiscretion , reject whatsoever is new , as meerely fantasticall , and vaine , not so much as daigning to give it the hearing , or perusall . but such men should remember that of solomon , he that answereth a matter before he heareth it , it is a folly , and shame unto him , prov. 18. 13. i desire not that any man should yeeld his assent to a thing hee knowes not , for to doe me a pleasure , but that men would consider whether that which i offer , will impart unto them any cleare light in things , and afford them the infallible rules of vertue , to which it doth pretend . for my owne part , i am verily so perswaded by the testimony of the things themselves . yet because the thoughts of mortall men are fearfull , and their devices uncertaine , wisd . 9. 14. i doe hereby cheerefully invite all such unto the triall of it , whom god hath made so apprehensive and judicious , as that they are able to judge of the universality , brevity , and truth of things . such i intreat , that laying aside the false glasses of former opinions , they would with free minds , and in open light behold this small theater of the world , and not to judge of things according to what they have formerly had by hearsay , but according to the things themselves , which we hold forth to be handled and seene . for unlesse they doe thus , they will cast a cloud , not so much upon the things , as upon themselves : as he that lookes through coloured glasse , doth not colour , or alter the things he sees , but deceives his owne sight . therefore it is a thing worthy of mens care , that they hinder not themselves by heeding their owne opinions more , then the truth of things . and i thinke that all discreet persons will take pleasure in it , if we once attaine ( according to the priviledge which is common to us all ) to looke into things without any overseers , and that learners be not distracted with opinions of things , but have the things themselves , freely laid before them to see , and handle , and peruse . neither let any man suspect that we remove other mens decrees out of the way , to make roome for our owne . we detest such kind of vanities . we neither have , nor doe intend any other thing , but only simply to transcribe out of gods bookes , nature , and scripture , into a table for our owne use , such things as concerne this present , and the future life , according as they present themselves unto us ; which if we doe not fitly enough effect , it shall be our failing , and not our fraud . we are not of such account , that we should thinke to make disciples to our selves , yet daring enough to seeke them for nature , and for god. for this onely end have we endeavoured this new anatome of the universe , that all such as love truth better then opinions , might be led away from other bookes , unto the greatest book of all : not that we slight all authorities ; but because we know , that they are abused to the hurt and prejudice of the freedome of mens judgements , we hold it very fit they should be a while suspended , untill there be liberty of piercing sufficiently into the things themselves . in deed in our first and second booke of pansophy , wee cite some things out of philosophers , for to establish the grounds of pansophy , yet not in it selfe , but onely in their minds , who being fore-clad with opinions , are to be stripped of them , even by perswasion of the same men , whom they have hitherto followed as their leaders . but more rarely afterward , and in matters of great consequence onely , we cite some others , who have heretofore observed the same truths : yet not as judges , but as witnesses , from whose testimony it may appeare , that whatsoever hath beene heretofore rationally concluded by any men , is necessarily coincident with those things which are wrought out of the bowels of truth . secondly , to the end , that a perfect , and solid judgement may passe upon this our designe , it will be requisite , that all things be survayed from the beginning to the end . for unlesse a man understand upon what ground all things arise , and what coherence they have together , it will be in vaine for him to thinke to give censure upon it by that which hee hath snatched here , and there . for the most easie gradation of things being interrupted , causeth a stop , and difficulty . every man is able to get up to the top of an high tower , and to come downe againe , if there be steps for him to ascend by ; but take away some few steps , and he is presently at a stand , or fals into a precipice . when a painter begins a peece , no man will be so rash , as to blurre the first draught of it , though as then it hath no beauty in it ; but he will stay till it is compleat , and then he may have his judgement , whether it be answerable to the person . a comedy cannot be judged by one scene , or act , much lesse by one sentence , because therein many things intervene , which seeme very intricate , and absurd : but the catastrophe or end will discover the whole art , and plot of it . and lastly , whether i have reached or not , unto that which i have propounded , yet i earnestly intreat the learned readers , that they will not suffer me to faile of my end , which is , that these things may serve to the improvement of our age . for either i understand nothing at all , or else those things , which i make offer of , are really such , as may open the eyes of many to take better order for the studies of learning , and consequently for schooles , churches , and all mankind . which shall be the first use of this our worke , pertaining to those that are learned : that being excited by this new draught of true , solid , & universal learning , they may adventure upon some more perfect peeces then have yet beene seene in learnings treasury . the marke which we have pitched , is such , that all mens endeavours ought to be leveld at , ( unlesse they would have them for ever to come to nothing ) we have clearely set in order such meanes , which infallibly lead unto that end , as also we have discovered the certaine way how to make use of those meanes : and lastly , we give you a taste of all things , how they result into one onely art of arts , among all things that are to be knowne . wherein notwithstanding if any scapes , or failings happen to be espied , as that we have not sufficiently reached our owne aimes , or have not contained our selves precisely within our owne limits , i thinke i need not to frame any tedious excuse : because that most diffused multitude of things , which is able to tire out any one mans diligence , and that intricate , and subtill variety of them , which is able to deceive the quickest eye , will , i hope , be a sufficient plea for my pardon , among such as are able to esteeme aright of things . especially , seeing nothing was ever yet invented , and brought to full perfection by any one man. and why should i , a weake man , assume that unto my selfe , which was never yet granted unto any ? or why should that be required of me alone , which was never yet required of any ? it is enough for any one mans diligence , or praise , ( if any may be here admitted , where onely gods glory is sought ) to make a beginning of any thing , which may afterward be raised unto high perfection . but that it may be so raised , it is now to be committed to others industry , whose hearts god shall please to stirre up thereunto , as he did in times past to the building of the materiall temple in his holy city jerusalem . god , that he might excite them thereunto , commands the prophet thus to expostulate with them , this people say , the time is not yet come , that the lords house should be built . but is it time for you to dwell in your fieled houses , and this house lie wast ? now therefore thus saith the lord of hosts , consider your wayes . yee have sowen much , and bring in little ; yee eate , but yee have not enough ; yee drinke , but yee are not filled with drinke ; yee cloath you , but yee are not warme ; and he that earneth wages , putteth it into a broken bagge . thus saith the lord of hosts , consider your wayes , haggai 1. heare yee this also o yee , that are leaders among christians in learning , and wisdome , for it is even your owne case . it is a frequent saying , this is no time for aspiring unto any higher sort of wisdome , that is reserved for the future life . and too many there are , that contenting themselves with these thoughts , set up their rest in a partiall , and obscure knowledge of things , joyned with a few private delights , and seeke no farther . but what benefit ensues ? yee have sowen much , it is the voyce of god himselfe , ( that is , yee have taken great paines in the polishing of your parts ) but you bring in little : yee eate , yea , yee devoure bookes , and are not satisfied : yee drinke of every water you meet withall , and yet are not filled : yee cloath your selves , and cast as many mantles of authorities over you , as you can purchase , and yet you are never warmed by the light of truth . o therefore consider your wayes , and be encouraged to the building of a more stately temple for wisdome to dwell in , whatsoever paines , and charge it costs us : that wee may i say by divine art erect an elegant structure of wisdome exactly answerable to the patterne , wherein may be no confusions , nor any thing that is frivolous , and unprofitable ; but all things that are true , profitable , and desirable : that so men being weaned from the vaine study of transitory things , and cleared of their high conceipts of vanities , may be invited to draw out of the very fountaines of truth , and goodnesse , and led unto the possession of reall goods . which may be effected , if such a gate of wisdome be set open for christian youth , that they may come to behold the rich treasures of it . which leads me to the second , and most wholsome , and seasonable use of this our worke ; to wit , for the instruction of youth . for as new vessels are fittest for new wine ( as christ saith , matth. 9. 17. ) . so the minds of children ; like new , and pure vessels , not yet filled with vaine apprehensions of vaine knowledge , are most fit to draw in these new , and purer conceptions of things : and by this meanes will be accustomed , not to superficiall , and opinionative knowledge , such as is usuall for ostentation of parts , and for streperous disputations , and contentions : but to a more reall , solid , and well grounded wisdome : such as will serve for sound direction of the judgement , for multiplying of new inventions among men , and for a more perfect guide to lead us toward eternall blisse , the last end of our lives . and thirdly , our intention is , that this amphitheater of gods wisdome , being thus raised , should be made common for all mankind , by inviting all christian people of what ranke , age , sexe , or language soever , and bringing them in to see , and behold what admirable sights & pastime , that ever to be adored wisdome of god exhibits unto all men in all times , and places . for every mothers child that comes into this world , is to be directed to the same end of gods glory , and his owne eternall blisse : none ought to be excluded , neither man , nor woman , neither old man , nor child , neither noble , nor ignoble , neither crafts-man , nor plough-man , &c. for we are all alike , the off-spring of god , acts 17. 28. and it is said alike unto all , that come into the theater of this world , come , and behold the workes of the lord , psal . 46. 8. and lastly , all of us are to passe a tedious , and troublesome life , which breaketh , and afflicteth the spirit ( as solomon witnesseth ) so that all have great need of preservatives against vanity , and refreshings in their wearinesse , which helps can no where be found , but in the possession of true wisdome . we therefore desire , and entreat , that learning may not any longer be confined to the latine tongue , and imprisoned in schooles , as hath hitherto beene practised to the great prejudice , and contempt both of vulgar people , and languages : but that it may be communicated unto all nations in their owne languages , that all men may have occasion of exercising themselves in such honest , and good things , rather then , as is commonly used , to weary out themselves with the cares of this life , with ambition , drunkennesse , and other like vaine courses , and so to mispend , and lose both their parts , and lives . by this meanes also , languages themselves will be polished , as well as the arts , and sciences . to which ends we our selves intend also , if god so please , to publish these our endeavours both in the latine , and in our native tongue . for no man lighteth a candle to put it under a bushell , but on a candlesticke , that it may give light unto all that are in the house , as christ saith , matth. 5. 25. and what profit is there in wisdome , which is hid , and treasure , which is hoarded up ? ecclesiastious 20. 30. those therefore that bend their studies to the seeking of wisdome , ought to make it their endeavour , that they may herein follow the steps of wisdome , which saith , behold , that i have not laboured for my selfe onely , but for all them that seeke wisdome . and upon this ground we have somewhat altered our title from that which was in our former work , calling this a gate , rather then a dore. it was enough that we called our entrance into the latine tongue a dore , in this matter the word gate seemes to drive more neerely at our intentions . for one by one enters in at a dore , but whole troupes through a gate . a dore is shut as every one is entred in : but gates in peaceable cities , stand alwayes open . and so the study of the latine tongue , which we first endeavoured to open , is peculiar unto some few ; but the desire of wisdome is common unto all mankind . those that will , or are necessitated thereto , enter in there : but it is the duty of all men living to come in hither , as we have already made it cleare . therefore let it be an open , and wide gate which leades unto wisdome . grant o lord , that we may on earth see some resemblance of that which thou hast foretold shall be in thy heavenly jerusalem , that the gates of it may not at all bee shut by day , and there may be no more night there , revel . 21. v. 25. amen . a dilvcidation , answering certaine obiections , made against the endeavovrs and means of reformation in common learning , expressed in the foregoing discourse . by mr. iohn amos comenius . joh . 3. 20 , 21. every one that doth evill hateth the light , neither commeth to the light , lest his deeds should be reproved . but he that doth truth commeth to the light , that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in god. london , printed for michael sparke senior , at the blew bible in greene arbor , 1642. to the ivdiciovs , and learned readers , lovers of truth and light , and survayers of this designe , all true happinesse in christ our truth and light. it was a discreet and wise discourse , which the mother of those seven brethren martyrs ( 2 maccab. 7. 22 , 23. ) used to them : i cannot tell how you came into my wombe , for i neither gave you breath , nor life ; neither was it i , that formed the members of every one of you : but the creator of the world , who formed the generation of man , and found out the beginning of all things . the like may they say of the off-spring of their minds , who out of a pious disposition to god , offer up , and sacrifice themselves , and their endeavours to him , to wit , that themselves are not the authours of those things , which succeed well , but that it is god , who hath found out all the way of knowledge , and hath given it ( by what instruments soever ) unto jacob his servant , and to israel his beloved , as baruch saith , chap. 3. vers . 36. and god himselfe ascribeth to himselfe the bestowing and conferring of wisedome , for the performance of his owne commands , ( exod. 31. 6. ) now god commands not onely when he speakes from heaven , and expressely declares , what hee will have done , as he did to the prophets : but also when inwardly he enlightens the mind , or outwardly ministers , and presents occasions of action ( 1 king. 17. 4 , 9. ) such as may be easily observed by any one , who will but carefully heed , and note the footsteps , and guidance of divine providence in things both great and small . my selfe ( though the least of all ) am not without some experience of the effectuall concurrence , and sweete disposition of all things , by that admirable wisedome of our god : that wee must needs confesse every usefull apprehension , or invention to proceed from god , and not from our selves , and thereupon we may solace our selves , though malice rage , and teare both us and our issue , which we have consecrated to god , because it is not chiefly our , but gods cause that is in agitation . not many yeares since occasion was offered mee by gods providence to compose a worke for direction in teaching the latine tongue , ( as other languages also ) more compendiously , according to the true series and order of things , which by the perswasion of my friends , and approbation of superiours , i published under the title of linguarum janua ( following therein the example of the irish fathers , of the colledge of salamanca in spaine , who first gave mee the hint thereof , which being commonly received into schooles with great applause , incouraged mee to intend my thoughts for the framing of a janua rerum : an entrance to the knowledge of things themselves . for i thought it not enough to teach what is called white , blacke , hot , cold , a plant , a man , an angell , heaven , god , christ , &c. there is more need of teaching , what those things are , that the understanding may be rather acquainted with the essence of things , than with their names ; which when i had assayed by some small endeavours , i was easily invited to the hope of a prosperous successe of them . in the meane while d. peter laurenberg sets out under the title of * pansophia , an encyclopaedia , or generall comprehension of all the arts , which having viewed with great desire , and expectation , and not finding it answerable to the amplenesse of the title ( for nothing was therein contained of the object and fountaine of true wisedome , which is christ , nothing of the life to come , and the way thereto , &c. wherein to be wise is wisedome indeed ) i thought it a fit occasion to supply , what was there wanting : that whatsoever is fit to be taught , and learned in christian schooles , might be comprised in one summary , and in such a method , which might instill the knowledge of all things into youth , more suddenly , and soundly , and more suitablely to the intents both of the present , and the future life . for ( to tell you by the way ) my intent was to epitomize those bookes of god , nature , scripture , and mans conscience , that what things soever are , they might be all here digested into one continued series and order , divine revelations might be applyed to illustrate them withall , and the common and inbred notions and apprehensions of humane minds might be referred to their severall uses . by this meanes wee intended , 1. to make the holy scripture more familiar among christians then formerly it hath beene . 2. to put into mens hands a clavis , or key , wherewith they might unlocke most of the greatest mysteries , both in nature and scripture . 3. to draw men more and more from the studies and cares of this life , to the serious thoughts of life eternall , and that by such means , as which those , who have beene privie to the depth of our intentions , have and do still judge may be profitable for the bettering of men . there wanted not some ( some five yeares since ) who perswaded and urged mee to the publishing of this worke , as i had done the former . but in this i being not so adventurous , as before , nothing more could be obtained of mee , than onely for the discovery of mens judgements hereupon to publish the title thereof in the frankford catalogue of such bookes as were to come forth the next mart. hereupon it came to passe more then once , that this title of janua rerum , or christian pansophie , was sold publikely , which soone after i recalled , not thinking it meete to blow the trumpet before my selfe , especially in such things , wherein delay is necessary : yet being desired by an intimate friend ( one that is piously ardent in his affections to the publique good ) to communicate some idea , or description of the worke in hand , i sent him a carelesse draught of that , which i intended afterward to premise in manner of a preface to the worke , which beyond my expectation , and without my knowledge , was printed at oxford , ( entituled conatuum comenianorum praeludia ) with a good intent indeed ( that so the learned might partake of it , and passe their judgements on it ) yet with an event not fully answerable to that good mans hope . for though many learned and worthy men , forecasting much good from such a worke , encouraged us very much , and still persist to presse us , not to relinquish the designe , and some of more excellent spirits , and abilities , do promise their helping hands , and endeavours . yet some there were , who thought us not excusable of strange and unusuall rashnesse for attempting of things so impossible , and above the reach of humane understanding . and some also , which is worse , who from some words ( used as they thought , not in an orthodoxe sense ) gathered suspicions more than enough , fearing that some poyson was mingled , or some monster lurked under the trimnesse of the method . lastly , there were some , who seeing wee deferred the publishing ( though we had good reason so to doe , lest the birth , which we desired might be vitall , should prove abortive , by coming before the time ) thought that wee had fastned a cheat upon the world by promising that which was so much wanting , and pretending it as already neere effected : or else that wee had fallen under the burthen , and all our promises were turned into smoke . all which laid together set us on worke a fresh to write that which here thou findest ( christian reader ) for the better clearing , and discovering of our wishes , intentions , and endeavours . this was written by us , and printed , by the approbation and injunction of the patrons of our churches here ( after a serious deliberation thereupon in a late solemne assembly ) not to be made common , but to be communicated to those whom it may concerne . hence therefore you may know : 1. that our draught of pansophie is no dreame , but a reall worke . 2. that here lurkes no monster , but that our intent is to unvaile before all mens eyes , the true and amiable faces of things , as they were formed by that eternall wisdome , and imprinted in things , that so they may be wonne , and instructed to reject those wicked and devillish disguises of false doctrine , and ill manners . for my purpose was not to coyne any new tenets , nor to burnish over old errours , but to collect together scattered truths , both naturall , artificiall , morall , and divine ; to digest them in such a continued order ( that there might be no end , but in the end ; and so digested to direct , and fit them for the ready use of schooles , or of any , who would desire to take a compendious view of the amphitheater of gods wisedome . when i therefore was thus minded , did i use lightnesse ? or the things that i purpose , do i purpose according to the fiesh ? as saith the apostle , 2 cor. 1. 17. if any ill suiting expression hath passed , i wish it were unspoken , for i submit my selfe and mine to the churches judgement . but let wise men judge whether it be fitting to reject a faire , and well proportioned body for one small spot or blemish . hee that knowes all things knowe , this , that my desires tend to no other end , than for the kindlings of an universall light in mens minds , which god hath made mee to find possible to be effected , by a certaine well composed method borrowed from nature , whereby all the rivulets of humane observations , as also the greater streames of divine workes , and words , are all reduced to their proper fountaines , and againe dispersed in their true veines , for the easier deriving of a more universall knowledge into mens minds than could formerly be compassed by such meanes , as have beene used . for while prolixe and tedious things are reduced to brevity , confused things cleared by distinction , obscurity manifested by light , all things become pervious , and transparent to the understanding . yet here , because the deeper wee dive into these things , the more doth the splendor of gods wisedome dazle , and the multitudinous variety of his wayes , and workes distract us , the judicious readers , and examiners of this designe , may please to take notice , that wee cannot but doubt of attaining so excellent an end ( as is an exact , and lively representation answerable to , and worthy of the majesty , and dignity of the universe ) unlesse some do appeare to lend us their helping hands , that else may sinke under the burden of such a structure ; which we thinke may justly be both expected and desired in a thing of common benefit . but indeed it is much to be lamented , that mens inconsideratenesse should discover it selfe so farre , as purposely to affront , raile upon , and reproach , yea even to wound such , as in a friendly way hold forth not a sword , but a branch of olive , being ready in stead of tumultuous opinion , s to exhibit and tender something towards more reall , and exquisite science . some examples hereof our age hath beene acquainted with , and we our selves have had experience of it , from such as had small cause so to doe . miserable , and lamentable ! that men cannot remember , what difference useth to be put betweene learning and armes ! is it not enough , that the world almost , is consumed by the sword , unlesse pennes also , and tongues be turned to swords ? let armes beare that character of wrath , which an angry god imprints upon them , when he sends them into the world to be like that great and strong wind renting the mountaines , and breaking the rockes in pieces with earthquakes , and flames of fire : yet it is fit , that learning which is the instrument of wisedome , should be stamped with the the character of divine presence , which comes in a still small voyce , without tumultuous noyse . neither is there any thing more fitting , than that wise and pious men , wrapping up their faces , as it were in a mantle , should with elias , stand waiting at the entrance of the cave , to see , what favourable breath of god may blow from any part . otherwise , what wil the world be the better for those odious disputations , wherewith it hath so long contested ? wherefore laying aside that preposterous , and too long continued spirit of contradiction and opposition , let us with common endeavours search out the wayes of gods wisedome , that so getting a tast of it , as it is sweetly diffused on every side , wee may the more comfortably passe this mortall life , and be more fitted and prepared for that which is immortall . my desire is not to begge mens assents to this designe , before it be understood , but that affection , and prejudice may not over-sway reason . i wish it may be examined ; but fairely , and by free and impartiall minds : because anticipated thoughts , & respect of men more than of things themselves , to gether with the humor of defending old opinions , rather than of searching for the truth , do keepe in bondage , and enslave even the nimblest wits . i oppose no man , why then should i be opposed ? i declare the meanes of reconciling those , who are any waies devoted to truth , why should any be irreconcileable towards mee ? although i confesse , — monitis sum minor ipse meis , i am not able fully to effect what i pretend , yet am i therfore worthy to be hated ? it was not confidence of any extraordinary learning , or strength of parts which moved mee to attempt to describe the bounds of universall wisedome : but because i know , that that which god hath put into my mind , will be most profitable to the world , i thought that no occasion ought to be lost , for the inciting of others , who are more able to set about such a great worke : so that i chose rather to venture my selfe into the view of the world , than to reserve in mine owne breast that , which might be for others encouragement . for seeing the marke , whereat i aime , is so high , and so to be desired of all mankind , if i come short of effecting it , i shall deserve pity rather than hatred . it is great inhumanity to inflict punishment on him , that laboureth to doe good , but most just , that he who goeth along the publique road , should enjoy publique security , and that the promoter of the common good , should be partaker of common safety and protection . but let us proceed to the matter it selfe , that we may once more publish our desires , for the flourishing estate of the church . i will therefore conclude this preface in saint augustines words : my speech shall be directed to thy presence , o my god , to them , who yeeld those things to be true , which thy truth continually testifieth in my mind . for , for those who gainsay them , let them rustle as they list , i will endeavour to perswade them to be quiet , and not to resist thy word , when it approacheth to them . which if they refuse , and repell mee from them , yet i beseech thee , o my god , not to hold thy peace from mee : speake thou the truth in mine heare : for thy word is so powerfull , that i shall send them away blowing on the ground , and raising up the dust in their owne eyes , &c. o lord god have compassion , and suffer not this unfeathered foule to be quashed under feet by those who passe by : send thine angell to returne it to its nest , that it may live till it be able to fly . ( august . lib. 12. confess . cap. 16. & 27. ) it hath beene the endeavour of many worthy men in times past , to collect a summary , or generall comprehension of all learning , because they saw well enough , that the light of the mind is very uncertaine , unlesse the beames of the truth of things be from every side concentred in it . aristotle himselfe saith , that a wise man should know all things , as farre as it is possible : and that such principles must be laid , by which all demands may be satisfied : and that he must begin from such things as are best knowne , and therefore from universals , and that we must attaine a strong certainty of things , and that not of any sort , but from their causes ; ( as joh . bellarinus hath gathered out of aristotle in his praxis scientiarum , lib. 4. distinct . 1. num. 1 ) so that , for that omniscience which is possible for a man to attaine , the philosopher requireth these three things : 1. universality of principles . 2. a true ordered method . 3. infallible certainty of truth . according to which rules not onely aristotle himselfe , and others of the auncients strived to frame their workes , and writings , but also many late writers ( who have composed their encyclopedias , polymatheias , panepistemonas , artes cyclognomicas , syntaxes artis mirabilis , instaurationes magnas , transformationes scientiarum , theatra sapientiae humanae , omniscientias christianas , pansophias , panangias , panarchias , pancosmias , and many other intituled in the like manner ) whose endeavours though they have beene all commendable , yet their successe hath beene divers , according as their intentions also were . the purpose of some was to digest into one body all the variety of learning , which is to be found in libraries onely scattered and intermingled . others would do it , but not without choyce , some of subtilties , some of elegancies , some of things for use of life , and some againe in a method more strict , and tyed to the things themselves , others have taken more liberty of discourse according to their owne humours . but whatsoever was either purposed or performed by any of them , yet we may justly apply seneca's speech unto them all . our predecessors have performed many things , but not perfected them . there is much worke still behind , and still will be , and he that shall be borne a thousand yeares hence , shall have his turne to adde something ( epist . 65. ) and why should not others also be heard , who bring any thing that is beneficiall ? and wee among the rest , who would perswade , that a worke might be composed every way universall : not onely for the use of youth in schooles , and of the learned , but even of all vulgar christians ; that all of them in generall may be instructed in wisedome : even as we have expressed our desires ( in that praeludium of our pansophicall endeavours ) that a booke might be written , which might be a solid breviary of universall learning ; a cleare light for humane understanding ; an exact and stable rule of truth ; a certaine and directive register of the affaires of our life ; and lastly , an happy ladder towards god himselfe . the grounds and reasons whereof , are there so in generall unfolded , that many have consented with us , that no doubt need be made either of the necessity , or possibility of it : but because some have beene jealous , that by this meanes divine and humane wisedome would be confounded together , i have taken occasion to propound these things more distinctly , and upon such a ground , which should also alter the title of the booke . by making this inscription . the temple of christian * pansophie to be erected and framed according to the rules , and lawes of almighty god the supreme architect , and to be consecrate to the use of the christian catholique church , which is already gathered , or which shall hereafter be gathered out of all nation , tribes , people , and tongues . and because our present consultation is about a most exact forme of method , it will be necessary to render a reason , why wee would have such a booke intituled , the temple of christian pansophie ? and why wee would have it framed according to the rules , lawes , and idea's of god the supreme architect ? and lastly , why we would have it consecrate to the use of the christian catholique church gathered , and to be gathered out of all peoples and tongues ? of every one in their order . the ancient i atines used the word templum , to signifie any open place , whence there was a faire prospect on every side , as it were tu-emplum ( i. ad intuendum amplum spatium ) a large space for beholding . whence the word contemplari ( i. to contemplate ) signifieth to behold any thing without impediments . in which sense the word temple chiefly suiteth to heaven , because it every way lieth open to our sight , and because god from thence freely beholdeth all things : as david saith ( psal . 11. 4. and 33. 13. ) the lord is in his holy temple , the lords throne is in heaven , his eyes behold , his eyelids try the children of men . so lucretius , lucida coeli templa . heavens bright temple . and ennius : contremuit templum magnum jovis altitonantis . the mighty temple shooke amaine , where thundring jove on high doth raigne . but because the ancients usually chose the higher places , as hills , and risings of the ground , which yeelded pleasant prospects , to consecrate to the worship of their gods , and by erecting of altars thereon separated them to sacred uses , which altars at last they encompassed with walls : it came to passe that the word temple began properly to signifie a building reared for divine worship , in which sēse it is now chiefly used . yet it appeares by cicero , that the senate-house ( whither the senate assembling for consultation , came as it were , into gods presence ) was graced with the name of a temple ; the senate-house is the seate , and temple of publique councell , saith he : and in another place ( pro milone ) he calls the senate-house , the temple of holinesse . the poet also speaking of the inward recesses , and secrets of the mind ( chiefly in those that are wise ) calls them the temples of the mind ; from whence the mind , as from an high watch-towre , beholdeth all things , and determineth of them according to that which it discovereth in them . whence lucretius againe termeth the very learning of wise men high-reared temples , in that commonly knowne verse , sed nil duloius est , bene quam munita tenere , edita doctrina sapientum templa serena , despicere unde queas alios , passimque videre errare , atque vias palantes quaerere vitae . thus in english : no worldly pleasure may conspire with this : well fenced to possesse faire wisedomes temple ( beauties rare ) high rais'd on learnings solidnesse ; thence you may see , how others goe astray ; as men bewildred groping for the way . and this is the first reason , why we have thought fit to entitle this our new encyclopaedie , or generall comprehension of knowledge , with the name temple , because preparation is here made of an universall structure , as it were , from whence mans mind turning to every side , may with pleasing contemplation looke upon every thing in the world , visible and invisible , temporall and eternall , so farre as they are revealed . another reason there is of farre higher consideration , which the holy scripture it selfe suggests unto us . because whatsoever that eternall wisedome hath stiled his temple , his habitation , his house , his tabernacle and sanctuary , is all here represented . now god hath called by the name of his habitatation , 1. his eternity , isaiah 57. 15. 2. this world consisting of the heaven and the earth , esay 66. 1. 3. the house which was built unto his name , 1 king. 5. 5. 4. the humble and contrite heart , esay 57. 15. 5. the church , 1 tim. 3. 15. 6. christs humanity , in which the fulnesse of the godhead dwelleth bodily , coloss . 2. 9. that all which may be here truly represneted is our earnest endeavour . we will adde a third reason also of no small moment . because there may , and ought to be the same ends , and uses of this temple of christian wisedome , which were of that materiall temple in the old testament . now we may observe in the scripture a fivefold end , which god had in his appointing of the tabernacle by moses and the temple by solomon , which are , 1. that gods people might be kept in the unity of faith , that is , in the worship of that one god , by that solemne assembling into one place , which god himselfe had chosen . 2. that by hearing the law taught , and beholding the outward grace of the ceremonies , they might be brought to learne the reasonable and inward worship of god. 3. that by solemne rehearsall of gods many favours , they might be incited to love god , and praise his name . thence it is that they were commanded to enter into his gates with thanksgiving , and into his courts with praise , and to blesse his name , psal . 100. 4. 4. that they might kindle and nourish mutuall concord , and charity among themselves , as fellow servants of the same god. 5. lastly , that by this meanes also they might have their minds the more erected in hope of the life to come ; where god shall be for ever praised in that great assembly of elect , both angels and men , before his throne . now this fabricke of the temple of wisedome tends to the very same ends . 1. that all christians may the easier meet in , and maintaine a mutuall consent among themselves in one catholique and saving faith : being instructed the same way , upon the same grounds , concerning the same god , and to the same end . for that holy way of sion , which is so plaine in it selfe , that even fooles cannot erre in it , esay 35. 8. is here most plainly taught . 2. that by a rationall contemplation , and comparing of gods words , and workes together , all might learne to observe the greatnesse of all the workes of god , and how wisely they are made , ( psalm . 104. 24. ) to the end , that wee who are gods image , may learne to expresse wisedome in all our actions . 3. care , as it may , ought to be taken , for those , who desire to behold this temple of wisedome , that they may not want helps for the stirring up the like affection in them , that david had , when the contemplation of gods workes moved him to say , the glory of the lord shall indure for ever , the lord shall rejoyce in his workes : i will sing unto the lord as long as i live , i will sing praise to my god , while i have my beeing , ( psal . 104. v. 31. 33. ) 4. neither is there any reason why we should despaire of greater concord among men , if they could be brought to a more generall consent in their opinions concerning the same things . for if all men would well consider of this , that they are all directed to the same end , by the same creator , and led along in the same common wayes ( although there be some variety in particulars ) it is likely enough that they would be more ready to commit their course to this divine providence , rather than by fruitlesse reluctancie to disturbe it , which will produce no other issue , than that at last , whether they will or no , they must be brought into order in their eternall confusion . 5. lastly , this temple of wisedome may be also fitted for the stirring up both of the hope , and desire of the life to come , if in this generall survey of things it be plainly manifested , how all things spring out of eternity , and returne thither , and consequently that those who settle their affections here , do nothing else , than catch at a vaine shadow . thus farre have we shewed , why this theater of wisedome may well passe under the name of a temple . the next is , why wee entitle it not wisedome simply , but universall wisedome , and pansophie ( according to the greeke . ) i will not here produce examples of others ( as of laurenber gius , and alstedius , who commendeth five sorts of things to be knowne , to him that desires to be , and to be accounted generally wise and knowing archilog . cap. 1. ) our owne ground is sufficient , which is threefold , taken from the subject of this wisedome , the object of it , and the manner of teaching it . as for the subject , it hath beene the custome of former ages , not to suffer the mysteries of wisdome to be published in vulgar languages , for every ones understanding , but in strange and forraine languages ( as the latine and greeke ) which must be of purpose learned for them : by which meanes wisedome it selfe was esteemed the peculiar treasure of such onely , as had accesse unto those fountaines : but wee claime it as the publique possession granted unto all mankind , which ought to be recovered to their common use and behoofe . and our earnest desire and suit is , even by the glory of god , that some course may be sought , and discovered , that all in generall , even the meanest sort of people , may be able to behold , and adore the prints , and footsteps of the goodnesse of their creator , expressed even in all things , which they either see , heare , taste , touch , do , speake , or think . and this is the first reason , why wee call it not ( simply ) wisedome , but wisedome generall for all men . concerning the object of wisedome , it hath hitherto for the most part beene parted among the learned , one undertaking philosophy , another divinity , a third physicke , and some the lawes , rejecting all other care , or respect of common truth . and againe , in philosophie one chooseth this part , another that , to busie their thoughts about , not so much as comming neere the threshold where the others dwell . whence it cometh to passe , that most mens knowledge is but particular , yea and partiall too , which is farre worse . for they must needs sever into parts , that agree not in the whole , and they easily become the founders of sects , who understand not how truth , which differs not from it selfe , spreads it selfe upon the same stocke . but wee protest to the world , that neither order the bond , nor truth the soule of things , can be perfectly knowne , unlesse from a generall comprehension of all things . the order or things cannot be perceived by those , that bounding themselves in the compasse of one or two , neglect their coherence one with another . neither can hee comprehend the full truth of things , who observes not , how truth still retaines its own form in its infinite diffusions . we wish therefore , that the whole orbe of things and humane knowledge being taken , the true centers of essences may be found , by an exact measuring of the proportion of all things among themselves : that so venerable truth discovering its amiable face to us in abstract formes , wee may be the so oner acquainted with it , when we meete it concrete in particular things . and hence may easily be gathered , how little that divorcing of divinity from philosophy , and of philosophy from divinity , which is every where to be found , liketh us . for divines for the most part thinke it their duty to intend nothing , but divinity : & on the other side philosophers fixe themselves so to the speculation of nature , that they forget divinity , yea even god himselfe . hence it comes to passe that many philosophers through disuse of god , and religion fall into meere atheisme ; againe , some divines loath and detest philosophie , which is very injurious , as the other is horribly impious . for god , who is the author as well of his workes , as of his words , will ( as he may well be ) be acknowledged and honoured in them both . and he instructs us both by his words , and also by his workes , which wee here meete withall in this present life , that he may prepare us for that which is to come . therefore he doth not onely injoyne us to hearken to his voyce ; but also to behold his workes . that we may therefore reconcile philosophie to divinity ( that is , gods workes to his words , or truth impressed in things to truth expressed in words ) and so may make reason subordinate to faith ; our counsell is , that among christians , neither philosophy , nor divinity may be taught severally , but both joyntly , which is pansophie . for this will be our perfect wisedome , to be wise for the life to come , and to avoid folly here : to have an eye to god , and the life to come , and yet to observe , how we are here encircled with his majestie diffused over all . but some may say ( and some have already vented such speeches against us ) by this your pansophie , divinitie will be confounded with philosophy , divine wisedome with humane , & a medley will be made of heaven and earth i answer , 1. seeing they are not confounded in learned mens understandings ( there being many excellent spirits , that are deeply insighted both in sacred and profane knowledge ) what reason have wee to feare , that they will be confounded in bookes ? 2. distinct things may be so distinctly handled , that though they goe together , they may still remaine inconfused . 3. how comes it to passe that they are not confounded in the sacred scripture , seeing it doth not onely declare heavenly and eternall things , but oftentimes falls upon things of this life ? you will say , but this is subordinately to the life to come . true ; and this is the same , which we would have done in this booke of pansophie , that all things contained in the world may be put in subordination to heaven , and that all humane knowledge may be subservient to that , which is according to godlinesse . and this for a threefold end . 1. that the children of god may not be ignorant of those things , which the wise men of this world so much admire , and set up their rest upon : and that worldlings themselves may be unsettled from them , when they see , that though wee understand them , yet we find other more excellent things , which are stronger attractives of our affections . 2 because the workes of nature , and the various mysteries , which lie couched therein , are not intended so much for wicked and profane men , that they onely should feed on such dainties : but rather that they should delight the children of god , angels and men , for whom this so admirable theater of his power , wisedome , and goodnesse is discovered . let us therefore make use of this our right , and rather sit ourselves in this theater in a rationall contemplation of all things , than surrendring our places to suffer it wholly to be possessed by such as are profane . lastly , wee would have all things ordered together , and respectively subordinated one to the other , that by all inferiour things the mind may by degrees be raised to all things more sublime . for it is certaine , that there can be no commodious assent unto the height of things , but by degrees ; and this is as certaine that all naturall things ( as also artificiall ) are as alphabeticall elements to the children of god , whereby they are prepared for to read , and understand better the higher dictates of the law of god. which david sheweth , where he telleth us , that much is to be learned out of the ordinary course of heaven and nature , but much more by the prescript of divine law , psal . 19. the third reason why wee would have the word pansophie used , is drawne from the more ample way of handling things , than can be used either in philosophie , or divinity severall by themselves . for that which aristotle required in a wise man , ( who should as much as is possible , know all things ) the same is necessary in pansophie . i meane universality of principles , a continuall and well ordered series of things without interruption , from the beginning to the end , and infallibility of truth . the principles which are here laid , are truly universall , whereby all demands may be satisfied , sense , reason , and divine revelation . the method , which is here taught , is as easie as may be , beginnnig from things most certainly knowne , untill it end in those which are most obscure , yet with such a perpetuall gradation , as is without either gap , or breach . whence the third issueth of it selfe , i meane , certainty of knowledge , and truth , whereby the learner , being alwayes in the light , seeth assuredly , that he goeth forward , and not backward , without either stay or doubt , and knowing he knowes , that he knowes , and that he is not deceived . seeing therefore that vve teach , hovv all men may be altogether vvise in all things ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) vvhy may not that vvhich vve teach be called , and esteemed pansophie ? but vvhat is the reason , vvhy vve call it not onely pansophie , but christian pansophie ? first , because they onely can frame pansophie , or reap fruit by it , vvho are furnished vvith sufficient principles , such as are sense , reason , and faith in divine revelations . but christians onely have the world in their eyes , gods word in their mouthes , and his spirit in their hearts , according to the promise , isaiah , 59. 21. and therefore augustine argues very strongly , that onely christianity is true philosophie , ( lib. 3. contra academ . cap. 19. ) secondly , all pious and faithfull christians , even the simplest of them , in as much as they are good christians , are possessed of this pansophie . because they relish heaven more than earth , eternall things more than temporary , and do possesse christ , ( in whom all the treasures of wisedome are hid ) mystically indeed , yet truly in like manner , as every seed doth truly containe in it selfe the whole tree , or herbe , with their fruit . but perhaps this might have rather beene called humane pansophie , because ( according to the intention of it , which is universall instruction , leading from universall , and easie principles to those things which are more obscure ) it ought not to be appropriated to christians onely , but so disposed , that all men may partake of it , that ( if god so please ) it may be a means of enlightning , and convincing the minds of unbeleevers : as also to cleare our selves from all imputations of inconsideratenesse in attempting things above the sphere of humane abilities ; though indeed we urge nothing but humane , that is , things possible , and due to man. to conclude , whether this or the former title pleaseth best , it mattereth not much : for our part , we thought fit to use the word pansophie for this onely end , because we desired to sharpen mens appetites toward wisedome , that all men in all things may altogether seeke to fill their minds with truths and realities , rather than with the smoke of fancies and opinions . laying aside this consideration , we care not though it be called aristosophie , or chrestosophie , ( i. excellent and choyce wisedome , or about such things as are excellent ) yea even ignorance : for wee are very willing with socrates to professe , that wee know this onely , that wee know nothing : as the apostle saith , if any man thinke that he knoweth any thing , he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know , 1. corinth . 8. 2. the next thing we are to speake of is , why we say , that the structure of this temple of pansophie , is framed according to the rules , lawes , and idea's of god the supreme architect ? the reason is at hand : because we follow in the generall dimensions , the severall parts , their situation & use , the very pattern which gods wisdome it selfe did before delineate . first to moses for the erecting of the tabernacle : then for solomon in the building of the temple : lastly , to ezekiel for the glorious restauration of the temple , that was demolished . for first god speakes thus to moses , exod. 25. 8 , 9. let them make mee a sanctuary that i may dwell amongst them , according to all that i shew thee , &c. and vers . 40. and looke that thou make them after the patterne which was shewed thee in the mount. againe , god sent ( by the prophet nathan , as is probably held ) the patterne of the temple , and all the parts thereof to david , who delivering it to solomon , charged him not to depart from the forme thereof , protesting thus to him , 1 chron. 28. 19. all this the lord made mee understand in writing by his hand upon mee , even all the workes of this patterne . lastly , he shewed to ezekiel the forme of the mysticall temple ; that is , of the new church under christ , with expresse charge to be attentive in the receiving of it , and to declare it all unto the house of israel , ezek. 40. 4. now we must observe , that every latter draught was more full and perfect than the former . not as if god gained skill by continuance of time , and practise for the mending of his workes ( as is common with men in building , that their latter devises please them more , and are better than the former ) but because hee would therein prefigure the state of the church , as it was to improve with time . for it was for our sakes , not his owne , that these things were figured out to us . the tabernacle of moses therefore consisted of three parts , the court , the sanctuary , and the holy of holies , as appeares in the 40. chapter of exod. the temple of solomon contained without the inward , and last space , ( the holy of holies ) three outward spaces , the court of the common people , the court of the levites , and the court of the priests : and lastly , the holy of holies , which might be entred by the high priest onely once every yeare . the structure of ezekiels temple consisted of the same number of parts ( though of more walls and gates ) but of a diverse situation . for solomons temple was built upon mount moriah , but onely on the plaine thereof : but the outward parts of ezekiels temple , were situate on the side of the hill , every more inward court being raised certaine degrees above the other , so that the temple it selfe , that is , the holy of holies being pleasantly seated on the very top , yeelded every way a most refulgent splendor . which divers structures of gods dwelling places amongst men , did typifie the various increases , and enlargements of god church , as well in regard of its spreading among many peoples , and tongues , as also in respect of knowledge , which was to be encreased according to the churches ages . for the church hath its ages as well as the world , infancie , youth , middle age , declining , and old age : which last , as it brings decay of bodily strength , so also it perfects the vigour of the mind : in regard that then the temper of the body declines to drinesse , whereby the animall spirits become more fixed , and the mind more sedate , and quiet in its motions . seeing therefore it is very fitting , that the church of the new testament should be of ripe understanding , especially now the world is drawing towards old age , ( 1 cor. 14. 20. eph. 4. 14. ) we have therefore borrowed for this temple of christian wisedome the forme of the draught of the last temple given to ezekiel : distinguishing the whole worke of pansophie into seven severall parts , in every one whereof severall things may be presented to the beholders view , that so mens minds being raised from baser things to those which are more sublime , may at last attaine to its holy of holies , that is , gods blessed eternity . but how this may be drawne from the forme of ezekiel's temple , remaines now to be explained . i. first , ezekiel declares briefly , and in generall , what he saw in the visions of god ; to wit , 1. a city scituate upon a mountaine , the place of that most magnificent temple , which hee was about to describe , chap. 40. vers . 2. 2. a man standing by him provided with measures , and rules , who should shew him all those things , exhorting him to listen , and behold , and to set his heart upon those things which should be shewed him , vers . 3. 4. 3. the compasse of the temple , or the outward wall , with the measures of its breadth , and height , v. 5. ii. next he describeth the gate of the temple , which was onely one in the whole compasse of the temple , and that on the easterne side thereof , v. 6. to the 17. iii. the first or outward court , which was called the court of the people , because all the people might come into it , is described , v. 17. to the 28. which had three gates , through which the ascent was by seven steps unto the pavement of that court , v. 6 , 19 , 22 , 26. iv. then hee describeth the middle court , where the holy instruments were kept , and preparation made by the levites , as was fitting , for legall sacrifices , and oblations : the description whereof may be found from the 28. vers . to the 44. and we must observe , that it was higher by eight steps , than the first court , as appeares by the description of the gates thereof , v. 31 , 34 , 35. v. then followes the inward court , wherein was the altar of burnt-offerings , with other necessaries for making of atonement ; wherefore it is called , the court of the priests . the description thereof is , v. 44. to 48. vi. the temple it selfe , called the holy of holies ( chap. 41. v. 4. ) is described , from the 48. vers . of the 40. chap. to the end of the 41. chap. and the scituation thereof upon the very top of the hill , chap. 43. v. 12. therefore in the description of the porch thereof ( chap. 40. v. 49. ) mention is made of steps , yet without any expresse number , how many there were . in the temple it selfe , or house of the lord , nothing is mentioned besides the cherubims , and palme-trees ( chap. 41. vers . 20 , 21. ) and the table which is before the lord , ( v. 24. ) vii . lastly , after the setting downe of the ordinances for gods worship in this new temple ( chap. 43 , and 44. ) and the forme of politicall government among gods people ( chap. 45 , and 46. ) he comes at the beginning of the 47. chap. to describe the river of waters issuing out of gods temple through those three courts , and from a small beginning rising to a very great depth , and how from thence it was diffused over all the earth , giving life and fruitfulnesse unto all things . now if wee forme the divisions of the structure of wisedomes temple according to this patterne , it will also consist of seaven parts . i. in the first part shall be generally handled by way of preface , 1. what manner of booke this pansophie is , and what end , and use there is thereof . 2. what are those helps which gods goodnesse hath supplyed us withall , for the furnishing of universall wisedome . 3. what is the generall forme thereof . ii. in stead of the easterne gate , we will have a systeme , and collection of such common notions , as are of themselves obvious to all mens understandings . for our mind being the image of that high god , from whom all things derive their essence , is composed of harmony , and furnished with inbred rules , for the discerning of truth from falshood . and these rules are certaine common truths , which need no proofe , because as soone as they are uttered , every sound understanding doth admit them freely . but other particular things , which are subject to any question , are examined by these , and either allowed or rejected . now a sufficient store of such common and obvious notions will prove a truly sacred gate for our easie , safe , and speedy entrance into the knowledge of all things . iii. the court of the people suggesteth to us the third part of pansophie , which treats of such things , as fall under our senses , the visible world , with all visible creatures therein contained ; and such things as are by nature effected in them , or with relation to them . for the gate of common notions openeth hither immediately , that common truth being already tasted of , may be farther sought , and found in such things as are neere at hand , and may be seene , and felt : which is a very easie and certaine step to the discovery of things more remote . and here men shall learne the knowledge of naturall life , and of such things , as are requisite for the prolongation of it , that so they may have skill , and ability to preserve , and draw it out by naturall meanes , as long as their destiny suffereth them . iv. the middle court shall be paralleld by the fourth part of pansophie , which explaines such things as are subject to reason , or the intellectuall world , that is , all humane workes , which are , and may be effected by wit and art , and all things which humane understanding reacheth unto . the nearest entrance hither is out of the court of nature : for all that our art and wisedome can effect , is either to imitate the course , or amend the defects , or supply the wants of nature . in this theater men may learne wherein they excell brute beasts , to wit , in the right use of reason , in prudent disposing all sorts of affaires , and in the benefit of speech . in a word , here they may find how to live a true rationall life , as well in respect of themselves , and other men with whom they converse , as of all other creatures also . v. the innermost court supplies us with the fift part of pansophie , wherein men shall be brought acquainted with themselves in their inward man , and taught to lead a divine , and spirituall life . for here man shall behold that part of himselfe , wherein he most resembled god , that is , the absolute freedome of his will. so as being beforehand stored with provision from his senses , for the knowing of all things , and the light of reason to direct his judgement in them , he might now like a king of unbounded power , freely embrace , or refuse things according as they were represented , or concealed by the senses , and either approved or rejected by reason . for this is the greatest height of dignity , that creatures can be raised unto by their creator : as god expresseth in his consultation concerning the creation of man : let us make man according to our image , who may have dominion over the fish and birds , &c. that is , that he may do according to his owne will. for it was requisite for the perfection of the world , that besides elements , stones , plants , and brute beasts , and such like , which have their actions assigned them by nature , and act onely according to the force of their naturall instincts , there should be also some more noble creature , who should be master of his owne , both actions and inclinations . besides it makes much for the glory of god , whose wisedome discovers it selfe farre more conspicuously in over-ruling such creatures , as are acted by their owne wills , than in such as are by nature determined to their actions . and hereby god prepared a way to manifest the depth of his goodnesse in rewarding voluntary obedience , of his justice in punishing of sinne , and lastly of his clemencie in restoring this most excellent creature after his fall . therefore he is the adequate object of the full discovery of gods wisedome , man : who bethinking himselfe of his former height of dignity , will the easier acknowledge the grosnesse of his fall into that bottomlesse gulfe of misery : from whence there was no other recovery , or restitution to his former dignity , unlesse god himselfe should condescend to tye him to himselfe by a stronger bond , in a new and eternall union . in this part of pansophie therefore , man shall behold those great and profound mysteries , which are hid from the eyes of the world , of his internall generation , degeneration , and regeneration : together , with those admirable secrets of god , in mans creation , redemption , and sanctification , in gods governing him , or giving him over , in his salvation or damnation : and shall learne ( being drawne out of the depth of perdition , and restored to god , and to himselfe ) hereafter to deny himselfe , that is , by resigning his liberty of will unto god , to commit himselfe to the rule , and guidance of his spirit : in a word , to adhere close unto god , and to live a true spirituall life . therefore the content of this part of pansophie shall be that knowledge , which is described ( prov. 30. 3. ) to be the wisedome of the holy , and ( psal . 51. 6. ) hidden wisedome , and is made to be the abstract summe of all wisedome ( job 28. 28. eccles . 12. 13. ) which is hidden from the wisemen of this world ( matth. 11. 25. ) that so it may plainly appeare , how farre the knowledge conferr'd upon the church , excels all the learning of philosophers , and how high gods house is raised upon the top of other mountaines , isaiah , 2. 2. vi. the last , and most secret part of the temple , called the holy of holies , shall be here answered by the sixt part of pansophie , wherein the god of gods shall be seene in habiting his owne eternity : so farre i meane , as in this life he discovers himselfe , and his infinite and eternall majesty , and glory , to such as he predestinates , and invites unto the eternall fruition of himselfe . in this theater , man by beholding his owne , and the worlds originall draught , shall find how truly all gods workes do represent him , though in their severall manner and measure : and yet how every thing , that can be found in the creature , either good , beautifull , pleasant , or desirable , is in god in an infinitely more excellent manner . the fruit whereof will be , that being ravished with the taste , and sweetnesse of that eternall blisse , he may know how to do nothing else , but even to melt in delight and love of his god , and to yeeld himselfe wholly to be his habitation , that so passing comfortably this present life , he may by the gate of death enter into eternity . vii . lastly , from that river of waters issuing out of the temple , and diffusing themselves over all the earth , we will derive the last part of pansophie , which unfolds the right use of the waters of true wisedome . i am not ignorant that by those waters proceeding out of ezekiels temple , the course of the gospell is disciphered to us , which was but still and calme at the beginning , afterward by degrees receiving such large encreases , as it was not to be stayed by any opposition , like a river , that breakes over , and washeth away all dammes , and ramparts , that can be raised against it . yet it plainly appeares also , that wisedome is compared to waters , the law of the wise is a fountaine of life , saith solomon , ( prov. 13. 14 and 14. 27. ) and chap. 18. 4. the words of a mans mouth , are as deepe waters , and the welspring of wisedome as a flowing brooke . the sonne of syrach brings in wisedome , thus speaking of her selfe , i came out as a brooke from a river , and as a conduit into a garden ; i said , i will water my best garden , and will water abundantly my garden-bed : and loe my brooke became a river , and my river became a sea , ecclesiast . 24. 30 , 31. therefore in this last part of pansophie it will be our work to consider of , and designe such fit channels , as may convey these waters abroad on every side , that so the vast commons of humane affaires , together with the private garden-plots of every ones soule , and the whole paradise of the church may be therewith watered . and this among others is the reason , why we sayd , this temple of wisedome was to be consecrate to christs catholique church gathered , and to be gathered out of all nations , to wit , 1. because she as a mother may justly challenge from her children , whatsoever they are able to invent , or do for her honour and comfort . 2. christ saith , matth. 5. 19. men do not light a candle , that they may set it under a bushell , but upon a candlesticke , that it may give light to all that are in the house . now this light of universall wisedome ) which puts every thing in subordination to its true end ) is as it were gods candle , and must therefore be set up in his house , which is the church , that it may give light to all . 3. this house of the living god , the church ( as it is called , 1 tim. 3. 15. ) is built after the same patterne , according to which this temple of wisedome is reared : so that by beholding hereof , she may be advanced much in knowledge of her selfe . according to to that in cantic . 1. 8. if thou know not thy selfe , o thou fairest among women , goe thy way forth by the footsteps of the flocke , &c. for here by these continually deduced footsteps of things , the church is guided the right way to the discovery of her owne , and her eternall spouses comelinesse . and seeing that the manifold wisedome of god is made knowne unto angels by the church ( eph. 3. 10. ) we ought also to take speciall care , that the church in contemplation of her selfe , angels , and of god , may have all advantages supplyed her , for her promoting in the knowledge of this manifold wisedome of god. 4. but chiefely because god hath foretold , that the glory of his new temple ( the church of the new testament ) should be most conspicuous in the last times , and hath promised a large affluence of light and blessing to it . for thus hath god declared by the prophets , isaiah and micah , and by divers others , at severall times , and twice in the same words , that he might manifest the certainty of his decree : it shall come to passe in the last dayes , that the mountaine of the house of the lord shall be established in the top of the mountaines , and it shall be exalted above the hils , and all nations shall flow unto it , &c. ( isaiah 2. 2. micah 4. 1. ) and it shall come to passe in that day , that the mountaines shall drop downe new wine , and the hils shall flow with milke , and all the rivers of judah shall flow with waters , and a fountaine shall come forth of the house of the lord , and shall water the valley of the choyce cedars ( joel 3. 18. ) for living waters shall goe out from jerusalem , halfe of them toward the former sea , and halfe of them toward the hinder sea , in summer , and in winter shall it be . and the lord shall be king over all the earth : in that day shall there be one lord , and his name one . now because these things remaine yet to be most certainly fulfilled , men should be stirred up , by all meanes possible , not onely to behold , but also to promote , as much as in them lies , this glory of the house of god , to enlarge the churches bounds , and to derive such rivulets from gods streame , as may water even dry places , which were never yet moystned with this heavenly dew , that at last all with one accord , standing ( as it were ) upon a sea of glasse with harpes of god in their hands , might begin to sing the song of moses the servant of the lord , and the song of the lambe saying , great and marvellous are thy workes , lord god almighty , just and true are thy wayes , thou king of saints . who shall not feare thee o lord , and glorifie thy name ? for thou onely art holy , for all nations shall come and worship before thee , for thy judgements are made manifest , revel . 15. 2 , 3 , 4. and now i beleeve it appeares sufficiently what manner of booke it is , that wee would have compiled , and what are our reasons for the urging of it . let therefore all feare , and suspicion of confounding sacred and prophane things together be utterly banished : for first , all things are pure to those that are pure ( tit. 1. 15. ) the gold and silver which was gotten away from those impure egyptians , did not at all defile the israelites , or the tabernacle . againe here is no confounding of things together , but provision is made of remedies against those confusions , which so much distract mens minds by a distinct and graduall knowledge of all things , which may , or ought , or are worthy to be knowne . therefore first we declare such generall and knowne truthes , as are cleare of themselves by the testimony of common sense : next such things as fall under the outward senses to be seene , or felt without any errour , or mistake : afterward such things , as are rationally , and certainly deduced from sensuall apprehensions , but with an application of their truth also to sensible objects : lastly , those things , which divine revelation imparts to us , and faith onely receives ; but so , that sense and reason may also beare record unto god , and the truth of things invisible revealed to us , may be acknowledged in the analogie of such things as are visible , that the voyce of eternall truth uttered from all sorts of things , may be found to agree in one eternall harmony . this confusion therefore , beeing so harmonious , is nothing else but perfect order . but they object , christ taught no such matter , he onely declared the way of salvation . answ . 1. why do you then by your selves , or by others take care to have your children instructed in the meaner things of this life , as in arithmeticke , logicke , and other sorts of learning ? 2. be it so , that christ taught not these things , it is most certaine he forbad them not , but rather signifies unto us , that we ought not to be ignorant of them , in that he so often borrowes from things naturall , and artificiall , both the occasion , and the manner of unfolding spirituall mysteries ; thereby declaring to us , that there is such proportion betweene things visible and invisible , that these cannot be easier understood than in reference unto them . therefore they would be wiser than christ himselfe , who restraining themselves onely to spirituall , and heavenly things , reject from the study of christianity , all such things , wherewith ( as they terme them ) worldlings imploy themselves . if indeed they do so imploy themselves , and settle their rest hereupon , yet wee ( alwaies mindfull of our plus ultra ) will not be imployed therein , but imploy them as steps and degrees for our more easie and speedie attaining unto things of an higher value . 3. if christ taught not such things himselfe , yet he hath taught them by others : and if not then , yet now at least he teacheth them . for , he is the same yesterday , to day , and for ever , ( heb. 13. 8. ) to wit , that wisedome of god by which all things are made , ( prov. 8. v. 22 , &c. ) therefore whatsoever wisedome , light , or order , is any where , or in any time , or person to be found , it all comes from him , and is derived out of his treasury . when hee came into the world , his worke was not to speed forward these things of smaller moment , but that he might give his life a ransome for many ( matth. 20. 28. ) therefore he committed the writing of the gospels , and constituting of outward order in his church unto his disciples care , promising to be with them , and their successours , even unto the end of the world . therefore this worke , if profitable , or what ever good thing otherwise shall at any time breake forth , even unto the worlds end , must be all accounted to proceed from christ , who maketh every thing beautifull in his time , eccles . 3. 11. now if our designe for the rearing up this temple of universall wisedome do go forward , it will be meete for us to consider , 1. that ( according to davids instructions to solomon ) the temple to be builded must be great , and magnificall , of fame and glory throughout all countries ( 1. chron. 2. 5. ) therefore workemen should be sought out , who are worthy of such employment , and who are skilfull to find out every thing that is thereto necessary , 2 chron. 2. 7. 14. 2. solomons temple was builded by gods command upon the mount moriah , which signifies the vision of god : and the ground-worke of wisedomes temple shall likewise be the vision of god ; that is , all visible things shall be used as perspectives for our minds , to behold the invisible ruler of the universe , with his power , wisedome , and goodnesse , richly mantling over all things . 3. the matter whereof solomons temple was built , was of three sorts , stones , wood , and metals : the stones were all of great value , as marble , and pretious stones : the woods were fat , and odoriferous , as the firre and the cedar : the metals most pure , as gold perfectly refined . the matter of wisedomes temple shall be supplyed out of the store of three sorts of principles , sense , reason , and divine revelation ; of which sense resembles the nature of stones in the grossenesse of its perception ; reason for its ever flouring quality , may well be compared to the spreading of trees : and gods word , which remains for ever , is like unto pure & incorruptible gold . 4. of the stones were made the walls ; of the woods seeling for to cover the walls : and the seeling was over-laid with plates of gold , ( 2 chr n. 3. 5 , 6 , 7. ) moreover , the marble floore there of ; ( 2 chr. 3. 6. ) was over-laid with gold , ( 1 king. 6. 30. ) but the sacred vessels , the altar , the table , the candlestickes , the lamps , the censers , all were made of most pure gold , ( 2 chron. 4 19 , &c. ) so the foundation , and walls of wisedomes temple shall be reared onely of such truthes , as are palpable & evident to the sense , to which reason shall supply the causes , why every thing must needs be so , as it is : and lastly , the lustre of divine testimony shall thereto be added , that truth may every where retaine its native majesty . but the sacred furniture hereof , which hath reference to the mysteries of faith , and salvation , shall be the most pure gold of the oracles of god. 5. solomons temple was built of stones , that were hewed perfectly aforehand , so that there were neither hammer , nor axe , nor any iron toole heard , while it was in building , ( 1 king. 6. 7. ) so in the building of wisedomes temple , it will be very unseemly , to have the noise of disputes , and brawles heard ; it is more fitting , that it should be reared of truth already squared ; that is , not of such tenets , and opinions , as are promiscuously taken upon trust , and when they come to be laid in the building must then be new hewed , and squared to fit them for the understanding , and to bring them to some similitude of truth ; but such as being exactly wrought in the shop of principles , come forth without any crackes , ruggednesse , or other inequality , so that being applyed , they fit fully on every side , with things going before , with , and after them . by this only meanes can truth be settled in the light , and recovered from contradiction . 6. the parts of that materiall temple were of most exact proportion , and therefore in the story of the building thereof , you may find every where mention made of numbers , and measures , ( 1 king. 6. ) and the angel , which was to imforme the prophet concerning the building of the mysticall temple , came provided of a line of flaxe , and a measuring reed ( ezek. 40. 3. ) in like manner , in this temple of wisedome all things must be reduced to such an universall symmetrie , that the wandring thoughts of our minds may be contained in their just , certaine , and immoveable bounds . 7. there were added artificiall ornaments by graving , and embossing of cherubims , palme-trees , and flowers , ( 1 king. 6. 29. ) answerable thereunto this temple of wisedome must be framed in an apt method , and elegant stile , that so the outward palate may be therewith delighted , as much as may be . 8. all things contained in the compasse of that temple were holy , ( for the outward wall thereof onely , was to separate the sacred from that which was prophane ) ezek. 41. 20. so let every thing that comes into the content of wisedomes temple be holy , erther in it selfe , or else in reference to sacred uses , i meane , as a step for our easier finding , and attaining our ends , which are gods glory , and our eternall blisse in him , to which all things , both great and small , every one in their severall order are here directed . 9. and as god for the encouragement of those who did reedifie the ruined temple of jerusalem , promised them abundance of blessings together with his presence , and assistance , ( hagg. 1. & 2. ) the same may the builders of wisedomes temple be confident of , according to that promise of wisedome from above , i love those that love mee , and i will fill their treasures , ( prov. 8. 17 , 21. ) 10. lastly , according as when the builders laid the foundation of that materiall temple , the priests and levites stood in their apparell with trumpets , and cimbals to praise the lord , and all the people shouted with a great shout , while they praised the lord : ( ezra 3. 10 , 11. ) so it will well become all good christians that are any way privy to this pious designe , to add their good desires , and prayers , while the foundation of wisedomes temple is in laying , that this worke begun in gods name and feare may happily go forward unto his praise , saying , blessed be the name of the lord from this time forth , and for evermore , from the rising of the sunne to the going downe of the same the lords name be praised , ( psal . 113. 2 , 3. ) the severall titles of the seven parts of the temlpe of christian pansophie i. the threshold of the temple of wisedome . representing unto us the fore-parts , and outward structure thereof , together with the necessity , possibility , and easie way both of the rearing thereof , and entring thereunto . ii. the gate of the temple of wiseddoe . through which lieth the first and readiest entrance unto the true knowledge of all things , which are to be knowne . or , wisedomes generall store : wherein the general kinds of all things , together with their frames , and lawes are represented to us : and that chiefly by the help of such common notions , as are inbred in humane minds , and beeing once illustrated by examples are easily admitted thereinto , without farther proofe . from which notwithstanding all the rivulets of particular knowledge are to be derived , as from the originall fountain of truth . iii. the outward court of the temple of wisedome . wherein the visible world , and all things therein contained , with the course of nature incident thereto , are laid before our view : to the end that man may learn to know the fabricke , & necessaries of his naturall life , & with reverence to magnifie the wisdome of his creator . iv. the middle court of the temple of wisedome . wherein the reasonable creature man , stands forth to be seene with all things , that either are or may be effected by humane understanding . to the end that man may be brought to know the abilities of his owne mind , and to use them to the honour of god , who hath endued him therewith , and so to live a true rationall life . v. the innermost court of the temple of wisedome . wherein the more inward part of man , by which he approacheth neerest unto god , is unveiled : to wit , his free , and unlimited will , together with the horrible abuse thereof , and the mischiefe ensuing thereupon , as also our recovery into the state of salvation by christ both god and man. to the end that man being restored to god , and to himselfe , may begin to lead a divine and spirituall life . vi. the last and most secret part of the temple of wisedome , called the holy of holies . wherein is to be seene , as farre as he hath pleased to reveale himselfe , the high , and ever-to-be-adored governour of the world , lord of angels and men , jehovah , god of gods , raigning in his eternall kingdome , and shining with infinite majesty and glory . to the end that man , being brought neerer unto god by all things , and by most ardent love closing with him the center of eternall blisse , and rest , may yeeld up himselfe , as an holy , and living temple for him to dwell in for ever . vii . the fountaine of living waters of the temple of wisedome , that is , of the use of true wisedome , flowing out of the temple of god : to wit , that it may streame forth , and runne over all the earth , to fill it with the knowledge of the lord , as the waters cover the sea. psal. 43. 3. send forth thy light , and thy truth , o lord , that they may lead mee , and bring mee unto thine holy hill. the great * didactick , shewing the universall meanes to teach all men all things : or , a certaine and exquisite way for the erecting of such schooles in all the cities , townes , and villages of any particular christian kingdome , as that all young ones , whether males or females , none excepted , may be brought up in learning , polished in manners , and grounded in piety , and so may be prepared in their minority for all things concerning this present life , and that which is to come . the grounds of which designe are drawne from the very nature of the things themselves . the truth is cleared by instances answerable hereunto in mechanicke arts. the order is by assigning taskes for yeares , months , dayes , and houres . and lastly , an easie and certaine way is declared of happily efecting these things . the maine drift of this our didactick shall be to discover a way , whereby teachers may teach lesse , and learners may learne more . schooles may have lesse noyse , tediousnesse , and fruitlesse toyle , but more ease , delight , and reall profit . the christian state lesse darknesse , confusion and dissentions , but more light , order , peace and tranquillity . psal. 67. 1 , 2. god be mercifull unto us , and blesse us , and cause his face to shine upon us , and be mercifull unto us . that thy way may be knowne upon earth , thy saving health among all nations . the titles of the severall chapters of the great didactick . in the preface thereof , magistrates , parents , and schoole-masters are earnestly exhorted to the diligent education of children by divers reasons and examples . the worke it selfe containes as followeth . chap. i. wherein is proved , that man is the last , most absolute , and excellent of all creatures . ii. that mans chiefe good , and last end is not here , but in another life . iii. that this life is but a preparation for life eternall . iv. that there are 3. degrees of this preparation for eternity ; 1. to know ; 2. to order and governe ; 3. to direct to gods glory , as our selves , so all other things respectively . v. that there are some seedes of those three ( knowledge , morality , and religion ) naturally implanted in us . vi. that it is requisite for to make a perfect man , to for me him anew . vii . that this forming of man may best be effected while he is young , and very hardly afterwards . chap. viii . that youth may best be formed , or instructed in company 〈◊〉 of another : and that schooles are necessary . ix . that youth of both sexes should be put to schoole . x. that instruction in schooles should be universall , and that all should be taught in every thing . xi . that we have hitherto wanted perfect schooles . xii . that schooles may be reformed , and brought to a better passe . xiii . that the groundworke of reforming schooles is the observing of an accurate order in all things . xiv . that this accurate order in schools , must be borrowed from nature . therefore xv. are declared out of nature the grounds of the prolongation of life and xvi . such things as are generally requisite , both for teaching , and learning : that is , such a certaine way both of teaching , and learning , that there cannot but follow a good effect . xvii . the grounds of easinesse both in teaching , and learning . xviii . the grounds of solidity both in teaching and learning . chap. xix . the grounds of the most compendious , and speedy way of teaching , where among other things is cleared , how one schoole-master may suffice for a * very great number of schollers . xx. is set downe the true method of the severall sciences . xxi . the method of the arts. xxii . the method of languages . xxiii . the method of morality . xxiv . the method of instilling piety . xxv . it is plainly demonstrated , that , ( if we would have such a reformation of schooles , as is according to the rules of true christianity ) profane , and heathen authors must be either quite rejected , or used with more choyce and caution . xxvi . is set downe a fourefold division of schooles , according to the age , and ripenesse of youth . xxvii . the description of the first schoole under the mother . xxviii . the manner of the next schoole in teaching to read their mother tongue . xxix . a draught of the latine schoole . xxx . of the university . xxxi . of an universall , and very accurate order of schooles . xxxii . of such things as are necessarily required for the bringing of this universall method into practice . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a34114-e150 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otium . prolixity . difficulty . want of truth . learning not fitted the use life . learning not leading us to go * vt in archetypo , * ectypo , * antitypo . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a gate of languages . unum , verum , bonum notes for div a34114-e5200 * generall knowledge , or wisdome . 1 king 19. 11 , 12. 13. * generall wisedome . omni sapientia . omnes circa omnia , omnino . doubt . 1. 2. solut. notes for div a34114-e7890 * art of teaching . * quantovis discipulorum , &c. academiarum examen, or, the examination of academies wherein is discussed and examined the matter, method and customes of academick and scholastick learning, and the insufficiency thereof discovered and laid open : as also some expedients proposed for the reforming of schools, and the perfecting and promoting of all kind of science ... / by jo. webster. webster, john, 1610-1682. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a65356 of text r827 in the english short title catalog (wing w1209). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 272 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 64 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a65356 wing w1209 estc r827 11946340 ocm 11946340 51321 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65356) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51321) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 44:5) academiarum examen, or, the examination of academies wherein is discussed and examined the matter, method and customes of academick and scholastick learning, and the insufficiency thereof discovered and laid open : as also some expedients proposed for the reforming of schools, and the perfecting and promoting of all kind of science ... / by jo. webster. webster, john, 1610-1682. [16], 110 p. printed for giles calvert ..., london : 1654. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. eng education, higher -early works to 1800. learning and scholarship. universities and colleges -great britain. a65356 r827 (wing w1209). civilwar no academiarum examen, or the examination of academies. wherein is discussed and examined the matter, method and customes of academick and scho webster, john 1653 49905 169 60 0 0 0 0 46 d the rate of 46 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2002-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-01 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-01 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion academiarum examen , or the examination of academies . wherein is discussed and examined the matter , method and customes of academick and scholastick learning , and the insufficiency thereof discovered and laid open ; as also some expedients proposed for the reforming of schools , and the perfecting and promoting of all kind of science . offered to the judgements of all those that love the proficiencie of arts and sciences , and the advancement of learning . by io. webster . in moribus et institutis academiarum , collegiorum , et similium conven●uum , quae ad doctorum hominum sedes , & operas mutuas destinata sunt , omnia progressui scientiarum in ulterius adversa inveniri . franc. bacon . de verulamio lib. de cogitat . & vis . pag●●nihi 14. london , printed for giles calvert , and are to be sold at the sign of the black-spread-eagle at the west-end of pauls , mdcliv . to the right honourable major general lambert . right honorable , i present not these rude lines , thereby to beg protection ; for if they be not able to stand of themselves , i desi●e they should no● be supported by others ; but onely because some years agoe a short draught of them was brought to your hands , and your honour was then pleased to judge it worthy of your view and consideration , which makes me bold to mind you of what then i intimated unto you , which was and is thus much , that seeing divine providence hath made you ( with the rest of those faithfull and gallant men of the army ) signally instrumental , both in redeeming the english liberty , almost d●owned in the deluge of tyranny and self interest , and also unmanacling the simple and pure truth of the gospel , from the ch●ins and fetters of cold and dead formality , and of restrictive and compulsary power , two of the greatest blessings our nation ever yet enjoyed , i hope the same providence will also direct you to be assistant to continue the s●●e , against all the bitterness and cruelty of those , who , having obtained liberty for themselves , care not though others be bound up and persecuted , and moreover guide you to set to your hand and endeavour for the purging and reforming of academies , and the advancement of learning , which hitherto hath been little promoted or look'd into . and i am the more imboldned in this confidence , having experimental knowledge and trial , not onely of your honours abilities that way , but also of your sincere affection and unparalleld love to learning , and to all those that are lovers and promoters therof ; which have been the principal motives to incite me to tender this rude essay , and these few unpolish'd lines to your profound and mature judgement , which , besides the good will of the author , have little in them worthy your deliberate consideration : yet i suppose , if rightly weighed and examined , there will appear something in them of necessary consequence for the promoting of learning , or at least to stir up some more able wits to make a s●●●tiny into these things that are here controver●ed , which is the greatest aim of my flagging desires . bu● l●st while i speak for truth and learning , i may speak my self in stead thereof , which is natures epidemical disease , and in not glorying may seem to glory , i only leave them to your honours ●●●jure , and my self your honours devoted servant , io. webster . october 21. 1653. to all that truly love the advancement of learning in the universities of cambridge and oxford , or elsewhere . gentlemen , though my stoical and rigid humor might rather have induced me to have practised that severe maxim , that men in publishing their writings should neither make use of fear nor care , as having that sufficient testimony in their own breasts of the sincerity of their intentions , and the perspicuity , certainty and utility of those things they divulge , that they need not fear their pains shall want protection , nor care for or fear the censures of men ; yet knowing i have to deal with creatures more humane , civil , debonayre and ingenuous than the many headed multitude , out of tenderness to give any jnst scandall or offence and out of care to give all candid and free spirits the ultimate content that lies in my power , i will give some few reasons of this my present undertaking , especially considering that he who goes about to censure and refute the opinions of others , cannot but stand in need of an apology for himself . some , i make no doubt , will at the first sight of this artless rapsody , look upon me as some goth or vandal , hunne or scythian , coming like a torrent from the boreal and barren mountains of cold stupidity and dark ignorance , violently labouring to bring a deluge or inundation upon all the pleasant gardens of arts and sciences , and to make an universal conquest of all the flourishing kingdomes of antient and long-esteemed literature , thereby to erect the monarchy of feral bru●ishness and savage barbarism . well , whatsoever they may or can think or say of me , i am sure they cannot more experimentally and apodictically anatomize mine idiocrasie than my self , nor be better acquainted with my weakness , nescience , ignorance & errors than i am my self and i have truly more to say against my self than all the world can say of me or by me ; yet if i may be thought to know the interior motions and intentions of mine own heart better than others , then i can truly and cordially testifie , that my soul is altogether inscious and innoc●nt of any such purpose . doubtless i may through mistake and want of ability to discern what is truth , and what is falshood , what is true learning , and what is but opiniative , painted and seeming misse the way , and shoot far from the mark ; yet hath my will and affections no other end but onely to hold out what is homogeneous to truth , and of real tendency to advance science . others may imagine that confidence of self-sufficiency , or hope of fame and vain glory , to be said to have attempted great things ; or like scaliger with cardan to think to gain credit , to intermeddle with the splendor of the great name of aristotle ; or to be so audacious , being but as an ant or pygmie , to undertake to combate with the sons of anac , in entring so boldly upon an examination of the academies , which are , and have been the fountains of learning , have been the motives that have had the most principal impulse upon my spirits in this iuterpriz● ; or that in the vain confidence of my abilities in oratory , i have plaid but agrippa's ape , to make a declamation against the approv'd scholastick learning thereby to be accounted more learned : to these i plainly answer , my own breast is mine own sanctuary & let them judge what they please , for if affection to simple and naked truth had had no more influence upon my spirit than desire of fame and repute , i could have been willing to have been silent untill i had been returned into that universal silence into which all must goe ; and if i be not guilty of too much dubitation with pyrrho , i am not culpable of too much considence with aristotle . but i must needs confess , as i never attempted any adversary through the incouragement of his weakness , so i never feared any because of his supposed strength ; those that teach in the academies are but as others , and homo is a common name to all men . and if these men understood that i know better how to live without the most men in the world , than many in the world know how to live without me , they would never have judged me by their own measure , nor have imagined that either fear or favour , repute or disrepute , could have drawn me to this undertaking . and my unskilfulness in oratory is so sufficiently manifest in these unelegant lines , as it cannot be of much weight to beget a belief of gaining credit by that means , whereof i am absolutely conscious i am utterly void ; and if agrippa have done well , why should i be troubled to be accounted his imitator ? others will look upon me as an absolute leveller , and imagine that i would but have the tree digged up by the roots , that if i get none of the main timber , yet i may have some of the tops , or at least to warm my self with the chips ; and will say , that as the presbyters rooted out the episcopants , yet it was but to gather the tythes into their own barns ; and as the independents dismounted the presbyterians , yet it was but to ride in their saddle : so we that talk of reforming the academies and schools , do it but that we might divide some of the spoil , or step into the places of those that are turned out . wel , it is an easie exposition to expound other mens aymes by their own , and to judge what others intend to do , because we our selves have either done or intend to do the like in like cases ; but facility and verity are not alwaies twins , others are not necessarily corrupt because we are so , minds as well as faces may have the same difference . but however i must needs so far own levelling , that i hold plai● dealing to be a jewel , and he that loves rugged , knotty and uneven paths may chuse them for me , i shall not willingly follow him therein ; smooth and plain waies to me seem more amiable , secure , and comfortable . for the prelacy though it sought to bow me , yet it could not break me ; though the presbyterian pride did seem to threaten me , yet it could not hurt me , and the independent forms could never inform me beyond the basis of a better building than man can erect : nor can the spoil of academies ever please my mind , nor shall fill my purse . and therefore i would have such to know that i am no dean not master , president nor provost , fellow nor pensioner , neither have i tyths appropriate ▪ nor impropriate , augmentation , nor state pay , nor all the levelling that hath been in these times , hath not mounted nor raised me , nor can they make me fall lower , qui cadit in terram , non habet unde cadat . and he that would raise himself by the ruins of others , or warm himself by the burning of schools , i wish him no greater plague than his own ignorance , nor that he may ever gain more knowledge than to live to repent . some also will inquire who , and what i am , how bred and educated , that i dare be so audacious and insolent to examine and oppose that learning , which hath been received and approved for so many years , as●ented unto , and extolled by so many great wits and profound judgements , and defended , and patronized by all the academies in the universe : and will think it fit i should give an account of my self , that the world may judge of mine abilities , lest my shoulders be found too weak to support so ponderous a burthen . to all which i might return this , si respondere noluero , quis coacturus fit ? yet shall i not be so cynical , but plainly tell them that hercules is easily known by his foot , and the lion by his paw , the treatise it self will sufficiently speak both my strength and weaknesse , my science and ignorance , and causes are best known by their effects , and the tree by its fruits , and therefore they need no cleerer rules , or means to judge by , than the things herein laid down . and if i know little ( as i am most conscious that i only know this , that i know nothing at all , at least as i ought to know ) let not my education be blamed , but my negligence and stupidity , though i must confess i ow little to the advantages of those things called the goods of fortune , but most ( next under the goodness of god ) to industry : however , i am a free-born englishman , a citizen of the world , and a seeker of knowledge , and am willing to teach what i know , and learn what i know not , and this is sufficient satisfaction to modest inquirers . furthermore , some may object and say , that this treatise is but like plato's republick , sir thomas moor's vtopia , or the lord bacon's new athlantis , fraught with nothing but heterodoxal novelties , and imaginary whimseys , which are not to be imitated , and are meerly unpracticable . to this i answer , that phantastical heads may very well be filled with such roving thoughts , and conceited crotches , yet i would have them to know that in plato's common-wealth , and sir thomas moor's vtopia , are more excellent things contained than figments and impossibilities , though the general blindness , and curse upon the sons of adam keep them frō seeing or practising any thing that may break the yoak or remove the burthen : and for the arcana et magnalia naturae , aimed at by sir francis bacon , they might be brought to some reasonable perfection , if the waies and means that he hath prescribed , were diligently observed , and persued ; and if these poor lines of mine contained but any treasure comparable to any of their rich mines , i should set an higher character of esteem upon them , than now i ought , or they any way merit . and it is true , that supposed difficulty , and impossibility , are great causes of determent from attempting , or trying of new discoveries , and enterprises , for the sloathful person usually cryeth , go not forth , there is a lion or bear in the way ; and if columbus had not had the spirit to have attempted , against all seeming impossibilities , and discouragements , never had he gained that immortal honour , nor the spaniards been masters of the rich indies , for we often admire why many things are attempted which appear to us as impossible , and yet when attained , we wonder they were no sooner set upon , and tried , so though the means here prescribed may seem weak and difficult to be put into use , yet being practised may be found easy and advantagious . and i hope newness need not be a brand to any indeavor , or discovery , seeing it is but a meer relative to our intellects , for that , of which we were ignorant , being discovered to us , we call new , which ought rather to mind us of our imbecillity and ignoranee , than to be any stain or scandal to the thing discovered , for doubtlesly he said well that accounted philosophy to be that , which taught us nihil admirari , and admiration is alwaies the daughter of ignorance . and if some shall allege that here is nothing mine own but what is gleaned and collected from others , and so is nothing else but a transcription , and that if every bird take her own feather , i shall be but left naked and bare . well , suppose all this be true , and that nihil dictum quod non prius , yet is this no more blameable in me than in others , for i confess the most of the arguments i have used have been borrowed from those learned authors whose names i have used , or whose writings i have cited , yet are there many things also of mine own , at least the methode and manner of arguing , so that i may say with macrobius , omne meum , nihil meum . and if the things therein contained be hinted at and taught by others , then i only am not paradoxal but they also , and i have produced their testimony , that the world may see how many valiant champions have stood up to maintain truth against the impetuous torrent of antiquity , authority and universality of opinion ; and though they be not so numerous , yet are they no babes , but strong men , who fight not with the plumbeous weapons of notions , syllogism , and putation , but with the steely instruments of demonstration , observation , and experimental induction , so that i hope i shall not be accused of novelty and singularity , seeing i have so many noble heroes to bear me company . however i may be censured , i intend not to asperse the persons of any , nor to traduce nor calumniate the academies themselves , but only the corruptions that time and negligence hath introduced there , but simply to attempt ( according to my best understanding ) some reformation , not eradication of their customes , and learning , which though i have ( peradventure ) but weakedly mannaged , yet i hope my poor mite , with the can did and ingenuous will be accepted , and for the rest i value them not , and i intreat the more able to supply what my want of strength hath left incompleat , and imperfect . lastly , i have rather intended this as an essay to break the ice to some more able judgement , than as sufficient of it self to perform what is aimed at , because i have neither performed what i should have done , nor what i could , but only traced out some few cleer things as a guide to higher and more noble undertakings : in a word , if i have said or done any thing that may truely advance science , i have mine end , if otherwise , blame the weakness , not the will of him , who subscribes himself , servant to all those that truely love learning . jo. webster . octob. 21. 1653. sagacissimo et doctissimo viro johanni websterio carmen acrosticon et encomiasticon . j in an aegyptian darknesse men do live , o o'recome with fancies which the schoolmen give ; h high-building-tower men , who such notions make , n nothing but babel we from them can take . w weave now such damask , webster , that this age e eternize may thy name with th' graecian sage . b build thou a school , whose strong foundation may s sacred remain , when thou art laid in clay . t time then shall write in brazen sheets thy fame , e englands guard-angel shall preserve thy frame , r rebuking schoolmen with thy very name . r. h. n. & medicus . to the reader concerning this book , and his worthy friend , the composer of it . who fears the same of academick sense must blame this author , saying , a bonny sconce is fitter for him , than a weed that springs in any grove , that 's shadowed by the wings of pegasus , that nimble horse that runnes among the goths , the vandals , and the hunnes ; but we are christians , say the men that bottle all their extractions out of aristotle ; we are the men that must amuze the world with what he hath broach'd , and still amongst us hurl'd : but here 's a man that tells the truth indeed , and shewes our human learning but a weed , a dream of yesternight , and no such thing as men from oxford , or from cambridge bring . reader consider what he saies , and mark what artifice of mischief lyes i'th'dark , how ignorance hath brav'd it out , and still goes veil'd and mask'd under the name of skill ; how men pretend to that which is divine , and yet discern not what is but humane . how earnest should we be , and valiant then against those idols of the times , who when they know not god , or what is taught by him , would yet in lower waters drink and swim of human learning ? but how vain and odd is his conceit , that knowes neither man nor god , and yet would fain perswade the world that he can handsomely unfold each mystery ? away with fond conceits , let us lament our not perceiving what may us content , which lies not in the creatures view , much less can any see it , who themselves do bless , in groping after that which men enhaunce , and yet what is it , but meer nescience ? well-fare the author of this learned book , whose pains from us frauds of this nature took . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . i. c. a. m. the contents . chap. i. of the generral ends of erecting publique schools . chap. ii. of the division of academick learning , and first of that called school-theology . chap. iii. of the division of that which the schools call humane learning , and first of tongues or languages . chap. iv. of logick . chap. v. of the mathematical sciences . chap. vi . of scholastick philosophy . chap. vii . of metaphysicks , ethicks , politicks , oeconomicks , poesie , and oratory . chap. viii . of their custome and method . chap. ix . of some expedients or remedies , in theology , grammar , logick , and mathematicks . chap. x. of some helps in natural philosophy . chap. xi . some expedients concerning their custome and method . academiarum examen , or the examination of academies . chap. i. of the general ends of erecting publick schools . it is a truth clearly evidential to all , who in a small measure have but convers'd with history , or are not absolute infidels against the fidelity and facts of former ages , that there have been few nations so feral and savage , who have not honoured literature , and in some way or other have not instituted means for the propagating of learning . which is sufficiently witnessed by the most nations of note ; for the indians had their brachman's , and gymnosophists ; the persians their magusaei , or magicians ; the antient gaules , and britaines their druides ; the iewes their rabbies , both cabalists and talmudists ; and the graecians their masters and philosophers . the aegyptians also had their priests , who were men of great learning , and did but account of the graecians in point of knowledge as children , as one of them objected , vos graci semper estis pueri ; and this was that great learning , which moses being skilled in , is commended by s. stephen , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and moses was instituted from a body in all the learning of the aegyptians . now these had their gymnasia or publick schools , wherein they instructed their youth , as apollonius tyaneus witnesseth of the indians , and so st. paul testifieth of himself , that he was brought up at the feet of gamalie . and doubtless in imitation of these eastern nations the graecians erected their schools , and academies ; for pythagoras , democritus , socrates , plato and others , having travelled into forein parts , to participate of their knowledge , and returning home abundantly inriched therewith , did open their schooles to instruct their countrimen , and to let them in some measure tast of the sweet fruit of their far-fetched and dear-bought science . yet had they not ( as far as i can gather ) any publick salaries , but their merit was their maintenance , and their excellency in arts , and diligent industry , the only trumpet to blow abroad their fame , and to procure them both advancement , and auscultators , i shall not need to enlarge my self to speak of their antiquity , or the commendable ends of their first erection , it being manifest that the chief ends , in the institution of them amongst the heathen , were first to inable men for their undertaking in the commonwealth ; and secondly to fit them for the service , or worship of their idols , and imaginary gods ; which ends ( though diversified in the object ) were ( in all probability ) the same that christians aymed at in setting up their schools and universities : the first of which was good , politick , usefull and profitable , inabling men for all kind of undertakings , both military and civil , without which men do not much differ from brute animants ; the perfection of which is the greatest acquisition that men in this frail life can be partakers of , and in comparison of which all other worldly treasures are but as vapours and emptiness . but the other end , namely by these acquirements to fit and inable men for the ministry , and thereby to unlock the sealed cabinet of the counsel of god ( as it hath been commonly received in judgement , and used in practice ) hath not onely failed of the principal end aimed at , but been quite contrary and opposite thereunto . for every thing stretched and elevated beyond its own proper sphear and activity , becomes not onely vain and unprofitable , but also hurtfull and dangerous : boni oculi , & usui necessarii , sed cum sine lumine aspicere volunt , nihil eis species proficit , nihil propria vis , sed affert nocumentum , the eies are good , and necessary for use , but when they will see without light , the species of things doth not profit , their own vertue doth not profit , but bring nocument : so humane knowledge is good , and excellent , and is of manifold and transcendent use , while moving in its own orb ; but when it will see further than its own light can lead it , it then becomes blind , and destroyes it self . so if the academies had kept within their own sphear , and onely taught humane science , and had not in pride and vain glory , mounted into the chariot of the sun like phaeton , they had then neither disordered nor injured theologie that is above them , nor the things of nature , which they account below them ; nor had they attempted to send labourers into the lords vineyard , which none but he himself alone can do ; nor been negligent in that burthen , and labor , that was peculiar unto them , and incumbent upon them . and to cleer this we shall only touch some few arguments , because elsewhere we have said more . 1. the chief scope and drift of the gospel is to humble the proud , and towering imaginations of lost man , and to let him see that he is ( notwithstanding the excellency of all his acquisitions ) utterly blind , and knows nothing as he ought to know . and so while this vain tradition pretends to enable man to understand the mysteries of the gospel , it makes him ( through confidence in his attainments ) uncapable of being taught them , as iobs friend truly said , vain man would be wise , though he be born as a wild asses colt. tantò fit quisque vilior deo , quantò pretiosior sibi , tantò pretiosior deo , quantò propter eum vilior sibi , every one becomes so much more vile unto god , by how much more he is precious unto himself , so much more precious unto god , by how much more because of him he is vile unto himself . 2. the end of the gospel is to discover the wisdome of the world ( in the height of its purity and perfection ) to be meer foolishness , that so it may not be ballanced or compared with those divine raies of caelestial light that the spirit of god reveals in and unto man . haec tota est scientia magna hominis scire , quia ipsa nihil est per se , & quoniam quicquid est , ex deo est , et propter deum est , this is the whole knowledge of man , to know that it is nothing of it self , and that whatsoever it is , it is of god , and for god . but this opinion makes man confidently walk on in the light of his own sparks , and by the fire that he hath kinkled unto himself , and to prize it above the glorious and given light of the spirit of grace , and therefore ( as saith the prophet ) to ly down in sorrow . ad veram sapientiam pervenire non possunt , qui falsae suae sapientiae fiduciâ decipiunt , those can never attain unto true sapience who deceive themselves in the confidence of their own false wisdome . 3. the teaching of spiritual and gospel knowledge is onely and peculiarly appropriated and attributed unto the spirit of god , it is neither of man , nor by man , flesh and blood reveals it not , but the father which is in heaven ; and every scribe fit for the kingdome of heaven is taught of god . doctus autem scriba , qui magisterium universalis scientiae adeptus , habet thesaurum , de quo proferre potest nova et vetera , for the taught scribe , who having attained the magistery of universal science , hath a treasury out of which he can bring new things and old . now this tenent doth attribute it to a fleshly power , contrary to the truth of god , which denies it to be in the power of humane acquisition . the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god , for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them , because they are spiritually discerned . 4. the weapons and instruments of a minister of the gospel are of a more transcendent and sublime nature , than those that one man can furnish another withall , they are not carnal , but spiritual , not mighty through us or our power , but through christ , not for the elevating and blowing up , but for the pulling down of strong holds , casting down imaginations , & every thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of god , and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ . now is it not manifest that all the science that men or schools can teach is but carnal , and tends to exalt & not pull down the imaginations of man ? and therefore true of them , as one of the antients said , nugas tenemus , et fonte veritatis amisso , opinionum rivulos consectamur , we hold trifles , and the fountain of verity being lost , we follow the rivulets of opinions . 5. the apostles and disciples neither taught nor practised any such matter , but bad us beware of philosophy , which is after the rudiments of the world , and not after christ : nay the apostle forbad us even to speak or declare the things of christ in the wisdome of mens words , because thereby the cross of christ is made of none effect , and thereby mens faith doth but stand in the wisdome of man , and not in the power of god . there is a very remarkable and apposite relation recorded by chrysostome of two men disputing , the one a christian , the other an heathen , and the question betwixt them was , whether paul or plato were more eloquent , the christian arguing for st. paul , and the heathen for his master plato , of whom he affirms that the christian had the argument that belonged to the ●eathe● , and the heathen that which belonged to the christian , and draweth this conclusion . si platone disertior paulus fuisset , multi non immeritò asserere potuissent , non gratiâ vicisse paulum , sed facundiâ ; ex quo satis constat , non in sapientiâ humanâ praedicationem factam esse , sed in divinâ gratiâ . if paul had been more eloquent than plato , many not unworthily might have asserted , that paul had been victor , not by grace , but facundity , from whence it is sufficiently manifest that the preaching of the gospel was not made in the wisdome of man , but in divine grace . therefore is this teaching and practice contrary to the apostles rule and canon . 6. all things that by the spirit of christ are revealed unto , or wrought in man , are for this end , to take away from the creature totally all cause and ground of boasting or glorying , and to give the glory to god solely , to whom it is due . he that rejoiceth , let him rejoice in the lord , and let no flesh glory in his presence . non confidat praedicator , vel auditor verbi divini , de acumine ingenii , de subtilitate scrutinii , de sedulitate studii : sed magis considat de bonitate dei , de pietate oraculi , de humilitate cordis intimi , let not the preacher or hearer of the divine word , trust in the acuteness of his wit , the subtilty of his scrutiny , the sedulity of his study : but rather let him trust in the goodness of god , in the piety of the oracle , in the humility of his inward heart . but this tenent of schools inabling men for the ministery , teacheth man to glory in his gotten learning , and acquired parts , and so is contrary to the truth of christ . object . 1. to this i know it will be objected , that schools teach the knowledge of tongues , without which the scriptures ( being originally written in the hebrew and greek ) cannot be truly and rightly translated , expounded , nor interpreted : and therefore it is necessary that schools and academies should teach these , as properly and mainly conducible to this end . to which i shall give this free and cleer responsion . responsi . 1. it is not yet infallibly concluded , either which are the true original copies ( especially concerning the hebrew , and the oriental languages ) the iewish tongue having been often altered and corrup●ed by their several intermixtures with , and transmigrations into other nations ; or that they have been purely and sincerely preserved unto our hands . for languages change and alter , as fashions and garments . multa renascentur , quae nunc cecidere , cadentque ; neither have we any thing to assure us in this point , but bare tradition and history , which are various , perplex , dubious , contradictory and deficient . and that it which in it self is dubious and uncertain , should be the means of manifesting the indub●table truth to others , seems not very probable or perswasive . 2. knowledge of tongues can but teach the grammatical construction , signification , and interpretation of words , propriety of phrases , deduction of etymologies , and such like ; all which tend no further than the instamping of a bare literal understanding , and all this may be , the mystery of the gospel being unknown , for the letter killeth , but the spirit giveth life . and saul before his conversion , & the rest of the iewish rabbies , understood the hebrew and greek tongues , and yet by them understood nothing of the saving mystery of grace , for they stumbled at the stone of offence , and though they were princes in humane learning and wisdome , yet did they not know god in his divine wisdome , for had they known it , they would not have crucified the lord of life . and therefore is not tongues the right key to unlock the scriptures , but the spirit of christ , that opens , and no man shuts , and shuts , and no man opens . 3. this is built upon no surer a foundation than a traditional faith , for oportet discentem credere , every man must believe his teacher , & therfore hath no more in this but what is taught by man , who is not able to receive the things that are of god , for they are spiritually discerned . so that in this case he that understands the original tongues , in which the text was first written , conceives no more of the mind of god thereby , than he that only can read or hear read the translation in his mothers tongue : for the reasons are every way pareil , and parallel ; for what difference is there between him that relies upon his teachers skill , and he that relies upon the skill of a translator , are they not both alike , since they are but both testimonia humana , full of errors , mistakes and fallacies ? 4. the errors and mistakes that still remain , and are daily discovered in all translations , do sufficiently witness mens negligence and ignorance , that in the space of sixteen hundred years , have not arrived at so much perfection , as to compleat one translation , to be able to stand the hazard of all essaies , and as the herculean pillar with a ne plus ultra ; especially if unto this be added , the uncertainty ( if not deceit ) of all or the most translations , men usually pretending skill in the original tongues , do draw and hale the word to that sense and meaning that be●● suited with their opinions and tenents , which is cleer in arrius and those others that men have branded with the name of hereticks , ( how justly god knows ) and in those that many do call fathers , as origen , ambrose , and many such ; and in these times the papists , socinians , arminians ( as men have given them names ) and those that have appropriated unto themselves the name of being orthodox : these all pretending exact skill in the original tongues , do all wrest the scriptures to make good their several tenents , and traditional formes , which plainly demonstrates the uncertainty , if not vanity , in boasting of , and trusting in this fleshly weapon , of the knowledge of tongues . 5. lastly , while men trust to their skill in the understanding of the original tongues , they become utterly ignorant of the true original tongue , the language of the heavenly canaan , which no man can understand or speak , but he that is brought into that good land that flowes with milk and honey , and there to be taught the language of the holy ghost , for he that is from heaven is heavenly , and speaketh heavenly things , and all that are from the earth , do but speak earthly things : so that he that is most expert , and exquisi●e in the greek and oriental tongues , to him notwithstanding the language of the holy ghost , hid in the letter of the scriptutes , is but as hiroglyphicks , and cryptography , which he can never uncypher , unless god bring his own key , and teach him how to use it , and otherwise the voice of saints will but be unto him as the voice of barbarians , even as a sounding brass , and a tinkling cymbal , as not giving any perfect or distinct sound . and therefore as no●hing that i have spoken is intended against the learning and use of languages simply , so i am not averse to mens endeavours about the same , not their pains in perfecting translations , but could heartily wish it were ten times more : yet principally i would have men to know , that it is the spirit of god onely that freely gives men to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven , and if any good or benefit accrew unto the truth and church of christ by the knowledge of tongues or translations , it ariseth not from their excellency , but solely and onely from the mercifull operation of his spirit , who worketh all and in all , and maketh all things to cooperate for the benefit of those whom he hath called according to his own purpose . chap. ii. of the division of academick learning , and first of that called school-theology . there are three things concerning academies , that do obviously offer themselves to our examination ; first , that learning which is the subject of their labours . secondly , their method in the teaching and delivering it unto others . thirdly , their constitutions and customes , of which we shall speak in order ; and first of that learning which they subjectively handle ; for they very proudly , and vaingloriously pretending to make men doctors in divers sciences , and masters , and batchelors in or of arts , it will be very necessary to consider what these sciences and arts are , in or of which men are by them made masters , lest it prove that when men vainly boast , & imagine that they are masters of arts , they be masters of none , but rather ignorant of all or the most . it is no less ingenuous than true , which the learned renatus des cartes acknowledgeth of himself , that having been from his very young years stimulated with a mighty ardor and desire of knowledge , and having run thorough the course and curricle of the scholastick studies , after which by custome and order he was to be received into the number of the learned , even then ( saith he ) tot medubiis totque erroribus implicatum esse adimadverti , ut omnes discendi conatus nihil aliud mihi profecisse judicarem , quàm quod ignorantiam meam magis magisque detexissem , i understood my sel● implicated with so many doubts and so many errors , that i did judge all my desires of learning to have profitted me no more , than that more and more i had detected mine own ignorance . memorable , faithfull , and vastly modest is that free confession of that miracle of learning baptist a van-h●lmont , who when he had accomplished his course in philosophy , and was to receive his degree of a master of arts , ●e begun to examine what a great philosopher he was , and what science he had gained , saith , comperi me literâ inflatum , et veluti manducato pomo vetito planè nudum , praeterquam quod artificiose altercari didiceram . tum prius enotui mihi quod nihil scirem , et scirem quod nihili , i found my self puffed up with the letter , and plainly naked , as though i had eaten of the forbidden apple , except that i had learned artificially to chide . then first it was known to me , that i knew nothing , and what i knew was of no value . and therefore modestly makes this conclusion ; peracto ergo cursu , cum nil solidi , nil veri scirem , titulum magistri artium recusavi ; nolens , ut mecum morionem professores agerent , magistrum septem artium declararent , qui nondum essem discipulus , therefore the course of my studies being finished , seeing i knew nothing of solidity , nothing of truth , i refus●d the title of master of arts , unwilling the professors should play the fool with me , that they should declare me master of the seve● ar●s , w●o as yet was not a disciple , or taught . and i cou●d wish that all those that boast of being masters of arts had the true insight of their own self●insufficiency , then would they be more willing to learn , than to undertake to teach . the first usual div●sion of scholastick learning is into divine and humane ; the first of which they commonly stile by that improper and high-flown title of school-divinity : and sometimes more modestly and aptly , school-theology , and by some metaphysicks , or natural theology , the vanity , vselessenesse , and hurtfulnesse of which we shall shew in some few clear arguments . first , the vanity of it appeareth in this , that men and academies have undertaken to teach that which none but the spirit of christ is the true doctor of , and so contrary to the truth call men teachers and masters upon earth , when we have but one father ( to teach these things ) which is in heaven , and one true master ( who only can disciple us in these things ) even christ , and so ought not vainly ( because of mans pretending to teach us those things in the ordinary way of humane teaching ) to be called , or to call one another rabbies ; for every good gift , and every perfect gift is from above , and commeth down from the father of lights , with whom is no variablenesse , neither shadow of turning . i do not deny nor envy men the titles of being called doctors and masters for their knowledge in natural and civil things , and for to have a civil reverence and honour , but to have these titles given them as able , or taking upon them to teach spiritual things , is vanity and pride , if not blasphemy : for i must conclude with chrysostome , omnis ars suis terminis non contenta , stultitia est , every art not content with it own bounds , is foolishnesse . and therefore sober and christian-like is that conclusion of cartesius speaking of theology , sed cum pro certo et explorato accepissem , iter quod ad illam ducit doctis non magis patere quam indoctis , veritatosque à deo revelatas humani ingenii captum excedere , verebar ne in temeritatis crimen inciderem , si illas imbecilae rationis meae examini subijcerem , et quicunque iis recognoscendis , atque interpretandis vacare audent , peculiari ad hoc dei gratia indigere , ac supra vulgarium hominum sortem positi esse debere , mihi videbantur , but when i had received it for certain , and indubitable , that the path which leads unto it , is not more open to the learned than to the unlearned , and that the truths revealed of god do exceed the capacity of humane wit , i did fear lest i should fall into the crime of temerity , if i should subject them to the examination of my weak reason , and whosoever did attend the handling and interpreting of those things , did seem to me to stand in need of the peculiar grace of god for that work , and ought to be placed above the condition of vulgar men . so that it is the proper and peculiar science and art of the holy ghost , which none can teach but god onely , vid. cusan , in apol. doctae ignorantiae , bapt. van helm . in promis . stud. author . et de venatione scientiarum , paracels . lib. de fundamento scientiarum et sapientiae , et in lib. de inventione artium , et alios . secondly , from this putrid and muddy fountain doth arise all those hellish and dark foggs and vapours that like locusts crawling from this bottomlesse pit have overspread the face of the whole earth , filling men with pride , insolency , and self-confidence , to aver and maintain that none are fit to speak , and preach the spiritual , & deep things of god , but such as are indued with this scholastick , & mans idol-made-learning , and so become fighters against god , and his truth , and persecutors of all those that speak from the principle of that wisedome , that is from above , and is pnre and peaceable : not consessing the nothingnesse of creaturely wisedom , but magnifying , and boasting in that which is earthly , sensual , and devillish . frustra enim cordis oculum erigit ad videndum deum , qui nondum idoneus est ad videndum seipsum , for in vain doth he lift the eye of his heart to see god , who is not yet fit to see himself . and therefore these thinking themselves wise , they become fools , and proudly taking upon them to teach others the things of god in the way of worldly wisdome , are not onely untaught of god , but are enemies to his heavenly wisdome . excellent is that of the cardinal , in his discourse between the doctor and the idiot , for the idiot saith , haec est fortassis inter te & me differentia , tu , te scientem putas , cum non sis , hinc superbis ; ego verò idiotam me esse cognosco , hinc humilior , in hoc fortè doctior existo , this perhaps is the difference betwixt me and thee , thou thinkest thy self knowing , when thou art not , from hence thou art proud ; i truly know my self to be an idiot , from hence i am humbled , in this perhaps i am more learned . 3. from this ariseth the dividing and renting of the seamless coat of christ , which is indivisible , and admits no schism , but must pass all one way , according to the lot of the father . but how have they attomized the unity and simplicity of that truth ? when there is but one body , and one spirit , and one hope in the calling of all saints : one lord , one faith , one baptism , one god and father of all , who is above all , and through all and in all . for first they have proudly under taken to define theologie , as they have done other arts and sciences , and so make it habitus acquisitus , and attainable by the wit , power and industry of man , when it is peculiarly and onely donum altissimi , and meerly the fruit of grace , and that also gratis datum : and yet sometimes they divide sciences into two sorts , infusive , and acquisitive , and number this as that which is infused , and yet not remembring their own dichotomy , do vainly pretend to teach men that which is onely instilled and infused by the spirit of god : and therefore might more exactly keep their own division , to have left that inspired knowledge , which is onely infused and given from above , to the teaching of the holy ghost . and if they would have considered theologie as natural , which is such a spark of knowledge as can be had of god by the light of nature , and the contemplation of created things , which in regard of the object may be called divine , in respect of the information , natural , and so kept it within its own bounds , it were tolerable ; for , hujus scientiae limites ita verè signantur , ut ad atheismum confutandum , & convincendum , & ad legem naturae informandam , se extendant ; ad religionem autem astruendā non proferantur , the limits of this science may be so truly assigned or set out , that they may extend themselves to the confuting and convincing if atheism , and to teach the law or order of nature ; but should not be brought forth to assert or build up religion . secondly , they have laid down positive definitions of god , who cannot be defined but by his own logick , for with him is the fountain of life , and it is in his light that we see light : and their own rules teach them that there cannot be a perfect definition , where there is not a proxime genus ; but he doth supereminently transcend all their whole praedicamental skale , nay the heaven of heavens cannot contain him , how much less the narrow vessell of mans intellect , or the weak and shallow rules of logical skill ? and therefore if they had but humbly and modestly attempted no more , but what is attainable by the poor scintillary glimpse of natural light , and have confessed the same constantly and freely , and that all their best descriptions of the immense and imcomprehensible one , were but infinitely weak and short to make out his ineffable wisdome , power , and glory , and so have used it but to convince atheists , or to make manifest the cause of causes , and being of beings , and not thereby to have reared up an high-towring babell of confused , notional , fruitless and vain religion , it might have passed without reproof , and the schoolmen without condemnation . for if we could handle these high and deep mysteries of god , and his spirit , then ought we to have not the spirit of the world ( which is carnal wisdome and reason ) but that spirit which is of god , which searcheth all things , even the deep things of god , that we might know the things that are freely given to us of god : and so to go out of our selves , and out of the weak and rotten vessel of humane reason , into that ark of noah , which guided by the divine magnetick needle of gods spirit , can onely direct us to rest upon the mountains of ararat , even upon himself in christ jesus , who is the rock of ages , and the stone cut out without hands , that crusheth and breaketh in pieces all the strong images of mans wisdome , power , strength and righteousness . 4. they have drawn theologie into a close and strict logical method , and thereby hedged in the free workings and manifestations of the holy one of israel , who by his spirit bloweth where he listeth , like the wind , and men may hear the sound thereof , but cannot tell from whence it cometh , nor whither it goeth : as though the holy ghost had not had an higher and more heavenly method and way to teach divine things in and by , than the art of logick ( which is meerly humane , and mans invention ) seeing the foolishness of god is wiser than the wisdome of men , and the weakness of god is stronger than men , when indeed the spirit of god hath a secre● , divine and heavenly method of its own , and onely proper to it self , which none can know but those that are taught it of god , and therefore they onely understand it , and speak out the things of god , but not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth , but which the holy ghost teacheth , comparing spiritual things with spiritual . but these men accumulating a farraginous heap of divisions , subdivisions , distinctions , limitations , axioms , positions and rules , do chanel & bottle up the water of life ( as they think ) in and by these , and again powre it forth as they please , and this is spiritual sorcery or inchantment , like saul , when god had left him , to seek for baal oboth , the lord in a bottle , or the lord bottled up , and not to look for his truth as a fountain of life , or as a wel springing up to eternal life ; and so forsook the lord the fountain of living waters , to draw water out of their own broken cisterns that will hold no water ; these think abanah and pharpar rivers of damascus , better than all the waters of israel , and that they may wash in them and be clean ; and are not willing to draw water with joy out of the wels of salvation , and know not that there is but one river the streams whereof make glad the city of god , the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high : when he that drinketh at any other fountain , shall thirst again , but this shall be and ever is a well-spring unto eternal life . 5. if we narrowly take a survey of the whole body of their scholastick theologie , what is it else but a confused chaos , of needless , frivolous , fruitless , triviall , vain , curious , impertinent , knotty , ungodly , irreligious , thorny , and hel-hatc'ht disputes , altercations , doubts , questions and endless janglings , multiplied and spawned forth even to monstrosity and naus●ousness ? like a curious spiders web cunningly interwoven with many various and subtil intertextures , and yet fit for nothing but the insnaring , manacling and intricating of rash , forward , unwary and incircumspect men , who neither see nor know the danger of that cobweb-net untill they be taken in it , and so held fast and inchained . and while they pretend to make all things plain and perspicuous , ( by the assistance of their too much magnified logick ) puffing men up , by making them think themselves able to argue and dispute of the high and deep mysteries of christ , and to conclude as certainly and apodictically as of any other science whatsoever ; they do but lead and precipitate men into the caliginous pit of meer putation , and doubtfull opination ; making the word of god nothing else but as a magazine of carnal weapons , from whence they may draw instruments to fight with and wound one another ; or like a tennis ball to be tossed and reverberated by their petulant wits and perverse reasons , from one to another , untill truth be lost , or they utterly wearied ; while in the mean time the power and simplicity of faith lies lost in the dust of disputations , and they like masters of fence seem to play many doubtfull and dangerous prizes , seemingly in good earnest , and to the hazard of their lives , when in verity it is but to inhance their own reputations , and to suck money out of the purses of the spectators ; so that their fit motto and impress may be , disputandi prurigo , fit ecclesiarum scabies . now how vain this is in it self , how pernicious , injurious , deadly and destructive to the truth of the gospel , the apostle sufficiently admonisheth us , warning timothy to keep that which is committed to his trust , and to avoid , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , profanos illos , de rebus inanibus clamores , & oppositiones falso nominatae notitiae ; prophane , vain bablings and oppositions of science falsly so called ; and also exhorteth to eschew foolish and unlearned questions , which do engender strife , and to titus , that he should avoid foolish questions , and genealogies , and contentions , and strivings about the law , because they are unprofitable and vain : and therefore chrysostone said well in the person of st. paul , non veni syllogismorum captiones , non sophismata , non aliud quiddam hujusmodi vobis afferens praeter christum crucifixum ; i came not unto you bringing the subtilties of syllogisms , nor sophisms , nor any other thing of like sort , except christ crucified . 6. the whole scripture is given that man might be brought to the full , and absolute abnegation of all his wit , reason , will , desires , strength , wisdome , righteousness , and all humane glory and excellencies whatsoever , and that ●elfhood might be totally annihilated , that he might live , yet not he , but that christ might live in him , and that the life which he liveth in the flesh might be by the faith of the son of god , who loved him , and gave himself for him . but if man gave his assent unto , or believed the things of christ , either because , and as as they are taught of and by men , or because they appear p●obable and consentaneous to his reason , then would his faith be statuminated upon the rotten basis of humane authority , or else he might be said to assent unto and believe the things , because of their appearing probable , and because of the verisimilitude of them , but not solely and onely to believe in and upon the author and promiser of them , for his faithfulness and truths sake , and nothing else ; and so his faith should stand in the wisdome of man , but not in the power of god , and so the cross of christ should become of none effect . but abraham believed god , and it was counted to him for righteousness , though the things promised seemed neither probable nor possible ; and therefore sarah , who is the type of carnal reason , laughed at the promise , conceiving it impossible in reason that she should have a child ; and therefore it is not that assent nor consent that reason gives unto the things of god , as they appear semblable and like , that is the faith of abraham , but a simple and naked believing and relying upon the bare and sole word of the lord , though reason & mans wisdom can see no way how possibly it can cowe to pass , but with mary and nicodemus question how can these things be ; for reason is a monster , and the very root and ground of all infidelity ; for the carnal mind is emnity against god , and is not subject to the law of god , neither indeed can be : but faith is that pure and divine gift and work of god that leads the heart of man in the light and power of the spirit of christ , with faithfull abraham even against hope to believe in hope , and not to stagger at the promise of god through unbelief ; but to be strong in faith , and to give glory to god . concludamus igitur ( saith learned verulam ) theologiam sacram ex verbo , & oraculis dei , non ex lumine naturae , aut rationis dictamime hanriri debere ; therefore we conclude that sacred theologie ought to be drawn from the word and oracles of god , not from the light of nature , or the dictate of reason . chap. iii. of the division of that which the schools call humane learning , and first of tongues or languages . those sciences that the schools usually comprehend under the title of humane , are by them divided divers and sundry waies , according to several fancies or authors ; but most usually into two sorts , speculative and practick : wherein their greatest crime lies in making some meerly speculative , that are of no use or benefit to mankind unless they be reduced into practice , and then of all other most profitable , excellent and usefull ; and these are natural philosophy and mathematicks , both of which will clearly appear to be practical , and that in a few reasons . 1. can the science of natural things , whose subject they hold to be corpus naturale mobile , be only speculative , and not practical ? is there no further end nor consideration in physicks but onely to search , discuss , understand , and dispute of a natural movable body , with all the affections , accidents and cir●umstances thereto belonging ? is he onely to be accounted — faelix , qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas ? then surely we may justly conclude with seneca , nostra quae erat philosophia , facta philologia est , ex qua disputare docemus , non vivere ! that which was our philosophy is made philologie , from whence we teach to dispute , not to live . surely natural philosophy hath a more noble , sublime , and ultimate end , than to rest in speculation , abstractive notions , mental operations , and verball disputes : for as it should lead us to know and understand the causes , properties , operations and affections of nature ; so not onely to rest there and proceed no further ; but first therein and thereby to see and behold the eternal power and god-head of him , who hath set all these things as so many significant and lively characters , or hieroglyphicks of his invisible power , providence , and divine wisdome , so legible , that those which will not read them , and him by them , are without excuse ; and not to rest there , but to be drawn to trust in and to adore him , who is the causa causans , ens entium , and god of nature ; and not to become like the heathen , when we know god , not to glorifie him as god , neither to be thankfull ; but to become vain in our imaginations , and to have our foolish hearts darkned . and secondly , not onely to know natures power in the causes and effects , but further to make use of them for the general good and benefit of mankind , especially for the conservation and restauration of the health of man , and of those creatures that are usefull for him ; for ubi desinit philosophus incipit medicus , and is practicably applicable to many other things ; as we shall shew when we speak of magick . 2. can the mathematical sciences , the most noble , useful , and of the greatest certitude of all the rest , serve for no more profitable end , than speculatively and abstractively to be considered of ? how could the life of man be happily led , nay how could men in a manner consist without it ? truly i may justly say of it as cicero of philosophy , it hath taught men to build houses , to live in cities and walled towns ; it hath taught men to measure and divide the earth ; more facilely to negotiate and trade one with another : from whence was found out and ordered the art of navigation , the art of war , e●gins , fortifications , all mechanick operations , were not all these and innumerable others the progeny of this never sufficiently praised science ? o sublime , transcendent , beautifull and most noble mistress ! who would not court such a celestial pallas ? who would not be inamoured upon thy seraphick pulchritude ? surely thy divine and harmoniacal musick were powerfull enough to draw all after thee , if men were not more insensible than stones or trees . is the admirable knowledge that arethmetick afords worthy of nothing but a supine and silent speculation ? let the merchant , astronomer , mariner , mechanick and all speak whether its greatest glory stand not principally in the practick part ? what shall i say of geometry , astronomy , opticks , geography , and all those other contained under them , as they are reconed up by that myrror of manifold learning dr. iohn dee in his preface before euclide ? it were but to hold a candle to give the sun light , to deny that they are practical . nay are not all the rest also practical ? what is grammar , lodgick , rhetorick , poesie , politicks , ethicks , oeconomicks , nay metaphysicks ? if they serve to no other use than bare and fruitless speculation ? i will onely conclude in this case as they do in that maxim of philosophy , frustra est potentia , si non reducitur in actum , in vain is power to speculate , if it be not reduced into action and practice . therefore omitting the division of humane sciences , as either the academies or others have ordered them ; i shall proceed to divide them according to that way which i conceive most convenient and commodious for mine intended purpose , and so shall put them under a threefold consideration . 1. those arts or sciences , that though they seem to confer some knowledge , yet is it in order to a further end , and so are instrumental , subordinate , and subservient to other sciences . in the number of which i first reckon grammar , or the knowledge of tongues , which in some sort and measure is instrumental , and subservient to all the rest . secondly , logick which i account instrumental , and helpfull to mathematicks , natural philosophy , politicks , ethicks , oeconomicks , oratory , poesie , and all the rest as it especially teacheth a synthetical , and analytical method . thirdly mathematicks , which are not onely subordinate amongst themselves , but especially instrumental , and very usefull to physicks . 2. those sciences that confer knowledge of themselves , and are not instrumental or subservient to others , as natural philosophy , metaphysicks , politicks , ethicks , and oeconomicks . 3. those that though they conferre some knowledg , and have some peculiar uses , so they seem necessary as ornamental , and such i account oratory and poesie . which divisions i put not so much because they agree in this order in their proper subjects , and ends , as to accommodate them to my present disquisition . and i shall speak in the order as i have put these , and first of the grammar . 1. the knowledge of tongues beareth a great noise in the world , and much of our precious time is spent in attaining some smartering and small skill in them , and so we do all servire duram servitutem before we arrive at any competent perfection in them , and yet that doth scarcely compensate our great pains ; nor when obtained , do they answer our longing , and vast expectations for there is not much profit or emolument by them , besides those two great and necessary uses , to inable to read , understand , and interpret or translate the works and writings of other men , who have written in several languages ; so that in this regard they are as a key to unlock the rich cabinet of divers authors , that there by we may gather some of their hidden treasure ; and also to inable men to converse with people of other nations , and so fit men for forein negotiations , trade , and the like , which indeed are very useful and extremely beneficial to all mankind . yet besides what i have formerly spoken of tongues in relation to the interpretation of the scripture , thus much also is evident , that if a man had the perfect knowledge of many , nay all languages , that he could give unto man , beast , bird , fish , plant , mineral , or any other numerical creature or thing , their distinct and proper names in twenty several idioms , or dialects , yet knows he no more thereby , than he that can onely name them in his mother tongue , for the intellect receives no other nor further notion thereby , for the senses receive but one numerical species or ideal-shape from every individual thing , though by institution and imposition , twenty , or one hundred names be given unto it , according to the idiome of several nations . now for a carpenter to spend seven years time about the sharpning and preparing of his instruments , and then had no further skill how to imploy them , were ridiculous and wearisome ; so for scholars to spend divers years for some small scantling and smattering in the tongues , having for the most part got no further knowledge , but like parrats to babble and prattle , that whereby the intellect is no way inriched , is but toylsome , and almost lost labour . excellent and worthy was that attempt of the renowned and learned comenius in his ianna linguarum ( if it had been as well understood , and seconded by others ) to lay down a platform and seminary of all learning and knowable things , that youth might as well in their tender years receive the impression of the knowing of matter , and things , as of words , and that with as much ease , brevity and facility . 2. for grammar which hath been invented for the more certain and facile teaching , and obtaining of languages , it is very controvertible whether it perform the same in the surest , easiest and shortest way or not ; since hundreds speak their mother tongue and other languages very perfectly , use them readily , and understand them excellent well , and yet never knew nor were taught any grammatical rules , nor followed the wayes of conjugations , and declensions , n●un , or verb. and it is sufficiently known , that many men by their own industry , without the method or rules of grammar , have gotten a competent understanding in divers languages : and many unletter'd persons will by use and exercize without grammatical rules learn to speak , and understand some languages in far shorter time than any do learn them by method and rule , as is clearly manifest by those that travel , and live in divers countries , who will learn two or three by use and exercize , while we are hard tugging to gain one by rule and method . and again , if we conceive that languages learned by use and exercize , render men ready , and expert in the understanding and speaking of them , without any aggravating or pusling the intellect and memory , when that which gotten by rule and method , when we come to use and speak it , doth exceedingly rack and excruciate the intellect and memory ; which are forced at the same time , not onely to find fit words agreeable to the present matter discoursed of , and to put them into a good rhetorical order , but must at the same instant of speaking collect all the numerous rules , of number , case , gender , declension , conjugation , & the like , as into one center , where so many rayes are united , and yet not confounded , which must needs be very perplexive & gravaminous to memorative faculty ; and therfore none that attains languages by grammatical rules do ever come to speak and understand them perfectly and readily , until they come to a perfect habit in the exercitation of them , and so thereby come both to lose and leave the use of those many and intricate rules , which have cost us so much pains to attain to them , and so to justifie the saying , that we do but discere dediscenda , learn things , which afterwards we must learn to forget , or learn otherwise : when those that get them by use and exercitation , attain them in shorter time , have a more perfect and ready way in speaking of them , and are freed from all these tedious pains and fruitlesse labour . much to be commended therefore was the enterprise of doctor web , who found out a more short , certain and easie way to teach the latine tongue in , than the tedious , painful , intricate and hard way of grammar , and that by a brief and easie clausulary method , in farre shorter time to attain perfection therein , and if it had been well followed and improved , would have produced an on incredible advantage to the whole nation ; but we are in this like tradesmen , who all bandy and confederate together to suppresse any new invention though never so commodious to the commonwealth , lest thereby their own privare gain should be obstructed or taken away . 3. if the way to attain to languages by grammatical method and rule were the best and most certain , ( which yet we have made appear not to be so ) yet the rules comonly used are guilty both of confusion and perplexity . how darkly and confusedly do they go to work ? leading youth on in an intricate laborinth , wherein he is continually toyling like an horse in a mil , and yet makes no great progress , and all because the method is perplex and obscure , void of evidential perspicuity , rightly co-aptated to the tender capacities of young years , which is the cause of the other , namely its prolixity , as we can all witnesse by wofull experienc● ; and little hath been endeavoured for a remedy herein , that hath not been worse than the disease , except the elaborate pains of our countreyman mr. brinsley , who therein deserves exceeding commendation . 4. i shall also touch some of its material defects : how probable , pleasant and useful is the hieroglyphical , emblematical , symbolical and crytographical learning , and all relative unto grammar , and yet therein nothing at all touched of any of them ? was not the expressions of things by emblems , and hieroglyphicks , not onely antient , but in and by them what great mysteries have been preserved and holden out to the world ? and who can be ignorant of the admirable , easie and compendious use of all sorts of symbolisms , that have but any insight into algebraick arithmetick , or have but slenderly consulted with the learned pieces of our never sufficiently praised countreyman mr. oughtrede , or the elaborate tracts of the laborious harrigon ? or are the wonderful and stupendious effects that polygraphy , or steganography produce to be omitted or neglected ? which are of such high concernment in the most arduous occurrents of humane affairs , of what price and value these are , let that monopoly of all learning , the abbot of spanheim speak , let porta , let cornelius agrippa , let claramuel , let gustavus silenus , frier bacon , and many others speak , who have written so learnedly and accurately therein , even to wonder and amazement . vid. lib. polygrap . steganog . trithem . hen. cor. agrip. de occult . philos. lib. io. claram . in lib. trithem . expositio . gustav . silen . crytoman●ices lib. frat. rog. bacon . de mirabili potestate artis et naturae lib. et alios . 5. what a vast advancement had it been to the re-publick of learning , and hugely profi●able to all mankind , if the discovery of the universal character ( hinted at by some judicious authors ) had been wisely and laboriously pursued and b●ought to perfection ? that thereby nations of divers languages might have been able to have read it and understood it , and so have more easily had commerce and trafick one with another , and thereby the sciences and skill of one nation , might with more facility have been communicated to others , though not speaking or understanding that language in which they were first written . this would have been a potent means ( in some measure ) to have repaired the ruines of babell , and have been almost a catholick cure for the confusion of tongues : for do we not plainly see that those which are deaf and dumb have most pregnant and notable waies by signes and gestures to express their minds , which those that do much converse with them can easily understand and unriddle , and answer them with the like ? that doubtlesly compleat waies might be found out to convey out notions and intentions one to another , without vocal and articular prolation , as some have all ready invented and practised by dactylogy , and doubtlesly might be brought to pass by the eies and motions of the face onely . sir kenelm digby hath an apposite , though almost incredible story of one in spain , which being deaf and dumb , was notwithstanding taught to speak and understand others , which cerrainly was performed chiefly by the eye ; and though it may seem a romance to some , yet whosoever shall seriously consider the vast knowledge , cautiousness , curiosity , sincerity , and punctual account of the relator therein , will be convinced of the possibility hereof . and it is recorded , and believed with authors of repute and credit , that in china , and some other oriental regions , they have certain characters , which are real , not nominal , expressing neither letters nor words , but things , and notions : so that many nations differing altogether in languages , yet consenting in learning these catholike characters , do communicate in their writings , so far that every nation can read and translate a book written in these common characters , in and into their own countrey language . which is more manifest , if we do but consider that the numeral notes , which we call figures and cyphers , the planetary characters , the marks for minerals , and many other things in chymistry , though they be alwaies the same and vary not , yet are understood by all nations in europe , and when they are read , every one pronounces them in their own countreys language and dialect . and to make it more evident , let a character denoting man be appointed , as suppose this * , and though to persons of divers languages , it would receive various denominations according to their several vocal prolations , yet would they all but understand one and the self same thing by it : for though an hebrew or iew would call it {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a graecian {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , one that speaks the latine homo , a frenchman vn home , an high german der mann , a spaniard vn hombre , and the english , man , yet would the intellect receive but only the single and numerical species of that which it represented , and so one note serve for one notion to all nations . 6. i cannot ( howsoever fabulous , impossible , or ridiculous it may be accounted of some ) passe over with silence , or neglect that signal and wonderful secret ( so often mentiond by the mysterious and divinely-inspired teutonick , and in some manner acknowledged and owned by the highly-illuminated fraternity of the rosie crosse ) of the language of nature : but out of profound and deep consideration , must adumbrate some of those reasons , which perswasively draw my judgement to credit the possibility thereof . 1. for when i look upon the protoplast adam , created in the image , or according to the image of the g●eat archetype his father and maker , creavit deus hominem ad imaginem suam , god created man in his own image , and also find the never-erring oracle of truth declaring evidently what that image is , namly the only begotten son of the father , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , who being the effulgence or brightnesse of glory , and the character and image of his subsistence : and this image of his subsistence , being that out-flown , and serviceable word by which he made the worlds , and that in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and the word was god ; from this is manifest that adam made in this image of god which is his eternal word , was made in the out-spoken word , and so lived in , understood , and spoke the language of the father . for the divine e●sence living in its own infinit , glorious , and central being , having this eternal word , or character of his subsistence , in and with himself , and was himself , did by the motion of its own incomprehensible love , expand and breath forth this characteristical word , in which man stood , and so spoke in from , and through this out-flown language of the father , which is the procedure of the all-working and eternal fiat , in which all things live stand , operate , and speak out the immense and unsearchable wisdome , power and glory of the fountain and abysse from whence they came , the heavens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy work , and every thing that hath breath prayseth the lord , and so every creature understands and speaks the language of nature , but sinfull man who hath now lost , defac't and forgotten it . and therefore it is not without a deep and abstruse mystery , that the seraphical apostle speaks that he knew a man caught up into the third heaven , into paradise , and heard {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ineffable words , which are not lawfull or possible to be spoken , for this was the paradisical language of the out-flown word which adam understood while he was unfaln in eden , and lost after , and therefore the same illuminated vessel in another place mentions the tongues of men and angels , which would profit nothing , if they were not spoken in , and from the eternal word , which is the love-essence , or essence of love . for this angelical and paradisical language speaks and breaths forth those central mysteries that l●y hid in the heavenly magick , which was in that ineffable word that was with god , and lay wrapped up in the bosome of the eternal essence , wherein were hidden and involved in the way of a wonderful and inscrutable mystery , all the treasury of those ideal signatures , which were manifest and brought to light by the peripherial expansion and evolution of the serviceable word , or outflowing fiat , and so became existent in the matrix or womb of that generative and faetiferous word , from whence sprung up the wonderfull , numerous and various seminal natures , bearing forth the vive and true signatures of the divine and characteristical impressions : like so many harmoniacal and symphoniacal voices , or tones , all melodiously singing , and sounding forth in an heavenly consort , the wisdome , power , glory , and might of the transcendent central abysse of unity , from whence they did arise , and all speaking one language in expressing significantly in that mystical idiome , the hidden vertues , natures and properties of those various sounds , which though one in the center , become infinitely numerous in the manifested , existence and circumference , as saith the oracle of mysteries , there are , it may be so many kinds of voices in the world , and none of them {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} mute , or without signification . many do superficially and by way of analogy ( as they term it ) acknowledge the macrocosm to be the great unsealed book of god , and every creature as a capital letter or character , and all put together make up that one word or sentence of his immense wisdome , glory and power ; but alas ! who spells them a right , or conjoyns them so together that they may perfectly read all that is therein contained ? alas ! we all study , and read too much upon the dead paper idolls of creaturely-invented letters , but do not , nor cannot read the legible characters that are onely written and impressed by the finger of the almighty ; and yet we can verbally acknowledge , praesentemque refert quaelibet herba deum , but alas ! who truely reads it and experiences it to be so ? and yet indeed they ever remain legible and indelible letters speaking and sounding forth his glory , wisdome and power , and all the mysteries of their own secret and internal vertues and qualities , and are not as mute statues , but as living and speaking pictures , not as dead letters , but as preaching symbols . and the not understanding and right reading of these starry characters , therein to behold the light of abyssal glory and immortality , is the condemnation of all the sons of lost adam ; for the invisible things of him from the foundation of the world are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternal power and divinity , so that they are without excuse . but if we look more narrowly in to the great fabrick or machine , we shall find that it is a● a pamphoniacal and musical instrument , and every individual creature is as a several cord or string indued with a distinct and various tone , all concurring to make up a catholick melody , and every one of these understanding the sound and cure of each other , otherwise the harmony would be discordant , and man himself makes up one string of this great instrument , though in his faln condition he neither understands the sound of his fellow-strings , neither knows how he concords with his musick , neither by his own will or knowledge would concur in this heavenly consort , for to him the pipe is not understood , neither distinguisheth he the tunes , and so knoweth not what is piped or harped . 2. further , when i find the great and eternal being , speaking and conversing with adam , i cannot but believe that the language which he uttered , was the living and the serviceable word , and that it was infinitely high , deep and glorious like himself , and that which was radically and essentially one with him , and proceeded from him , and was indeed the language of the divine nature , and not extrinsecally adventitious unto him : and when i find adam understanding this heavenly dialect ( which had been uttered in vain if he had not understood it ) i cannot but believe that this was the language of nature infused into him in his creation , and so innate and implantate in him , and not inventive or acquisitive , but meerly dative from the father of light , from whom every good and perfect gift doth come and descend . 3. again , when i find the almighty presenting all the creatures before adam to see what he would call them , and whatsoever adam called every living creature , that is the name thereof , i cannot but conceive that adam did understand both their internal and external signatures , and that the imposition of their names was adaequately agreeing with their natures : otherwise it could not univocally and truely be said to be their names , whereby he distinguished them ; for names are but representations of notions , and if they do not exactly agree in all things , then there is a difference and disparity between them , and in that incongruity lies error and falshood : and notions also are but the images or ideas of things themselves reflected , in the mind , as the outward face in a looking-glasse , and therefore if they do not to an hair correspond with , and be identical one to the other , as punctually and truly as the impression in the wax agrees with the seal that instamped it , and as face answers face in a glass , then there is not absolute congruency betwixt the notion and the thing , the intellect and the thing understood , and so it is no longer verity , but a ly , and falsity . and therefore if adam did not truly see into , and understand their intrinsecall natures , then had his intellect false notions of them , and so he imposed lying names upon them , and then the text would be false too , which avers that what he called them was their names . also adam was in a deep sleep when eve was framed of his bone , and yet when she was brought before him being awaked , he could tell that she was bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh , and therefore he called her woman , because she was taken out of man . now if it be denyed that he understood by his intrinsick and innate light , what she was , and from whence she was taken ( which i hold altogether untrue ) and that god by extrinsick information told adam from whence she was taken , yet did he immediately give unto her an adaequate name , suiting her original , which most significantly did manifest what was her nature , and from whence it came , and doubtless the name being exactly conformable , and configurate to the idaea in his mind , the very prolation , and sound of the word , contained in it the vive expression of the thing , and so in verity was nothing else but that pure language of nature , which he then spake , and understood , and afterwards so miserably lost and defaced . and if it be objected , that if adam did understand the internal natures , vertues , effects , operations , and qualities of the creatures , then he would have known that the effect of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , would have made him wretched , and discovered his nakedness , and then he would not have been so mad as to have tasted thereof : to this i answer , first , that god had plainly told him , that if he did eat thereof he should surely dy , and yet notwithstanding he did eat thereof , rather believing the serpent and eve , than the words of the almighty . but if it be supposed , that if he had known the operation , and effect of that fruit , he would not have credited the word of the serpent , more than his own evidential knowledge : to this , it is cleer , that though the serpent denyed that the effect , or eating of it , would procure death , so likewise he cunningly affirmed and insinuated , that the eating of it would open their eyes , and that thereby they should be like gods , knowing good and evil : and therefore it was the promise of deifying them , that did inflame their desires , for it seemed to the woman good for food , and pleasant to the eyes , and a tree to be desired to make one wise , and therefore this made her put forth her hand , and eat of the fruit , and give also unto her husband , and he did eat . but to answer this fully it is a deep mystery , and for man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil , was to judge of god or his works , and creatures , by the creaturely , womanish , earthly , and serpentine wisdome , and so to feed it self , and find both good and evil , and not to abide in the union , and to know all things in the light and image of god , and so to have seen them exceeding good , and to this the apostle alludeth , saying , adam was not deceived , but the woman being deceived was in the transgression . 3. when i consider that the voices of birds , and beasts ( though we account them inarticulate ) are significative one to another , and that by the altering , and varying of those sounds , they express their passions , affections and notions , as well as men , and are thereby understood of one another , i cannot but believe that this is a part of the language of nature ; for the lamb knoweth the individual bleating of the ewe that is the dam , from all the rest of the ewes ; and the young chickens will all run under the hens wings , at a certain sound of the cocks voice , and all the hens will run unto him at a certain call , and therefore doubtless there is something more in that which cornelius agrippa relates of apollonius tyaneus , than every one takes notice of , that he understood the language of birds and beasts : and i cannot but admire how when we hear one laugh , and another howl and weep , though the sounds be not articulate , we can readily tell the one is the expression of sorrow , and grief , and the other of mirth and joy : now from whence do we know this ? this is not acquired by us , or taught us by others , for even children cry immediately after they be born , and though it be said to be by reason of the sensation of cold which they felt not in the womb , it is true , but then what is the cause that crying or weeping is in all creatures the sign of sorrow , pain or grief , might not some other kind of sound be the sign of it , or might it not in several creatures be expressed by different and various tones ? no truly , the mind receiveth but one single and simple image of every thing , which is expressed in all by the same motions of the spirits , and doubtlessly in every creature hath radically , and naturally the same sympathy in voice , and sound , but men not understanding these immediate sounds of the soul , and the true schematism of the internal notions impressed , and delineated in the several sounds , have instituted , and imposed others , that do not altogether concord , and agree to the innate notions , and so no care is taken for the recovery and restauration of the catholique language in which lies hid all the rich treasury of natures admirable and excellent secrets . chap. iv. of logick . in the next place i am to consider of that which they call ars dialectica , or most commonly logick , the principal ends of which they make to be discovery of sophisms and fallacies , producing probability and opinion , and bringing forth of certitude and apodictical science , the last of which being indeed its true and proper end : and so as to this end is subservient to some other sciences , but especially to natural philosophy . i have formerly said something of the prejudice that it hath done to theology , where i treated of that subject , and therefore shall onely now speak of it as it relates to humane and acquired sciences , and so lay out some of its chief defects , irregularities and abuses . 1. as it is now used in the schools it is meerly bellum intestinum logicum , a civil war of words , a verbal contest , a combat of cunning , craftiness , violence and altercation , wherein all verb●l force , by impudence , insolence , opposition , contradiction , derision , diversion , trifling , jeering , humming , hissing , brawling , quarreling , scolding , scandalizing , and the like , are equally allowed of , and accounted just , and no regard had to the truth , so that by any means , per fas aut nefas , they may get the conquest , and worst their adversary , and if they can intangle or catch one another in the spider webs of sophistical or fallacious argumentations , then their rejoicing and clamour is as great as if they had obtained some signal victory . and indeed it is the counsel of the arch-sophister their master , to speak ambigously while they dispute , to obfuscate the light with darkness , lest the truth should shine forth , nay rather to spatter and blurt out any thing that comes into the budget , rather than yield to our adversary , for he saith , quare oportet respondentem non graviter ferre , sed ponendo quae non utilia sunt ad positionem , significare quaecunque non videntur , therefore it behooves the respondent not to take the business grievously , but by putting those things which are not profitable to the position , to signifie whatsoever doth not appear . o excellent and egregious advice of so profound and much-magnified a philosopher ! is this to be a lover of verity , or indeed to play the immodest sophister and caviller ? now how adverse , and destructive to the investigation of truth these altercations and abjurgations are , is cleerly manifest , for as dionysius said against plato , sunt verba otiosorum senum , ad imperitos invenes , they are the words of idle old men unto unexperienced youth , and nothing but vanity and trifles can arise from this way of cavillation . 2. logick is all applied , for the discovery and finding forth of verity , and therin proceeds very praeposterously : for seeing we know nothing in nature but à posteriore , and from the affections and properties of things must seek forth their causes , it required more powerful means , than verbal and formal syllogisms , to find out , and denudate natures hidden operations . and whereas the best part of logick for that purpose is induction , which backt with long experience and sound observation , might be prevalent to discover the working of mother nature ; yet that hath been altogether laid aside , while the glory of syllogisms hath been highly predicated : but syllogismus ad principia scientiarum non adhibetur , ad media axiomata frustrà adhibetur , cum sit subtilitati naturae longè impar . assensum itaque constringit , non res . syllogism is not applyed to the principles of sciences , it is applyed in vain to the middle axiomes , seeing it is far unequal to the subtility of nature . therefore it binds the assent or consent , but not things . for whereas we should from particulars proceed to generals , this preposterously laies down universal axiomes without due proof of them , thereby to make good particulars . 3. the main defect of logick is , that it teacheth no certain rules , by which either notions may be truly abstracted and gathered from things , nor that due and fit words may be appropriated to notions , without which it fails in the very fundamentals , and falls as an house built upon sand . for , syllogismus ex propositionibus constat , prepositiones ex verbis , verba notionum testerae sunt : itaque si notiones ips●e ( id quod basis rei est ) consusae sint , & temerè à rebus abstractae , nihil in iis , quae superstruuntur , est firmitudinis . syllogism consists of propositions , propositions of words , words are the special signs of notions : therefore if notions themselves ( which is the very bottom of the matter ) be confused , or rashly abstracted from things , there is nothing of firmitude in those things that are superstructed . so that untill a certain way and infallible rules be found out for the adaequation of notions and things , and fitting of genuine denominations to notions , all the force and use of syllogisms , as it should demonstrate , and bring forth science , are but fruitless and vain . haud leve quiddam nominis impositionem esse , nec imperitorum , & quorumvis hominum esse opus . plato saith , that the imposition of names is no such light matter , nor that it is the work of the unskilfull and of any sort of men . 4. though logick be as it were organ●n organorum , an instrumental science , they seem in some sort to make it a part of physicks , and so intricate it with an innumerable commixture of the most difficult disputations , as any philosophy hath : as though the unskilful and tender wits of young men were to be overwhelmed with those thorny questions of universal , and metaphysical things . and as though logick ( if it were necessary and useful ) were not to be contained in a few plain and easie precepts , and that it which pretends to teach a short , cleer , and easie methode applicable to all other sciences , should be so intricate and perplex in it self , as not to be able to resolve of it self whether it be as art , or a science ? practical or speculative ? whether e●s rationis , or something else be the subjectum of it ? so that they do not see that they act as foolishly , while they dispute of the very art of disputing , as he that endeavours to see the proper vision of his own eye . moreover , that which might be concluded in a plain , and short proposition , must be drawn into mood , and figure , and after the framing , repeating and answering some scores of syllogisms , the matter is further off from a certain and apodictical conclusion than in the beginning , and so most extremely becomes guilty of battology , and tautologie , which it pretends to eschew and condemn . the grave seneca said well , speaking of these nugations . idem de istis captionibus dico : quo enim nomine potius sophismata appellem ? nec ignoranti nocent , nec scientem juvant . i say the same of these insnarements : for by what name may i rather call them than sophisms ? they neither hurt those that know them not , nor help those that know them . 5. if we examine the logick of the stagyrite , who pretends himself the master of methode , and prince of perfection , we shall first find his organon , which should be his great instrument , and master-piece , to be a confused , and headless piece , wanting those lights wherewith all legitimate tractation ( even plato , cicero , and other great men bearing testimony ) is made out , and illustrated ; for it wants a definition of logick , it wants the proposition of the subject , it wants the distribution and partition of the matter : and what should it want more necessary than these ? and though some may say that these things are added by his interpreters ; that nevertheless argues his defect , and besides the additions are not so very compleat as might be desired . and secondly , in his book de categoriis , definitions are usually wanting , for he defines not what a category is , not what substance is , nor what quantity is : but if any reply , and say he could not define these because they are the summa genera , how could he define a relative , or quality , which are likewise summa genera ? or to what end do the aristotelians define all the categories ? thirdly , in his book de interpretatione , what a noise doth he keep about his modal propositions , which he will needs limit neither to more nor fewer than four , that which is necessary , impossible , possible , contingent ? but i pray you , why may there not be more ? for if that be a mood , which doth modificate the proposition , that is to say , indicates how the praedicate is in the subject , may not all adjectives by the like right be moods ? for if this be a modal proposition , it is a necessary thing that man is a living creature ; these also are modal , it is an honest thing that man should be studious of vertue , it is a just thing that a son should obey his father , it is a gallant thing to die for ones countrey ; but what shall i say more of many other defects , that may be seen even of a blind man ? these as instances are enough , seeing they are but pleasant deceits , and cunning trifles ; freesilaus the philosopher us'd to say , dialecticos similes praestigiatoribus calculariis , qui jucunde decipiunt , that logicians are like to cunning jugglers , who do deceive pleasantly . so i leave many other petty absurdities , superfluities , defects , and mistakes , and pass to things more material . 6. lastly i shall sum up all in few words to eschew tediousness . and first of that principal part concerning definitions as to matter and subject ( for we have said somthing of it formally as to methode and tractation ) which is the basis of all , wherein if there be a defect , the whole edifice falls to the ground ; for whereas it determines all perfect definitions to consist of the next genus , and a constitutive difference , and since there is scarcely any other difference known , except rational , and irrational , that is specifical , and proxim to the individuals , the one of which is negative , and so can positively prove nothing , and the other not only is , and may justly be controverted , but also made apparent , that brutes have reason gradually as well as man , how lame and dilacerate this member is , needs no further demonstration . 2. to say nothing of division , how defective , and imperfect it is , but to come to argumentation , of all the 19 several sorts of syllogisms , seven onely conclude affirmatively , the other twelve negatively , and it is sufficiently known , that de negativis non datur scientia , and therefore there is but narrow and straight room left for the certainty of demonstration : and it is undeniably true , that the knowledge of the premisses is more certain than the knowledge of the conclusion , and therefore undoubtedly certain that the knowledge of the conformity betwixt the premisses and the conclusion doth preexist in us , and is onely excited by syllogising , and therefore , quid te torques , & macer as in ea quaestione , quam subtilius est contempsisse , quam solvere ? why dost thou torment and macerate thy self in that question , which is more subtill to despise than to dissolve . 3. aristotle forbids dispute , unless with those that do admit his principles , which he first thinketh to be true , and yet notwithstanding from unlike principles , doth sometimes follow a strong conclusion : as from false premisses : nullum adorabile est creator : omne simulachrum est adorabile . ergo , nullum simulachrum est creator : which is a true conclusion . from whence it cannot be judged that the conclusion of syllogisms doth of necessity compel assent , nor that the conclusion doth necessarily depend upon the premisses . itaque prout in mendacio non continetur , aut latet veritas , ejusque cognitio : ita consequens est , quod in praemissis non claudatur necessariò conclusionis cognitio . therefore as the truth is not contained or hid in a ly , nor the knowledge of it : so the consequent is , that the knowledge of the conclusion is not necessarily included in the premisses . 4. it is cleer , that syllogizing , and logical invention are but a resumption of that which was known before , and that which we know not , logick cannot find out : for demonstration , and the knowledge of it , is in the teacher , not in the learner , and therefore it serves not so much to find out science , as to make ostentation of it being found out ; not to invent it , but being invented to demonstrate and to shew it others . a chymist when he shews me the preparation of the sulphur of antimony , the salt of tartar , the spirit of vitriol , and the uses of them , he teacheth me that knowledge which i was ignorant of before , the like of which no logick ever performed : for , accurata syllogismi forma , argumentoso , et luxurianti ingenio incongrua , inventioni adversissima , & res per se satis manifest as simplici verborum texturâ , praeceptorum impertinentium multitudine involuit . the accurate form of syllogism is incongruous to an argumentative , and luxuriant wit , most adverse to invention , and doth involve things manifest enough among themselves in the simple contexture of words , with the multitude of impertinent precepts . 5. it is true that syllogistical disputations do bring forth conclusions , but these conclusions beget but bare opinations , and putations , no infallible science , and so all things remain but as probable and conjectural , not as firm and certain . and yet men are puft up with this vaporous , and airy sound of words , growing insolent and confident in the vain glory of syllogizing sophistry , and so are taken off from seeking any other more solid knowledge , causa verò & radix ferè omnium malorum in scientiis ea una est ; quod dum mentis is hum nae vires falso miramur , & extollimus , v●r●●j●s ●uxilia non quaeramus . the cause truly , and root almost of all evils in sciences , is this one , that while we falsly wonder at , and extol the force of humane understanding , we do not seek its true helps . so that as cardan said of his countreymen , i may say of our logicians , one may find three gods amongst them sooner than one man , so highly confident are they through these dialectical delusions . cum quis illa quae nescit , scire se putat , ab hac nimirùm omnes quaecunque nos fallunt opiniones , profiscuntur . when any one thinketh he knoweth those things of which he is nescient , from this verily doth spring up all those opinions whatsoever that do deceive us . neither is there any thing in the universe that is more deadly and destructive to the progress and proficiency of science , than the opinion and conceit of self-sufficiency , and with socrates the more that we are sensible of the shallowness and nothingness of our knowledge , the more it will stir us up to inquire and seek after it , and therefore precious was that advice of the divine plato his schollar : decet sanè eum qui magnus vir futurus est , neque seipsum , neque sua diligere , sed justa semper , sivè à seipso , seu ab alio quovis gerantur . ex hoc ipso delicto accidit omnibus , ut ignorantiam suam esse sapientiam opinenter . hinc fit , ut quamvis nihil ( ut ita dicam ) sciamus , seire tamen omnia arbitremur . verily it becomes him who should be great , neither to love himself , nor humane things , but to love alwaies things that are just , whether they be done of himself or any other ; from this very fault , it hapneth unto all , that they opinionate their ignorance to be sapience . from hence it comes to pass , that although ( as i may so say ) we know nothing , yet notwithstanding we think we know all things . 6. and whereas raymund lully invented an alphabetical way for syllogizing , improved and opened by agrippa , paulus schalichius , and others , in which picus mirandula and some did far excel , even to wonder and astonishment , which indeed is a far more certain , copious , easie , and compendious way for argumentation , especially to overcome all opponents , to be amply furnished to dispute de omni scibili , to answer all objections , and to confirm the mind in those opinions that it holds , and so deserves wondrous great praise and commendation : yet for all that it leaves the intellect nude and unsatisfyed , because it produces no certitude , nor evidential demonstration , and so fills the mind full of opinions , but not of apodictical science , and makes men parrat-like to babble , argue , and say very much , but still to remain nescious , and ignorant , so vast is the difference betwixt putation and true knowledge . humanam scientiam in negatione quodam falsi , potiùs quàm in veri affirmatione consistere . it is true , that humane science doth consist in a certain negation of falsity , rather than in the affirmation of verity . i will only conclude with that remarkable saying of the lord bacon , logica , quae in abusu est , ad errores ( qui in notionibus vulgaribus fundantur ) pabiliendos , et figendos valet , potius quam ad inquisitionem veritatis , ut magis damnosa sit , quam utilis . logick which is abused , doth conduce to establish and fix errors ( which are founded in vulgar notions ) rather than to the inquisition of verity , that it is more hurtful than profitable . chap. v. of the mathematical sciences . for the mathematical sciences , the superlative excellency of which transcends the most of all other sciences , in their perspicuity , veritude and certitude , and also in their uses and manifold benefits ; yet in the general they are but either sleightly and superficially handled in definitions , divisions , axiomes , and argumentations , without any solid practice , or true demonstrations , either artificial or mechanical ; or else the most abstruse , beneficial , and noble parts are altogether passed by , and neglected , which we shall discover in tracing over some of the several parts thereof . 1. for the prime and main stone in the building upon which all the rest of the fabrick is erected , the noble art of arithmetick , so highly esteemed ( and that not without cause ) in the schools of pythagoras , plato , euclide , nay and of aristotle himself , is quite rejected of our academick masters , who notwithstanding would be esteemed the great and most expert master-builders , though they throw away the chief corner stone : and is not only sleighted and neglected as useless , and of no value , but transmitted over to the hands of merchants and mechanicks , as though it were not a liberal science , or not worthy the study and pains of an ingenuous & noble spirit : and but that some private spirits have made some progreis therein , as napier , briggs , mr. oughtredge , and some others , it had lain as a fair garden unweeded or cultivated , so little have the schools done to advance learning , or promote sciences . 2. and for the noble , and most necessary art of geometry , their handling of it hath been with the same superficial sleightness , and supine negligence , never bringing into perfect practice , nor clear demonstration , that which many years ago euclide compiled with so much pains and exactness : and therefore are far from making any further discoveries therein , contenting themselves with the sole verbal disputes of magnitude , quantity , and the affections thereof , leaving the practice and application thereof to masons , carpenters ▪ surveyors , and such like manual operators , as though they were too good to serve so divine and noble a mistres . 3. there hath been no more progress made in the optical art , which though it affords many , and wonderful secrets , both for profit and pleasure , for by it things far off are seen as at hand , minute and small things magnified , the wonderful intersection of various species , without confounding one another , demonstrated , the sight of men thereby succoured , the systeme of the world thereby more perfectly viewed , and innumerable other rarities both of art and nature thereby discovered ; yet have the schooles proceeded no further therein , than to verbal disputes , and some axiomatical institutions and doctrines ; and but for the noble attempts of some few gallant men , such as galalaeus , scheiner , aguillonius , hevelius , and the like , the grand mysteries of it had lain buried in oblivion , and this age never seen those s●upendious effects that through their industry in this art hath been brought forth . 4. as for musick it hath had some little better fortune , for that vulgar and practical part , which serves as a spur to sensuality and voluptuousness , and seems to be the companion of melancholicks , fantasticks , courtiers , ladies , taverns , and tap-houses , that hath had some pains taken about it , and some honour done unto it , that the professors thereof might become graduats : yet for the mysterious part thereof , which consists in the discovering the nature , quality , distinction , sympathy , dyspathy , significancy , and effects of all sounds , voices , and tones that are in nature , these are altogether unknown and neglected ; as also how far it might be serviceable to natural philosophy , and the laying open of the universal harmony of the whole mundane fabrick , that remains untried and unattempted . 5. the astronomy that the schools teach being according to the peripatetick , and ptolemaick systeme , which they maintain with much rigor , severity , and earnestness , is by ●hem extolled to the heavens , as an harmoniacal , regular , and stately fabrick , which without any demonstration , or punctual observation they obtrude upon the tender understandings of unwary youth : holding it forth with that magisterial confidence , as though it would cleerly salve all the phaenomena , and render the true causes , grounds , and reasons of the motions , and effects of all the caelestial bodies , and as though no fault , exorbitancy , or defect could be found in this so compleat , beautiful , and orderly structure . yet i must confess , that in all the scholastick learning there is not found any piece ( to my apprehension ) so rotten , ruinous , absurd and deformed as this appears to be , and which may from most evident principles be everted , and cast down , and therefore i shall take the more time in enervating the same , and that from undeniable principles both of physicks and mathematicks . 1. they take that for granted , or at least unproved , which is not onely controvertible and indemonstrable , but untrue , namely that the earth is the center of the universe , and that the heavenly bodies do in their motions so observe it , and from thence deduce the causes of gravity and levity ; the contrary or uncertainty of which appears thus . first , it is manifest that the earth is not the center of the most of the planetary o●bs , because by their own confession , some of them , as ☉ and ♂ , are sometimes in their apogaeum , and sometimes in their perigaeum , that is sometimes neerer and sometimes further off from the earth ; which they could not be if the earth were their true and proper center , because according to the definition of euclide , the circumference of a circle is every where equidistant from the center , and all lines drawn from the center to the circumference are equal , otherwise it would cease to be a circle , and one circle can have no more than one center ; and therefore the earth is not the center of the planetary orbs. secondly , if the earth were the center of the orbs of the planets , the dissection of the orbs would be needless into excentricks and concentricks ▪ which being their own tenent , manifests that the earth is not their true , and proper center . thirdly , if the earth were their center , the aequinoctial line dividing both the earth and heavens into 2 equal parts , the sun in his annual motion could not be longer time in the one half circle than in the other , unless he did not pass over equal intervals , or spaces of the line , in equal times , and so should intend and remit his motion , which is denyed of all : and therefore it being found by certain , and yearly observation , that he staies some daies longer on the northside the aequator , than on the south , it is manifest that the earth is not the center of his orb. fourthly , there are divers planetary bodies that move circularly , that observe not the earth as their center at all , as those medicaeal , and iovial planets about iupiter , and those about saturn , mercury , and venus about the sun , and the sun about his own center , and none of these respect the earth , and therefore cannot be their center , and so not the center of the universe . fiftly , for the eighth sphere , no certain rules of art can demonstrate that the earth is its center , because it bears no sensible magnitude unto it , so that no angle can be assigned to know the distance , and the eye cannot be a certain , and proper judge , because it judges not of distance as its proper and immediate object , but to do that is the office of the common sense , and where the distance is great and vast , though the eye be far distant from the center , yet the things seen will seem to stand in a circle about it , though they be not truly and exactly so , and therefore this is rather a postulate than a proof , and may justly be denyed , because it cannot be proved : and that all the stars that we call or account fixt ( though we cannot prove that any of them are so ) stand all in one circle or orb , cannot be true , for doubtless the difference of their apparent magnitude is a certain argument that they are not all equidistant from the earth , and therefore is not the earth the center of the universe . sixtly , for their arguments taken from gravity and levity , they do but therein usually petere principium , beg the question , and thereby commit a most palpable paralogism , for they define gravity to be that quod tendit deorsum , which tends downwards , and if the cause is demanded why bodyes severed from the earth do tend downwards thither again , they answer quia gravia sunt , which in effect is this , they tend to the earth , because they do tend to the earth , which is idem per idem : and if it were granted that the earth were the center of the universe , how could a center any way understood be the cause of any motion at all , or locality which is defined to be a space void of bodies , and capable of them , have any power to give or cause motion in a body ? these are the groundless chymaera's of the schools , not knowing that bodies separate from the earth do move thither again from an intrinsick magnetick quality , which in the earth is by way of attraction , and in the part separate by motion of coition , besides some other clear reasons that may be given from statical principles , which for brevities sake i am forced ●o omit : for from this is cleerly evident , that the earth not being the center of the universe , the whole order and frame of the scholastick systeme is dissipaated , and out of course . 2. and as they have mistaken the mark in making the earth the center of the universe , they are as far wide in their determinations of the circumference or orbs , which they make to be of a quintessential nature ( as they term it ) and so to be incorruptible , and free from change , and mutarlon : and it is believed that this opinion is chiefly grounded upon this , that the heavenly bodies remain still in the same state wherein they have been observed to be many ages before , and no sensible alteration could ever be perceiv●d in them . to which i answer , that this concludes nothing , because it argues from knowing to being , when being hath no dependance of , nor connexion with our knowing , for our knowledge is not the cause , nor measure of the universe , nor of the things therein contained . falso enim asseritur , sensum humanum esse mensuram rerum ; quin contra , omnes perceptiones , tam sensus , quam mentis , sunt ex analogia hominis , non ex analogia vniversi . it is falsely asserted that mans sense is the measure of the vniverse ; but on the contrary , all perceptions , as well of the sense as of the intellect , are from the analogy of man , and not from the analogy of the vniverse . again , there may be many alterations in the caelestial bodies , which by reason of their vast distance , we do not , nor can perceive , especially if we consider , that mutation is understood either as it relates ad totum , or ad partes , therefore there may be ( and without doubt are ) many alterations in the parts of the heavenly bodies , though no change at all as to the whole of any of them : for the earth is as immutable , and incorruptible , in relation to the whole , as any other of the starry or planetary bodies are , for the change that appeareth in it , is but in the external and superficial parts , and though sensible to us , yet is not perceiveab●e at a great distance , for we can discern diverse mountains , and parts of the earth , far remote from us , yet cannot discern the alterations that are in the parts thereof : and so if ones eye were placed in the moon , mars , iupiter , or any of those stars which we call fixt , we should perceive as little change then here on the earth , as we being placed here see in those starry bodies . neither is it true that there appears no mutation in the heavenly bodies or orbs , because many men of great note , experience and skill , have observed that comets have been above the sublunary orb , and evidently demonstrated the same by there paralax , as tycho br●he , copernicus , kepler , galalaeus , and others , which clearly demonstrates ( beyond the refutation of logick ) that there are changes and mutations in the heavens , and so they are not incorruptible bodies as is falsely asserted : and the evidence that appears to the eye in the use of the telescope doth plainly evince that there is an atmosphere about the body of the moon , which could not be if the heavens were unchangeable . 3. another thing that they grossly maintain is , that the heavens or orbs are as hard as steel , and as transparent as glass , and yet have so many several sorts of solid orbs , ecc●ntricks , and concentricks , epicycles , and the like , which are all concamerated one within another , the absurdities and impossibilities of which i shall demonstrate in some cleer arguments . for first , if they were solid bodies , and that every star were but densior pars sui orbis , then either the convex superficies of the contained orb , must ex●ctly touch the concave superficies of the circumambient orb , or else not , but some space to intercede between , which must either be implete with some other body , or else be a meer inanity and vacuity ; neither of which can possibly be according to their own tenents , not indeed according to the truth it self . for if the convex superficies touch the concave exactly in all parts and there be neither vacuity , nor body interjacent , then as the mathematicians truly say , they must touch in infinite points , and so there could be no motion at all , because there could be no appulsion , nor retrocession , and where there is neither of those , it is impossible there should be local motion , or lation ; ●or two exact smooth , and equal superficiesses of hard and solid bodies joined together , the uppe●most will if it be taken up , list up the lower also , if the force of elevation be in the center of the solid bodies so fitted , as may be seen in brass , marble , and the like , so that consequently there could be no motion at all . and if there were any motion at all it must needs be with confrication , and attrition , and so without plenty of some oily substance , would not cause pythagoras his spherical musick but an unheard-of rumbling noise , such surely as possessed the brains of those that were the fi●st authors of this mad and extravagant opinion . and if they say there is a vacuity interjacent , then there could be no motion neither , because according to the schools motus in vacuo non datur ; and if they say there is some other body between , then what is it ? for if it be any elemental body , that cannot be , because they have incarcerated them all within the concave superficies of the moon ; and if there were some other body included between , then seeing according to aristotle that motus est causa caloris , how could it be but that body would be heated even to ignition ? seeing that all heat doth continually rarifie , and the orbs continually moving with such an incredible swiftness , and no place for evaporation , but it close pent in by the superior orb , how could all not be of a flame , or forcibly torn , and rent assunder ? unless we must have all solved with that frivolous shift , that they are eternal , and ingenerable bodies , and are but analogously like ours , and so suffer none of these things that elemental bodies do : when they have cleerly shewed what that analogy is , and wherein they are neither absolutely like our sublunary bodies , nor absolutely different from them , then it will be time enough to return them a more plenary responsion , until then let this suffice . secondly , if the orbs were solid , how could it possibly be that there could be eccentricks , and concentricks , the one having a more dense or thick part in one side of the circle or orb , and the other having so likewise on the parts opposite ? now how these should have motions of their own , if they be solid , to me seems impossible ; or how or which way epicycles should be affixed to these extending onely from the concave superficies , to the convex , how this should be in spherical solids , or orbs , without either penetration of dimensions , admitting of vacuity , or some other fluid body to be interjacent , to me seems more difficult to unloose , than the gordian knot was to alexander , and will never be untyed unless aristotle have learned of his great patron to cut that asunder which he cannot unty ? thirdly , if the orbs were solid , and impenetrable , then could not possibly any comets be above the superficies of the moons orb , or if it be certain that they have been observed above ( which is true ) then of necessity the orbs are not solid , but fluid bodies : neither could any new star ever appear if they were solid , but such have been known undoubtedly to be seen sometimes , and yet were no comets , therefore of necessity they are fluid , and not solid bodies . and it is undeniably true , that if the orbs were hard as steel , and of such solidity as is alleged , then they could not possibly intersect or enter into the orbs of one another ; but it is certainly known by exact observation , and mathematical demonstration , that when mars is in the lowest part of his epicycle , or in perigaeo , he is then within the orb of the sun , which he could not penetrate if it were solid , and therefore unquestionably they are not hard , but fluid bodies ; and so the scholastick systeme is ruinous , and groundless . fourthly , i shall urge one optical argument , which is this , that if the heavens were all solid , and divided into so many orbs , and they again subdivided into others , then it must follow necessarily that according to the multitude of superfic●●sses , so must the multiplicity of refractions be , which in this case would be very numerous , and so none of the stars or planets would ever be seen in their true places , but either confounded , or numerously multiplyed , which how absurd , let the abbetters of this opinion themselves judge . 4. from these they ground the motion of the tenth , ninth , and eighth sphere , making the tenth sphere move most rapidly from east to west in that space which we call 24. hours , and so snatcheth , and forceably whirleth about with it , all the inferior orbs , which innately , and properly have a reluctancy , and contranitency against it . the absurdity of which appears thus . first , that the diurnal motions of all the orbs in 24. houres , except the tenth sphere , are meerly violent , and compulsive , and only the motion of it natural , and proper . now how could they conceive , who hold that nullum violentum est perpetuvem , that a motion that is violent could be perpetual in nature , especially to these pure bodies which they hold to be eternal and immutable ? or how can it be that the first sphere should communicate its velocity to all the inferiours , and the second should communicate none at all ? why is not iupiter carried with the motion of saturn ? or the sun with mars ? hoc mihi si solvas oedipus alter eris . secondly , if the extreme and incredible velocity of the tenth sphere , be seriously considered , it will exceed all possibility of belief , nay even swifter than thought or imagination : for of diverse orbs moved about in the same space of time , the least moves the most slowly , and the greatest most swiftly , for if it be computed according to the least diametre given unto it , and how it moves more swiftly than the orb of the moon , by so many times as it exceeds the greatness of its circumference , it will be past all humane sense , and understanding to imagine the extreme velocity of it , so that no creature can believe it to be so , but also be compelled to confess , that it is most likely either to be set on fire , or else by the most vehement swiftness to be whirled into attomes . thirdly , if the eight sphere be conceived to move , wherin as they fancy to themselves that all the stars are fixt , like so many nayls in a wheel , or bowl , considering the immensity of its compass , the exceeding velocity of its motion , and that the earth ( which they suppose the center of it ) to bear proportion unto it , but as an insensible point or prick , then it could not possibly be but that it would appear all as an inflamed light , or a concave globe of fire , because at one and the self same instant the multitude of raies would all be united in this small center , the earth ( or eye of the beholder ) and infinite rayes strike the eye successively in a manner , ere the others passed from it , and so must of necessity appear all intirely as fiery and luminous ; so as we behold a piece of wood whose end is fired being quickly whirled about in the air in a circular manner , doth appear to the eye as a true circle of fire or brightness : so that this would of necessity follow upon the structure of their systeme . by all which arguments may evidently appear , the impossibility of the truth of that astronomical composure which the schools cry up for so certain , neat , and beautiful , so that i may conclude with a learned author , non enim quae de arthuro et ipsius equitibus finguntur , vel homericas fabulas persuasu magis difficiles opinor , quam illam caelorum compositionem , quam proxima nos saecula erudierunt . for i think the things that are feigned of arthur , and his knig●ts of the round table , or the fables of homer , are not more difficult to be perswaded , than that composure of the heavens , which the age preceding us hath taught . 5. for the other parts of mathematicks , some of them are utterly unknown and unpractised in the schools , and some of them are taught there , but so fleightly , and superficially , that small or no profit doth redound from thence . for they usually teach cosmography , and the several species thereof , as geography , hydrography , chorography , and topography , yet whereas cosmography is the whole , and perfect description of the heavenly and also elemental part of the world , and their homologal application , and mutual collation together , and so is no small or simple art , but high and of manifold use , there hath little or nothing been done to the perfection thereof , especially in the mutual correspondence and application of the heavens , and earth : neither are the other brought into practice , especially the theoremes of hydrography , whereby men might be made able and fit for navigation , one of the most necessary imployments and advantages of our nation . 6. what shall i say of the science , or art of astrology , shall the blind fury of misotechnists , and malicious spirits , deter me from giving it the commendations tha● it deserves ? shall the academies who have not only sleighted and neglected it , but also scoffed at it , terrifie me from expressing my thoughts of so noble and beneficial a science ? shall the arguments of picus mirandula , and others , who have bitterly inveighed against it , fright me from owning the truth ? shall the thundering pulpit men , who would have all mens faith pinned upon their sleeves , and usually condemn all things they understand not , make me be silent in so just a cause ? no truly , i must needs defend that which my judgement evidences to me to be laudable , and profitable ; not but that i utterly condemn the ignorance , knavery , and impostorage of many pretending sciolists , that abuse the same ; but shall the art of medicine or chymistry be condemned , and rejected , because many ignorant empericks , and false alcumists do profess them ? surely no , let the blame be upon the professors , not upon the profession it self . for the art it self is high , noble , excellent , and useful to all mankind , and is a study not unbeseeming the best wits , and greatest scholars , and no way offensive to god or true religion . and therefore i cannot without detracting from worth and vertue , pass without a due elogy in the commendation of my learned , and industrious country-men mr. ashmole , mr. william lilly , mr. booker , mr. sanders , mr. culpepper , and others , who have taken unwearied pains for the resuscitation , and promotion of this noble science , and with much patience against many unworthy scandals have laboured to propagate it to posterity , and if it were not beyond the present scope i have in hand i should have given sufficient reasons in the vindication of astroloy . 7. what shall i say of staticks , architecture , pneumatithmie , stratarithmetrie , and the rest enumerated by that expert and learned man , dr. iohn dee in his preface before euclide ? what excellent , admirable and profitable experiments do every one of these afford ? truly innumerable , the least of which is of more use , benefit and profit to the life of man , than almost all that learning that the universities boast of and glory in , and yet by them utterly neglected , and never lookt into : but what huge , stupendious effects these can bring to pass , let our learned countreyman roger bacon , let cardinal cusan , let galalaeus , let vbaldus , let marcus marci , let baptista benedictus , and many others speak , who remain as a cloud of witnesses against the supine negligence of the schools , who for so many centuryes have done nothing therein : is this to be the fountains of learning , and wellspring of sciences ? let all rational men judge and determine . chap. vi . of scholastick philosophy . for the philosophy which the schools use and teach , being meerly aristotelical , let us examine the ground and reasons why it should be imbraced and cryed up more than all other , or why he should be accounted the prince of philosophers , the master-piece of nature , the secretary of the universe , and such an one beyond whose knowledge there is no progression . which however applauded to the heavens by his scholars , who are jurati in verba magistri , will upon exact and due test prove , both weak , groundless , false , unsatisfactory , and sterile , which we shall labour to elucidate in some clear arguments . 1. it will evidently appear that there is no reason why the aristotelical philosophy as it stands now received , according to the comments , glosses , expositions & interpretations of the schools , should be preferred before any , or all others . because aristotle was but a man , and so might err ar soon as others , neither was he more than other men any way privileged from human imperfections ; nay considering him as an heathen , who did not know nor acknowledge the fountain of life , which is god , and therefore by so much less was able to teach the truth , by how much he was distant from the knowledge of the true god , who is the primary verity : so that what he hath written was rather by a diabolical than a divine instinct , for philoponus recordeth that he begun to philosophize by the command of the oracle of apollo , which the most acknowledge to have been uttered from the devils advice and afflation . 2. neither were his principles and tenents any whit differing from such diabolical directions , for he makes god an animal in his metaphysicks , and chained him to the exteriour supe●ficies of the highest heaven , and made him bound to the laws and necessity of fate , which his most obsequious and sworn interpreters cannot deny . he denies in the twelfth of his metaphysicks that god takes care of minute , and small things ; in his books de coelo he makes the world eternal and increate ; in his physicks he teacheth that nothing can be made ex nihilo ; in his books de anima , and of ethicks , he denies the possibility of the resurrection of the dead , and in many places doth deny the immortality of the soul , so that lactantius said truely of him , aristoteles deum nec coluit , nec curavit , and yet this is the man that is onely thought worthy to be the father of christian philosophy . 3. if the qualities and conditions of the man be lookt into , there will be found no such integrity in him ▪ as may be any just cause of much confidence , nor such manners as may ex●oll him above the rest , for doth not eusebius and others relate that he betrayed his countrey to the macedonians , and to blot out the infamy thereof that he prevailed with alexander to restore it again ? and doth not pliny relate , speaking of the poison , cum id dandum alexandro magno antipater mitterit , magnâ est aristotelis infamiâ excogitatum , that he was guilty of administring the same ? was he not accused for being guilty of immolation to his meretricious mistris ? was he not guilty of ingratitude ( the worst of vices ) against his divine master plato , who therefore did justly and fitly call him his mule , because he kickt against the dugs from whence he suckt his knowledge ? what shall i recount his avarice , which makes lucian so nippingly feign alexander in hell upbraiding him , that he had constituted riches a part of the chief good , that by that specious pretext he might obtain of him greater store of riches ? shall i recount his intemperance , voluptuousness , and obscaene manner of living ? or his impious , doubtful or wicked end ? no , let them be buried with his ashes . but these things do sufficiently declare , that there is no just cause so much to esteem and applaud him above others , seeing it is impossible to congest so many things against plato , zeno , or epicurus . 4. but i know they will say , they respect not his life so much , as his most excellent wit , great judgement , and laudable diligence ; well , i easily grant that he was such an one , but to prefer him notwithstanding before all others , cannot be done without too much temerity . and when arguments are comparative , between the abilities of one person and another , it behooves him that will judge , and determine rightly , thorowly to understand and preponderate what there is of value and price in either of them . so when there is a question made of phythagoras , thales , democritus , zeno , plato , phyrrho , epicurus , and others , it is fitting he should understand whatsoever they all knew , or else he cannot discern wherein aristotle doth exceed them all : unless he will give his sentence before the one party be heard speak . for how can any boast to be more wise than all the other philosophers , without being guilty of intollerable pride and arrogance ? and truly i believe that socrates who confessed that he knew nothing , understood far more than the stagyrite , who would hardly acknowledge himself ignorant of any thing . 5. but perhaps it will be said that he hath been received , and approved of by thomistius , abenrois , thomas aquinas , scotus and other men of great and vast learning , and knowledge ; well , it is truth he hath been so ; but who hath ever been the builder , or rayser of any sect that hath not had multitudes to cry him up , to follow him , and earnestly to defend him ? have not the academicks as much applauded plato , as the peripateticks have done aristotle ? and have not the sceptists as much extolled phyrrho ? and the epicureans , their master epicurus ? of whom it is said , qui genus humanum ingenio superavit , et omnes praestrinx it , stellas exortus ut aethereus sol . nay is it not common to all , extremely and hyperbollically to applaud the authors , and builders of their sect ? neither hath he been , or is so generally received , and commended , but many men of as greatnote as any that have stood for him , have disceded from him , or opposed him ; for in his own times the whole schools of the academicks and stoicks did oppugn him , epicurus in many things did contradict him , and pyrrho in all , nay his famous disciple theophrastus ( as themistius relateth ) did tax his master in many things : neither in all succeeding ages hath there wanted able and learned men who have strenuously opposed him , in many things if not in all , as thomas himself , albertus magnus , scotus , gregorius , durandus , harvaeus , maronaeus , alliacensis , nicolaus cusanus , and many others ; neither ought we therefore to follow or extoll him because multitudes have esteemed and adhered to him , for as cicero well said , philosophia multitudinem consultò devitat , paucisque est contentae judicibus . philosophy consultively escheweth the multitude , and is content with a few judges . and as seneca witnesseth , haec pars major esse videtur ; ideò enim pejor est . non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur , ut meliora pluribus placeant . argumenti pessimi turba est . this part seemeth the greater , therefore it is the worse . it goes not so well with humane affairs , that the better things should please the most . the multitude is an argument of the worst . neither if his philosophie had been sound and perfect , need his sectators appeal to authority , and compliance of others , because truth is able to stand of it self , without the authority of others : what is the cause that since the time that euclide writ his elements of geometry , there is not any one found that hath rejected them ? or who hath not followed them ? truly because the indubitable verity is in them , and it is impossible the intellect should not assent unto them when they are known . and would not the same thing have happened to the tenents of aristotle if they had been true , and indubious ? 6. but they will urge further and say , that he is praised , and extolled of other famous men that were not of his sect , as cicero , plinius , and quintilian , and that he hath the testimony of phil●p and alexander that were great , and knowing men . it is true , and no way to be denyed , for cicero sa●th of him , quis doctior ? quis acutior ? quis in rebus vel inveniendis vel ●udicandis acrior aristotele unquàm fuit ? who hath been more learned ? who hath been more acute at any time than aristotle either in the invention , or judging of things ? and pliny one while calls him summum in omni doctrinà virum ! the chief man in all learning ! sometimes he calls him virum immensae subtilitatis , a man of immense subtil●y . and quintilian saith , quid aristotelem ? quem dubito scien●iâ rerum , an scriptorum copiâ , an eloquendi suavitate , an inventionum acumine , an varietate operum clariorem putem . what shall i say of aristotle ? whom i doubt whether i might think more famous by his knowledge of things , or by his copiousness of writings , or by his suavity of eloquence , or by the acuteness of his inventions , or by the variety of his works . well , admit all this to be true ( as who would deprive him of his due honour ) yet these are but the judgements of men that might err as well as he ; and what if others have thought otherwise ? must we altogether stand to these mens judgements ? or hath nature appointed them to be final and infallible determiners , from whose judgement there is no appeal ? might not aristotle and these men err in something ? or were they privileged from the common frailty of all men ? no , i believe not but that the proverb is true in them , and all men besides , humanum est errare . but shall we not find that the self-same men have given as great , or greater commendation to others ? yes truely , for being oratours they had all the liberty of a profuse and hyperbolical stile , and often bringing in a commendatory catalogue of learned and worthy men , there was no cause why they should omit the noble stagyrite . but have they not often celebrated and preferred others before him ? yes verily there is hardly any thing more vulgarly known , than that iterated saying of cicero , when he was commending any of the philosophers , alwaies added semper excipio platonem , which manifested the high esteem that he had of him , accounting no other worthy to be compared with him , whom he judged superlative to all : and for pliny we shall find him giving the precedence of wit and knowledge to homer above all others , and calling plato sapientiae an●istitem , than which elogy i know not what can be given more illustrious , and also openly professing his repugnancy to aristotle , and that he had added many things which that great man was ignorant of . and for quintilian you may hear him preferring plato , philosophorum quis dubitet platonem esse praecipuum , sive acumine disserendi , sive loquendi facultate divina quadam , et homerica ? ut mihi non hominis ingenio , sed quodam delphico videatur oraculo instructus . who doubteth that plato is the chief of philosophers , whether in the acuteness of disputing , or in a certain divine and homerical faculty of speaking ? that he seems to me instructed not with the wit of man , but with a certain delphical oracle : and in a word , if thou wilt credit quintilian thou shall find him extolling cicero beyond aristotle , plato , or any other of the foregoing ages ; so that the same mouths that commend him , do also prefer others before him . but if the authority of men , the credit of the best esteemed , and the number of voices could certainly decide the truth , then what store of witnesses might be brought against him , and those also men of the greatest esteem and repute of any in the christian world ? for is not the whole peripatetick philosophy rejected of all the antient fathers ? what need is there to memorate tertullian , irenaeus , and the more antient ? what need is there to mention lactan●ius who so often carpeth at aristotle , tanquam secum dissid●ntem , et repugnantia dicentem , et sentientem , as one disagreeing with himself , and speaking , and thinking repugnant things ? why should i name iustin martyr , who so often reprehendeth h●m ? or hierome , who with so open , and tart a word taxeth versutias ejus , his subtilties ? why should i recite ambrose , augustine , theodoret , and the rest ? who impugning humane philosophy in general , have not intended to spare aristotle alone . but in the name of them all hear gregory nazianzen who saith so elegantly , and truly , abjice aristotelis minutiloquam sagacitatem , abjicite mortiferos illos super anima sermones , et universe humana illa dogmata . throw away the minutiloquious sagacity of aristotle ; throw away those mortiferous sermons of his upon the soul : and universally all those human opinions of his . so that if the judgement of the fathers be of any weight , the philosophy of aristotle is not much to be regarded . as for that which is alleged concerning philip chusing aristotle for a tutor to his son alexander , it merits but a slight confutation : for admit that philip was a very wise and prudent prince ( as no doubt but he was ) yet did the excellency of his skill principally consist in political , and military prudence , and knowing arms better than arts , was not adaequately fit to judge of the abilities of aristotle , except by vulgar rumour , and common fame . and it is not to be denyed that in his time the fame of aristotle was exceedingly blown abroad ; but who is ignorant of the inconstancy and levity of the popular croud in propagating , and spreading of rumours ? but let it be granted that aristotle did excell not only all the learned men in greece that lived in his time , but all the men of the whole world that lived in the time of philip ; yet what is this to the number and abilities of those that have lived both before and since ? or how comes the judgement of philip to oblige us who are not under his empire , and who could not compel the minds of men , under the tyranny of one mind ? for it is easier to inslave bodies than to captivate minds . and for alexander , though he had aristotle in singular esteem , yet did he much value other learned men , as xenocrates , whose aemulator aristotle was , and also pyrrho ; so that both these received for gifts many talents . but this is not to be denyed , that the splendor of alexanders name did bring much credit , and authority to aristotle , both living and dead : but this notwithstanding amongst the vulgar and those of vulgar wits , who as they are onely moved with external showes , so they think that a great prince cannot but have a great master : when for the most part princes chuse not tutors for princes , either for their abilities in judging of the solidity of literature , or for the love they have to vertue , truth , or sincery , but rather for worldly or politick ends ; that their sons may be instructed , and fitted both to keep and acquire large dominions , and territories ; and for the most part true science scorns the bondage , flattery , and vanity of courtly splendor . 2. again , there is no reason why the peripatetick philosophy should have the palm and preheminence above all other , because there is a great uncertainty both of the books and doctrine of aristotle , as we shall evince in some few reasons . 1. it is uncertain whether any book of aristotle , or which owns him for author , be extant or no ; for if it were not dubious to what end do his interpreters , as simplicius , themistius , and almost all the rest , which write in this age , prepose this question at the beginning of every book that they expound , sitne hujusmodi liber aristotelis an non ? is this book aristotles or not ? certainly if this thing were not dubious , there were no cause for propounding this question ; for we use not to scruple about things that are certain , but about things that are doubful . for it is inquired concerning his book de interpretatione , whether it be his or no , the later men do affirm it , but long ago andronicus rhodius ha●h denyed it , whether therefore shall we give our suffrage to these modern men , or to him that is more antient ? who by the verdict of boetius , and porphyrius , is said to have brought aristotles writings out of greece , and to have digested them into order ; who shall loose this knot ? who shall resolve this doubt ? 2. another argument ariseth from hence ; that laertius hath drawn the order and catalogue of aristotles books , and yet many are wanting which he enumerates , and we have many as 12. or 14. of metaphysicks , 8. of physicks , 4. de coelo , 2. de generatione , 4. of meteors , and 3. of the soul , which are not mentioned in his catalogue , and therefore who need doubt but these are supposititious ? for if they had been extant in the daies of laertius , would he have concealed them ? or could he have had no suspition of them , who was so diligent to know , and commit to posterity both the lives and books of the philosophers ? and it appears that when ptolomaus philadelphus did erect that huge library at alexandria , using the help and pains of demetrius phalereus , who was a peripatetick , this man , as he did promise great rewards in the kings name to those that brought books from anywhere , so he hath not thought those to be neglected which were said to be aristotles ; and therefore ammonius writeth , that many books were brought under the hope of gain bearing the title of aristotle , that notwithstanding were spurious and none of his : and therefore who can be certain in such a caliginous labirynth , to know whether these that we have be truly his , or but false and adulterate ? seeing many of them are suspected rather to belong to architas than to aristotle . 3. seeing according to laertius , and some others , that there were many that bore the name of aristotle , might not easily all their works be ascribed to this one stagyrite ? as in other things it often falls out : for there were many iupiters , yet all things were ascribed to one son of saturn , and there were many called by the name of hercules , yet all their labours made onely one son of al●mena famous . and did not theophrastus and others ( who are said to have imitated the stile of aristotle ) compose many books under the same title with those of his ( as many be gathered from laertius catalogues ) & so might not they in continuance of time have the inscription creep in , one instead of the other ? and is it not controverted whether the beginning of the metaphysicks , and the books of plants , and others belong to theophrastus , or to aristotle ? and doth not cicero in his books de finibus witness that those books moralium nichomachiorum , which are commonly ascribed to aristotle , are to be attributed to nichomachus his son ? and lest any should object ( as they usually do ) that they are written in his stile and methode , doth he not conclude , non video , cur non potuerit patri similis est filius , i do not see why the son might not be like the father ? and are there not some books amongst those vulgarly accounted the works of aristotle , as the book of plants , that of the world to alexander , and others , that none dare positively assert to be aristotles ? neither is this any new thing in him , for the same suppositition of books hath happened to plato , cicero , seneca , origen , cyprian , hierom , augustine , and other great men . 4. let it be concluded , that we have the books which may justly and legitimately be ascribed to aristotle , yet notwithstanding how dubious is it to know in these books what is properly and truly his , and what is not ? for strabo , plutarch , and others , do memorate that when theophrastus had left neleus scepsius heir to his own , and aristotles library , their books lay long hidden in the ground and that many years after , when they were corroded with worms , and moths , and almost consumed , and wasted , they were digged up and sold to apellicon teius , who took care to export them to athens , and took upon him to amend and correct the defects according to his own mind : and 〈◊〉 not long after lucius sylla had carried them to rome forth of greece , he committed them to tyrannion the grammarian , that he might correct and alter them ; and so that he added detracted or changed what he judged appellicon had depraved , or might better agree to the mind of aristotle . and that afterwards succeeded andronicus rhodius who again turned all upside down and altered as he thought fit . therefore how shall we believe that the pure text of aristotle , passing the hands of so many correctors ( that i may not more truly say corruptors come to our hands without being viciated in innumerable places ? first suffering by the injury of time , and then by the conjectures of so many censurers . especially if to this we shall add , the variety , oscitancy , and unskilfulness of transcribers , we shall find that in this author , which is common to almost all , that of one and the self-same place there will be various lections , that it will be hardly possible to divine , which are the primary and proper footsteps of the author . 5. but let this also be given , that there is nothing contained in his works but what is his own , yet the style and manner of aristotles writing doth render his doctrine so uncertain , and obscure , that to fish out his meaning there is need of a delian urinator . for though he might be copious and elegant in easie matters , yet in things that are more difficult , and which require more perspicuous explication , he is so ambiguous , brief , lame , and intricate , that he seems from thence to have raised plenty of matter , and occasion to make his sectators wrangle and conjecture . therefore atticus did worthily , and appositely compare him , and his writings , to that black humour poured forth by the cuttle fish , under which lying hid she escapeth catching ; for he seems to have spoken so on purpose , as though he be taken in some sense , yet in another he makes an escape , and so eludes the catchers . and some of his followers do acknowledge that he hath used this kind of equivocal speaking of purpose ; but what need we any further witness , behold aristotle himself openly declaring that he used this affected obscurity in his physicks , for labouring to consolate alexander complaining that he had divulged them , he saith , scripsisti ad me de libris auscultatoriis , existimans in arcano custodiendos fuisse . seito igitur ipsos editos , et non editos esse . cognosci enim , percipique ab iis tantum poterunt , qui nos audierint . thou hast written to me touching my books of auscultation , thinking that they were to have been kept in secret . therefore know that they are published , and not published . for they can onely be understood , and perceived of those who have heard us . which things being thus , we may marvail to what end they have called and accounted him as a daemon ? for verily he hath imitated the cunning of a cacodaemon , who is said to speak by his prophets and sibylls after such a manner , that his words may be used in divers and contrary senses : is this the honour of aristotle , or the glory of the schools ? 6. but further let it be conceded that aristotle hath spoken , and written perspicuously , yet nevertheless his doctrine is left very uncertain : for he for the most part still useth a rhapsodie , and is a great compiler of other mens works , and that without taking time to digest or censure all things in them , so that it is difficult to discern when he produceth any thing of his own , when of another mans . and therefore who is there , who when he perceives himself to be urged and pressed with any place in aristotle , may not oppose , and say , that it is not he that speaks there , but some of the antients under his person , and so never be without a subterfuge , and way for evasion ? again , it is not seldome that he doth openly declare the fallaciousness , and uncertainty of his doctrine by inserting of adverbs of doubting , as in his book of the categories speaking of relatives he saith , fortassis autem difficile sit de rebus hujusmodi vehementer asserere : perhaps it is difficult to affirm any thing vehemently of such like matters . and further where he hath reckon'd up the four species of quality , he addeth , fortassis quidem igitur alius quispiam apparuerit qualitatis modus , sed ferè qui maxi●è dicuntur , hi sunt . for perhaps truly some other mood of quality may appear , but these are almost all that are especially spoken of . there are many such like places which i omit , these being sufficient to manifest the man to be no other but such an one as the author of the censure commonly prefixt before his works , who after many commendations given him , saith , accedebat ad haec , ingenium viri tectum et callidum , et metuens reprehensionis , quod inhibebat eum , ne proferret interdum apertè quae sentiret . inde tam multa per ejus opera obscura , et ambigua . there happened to these things , the closs wit of the man , and crafty , and fearing reprehension , which did inhibit him , that sometimes he durst not utter openly those things which he thought . from whence it is that so many things , throughout his works , are obscure and ambiguous . 7. but let us omit these , and give it for granted that aristotle hath uttered his opinion plainly , and doth speak altogether dogmatically , and without haesitation ; will it not still remain of necessity that his doctrine is uncertain and obscure , seeing it is beset with continual altercations amongst the peripateticks themselves , differing about the interpretation of his text ? neither is there any possible hope of their reconciliation , but that we may sooner see a conjunction of the poles of heaven , one holding this , and another that , and yet all affirming that their meaning was aristotles mind : for when they make the question , whether , and what kind of matter he did ascribe to the heavens , some affirm that he did attribute matter to the heavens , and some deny that he did attribute any : some hold that he appropriated the same matter to the heavens , that he did to the elements , and other some affirm that he gave them a divers matter . wherefore suppose any one not preoccupated desired to be instructed in the peripatetick doctrine , what should he do , or whither should he turn himself , when he should see about some one difficulty propounded , divers and sundry opinions differing one from another , and aristotle wrested against himself ? would he think it possible that aristotle at one and the self-same time , did hold things absolutely contrary one to another ? 8. and if all this were granted that the aristotelians did not disagree amongst themselves , and had a genuine interpretation of aristotles mind , yet would there remain much doubt and uncertainty in his doctrine : because in it there are many things omitted , and insufficient , many things tautological ▪ and superfluous , many things false , impious , and calumnious , and many things repugnant , and contradictory , which we shall make out hereafter , and so pass them in this place . 3. neither ought the throne be yielded to aristotle alone , nor his philosophy onely adored , and admitted , because in his writings innumerable things are wanting , and defective , that are essentially necessary to the compleating of physical knowledge , which we shall something at large demonstrate . 1. i shall pass by the defects in his organical learning , as having been touched before when we handled logick , and onely come to open his defects in physicks : and here first is required a definition of physick , the declaration of the subject matter is wanting , a general partition , and distribution is required : neither is it shewn to what end , how or in what order he will proceed to speak of the heavens , the meteors , the animants , and the like , which all belong to physical speculation , this is all the order of this great methode-monger . and when he had laid it was to be proceeded ex notioribus nobis ad notiora naturâ , and that even by common sense singulars are better known to us , and universalls more known in nature , yet presently after he preposterously concludes , ab universalibus ad singularia procedendum . 2. what a brave definition doth he give of nature , to wit , natura est principium , & causa motus , & quietis ejus , in quo inest primò et per se , et non secundum accidens , in which there are more defects and errours than words ? for hereby nature is not distinguished from the efficient cause , art may be a principle as well as nature , and many more which i shall not stand to recite , seeing the most acute , and learned helmont hath demonstrated no fewer than thirteen errors , or defects , in this so short a definition , and so concludeth , atque tandem valdè anxius , nescit quid vocet , aut vocare debeat naturam , naturalis auscultationis scriptor . and at the length being very anxious , the writer of natural auscultation is ignorant what he should or ought to call nature . and also confutes some other descriptions of aristotle with many pregnant and undeniable arguments : and in the most of all his divisions and definitions , as may be seen in his definition of motion , and of alterarion , and divers others , which were tedious and fruitless to reckon up . 3. his proofs and demonstrations for the most part have the same lameness with the rest , ex uno disce omnes . he goes about to prove the world to be perfect , because it doth contain bodies , and that a bodie is perfect because it containeth trinal dimension , and that trinal dimension is perfect , because three are all things : but three are all things , because if they be either one , or two , yet we have not named all things ; but as soon as there are three , we may call them all things . o how egregious ! o how super-sufficient is this proof ! o how wonderfully beseeming so great a philosopher ! o how fit is he to be the prince of learning , and the dictator in the academies ! and the same absurdities may be seen every where in his writings . 4. the like appears in his argumentations against the antient philosophers , whom he seems every where to confute , calumniate and contradict , but with the same imperfections and defects , as to instance in two or three . he taxeth democritus , leucippus , and others very insufficiently , who did hold that generation was by congregation , and that no continuum was compounded of indivisible things , which they speaking of physical impartibilitie , he impugns as of mathematical . doth he not unworthily tax plato , that besides matter and idaea , he had put no efficient cause of generation ? when he himself besides matter and form , rather hath put privation , which is a non ens , than any efficient cause : quapropter cum aristoteles nesciat naturam , proprietates , itemque generationum causas , ac quidditatem ; quis non judicaverit , ex aridis cisternis scholorum aquas philosophiae haustas hactenus ? octo enim libri ausultationum physicarum , somnia et privationes , pro naturae cognitione exponunt . wherefore seeing aristotle is ignorant of nature , proprieties , and also the causes , and quiddity of generations ; who shall not judicate the waters of philosophy hitherto drawn from the drie cisterns of the schools ? for the eight books of physical auscultations , do expound dreams , and privations , instead of the knowledge of nature . 5. this philosophy is meerly verbal , speculative , abstractive , formal and notional , fit to fill the brains with monstrous and airy chymaeras , speculative , and fruitless conceits , but not to replenish the intellect with sound knowledge , and demonstrative verity , nor to lead man practically to dive into the internal center of natures abstruse , and occult operations : but is only conversant about the shell , and husk , handling the accidental , external and recollacious qualities of things , confusedly , and continually tumbling over obscure , ambiguous , general and equivocal terms , which are onely fit to captivate young sciolists , and raw wits , but not to satisfy a discreet and wary understanding , that expects apodictical , and experimental manuduction into the more interiour clossets of nature . here in the schools is found no such thing , but objurgations , and clamours , fighting and contending andabatarum more , like blind , or madmen , not knowing where they wound others , nor where they are hurt or offended themselves . 6. and whereas names should truely express notions , and they be co●gruous to things themselves , the aristotelian philosophy leads us into an endless labyrinth , having nothing in manner but syllogisms , or rather paralogisms to statuminate and uphold the fabrick thereof : for they have altogether laid aside induction as too mechanical and painful , which onely can be serviceable to physical science , and have invented and introduced words , terms , definitions , distinctions , and limitations consonant enough amongst themselves , but no way consorting or sympathizing with nature it self . scientiae enim , quas nunc habemus , nihil aliud sunt quam quaedam concinnationes rerum ante à inventarum ; non modi inveniendi aut designationes novorum operum . for those sciences that we have now , are nothing else but certain concinnations of things formerly found out ; not the wayes , or designations of inventing new works . and one thing more , instead of establishing the mind in physical truths , most usually they confound the judgement with mathematical terms , which in aristotles writings is no small error : for though the mathematicks be exceedingly helpful to natural philosophy , yet is confusion of terms very hurtful ; for if a mathematical point or superficies be urged in a physicall argument it will conclude nothing , but onely obfuscate , and disorder the intellect . 7. this school philosophy is altogether void of true , and infallible demonstration , observation , and experiment , the only certain means , and instruments to discover , and anatomize natures occult and central operations ; which are found out by laborious tryals , manual operations , assiduous observations , and the like , and not by poring continually upon a few paper idols , and unexperienced authors : as though we could fathome the universe by our shallow imaginations , or comprize the mysteries of mother nature in the narrow compass of our weak brains ; or as though she would follow us into our chambers , and there in idlenesse communicate her secrets unto us ; no verily , dii bona sua laboribus vendunt , ease and idleness are not the way to get knowledge . therefore here i shall shew what noble parts of physical knowledge have been , and are neglected by the schools , onely because they abhor taking of pains , and think they can argue dame na●ure out of her secrets , and that they need no other key but syllogisms to unlock her cabinet . 1. therefore that noble , and almost divine science of natural magick , is by them not only repudiated , abominated , and prosecuted with fire and sword , but also the very name s●ems nauseous and execrable unto them ; so little have they done either to advance learning , or to vindicate truth . a great wonder that men that profess themselves almost ignorant of nothing , and think themselves the most skilful wordmen or logodaedalists in the world , should either not understand or be unwilling to acknowledge that the word magick was in its primary and proper acceptation , taken in a good and honourable sense , and appropriated to those that the world accounted most wise and learned : and never was abusively taken , until many impostors , and knaves did abuse and pervert that so noble a science , as though the name of doctor were dishonourable , or unworthy to be an epithite for the able and learned , who have justly merited and taken that degree , because every montebank emperick and quacksalver , have usually that title attributed unto them . was not magick amongst the persians accepted for a sublime sapience , and the science of the universal consent of things ? and were not those men ( supposed kings ) that came from the east styled by that honourable name {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} m●gi , or wisemen , which the holy ghost gives unto them , thereby to denote out that glorious mystery of which they were made partakers by the revelation of that spirit of life and light . neither do i here apologize for that impious and execrable magick , that either is used for the hurt and destruction of mankind , or pretends to gain knowledge from him who is the grand enemy of all the sons of adam , no , that i truly abominate , quia ( as learned mirandula saith ) pendet ex manu hostium primae veritatis , potestatum harum tenebrarum , quae tenebras falsitatis malè dispositis intellectibus obfundunt . because it dependeth upon the hand of the enemies of the primitive verity , of the powers of these darknesses , which do infuse the tenebrosities of falsity into evilly disposed intellects . but that which i defend is that noble and laudable science , quae cognitionem formarum abditarum ad opera miranda deducat , at que activa passivis conjungendo , magnalia naturae manifestet ; which leadeth cognition of occult forms unto wonderful works , and by conjoining actives to passives , doth manifest the grand secrets of nature . and indeed is that worthy , and wonderful science , not unbeseeming the noblest person , or greatest scholar , and is that sublime knowledge whereby the wondetful works of the creator are discovered , and innumerable benefits produced to the poor creatures . mirabilia artis magicae non sunt nisi per unionem & actuationem eorum , quae seminalitèr , & separatae sunt in natura . the wonderful things of art magick are not brought to pass , except by the union , and actuation of those things that are seminally , and separately in nature : so that indeed , magicam operari , non est aliud nisi maritare mundum . to operate by magick is nothing else but to marry the world , that is , fitly and duly to join and connex agents to their patients , masculines to faeminines , superious to inferiours , caelestials to terrestrials , that thereby nature may act out her hidden and latent power . and this is that which the greatest doctor need not be ashamed of , whether physician or philosopher , but that which is commendable both before god and man , and that wherin if the schools had been exercised , their works and fruits would have been more manifest , and they then owned not as the disseminators of vain controversies , and frivolous disputes , but as the true interpreters of nature , patriots of true learning , and benefactors to mankind . but i pray god they may repent and amend , and imbrace the truth , and also practise it . 2. the next thing i shall mind them of , as one of their greatest defects , is that sublime , and never-sufficiently praised science of pyrotechny or chymistry ; which though it hath suffered much through the corruption of time , and the wickednesse of cov●tous impostors , and ravenous harpies , who gaping after mountains of gold , do either suck the purses of others as greedy as themselves , or else do willingly suffer themselves to be deluded , and circumvented by these broilers and smoak ●ellers , and so bring an injust infamy upon this so profitable and laudable an art . and though in former times it was had in honour by trismegist , geber , raymund lully , arnoldus de villâ novâ , roger bacon , and many others , yet was it for many ages in a manner buried in oblivion , or banished to the monastick cells , until basilius valentinus , isaac hollandus , and paracelsus that singular ornament of germany , did revive and restore the same , and since more cleerly manifested by him , who is justly stiled philosophus per ignem , and many other famous men . the benefits of which are now so openly known , esspecially the common and vulgar part of it ( though the grand mysteries are hid in the brests of those who are truly called adepti ) and so much written by the elaborate pens of many learned and industrious men therein , that it would be needless to relate its transcendent uses , and excellencies : it being in a word that art that doth help more truly and radically to denudate , and discover the secret principles and operations of nature , than any other in the world , and i dare truly and boldly say , that one years exercise therein to ingenious spirits , under able masters , will produce more real and true fruit , than the studying aristotelian philosophy hath brought forth in many centuries . o that the schools therefore would leave their idle , and fruitless speculations , and not be too proud to put their hands to the coals and furnace , where they might find ocular experiments to confute their fopperies , and produce effects that would be beneficial to all posterities . i will onely mind them of this one rule . discendae primum ergo digestiones , distillationes , sublimationes , reverberationes , extractiones , solutiones , coagulationes , fermentationes , fixationes , & omne quod ad opus hoc instrumentum requiritur , cognoscendum est usu , prout vitra , cucurbitae , circulatoria , gallinarum ova , terrea vasa , balnea , furni ventales , reverberatorii similesque , nec non carbones atque tenacula : sic in alchimia medicinaque proficere poteris . neither despise this counsel because the author is no friend to aristotle , nor be ashamed to cast off thy fine clothes to work in a laboratory , for without this thou mayest wax old in ignorance , and dy with guilt , because thou hast served thy generations with no better stuff than aristotles dreames , and scholastick fables . nam utut naturale ingenium , & acumen judicii , philosophus habeat , nunquam tamen ad rerum naturalium radicem , aut r●dical●m scientiam admittitur , sine igne . for howsoever a philosopher may h●v● a natural wit , and acuteness of iudgement , notwithstanding he is never admitted to the root , or radical science of natural things , without the fire . 3. another thing of no less weight than the former i shall denote unto them , which is that part of natural philosophy , that concerns medicine , which of all other is most necessary , and behooful for conserving and restoring the health of man ; and yet is no less imperfect , and defective than any of the rest . for first it is turned into a way of meer formality , flattery , cunning , craft and covetousness , nothing being so much sought after by its professors as popular applause , repute , and esteem with rich and mighty men , that thereby the larger fees may be drawn from them , while in the mean time , the poor are neglected and despised . is this the office of a physician ? is only riches got by hook or crook , whether the patient reeeive benefit or none , live or dy , the sole end of their profession ? and must these things have the countenance of law , and confirmation by charters ? must these things be applauded and cryed up , while the sincere and faithful endeavors of simple and honest-meaning men , are disdained and trampled upon ? but the world hath alwaies loved deceivers , and therefore must be deceived . secondly , the rule being most sure , that ubi desinit philosophus , incipit medicus , it must of necessity follow , that if philosophy be false , uncertain , and ill bottomed of it self , then the medicinal knowledge that is built thereon ▪ and drawn from thence , must needs be faulty and ruinous . now how false the aristotelian philosophy is in it self is in part made cleer , and more is to be said of it hereafter , and therfore truth and experience will declare the imperfection of that medicinal knowledge that stands upon no better a basis . for galen their great coryphaeus and antesignanus hath laid down no other principles to build medicinal skill upon , than the doctrine of aristotle , as that all bodies mixt are compounded of the four elements , and that the total parity or disparity , temperament , complexion , and constitution of all bodies do arise from the equal or unequal conflux and commixture of these four : and that from these do result four prime qualities , and four humours , and that the abounding , defect , repugnancy , or alteration of he●e are the causes of all diseases . mirum sanè , quantum in his rixatum , et scriptum sit : ac miserandum , quantum baec laxa nugarum somnia , mundum hactenus circumvenerint . truly it is a wonder how much hath been disputed and written in these things : and it is to be commiserated , how much these loose dreams of trifles , have hitherto circumvented the world . for this same author makes it good by undeniable arguments and experiments , that there are not four elements , nor humours , in rerum natura , and hath said enough , sufficiently to confute and overthrow the whole fabrick of the galenical learning , which here i forbear to insert . and therefore it is very strange that the schools , nay in a manner the whole world , should be inchanted and infatuated to admire , and own this ignorant pagan , who being ambitious of erecting his own fame , did traduce , and darken the writings of those that preceded him , and pretending to interpret and open the doctrine of learned hippocrates , he altogether obscured and perverted the same : and yet can the schools be so wilfully mad to adore this idol ▪ and follow this blind guide . thirdly , if the ground of galenical physick had been sound and firm , and that it were the true and certain way both to find out the causes , and to cure diseases , yet notwithstanding hath it been but loosly prosecuted , and smally promoted , seeing for the space of so many hundred years , there is not by the schools found out any more certain , safe , or easie way to cure diseases than was in the daies of hippocrates , and galen : it is very strange that it should grow up and flourish with them , and never since come to any more perfection , when it is usually observed that nothing is simnl & semel invented and perfected . for it is plain that in botanical knowledge nothing of value is found out or discovered since the daies of dioscorides ; for though some plants be now found out that were not then known , and many species of others also , and their cuts and figures more perfected , as beside much confusedly heaped up concerning their qualities of heat and cold , driness and moisture ; yet is nothing more added by real experience , and diligent observation of their specifick vertues , and intrinsick properties , so that in regard of the vegetable kingdom the art of medicine hath got little advance . fourthly , though medicinal knowledge have received some melioration especially in the anatomical part , wherein men have laboured with much acuteness , diligence , and observation , so that this part seems to be growing , and arising towards the zenith of perfection , especially since our never-sufficiently honoured countryman doctor harvey discovered that wonderful secret of the bloods circulary motion : yet for all this there comes small advantage by it in practice , and application , for the more certain , safe , and easie curing of diseases : for though it bring great satisfaction to a speculative understanding , and help to cleer many intricate doubts , yet doth it little to remove dolor , danger , or death . and moreover though it be grown to a mighty height of exactness , in vulgar anatomy and dissection of the dead bodies of men , or the living ones of beasts , birds , and fishes ; yet is it defective as to that vive and mystical anatomy that discovers the true schematism or signature of that invisible archeus or spiritus mechanicus , that is the true opifex , and dispositor of all the salutary , and morbifick lineaments , both in the seminal guttula , the tender embrio , and the formed creature , of which paracelsus , helmont , and our learned countryman dr. pludd , have written most excellently . fiftly , the most excellent art of chirurgery , though much advanced by the help of anatomy in all that belongs to manual operation , or the use of instruments ; yet in the curing of great and dangerous sores , as the lupus , cancer , fistula , carcinoma , elephantiasis , strumaes , virulent and malign ulcers , and the like , it is much defective , and can perform little , without mineral and chymical medicaments . not because nature and providence have ordained no remedies for them , but because of the sloathfulness and negligence of professors and artists , who sit down contented with galenical medicaments , thinking there is nothing of greater virtue , and operation than they ; and so become slaves and captives to some few authors , whom they think it not lawful to relinguish , or that natures whole mysteries were comprized in their paper monuments , and no search further to be made : not knowing that their scrutiny should be through the whole theatre of nature , and that their only study and labour ought to be to acquire and find out salves for every sore , and medicines for every malady , and not to be inchained with the formal prescriptions of schools , halls , colleges , or masters , but to seek continually that these things might be made known unto them , and not to imagine it is sufficient to have served an appenticeship to it as to a trade , except they arrive at higher attainments . quia medicus ad imaginem dei agere ac laborare jussus est , constat ipsum non nugacibus rebus , sed secretioribus magiae ac cabalae studiis operam suam locare debere : non enim ut iurisconsultorum vel physicorum scientia , sic et medicina humanis speculationibus comprehendi potest , cum ipsa supra omnes artes admirabilis ac occulta existat . because the physician is commanded to act , and labour according to the image of god , it is manifest that he ought not to place his pains in trifling things , but in the more secret studies of magick , and cabalistick science : for not as the knowledge of lawyers and naturalists , so also can medicinal skill be comprehended by human speculations , seeing it is admirable and occult above all arts . therefore what great error , and how haynous a crime is it to leave the great book of the macracosm , nay and the writings of others , only to adhere to the doctrine of ignorant , wicked , malicious , and blind pagans ? i shall onely add this , adeoque cum omne donum bonum , nedum virtutum , sed & cognitionum , descendat à patre luminum ; quis poterit à scholis gentilitiis scientiae medicae tesseram ediscere ? dominus enim creavit medicum , non scholae . therefore seeing every good gift , not onely of vertues , but also of sciences , doth descend from the father of lights ; who can perfectly learn the sum of medicinal knowledge from the heathenish schools ? for the lord hath created the physician , not the schools . 4. there remaineth diverse excellent discoveries of many mysterious things in nature that do properly belong to physicks , which yet the schools take small or no notice of , and as little pains in , either to know , teach , or improve them ; and so are a witness against them of their sluggishness , and deficiency of their too-much-magnified peripatetick philosophy . as first , they pass over with a dry foot that laudable , excellent , and profitable science of physiognomy , which hath been admired , and studyed of the gravest and wisest sages that have been in many generations : which is that science which from and by certain external signs , signatures , and lineaments , doth explicate the internal nature and quality of natural bodies either generally or specifically . and this so necessary a knowledge both in the genus and species of it is altogether omitted by the school ; they understand and teach nothing of caelestial signatures , which are in some measure made known by the quantity , light , colour , motion , and other affections of those bodies : they teach nothing of sub-caelestial physiognomy , whether elementary , meteorological , or mineralogical , but are utterly ignorant in all these , as also in botanical , and anthropological physiognomy , contenting themselves with a few frivilous , false and formal definitions , and notions , and so never seek to penetrate into the more interiour nature of things , by which it comes to pass that they know little in the vegetable , and animal kingdomes , and least of all in the subterranean , or mineral ; and but that paracelsus , crollius , quercetan , baptista porta , and some others had taken pains in it , there had no footsteps of it almost been visible . and my lord bacon doth reckon also as defective the interpretation of natural dreams ; for though aristotle himself hath said something of this , yet those that pretend most to admire and honour him , have taken as little pains in this as the rest , to improve it to the glory of their great master . secondly , they are as ignorant in the most admirable , and soul-ravishing knowledge of the three great hypostatical principles of nature , salt , sulphur , and mercury , first mentioned by basilius valentinus , and afterwards clearly and evidently manifested by that miracle of industry and pains theophrastus paracelsus . which however the schools ( as hating any liquor that is not drawn out of their own cask , and despising all things that come by toyl and labor ) may sleight and contemn it , and please themselves with their ayery chimaera of an abstracted and scarce intelligible materia prima , or hyle , which is neither planè ens , nec non ens , and think to make fools believe their masters description of it , that it is neque quantum , neque quale , neque quid , neque quicquid eorum quae cernuntur , and so the delphick devil cannot expound it , nor sphinx nor o●dipus be able to unriddle it ; is notwithstanding so cleer , certain , and apodictical a truth , that all the academies in the universe will never be able to eradicate , and whose verity is made so evident by pyrotechny , that he must needs distrust his own senses that will not credit it ; but what avails it to sing to a deaf man ? and though helmont with the experiments of his gehennal fire , and some other solid arguments labour the labefactation of this truth , yet doth he not prove that they are not hypostatical principles , but onely that they are not the ultimate reduction that the possibility of art can produce , which he truly proves to be water ; yet are the most compound bodies in the universe to be reduced into them , and by that introversion is the secrets of nature more laid open than by all the peripatetitk philosophy in the world , and if this be not so , let experience speak . thirdly , what shall i say of that wonderful and most beneficial discovery of the magnetical philosophy , by our worthy , learned , and industrious countreyman doctor gilbert ? what rare and unheard-of mysteries doth it disclose ? what huge light , and advantage doth it bring to natural philosophy , and the mathematicks ? what helps to navigation , and almost all other arts , and trades ? how vastly is it improved , inlarged , and adorned by those great wits , and unwearied persons , such as ridley , carpenter , barlow , cabaeus , and the grand gatherer of all kind of learning athanasius kercherus ? can the schools say , or make it good , that in the space of fifteen hundred years they ever invented any such like thing ? nay it were well if they had not been , and still were the opposers , contemners , and condemners of all new discoveries , how transcendent , useful , or profitable soever they were . fourthly , what shall i say of the atomical learning revived by that noble , and indefatigable person renatus des cartes , and since illustrated and improved by magnenus r●gius , white , digby , phocyllides , holwarda , and divers others ? hath the schools any thing of like firmness , do they demonstrate after euclides most certain and undeniable way , as democritus reviviscens doth ? no surely , all theirs is but like dross and chaff in comparison of this . what shall i say of that notable conceit of the most happy genius these latter ages have had , iohn kepler , of the continued emission of raies from the body of the sun , that causeth all the rest of the planets to move ? deserves this no further investigation ? what shall i say of the epicuraean philosophy , brought to light , illustrated and compleated by the labour of that general scholar petrus gassendus ? surely if it be rightly examined , it will prove a more perfect , and sound piece , than any the schools ever had , or followed . 4. the philosophy of aristotle maintained by the schools ought not to be prised so much above others , because in it there are many things superflu●us , tautological , frivolous , and needless ▪ as we shall in a few instances make cleerly evident . for first , omitting many superabundant reiterations , and repetitions in his organicks and animasticks , i shall only touch some few contained in his physicks : as in that much celebrated definition wherein nature is said to be principium , & causa motus , & quietis ejus , in quo inest primò , & per se , & non secundùm accidens . 1. this particle causa seems to be put superfluously ; seeing every cause is a principle . 2. that of quietis ; seeing the faculty of contraries are the same , for that which is the faculty of speaking , and holding ones peace , is the same . 3. that ejus , in quo est , seeing also art is the principle of the motion of the artificer , in whom it is . 4. that primò . 5. and that per se ; for also art is the cause of artificial motion , primarily , and by it self , quatenus as far as it is of this sort . 6. that particle , & non secundùm accidens , is needless ; for wherefore was that necessary seeing before he had put per se ? i shall omit the rest of his nauseous tautologies in the 3 , 5 , and 7. chapters of the forcited book , and in the most of the books of physicks following , as obvious to every one that will take pains to examine and consider them . secondly , in his book de coelo he reiterates this , simplicis corporis simplex est motus , & simplex est motus simplicis corporis , as though these two were much different : and there twice or thrice is repeated the probation , that circular motion doth agree to some body according to nature . the like to which may be seen in the 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 12. chapters of the same book , and in all the books following of the same subject . i shall onely name one other , and so pass this point , in lib. 1. de or●u , et interitu , cap. 6. he propounds the question of the elements , whether they be , or they be not ? and whether they be sempiternal , or not ? as though they had not been agitated in his third book de coelo , and at last brings in that vain repetition , est igitur tangens ut plurimùm id , quod tangit tangens : apparet tangens tangere quod tangit , necesse videtur esse quod tangitur tangere , &c. o how egregiously is this disputed of him who must needs be accounted the prince of philosophers ! o how excellent needs must those disciples be that are taught by so worthy a master ! 5. this philosophy ought not so much to be magnified above other , because in it are very many things that are apparently , and absolutely false , to make which appear , i shall onely name two or three manifest particulars . first he affirms that nothing is contrary to substance , which he again asserts in his logick , and repeats elsewhere , which to me seems absolutely false : for certainly the substance of the fire is contrary to the substance of the water . but thou wilt say the contrariety is solely in the qualities . but seeing these qualities are every one proper to their substances , and do arise out of them , and accept their esse from them : and therefore doth not this also argue contrariety in them ? for let the substance be of the same nature on both sides ; from whence is it that these qualities do arise rather than others which are contrary unto them ? and again in the same chapter it is false that he teacheth that contraries cannot suffer of themselves : for do not cold things strive with hot , and moist things with dry ? and do not these qualities mutually beat back , and expel one another . secondly , it is false which he affirms lib. 2. phys. cap. 7. that the formal , final , and efficient causes are coincident , to wit in respect of the same effect : for how can the father be the same with the essential form of the son ? and it is also false which he defends in the eighth chapter , that art doth not deliberate ; otherwise artists do all things rashly . but although the mason do not deliberate , whether he ought to prepare a foundation rather than an house , therefore doth ●e not consult , whether he shall build it now rather than at another time ? or whether of this matter , rather than of other ? or whether in this manner , rather than in another ? thirdly , how false is that which he laies down in the 6 , and 7. chapters of the third book of physicks , that no number can be given , than which a greater may not be excogitated : but that a magnitude may be given , to wit the world , than which no greater can be excogitated ? i pray you why may it not be lawful and possible to conceive a magnitude greater than this world ? nay ten thousand times greater , wherein lies the impossibilitie ? he also defines there infinitum to be that beyond which something alwaies may be taken ; but how is that possible to be infinite that hath something extrase ? or that it can be made infinite by something without it self ? these are brave fancies , and fine dreams . fourthly , in the 8. book , besides innumerable falsityes that may be observed in the 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9. chapters , that is a most signal one , which in the first chapter he labours to build up , of the eternity of motion : that thereby he may make out the ingeniture , and eternity of the world . let us therefore see with what reasons he can evince , and perswade it . 1. is this , motion is the act of a movable thing : therefore that which is movable hath preceded motion . i pray you doth he not wound himself with his own weapon , and strangle himself by his own consequence ? for if any thing hath preceded motion : therefore motion is not eternal . 2. he argues , the thing moving , and the thing moved are either made , or are eternal ; but neither can be said to be so . but wherefore cannot the one or both be eternal , and nevertheless without motion ? he adds , because this is absurd . an egregious instance truly , and indeed philosophical ! for where appears this absurdity ? he further urges : if the thing movable had preceded motion , then it had rested : and so another motion had been necessary before , of which that rest had been a privation . verily as though he who is born blind , ought to have seen in the womb , that blindless might be accounted the privation thereof . 3. he proceeds , power ought to be neer to the act. as though stones that have lain hid from the framing of the world under the earth , had not as well power to be framed into an house which is made to day , as they have a few daies before they be digged up . 4. he saith , time is eternal , therefore motion also : he confirms the antecedent , 1. because all philosophers , except plato , do affirm it . as though the matter were pleaded in the court , where voices are numbred ? yet some have accounted plato's judgement more than a thousand ; but this were to try things by authority , not by truth . 2. because time is not sine nunc : but every nunc is the beginning of the sequent , and the end of the praecedent time . as though there could not be a nunc first , and last ; if either the motion of heaven hath begun , or also if we believe that motion is not measured by time , which were not hard to demonstrate . 5. i shall onely instance in one place more , and that is lib. 1. de coelo cap. 3 , cap. 4. there he assumes , and endeavours to prove , that circulary motion hath nothing contrary un●o it : what if of two wheels or orbs , the one were moved towards the orient , and the other towards the occident , were they not to be said to be moved towards contrary parts ? and is not this to have something contrary unto it ? nay may not the motion of something in a straight line , be contrary to motion that is circular , seeing all motion is considered in relation unto the term , or point from whence , and unto which it moves ? and how this cannot be possible , to me seems neither probable nor possible . and though i have but taken these few things to instance in , yet were it no hard matter ( but that it belongs not to my present purpose ) to evert the whole ground and fabrick of his philosophy , and that with arguments unanswerable , and infallible , but these are sufficient for this place and purpose . 6. aristotle's ipse dixit , or the school's sic habet aristoteles , ought no longer to pass for oracles , nor his tenents for truths before others : because innumerable things in his philosophy do contradict , and are diametrically contrary ; and that i may make out what i say , i shall call in for witness his own words , and instance in some few particular places , that it may be manifest how in constant and wavering he was in his own opinions . first , in his book of categories there is plain contradiction , seeing he makes ten : and notwithstanding elsewhere sometimes three , sometimes six , sometimes eight . he saith the first substance is rather substance than the second , and not long after he affirmeth that the property of substance is to receive more and less . he makes time a species of continued quantity : and notwithstanding in the 4 book of physicks , he will have it to be number , which is discrete quantity . he also indeavours in the 1 book priorum analyticorum , to demonstrate the definition of the figures , and in the 2 after teacheth that definition cannot be demonstrated . in the 1 book posteriorum he will have us in demonstration to proceed from things more known to us : and for all that he defines demonstration to be that which proceeds from causes , but causes are more unknown to us than effects ; and in the same books he hath many such like , which for brevity i omit . secondly , in his first book of physicks he impugneth that immovable principle of parmenides , and melissus : and after in the 8 book he proveth that there is one immovable principle of motion . he teacheth in the fifth chapter , that contraries are not made , by course , of themselves , and not long after he holdeth , that whatsoever is generated , is generated of its contrary , and that whatsoever is corrupted goes into its contrary . in the second book , and seventh chapter , he disputeth against empedocles affirming that the works of nature are made by chance ; and yet confesses that monsters are the misses and lapses of nature : and in the seventh book of metaphysicks the seventh chapter , he holdeth that those things that do grow withou● seed are made casually , from whence also in the 3 de animâ the 12. chapter , he saith , quae naturâ sunt , propter aliquid sunt , aut casus eorum , quae sunt propter aliquid . and many other of the like sort , from which i purposely supersede , these being sufficient to make good the assertion . thirdly , one more may be joined to these out of his book de coelo the 2 chapter , where he saith , that every natural body is movable : and yet for all that in the third chapter , and more expresly in the fourteenth of the second book , he contendeth that the earth doth rest immovable in the center of the world . in the seventh chapter in the words cited not long before he altogether supposeth the heaven not to be animated : and notwithstanding he expressely saith it is animated in the second book , and second chapter ; and also the first de anima the third chapter , and elsewhere . in the second book , and second chapter , he holdeth that a sempiternal motion is in god : and in the eighth of the physicks he maintaineth the primum movens to be immovable which is god : in the eight he saith the heaven is not an organical body , and notwithstanding ( as it is already seen ) he hath made it to be indued with a soul : for the soul , as he defines it , is the act of an organical body : as also in the twelf he saith , actionem astrorum talem esse , qualis est plantarum , & animalium . but of these things enough ; by all which ( i conceive ) it is cleerly manifest that the peripatetick philosophy ought not to be preferred before all other , nay rather to be utterly exterminated , and some better introduced in the place therof , and that is the thing was attempted to be proved . chap. vii . of metaphysicks , ethicks , politicks , oeconomicks , poesie , and oratory . though there be something in the most of these , that might tollerably pass , yet are many things in them so useless , false , uncertain , superfluous , wicked and defective , that they stand in need of reformation , melioration , or eradication , as we shall shew of every one of them in their order . 1. for the metaphysicks , which they call their philosophia prima , and do usually define it to be scientia entis , quatenus ens est , the abuse and vanity of it appears in this . that it being nothing else but an abstract consideration of things by way of prescision , or cutting off from all other cocomitant cogitations , and so to weigh and examine the things nudely and barely under the respect of their being , all other notions there about being separate from it , doth bring no better instruments , nor effective means for the discovery of truth , than the weak and bare operation of the intellect , or indeed of phantasie , or the imaginative faculty , and therefore no marvail that it hath spider-like weaved forth so many slie and cunning cobweb-contextures of slender conceits , and curious niceties , fit for nothing but to insnare and intangle : and hath been so luxuriously petulant in the faetiferous production of so many monstrous , fruitless , and vain chimaeras . for they holding the soul to be tabula rasa , in which nothing is insculpt , and that science comes not by reminiscence , or resuscitation , but meerly acquisitively de novo , and that there is nothing in the intellect that hath not first some way or other been in the senses , then must it needs follow that the operations of the intellect are but weak means to produce scientifical certitude , and so metaphysical learning but barren and fruitless . 2. it hath neither laid down , nor assumed any certain principles , that are necessary or helpful to promote science ; for whereas it obtends this for a maxim , that not any thing can be , and not be at the same instant of time ; what fruitful products was there ever yet drawn from this unprofitable fundamental ? neither ever hath it proceeded so far as to find a sure , and ultimate resting place , which notwithstanding the learned renatus des chartes hath happily performed , having gone back to the very basis of all , which is , that there is mens cogitans , which can no way feign , or excogitate it self not to be , which is a more certain and undeniable principle than ever the schools invented , or built upon . 3. it is of no use nor advantage to other sciences , nor ever hath brought any good or profit unto the sons of men , but onely seduced them into strange labyrinths of notional chymaeras , and speculations , like idle and vain dreams , filling and feeding the fansie , but yielding nothing of solidity to inrich the intellect , nor any thing of use or profit to accomodate mankind : except that may be accounted an advantage , to obscure the truth , and lead the phantasies of men into the crooked meanders of conceit , and nutation , and so with the assistance of its twin logick ( both sisters of the same mother nox ) bring men to imagine and argue much , but in truth and verity to know little . 4. if it had been able ( as it proudly pretends ) to have taught any thing truly and certainly of those things that are metaphysical , or supernatural , that either are not corporeal or materiate , or else much transcend the nature of physical bodies both caelestial and elementary , then might it justly be received , and have its due commendation . but alas ! what weak , frivolous and groundless opinions hath it produced concerning god , angells , separate substances , and the like ? not seeing so much in these things as the ethnicks , who , in the fable of the golden chain , did affirm , that neither men , nor the gods could draw iupiter from heaven to the earth , but that iupiter could easily draw men from the earth to heaven . quare frustra sudaverit , qui caelestia religionis arcana , nostrae rationi adaptare conabitur . therefore he in vain sweats , who indevours to fit the heavenly mysteries of religion to our reason . 5. what shall i say of those strange , vain , and poisonous cockatrice eggs that it hath hatched , full of nothing but useless questions and altercations , to as little purpose as the disputes de lanâ caprinâ , or moonshine in the water ? what shall i say of it , is it not altogether defective of all solid , and fruit-bearing knowledge ? doth it not superfluously abound with vanities and follies ? was ever any made either wise or happy by it ? and yet this is the schools prime philosophy or metaphysical learning , which is nothing but vain opination , void of scientifical demonstration , and cleer verity . fa●eamur , rerum divinarum paucissimarum demonstrationes habemus , omnia ferè opinionibus definentes . we must confess , we have the demonstrations of very few divine things , defining all things by opinions . in the next place comes the ethicks to be considered of , which how fruitless and vain they are may appear in a few reasons . for 1. how can he be supposed to be the fittest teacher of that art , who was himself an heathen , and neither knew nor acknowledged god , who indeed is the summum bonum , and so placed felicity in fading , and momentary things , as riches , and honour : or at the best made but vertue the chief good , which cannot however be happiness it self , but at the most but the way and means to attain it ? and it must necessarily follow that he that understands not the real , and true end , cannot teach the indubitate means that leads to that end , and therefore must needs be a blind guide , especially to christians , as lambertus danaeus hath sufficiently manifested ; and yet the schools must needs follow , and prefer the dark lamp of a blind pagan , before the bright-shining sun of the prophets ▪ and apostles . 2. though the schools have disputed much of the chief good , of vertues , and of vices , yet have they either taught nothing at all that is practicable , whereby vertue might be obtained , and vice eschewed , or felicity enjoyed , or but touched it very slenderly , perfunctorily , and unprofitably : as though it were sufficient to teach a pilot the many dangers of his voyage in respect of tempests , storms , winds , sands , shelves , rocks , and the like , and to make a large commendation of the peace , plenty , fruitfulness , and happiness of the place to which his journey were intended ; yet leave him altogether ignorant and untaught how to escape those dangers , and unfurnished with means to attain to the harbour unto which his navigation is purposed . 3. they have chosen to themselves such a way , whereby the mass of ethical knowledge might be set forth as a splendid and beautiful thing , bearing forth the brightness of wit , and vigour of eloquence , rather than any truth in the matter , or benefit to the readers and hearers , and so have made it facilely disputable , but difficultly practicable , seeking themselves , more than truth , or the benefit of others ; as se●eca truly saith , nocet illis eloquentia , quibus non rerum facit cupiditatem , sed sui : eloquence hurteth those , to whom it causeth not the desire of things , but of themselves : for water is better in an earthen vessel , than poison in a golden cup , and he that speaks truly and to profi● others is to be preferred before him that speaks rhetorically , and elegantly to small profit or purpose . 4. it cannot but be matter of much wonder to all ingenuous men that shall more seriously perp●nd , and weigh the business , why not onely the moral philosophy of aristotle should take place above that which is deduced from principles of christianity ; but also why he should have therein the preheminence above socrates , plato , zeno , and many others , who truly taught many divine and pretious things for the eradicating of vice , the planting of vertue , and the establishing of mental tranquillity , and moral felicity , which aristotle and all his sectators never either understood , or had fruition of . what shall i say of that man of men the severe seneca ? are not his writings about vertue , tranquillity , and curing the minds diseases , infinitely beyond all those needless , fruitless , vain and impertinent discourses of the proud stagyrite ? let all that ever loved vertue and tranquillity , and have perused the one , and the other , speak , and declare their judgements : nay doth not that one little enchiridion of epictetus contain more pretious treasure , than all the great volumes of aristotle ? let vertue speak , and truth determine . now for the political and oeconomical learning taught by the schools out of aristotle , as it hath many things of singular use , and commoditie in it , so is it not without its chaff , and tares , deserving rather purging , and refining , than the estimation of being compleat and perfect : for as there are many things in it frivolous , obscure , immethodical , superfluous , and false , so also is it very defective , and imperfect ; for if we look upon what plato hath written de legibus , and de republica , though there may be found many things unpracticable , and incompleat , yet compared with the other , it is no way inferiour , but deserves as great , if not an higher commendation ; and so the writings of bodin , nay macchiavel and divers other modern authors may duly challenge as much praise in this point , as that of aristotle , which the schools do so much adhere to and magnifie , yea even our own countreyman master hobbs hath pieces of more exquisiteness , and profundity in that subject , than ever the graecian with was able to reach unto , or attain ; so that there is no reason why he should be so applauded , and universally received , while more able pieces are rejected , and past by . lastly , for rhetorick , or oratory , poesie , and the like , which serve for adornation , and are as it were the outward dress , and attire of more solid sciences ; first they might tollerably pass , if there were not too much affectation towards them , and too much pretious time spent about them , while more excellent and necessary learning lies neglected and passed by : for we do in these ornamental arts , as people usually do in the world , who take more care often time about the goods of fortune , than about the good of the body , and more nice and precise sollicitousness about fashions and garbs , than either about the body it self or the goods of the mind , regarding the shell more than the kernel , and the shadow more than the substance . and therefore it was not without just cause that plato ( though by some censured for it ) did reckon rhetorick amongst the voluptuary arts , for we most commonly use it either for the priding and pleasing of our selves that we may appear eloquent , and learned to others , or else use it cunningly and sophistically to captivate , and draw over the judgements of others to serve our ends and interests : and thereby make false things appear true , old things new , crooked things straight , and commodious things unprofitable , as augustine saith , imperitior multitude , quod ornatè dicitur , etiam verè dici arbitratur , the more unskilful multitude thinketh that what is spoken elegantly , is also spoken truly . and therefore seneca saith , seest thou a man neat and compt in his language , then is his mind occupied in minute things . 2. both eloquence and poesie seem rather to be numbred amongst the gifts of nature , than amongst the disciplines , for those which excell much in reason , and do dispose those things which they excogitate in a most easie method , that they may be cleerly , and distinctly understood , are most apt to perswade , although they did use the language of the goths , and had never learned rhetorick : and those that are born to invent most ingenious figments , and to express them with the greatest elegance and suavity , are to be accounted the best poets , although they are ignorant of all the precepts of the poetical art ; for nascitur , non fit poeta , and therefore plato most truly concludeth , omnes itaque carminum poetae insignes , non arte , sed divino afflatu , mente capti omnia ista praeclar a poemata canunt . therefore all the famous makers of verses , do not sing all these excellent poems by art , but by a divine afflation , being carried above themselves . 3. though aristotle were a great master in oratory , and a very eloquent man , yet in that point might justly give the palm to his master plato , unto whom all the attributes of honour in that particular are worthily accumulated , of whom it is said , that if iupiter would speak in mans language , he would speak in that of plato . thus have i briefly run over some of the faults , and defects of academick learning , but am far from having touched all , for to have done that would have reached beyond both my time , and purpose , and also mine abilities ; for benardus non videt omnia : yet if the lion may be known by his paw , and hercules by his foot , then i hope there is enough said to make it cleer , that the aristotelian , and scholastick learning , deserves not the preheminence above all other , nor those great commendations that the corruption of times , and sloathful ignorance of the most have ascribed unto it , but that a great part of it doth deserve eradication , some of it reformation , and all of it melioration , and so i proceed . chap. viii . of their customes , and methode . having hitherto spoken of the subjective learning that the schools handle , it follows in order to examine their customes and methode , not that i mean to meddle either with their manners , or maintenance , but leave that to the judgement of others , lest it happen to me , as erasmus said of luther , that it was dangerous to meddle with the popes crown , and monks bellies : but only to note some things in the way , and methode of their teaching , which are obvious to my weak observation , and so shall lay them down as they present themselves to my low apprehension . 1. though in one academy there be usually divers colleges , or houses , yet must all the scholars in those several places be tyed to one methode , and carried on in one way , nay even bound to the same authors and hardly allowed so much liberty , and difference , as is between aristotle , and ramus logick : as though they in the way of their teaching had arrived at the highest point of perfection , which could no way be improved , or no other as profitable could be discovered and found out , and so are all forced like carriers horses , to follow one another in the accustomed path , though it be never so uneven or impassable . 2. their scholastick exercises are but slenderly , negligently , and sloathfully performed , their publike acts ( as they call them though but verbal digladiations ) being but kept four times in the year , that is in the terms , which if one should tell them in plain terms , are but usually idle termes : as though time of all other things here below , were not to be accounted most pretious , and that there can be no such detriment done unto youth , as to lose or mispend it . 3. their custome is injurious , and prejudicial to all those that desire to make a speedy progress in learning , nay unequal , and disproportionable in it self , namely to ty men to a set time of years , or acts , before they can receive their laureation , or take their degrees : as though all were of one capacity or industry , or all equally able at their matriculation , and so the sloathful , and painful , the most capable , and most blockish , should both in the same equal time have an equal honour , which is both disproportionable and unjust . for some will attain to more in one year than some in three , and therefore why should they not be respected according to their merits and proficiency , and not bound to draw in an unequal yoak ? and what matter were it whether a man had been there one moneth or seven years , so he had the qualification required , and did subire examen , and perform the duties of the place , surely it is known that gradus non confert scientiam , nec cucullus facit monachum . 4. their custome is no less ridiculous , and vicious , in their histrionical personations in the performance of their exercises , being full of childishness , and scurrility , far from the gravity , and severity of the pythagorean school where a five years silence was enjoined : using so much lightness as more befits stage-players than diligent searchers of science , by scoffing and jeering , humming and hiffing , which shewes them like those animals they imitate , nay rather hur●ful geese , than labourious bees , that seek to gather into their hives , the sweet honey of learning , and knowledge . 5. what is there in all their exercises , but meer notions , and quarrelsome disputations , accustoming themselves to no better helps for searching into natures abstruse secrets than the chymaeras of their own brains , and converse with a few paper idols ? as though these alone were sufficient keyes to open the cabinet of natures rich ●●easurie , without labour and pains , experiments and operations , tryals and observations : surely if he that intends to prove a proficient in the knowledge of agriculture , should onely give himself over to contemplation , and reading the books of such as have written in that subject , and never put his hand to the plough , nor practise the way of tilling and sowing , would he ever be a good husbandman , or understand thorowly what pertains thereunto ? surely not , and no more can they be good naturalists that do but onely make a mold and idaea in their heads , and never go out by industrious searches , and observant experiments , to find out the mysteries contained in nature . 6. their custome is no less worthy of reprehension that in all their exercises they make use of the latine tongue , which though it may have custome , and long continuance to plead its justification , and that it is used to bring youth to the ready exercise of it , being of general reception almost through the whole world : yet it is as cleerly answered , that custome , without reason and benefit , becomes injurious , and though it make them ready in speaking the latine while they treat of such subjects as are usually handled in the schools , yet are they less apt to speak it with facility in negotiations of far greater importance . and in the mean time , the way to attain knowledge is made more difficult , and the time more tedious , and so we almost become strangers to our own mother tongue , loving and liking forein languages , as we do their fashions , better than our own , so that while we improve theirs , our own lies altogether uncultivated , which doubtless would yield as plentiful an harvest as others , if we did as much labour to advance it : neque hodiè ferè ulla est natio , quae de idiomatis sui praestantia non glorietur , aut contendat . and therefore were the romans so careful to propagate their language in other nations , and to prohibit the greek language or any other to be spoken in their publike contentions : and so likewise pythagoras , plato , and aristotle did teach in their own mother tongues , and hippocrates , galen , euclide , and others writ in the vulgar language of their own nation , and yet we neglecting our own , do foolishly admire and entertain that of strangers , which is no lesse a ridiculous than prejudicial custome . 7. another is no less faulty and hurtful than the precedent , and that is their too much admiring of , and adhering to antiquity , or the judgement of men that lived in ages far removed from us , as though they had known all things , and left nothing for the discovery of those that came after in subsequent ages ; it was appositely said of seneca , in re maximâ , & involutissimâ , in quâ cum etiam multum actum erit , omnis tamen aetas quod agat inveniet . in the greatest , and most intricate thing , in which when also much is done , notwitstanding every age shall find what it may further do ; and so profoundly censures those great men that went before us , to be as our leaders , but not our masters , and so most excellently concludeth , multùm restat operis , multumque restabit : nec ulli nato post mille saecula praecludetur occasio aliquid ad●uc adjiciendi . much work doth remain , and much will remain : neither will the occasion be cut off to any born after a thousand ages , still of adding something . and indeed we usually attribute knowledge and experience to men of the most years , and therefore these being the latter ages of the world should kn●w more , for the grandaevity of the world ought to be accounted for antiquity , and so to be ascribed to our times , and not to the junior age of the world , wherein those that we call the antients , did live , so that antiquitas saeculi , juventus mundi . 8. they usually follow another hurtful custome not unlike to this preceding , which is too much to bind in themselves with the universality of opinions , and multiplicity of voices , as though it were not better to stand single and alone with truth , than with error to have the company of the multitude , or as though the multitude could not err , or that the greater number must necessarily be in the truth , when as the wiseman saith the number of fools are infinite , and aristotle himself tells us , that though we speak as the most , yet we should think as the fewest , and cicero informs us that philosophy is content with a few judges , and seneca most egregiously saith , nihil magìs praestandum est , quàm ne pecorum ritu sequamur antec●dentium gregem , pergentes non quò eundum est , sed quò ●tur : nothing is more to be performed , than that we may not , according to the manner of cattel , follow the s●ock of those that went before , not following whither it ought to be gone , but whither it is gone . and again , nulla res nos majoribus malis implicat , quàm quod ad rumorem componimur , optima ra●i ea , quae magno assen●u recepta sunt : nothing doth insuare us with greater evils , than that we compose our selves to rumours , supposing those things the best , which are received with great assent . 9. consonant to this is that other of their adhering to authority , especially of one man , namely aristotle , and so do jurare in verbi magistri , when according to their own tenents , arguments drawn from authority , are numbred amongst the weakest , and what could aristotle know more than all other , that his opinions should be received as oracles ? he both might and did err , as well as other mortals : and may not we as justly recede from him as he from his master plato , and the rest of the antient philosophers ? is it any thing but a just liberty that we ought to maintain , and pursue , thereby to be admitted into the court of lady verity ? for which all chains ought to be broken , and all fetters fyled off . 10 ▪ neither is their methode , and order in teaching any whit less vicious than the rest , for whereas aristotle himself presupposeth his auscultator or scholar in physicks to have been already trained up in the mathematical sciences ( which are indeed instrumently subordinate to natural philosophy as introductive thereunto ) the schools immethodically , and preposterously teach youth logick , and natural philosophy , not having at all tasted the very rudiments of mathematical knowledge , which how much out of due order and methode , nay contrary unto it , i leave to all judicious persons to judge and consider . chap. ix . of some expedients , or remedies in theologie , grammar , logick , and mathematicks . i know it will be objected , that facile est reprehendere , it is an easie thing to find fault , but difficult and arduous to repair and amend , and that one fool may mar , and spoil that in an hour , which many wise men cannot make right again in many ages : and the most ignorant may easily disorder , and deface the master-piece of the most curious artist , when he is not able to repair the least part of it . and therefore that it is not sufficient to demolish an antient , and goodly fabrick , upon pretence that it is either unprofitable in the site , and figure , or that the materials are ruinous , and decayed ; unless we bring better in their room , have laid a better platform , and know certainly how to erect a better fabrick . to which i answer , by a cleer confession , that before we throw down we should know wherewithal , and how to build , and that it is far more easie to demolish , than to erect a sufficient and compleat structure , and especially for a single person ( and he also of the lowest , and least abilities ) which is & ought to be the work of many , nay all persons and ages : for as i verily believe that what i have produced for demonstrating the groundlesness , ruinousness , and ill composure of the scholastick fabrick of learning is not far from the truth , so also am i confident of mine insufficiency to erect a better in the place thereof , yet in magnis voluisse sat est , i shall do mine endeavour , hoping that those that are more able will put to their hands to help to supply my defects , and so shall offer the best materials and art that i have to erect a new , and better building , and in the same order that i have handled the several parts . 1. therefore for theology which is a speaking of god , or a speaking forth the things of god , it is expedient that men should lay aside the suffering of themselves to be styled by that blasphemous t●●le of divines , which is such an impropriety of language as all their learning will never be able to justify , it being an attribute that doth onely predicate essentially of the being of god , and is indeed incommunicable to the creature , who hath nothing that is divine or spiritual but by participation ; for though the text saith that saints are partakers of the divine nature , yet will it not follow that because they are said to be partakers of divine things that therefore they are divine , because participations do not truly predicate of those essences to which they are communicated , but of that being from whence they flow : for men participate of the light and heat of the sun , but it cannot be truly predicated of men that either they are the sun , nor truly and univocally that they are of a solary nature , but onely that participating of its influences and operations , they may be truly said to be heatned , and inlightned : for though it be in the english translated iohn the divine , whereby those that understand not the greek are misled , and thereby drawn to give that title to their priests , who blasphemously assume it to themselves , yet i hope there is much difference betwixt {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , one that speaks of god or divine things , and one that is divine , the scots therefore have a more apposite and warrantable epithite , who seldome or never call their ministers divines but theologues , and we have many could cry out against the bishops for having the title of lord , or grace given them , and yet they themselves can swallow this title of being divines , which is more unseemly , unfit , and unwarrantable . 2. another expedient that i shall offer in this case is , that the scriptures which are as the seamless coat of christ may not be rent and torn with the carnal instruments of mans wit and reason , nor modell'd , or methodiz'd as an humane art or science , but laid aside in scholastick exercises , as a sacred and sealed book , lest they offering strange fire upon gods altar , perish as others have done : for in the day of mans light the tabernacle of the lord will be covered with a cloud , and in the night of his darkness there will be fire ; therefore let not men journey until the cloud be taken up , or the fire appear , otherwise they must know the lord doth not lead them nor go before them . and indeed , whatsoever the proud and deceitful heart of man may imagine , the scriptures are a sealed book , for so the prophet saith , the vision of all is become as the words of a book that is sealed , which men deliver to one that is learned , saying , read this i pray thee : and he saith , i cannot , for it is sealed . and the book is delivered to him that is not learned , saying , read this i pray thee , and he saith , i am not learned . what can be more plain than this , that it is as a sealed book both to the learned , and unlearned ? and this is it that is sealed with seven seals , and no man in heaven , nor earth , nor in the sea , that is found worthy to open this book , and to unclose the seaven seals thereof , but only the strong lion of the tribe of iuda , and therefore let schools not touch it , lest it be their destruction . for unless they leave the lords own work to himself , and cease to sit in the seat of the scornful , the lord will laugh them to scorn , and vex them in his sore displeasure , neither will he bless them in their labours , nor prosper them in their exercises : nay , until all the magistrates , and elderships of the earth that profess his name , take off their crowns , and lay them at the feet of the lamb , and learn to practise , and put in execution our saviors counsel , to give unto god the things that are gods , and to caesar the things that are caesars , and not at all to intermeddle with the things of god , misery and destruction will follow them to the grave , and of them shall be required the blood of all the saints . o therefore that they would kisse the sonne lest he be angry , and so they perish from the way of everlasting truth : for when his wrath is kindled but a little , blessed are all they that put their trust in him . 3. the last expedient i shall present in this subject is , that what can be discovered of god , and supernatural things , by the power of reason , and the light of nature , may be handled as a part of natural philosophy ( unto which it doth belong ) because it is found out by the same means and instruments that other natural sciences are : and what may from thence cleerly be demonstrated , and deducted , may be holden forth as a means to overthrow atheism , gentilism , and the like , but not to statuminate , or build up any thing in religion , nor like a wild bore to enter into the lords vineyard to root up and destroy it . in the next place are languages , and grammar , which is the means or instrument by which they are taught , unto which i shall offer these few helps . 1. that care may be had of improving , and advancing our own language , and that arts and sciences may be taught in it , that thereby a more easie and short way may be had to the attaining of all sorts of knowledge : and that thereby after the example of the romans we may labour to propagate it amongst other nations , that they may rather be induced to learn ours , than we theirs , which would be of vast advantage to the commonwealth , in forrein negotiations , trading , conquest and acquisitions , and also of much domestick advantage within our own territories . for if we should arrive at any extraordinary height of learning , and knowledge , though we should but speak and write in our own mother tongue , then would other nations be as earnest in learning it , and translating our books , as former ages have been in labouring to attain the language , and translate the books of the graecians , and romans , and we at this day of the french , and germans . 2. that some compendious way for both teaching and learning forein languages , may be established by use and exercise , without the tedious way of rule , or grammar , which doubtless upon diligent , skilful , and exact tryal , would prove more short , easie , certain , and beneficial , as is manifest by ordinary people that never knew any thing of grammatical order , being kept in families that speak another language , and having none to converse with that speaks their own , will in a wonderful short time learn to speak , and understand it ; for when necessity is joined with industry , it produceth great and stupendious effects . 3. that in the way of teaching languages the order prescribed by comenius in his ianua linguarum may be practised , and means used to improve it , that both words and matter , names and things , may be learned together , which may be done both with the same facility , and in the same shortness of time ; that so the tender intellects of young children may not onely inbibe the names , but also the natures and qualities of things . 4. that in the methode of teaching grammar , master brinsleys way laid down in his grammar school may be put into practice , that children may be taught in their mother tongue to know perfectly the several parts of speech , declinable , and indeclinable , and punctually to vary the declinable parts , especially noun , and verb , and to construe and parse in their own tongue , that so they may be ready to make use , and to apply it when they learn the latine , or any other language , without which they shall never have any sure foundation , nor proceed in any way of ease and certainty , nor arrive at any height of perfection , for none learns more than what the intellect clearly compre●ends , and what it knows how to practise , and make use of . 5. in the grammatical way of teaching it is a most certain axiom , that what is one part of speech in one language , is so in all , and four parts being indeclineable , it is manifest that they are learned by no rules , but only by use and exercise , as the memory can congest and record them : so that there remains but other four to be obtained by rule , and two of them , which is pronoun and participle , either are but very few , as the pronoun , and so are easily known wherein they agree or differ from the noun & verb ; or the participle , which hath nothing but what agrees either with the noun , or verb , or with both : so that the whole difficulty is in the noun and the verb , of both which some are regulars , and some are irregulars , anomala , defectives , or heteroclytes . now for the irregulars , the best , easiest , and shortest way were to learn them by use and exercise , without rule , which for the most part is done , and the rules usually are but superfluous , and render the way more perplex and tedious ; and this being observed , the way of regulars would be facile and brief , as being but one rule for all . and this i suppose being observed would render the way of grammar teaching of more bevity , facility , and certainty , but greater experiences may know better waies . it may be imagined that i should proffer some auxiliary means for the promoting of symbolical , and cryptographical learning , as being a part of grammar , but therein i must rather acknowledge mine inability , and onely wish that so much of it as is discovered , and made clear by others , might be put in practice , then would the benefit of it be better understood by use , than i can demonstrate in words . and for the universal character that would require a peculiar tract , not a cursory touch : and for the language of nature , i fear it is not acquisitive but dative , and therefore shall not be so weak in that particular , to prescribe a rule , which none hath power to follow , or strength to perform . next in order followeth logick , which being that art or science that should administer expedients and helps for the promoting and finding out of all other sciences , doth notwithstanding stand in need it self : from whence then should it have it ? truly it is hard to determine , for it is such a groundlesse , intricate , and perplex piece , that it is very doubtful from whence it had its original , and therefore most difficult to know how to find its remedies ; yet shall offer my best assistance to its regulation and amendment . 1. it is necessary that its radical ground be found forth in nature , and likewise its extent , without which it is not possible to lay open its nature and efficacy ; for though it undertake to reason and argue of all things , yet bears it forth but little light and evidence of its own power and strength . and therefore in the first place it is requisite to inquire , what reason and ratiocination are in their intrinsick nature , and what they can operate , and effect , both solely by themselves , and conjunctively with the senses , because it is clear that the work of reason is posterior to that of sense , and doth but compound , divide , and compare the several species that are received by the senses , and make deduction , and draw conclusions from them , and this is necessary that its distinct power and efficacy may be known . also it is expedient to examine wherein man in reason exceeds other animants ; for though man to maintain his unjust tyranny over the other fellow creatures ( excuse the phrase it is no ranting term , for iob confesseth , i have said to corruption thou art my father , to the worm thou art my mother and my sister ) hath assumed to himself the title of being rational , and excluding all other living creatures from that prerogative , when it is certain that many other creatures excell man in the acuteness of some senses , and it is questionable that some exceed him in reason too , though therein he be to be preferred before the most , so that if it be diligently searched into , it will be found that there is no specifical but a gradual difference . 2. before any great good can be effected with logick , especially with the syllogistical part , it will be very expedient that its principles be demonstratively cleared and proved , either in some other science from whence they are taken , or be briefly and compendiously laid down , and defined , that they may more certainly be assented to , and the grounds known , as in the mathematicks , where a few definitions , petitions , and axioms , serve to demonstrate the whole operations by , with such certitude , that none since the daies of euclide have denyed , or rejected them , that so by this means the conclusions in logick may be certain and profitable . 3. that some prevalent way might be found out , for discovering and rectifying the delusions and fallacies of the senses , and for drawing adaequate ▪ and congruous notions from things , and giving ●pposite and significant denominations to notions , that so the fountain may be made cleer at the head , and rise of it , that all the several rivulets , and streams that run from thence may be lympid and pure , without which it will be but as a muddy puddle , whose streams cast forth dirt and myre . 4. that the chiefest and most beneficial part , which is induction , may be improved , that it may be serviceable and helpful for the discovering of science , which cannot be unless some carefull , diligent , and exact means be brought into practice , for the making , trying , and observing of all sorts of experiments , both frugiferous , and luciferous , that time may not be vainly spent in needlesse altercations , disputations , speculations , and notions , but in reall , and profitable experiments , and observations ; that so the end of logical labour may not be to bring forth opinion , and errour , but certainty of science , and solidity of truth . the mathematicks should now come in order , but of them i need say little , as to their advance , because they contain sufficient expedients in themselves for the progresse of their promotion , and indeed do want nothing but diligent and faithful prosecution , and practice , that they may arrive at a compleat period . and therefore the onely help i shall offer in this case , is , to desire that this so noble , and excellent a science , with all the parts of it , both general , and special , vulgar , and mystical , might be brought into use and practice in the schools , that men might not idlely lose their time in groundlesse notions , and vain chymaeras , but in those reall exercises of learning that would both profit themselves , succeeding generations , and other sciences . and i could also wish that the sound , and apodictical learning of copernicus , kepler , ticho brahe , galilaeus , ballialdus , and such like , might be introduced , and the rotten and ruinous fabrick of aristotle and ptolomy rejected and laid aside . chap. x. of some helps in natural philosophy . now when i come to lay down some expedients for the reformation and promotion of physical knowledge , two things ( i know ) will be questioned , and inquired of . and first , whether all the whole body of the aristotelian philosophy should be eliminated , and thrown away . to which i answer , no ; for there are many things in his history of animals , and some things in his politicks , ethicks , logick , metaphysicks , and rhetorick , that are commodious and useful , yet do they all stand in need of reformation and amendment : but for his natural philosophy , and his astronomy depending thereon , it admits of no reformation , but eradication , that some better may be introduced in the place thereof . and for his expositors , and commentators , they instead of reforming what was amisse in his writings , carried with a blind zeal to make him the onely oracle of truth , have increased the corruption , and not supplyed the defects , nor removed the errouts . secondly , it will be urged , that if the peripatetick philosophy which the schools maintain , should be taken away , where would any such perfect , compleat , and methodical piece be found to supply the place thereof . to which it is answered , that i have already demonstrated , and laid open the faults and defects thereof , that there is no such perfection in it at all as is supposed , and therefore no inconvenience to remove it . and admit there were no such compleat piece , as were requisite to substitute instead of the aristotelian learning being taken away , the greater were the shame of academies , that within the compass of so many centuries have done no more for the advancement of learning , for the greater the defect is , the more it ought to stir up all mens endeavours to repair , and make good the same . and also there are some pieces of philosophy more compleat than aristotles , as i shall shew in the following expedients . 1. it cannot be expected that physical science will arrive at any wished perfection , unlesse the way and means , so judiciously laid down by our learned countreym●n the lo●d bacon , be observed , and introduced into exact practice ; and therefore i shall humbly desire , and earnestly presse , that his way and method may be imbraced , and set up for a rule and pattern : that no axioms may be received but what are evidently proved and made good by diligent observation , and luciferou● experiments ; that such may be recorded in a general history of natural things , that so every age and generation , proceeding in the same way , and upon the same principles , may dayly go on with the work , to the building up of a well-grounded and lasting fabrick , which indeed is the only true way for the instauration and advance of learning and knowledge . 2. how unfit , and unsuitable is it , for people professing the christian religion to adhere unto that philosophy which is altogether built upon ethnical principles , and indeed contrary and destructive to their tene●ts ? so that i shall offer as a most fit expedient , that some physical learning might be introduced into the schools , that is grounded upon sensible , rational , experimental , and scripture principles : and such a compleat piece in the most particulars of all human learning ( though many vainly and falsely imagine there is no such perfect work to be found ) is the elaborate writings of that profoundly learned man dr. fludd , than which for all the particulars before mentioned ( notwithstanding the ignorance and envy of all opposers● the world never had a more rare , experimental and perfect piece . 3. that the philosophy of plato , revived and methodized by franciscus patritius , marsillius ficinus , and others ; that of democritus , cleared , and in some measure demonstrated , by renatus des cartes , regius , phocylides holwarda , and some others ; that of epicurus , illustrated by petrus gassendus ; that of philolaus , empedocles , & parmenides , resuscitated by telesius , campanella , and some besides ; and that excellent magnetical philosophy found out by doctor gilbert ; that of hermes , revived by the paracelsian school , may be brought into examination and practice , that whatsoever in any of them , or others of what sort soever , may be found agreeable to truth and demonstration , may be imbraced , and received ; for there are none of them but have excellent , and profitable things , and few of them but may justly be equallized with aristotle , and the scholastick learning , nay , i am confident upon due and serious perusal and tryal , would be found far to excel them . 4. that youth may not be idlely trained up in notions , speculations , and verbal disputes , but may learn to inure their hands to labour , and put their fingers to the furnaces , that the mysteries discovered by pyrotechny , and the wonders brought to light by chymistry , may be rendered familiar unto them : that so they may not grow proud with the brood of their own brains , but truly to be taught by manual operation , and ocular experiment , that so they may not be sayers , but doers , not idle speculators , but painful operators ; that so they may not be sophisters , and philosophers , but sophists indeed , true natural magicians , that walk not in the external circumference , but in the center of natures hidden secre●s , which can never come to pass , unless they have laboratories as well as libraries , and work in the fire , better than build castles in the air . 5. that the galenical way of the medicinal part of physick ( a path that hath been long enough trodden to yield so little fruit ) may not be the prison that all men must be inchained in , and ignorance , cheating and impostorage maintained by lawes and charters ; but that the more sure , cleer and exquisit way of finding the true causes , and certain cures of diseases , brought to light by those two most eminent and laborious persons , paracelsus , and helmont , may be entertained , prosecuted and promoted ; that it may no longer be disputable whether medicine ( as it stands in the common road of use and form ) be more helpful than hurtful , or kill more than it cures ; and whether the republique of rome were more happy in the health of her subjects which wanted physicians for five hundred years , than we that have them in more abundance than caterpillers , or horseleaches . and unless these few expedients be put in practice , we may wax old in ignorance , and never see physical knowledge arrive at any height of perfection ; and so i pass to the others following . the next is metaphysicks , to help which i shall only offer this expedient , that it might be reduced to some certain grounds and principles , from whence demonstrations might be drawn , that men might proceed with some certainty , and not wander in the dark they know not whither , and so that the most sure way of rena●us des cartes may be brought into use , and exercise , who hath traced it unto the head of the spring , and shaken off the loose and superfluous questions , notions , and frivolous chimaeras thereof : that so it might become useful and beneficial , which as it now stands , and is used ( or rather abused ) serves for little else but o●ly to amuse , and amaze the understanding , to blow up the phantasie with ayrie and empty notions , and to make men vainly and fruitlessly wast their most pretious time , which should be bestowed in things of more necessary use , and of greater concernment . as for ethical knowledge , i suppose it better taught by president and practice , than by words and precepts , for seeing vertue doth consist in action , it must of necessity be far more laudable , that men be brought up to live vertuously , than to talk and dispute of vertue , and therefore could wish it more practical and less speculative . and yet could desire that the nature of passions and affections , vertues and vices , might be more radically demonstrated , and sought into , than they are in the scholastick way , and therefore shall onely propose that what melancthon and cartesius have discovered of them , might be made documental , and practicable , and that the doctrine of them might be made more consonant to that christian religion which men so much profess , and glory of , and that seneca and epictetus might not be sleighted , and neglected , while aristotle is only applauded and imbraced , betwixt whom there is no small difference . lastly for rhetorick and poesie , i shall prescribe nothing , but leave every man to the freedome of his genius , only to add this , that emperours and kings can make and create dukes , marquesses , and earls , but cannot make one orator or poet , and so shall conclude with the lyrick poet , tu nihil invitâ facies , dicesve , minervâ . chap. xi . some expedients concerning their custome , and method . in order to the prescription of remedies concerning their customes and method , though ( as in the rest ) i cannot do what should or ought to be done in so weighty a matter , yet shall i contribute what lies in my weak power , and at least expresse my good will , if not my skill . 1. and so shall first desire that men may no● be tyed up all to one method or way , lest as it may keep them in a good path , so it may hinder them from imbracing , or following a better : and it is cleer that there may be many waies to one place , and divers methods for the attaining the same end of knowledge , so as we would not exclude men from tryals that they may find out the best , so we would not ty them to any one , lest it prove the worst . 2. that above all other things care may be had that time be not mispent , or trifled away , which is an irreparable loss , and utterly irrevocable , and therefore i could wish that apelles motto might be had in everlasting remembrance , nulla dies sine linea ; and therefore long vacations , relaxations and intermissions are to be looked upon as scylla and charibdis , the rocks and shelves whereon youngmen may easily suffer shipwrack . 3. i shall tender this , that all should not be tyed to one term or time , but every one have his honour according to his industry and proficiency , that therby those that are painful may be incouraged , and those that are idle and sluggish may be ashamed : and that none may be debarred of his degree or grace , how short a time soever he hath been there , if he be but able to perform the requisites and exercises injoined , by which means merit , not years , sufficiency , not formality , shall take place and be rewarded . 4. that their exercises may not only be verbal and disputative , but practical and operative , that they may not onely be tryed what they can say , but what they can do , not only what they opinionate , but what they can perform , that as nature hath given them two hands , and but one tongue , so they may learn to work more and speak less . 5. that their exercises may be in the english as well as other tongues , that while they labour to make other languages familiar unto them , they become not altogether strangers unto their own : and that scurrility , and childishnesse may be laid aside , and all things performed with more sobriety and gravity . 6. that neither antiquity nor novelty may take place above verity , lest it debarre us from a more diligent search after truth and science : neither that universality of opinion be any president or rule to sway our judgements from the investigation of knowledge ; for what matter is it whether we follow many or few , so the truth be our guide ? for we should not follow a multitude to do evil , and it is better to accompany verity single , than falsity and errour with never so great a number . neither is it fit that authority ( whether of aristotle or any other ) should inchain us , but that there may be a general freedome to try all things , and to hold fast that which is good , that so there might be a philosophical liberty to be bound to the authority of none , but truth it self , then will men take pains , and arts will flou●ish . 7. as to the order to be observed in teaching the arts , and sciences , doubtless there can be no better method , than leading them into the fair fields of mathematical learning , which by reason of its perspicuity and certitude would so settle and season the understanding , that it would ever after be sufficiently armed to discern betwixt truth and opinion , demonstration and probability : and render it more fit and able to proceed in natural philosophy , and other sciences , and so to proceed to the tongues , then to physicks , and so to logick , metaphysicks , and the like , which order without question , would prove more advantagious , than that which the schools have pursued for so many years with so little fruit . and these are the expedients that for the present i have to present , hoping they may be acceptable until better be found out ; and if any thing herein may appear to be erroneous , let it be but candidly made manifest , and he will be willing either to give further satisfaction , or to reclaim his mistakes , who in these things judgeth himself but as the meanest of men , and so no way privileged from frailty and infirmity . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65356e-2430 act. 7.22 . philostrat. in vilâ apoll. tyan . act. 22.3 . chrysostome in epist ad cor. 1. cap. 2. hom. 6.7 . mat. 9.38 . ioh. 11.12 . gregor. li . 28 moral . 1 cor. 1.19 , 20 august . sup . psal. 70. isa. 50.11 . greg. lib. 9. moral . gal. 1 . 1.1● . mat. 16.17 . job 6.45 . nich. de cusa . de filiatione dei . 1 cor. 2.14 . 2 cor. 10 ▪ 4 , 5. vid. chrysost. sup. loc. hieronim . in epist. de duobus filiis . col. 2.8 . 1 cor. 1.17 . 1 cor. 2.4 , 5. chry. hom. 3. in 1 ad cor. cap. 1. v. 17. 1 cor. 1.29 , 31. hug. de sanct. victor . in dida●calic . 2 cor. 3 6. 1 cor. 2.8 . rev. 3 7. jo. 3.31 , 32. rom 8.28 . disserta . de methodo . lib. pag. 3. lib. stud. author . pag. 16. matth. 23.9 . james 3.1 . jam. 1.13 . chrysost. in ep. ad cor. 1. cap. 2. hom. 7. renat . des cartes in method . iam. 3.15.17 . hug. lib. 3 de anima . cap. 6. nic. de cusa . lib. idiotae . eph 3.4 5 6. francis . bacon . de verulam . lib. de aug scient. cap. 2. psal. 36.9 . 1 king 8.27 . 1 cor. 2.10 , 12. gen. 8.4 . dan. ● . 34 . ioh. 3.8 1 cor. 1.25 . 1 cor. 2.13 . 1 sam. 28.7 . io. 4.14 . ier. 2.13 . 2 kings 5.12 . isai. 12.13 . psal. 40 4. 1 tim. 6.20 . 2 tim. 2.23 . tit. 3 9. chrysost. in ep ad cor. 1. cap. 2. gal. 2.20 . 1 cor. 1.17 . 1 cor. 2.5 . gen. 15.6 . gen. 18.13 . rom. 4.18.19 , 20. lib. de aug. scient 9. cap. rom. 1.20 , 21. harrigon . lib. curs . mathem . c●st . s●len . ●●tograph . lib. 7. sir kenelm digbies book of bodies and spirits . fr. bacon de au. sci. l. 6. c 1. jac. e●hem book of the 3 ●old life of man , and in other places of his works . gen. 1.27 . heb. 1.3 . jo. 1.1 . psa. 19.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 psa. 150.6 . 2 cor. 12.4 . 1 cor. 13.1 . 1 cor. 14.10 rom. 1.20 . i cor 14.7 , 8. jam. i. 17. gen 2 19 , 20. gen. 2.23 . gen. 3.5.6 . 1 tim 2.14 . aristot. lib. topic . 2. verulam . nov. org. aph. 13. verulam nov. org. aph. 14. plat. in cratyl . petr. gassend . exer. per. con . arist. exer. 1. cor. agrip. li . de van . scie . c. 7. & 8. de dial. et sophist . sen. ep. 45. lip. in epist. sen. 45. helm . li . log. inutilis dio . sen● ep. 49. joh. bap. van hel. li . antecit . nic. hil. l. de phil. e●icur . vernlam . nov org. aph. 9. pla l. de soph. plat. dialog. 5. de leg. cor. agrip. li . in art. brev. lul. paul . sch. de li. me●h . mars . ficin in dia● 1. de rep. verulam . nov. o●g . aph. 12. verul. lib. de augm. scient. 3. cap. 6. gal. galal . lib. de syst. mund. gil. l. de mag. ●t lib. de ●●il . nov. verulam . nov. o●g . aph. 14. white dial. de mundo . kepler . astro . ep●● . philolai de syst. mund. liber . white dial. de mund. fol. 84. kepler ▪ de stella martis lib. white dial. de mundo fol. 45. nath. carpen . geograph . jo. dee in his preface before euclide . arist. li . phys. 8 prior . de coel. et de mund. arist. l. 2. phy. hel. lib. phys. arist et gal. ign. . pet. gas. exer. 5 contr. arist. arist. l. 3 phy. cap. 3. arist. lib. de coel. et mun. ca. 1 , 2 , 3 , 8 , 9 , 10. prim . lib. arist lib 1. de gen. et cor. cap. 2 , 9. helm . lib. ante citato . verulam . nov. org. aphor. 8. jo. bapt. port. mag . natu . l. 1. cap. 1. matth. 2.1 , 7. jo. pic. miran . con. m●g . nu . 26. verul. l 3. de aug. sci. c● . 5. jo. pic. miran . loco . citato . paracel . li . de . tinct . phys. helm li . phys. arist. et gal. ign. . jo. bapt. van hel●li . elem. rob. de fluct . lib de anato . mia mystica . paracel . lib 4. de caus. luis gal. cap. 9. hel de prom . author . verul. lib. 4. de aug. sci. ca. 1. arist. lib. de som. et vig . cap. 3. beguin . tyr. chy. c. 2. par. de trib. princ . gilb. de mag● kercher . de arte magn. reg. de fundam . phys. kepler epit. astron . arist. lib. 2. phys. cap. 1. arist. l. 1. de coel. et mun. cap. 2. arist. lib. 1. phys. cap. 6. renat . des cha●● . de me●hod . verul. de au. scient. lib. 3 cap. 2. vid. metaphys. campanel . et pet. gasl●nd . contra arist. aug. alst●mde nobil. institut . lib. lamb . d●nae . de e●hick . christ . lib. verulam . d● aug. scien● . lib. 7.1 . arist. nich. l. 1. cap. 5. pet. gassend . con . arist ex . 7. verul. de au. sci. l. 6 c. 3. sen. epist. 115. aug. alst. de nobil. institut . ren. de char. de method . aug. alst. de nobil ▪ institut . verul. de au. scient. l. 1. ●t nov. o g. lib. aphor. 84. lev. 10.1 , 2. exod. 40.36 , 37 , 38. isa. 29.11 , 12. rev. 5.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. psalm 1.7 . psal. 2.12 . job 17.14 . some thoughts concerning education locke, john, 1632-1704. 1693 approx. 301 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 138 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a48896 wing l2762 estc r213714 13719054 ocm 13719054 101550 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a48896) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 101550) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 845:17) some thoughts concerning education locke, john, 1632-1704. [10], 262, [2] p. printed for a. and j. churchill ..., london : 1693. written by john locke. cf. dnb. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -early works to 1800. education -philosophy -early works to 1800. 2002-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-08 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-08 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion asileae , impensis lvdov . regis typis ioannis schroeteri . mdc xxv . some thoughts concerning education . london , printed for a. and j. churchill , at the black swan in pater-noster-row , 1693. to edward clarke of chipley , esq sir ; these thoughts concerning education , which now come abroad into the world , do of right belong to you , being written several years since for your sake , and are no other than what you have already by you in my letters . i have so little varied any thing , but only the order of what was sent you at different times , and on several occasions , that the reader will easily find , in the familiarity and fashion of the style , that they were rather the private conversation of two friends , than a discourse designed for publick view . the importunity of friends is the common apology for publications men are afraid to own themselves forward to . but you know i can truly say , that if some who having heard of these papers of mine had not pressed to see them , and afterwards to have them printed , they had lain dormant still in that privacy they were designed for . but those whose judgment i deferr much to , telling me , that they were persuaded , that this rough draught of mine might be of some use , if made more publick , touch'd upon what will always he very prevalent with me : for i think it every man 's indispensible duty to do all the service he can to his country : and i see not what difference he puts between himself and his cattel , who lives without that thought . this subject is of so great concernment , and a right way of education is of so general advantage , that did i find my abilities answer my wishes , i should not have needed exhortations or importunities from others . however , the meanness of these papers , and my just distrust of them , shall not keep me , by the shame of doing so little , from contributing my mite , when there is no more required of me , than my throwing it into the publick receptacle . and if there be any more of their size and notions , who liked them so well , that they thought them worth printing , i may flatter my self they will not be lost labour to every body . i my self have been consulted of late by so many , who profess themselves at a loss how to breed their children , and the early corruption of youth , is now become so general a complaint , that he cannot be thought wholly impertinent , who brings the consideration of this matter on the stage , and offers something , if it be but to excite others , or afford matter of correction . for errours in education should be less indulged than any : these , like faults in the first concoction , that are never mended in the second or third , carry their afterwards incorrigible taint with them , through all the parts and stations of life . i am so far from being conceited of any thing i have here offered , that i should not be sorry , even for your sake , if some one abler and fitter for such a task , would in a just treatise of education , suited to our english gentry , rectifie the mistakes i have made in this ; it being much more desirable to me , that young gentlemen should be put into ( that which every one ought to be sollicitous about ) the best way of being formed and instructed , than that my opinion should be received concerning it . you will however , in the mean time bear me witness that the method here propos'd has had no ordinary effects upon a gentleman's son , it was not designed for . i will not say the good temper of the child did not very much contribute to it , but this i think you and the parents are satisfied of , that a contrary usage according to the ordinary disciplining of children , would not have mended that temper , nor have brought him to be in love with his book , to take a pleasure in learning , and to desire as he does to be taught more than those about him think fit always to teach him . but my business is not to recommend this treatise to you , whose opinion of it i know already ; nor it to the world , either by your opinion or patronnge . the well educating of their children is so much the duty and concern of parents , and the welfare and prosperity of the nation so much depends on it , that i would have every one lay it seriously to heart , and after having well examined and distinguished what fancy , custom or reason advises in the case , help to promote that way in the several degrees of men , which is the easiest , shortest and likeliest to produce vertuous , useful and able men in their distinct callings : though that most to be taken care of , is the gentleman 's calling , for if those of that rank are by their education once set right , they will quickly bring all the rest into order . i know not whether i have done more than shewn my good wishes towards it , in this short disourse ; such as it is the world now has it , and if there be any thing in it worth their acceptance , they owe their thanks to you for it . my affection to you gave the first rise to it , and i am pleased that i can leave to posterity this mark of the friendship has been between us . for i know no greater pleasure in this life , nor a better remembrance to be left behind one than a long continued friendship , with an honest , usefull and worthy man , and lover of his country . i am , sir , your most humble and most faithful servant . some thoughts concerning education . § . 1. a sound mind in a sound body , is a short , but full description of a happy state in this world : he that has these two , has little more to wish for ; and he that wants either of them , is but little the better for any thing else . mens happiness or misery is most part of their own making . he , whose mind directs not wisely , will never take the right way ; and he , whose body is crazy and feeble , will never be able to advance in it . i confess , there are some mens constitutions of body and mind so vigorous and well framed by nature , that they need not much assistance from others , but by the strength of their natural genius , they are from their cradles carried towards what is excellent ; and by the privilege of their happy constitutions are able to do wonders : but examples of these are but few , and i think i may say , that of all the men we meet with , nine parts of ten are what they are , good or evil , useful or not , by their education . 't is that which makes the great difference in mankind : the little , and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies , have very important and lasting consequences : and there 't is , as in the fountains of some rivers , where a gentle application of the hand turns the flexible waters into chanels , that make them take quite contrary courses , and by this little direction given them at first in the source , they receive different tendencies , and arrive at last , at very remote and distant places . § . 2. timagine the minds of children as easily turned this or that way , as water it self ; and though this be the principal part , and our main care should be about the inside , yet the clay cottage is not to be neglected . i shall therefore begin with the case , and consider first the health of the body , as that , which perhaps you may rather expect from that study , i have been thought more peculiarly to have applied my self to ; and that also , which will be soonest dispatched , as lying , if i guess not amiss , in a very little compass . § . 3. how necessary health is to our business and happiness : and how requisite a strong constitution , able to endure hardships : and fatigue , is to one that will make any figure in the world , is too obvious to need any proof . § . 4. the consideration , i shall here have of health , shall be , not what a physician ought to do with a sick or crazy child ; but what the parents , without the help of physick , should do for the preservation and improvement of an healthy , or at least , nor sickly constitution in their children : and this perhaps might be dispatched , all in this one short rule , viz. that gentlemen should use their children , as the honest farmers and substantial yeomen do theirs . but because the mothers possible may think this a little too hard , and the fathers too short , i shall explain my self more particularly , only laying down this as a general and certain observation for the women to consider , viz. that most children's constitutions , are either spoiled or harmed by cockering and tenderness . § . 5. the first thing to be taken care of , is , that children be not too warmly clad or covered winter or summer . the face , when we are born , is no less tender than any other part of the body : 't is use alone hardens it , and makes it more able to endure the cold ; and therefore the scythian philosopher gave a very significant answer to the athenian , who wonder'd how he could go naked in frost and snow . how , said the scythian can you endure your face exposed to the sharp winter-air ? my face is used to it , said the athenian . think me all face , replyed the scythian . our bodies will endure any thing , that from the beginning they are accustomed to . and therefore , amongst other things , i think that when nature has so well covered his head with hair , and strengthen'd it with a year or two's age , that he can run about , by day , without a cap , it is best , that by night a child should also lie without one , there being nothing that more exposes to head-ach , colds , catarrhs , coughs , and several other diseases , than keeping the head warm . § . 6. i have said he here , because the principal aim of my discourse is , how a young gentleman should be brought up from his infancy , which , in all things , will not so perfectly suit the education of daughters , though where the difference of sex requires different treatment , 't will be no hard matter to distinguish . § . 7. i would also advise his feet to be washed every night in cold water ; and to have his shooes so thin , that they might leak and let in water , when ever he comes near it . here , i fear , i shall have the mistress and maids too against me ; one will think it too filthy , & the other , perhaps , too much pains to make clean his stockings . but yet truth will have it , that his health is much more worth than all such considerations and ten-times as much more . and he that considers how mischievous and mortal a thing , taking wet in the feet is to those , who have been bred nicely , will wish he had , with the poor people's children , gone bare-foot ; who , by that means , come to be so reconciled , by custom , to wet in their feet , that they take no more cold or harm by it , than if they were wet in their hands . and what is it , i pray , that makes this great difference between the hands , and the feet in others , but only custom ? i doubt not , but if a man from his cradle had been always used to go bare-foot , whilst his hands were constantly wrapped up in warm mittins , and covered with hand-shooes , as the dutch call gloves ; i doubt not , i say , but such a custom , would make taking wet in his hands , as dangerous to him , as now taking wet in their feet is to a great many others . the way to prevent this , is , to have his shooes made so , as to leak water ; and his feet washed every night in cold water , both for health and cleanliness sake . but begin first in the spring , with luke-warm , and so colder and colder every night , till , in a few days , you come to perfectly cold water , and then continue it so . for it is to be observed in this , as in all other alterations from our ordinary way of living , the changes must be made by gentle and insensible degrees ; and so we may bring our bodies to any thing , without pain and without danger . § . 8. i shall not need here to mention his learning to swim , when he is of age able to learn , and has any one to teach him . the advantages ( besides that of swiming ) to health , by often bathing in the summer in cold water , are so many , that i think nothing need to be said to encourage it , provided this one caution be used , that he never go into the water , when exercise has at all warm'd him , or left any emotion in his blood or pulse . § . 9. another thing that is of great advantage to every one's health , but especially children's , is , to be much in the open air , and very little as may be by the fire , even in winter . by this he will accustom himself also to heat and cold , shine and rain ; all which if a man's body will not endure , it will serve him to very little purpose in this world ; and when he is grown up , it is too late to begin to use him to it ; it must be got early , and by degrees . thus the body may be brought to bear almost any thing . if i should advise him to play in the wind and the sun without a hat , i doubt whether it could be born ; there would a thousand objections be made against it , which at last would a mount to no more , in truth , than being sun-burnt : and if my young master be to be kept always in the shade , and never exposed to the sun and wind , for fear of his complexion , it may be a good way to make him a beau , but not a man of business . and although greater regard be to be had to beauty in the daughters , yet i will take the liberty to say , that the more they are in the air , without prejudice to their faces , the stronger and healthier they will be ; and the nearer they come to the hardships of their brothers in their education , the greater advantage will they receive from it all the remaining part of their lives . § . 10. playing in the open air has but this one danger in it , that i know ; and that is , that when he is hot with running up and down , he should sit or lie down on the cold or moist earth . this , i grant , and drinking cold drink , when they are hot with labour or exercise , brings more people to the grave , or to the brink of it , by fevers , and other diseases , than any thing i know . these mischiefs are easily enough prevented whilst he is little , being then seldom out of sight : and if , during his childhood , he be constantly and rigorously kept from sitting on the ground , or drinking any cold liquor , whilst he is hot , the custom of forbearing grown into habit , will help much to preserve him , when he is no longer under his maid's or tutor's eye . this is all i think can be done in the case ; for , as years increase , liberty must come with them ; and in a great many things he must be trusted to his own conduct , since there cannot always be a guard upon him , except what you have put into his own mind by good principles , and established habits , which is the best and surest , and therefore most to be taken care of : for from repeated cautions and rules , never so often inculcated , you are not to expect any thing farther than practice has established them into habits . § . 11. one thing the mention of the girls brings into my mind , which must not be forgot ; and that is , that your son's cloths be never made strait , especially about the breast . let nature have scope to fashion the body as she thinks best ; she works of her self a great deal better , and exacter , than we can direct her : and if women were themselves to frame the bodies of their children in their wombs , as they often endeavour to mend their shapes when they are out , we should as certainly have no perfect children born , as we have few well-shaped that are strait-laced or much tamper'd with . this consideration should , me-thinks , keep busie people ( i will not say ignorant nurses and bodice-makers ) from medling in a matter they understand not ; and they should be afraid to put nature out of her way in fashioning the parts , when they know not how the least and meanest is made , and yet i have seen so many instances of children receiving great harm from strait-lacing , that i cannot but conclude , there are other creatures as well as monkeys , who little wiser than they destroy their young ones by sensless fondness , and too much embracing . § . 12. narrow breasts , short and stinking breath , ill lungs , and crookedness , are the natural and almost constant effects of hard bodice , and cloths that pinch . that way of making slender wastes and fine shapes , serves but the more effectually to spoil them . nor can there indeed but be disproportion in the parts , when the nourishment prepared in the several offices of the body , cannot be distributed as nature designs ; and therefore what wonder is it , if it being laid where it can on some part not so braced , it often makes a shoulder or a hip higher or bigger than its just proportion . 't is generally known , that the women of china ( imagining i know not what kind of beauty in it ) by bracing and binding them hard from their infancy , have very little feet . i saw a pair of china shooes lately , exceedingly disproportioned to the feet of one of the same age amongst us ; their womens shooes would scarce be big enough for one of our little girls . besides this , 't is observed , that their women are also very little and short lived , whereas the men are of the ordinary stature of other men , and live to a proportionable age. these defects in the female sex in that country , are by some , imputed to the unreasonable binding of their feet , whereby the free circulation of the blood is hindred , and the growth and health of the whole body suffers . and how often do we see , that some small part of the foot being injured by a wrench or a blow , the whole leg and thigh thereby lose their strength and nourishment , and dwindle away ? how much greater inconveniences may we expect , when the thorax , wherein is placed the heart and seat of life , is unnaturally compressed , and hindred from its due expansion ? § . 13. as for his diet , it ought to be very plain and simple . flesh once a day , and of one sort at a meal , is enough . beef , mutton , veal , &c. without other sawce than hunger , is best ; and great care should be used , that he eat bread plentifully , both alone and with every thing else . and whatever he eats that is solid , make him chew it well . we english are often negligent herein ; from whence follow indigestion , and other great inconveniences . § . 14. for breakfast and supper , milk , milk-pottage , water-gruel , flummery , and twenty other things that we are wont to make in england , are very fit for children : only , in all these let care be taken that they be plain , and without much mixture , and very sparingly seasoned with sugar , or rather none at all ; especially all spice , and other things that may heat the blood , are carefully to be avoided . be sparing also of salt in the seasoning of all his victuals , and use him not to high-seasoned meats : our palates like the seasoning and cookery they are set to , and an over much use of salt , besides that it occasions thirst , and over-much drinking , has other ill effects upon the body . i should think that a good piece of well made , and well baked brown bread , sometimes with , and sometimes without butter or cheese , would be often the best breakfast for my young master . i am sure 't is as wholsom , and will make him as strong a man as greater delicacies : and if he be used to it , it will be pleasant to him . if he at any time calls for victuals between meals , use him to nothing but dry bread ; if he be hungry more than wanton , bread alone will down ; and if he be not hungry , 't is not fit he should eat . by this you will obtain two good effects ; 1. that by custom he will come to be in love with bread ; for , as i said , our palates are pleased with the things we are used to . another good you will gain hereby is , that you will not teach him to eat more , nor oftner than nature requires . i do not think that all people's appetites are alike ; some have naturally stronger , and some weaker stomachs . but this i think , that many are made gormans and gluttons by custom , that were not so by nature ; and i see in some countries men as lusty and strong that eat but two meals a day , as others that have for their stomachs by a constant usage , like larms , to call on them for four or five : and therefore , if it should not be thought too severe , i should judge it most convenient that he should have nothing but bread too for breakfast : you cannot imagine of what force custom is : and i impute a great part of our diseases in england to our eating too much flesh , and too little bread. § . 15. as to his meals , i should think it best , that , as much as can be conveniently avoided , they should not be kept constantly to an hour ; for when custom has fixed his eating to certain stated periods , his stomach will expect victuals at the usual hour ; and if he passes it , either grow indisposed , and as it were peevish , or lose its appetite . in short , i think it best he should eat flesh but once a day , plain flesh , and of one sort at a time ; and whilst young , spoon-meat also once a day ; and if you please , once a day cheese or butter with his bread ; but i would have no time kept constantly to , but rather varied almost every day . and if betwixt these which i call meals he will eat , let him have , as often as he calls for it , good dry bread. if any one think this too hard and sparing a diet for a child , let them know , that a child will never starve , nor want nourishment , who , besides flesh once a day , and other things once or twice more , may have good bread and beer as often as he has a stomach . nor let any one think this unsuitable to one of estate and condition : a gentleman in any age ought to be so bred , as to be fitted to bear arms , and be a soldier ; but he that in this breeds his son so , as if he designed him to sleep over his life in the plenty and ease of a full fortune he intends to leave him , little considers the examples he has seen , nor the age he lives in . § . 16. his drink should be only small beer ; and that too he should never be suffered to have between meals , but after he had eat a piece of bread. the reasons why i say this are these : § . 17. 1. more fevers and surfeits are got by people's drinking when they are hot , than by any one thing i know ; therefore , if by play he be hot and dry , bread will ill go down , and so if he cannot have drink , but upon that condition , he will be forced to forbear . for , if he be very hot , he should by no means drink ; at least , a good piece of bread first to be eaten , will gain time to warm the beer blood-hot , which then he may drink safely . if he be very dry , it will go down so warm'd , and quench his thirst better : and if he will not drink it so warm'd , abstaining will not hurt him . besides , this will teach him to forbear , which is an habit of greatest use for health of body and mind too . § . 18. 2. not being permitted to drink without eating , will prevent the custom of having the cup often at his nose ; a dangerous beginning , and preparation to good-fellowship . men often bring habitual hunger and thirst on themselves by custom ; and if you please to try , you may , though he be weaned from it , bring him , by use , to such a necessity again of drinking in the night , that he will not be able to sleep without it : and it being the lullaby used by nurses , to still crying children , i believe mothers generally find some difficulty to wean their children from drinking in the night , when they first take them home . believe it , custom prevails as much by day as by night ; and you may , if you please , bring any one to be thirsty every hour . i once lived in an house , where , to appease a froward child , they gave him drink as often as he cried ; so that he was constantly bibbing : and tho' he could not speak , yet he drunk more in twenty four hours than i did . try it when you please , you may with small , as well as with strong beer , drink your self into a drought . the great thing to be minded in education is , what habits you settle ; and therefore in this , as all other things , do not begin to make any thing customary , the practice whereof you would not have continue , and increase . it is convenient for health and sobriety , to drink no more than natural thirst requires : and he that eats not salt meats , nor drinks strong drink , will seldom thirst between meals , unless he has been accustomed to such unseasonable drinking . § . 19. above all , take great care that he seldom , if ever , taste any wine , or strong drink . there is nothing so ordinarily given children in england , and nothing so destructive to them . they ought never to drink any strong liquor , but when they need it as a cordial , and the doctor prescribes it . and in this case it is , that servants are most narrowly to be watched , and most severely to be reprehended when they transgress . those mean sort of people , placing a great part of their happiness in strong drink , are always forward to make court to my young master , by offering him that , which they love best themselves ; and finding themselves made merry by it , they foolishly think 't will do the child no harm . this you are carefully to have your eye upon , and restrain with all the skill and industry you can , there being nothing that lays a surer foundation of mischief , both to body and mind , than childrens being used to strong drink ; especially , to drink in private , with the servants . § . 20. fruit makes one of the most difficult chapters in the government of health , especially that of children . our first parents ventur'd paradise for it , and 't is no wonder our children cannot stand the temptation , though it cost them their health . the regulation of this cannot come under any one general rule . for i am by no means of their mind , who would keep children almost wholly from fruit , as a thing totally unwholsome for them : by which strict way they make them but the more ravenous after it ; and to eat good and bad , ripe or unripe , all that they can get , whenever they come at it . melons , peaches , most sorts of plumbs , and all sorts of grapes in england . i think children should be wholly kept from , as having a very tempting taste , in a very unwholsome juice ; so that , if it were possible , they should never so much as see them , or know there were any such thing . but straw-berries , cherries , goose-berries , or currans , when through ripe , i think may be very safely allowed them , and that with a pretty liberal hand , if they be eaten with these cautions 1. not after meals , as we usually do , when the stomach is already full of other food : but i think they should be eaten rather before , or between meals , and children should have them for their breakfasts . 2. bread eaten with them . 3. perfectly ripe . if they are thus eaten , i imagine them rather conducing , than hurtful to our health : summer-fruits being suited to the hot season of the year , they come in and refresh our stomachs , languishing and fainting under it : and therefore i should not be altogether so strict in this point , as some are to their children ; who being kept so very short , instead of a moderate quantity of well-chosen fruit , which being allowed them , would content them , when-ever they can get loose , or bribe a servant to supply them , satisfie their longing with any trash they can get , and eat to a surfeit . apples and pears too , which are through ripe , and have been gathered some time , i think may be safely eaten at any time , and in pretty large quantities ; especially apples , which never did any body hurt , that i have heard , after october . fruits also dried without sugar , i think very wholesome : but sweet-meats of all kinds to be avoided ; which , whether they do more harm to the maker , or eater , is not easie to tell . this i am sure , it is one of the most inconvenient ways of expence that vanity hath yet found out ; and so i leave them to the ladies . § . 21. of all that looks soft and effeminate , nothing is more to be indulged children than sleep : in this alone they are to be permitted to have their full satisfaction , nothing contributing more to the growth and health of children than sleep . all that is to be regulated in it is , in what part of the twenty four hours they should take it : which will easily be resolved , by only saying , that it is of great use to accustom them to rise early in the morning . it is best so to do , for health : and he that , from his childhood , has by a setled custom , made rising betimes easie and familiar to him , will not , when he is a man , waste the best and most useful part of his life in drowziness , and lying a bed . if children therefore are to be called up early in the morning , it will follow of course , that they must go to bed betimes ; where by they will be accustomed to avoid the unhealthy and unsafe hours of debauchery , which are those of the evenings : and they who keep good hours , seldom are guilty of any great disorders . i do not say this , as if your son , when grown up , should never be in company past eight , nor ever chat over a glass of wine till midnight . you are now , by the accustoming of his tender years , to indispose him to those inconveniences , as much as you can : and that will be no small advantage , that contrary practice having made sitting up uneasie to him , it will make him often avoid , and very seldom propose mid-night-revels . but if it should not reach so far , but fashion and company should prevail , and make him live as others do about twenty , 't is worth the while to accustom him to early rising , and early going to bed between this and that , for the present improvement of his health , and other advantages . § . 22 let his bed be hard , and rather quilts than feathers . hard lodging strengthens the parts ; whereas being buried every night in feathers melts and dissolves the body , is often the cause of weakness , and the fore-runner of an early grave : and besides the stone , which has often its rise from this warm wrapping of the reins , several other indispositions ; and that which is the root of them all , a tender weakly constitution , is very much owing to downe-beds . besides , he that is used to hard lodging at home , will not miss his sleep ( where he has most need of it ) in his travels abroad , for want of his soft bed and his pillows laid in order ; and therefore i think it would not be amiss to make his bed after different fashions , sometimes lay his head higher , sometimes lower , that he may not feel every little change , he must be sure to meet with , who is not design'd to lie always in my young master's bed at home , and to have his maid lay all things in print , and tuck him in warm . the great cordial of nature is sleep ; he that misses that , will suffer by it : and he is very unfortunate , who can take his cordial only in his mother's fine gilt cup , and not in a wooden dish . he that can sleep soundly , takes the cordial ; and it matters not whether it be on a soft bed , or the hard boards ; 't is sleep only that is the thing necessary . § . 23. one thing more there is , which has a great influence upon the health , and that is , going to stool regularly . people that are very loose , have seldom strong thoughts , or strong bodies : but the cure of this , both by diet and medicine , being much more easie than the contrary evil , there needs not much to be said about it ; for if it come to threaten , either by its violence , or duration , it will soon enough , and sometimes too soon , make a physician be sent for ; and if it be moderate or short , it is commonly best to leave it to nature . on the other side , costiveness has too its ill effects , and is much harder to be dealt with by physick ; purging medicines , which seem to give relief , rather increasing than removing the evil. § . 24. it having been an inconvenience , i had a particular reason to enquire into ; and not finding the cure of it in books , i set my thoughts on work , believing , that greater changes than that might be made in our bodies , if we took the right course , and proceeded by rational steps . 1. then i considered , that going to stool , was the effect of certain motions of the body , especially of the perristaltick motion of the guts . 2. i considered , that several motions , that were not perfectly voluntary , might yet by use and constant application be brought to be habitual , if by an unintermitted custom , they were at certain seasons endeavoured to be constantly produced . 3. i had observed some men , who by taking after supper a pipe of tabaco , never failed of a stool , and began to doubt with my self , whether it were not more custom , than the tabaco , that gave them the benefit of nature ; or at least , if the tabaco did it , it was rather by exciting a vigorous motion in the guts , than by any purging quality , for then it would have had other effects . having thus once got the opinion , that is was possible to make it habitual ; the next thing was to consider , what way and means was the likeliest to obtain it . 4. then i guessed , that if a man , after his first eating in the morning , would presently sollicite nature , and try , whether he could strain himself so , as to obtain a stool , he might in time , by a constant application , bring it to be habitual . § . 25. the reasons that made me chuse this time , were , 1. because the stomach being then empty , if it received any thing grateful to it ( for i would never , but in case of necessity , have any one eat , but what he likes , and when he has an appetite ) it was apt to imbrace it close by a strong constriction of its fibres , which constriction , i supposed , might probably be continued on in the guts , and so increase their peristaltick motion , as we see in the ileus , that an inverted motion , being begun any where below , continues it self all the whole length , and makes even the stomach obey that irregular motion . 3. because when men eat , they usually relax their thoughts , and the spirits , then free from other imployments , are more vigorously distributed into the lower belly , which thereby contribute to the same effect . 3. because , when ever men have leisure to eat , they have leisure enough also to make so much court to madam cloacina , as would be necessary to our present purpose ; but else , in the variety of humane affairs and accidents , it was impossible to affix it to any hour certain , whereby the custom would be interrupted . whereas men in health , seldom failing to eat once a day , tho' the hour changed , the custom might still be preserved . § . 26. upon these grounds , the experiment began to be tried , and i have known none , who have been steady in the prosecution of it , and taken care to go constantly to the necessary house , after their first eating , when ever that happen'd , whether they found themselves called on or no , and there endeavoured to put nature upon her duty , but in a few months obtained the desired success , and brought nature to so regular an habit , that they seldom ever failed of a stool , after their first eating , unless it were by their own neglect . for , whether they have any motion or no , if they go to the place , and do their part , they are sure to have nature very obedient . § . 27. i would therefore advise , that this course should be taken with a child every day , presently after he has eaten his break-fast . let him be set upon the stool , as if disburthening were as much in his power , as filling his belly ; and let not him , or his maid know any thing to the contrary , but that it is so ; and if he be forced to endeavour , by being hindred from his play , or eating again , till he has been effectually at stool , or at least done his utmost , i doubt not , but in a little while it will become natural to him . for there is reason to suspect , that children being usually intent on their play and very heedless of any thing else , often let pass those motions of nature , when she calls them but gently , and so they neglecting the seasonable offers , do by degrees bring themselves into an habitual costiveness . that by his method costiveness may be prevented , i do more than guess , having known , by the constant practice of it for some time , a child brought to have a stool regularly after his break-fast every morning . § . 28. how far any grown people will think fit to make tryal of it , i know not , tho' i cannot but say , that considering the many evils that come from that defect , of a requisite easing of nature , i scarce know any thing more conducing to the preservation of health than this is . once in four and twenty hours , i think , is enough , and no body , i guess , will think it too much ; and by this means , it is to be obtained without physick , which commonly proves very ineffectual , in the cure of a settled and habitual costiveness . § . 29. this is all i have to trouble you with concerning his management , in the ordinary course of his health ; and perhaps it will be expected from me , that i should give some directions of physick to prevent diseases . for which i have only this one very sacredly to be observed : never to give children any physick for prevention . the observation of what i have already advised , will , i suppose , do that better than apothecarie's drugs and medicines ; have a great care of tampering that way , least , instead of preventing , you draw on diseases . nor even upon every little indisposition is physick to be given , or the physician to be called to children , especially if he be a busy-man , that will presently fill their windows with gally-pots , and their stomachs with drugs . it is safer to leave them wholly to nature , than to put them into the hands of one , forward to tamper , or that thinks children are to be cured in ordinary distempers , by any thing but diet , or by a method very little distant from it . it seeming suitable both to my reason and experience , that the tender constitutions of children , should have as little done to them , as is possible , and as the absolute necessity of the case requires . a little cold , still'd red popy-water , which is the true surfeit-water , with ease , and abstinence from flesh , often puts an end to several distempers in the beginning , which by too forward applications , might have been made lusty diseases . when such a gentle . treatment will not prevent the growing mischief , but that it will turn into a form'd disease , it will be time to seek the advice of some sober and discreet physician . in this part , i hope , i shall find an easy belief , and no body can have a pretence to doubt the advice of one , who has spent some time in the study of physick , when he counsels you not to be too forward in making use of physick and physicians . § . 30. and thus i have done with what concerns the body and health , which reduces it self to these few and easily observable rules . plenty of open air , exercise and sleep ; plain diet , no wine or strong drink , and very little or no physick ; not too warm and straight clothing , especially the head and feet kept cold , and the feet often used to cold water , and exposed to wet . § . 31. due care being had to keep the body in strength and vigor , so that it may be able to obey and execute the orders of the mind . the next and principal business is , to set the mind right , that on all occasions it may be disposed , to do nothing , but what may be suitable to the dignity and excellency of a rational creature . § . 32. if what i have said in the beginning of this discourse , be true , as i do not doubt but it is , viz. that the difference to be found in the manners and abilities of men , is owing more to their education , than to any thing else , we have reason to conclude , that great care is to be had of the forming children's minds , and giving them that seasoning early , which shall influence their lives always after . for when they do well or ill , the praise or blame will be laid there ; and when any thing is done untowardly , the common saying will pass upon them , that it is suitable to their breeding . § . 33. as the strength of the body lies chiefly in being able to endure hardships , so also does that of the mind . and the great principle and foundation of all vertue and worth , is placed in this , that a man is able to deny himself his own desires , cross his own inclinations , and purely follow what reason directs as best , tho' the appetite lean the other way . § . 34. the great mistake i have observed in people's breeding their children has been , that this has not been taken care enough of in its due season . that the mind has not been made obedient to rules , and pliant to reason , when at first it was most tender , most easy to be bowed . parents , being wisely ordain'd by nature to love their children , are very apt , if reason watch not that natural affection very warily ; are apt , i say , to let it run into fondness . they love their little ones , and 't is their duty : but they often , with them , cherish their faults too . they must not be crossed , forsooth ; they must be permitted to have their wills in all things , and they being in their infancies not capable of great vices , their parents think , they may safely enough indulge their little irregularities , and make themselves sport with that pretty perverseness , which , they think , well enough becomes that innocent age. but to a fond parent , that would not have his child corrected for a perverse trick , but excused it , saying , it was a small matter ; solon very well replied , ay , but custom is a great one . § . 35. the fondling must be taught to strike , and call names ; must have what he cries for , and do what he pleases . thus parents , by humoring and cockering them when little , corrupt the principles of nature in their children , and wonder afterwards to tast the bitter waters , when they themselves have poisoned the fountain . for when their children are grown up , and these ill habits with them ; when they are now too big to be dandled , and their parents can no longer make use of them , as play-things , then they complain , that the brats are untoward and perverse ; then they are offended to see them wilfull , and are troubled with those ill humours , which they themselves inspired and cherished in them . and then perhaps , too late , would be glad to get out those weeds , which their own hands have planted , and which now have taken too deep root to be easily extirpated . for he that has been used to have his will in every thing , as long as he was in coats , why would we think it strange , that he should desire it , and contend for it still , when he is in breeches ? indeed , as he grows more towards a man , age shews his faults the more , so that there be few parents then so blind , as not to see them ; few so insensible as not to feel the ill effects of their own indulgence . he had the will of his maid before he could speak or go ; he had the mastery of his parents ever since he could prattle ; and why now he is grown up , is stronger and wiser than he was then , why now of a sudden must he be restrained and curbed ? why must he at seven , fourteen , or twenty years old , lose the privilege which the parent's indulgence , till then , so largely allowed him ? try it in a dog or an horse , or any other creature , and see whether the ill and resty tricks , they have learn'd when young , are easily to be mended when they are knit ; and yet none of those creatures are half so wilful and proud , or half so desirous to be masters of themselves and others , as man. § . 36. we are generally wise enough to begin with them when they are very young , and discipline betimes those other creatures we would make usefull to us . they are only our own off-spring , that we neglect in this point ; and having made them ill children , we foolishly expect they should be good men. for if the child must have grapes or sugar-plumbs , when he has a mind to them , rather than make the poor baby cry , or be out of humour , why when he is grown up , must he not be satisfied too , if his desires carry him to wine or women ? they are objects as suitable to the longing of one of more years , as what he cried for when little , was to the inclinations of a child . the having desires suitable to the apprehensions and relish of those several ages is not the fault : but the not having them subject to the rules and restraints of reason : the difference lies not in the having or not having appetites , but in the power to govern and deny our selves in them . and he , that is not used to submit his will to the reason of others , when he is young , will scarce hearken or submit to his own reason , when he is of an age to make use of it . and what a kind of a man such an one is like to prove , is easie to fore-see . § . 37. it seems plain to me , that the principle of all vertue and excellency , lies in a power of denying our selves the satisfaction of our own desires , where reason does not authorize them . this power is to be got and improved by custom , made easy and familiar by an early practice . if therefore i might be heard , i would advise , that contrary to the ordinary way , children should be used to submit their desires , and go without their longings , even from their very cradles . the first thing they should learn to know should be , that they were not to have any thing , because it pleased them , but because it was thought fit for them . if things suitable to their wants were supplied to them , so that they were never suffered to have what they once cried for , they would learn to be content without it , would never with bawling and peevishness contend for mastery , nor be half so uneasy to themselves and others , as they are , because from the first beginning , they are not thus handled . if they were never suffered to obtain their desire by the impatience they expressed for it , they would no more cry for other things , than they do for the moon . § . 38. i say not this , as if children were not to be indulged in any thing ; or that i expected they should , in hanging-sleeves , have the reason and conduct of councellors . i consider them as children that must be tenderly used , that must play , and have play-things . that which i mean , is , that whenever they crave what was not fit for them to have or do , they should not be permitted it , because they were little , and desired it : nay , whatever they were importunate for , they should be sure , for that very reason , to be denied . i have seen children at a table , who , whatever was there , never asked for any thing , but contentedly took , what was given them : and at another place i have seen others cry for every thing they saw , must be served out of every dish , and that first too . what made this vast difference but this ; that one was accustomed to have what they called or cried for ; the other to go without it ? the younger they are , the less , i think , are their unruly and disorderly appetites to be complied with ; and the less reason they have of their own , the more are they to be under the absolute power and restraint of those , in whose hands they are . from which , i confess , it will follow , that none but discreet people should be about them . if the world commonly does otherwise , i cannot help that : i am saying what i think should be ; which , if it were already in fashion , i should not need to trouble the world with a discourse on this subject . but yet i doubt not , but when it is considered , there will be others of opinion with me , that the sooner this way is begun with children , the easier it will be for them , and their governors too . and , that this ought to be observed as an inviolable maxim , that whatever once is denied them , they are certainly not to obtain by crying or importunity , unless one has a mind to teach them to be impatient , and troublesome , by rewarding them for it , when they are so . § . 39. those therefore that intend ever to govern their children , should begin it whilst they are very little ; and look , that they perfectly comply with the will of their parents . would you have your son obedient to you when past a child ? be sure then to establish the authority of a father as soon as he is capable of submission , and can understand in whose power he is . if you would have him stand in awe of you , imprint it in his infancy ; and , as he approaches more to a man , admit him nearer to your familiarity ; so shall you have him your obedient subject ( as is fit ) whilst he is a child , and your affectionate friend when he is a man. for , methinks they mightily misplace the treatment due to their children , who are indulgent and familiar , when they are little , but severe to them , and keep them at a distance when they are grown up : for , liberty and indulgence can do no good to children , their want of judgment makes them stand in need of restraint and discipline : and , on the contrary , imperiousness and severity is but an ill way of treating men , who have reason of their own to guide them , unless you have a mind to make your children , when grown up , weary of you ; and secretly to say within themselves , when will you die , father ? § . 40. i imagine every one will judge it reasonable , that their children , when little , should look upon their parents as their lords , their absolute governors , and as such , stand in awe of them : and that , when they come to riper years , they should look on them as their best , as their only sure friends ; and as such , love and reverence them . the way i have mentioned , if i mistake not , is the only one to obtain this . we must look upon our children , when grown up , to be like our selves ; with the same passions , the same desires . we would be thought rational creatures , and have our freedom ; we love not to be uneasie , under constant rebukes and brow-beatings ; nor can we bear severe humours , and great distance in those we converse with . whoever has such treatment when he is a man , will look out other company , other friends , other conversation , with whom he can be at ease . if therefore a strict hand be kept over children from the beginning , they will in that age be tractable , and quietly submit to it , as never having known any other : and if , as they grow up to the use of reason , the rigour of government be , as they deserve it , gently relaxed , the father's brow be more smooth to them , and the distance by degrees abated , his former restraints will increase their love , when they find it was only a kindness to them and a care to make them capable to deserve the pavour of their parents , and the esteem of every body else . § . 41. thus much for the setling your authority over your children in general . fear and awe ought to give you the first power over their minds , and love and friendship in riper years to hold it : for the time must come , when they will be past the rod , and correction ; and then , if the love of you make them not obedient and dutifull , if the love of vertue and reputation keep them not in laudable courses , i ask , what hold will you have then upon them , to turn them to it ? indeed , fear of having a scanty portion if they displease you , may make them slaves to your estate , but they will be never the less ill and wicked in private ; and that restraint will not last always . every man must some time or other be trusted to himself , and his own conduct ; and he that is a good , a vertuous , and able man , must be made so within ; and therefore , what he is to receive from education , what is to sway and influence his life , must be something put into him betimes , habits woven into the very principles of his nature ; and not a counterfeit carriage , and dissembled out-side , put on by fear , only to avoid the present anger of a father , who perhaps may dis-inherit him . § . 42. this being laid down in general , as the course ought to be taken , 't is fit we now come to consider the parts of the discipline to be used , a little more particularly . i have spoken so much of carrying a strict hand over children , that perhaps i shall be suspected of not considering enough what is due to their tender ages and constitutions . but that opinion will vanish , when you have heard me a little farther . for i am very apt to think , that great severity of punishment does but very little good ; nay , great harm in education : and i believe it will be found , that , caeteris paribus , those children who have been most chastised seldom make the best men. all , that i have hitherto contended for , is that whatsoever rigour is necessary , it is more to be used the younger children are ; and having , by a due application , wrought its effect , it is to be relaxed , and changed into a milder sort of government . § . 43. a compliance , and suppleness of their wills , being by a steady hand introduced by parents , before children have memories to retain the beginnings of it , will seem natural to them , and work afterwards in them as if it were so , preventing all occasions of strugling , or repining . the only care is , that it be begun early , and inflexibly kept to , till awe and respect be grown familiar , and there appears not the least reluctancy in the submission and ready obedience of their minds . when this reverence is once thus established , ( which it must be early , or else it will cost pains and blows to recover it ; and the more , the longer it is deferred , ) 't is by it , mixed still with as much indulgence as they make not an ill use of ; and not by beating , chiding , or other servile punishments , they are for the future to be governed as they grow up to more understanding . § . 44. that this is so , will be easily allowed , when it is but considered , what is to be aimed at in an ingenuous education ; and upon what it turns . 1. he that has not a mastery over his inclinations , he that knows not how to resist the importunity of present pleasure or pain , for the sake of what reason tells him is fit to be done , wants the true principle of vertue and industry ; and is in danger never to be good for any thing . this temper therefore , so contrary to unguided nature , is to be got betimes ; and this habit , as the true foundation of future ability and happiness , is to be wrought into the mind , as early as may be , even from the first dawnings of any knowledge , or apprehension in children ; and so to be confirmed in them , by all the care and ways imaginable , by those who have the over-sight of their education . § . 45. 2. on the otherside , if the mind be curbed , and humbled too much in children ; if their spirits be abased and broken much , by too strict an hand over them , they lose all their vigor , and industry , and are in a worse state than the former . for extravagant young fellows , that have liveliness and spirit , come sometimes to be set right , and so make able and great men : but dejected minds , timorous , and tame , and low spirits , are hardly ever to be raised , and very seldom attain to any thing . to avoid the danger , that is on either hand , is the great art ; and he that has found a way , how to keep up a child's spirit , easy , active and free ; and yet at the same time , to restrain him from many things , he has a mind to , and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him ; he , i say , that knows how to reconcile these seeming contradictions , has , in my opinion , got the true secret of education . § . 46. the usual lazy and short way by chastisement , and the rod , which is the only instrument of government , that tutors generally know , or ever think of , is the most unfit of any to be used in education , because it tends to both those mischiefs , which , as we have shewn , are the sylla and charybdis , which on the one hand or other , ruine all that miscarry . § . 47. 1. this kind of punishment , contributes not at all to the mastery of our natural propensity , to indulge corporal and present pleasure , and to avoid pain at any rate , but rather encourages it ; and so strengthens that in us , which is the root of all vitious and wrong actions . for what motives , i pray , does a child act by , but of such pleasure and pain , that drudges at his book against his inclination , or abstains from eating unwholsome fruit , that he takes pleasure in , only out of fear of whipping ? he in this only preferrs the greater corporal pleasure , or avoids the greater corporal pain , and what is it to govern his actions , and direct his conduct by such motives as these ? what is it , i say , but to cherish that principle in him , which it is our business to root out and destroy ? and therefore i cannot think any correction usefull to a child , where the shame of suffering for having done amiss , does not more work upon him than the pain . § . 48. 2. this sort of correction naturally breeds an aversion to that which 't is the tutor's business to create a liking to . how obvious is it to observe , that children come to hate things liked at first , as soon as they come to be whipped or chid , and teased about them ; and it is not to be wonder'd at in them , when grown men , would not be able to be reconciled to any thing by such ways . who is there , that would not be disgusted with any innocent recreation in it self indifferent to him , if he should with blows or ill language be haled to it , when he had no mind ? or be constantly so treated , for some circumstance in his application to it ? this is natural to be so : offensive circumstances ordinarily infect innocent things , which they are joined with ; and the very sight of a cup , wherein any one uses to take nauseous physick , turns his stomach , so that nothing will relish well out of it , tho' the cup be never so clean , and well shaped , and of the richest materials . § . 49. 3. such a sort of slavish discipline , makes a slavish temper . the child submits , and dissembles obedience , whilst the fear of the rod hangs over him ; but when that is removed , and by being out of sight , he can promise himself impunity , he gives the greater scope to his natural inclination , which by this way is not at all altered , but on the contrary heightned and increased in him , and after such restraint , breaks out usually with the more violence ; or , § . 50. 4. if severity carried to the highest pitch does prevail , and works a cure upon the present unruly distemper , it is often by bringing in the room of it , a worse and more dangerous disease , by breaking the mind , and then in the place of a disorderly young fellow , you have a low spirited , moap'd creature , who , however with his unnatural sobriety , he may please silly people , who commend tame , unactive children , because they make no noise , nor give them any trouble ; yet , at last , will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends , as he will be , all his life , an useless thing to himself and others . § . 51. beating then , and all other sorts of slavish and corporal punishments , are not the discipline fit to be used in the education of those , we would have wise , good , and ingenuous men ; and therefore very rarely to be applied , and that only in great occasions , and cases of extremity . on the other side , to flatter children by rewards of things , that are pleasant to them is as carefully to be avoided . he that will give his son apples or sugar-plumbs , or what else of this kind he is most delighted with , to make him learn his book , does but authorize his love of pleasure , and cocker up that dangerous propensitie , which he ought by all means to subdue and stifle in him . you can never hope to teach him to master it , whilst you compound for the check you give his inclination in one place , by the satisfaction you propose to it in another . to make a good , a wise , and a vertuous man , 't is fit he should learn to cross his appetite , and deny his inclination to riches , finery , or pleasing his palate , &c. when ever his reason advises the contrary , and his duty requires it . but when you draw him to do any thing that is fit , by the offer of money , or reward the pains of learning his book , by the pleasure of a luscious morsel : when you promise him a lace-crevat , or a fine new suit upon the performance of some of his little tasks , what do you by proposing these as rewards , but allow them to be the good things , he should aim at , and thereby encourage his longing for them , and accustom him to place his happiness in them ? thus people to prevail with children to be industrious about their grammar , dancing , or some other such matter , of no great moment to the happiness or ufefullness of their lives , by misapplied rewards and punishments , sacrifice their vertue , invert the order of their education , and teach them luxury , pride , or covetousness , &c. for in this way , flattering those wrong inclinations , which they should restrain and suppress , they lay the foundations of those future vices , which cannot be avoided but by curbing our desires , and accustoming them early to submit to reason . § . 52. i say not this , that i would have children kept from the conveniences or pleasures of life , that are not injurious to their health or vertue . on the contrary , i would have their lives made as pleasant and as agreeable to them , as may be , in a plentiful enjoyment of whatsoever might innocently delight them : provided it be with this caution , that they have those enjoyments , only as the consequences of the state of esteem and acceptation , they are in with their parents and governors , but they should never be offer'd or bestow'd on them as the rewards of this or that particular performance , that they shew an aversion to , or to which they would not have applied themselves without that temptation . § . 53. but if you take away the rod on one hand , and those little encouragements , which they are taken with on the other , how then ( will you say ) shall childern be govern'd ? remove hope and fear , and there is an end of all discipline . i grant , that good and evil , reward and punishment , are the only motives to a rational creature ; these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work and guided , and therefore they are to be made use of to children too . for i advise their parents and governors always to carry this in their minds , that they are to be treated as rational creatures . § . 54. rewards , i grant , and punishments must be proposed to children , if we intend to work upon them ; the mistake , i imagine , is , that those , that are generally made use of , are ill chosen . the pains and pleasures of the body are , i think , of ill consequence , when made the rewards and punishments , whereby men would prevail on their children : for they serve but to increase and strengthen those appetites , which 't is our business to subdue and master . what principle of vertue do you lay in a child , if you will redeem his desires of one pleasure by the proposal of another ? this is but to enlarge his appetite , and instruct it to wander . if a child cries for an unwholsome and dangerous fruit , you purchace his quiet by giving him a less hurtful sweet-meat ; this perhaps may preserve his health , but spoils his mind , and sets that farther out of order . for here you only change the object , but flatter still his appetite , and allow that must be satisfied : wherein , as i have shewed , lies the root of the mischief ; and till you bring him to be able to bear a denial of that satisfaction , the child may at present be quiet and orderly , but the disease is not cured . by this way of proceeding you foment and cherish in him , that which is the spring , from whence all the evil flows , which will be sure on the next occasion to break out again with more violence , give him stronger longings , and you more trouble . § . 55. the rewards and punishments then , whereby we should keep children in order , are quite of another kind , and of that force , that when we can get them once to work , the business , i think , is done , and the difficulty is over . esteem and disgrace are , of all others , the most powerful incentives to the mind , when once it is brought to relish them : if you can once get into children a love of credit , and an apprehension of shame and disgrace , you have put into them the true principle , which will constantly work , and incline them to the right . but it will be asked , how shall this be done ? i confess , it does not at first appearance want some difficulty ; but yet i think it worth our while , to seek the ways ( and practise them when found , ) to attain this , which i look on as the great secret of education . § . 56. first , children ( earlier perhaps than we think ) are very sensible of praise and commendation . they find a pleasure in being esteemed , and valued , especially by their parents , and those whom they depend on . if therefore the father caress and commend them , when they do well ; shew a cold and neglectful countenance to them upon doing ill : and this accompanied by a like carriage of the mother , and all others that are about them , it will in a little time make them sensible of the difference ; and this , if constantly observed , i doubt not but will of it self work more than threats or blows , which lose their force when once grown common , and are of no use when shame does not attend them ; and therefore are to be forborn , and never to be used , but in the case hereafter mentioned , when it is brought to extremity . § . 57. but secondly , to make the sense of esteem or disgrace , sink the deeper , and be of the more weight , other agreeable or disagreeable things should constantly accompany these different states ; not as particular rewards and punishments of this or that particular action , but as necessarily belonging to , and constantly attending one , who by his carriage has brought himself into a state of disgrace or commendation . by which way of treating them , children may , as much as possible , be brought to conceive , that those that are commended , and in esteem , for doing well , will necessarily be beloved and cherished by every body , and have all other good things as a consequence of it . and on the other side , when any one by miscarriage , falls into dis-esteem , and cares not to preserve his credit , he will unavoidably fall under neglect and contempt ; and in that state , the want of what ever might satisfie or delight him will follow . in this way , the objects of their desires are made assisting to vertue , when a setled experience from the beginning teaches children , that the things they delight in , belong to , and are to be enjoyed , by those only , who are in a state of reputation . if by these means you can come once to shame them out of their faults , ( for besides that , i would willingly have no punishment , ) and make them in love with the pleasure of being well thought on , you may turn them as you please , and they will be in love with all the ways of vertue . § . 58. the great difficulty here is , i imagine , from the folly and perverseness of servants , who are hardly to be hinder'd from crossing herein the design of the father and mother . children discountenanced by their parents for any fault , find usually a remedy and retreat in the caresses of those foolish flatterers , who thereby undo whatever the parents endeavour to establish . when the father or mother looks sowre on the child , every body else should put on the same carriage to him , and no body give him countenance , till forgiveness asked , and a contrary carriage restored him to his esteem and former credit again . if this were constantly observed , i guess there would be little need of blows , or chiding : their own ease and satisfaction would quickly teach children to court commendation , and avoid doing that which they found every body condemned , and they were sure to suffer for , without being chid or beaten . this would teach them modesty and shame ; and they would quickly come to have a natural abhorrence for that , which they found made them slighted and neglected by every body . but how this inconvenience from servants is to be remedied , i can only leave to parents care and consideration ; only i think it of great importance : and they are very happy , who can get discreet people about their children . § . 59. frequent beating or chiding is therefore carefully to be avoided , because it never produces any good , farther than it serves to raise shame and abhorrence of the miscarriage that brought it on them : and if the greatest part of the trouble be not the sense that they have done amiss , and the apprehension that they have drawn on themselves the just displeasure of their best friends , the pain of whipping will work but an imperfect cure ; it only patches up for the present , and skins it over , but reaches not to the bottom of the sore . shame then , and apprehension of displeasure , being that which ought alone to give a check , and hold the reins , 't is impossible but punishment should lose that efficacy , when it often returns . shame has in children the same place as modesty in women , which cannot be kept , and often transgressed against . and as to the apprehension of displeasure in the parents , that will come to be very insignificant , if the marks of that displeasure quickly cease . and therefore i think , parents should well consider what faults in their children are weighty enough to deserve the declaration of their anger : but when their displeasure is once declared to a degree , that carries any punishment with it , they ought not presently to lay by the severity of their brows , but to restore their children to their former grace with some difficulty ; and delay till their conformity , and more than ordinary merit , make good their amendment . if this be not so ordered , punishment will be , by familiarity , but a thing of course ; and offending , being punished , and then forgiven , be as natural and ordinary , as noon , night , and morning following one another . § . 60. concerning reputation , i shall only remark this one thing more of it ; that though it be not the true principle and measure of vertue , ( for that is the knowledge of a man's duty , and the satisfaction it is , to obey his maker , in following the dictates of that light god has given him , with the hopes of acceptation and reward , ) yet it is that , which comes nearest to it ; and being the testimony and applause that other people's reason , as it were by common consent , gives to vertuous , and well-ordered actions , is the proper guide and encouragement of children , till they grow able to judge for themselves , and to find what is right , by their own reason . § . 61. but if a right course be taken with children , there will not be so much need of the application of the common rewards and punishments as we imagine , and as the general practice has established : for , all their innocent folly , playing , and childish actions are to be left perfectly free and unrestrained , as far as they can consist with the respect due to those that are present ; and that with the greatest allowance . if these faults of their age , rather than of the children themselves , were as they should be , left only to time and imitation , and riper years to cure , children would escape a great deal of mis-applied and useless correction ; which either fails to over-power the natural disposition of their childhood , and so , by an ineffectual familiarity , makes corection in other necessary cases of less use ; or else , if it be of force to restrain the natural gaiety of that age , it serves only to spoil the temper both of body and mind . if the noise and bustle of their play prove at any time inconvenient , or unsuitable to the place or company they are in , ( which can only be where their parents are , ) a look or a word from the father or mother , if they have established the authority they should , will be enough either to remove , or quiet them for that time. but this gamesome humour , which is wisely adapted by nature to their age and temper , should rather be encouraged to keep up their spirits , and improve their strength and health , than curbed , or restrained , and the chief art is , to make all that they have to do , sport and play too . § . 62. and here give me leave to take notice of one thing i think a fault in the ordinary method of education ; and that is , the charging of children's memories , upon all occasions , with rules and precepts which they often do not understand , and constantly as soon forget as given . if it be some action you would have done , or done otherwise ; whenever they forget , or do it awkardly , make them do it over and over again , till they are perfect : whereby you will get these two advantages ; first , to see whether it be an action they can do , or is fit to be expected of them : for sometimes children are bid to do things , which , upon trial , they are found not able to do ; and had need be taught and exercised in , before they are required to do them . but it is much easier for a tutor to command , than to teach . secondly , another thing got by it will be this ; that by repeating the same action till it be grown habitual in them , the performance will not depend on memory , or reflection the concomitant of prudence and age , and not of childhood , but will be natural in them . thus bowing to a gentleman when he salutes him , and looking in his face when he speaks to him , is by constant use as natural to a well-bred man as breathing ; it requires no thought , no reflection . having this way cured in your child any fault , it is cured for ever : and thus one by one you may weed them out all , and plant what habits you please . § . 63. i have seen parents so heap rules on their children , that it was impossible for the poor little ones to remember a tenth part of them , much less to observe them . however they were either by words or blows corrected for the breach of those multiplied and often very impertinent precepts . whence it naturally followed , that the children minded not , what was said to them ; when it was evident to them , that no attention , they were capable of , was sufficient to preserve them from transgression and the rebukes which followed it . let therefore your rules , to your son , be as few as is possible , and rather fewer than more than seem absolutely necessary . for if you burden him with many rules , one of these two things must necessarily follow ; that either he must be very often punished , which will be of ill consequence , by making punishment too frequent and familiar ; or else you must let the transgressions of some of your rules go unpunished : whereby they will of course grow contemptible , and your authority become cheap to him . make but few laws , but see they be well observed , when once made . few years require but few laws , and as his age increases , when one rule is , by practice , well established , you may add another . § . 64. but pray remember , children are not to be taught by rules , which will be always slipping out of their memories . what you think necessary for them to do , settle in them by an indispensible practice , as often as the occasion returns ; and if it be possible , make occasions . this will beget habits in them , which being once established , operate of themselves easily and naturally without the assistance of the memory . but here let me give two cautions , 1. the one is , that you keep them to the practice of what you would have grow into a habit in them , by kind words , and gentle admonitions , rather as minding them of what they forget , than by harsh rebukes and chiding , as if they were wilfully guilty . 2dly , another thing you are to take care of , is , not to endeavour to settle too many habits at once , least by variety you confound them , and so perfect none . when constant custom has made any one thing easy and natural to them , and they practise it with reflection , you may then go on to another . § . 65. manners , as they call it , about which children are so often perplexed , and have so many goodly exhortations made them , by their wise maids and governesses , i think , are rather to be learnt by example than rules ; and then children , if kept out of ill company , will take a pride , to behave themselves prettily , after the fashion of others , perceiving themselves esteemed and commended for it . but if by a little negligence in this part , the boy should not put of his hat , nor make leggs very gracefully , a dancing-master would cure that defect , and wipe of all that plainness of nature , which the alamode people call clownishness . and since nothing appears to me to give children so much becoming confidence and behaviour , and so to raise them to the conversation of those above their age , as dancing , i think , they should be taught to dance as soon as they are capable of learning it . for though this consist only in outward gracefulness of motion , yet , i know not how , it gives children manly thoughts , and carriage more than any thing . but otherwise , i would not have children much tormented about punctilio's , or niceties of breeding . never trouble your self about those faults in them , which you know age will cure . and therefore want of well-fashion'd civility in the carriage , whilst civility is not wanting in the mind ( for there you must take care to plant it early ) should be the parent 's and tutor's least care , whilst they are young . if his tender mind be fill'd with a veneration for his parents and teachers , which consists in love and esteem , and a fear to offend them ; and with respect and good will to all people , that respect will of it self teach those ways of expressing it , which he observes most acceptable . be sure to keep up in him the principles of good nature and kindness ; make them as habitual as you can by credit and commendation , and the good things accompanying that state : and when they have taken root in his mind , and are settled there by a continued practice , fear not , the ornaments of conversation , and the out-side of fashionable manners , will come in their due time . whilst they are young , any carelesness is to be born with in children , that carries not with it the marks of pride or ill nature : but those , when they appear in any action , are to be corrected immediately by the ways above-mentioned ; and what else remains like clownishness , or want ofg ood breeding , time and observation will of it self reform in them as they ripen in years , if they are bred in good company ; but if in ill , all the rules in the world , all the correction imaginable , will not be able to polish them . for you must take this for a certain truth , that let them have what instructions you will , what teachers soever you please , that , which will most influence their actions , will be the company they converse with ; children ( nay , and men too ) do most by example : we are all a sort of camelions , that still take a tincture from things about us ; nor is it to be wonder'd at in children , who better understand what they see , than what they hear . § . 66. i mentioned above , one great mischief that came by servants to children , when by their flatteries they take off the edge and force of the parents rebukes , and so lessen their authority . and here is another great inconvenience which children receive from the ill examples , which they meet with amongst the meaner servants . they are wholly , if possible , to be kept from such conversation : for the contagion of these ill precedents , both in civility and vertue , horribly infects children , as often as they come within reach of it . they frequently learn from unbred or debauched servants , such language , untowardly tricks and vices , as otherwise they possibly would be ignorant of all their lives . § . 67. 't is a hard matter wholly to prevent this mischief , you will have very good luck , if you never have a clownish or vitious servant , and if from them your children never get any infection . but yet as much must be done towards it , as can be , and the children kept as much as may be in the company of their parents , and those to whose care they are committed . to this purpose , their being in their presence , should be made easie to them ; they shall be allowed the liberties and freedom suitable to their ages , and not to be held under unnecessary restraints , when in their parent 's or governour 's sight . if it be a prison to them , 't is no wonder they should not like it . they must not be hindred from being children , or from playing , or doing as children , but from doing ill ; all other liberty is to be allowed them . next to make them in love with the company of their parents , they should receive all their good things there , and from their hands . the servants should be hindred from making court to them , by giving them strong drink , wine , fruit , play-things , and other such matters , which may make them in love with their conversation . § . 68. having named company , i am almost ready to throw away my pen , and trouble you no farther on this subject . for since that does more than all precepts , rules and instructions , methinks 't is almost wholly in vain , to make along discourse of other things , and to talk of that almost to no purpose ; for you will be ready to say , what shall i do with my son ? if i keep him always at home , he will be in danger to be my young master ; and if i send him abroad , how is it possible to keep him from the contagion of rudeness and vice , which is so every where in fashion ? in my house , he will perhaps be more innocent , but more ignorant too of the world , and being used constantly to the same faces , and little company , will , when he comes abroad , be a sheepish or conceited creature . i confess , both sides have their inconveniences , but whilst he is at home , use him as much to your company , and the company of men. genteel and well-bred people , that come to your house , as you can ; and keep him from the taint of your servants , and meaner people : and about his going abroad , or staying at home , it must be left to the parents conveniences and circumstances . but this is certain , breeding at home in their own sight , under a good governour , is much the best , when it can be had , and is ordered , as it should be . § . 69. having under consideration how great the influence of company is , and how prone we are all , especially children , to imitation , i must here take the liberty to mind parents of this one thing , viz. that he that will have his son have a respect for him and his orders , must himself have a great reverence for his son. maxima debetur pueris reverentia . you must do nothing before him , which you would not have him imitate . if any thing scape you , which you would have pass for a fault in him , he will be sure to shelter himself under your example : and how then you will be able to come at him to correct it in the right way i do not easily see : and if you will punish him for it , he cannot look on it as a thing which reason condemns , since you practise it ; but he will be apt to interpret it , the peevishness , and arbitrary imperiousness of a father , which , without any ground for it , would deny his son the liberty and pleasures he takes himself . or if you would have it thought , it is a liberty belonging to riper years , and not to a child , you add but a new temptation , since you must always remember , that children affect to be men earlier than is thought : and they love breeches , not for their cut , or ease , but because the having them is a mark of a step towards manhood . what i say of the father's carriage before his children , must extend it self to all those who have any authority over them , or for whom he would have them have any respect . § . 70. thus all the actions of childishness , and unfashionable carriage , and whatever time and age will of it self be sure to reform , being exempt from the discipline of the rod , there will not be so much need of beating children , as is generally made use of . to which if we add learning to read , write , dance , foreign languages , &c. as under the same privilege , there will be but very rarely any occasion for blows or force in an ingenuous education . the right way to teach them those things is , to give them a liking and inclination to what you propose to them to be learn'd ; and that will engage their industry and application . this i think no hard matter to do , if children be handled as they should be , and the rewards and punishments above-mentioned be carefully applied , and with them these few rules observed in the method of instructing them . § . 71. 1. none of the things they are to learn should ever be made a burthen to them , or imposed on them as a task : whatever is so proposed , presently becomes irksome ; the mind takes an aversion to it , though before it were a thing of delight or indifferency . let a child be but ordered to whip his top at a certain time every day , whether he has , or has not a mind to it ; let this be but required of him as a duty , wherein he must spend so many hours morning and afternoon , and see whether he will not soon be weary of any play at this rate . is it not so with grown men ? what they do chearfully of themselves , do they not presently grow sick of , and can no more endure , as soon as they find it is expected of them , as a duty ? children have as much a mind to shew that they are free , that their own good actions come from themselves , that they are absolute and independent , as any of the proudest of your grown men , think of them as you please . § . 72. 2. as a consequence of this , they should seldom be put upon doing even those things you have got an inclination in them to , but when they have a mind and disposition to it . he that loves reading , writing , musick , &c. finds yet in himself certain seasons wherein those things have no relish to him : and if at that time he forces himself to it , he only pothers and wearies himself to no purpose . so it is with children : this change of temper should be carefully observed in them , and the favourable seasons of aptitude and inclination be heedfully laid hold of , to set them upon any thing . by this means a great deal of time and tiring would be saved ; for a child will learn three times as much when he is in tune , as he will with double the time and pains , when he goes awkardly and unwillingly to it . if this were minded as it should , children might be permitted to weary themselves with play , and yet have time enough to learn what is suited to the capacity of each age. and if things were order'd right , learning any thing , they should be taught , might be made as much a recreation to their play , as their play is to their learning . the pains are equal on both sides : nor is it that which troubles them , for they love to be busie , and the change and variety is that which naturally delights them ; the only odds is , in that which we call play , they act at liberty , and employ their pains ( whereof you may observe them never sparing ) freely ; but what they are to learn , they are driven to it , called on , or compelled . this is that that at first entrance balks and cools them ; they want their liberty : get them but to ask their tutor to teach them , as they do often their play-fellows , instead of this calling upon them to learn , and they being satisfied that they act as freely in this , as they do in other things , they will go on with as much pleasure in it , and it will not differ from their other sports and play. by these ways , carefully pursued , i guess , a child may be brought to desire to be taught any thing , you have a mind he should learn. the hardest part , i confess , is with the first , or eldest ; but when once he is set right , it is easie by him to lead the rest whether one will. § . 73. though it be past doubt , that the fittest time for children to learn any thing , is , when their minds are in tune , and well disposed to it , when neither flagging of spirit , nor intentness of thought upon something else makes them awkard and averse ; yet two things are to be taken care of : 1. that these seasons either not being warily observed , and laid hold on , as often as they return ; or else , not returning as often as they should , ( as always happens in the ordinary method and discipline of education , when blows and compulsion have raised an aversion in the child to the thing he is to learn , ) the improvement of the child be not thereby neglected , and so he be let grow into an habitual idleness , and confirmed in this indisposition . 2. that though other things are ill learned when the mind is either indisposed , or otherwise taken up , yet it is a great matter , and worth our endeavours , to teach the mind to get the mastery over it self ; and to be able , upon choice , to take it self off from the hot pursuit of one thing , and set it self upon another with facility and delight ; or at any time to shake off its sluggishness , and vigorously employ it self about what reason , or the advice of another shall direct . this is to be done in children by trying them sometimes , when they are by laziness unbent , or by avocation bent another way , and endeavouring to make them buckle to the thing proposed . if by this means the mind can get an habitual dominion over it self , lay by idea's , or business , as occasion requires , and betake it self to new and less acceptable employments , without reluctancy or discomposure , it will be an advantage of more consequence than latin or logick , or most of those things children are usually required to learn. § . 74. children being more active and busie in that age than any other part of their life , and being indifferent to any thing they can do , so they may be but doing , dancing and scotch-hoppers would be the same thing to them , were the encouragements and discouragements equal . but to things we would have them learn , the great and only discouragement i can observe is , that they are called to it , 't is made their business , they are teas'd and chid about it , and do it with trembling and apprehension ; or , when they come willingly to it , are kept too long at it , till they are quite tired : all which intrenches too much on that natural freedom they extreamly affect , and 't is that liberty alone which gives the true relish and delight to their ordinary play games . turn the tables , and you will see they will soon change their application ; especially if they see the examples of others , whom they esteem and think above themselves : and if the things they see others do be ordered so , that they are persuaded it is the privilege of an age or condition above theirs , then ambition , and the desire still to get forward , and higher , and to be like those above them , will give them an inclination which will set them on work in a way wherein they will go on with vigour and pleasure , enjoying in it their dearly beloved freedom ; which , if it brings with it also the satisfaction of credit and reputation , i am apt to think , there will need no other spur to excite their application and assiduity as much as is necessary . i confess , there needs patience and skill , gentleness and attention , and a prudent conduct to attain this at first . but , why have you a tutor , if there needed no pains ? but when this is once established , all the rest will follow more easily , than in any more severe and imperious discipline ; and i think it no hard matter , to gain this point ; i am sure it will not be , where children have no ill examples set before them . the great danger therefore i apprehend , is only from servants , and other ill-ordered children , or such other vicious or foolish people , who spoil children , both by the ill pattern they set before them in their own ill manners , and by giving them together , the two things they should never have at once , i mean , vicious pleasures and commendation . § . 75. as children should very seldom be corrected by blows ; so , i think , frequent , and especially , passionate chiding , of almost as ill consequence . for it lessens the authority of the parents , and the respect of the child , for i bid you still remember , they distinguish early between passion and reason ; and as they cannot but have a reverence for what comes from the latter , so they quickly grow into a contempt of the former ; or if it causes a present terrour , yet it soon wears off , and natural inclination will easily learn to slight such scare-crows , which make a noise , but are not animated by reason . children being to be restrained by the parents only in vicious ( which , in their tender years , are only a few ) things , a look or nod only ought to correct them , when they do amiss : or , if words are sometimes to be used , they ought to be grave , kind and sober , representing the ill , or unbecomingness of the fault , rather than a hasty rating of the child for it , which makes him not sufficiently distinguish , whether your dislike be not more directed to him , than his fault . § . 76. i fore-see here it will be objected to me ; what then , will you have children never beaten nor chid for any fault ? this will be to let loose the reins to all kind of disorder . not so much , as is imagined , if a right course has been taken in the first seasoning of their minds , and implanting that awe of their parents above-mentioned . for beating , by constant observation , is found to do little good , where the smart of it is all the punishment is feared , or felt in it ; for the influence of that quickly wears out , with the memory of it . but yet there is one , and but one fault , for which , i think , children should be beaten ; and that is , obstinacy or rebellion , and in this too , i would have it ordered so , if it can be , that the shame of the whipping , and not the pain , should be the greatest part of the punishment . shame of doing amiss , and deserving chastisement , is the only true restraint belonging to vertue . the smart of the rod , if shame accompanies it not , soon ceases , and is forgotten , and will quickly , by use , lose its terrour . i have known the children of a person of quality kept in awe , by the fear of having their shooes pulled off , as much , as others by apprehensions of a rod hanging over them . some such punishment , i think , better than beating ; for , 't is shame of the fault , and the disgrace that attends it , that they should stand in fear of , rather than pain , if you would have them have a temper truly ingenuous . but stubbornness , and an obstinate disobedience , must be mastred with force and blows , for this there is no other remedy . whatever particular action you bid him do , or forbear , you must be sure to see your self obey'd , no quarter in this case , no resistance ; for when once it comes to be a trial of skill , a contest for mastery betwixt you , as it is if you command , and he refuses , you must be sure to carry it , whatever blows it costs , if a nod or words will not prevail , unless , for ever after , you intend to live in obedience to your son. a prudent and kind mother , of my acquaintance , was , on such an occasion , forced to whip her little daughter , at her first coming home from nurse , eight times successively the same morning , before she could master her stubbornness , and obtain a compliance in a very easy and indifferent matter . if she had left off sooner , and stop'd at the seventh whiping , she had spoiled the child for ever , and by her unprevailing blows , only confirmed her refractariness , very hardly afterwards to be cured : but wisely persisting , till she had bent her mind , and suppled her will , the only end of correction and chastisement , she established her authority throughly in the very first occasion , and had ever after , a very ready compliance and obedience in all things from her daughter . for as this was the first time , so i think , it was the last too she ever struck her . § . 77. this , if well reflected on , would make people more wary in the use of the rod and the cudgel ; and keep them from being so apt to think beating , the safe and universal remedy to be applied at random , on all occasions . this is certain however , if it does no good , it does great harm ; if it reaches not the mind , and makes not the will supple , it hardens the offender , and whatever pain he has suffered for it , it does but indear to him his beloved stubbornness , which has got him this time the victory , and prepares him to contest and hope for it for the future . this , i doubt not , but by ill order'd correction many have been taught to be obstinate and refractary , who otherwise would have been very pliant and tractable . for if you punish a child , so as if it were only to revenge the past fault , which has raised your choler , what operation can this have upon his mind , which is the part to be amended ? if there were no sturdy wilfulness of mind mixed with his fault , there was nothing in it , that needed the severity of blows : a kind or grave admonition would have been enough , to remedy the faults of frailty , forgetfullness , or inadvertency , as much as they needed . but if there were a perverseness in the will , if it were a designed , resolved disobedience , the punishment is not to be measured by the greatness or smallness of the matter , wherein it appeared , but by the opposition it carries , and stands in , to that respect and submission is due to the father's orders , and must always be rigorously exacted , and the blows , by pauses , laid on till they reach the mind , and you perceive the signs of a true sorrow , shame , and resolution of obedience . this , i confess , requires something more than setting children a task , and whipping them without any more adoe , if it be not done , and done to our phansy : this requires care , attention , observation , and a nice study of children's tempers , and weighing their faults well before we come to this sort of punishment : but is not that better , than always to have the rod in hand , as the only instrument of government ? and by frequent use of it on all occasions misapply and render inefficacious this last and usefull remedy , where there is need of it . for what else can be expected , when it is promiscuously used upon every little slip , when a mistake in concordance , or a wrong position in verse , shall have the severity of the lash , in a well-temper'd and industrious lad , as surely , as a willfull crime , in an obstinate and perverse offender ? how can such a way of correction be expected to do good on the mind , and set that right , which is the only thing to be looked after ; and when set right , brings all the rest , that you can desire , along with it ? § . 78. where a wrong bent of the will , wants not amendment , there can be no need of blows . all other faults , where the mind is rightly disposed , and refuses not the government and authority of the father or tutor , are but mistakes , and may often be over-looked ; or when they are taken notice of , need no other , but the gentler remedies of advice , direction and reproof , till the repeated and willfull neglect of those , shews the fault to be in the mind , and that a manifest perversness of the will , lies at the root of their disobedience : but when ever obstinacy , which is an open defiance , appears , that cannot be winked at , or neglected , but must in the first instance , be subdued and master'd ; only care must be had , that we mistake not , and we must be sure it is obstinacy and nothing else . § . 79. but since the occasions of punishment , especially beating , are as much to be avoided as may be , i think it should not be often brought to this point : if the awe i spoke of be once got , a look will be sufficient in most cases . nor indeed , should the same carriage , seriousness , or application be expected from young children , as from those of riper growth : they must be permitted , as i said , the foolish and childish actions suitable to their years , without taking notice of them : inadvertency , carelessness and gayety is the character of that age. i think the severity i spoke of is not to extend it self to such unseasonable restraints . keep them from vice , and vicious dispositions , and such a kind of behaviour in general will come with every degree of their age , as is suitable to that age , and the company they ordinarily converse with ; and as they grow in years , they will grow in attention and application . but that your words may always carry weight and authority with them , if it shall happen , upon any occasion , that you bid him leave off the doing of any even childish thing , you must be sure to carry the point , and not let him have the mastery . but yet , i say , i would have the father seldom interpose his authority and command in these cases , or any other , but such as have a tendency to vicious habits : i think there are better ways of prevailing with them ; and a gentle perswasion in reasoning ( when the first point of submission to your will is got ) will most times do much better . § . 80. it will perhaps be wondered that i mention reasoning with children , and yet i cannot but think that the true way of dealing with them . they understand it as early as they do language ; and , if i mis-observe not , they love to be treated as rational creatures sooner than is imagined . 't is a pride should be cherished in them , and , as much as can be , made the great instrument to turn them by . but when i talk of reasoning , i do not intend any other , but such as is suited to the child's capacity and apprehension . no body can think a boy of three or seven years old should be argued with , as a grown man : long discourses , and philosophical reasonings , at best , amaze and confound , but do not instruct children . when i say therefore , that they must be treated as rational creatures , i mean , that you should make them sensible by the mildness of your carriage , and the composure even in your correction of them , that what you do is reasonable in you , and useful and necessary for them : and that it is not out of caprichio , passion , or fancy , that you command or forbid them any thing . this they are capable of understanding ; and there is no vertue they should be excited to , nor fault they should be kept from , which i do not think they may be convinced of ; but it must be by such reasons as their age and understanding are capable of , and those proposed always in very few and plain words . the foundations on which several duties are built , and the fountains of right and wrong , from which they spring , are not perhaps easily to be let into the minds of grown men , not used to abstract their thoughts from common received opinions : much less are children capable of reasonings from remote principles ; they cannot conceive the force of long deductions : the reasons that move them must be obvious , and level to their thoughts , and such as may ( if i may so say ) be felt , and touched . but yet if their age , temper and inclinations be considered , there will never want such motives as may be sufficient to convince them . if there be no other more particular , yet these will always be intelligible , and of force to deterr them from any fault fit to be taken notice of in them , ( viz. ) that it will be a discredit and disgrace to them , and displease you . § . 81. but of all the ways whereby children are to be instructed , and their manners formed , the plainest , easiest , and most efficacious , is , to set before their eyes the examples of those things you would have them do , or avoid . which , when they are pointed out to them , in the practice of persons within their knowledge , with some reflection on their beauty , or unbecomingness are of more force to draw or deterr their imitation , than any discourses can be made to them . vertues and vices can by no words be so plainly set before their understandings , as the actions of other men will shew them , when you direct their observation , and bid them view this or that good or bad quality in their practice . and the beauty or uncomeliness of many things in good and ill breeding will be better learnt , and make deeper impressions on them , in the examples of others , than from any rules or instructions can be given about them . this is a method to be used , not only whilst they are young , but to be continued even as long as they shall be under another's tuition or conduct . nay , i know not whether it be not the best way to be used by a father , as long as he shall think fit , on any occasion , to reform any thing he wishes mended in his son : nothing sinking so gently , and so deep , into men's minds , as example . and what ill they either over-look , or indulge in them themselves , they cannot but dis-like , and be ashamed of , when it is set before them in another . § . 82. it may be doubted concerning whipping , when , as the last remedy , it comes to be necessary ; at what time , and by whom it should be done ; whether presently upon the committing the fault , whilst it is yet fresh and hot ; and whether parents themselves should beat their children . as to the first , i think it should not be done presently , lest passion mingle with it , and so , though it exceed the just proportion , yet it lose the authority : for even children discern when we do things in passion ; but , as i said before , that has most weight with them , that appears sedately to come from their parents reason ; and they are not without this distinction . next , if you have any discreet servant capable of it , and has the place of governing your child ( for if you have a tutor , there is no doubt ) i think it is best the smart should come more immediately from another's hand , though by the parents order , who should see it done ; whereby the parent 's authority will be preferred , and the child's aversion for the pain it suffers rather be turned on the person that immediately inflicts it . for i would have a father seldom strike his child , but upon very urgent necessity , and as the last remedy ; and then perhaps it will be fit to do it so , that the child should not quickly forget it . § . 83. but , as i said before , beating is the worst , and therefore the last means to be used in the correction of children ; and that only in cases of extremity , after all gentler ways have been tried , and proved unsuccessful ; which , if well observed , there will be very seldom any need of blows . for it not being to be imagined that a child will often , if ever , dispute his father's present command in any particular instance ; and the father not rigorously interposing his authority in positive rules concerning childish or indifferent actions , wherein his son is to have his liberty ; nor concerning his learning or improvement , wherein there is no compulsion to be used ; there remains only the prohibition of some vicious actions , wherein a child is capable of obstinacy , and consequently can deserve beating : and so there will be but very few occasions of that discipline to be used by any one , who considers well , and orders his child's education as it should be . for the first seven years , what vices can a child be guilty of , but lying , or some ill-natur'd tricks ; the repeated commission whereof , after his father's direct command against it , shall bring him into the condemnation of obstinacy , and the chastisement of the rod ? if any vicious inclination in him be , in the first appearance and instances of it , treated as it should , first with your wonder , and then if returning again a second time , discountenanced with the severe brow of the father , tutor , and all about him , and a treatment suitable to the state of discredit before-mentioned ; and this continued till he be made sensible , and ashamed of his fault , i imagine there will be no need of any other correction , nor ever any occasion to come to blows . the necessity of such chastisement is usually the consequence only of former indulgencies , or neglects . if vicious inclinations were watched from the beginning , and the first irregularities they caused corrected by those gentler ways , we should seldom have to do with more than one disorder at once , which would be easily set right without any stir or noise , and not require so harsh a discipline as beating . thus one by one as they appear'd , they might all be weeded out without any signs or memory that ever they had been there . but we letting their faults ( by indulging and humouring our little ones ) grow up till they are sturdy and numerous , and the deformity of them makes us asham'd and uneasy , we are fain to come to the plough and the harrow , the spade and the pick-ax must go deep to come at the roots ; and all the force , skill , and diligence we can use , is scarce enough to cleanse the vitiated seed-plat over-grown with weeds , and restore us the hopes of fruits to rewards our pains in its season . § . 84. this course , if observed , will spare both father and child the trouble of repeated injunctions and multiplied rules of doing and forbearing . for , i am of opinion , that of those actions which tend to vitious habits ( which are those alone that a father should interpose his authority and commands in ) none should be forbidden children till they are found guilty of them . for such untimely prohibitions , if they do nothing worse , do at least so much towards teaching and allowing them , that they suppose that children may be guilty of them ; who would possibly be safer in the ignorance of any such faults . and the best remedy to stop them , is , as i have said , to shew wonder and amazement at any such action , as hath a vitious tendency , when it is first taken notice of in a child . for example , when he is first found in a lye or any ill natur'd trick , the first remedy should be to talk to him of it as a strange , monstrous matter , that it could not be imagin'd he would have done , and so shame him out of it . § . 85. it will be ( 't is like ) objected , that whatever i fansie of the tractableness of children , and the prevalency of those softer ways of shame and commendation , yet there are many who will never apply themselves to their books , and to what they ought to learn , unless they are scourged to it . this i fear is nothing but the language of ordinary schools and fashion which has never suffered the other to be tried as it should be , in places where it could be taken notice of . why , else , does the learning of latin and greek need the rod , when french and italian needs it not ? children learn to dance and fence without whipping ; nay , arithmetick , drawing , &c. they apply themselves well enough to without beating , which would make one suspect , that there is something strange , unnatural and disagreeable to that age , in the things requir'd in grammar-schools , or the methods used there , that children cannot be brought to , without the severity of the lash , and hardly with that too , or else that it is a mistake , that those tongues could not be taught them without beating . § . 86. but let us suppose some so negligent or idle , that they will not be brought to learn by the gentler ways proposed ; for we must grant that there will be children found of all tempers , yet it does not thence follow , that the rough discipline of the cudgel is to be used to all ; nor can any one be concluded unmanagable by the milder methods of government , till they have been throughly tried upon him ; and if they will not prevail with him to use his endeavours , and do what is in his power to do , we make no excuses , for the obstinate blows are the proper remedies for those ; but blows laid on in a way different from the ordinary . he that wilfully neglects his book , and stubbornly refuses any thing he can do , required of him by his father , expressing himself in a positive serious command , should not be corrected with two or three angry lashes , for not performing his task , and the same punishment repeated again and again upon every the like default . but when it is brought to that pass , that wilfulness evidently shews it self , and makes blows necessary , i think the chastisement should be a little more sedate and a little more severe , and the whipping ( mingled with admonitions between ) so continued , till the impressions of it on the mind were found legible in the face , voice and submission of the child , not so sensible of the smart as of the fault he has been guilty of , and melting in true sorrow under it . if such a correction as this tried some few times at sit distances , and carried to the utmost severity , with the visible displeasure of the father all the while , will not work the effect , turn the mind , and produce a future compliance , what can be hoped from blows , and to what purpose should they be any more used ? beating , when you can expect no good from it , will look more like the fury of an enraged enemy , than the good will of a compassionate friend ; and such chastisements carries with it only provocation without any prospect of amendment . if it be any father's misfortune to have a son thus perverse and untractable , i know not what more he can do but pray for him . but , i imagine , if a right course be taken with children from the beginning , very few will be found to be such , and when there are any such instances , they are not to be the rule for the education of those who are better natur'd , and may be managed with better usage . § . 87. if a tutor can be got , that thinking himself in the father's place , charged with his care , and relishing these things , will at the beginning apply himself to put them in practice , he will afterwards find his work very easy ; and you will , i guess , have your son in a little time a greater proficient in both learning and breeding , than perhaps you imagine . but let him by no means beat him , at least without your consent and direction . he must be sure also to shew him the example of the things , he would have the child practise , and carefully to preserve him from the influence of ill precedents , especially the most dangerous of all , that of the servants , from whose company he is to be kept , not by prohibitions , for that will but give him an itch , but by other ways i have mentioned . § . 88. in all the whole business of education , there is nothing like to be less hearken'd to , or harder to be well observed , than what i am now going to say , and that is , that i would from their first beginning to talk , have some discreet , sober ; nay , wise person about children , whose care it should be to fashion them aright , and keep them from all ill , especially the infection of bad company . i think this province requires great sobriety , temperance , tenderness , diligence and discretion , qualities hardly to be found united in persons that are to be had for ordinary salaries , or easily to be found any where . as to the charge of it , i think it will be the money best laid out , that can be , about our children ; and therefore though it may be expensive more than is ordinary , yet it cannot be thought dear . he that at any rate procures his child a good mind , well principled , temper'd to vertue and usefulness , and adorned with civility and good breeding , makes a better purchase for him , than if he laid out the money for an addition of more earth to his former acres . spare it in toys and play-games , in silk and ribbons , laces and other useless expences , as much as you please ; but be not sparing in so necessary a part as this . 't is not good husbandry to make his fortune rich , and his mind poor . i have often with great admiration seen people lavish it profusely in tricking up their children in fine clothes ; lodging and feeding them sumptuously , allowing them more than enough of useless servants , and yet at the same time starve their minds , and not take sufficient care to cover that , which is the most shameful nakedness , viz. their natural wrong inclinations and ignorance . this i can look on as no other than a sacrificing to their own vanity ; it shewing more their pride than true care of the good of their children . whatsoever you imploy to the advantage of your son's mind will shew your true kindness , though it be to the lessening of his estate . a wise and good man can hardly want either the opinion or reality of being great and happy . but he , that is foolish or vicious , can be neither great nor happy , what estate soever you leave him : and i ask you , whether there be not men in the world , whom you had rather have your son be with 500 l. per annum , than some other you know with 5000 l. § . 89. the consideration of charge ought not therefore to deterr those who are able ; the great difficulty will be where to find a proper person . for those of small age , parts and vertue , are unfit for this imployment ; and those that have greater , will hardly be got to undertake such a charge . you must therefore look out early , and enquire every where ; for the world has people of all sorts ; and i remember , montaigne says in one of his essays , that the learned castalio was fain to make trenchers at basle to keep himself from starving , when his father would have given any money for such a tutor for his son , and castalio have willingly embraced such an imployment upon very reasonable terms , but this was for want of intelligence . § . 90. if you find it difficult to meet with such a tutor as we desire , you are not to wonder ; i only can say , spare no care nor cost to get such an one ; all things are to be had that way , and i dare assure you , that if you get a good one , you will never repent the charge , but will always have the satisfaction to think it the money of all other the best laid out . but be sure take no body upon friends or charitable , no nor bare great commendations : nor will the reputation of a sober man with learning enough ( which is all usually that is required in a tutor ) serve the turn . in this choice be as curious as you would in that of a wife for him : for you must not think of trial or changing afterwards , that will cause great inconvenience to you , and greater to your son. when i consider the scruples and cautions i here lay in your way , methinks it looks as if i advised you to something , which i would have offer'd at , but in effect not done . but he that shall consider how much the business of a tutor rightly imployed lies out of the road , and how remote it is from the thoughts of many , even of those who propose to themselves this imployment , will perhaps be of my mind , that one sit to educate and form the mind of a young gentleman is not every where to be found ; and that more than ordinary care is to be taken in the choice of him , or else you may fail of your end. § . 91. but to return to our method again . tho' i have mentioned the severity of the father's brow , and the awe settled thereby in the mind of children when young , as one main foundation , whereby their education is to be managed : yet i am far from being of an opinion , that it should be continued all a long to them , whilst they are under the discipline and government of pupilage . i think it should be relaxed as fast as their age , discretion , and good behaviour could allow it , even to that degree , that a father will do well , as his son grows up , and is capable of it , to talk familiarly with him ; nay , ask his advice , and consult with him about those things , wherein he has any knowledge , or understanding . by this , the father will gain two things , both of great moment . the one is , that it will put serious considerations into his son's thoughts , better than any rules or advices he can give him . the sooner you treat him as a man , the sooner he will begin to be one : and if you admit him into serious discourses sometimes with you , you will insensibly raise his mind above the usual a musements of youth , and those trifling occupations it is commonly wasted in : for it is easie to observe , that many young men continue longer in the thoughts and conversation of school-boys , than otherwise they would , because their parents keep them at that distance , and in that low rank , by all their carriage to them . § . 92. another thing of greater consequence , which you will obtain by such a way of treating him , will be his friendship . many fathers , though they proportion to their sons liberal allowances , according to their age and condition ; yet they keep them as much unacquainted with their estates , and all other concernments , as if they were strangers . this if it looks not like jealousie , yet it wants those marks of kindness and intimacy , which a father should shew to his son ; and , no doubt , often hinders , or abates , that cheerfullness and satisfaction , wherewith a son should address himself to , and rely upon his father ; and i cannot but often wonder to see fathers , who love their sons very well , yet so order the matter by a constant stiffness , and a mien of authority and distance to them all their lives , as if they were never to enjoy or have any comfort from those they love best in the world , till they had lost them , by being removed into another . nothing cements and establishes friendship and good-will , so much as confident communication of concernments and affairs . other kindnesses without this , leave still some doubts ; but when your son sees you open your mind to him , that you interest him in your affairs , as things you are willing should in their turn come into his hands , he will be concerned for them , as for his own ; wait his season with patience , and love you in the mean time , who keep him not at the distance of a stranger . this will also make him see , that the enjoyment you have is not without care , which the more he is sensible of , the less will he envy you the possession , and the more think himself happy under the management of so favourable a friend , and so careful a father . there is scarce any young man of so little thought , or so void of sense , that would not be glad of a sure friend , that he might have recourse to , and freely consult on occasion . the reservedness and distance , that fathers keep , often deprives their sons of that refuge , which would be of more advantage to them , than an hundred rebukes and chidings . would your son engage in some frolick , or take a vagary , were it not much better he should do it with , than without your knowledge ? for since allowances for such things must be made to young men , the more you know of his intrigues and designs , the better will you be able to prevent great mischiefs ; and by letting him see what is like to follow , take the right way of prevailing with him to avoid less inconveniencies . would you have him open his heart to you , and ask your advice ? you must begin to do so with him first , and by your carriage beget that considence . § . 93. but whatever he consults you about , unless it lead to some fatal and irremediable mischief , be sure you advise only as a friend of more experience ; but with your advice mingle nothing of command or authority , no more than you wou●d to your equal , or a stranger . that would be to drive him for ever from any farther demanding or receiving advantage from your counsel . you must consider , that he is a young man , and has pleasures and fancies , which you are pass'd . you must not expect his inclinations should be just as yours , nor that at twenty he should have the same thoughts you have at fifty . all that you can wish is , that since youth must have some liberty , some out-leaps , they might be with the ingenuity of a son , and under the eye of a father , and then no very great harm can come of it . the way to obtain this , as i said before , is ( according as you find him capable ) to talk with him about your affairs , propose matters to him familiarly , and ask his advice ; and when he ever lights on the right , follow it as his , and if it succeeds well , let him have the commendation . this will not at all lessen your authority , but increase his love and esteem of you . whilst you keep your estate , the staff will still be in your own hands , and your authority the surer , the more it is strengthen'd with confidence and kindness . for you have not that power , you ought to have over him , till he comes to be more afraid of offending so good a friend , than of losing some part of his future expectation . § . 94. when , by making your son sensible that he depends on you , and is in your power , you have establish'd your authority ; and by being inflexibly severe in your carriage to him , when obstinately persisting in any ill natur'd trick , you have forbidden especially lying , you have imprinted on his mind that awe , which is necessary : and on the other side , when , by permitting him the full liberty due to his age , and laying no restraint in your presence to those childish actions and gaiety of carriage , which , whilst he is very young , is as necessary to him as meat or sleep , you have reconcil'd him to your company , and made him sensible of your care and love of him by indulgence and tenderness , especially , caressing him on all occasions wherein he does any thing well , and being kind to him after a thousand fashions suitable to his age , which nature teaches parents better than i can ; when , i say , by these ways of tenderness and affection , which parents never want for their children , you have also planted in him a particular affection for you , he is then in the state you could desire , and you have formed in his mind that true reverence , which is alway afterwards carefully to be increased and maintained in both the parts of it , love and fear , as the great principle , whereby you will always have hold upon him , to turn his mind to the ways of vertue of honour . § . 95. when this foundation is once well laid , and you find this reverence begin to work in him , the next thing to be done is carefully to consider his temper , and the particular constitution of his mind . stubbornness , lying and ill natur'd actions are not ( as has been said ) to be permitted in him from the beginning , whatever his temper be : those seeds of vices are not to be suffered to take any root , but must be suppress'd in their appearance ; and your authority is to be establish'd from the very dawning of any knowledge in him , that it may operate as a natural principle , whereof he never perceived the beginning , never knew that it was or could be otherwise . by this , if the reverence he owes you be establish'd early , it will always be sacred to him , and it will be as hard for him to resist it as the principles of his nature . § . 96. having thus very early established your authority , and by the gentler applications of it , shamed him out of what leads towards any immoral habit , as soon as you have observed it in him ( for i would by no means have chiding used , much less blows , till obstinacy and incorrigibleness make it absolutely necessary ) it will be fit to consider which way the natural make of his mind inclines him . some men by the unalterable frame of their constitutions are stout , others timorous some confident , others modest , tractable or obstinate , curious or careless . there are not more differences in men's faces , and the outward lineaments of their bodies , than there are in the makes and tempers of their minds , only there is this difference , that the distinguishing characters of the face , and the lineaments of the body grow more plain and visible with time and age , but the peculiar physiognomy of the mind is most discernable in children , before art and cunning hath taught them to hide their deformities and conceal their ill inclinations under a dissembled out-side . § . 97 , begin therefore betimes nicely to observe your son's temper , and that when he is under least restraint . see what are his predominant passions and prevailing inclinations , whether he be fierce or mild , bold or bashful , compassionate or cruel , open or reserv'd , &c. for as these are different in him , so are your methods to be different , and your authority must hence take measures to apply it self different ways to him . these native propensions , these prevalencies of constitution are not to be cured by rules , or a direct contest , especially those of them that are the humbler and meaner sort , that proceed from fear and lowness of spirit ; though with art they may be much mended , and turned to good purposes . but this , be sure , after all is done , the byas will always hang on that side , that nature first placed it : and if you carefully observe the characters of this mind now in the first scenes of his life , you will ever after be able to judge , which way his thoughts lean , and what he aims at , even hereafter , when , as he grows up , the plot thickens , and he puts on several shapes to act it . § . 98. i told you before that children love liberty , and therefore they should be brought to do the things are fit for them , without feeling any restraint laid upon them . i now tell you , they love some thing more , and that is dominion , and this is the first original of most vicious habits , that are ordinary and natural . this love of power and dominion shews it self very early and that in these two things : § . 99. 1. we see children ( as soon almost as they are born ( i am sure long before they can speak ) cry , grow peevish , sullen , and out of humour , for nothing but to have their wills. they would have their desires submitted to by others ; they contend for a ready complyance from all about them , especially from those that stand near or beneath them in age or degree , as soon as they come to consider others with those distinctions . § . 100. another thing wherein they shew their love of dominion , is , their desire to have things to be theirs ; they would have propriety and possession , pleasing themselves with the power that seems to give , and the right they thereby have to dispose of them as they please . he , that has not observed these two humours working very betimes in children , has taken little notice of their actions : and he , that thinks that these two roots of almost all the injustice and contention , that so disturb humane life , are not early to be weeded out , and contrary habits introduced , neglects the proper season to lay the foundations of a good and worthy man. to do this , i imagine , these following things may somewhat conduce . § . 101. 1. that a child should never be suffered to have what he craves , or so much as speaks for , much less if he cries for it . what then , would you not have them declare their wants ? yes , that is very fit ; and 't is as fit , that with all tenderness they should be hearken'd to , and supplied , at least whilst they are very little . but 't is one thing to say , i am hungry ; another to say , i would have roast-meat . having declared their wants , their natural wants , the pain they feel from hunger , thirst , cold , or any other necessity of nature , 't is the duty of their parents , and those about them , to relieve them : but children must leave it to the choice and ordering of their parents , what they think properest for them , and how much ; and must not be permitted to chuse for themselves , and say , i would save wine , or white-bread ; the very naming of it should make them lose it . § . 102. this is for natural wants , which must be relieved : but for all wants of fancy and affectation , they should never , if once declar'd , be hearken'd to , or complied with . by this means they will be brought to get a mastery over their inclinations , and learn the art of stifling their desires , as soon as they rise up in them , and before they take vent , when they are easiest to be subdued , which will be of great use to them in the future course of their lives . by this i do not mean , that they should not have the things , that one perceives would delight them : 't would be inhumanity , and not prudence , to treat them so . but they should not have the liberty to carve , or crave any thing to themselves ; they should be exercised in keeping ; their desires under , till they have got the habit of it , and it be grown easie ; they should accustom themselves to be content in the want of what they wished for : and the more they practised modesty and temperance in this , the more should those about them study to reward them with what is suited and acceptable to them : which should be bestowed on them , as if it were a natural consequence of their good-behaviour , and not a bargain about it . but you will lose your labour , and what is more , their love and reverence too , if they can receive from others , what you deny them . this is to be kept very stanch , and carefully to be watched . and here the servants come again in my way . § . 103. if this be begun betimes , and they accustom themselves early to silence their desires , this usefull habit will settle in them ; and as they come to grow up in age and discretion , they may be allowed greater liberty , when reason comes to speak in them , and not passion . for when ever reason would speak , it should be hearken'd to . but as they should never be heard , when they speak for any thing they would have , unless it be first , proposed to them ; so they should always be heard , and fairly and kindly answered , when they ask after any thing they would know , and desire to be inform'd about . curiosity should be as carefully cherished in children , as other appetites suppressed . § . 104. 2. children who live together often strive for mastery , whose will shall carry it over the rest ; whoever begins the contest , should be sure to be crossed in it : but not only that , but they should be taught to have all the deference , complaisance , and civility one for another imaginable . this when they see it procures them respect , and that they lose no superiority by it ; but on the contrary , they grow into love , and esteem with every body , they will take more pleasure in , than in insolent domineering ; for so plainly is the other . the complaints of children one against another , which is usually but the desiring the assistance of another to revenge them , should not be favourably received , nor hearken'd to : it weakens and effeminates their minds to suffer them to complain : and if they endure sometimes crossing , or pain from others , without being permitted to think it strange or intolerable , it will do them no harm to learn sufferance , and hearden them early . but though you give no countenance to the complaints of the querulous , yet take care to suppress all insolence and ill-nature . when you observe it your self , reprove it before the injured party : but if the complaint be of something really worthy your notice , and prevention another time , then reprove the offender by himself alone , out of sight of him that complained , and make him go and ask pardon , and make reparation . which coming thus , as it were , from himself , will be the more cheerfully performed , and more kindly received , the love strengthened between them , and a custom of civility grow familiar amongst your children . § . 105. 3. as to the having and possessing of things , teach them to part with what they have easily and freely to their friends ; and let them find by experience , that the most liberal has always most plenty , with esteem and commendation to boot , and they will quickly learn to practise it . this i imagine will make brothers and sisters kinder and civiller to one another , and consequently to others , than twenty rules about good manners , with which children are ordinarily perplexed and cumbred . covetousness and the desire of having in our possession , and under our dominion , more than we have need of , being the root of all evil , should be early and carefully weeded out , and the contrary quality of a readiness to impart to others , implanted . this should be encouraged by great commendation and credit , and constantly taking care , that he loses nothing by his liberality . let all the instances he gives of such freeness be always repaid , and with interest ; and let him sensibly perceive , that the kindness he shows to others , is no ill husbandry for himself , but that it brings a return of kindness both from those that receive it , and those who look on . make this a contest among children , who shall out-do one another this way ; and by this means , by a constant practice , children having made it easie to themselves to part with what they have , good nature may be setled in them into an habit , and they may take pleasure and pique themselves in being kind , liberal , and civil to others . § . 106. crying is a fault that should not be tolerated in children , not only for the unpleasant and unbecoming noise it fills the house with , but for more considerable reasons in reference to the children themselves , which is to be our aim in education . their crying is of two sorts ; either stubborn and domineering , or querulous and whining . 1. their crying is very often a contention for mastery , and an open declaration of their insolence , or obstinacy , when they have not the power to obtain their desire , they will by their clamour and sobbing , maintain their title and right to it . this is an open justifying themselves , and a sort of remonstrance of the unjustness of the oppression , which denies them , what they have a mind to . § . 107. 2. sometimes their crying is the effect of pain , or true sorrow , and a bemoaning themselves under it . these two if carefully observed may by the mien , looks and actions , and particularly by the tone of their crying be easily distinguished , but neither of them must be suffer'd , much less incourag'd . 1. the obstinate or stomachful crying should by no means be permitted , because it is but another way of flattering their desires , and incouraging those passions , which 't is our main business to subdue : and if it be , as often it is , upon the receiving any correction , it quite defeats all the good effects of it : for a punishment , which leaves them in this declar'd opposition , only serves to make them worse . the restraints and punishments laid on children are all misapplied and lost , as far as they do not prevail over their wills , teach them to submit their passions , and make their minds supple and pliant , to what their parents reason advises them now , and so prepare them to obey , what their own reasons shall advise hereafter . but if , in any thing wherein they are crossed , they may be suffer'd to go away crying , they confirm themselves in their desires , and cherish the ill humour with a declaration of their right , and a resolution to satisfy their inclination the first opportunity . this therefore is another reason why you should seldom chastise your children , for , whenever you come to that extremity , 't is not enough to whipp or beat them , you must do it till you find you have subdued their minds ; till with submission and patience they yield to the correction , which you shall best discover by their crying and their ceasing from it upon your bidding . without this , the beating of children is but a passionate tyranny over them , and it is mere cruelty and not correction to put their bodies in pain , without doing their minds any good . as this gives us a reason why children should seldom be corrected , so it also prevents their being so . for if when-ever they are chastised , it were done thus without passion , soberly and yet effectually too , laying on the blows and smart not all at once , but slowly , with reasoning between , and with observation how it wrought , stopping when it had made them pliant , penitent and yielding ; they would seldom need the like punishment again , being made carefull to avoid the fault , that deserved it . besides , by this means , as the punishment would not be lost for being too little and not effectual , so it would be kept from being too much , if we gave off , as soon as we perceived , that it reach'd the mind , and that was better'd . for since the chiding or beating of children should be always the least , that possible may be ; that which is laid on in the heat of anger , seldom observes that measure , but is commonly more than it should be , though it prove less than enough . § . 108. 2. many children are apt to cry upon any little pain they suffer , and the least harm that befals them puts them into complaints and bawling . this few children avoid , for it being the first and natural way to declare their sufferings or wants , before they can speak , the compassion that is thought due to that tender age , foolishly incourages and continues it in them long after they can speak . 't is the duty , i confess , of those about children to compassionate them , when-ever they suffer any hurt ; but not to shew it in pitying them . help and ease them the best you can , but by no means bemoan them . this softens their minds , and makes the little harms , that happen to them , sink deep into that part , which alone feels ; and make larger wounds there , than otherwise they would . they should be harden'd against all sufferings , especially of the body , and have a tenderness only of shame and for reputation . the many inconveniencies this life is exposed to , require we should not be too sensible of every little hurt . what our minds yield not to , makes but a slight impression , and does us but very little harm : 't is the suffering of our spirits that gives and continues the pain . this brawniness and insensibility of mind is the best armour , we can have , against the common evils and accidents of life ; and being a temper that is to be got by exercise and custom , more than any other way , the practice of it should be begun betimes , and happy is he that is taught it early . that effeminacy of spirit , which is to be prevented or cured , as nothing , that i know , so much increases in children as crying , so nothing , on the other side , so much checks and restrains , as their being hindred from that sort of complaining . in the little harms they suffer from knocks and falls , they should not be pitied for falling , but bid do so again , which is a better way to cure their falling , than either chiding or bemoaning them . but let the hurts they receive , be what they will , stop their crying , and that will give them more quiet and ease at present , and harden them for the future . § . 109. the former sort of crying requires severity to silence it , and where a look or a positive command will not do it , blows must . for it proceeding from pride , obstinacy , and wilfullness , the will , where the fault lies , must be bent , and made to comply by a rigour sufficient to subdue it : but this latter being ordinarily from softness of mind , a quite contrary cause , ought to be treated with a gentler hand . persuasion , or diverting the thoughts another way , or laughing at their whining , may perhaps be at first the proper method . but for this the circumstances of the thing , and the particular temper of the child must be considered ; no certain unvariable rules can be given about it , but it must be left to the prudence of the parents or tutor . but this i think i may say in general , that there should be a constant discountenancing of this sort of crying also ; and that the father by his looks , words and authority , should always stop it , mixing a greater degree of roughness in his looks or words , proportionably as the child is of a greater age , or a sturdier temper : but always let it be enough to master the disorder . § . 110. one thing i have frequently observed in children , that when they have got possession of any poor creature , they are apt to use it ill : they often torment , and treat very roughly young birds , butterflies , and such other poor animals , which fall into their hands , and that with a seeming kind of pleasure . this i think should be watched in them , and if they incline to any such cruelty ; they should be taught the contrary usage . for the custom of tormenting and killing of beasts will , by degrees , harden their minds even towards men ; and they who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferiour creatures , will not be apt to be very compassionate or benigne to those of their own kind . our practice takes notice of this in the exclusion of butchers from juries of life and death . children should from the beginning be bred up in an abhorrence of killing , or tormenting any living creature ; and be taught not to spoil or destroy any thing , unless it be for the preservation or advantage of some other that is : nobler . and truly , if the preservation of all mankind , as much as in him lies , were every one's persuasion , as indeed it is every one's duty , and the true principle to regulate our religion , politicks and morality by , the world would be much quieter , and better natur'd than it is . but to return to our present business , i cannot but commend both the kindness and prudence of a mother i knew , who was wont always to indulge her daughters , when any of them desired dogs , squirils , birds or any such things , as young girls use to be delighted with . but then , when they had them , they must be sure to keep them well , and look diligently after them , that they wanted nothing , or were not ill used : for if they were negligent in their care of them , it was counted a great fault , which often forfeited their possession , or at least they fail'd not to be rebuked for it ; whereby they were early taught diligence and good nature . and indeed , i think people should be accustomed , from their cradles , to be tender to all sensible creatures , and to spoil or waste nothing at all . this delight they take in doing of mischief , whereby i mean spoiling of any thing to no purpose ; but more especially the pleasure they take to put any thing in pain , that is capable of it , i cannot persuade my self to be any other than a foreign and introduced disposition , an habit borrowed from custom and conversation . people teach children to strike , and laugh , when they hurt , or see harm come to others : and they have the examples of most about them , to confirm them in it . all the entertainments and talk of history is of nothing almost but fighting and killing : and the honour and renown , that is bestowed on conquerours ( who for the most part are but the great butchers of mankind ) farther misleads growing youth , who by this means come to think slaughter the laudable business of mankind , and the most heroick vertue . this custom plants unnatural appetites , and reconciles us to that , which it has laid in the way of honour . thus by fashion and opinion that comes to be a pleasure , which in it self neither is ; nor can be any . this ought carefully to be watched , and early remedied , so as to settle and cherish the contrary and more natural temper of benignity and compassion in the room of it : but still by the same gentle methods , which are to be applied to the other two faults before mentioned . but pray remember , that the mischiefs , or harms , that come by play , inadvertency , or ignorance , and were not known to be harms , or designed for mischief's sake , though they may perhaps be sometimes of considerable damage , yet are not at all , or but very gently to be taken notice of . for this , i think , i cannot too often inculcate , that whatever miscarriage a child be guilty of , and whatever be the consequence of it , the thing to be regarded in taking notice of it , is only , what root it springs from , and what habit it is like to establish ; and to that the correction ought to be directed , and the child not to suffer any punishment for any harm may have come by his play or inadvertency . the faults to be amended lie in the mind ; and if they are such as either age will cure , or no ill habits will follow from the present action , whatever displeasing circumstances it may have , is to be passed by without any animadversion . § . 111. curiosity in children ( which i had occasion just to mention § . 103 ) is but an appetite after knowledge , and therefore ought to be encouraged in them , not only as a good sign , but as the great instrument , nature has provided , to remove that ignorance they were born with ; and which , without this busie inquisitiveness , will make them dull and useless creatures . the ways to encourage it , and keep it active and vigorous , are , i suppose , these following : 1. not to check or discountenance any enquiries he shall make , nor suffer them to be laugh'd at ; but to answer all his questions , and explain the matters , he desires to know , so , as to make them as much intelligible to him , as suits the capacity of his age and knowledge . but confound not his understanding with explications or notions , that are above it , or with the variety or number of things , that are not to his present purpose . mark what 't is his mind arms at in the question , and not what words he expresses it in : and when you have informed and satisfied him in that , you shall see how his thoughts will proceed on to other things , and how by fit answers to his enquiries , he may be led on farther than perhaps you could imagine : for knowledge to the understanding is acceptable , as light to the eyes ; and children are pleased and delighted with it exceedingly , especially if they see , that their enquiries are regarded , and that their desire of knowing is encouraged and commended . and i doubt not , but one great reason , why many children abandon themselves wholly to silly play , and spend all their time in trifling , is , because they have found their curiosity bauk'd , and their enquiries neglected . but had they been treated with more kindness and respect , and their questions answered , as they should , to their satisfaction , i doubt not , but they would have taken more pleasure in learning and improving their knowledge , wherein there would be still newness and variety , which is what they are delighted with , than in returning over and over to the same play and play-things . § . 112. 2. to this serious answering their questions , and informing their understandings , in what they desire , as if it were a matter that needed it , should be added some peculiar ways of commendation . let others whom they esteem , be told before their faces of the knowledge they have in such and such things ; and since we are all , even from our cradles , vain and proud creatures , let their vanity be flattered with things , that will do them good ; and let their pride set them on work on something which may turn to their advantage . upon this ground you shall find , that there cannot be a greater spur to the attaining what you would have the eldest learn , and know himself , than to set him upon teaching it his younger brothers and sisters . § . 113. 3. as children's enquiries are not to be slighted ; so also great care is to be taken that they never receive deceitful and eluding answers . they easily perceive when they are slighted , or deceived , and quickly learn the trick of neglect , dissimulation , and falshood , which they observe others to make use of . we are not to intrench upon truth in any conversation , but least of all with children ; since if we play false with them , we not only deceive their expectation , and hinder their knowledge , but corrupt their innocence , and teach them the worst of vices . they are travellers newly arrived in a strange country , of which they know nothing : we should therefore make conscience not to mis-lead them . and though their questions seem sometimes not very material , yet they should be seriously answer'd : for however they may appear to us ( to whom they are long since known ) enquiries not worth the making , they are of moment to those who are wholly ignorant . children are strangers to all we are acquainted with ; and all the things they meet with , are at first unknown to them , as they once were to us ; and happy are they who meet with civil people , that will comply with their ignorance , and help them to get out of it . if you or i now should be set down in japan , with all our prudence and knowledge about us , a conceit whereof makes us perhaps so apt to slight the thoughts and enquiries of children ; should we , i say , be set down in japan , we should , no doubt ( if we would inform our selves of what is there to be known ) ask a thousand questions , which , to a supercilious or inconsiderable japaner , would seem very idle and impertinent ; and yet to us would be natural : and we should be glad to find a man so kind and humane , as to answer them , and instruct our ignorance . when any new thing comes in their way , children usually ask , the common question of a stranger , what is it ? whereby they ordinarily mean nothing but the name ; and therefore to tell them how it is call'd , is usually the proper answer to that demand . the next question usually is , what is it for ? and to this it should be answered truly and directly ; the use of the thing should be told , and the way explained , how it serves to such a purpose , as far as their capacities can comprehend it : and so of any other circumstances they shall ask about it , not turning them going , till you have given them all the satisfaction they are capable of ; and so leading them by your answers into farther questions . and perhaps to a grown man , such conversation will not be altogether so idle and insignificant , as we are apt to imagine . the native and untaught suggestions of inquisitive children , do often offer things , that may set a considering man's thoughts on work . and i think there is frequently more to be learn'd from the unexpected questions of a child , than the discourses of men , who talk in a road according to the notions they have borrowed , and the prejudices of their education . § . 114. 4. perhaps it may not sometimes be amiss to excite their curiosity , by bringing strange and new things in their way on purpose to engage their enquiry , and give them occasion to inform themselves about them : and if by chance their curiosity leads them to ask , what they should not know , it is a great deal better to tell them plainly , that it is a thing that belongs not to them to know , than to pop them off with a falshood , or a frivolous answer . § . 115. pertness , that appears sometimes so early , proceeds from a principle , that seldom accompanies a strong constitution of body , or ripens into a strong judgment of mind . if it were desirable to have a child a more brisk talker , i believe there might be ways found to mak him so : but , i suppose , a wise father had rather that his son should be able and useful when a man , than pretty company , and a diversion to others , whilst a child . though if that too were to be consider'd , i think i may say there is not so much pleasure to have a child prattle agreeably , as to reason well . encourage therefore his inquisitiveness all you can , by satisfying his demands , and informing his judgment as far as it is capable . when his reasons are any way tolerable , let him find the credit and commendation of it ; and when they are quite out of the way , let him , without being laugh'd at for his mistake , be gently put into the right ; and take care as much as you can , that in this inclination , he shews to reasoning about every thing , no body bauk , or inpose upon him . for when all is done , this , as the highest and most important faculty of our minds , deserves the greatest care and attention in cultivating it ; the right improvement and exercise of our reason , being the highest perfection that a man can attain to in this life . § . 116. contrary to this busie inquisitive temper there is sometimes observable in children , a listless carelesness , a want of regard to any thing , and a sort of trifling even at their business . this sauntring humour i look on as one of the worst qualities can appear in a child , as well as one of the hardest to be cured where it is natural . but it being liable to be mistaken in some cases , care must be taken to make a right judgment concerning that trifling at their books or business , which may sometimes be complained of in a child . upon the first suspicion a father has , that his son is of a sauntring temper , he must carefully observe him , whether he be listless and indifferent in all his actions , or whether in some things alone he be slow and sluggish , but in others vigorous and eager . for though he find that he does loyter at his book , and let a good deal of the time he spends in his chamber or study run idly away , he must not presently conclude , that this is from a sauntring humour in his temper . it may be childishness , and a preferring something to his study which his thoughts run on ; and he dislikes his book , as is natural , because it is forced upon him as a task . to know this perfectly , you must watch him at play , when he is out of his place and time of study following his own inclinations , and see there , whether he be vigorous and active ; whether he designs any thing , and with labour and eagerness pursues it , till he has accomplished what he aimed at ; or whether he lazily and listlesly dreams away his time . if this sloth be only , when he is about his book , i think it may be easily cured . if it be in his temper it will require a tittle more pains and attention to remedy it . § . 117. if you are satisfied by his earnestness at play or any thing else , he sets his mind on , in the intervals between his hours of business , that he is not of himself inclin'd to laziness , but only want of relish of his book makes him negligent and sluggish in his application to it . the first step is to try by talking to him kindly of the folly and inconvenience of it , whereby he loses a good part of his time which he might have for his diversion ; but be sure to talk calmly and kindly , and not much at first , but only these plain reasons in short . if this prevails you have gain'd the point by the most desirable remedy , which is reason and kindness . if it prevails not , try to shame him out of it , by laughing at him for it , asking every day , if there be no strangers there , when he comes to table , how long he was that day about his business , and if he has not done it in the time he might be well supposed to have dispatch'd it , expose and turn him into ridicule for it , but mix no chiding , only put on a pretty cold brow towards him , and keep it till he reform and let his mother . tutor and all about him do so too . if this work not the effect you desire , then tell him , he shall be no longer troubled with a tutor , to take care of his education , you will not be at the charge to have him spend his time idly with him ; but since he preferrs this or that [ whatever play he delights in ] to his book , that only he shall do , and so in earnest set him on work on his beloved play , and keep him steadily and in earnest to it morning and afternoon , till he be fully surfeited , and would at any rate change it for some hours at his book again . but when you thus set him a task of his play , you must be sure to look after him your self , or set some-body else to do it , that may constantly see him employ'd in it , and that he be not permitted to be idle at that too . i say , your self look after him , for it is worth the father's while , whatever business he has , to bestow two or three days upon his son , to cure fo great a mischief as is sauntring at his business . § . 118. this is what i propose , if it be idleness not from his general temper , but a peculiar or acquir'd aversion to learning , which you must be careful to examine and distinguish , which you shall certainly know by the way above propos'd . but though you have your eyes upon him , to watch what he does , with the time he has at his own disposal , yet you must not let him perceive , that you , or any body else do so . for that may restrain him from following his own inclination , and that being the thing his head or heart is upon , and not daring to prosecute it for fear of you , he may forbear doing other things , and so seem to be idle and negligent ; when in truth it is nothing , but being intent on that , which the fear of your eye or knowledge keeps him from executing . you must therefore , when you would try him , give full liberty : but let some body , whom you can trust , observe what he does , and it will be best he should have his play-day of liberty , when you , and all , that he may suspect to have an eye upon him , are abroad , that so he may without any check follow his natural inclination . thus by his employing of such times of liberty , you will easily discern , whether in be listlesness in his temper , or aversion to his book , that makes him saunter away his time of study . § . 119. if listlesness and drearning be his natural disposition . this unpromising temper is one of the hardest to be dealt with , because it generally carrying with it an indifferency for future things , may be attributed to want of fore-sight and want of desire : and how to plant or increase either of these , where nature has given a cold or contrary temper , is not i think very easie . as soon as it is perceived , the first thing to be done , is to find out his most predominate passion , and carefully examine , what it is , to which the greatest bent of his mind has the most steady and earnest tendency : and when you have found that , you must set that on work to excite his industry to any thing else . if he loves praise or play or fine cloths , &c. or , on the other side , dreads shame and disgrace , your displeasure , &c. whatever it be that he loves most , except it be sloth ( for that will never set him on work ) let that be made use of to excite him to activity . for in this listless temper , you are not to fear an excess of appetite ( as in all other cases ) by cherishing it : 't is that which you want , and therefore must labour to stir up and increase . for where there is no desire , there will be no industry . § . 120. if you have not hold enough upon him this way to stir up vigor and activity in him , you must imploy him in some constant bodily labour , whereby he may get an habit of doing something . the keeping him hard to some study were the better way to get him an habit of exercising and applying his mind : but because this is an invisible attention , and no body can tell , when he is , or is not idle at it , you must find bodily imployments for him , which he must be constantly busied in , and kept to : and if they have some little hardship and shame in them , it may not be the worse , to make them the sooner weary him , and desire to return to his book . but be sure , when you exchange his book for his other labour , set him such a task , to be done in such a time , as may allow him no opportunity to be idle : only after you have by this way brought him to be attentive and industrious at his book , you may , upon his dispatching his study within the time set him , give him , as a reward , some respit from his other labour , which you may diminish , as you find him grow more and more steddy in his application , and at last wholly take off , when his sauntring at his book is cured . § . 121. we formerly observed , that variety and freedom was that , that delighted children , and recommended their plays to them : and that therefore their book , or any thing , we would have them learn , should not be enjoined them as business . this their parents , tutors , and teachers are apt to forget ; and their impatience to have them busied in what is fit for them to do , suffers them not to deceive them into it ; but by the repeated injunctions they meet with , children quickly distinguish between what is required of them , and what not . when this mistake has once made his book uneasie to him , the cure is to be applied at the other end : and since it will be then too late to endeavour to make it a play to him , you must take the contrary course ; observe what play he is most delighted with ; enjoin that , and make him play so many hours every day , not as a punishment for playing , but as if it were the business required of him . this , if i mistake not , will , in a few days , make him so weary of his most beloved sport , that he will preferr his book , or any thing to it , especially if it may redeem him from any part of the task of play is set him , and he may be suffered to imploy some part of the time , destined to his task of play , in his book , or such other exercise as is really useful to him . this i at least think a better cure , than that forbidding ( which usually increases the desire ) or any other punishment should be made use of to remedy it . for when you have once glutted his appetite ( which may safely be done in all things but eating and drinking ) and made him surfeit of what you would have him avoid , you have put into him a principle of aversion , and you need not so much fear afterwards his longing for the same thing again . § . 122. this i think is sufficiently evident , that children generally hate to be idle . all the care then is , that their busie humour should be constantly imploy'd in something of use to them ; which if you will attain , you must make , what you would have them do , a recreation to them , and not a business . the way to do this , so that they may not perceive you have any hand in it , is this proposed here ; viz. to make them weary of that , which you would not have them do , by enjoyning , and making them under some pretence or other do it , till they are surfeited . for example : does your son play at top , and scourge too much ? enjoin him to play so many hours every day , and look that he do it ; and you shall see he will quickly be sick of it , and willing to leave it . by this means making the recreations you dislike a business to him , he will of himself with delight betake himself to those things , you would have him do , especially if they be proposed as rewards for having performed his task in that play is commanded him . for if he be ordered every day to whip his top so long as to make him sufficiently weary , do you not think he will apply himself with eagerness to his book , and wish for it , if you promise it him as a reward of having whipped his top lustily , quite out all the time that is set him ? children , in the things they do , if they comport with their age , find little difference so they may be doing ; the esteem they have for one thing above another , they borrow from others : so that what those about them make to be a reward to them , will really be so . by this art it is in their governour 's choice , whether scotch-hoppers shall reward their dancing , or dancing their scotch-hoppers ; whether peg-top , or reading ; playing at trap , or studying the globes , shall be more acceptable and pleasing to them . all that they desire being to be busie , and busie , as they imagine , in things of their own choice , and which they receive as favours from their parents , or others , for whom they have respect , and with whom they would be in credit . a sett of children thus ordered , and kept from the ill example of others , would all of them i suppose , with as much earnestness and delight , learn to read , write , and what else one would have them , as others do their ordinary plays : and the eldest being thus entered , and this made the fashion of the place , it would be as impossible to hinder them from learning the one , as it is ordinarily to keep them from the other . § . 123. play-things i think children should have , and of all sorts , but still to be in the keeping of their tutors , or some body else , whereof the child should have in his power but one at once , and should not be suffered to have another , but when he restor'd that . this teaches them betimes to be carefull of not losing , or spoiling the things they have , whereas plenty and variety in their own keeping , makes them wanton and carless , and teaches them from the beginning to be squanderers and wasters . these , i confess , are little things and such as will seem beneath the care of a governour ; but nothing , that may form children's minds , is to be over-look'd and neglected , and whatsoever introduces habits , and settles customs in them , deserves the care and attention of their governours , and is not a small thing in its consequences . § . 124. lying is so ready and cheap a cover for any miscarriage , and so much in fashion amongst all sorts of people , that a child can hardly avoid observing the use is made of it on all occasions ; and so can scare be kept , without great care , from getting into it : but it is so ill a quality , and the mother of so many ill ones that spawn from it , and take shelter under it , that a child should be brought up in the greatest abhorrence of it imaginable . it should be always ( when occasionally it comes to be mentioned ) spoke of before him with the utmost detestation , as a quality so wholly incompetent with a gentleman , that no body of any credit can bear the imputation of a lye , that it is proper only to beggar-boys , and the abhorr'd rascality , and not tolerable in any one , who would converse with people of condition , or have any esteem or reputationin the world : and the first time he is found in a lye , it should rather be wondered at as a monstrous thing in him , than reproved as an ordinary fault . if that keeps him not from relapsing , the next time he must be sharply rebuked , and fall into the state of great displeasure of his father and mother , and all about him , who take notice of it . and if this way work not the cure , you must come to blows . for after he has been thus warned , a premeditated lye must always be looked upon as obstinacy , and never be permitted to 'scape unpunished . § . 125. children , afraid to have their faults seen in their naked colours , will , like the rest of the sons of adam , be apt to make excuses . this is a fault usually bordering upon , and leading to untruth , and is not to be indulged in them . but yet it ought to be cured rather with shame than roughness . if therefore when a child is questioned for any thing , his first answer be an excuse , warn him soberly to tell the truth ; and then if he persists to shuffle it off with a falshood , he must be chastised . but if he directly confess , you must commend his ingenuity , and pardon the fault , be it what it will ; and pardon it so , that you never so much as reproach him with it , or mention it to him again . for if you would have him in love with ingenuity , and by a constant practice make it habitual to him , you must take care , that it never procure him the least inconvenience ; but on the contrary , his own confession bringing always with it perfect impunity , should be besides incouraged by some marks of approbation . if his excuse be such at any time , that you cannot prove it to have any falshood in it , let it pass for true , and be sure not to shew any suspicion of it . let him keep up his reputation with you as high as is possible ; for when once he finds he has lost that , you have lost a great and your best hold upon him . therefore let him not think he has the character of a liar with you , as long as you can avoid it without flattering him in it . thus some slips in truth may be over-looked . but after he has once been corrected for a lye , you must be sure never after to pardon it in him , when ever you find , and take notice to him , that he is guilty of it . for it being a fault , which he has been forbid , and may , unless he be wilful , avoid , the repeating of it is perfect perversness , and must have the chastisement due to that offence . § . 126. this is what i have thought concerning the general method of educating a young gentleman , which though i am apt to suppose may have some influence on the whole course of his education , yet i am far from magining it contains all those particulars , which his growing years , or peculiar temper may require . but this being premised in general , we shall in the next place descend to a more particular consideration of the several parts of his education . § . 127. that which every gentleman ( that takes any care of his education ) desires for his son , besides the estate he leaves him , is contain'd , i suppose , in these four things , virtue , wisdom , breeding and learning . i will not trouble my self whether these words do not some of them sometimes stand for the same thing , or really include one another . it serves my turn here to follow the popular use of these words , which i presume , is clear enough to make me be understood , and i hope there will be no difficulty to comprehend my meaning . § . 128. i place vertue as the first and most necessary of those endowments , that belong to a man or a gentleman , as absolutely requisite to make him valued and beloved by others , acceptable or tolerable to himself ; without that , i think , he will neither be happy in this , nor the other world. § . 129. as the foundation of this , there ought very early to be imprinted on his mind a true notion of god , as of the independent supreme being , author and maker of all things , from whom we receive all our good , that loves us , and gives us all things ; and consequent to it a love and reverence of him . this is enough to begin with , without going to explain this matter any farther , for fear , least , by talking too early to him of spirits , and being unseasonably forward to make him understand the incomprehensible nature of that infinite being , his head be either fill'd with false , or perplexed with unintelligible notions of him . let him only be told upon occasion of god , that made and governs all things , hears and sees every thing , and does all manner of good to those , that love and obey him . you will find that being told of such a god , other thoughts will be apt to rise up fast enough in his mind about him , which , as you observe them to have any mistakes , you must set right ; and i think it would be better if men generally rested in such an idea of god , without being too curious in their notions about a being , which all must acknowledge incomprehensible , whereby many , who have not strength and clearness of thought , to distinguish between what they can , and what they cannot know , run themselves into superstition or atheism , making god like themselves , or ( because they cannot comprehend any thing else ) none at all . § . 130. having by gentle degrees , as you find him capable of it , setled such an idea of god in his mind , and taught him to pray to him , forbear any discourse of other spirits , till the mention of them coming in his way upon occasion hereafter to be set down , and his reading the scripture-history , put him upon that enquiry . § . 131. but even then , and always whilst he is young , be sure to preserve his tender mind from all impressions and notions of sprites and goblins , or any fearful apprehensions in the dark . it being the usual method of servants to awe children , and keep them in subjection , by telling them of raw-head and bloody-bones , and such other names , as carry with them the idea's of some hurtful terrible things , inhabiting darkness . this must be carefully prevented . for though by this foolish way , they may keep them from little faults , yet the remedy is much worse than the disease , and there is stamped upon their minds idea's , that follow them with terror and affrightment . for such bug-bear thoughts once got into the tender minds of children , sink deep there , and fasten themselves so , as not easily , if ever , to be got out again , and whilst they are there , frequently haunt them with strange visions , making children dastards when alone , and afraid of their shadows and darkness all their lives after . for it is to be taken notice , that the first impressions sink deepest into the minds of children , and the notions , they are possess'd with when young , are scarce by any industry or art ever after quite wiped out . i have had those complain to me , when men , who had been thus used when young , that though their reason corrected the wrong idea's , they had then taken in ; and though they were satisfied , that there was no cause to fear invisible beings more in the dark , than in the light ; yet that these notions were apt still upon any occasion to start up first in their preposses'd fancies , and not to be removed without some pains . and to let you see , how lasting frightful images are , that take place in the mind early , i shall here tell you a pretty remarkable but true story . there was in a town in the west , a man of a disturb'd brain , whom the boys used to teaze , when he came in their way : this fellow one day seeing in the street one of those lads , that used to vex him , step'd into a cutlers shop he was near , and there seizing on a naked sword , made after the boy , who seeing him coming so armed , betook himself to his feet , and ran for his life ; and by good luck , had strength and heels enough to reach his father's house , before the mad-man could get up to him : the door was only latch'd , and when he had the latch in his hand , he turn'd about his head to see how near his pursuer was , who was at the entrance of the porch with his sword up ready to strike , and he had just time to get in and clap to the door to avoid the blow , which though his body escaped , his mind did not . this frightning idea made so deep an impression there , that it lasted many years , if not all his life after . for , telling this story when he was a man , he said , that after that time till then , he never went in at that door ( that he could remember ) at any time , without looking back , whatever business he had in his head , or how little soever , before he came thither , he thought of this mad-man . if children were let alone , they would be no more afraid in the dark , than of the broad sun-shine : they would in their turns as much welcome the one for sleep , as the other to play in : and there should be no distinction made to them by any discourse of more danger or terrible things in the one than the other ; but if the folly of any one about them should do them this harm , to make them think there is any difference between being in the dark and winking , you must , get it out of their minds as soon as you can , and let them know , that god , who made all things good for them , made the night that they might sleep the better and the quieter ; and that they being under his protection , there is nothing in the dark to hurt them . what is to be known more of god and good spirits , is to be deferr'd till the time we shall hereafter mention , and of evil spirits , 't will be well if you can keep him from wrong francies about them , till he is ripe for that sort of knowledge . § . 123. having laid the foundations of vertue in a true notion of a god , such as the creed wisely teaches , as far as his age is capable , and by accustoming him to pray to him . the next thing to be taken care of , is to keep him exactly to speaking of truth , and by all the ways imaginable , inclining him to be good natur'd . let him know that twenty paul●s are sooner to be forgiven than the straining of truth to cover any one by an excuse . and to teach him betimes to love , and be good natur'd to others , is to lay early the true foundation of an honest man : all injustice generally springing from too great love of our selves , and too little of others . this is all i shall say of this matter in general , and is enough for laying the first foundations of vertue in a child . as he grows up , the tendency of his natural inclination must be observed , which , as it inclines him , more than is convenient , on one or t'other side from the right path of vertue , ought to have proper remedies applied . for few of adam's children are so happy , as not to be born with some byass in their natural temper which it is the business of education either to take off , or counter-balance ; but to enter into the particulars of this , would be beyond the design of this short treatise of education . i intend not a discourse of all the vertues and vices , and how each vertue is to be attained , and every particular vice by its peculiar remedies cured . though i have mentioned some of the most ordinary faults , and the ways to be used in correcting them . § . 133. wisdom , i take in the popular acceptation , for a man's managing his business ablely , and with fore-sight in this world. this is the product of a good natural temper , application of mind , and experience together , and not to be taught children . the greatest thing that in them can be done towards it , is to hinder them , as much as may be , from being cunning , which being the ape of wisdom , is the most distant from it that can be , and as an ape , for the likeness it has to a man , wanting what really should make him so , is by so much the uglier . cunning is only the want of understanding , which , because it cannot compass its ends by direct ways , would do it by a trick and circumvention ; and the mischief of it is , a cunning trick helps but once , but hinders , ever after . no cover was ever made either so big or so fine as to hide its self . no body was ever so cunning as to conceal their being so ; and when they are once discovered , every body is shie , every body distrustful of crafty men , and all the world forwardly joyn to oppose and defeat them . whilst the open , fair , wise man has every body to make way for him , and goes directly to his business . to accustom a child to have true notions of things , and not to be satisfied till he has them . to raise his mind to great and worthy thoughts , and to keep him at a distance from falshood and cunning which has always a broad mixture of falshood in it , is the fittest preparation of a child for wisdom , which being to be learn'd from time , experience , and observation , and an acquaintance with men , their tempers , and designs , are not to be expected in the ignorance and inadvertency of childhood , or the inconsiderate heats and unwariness of youth : all that can be done towards it , during this unripe age , is , as i have said , to accufrom them to truth , and submission to reason ; and , as much as may be , to reflection on their own actions . § . 134. the next good quality belonging to a gentleman , is good breeding . there are two sorts of ill breeding , the one a sheepish bashfulness , and the other a mis-becoming negligence and disrespect in our carriage , both which are avoided by duly observing this one rule , not to think meanly of our selves , and not to think meanly of others . § . 135. the first part of this rule must not be understood in opposition to humility , but to assurance : we ought not to think so well of our selves , as to stand upon our own value , or assume a preference to others , because of any advantage , we may imagine , we have over them ; but modestly to take what is offered , when it is our due . but yet we ought to think so well of our selves , as to perform those actions , which are incumbent on , and expected of us , without discomposure , or disorder , in whose presence soever we are , keeping that respect and distance , which is due to every one's rank and quality . there is often in people , especially children , a clownish shamefac'dness before strangers , or those above them : they are confounded in their thoughts , words , and looks ; and so lose themselves in that confusion , as not to be able to do any thing , or at least not to do it with that freedom and gracefulness , which pleases , and makes them acceptable . the only cure for this , as for any other miscarriage , is by use to introduce the contrary habit. but since we cannot accustom our selves to converse with strangers , and persons of quality , without being in their company , nothing can cure this part of ill-breeding , but change and variety of company , and that of persons above us . § . 136. as the before-mentioned consists in too great a concern , how to behave our selves towards others ; so the other part of ill-breeding , lies in the appearance of too little care of pleasing , or shewing respect to those we have to do with . to avoid these , two things are requisite : first , a disposition of the mind not to offend others ; and , secondly , the most acceptable , and agreeable way of expressing that disposition . from the one , men are called civil ; from the other well fashion'd . the latter of these is , that decency and gracefullness of looks , voice , words , motions , gestures , and of all the whole outward demeanour , which pleases in company , and makes those easie and delighted , whom we converse with . this is , as it were , the language , whereby that internal civility of the mind is expressed ; and being very much governed by the fashion and custom of every country , as other languages are , must , in the rules and practice of it , be learn'd chiefly from observation , and the carriage of those , who are allow'd to be exactly well-bred . the other part , which lies in the mind , is that general good-will and regard for all people , which makes any one have a care not to shew , in his carriage , any contempt , disrespect , of neglect o them ; but to express according to the fashion and way of that country , a respect and value far them , according to their rank and condition . § . 137. there is another , fault in good manners , and that is excess of ceremony , and an obstinate persisting to force upon another , what is not his due , and what he cannot take without folly or shame . this seems rather a design to expose than oblige : or at least looks like a contest for mastery , and at best is but troublesome , and so can be no part of good breeding , which has no other use nor end , but to make people easie and satisfied in their conversation with us . this is a fault few young people are apt to fall into ; but yet if they are ever guilty of it , or are suspected to encline that way , they should be told of it , or warned of this mistaken civility . the thing they should endeavour and aim at in conversation , should be to shew respect , esteem , and good-will , by paying to every one that common ceremony and regard which is in civility due to them . to do this , without a suspicion of flattery , dissimulation , or meanness , is a great skill , which good sense , reason , and good company can only teach ; but is of so much use in civil life , that it is well worth the studying . § . 138. though the managing our selves well , in this part of our behaviour , has the name of good-breeding , as if peculiarly the effect of education ; yet , as i have said , young children should not be much perplexed about it ; i mean about putting off their hats , and making legs modishly . teach them humility , and to be good-natur'd , if you can , and this sort of manners will not be wanting : civility being , in truth , nothing but a care not to shew any slighting , or contempt , of any one in conversation . what are the most allow'd and esteem'd ways of expressing this , we have above observed . it is as peculiar and different , in several countries of the world , as their languages ; and therefore if it be rightly confidered , rules and discourses , made to children about it , are as useless and impertinent , as it would be now and then to give a rule or two of the spanish tongue , to one that converses only with english-men . be as busie as you please with discourses of civility to your son , such as is his company , such will be his manners . a plough-man of your neighbourhood , that has never been out of his parish , read what lectures you please to him , will be as soon in his language as his carriage a courtier ; that is , neither will be more polite than of those he uses to converse with : and therefore of this , no other care can be taken . and , in good earnest , if i were to speak my mind freely , so children do nothing out of obstinacy , pride , and ill-nature , 't is no great matter how they put off their hats , or make legs . if you can teach them to love and respect other people , they will , as their age requires it , find ways to express it acceptably to every one , according to the fashions they have been used to : and as to their motions and carriage of their bodies , a dancing-master , as has been said , when it is fit , will teach them what is most becoming . in the mean time , when they are young , people expect not that children should be over-mindful of these ceremonies ; carelesness is allow'd to that age , and becomes them as well as complements do grown people : or at least , if some very nice people will think it a fault , i am sure it is a fault , that should be over-look'd and left to time and conversation only to cure . and therefore i think it not worth your while to have your son ( as i often see children are ) molested or child about it : but where there is pride or ill-nature appearing in his carriage , there he must be persuaded or shamed out of it . § . 139. this that i have said here , if it were well reflected on , would , perhaps , lead us a little farther , and let us see of what influence company is . 't is not the modes of civility alone , that are imprinted by conversation : the tincture of company sinks deeper than the out-side ; and possibly if a true estimate were made of the morality and religions of the world , we should find , that the far greater part of mankind received even those opinions and ceremonies they would die for , rather from the fashions of their country , and the constant practice of those about them , than from any conviction of their reasons . i mention this only to let you see of what moment , i think , company is to your son , in all the parts of his life , and therefore how much that one part is to be weighed , and provided for ; it being of greater force to work upon him , than all you can do besides . § . 140. you will wonder , perhaps , that i put learning last , especially if i tell you i think it the least part . this will seem strange in the mouth of a bookish man ; and this making usually the chief , if not only bustle and stir about children , this being almost that alone , which is thought on , when people talk of education , makes it the greater paradox . when i consider what a-do is made about a little latin and greek , how many years are spent in it , and what a noise and business it makes to no purpose , i can hardly forbear thinking , that the parents of children still live in fear of the schoolmasters rod , which they look on as the only instrument of education , as a language or two to be its whole business . how else is it possible that a child should be chain'd to the oar , seven , eight , or ten of the best years of his life to get a language or two , which i think , might be had at a great deal cheaper rate of pains and time , and be learn'd almost in playing . forgive me therefore , if i say , i can not with patience think , that a young gentleman should be put into the herd , and be driven with whip and scourge , as if he were to run the gantlet through the several classes , ad capiendum ingenii cultum . what then , say you , would you not have him write and read ? shall he be more ignorant than the clerk of our parish , who takes hopkins and sternhold for the best poets in the world , whom yet he makes worse , than they are , by his ill reading ? not so , not so fast , i beseech you . reading , and writing , and learning , i allow to be necessary , but yet not the chiefest business . i imagine you would think him a very foolish fellow , that should not value a vertuous or a wise man , infinitely before a great scholar : not but that i think learning a great help to both in well dispos'd minds ; but yet it must be confess'd also , that in others not so dispos'd , it helps them only to be the more foolish or worse men. i say this , that when you consider of the breeding of your son , and are looking out for a school-master , or a tutor , you would not have ( as is usual ) latin and logick only in your thoughts . learning must be had , but in the second place , as subservient only to greater qualities : seek out some-body , that may know how discreetly to frame his manners : place him in hands , where you may , as much as possible , secure his innocence cherish and nurse up the good , and gently correct and weed out any bad inclinations , and settle in him good habits . this is the main point , and this being provided for , learning , may be had into the bargain , and that , as i think , at a very easie rate , by methods that may be thought on . § . 141. when he can talk ; 't is time he should begin to learn to read . but as to this , give me leave here to inculcate again , what is very apt to be forgotten , viz. that a great ca●e is to be taken , that it be never made as a business to him , nor he look on it as a task . we naturally , as i said , even from our cradles , love liberty , and have therefore an aversion to many things , for no other reason , but because they are enjoyn'd us . i have always had a fancy , that learning might be made a play and recreation to children ; and that they might be brought to desire to be taught , if it were propos'd to them as a thing of honour , credit , delight and recreation , or as a reward for doing something else ; and if they were never chid or corrected for the neglect of it . that which confirms me in this opinion , is , that amongst the portugueses , 't is so much a fafhion , and emulation , amongst their children , to learn to read , and write , that they cannot hinder them from it : they will learn it one from another , and are as intent on it , as if it were forbidden them . i remember that being at a friend's house , whose younger son , a child in coats , was not easily brought to his book ( being taught to read at home by his mother ) i advised to try another way , then requiring it of him as his duty ; we therefore , in a discourse on purpose amongst our selves , in his hearing , but without taking any notice of him , declared , that it was the privilege and advantage of heirs and elder brothers , to be scholars ; that this made them fine gentlemen , and beloved by every body : and that for younger brothers , 't was a favour to admit them to breeding ; to be taught to read and write , was more than came to their share ; they might be ignorant bumpkins and clowns , if they pleased . this so wrought upon the child , that afterwards he desired to be taught ; would come himself to his mother to learn , and would not let his maid be quiet till she heard him his lesson . i doubt not but some way like this might be taken with other children ; and when their tempers are found , some thoughts be instilled into them , that might set them upon desiring of learning themselves , and make them seek it , as another sort of play or recreation . but then , as i said before , it must never be imposed as a task , nor made a trouble to them . there may be dice and play-things , with the letters on them , to teach children the alphabet by playing ; and twenty other ways may be found , suitable to their particular tempers , to make this kind of learning a sport to them . § . 142. thus children may be cozen'd into a knowledge of the letters ; be taught to read , without perceiving it to be any thing but a sport , and play themselves into that others are whipp'd for , children should not have any thing like work , or serious , laid on them ; neither their minds nor bodies will bear it . it injures their healths ; and their being forced and tied down to their books in an age at enmity with all such restraint , has , i doubt not , been the reason , why a great many have hated books and learning , all their lives after : 't is like a surfeit , that leaves an aversion behind not to be removed . § . 143. i have therefore thought , that if play-things were fitted to this purpose , as they are usually to none , contrivances might be made to teach children to read , whilst they thought they were only playing . for example , what if an ivory-ball were made like that of the royal-oak lottery , with thirty two sides , or one rather of twenty four , or twenty five sides ; and upon several of those sides pasted on an a , upon several others b , on others c , and on others d. i would have you begin with but these four letters , or perhaps only two at first ; and when he is perfect in them , then add another ; and so on till each side having one letter , there be on it the whole alphabet . this i would have others play with before him , it being as good a sort of play to lay a stake , who shall first throw an a or b , as who upon dice shall throw six or seven . this being a play amongst you , tempt him not to it , least you make it business ; for i would not have him understand 't is any thing but a play of older people , and i doubt not but he will take to it of himself . and that he may have the more reason to think it is a play , that he is sometimes in favour admitted to , when the play is done , the ball shall be laid up safe out of his reach , that so it may not , by his having it in his keeping at any time , grow stale to him . to keep up his eagerness to it , let him think it a game belonging to those above him : and when by this means he knows the letters , by changing them into syllables , he may learn to read , without knowing how he did so , and never have any chiding or trouble about it ; nor fall out with books , because of the hard usage and vexation they have caused him . children , if you observe them , take abundance of pains to learn several games , which if they should be enjoined them , they would abhorr as a task and business . i know a person of great quality ( more yet to be honoured for his learning and vertue , than for his rank and high place ) who by pasting on the six vowels ( for in our language y is one ) on the six sides of a die , and the remaining eighteen consonants on the sides of three other dice , has made this a play for his children , that he shall win , who at one cast throws most words on these four dice ; whereby his eldest son , yet in coats , has play'd himself into spelling with great eagerness , and without once having been child for it , or forced to it . § . 144. i have seen little girls exercise whole hours together , and take abundance of pains to be expert at dibstones , as they call it : whilst i have been looking on , i have thought , it wanted only some good contrivance , to make them employ all that industry about something that might be more useful to them ; and methinks 't is only the fault and negligence of elder people , that it is not so . children are much less apt to be idle , than men ; and men are to be blamed , if some part of that busie humour be not turned to useful things ; which might be made usually as delightful to them , as those they are employ'd in , if men would be but half so forward to lead the way , as these little apes would be to follow . i imagine some wise portuguese heretofore began this fashion amongst the children of his country , where , i have been told , as i said , it is impossible to hinder the children from learning to read and write : and in some parts of france they teach one another to sing and dance from the cradle . § . 145. the letters pasted upon the sides of the dice , or polygon , were best to be of the size of those of the folio bible to begin with , and none of them capital letters ; when once he can read what is printed in such letters , he will not long be ignorant of the great ones : and in the beginning , he should not be perplexed with variety ; with this die , also , you might have a play just like the royal-oak , which would be another variety , and play for cherries or apples , &c. § . 146. besides these , twenty other plays might be invented , depending on letters , which those , who like this way , may easily contrive and get made to this use if they will. but the four dice above-mentioned , i think so easy , and useful , that it will be hard to find any better , and there will be scarce need of any other . § . 147. thus much for learning to read , which let him never be driven to , nor chid for ; cheat him into it if you can , but make it not a business for him ; 't is better it be a year later before he can read , than that he should this way get an aversion to learning . if you have any contests with him , let it be in matters of moment , of truth , and good nature ; but lay no task on him about abc . use your skill to make his will supple and pliant to reason : teach him to love credit and commendation ; to abhor being thought ill or meanly of , especially by you and his mother , and then the rest will come all easily . but i think , if you will do that , you must not shackle and tie him up with rules about indifferent matters , nor rebuke him for every little fault , or perhaps some , that to others would seem great ones : but of this i have said enough already . § . 148. when by these gentle ways he begins to be able to read , some easy pleasant book suited to his capacity , should be put into his hands , wherein the entertainment , that he finds , might draw him on , and reward his pains in reading , and yet not such as should fill his head with perfectly useless trumpery , or lay the principles of vice and folly. to this purpose , i think , aesop's fables the best , which being stories apt to delight and entertain a child , may yet afford useful reflections to a grown man. and if his memory retain them all his life after , he will not repent to find them there amongst his manly thoughts , and serious business . if his aesop has pictures in it , it will entertain him much the better , and encourage him to read , when it carries the increase of knowledge with it . for such visible objects children hear talked of in vain and without any satisfaction , whilst they have no idea's of them ; those idea's being not to be had from sounds , but either the things themselves , or their pictures . and therefore i think , as soon as he begins to spell , as many pictures of animals should be got him , as can be found , with the printed names to them , which at the same time will invite him to read , and afford him matter of enquiry and knowledge . raynard the fox , is another book , i think , may be made use of to the same purpose . and if those about him will talk to him often about the stories he has read , and hear him tell them , it will , besides other advantages , add incouragement , and delight to his reading , when he finds there is some use and pleasure in it , which in the ordinary method , i think learners do not till late ; and so take books only for fashionable amuzements or impertinent troubles good for nothing . § . 149. the lord's prayer , the creeds , and ten commandments , 't is necessary he should learn perfectly by heart , but i think , not by reading them himself in his primer , but by some-body's repeating them to him , even before he can read . but learning by heart , and learning to read , should not i think be mixed , and so one made to clog the other . but his learning to read should be made as little trouble or business to him as might be . what other books there are in english of the kind of those above-mentioned , fit to engage the liking of children , and tempt them to read , i do not know : but am apt to think that children , being generally delivered over to the method of schools , where the fear of the rod is to inforce , and not any pleasure of the imployment to invite them to learn , this sort of useful books amongst the number of silly ones , that are of all sorts , have yet had the fate to be neglected ; and nothing that i know has been consider'd of this kind out of the ordinary road of the horn-book , primer , psalter , testament , and bible . § . 150. as for the bible , which children are usually imploy'd in , to exercise and improve their talent in reading , i think , the promiscuous reading of it through , by chapters , as they lie in order , is so far from being of any advantage to children , either for the perfecting their reading , or principling their religion , that perhaps a worse could not be found . for what pleasure or incouragement can it be to a child to exercise himself in reading those parts of a book , where he understands nothing ? and how little are the law of moses , the song of solomon , the prophecies in the old , and the epistles and apocalypse in the new testament , suited to a child's capacity ? and though the history of the evangelists , and the acts , have something easier ; yet taken altogether , it is very disproportionate to the understanding of childhood . i grant , that the principles of religion are to be drawn from thence , and in the words of the scripture : yet none should be propos'd to a child , but such , as are suired to a child's capacity and notions . but 't is far from this to read through the whole bible , and that for reading's sake . and what an odd jumble of thoughts must a child have in his head , if he have any at all such as he should have concerning religion , who in his tender age , reads all the parts of the bible indifferently , as the word of god without any other distinction . i am apt to think , that this in some men has been the very reason , why they never had clear and distinct thoughts of it all their life-time . § . 151. and now i am by chance fallen on this subject , give me leave to say , that there are some parts of the scripture , which may be proper to be put into the hands of a child , to ingage him to read ; such as are the story of joseph , and his brethren , of david and goliah , of david and jonathan , &c. and others , that he should be made to read for his instruction , as that , what you would have others do unto you , do you the same unto them ; and such other easy and plain-moral rules , which being fitly chosen , might often be made use of , both for reading and instruction together : but the reading of the whole scripture indifferently , is what i think very inconvenient for children , till after having been made acquainted with the plainest fundamental parts of it , they have got some kind of general view of what they ought principally to believe and practise , which yet , i think , they ought to receive in the very words of the scripture , and not in such , as men prepossess'd by systems and analogies , are apt in this case to make use of , and force upon them . dr. worthington , to avoid this , has made a catechism , which has all its answers in the precise words of the scripture . a thing of good example , and such a sound form of words , as no christian can except against , as not fit for his child to learn , of this , as soon as he can say the lord's prayer , creed , and ten commandments by heart , it may be fit for him to learn a question every day , or every week , as his understanding is able to receive , and his memory to retain them . and when he has this catechism perfectly by heart , so as readily and roundly to answer to any question in the whole book , it may be convenient to lodge in his mind the moral rules scattered up and down in the bible , as the best exercise of his memory , and that which may be always a rule to him ready at hand , in the whole conduct of his life . § . 152. when he can read english well , it will be seasonable to enter him in writing : and here the first thing should be taught him is , to hold his pen right ; and this he should be perfect in , before he should be suffered to put it to paper : for not only children , but any body else , that would do any thing well , should never be put upon too much of it at once , or be set to perfect themselves in two parts of an action at the same time , if they can possibly be separated . when he has learn'd to hold his pen right ( to hold it betwixt the thumo and fore-finger alone , i think best ; but in this , you should consult some good writing-master , or any other person who writes well and quick ) then next he should learn how to lay his paper , and place his arm and body to it . these practices being got over , the way to teach him to write , without much trouble , is to get a plate graved , with the characters of such an hand as you like best : but you must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than he should ordinarily write ; for every one naturally comes by digrees to write a less hand , than he at first was taught , but never a bigger . such a plate being graved , let several sheets of good writing-paper be printed off with red ink , which he has nothing to do but to go over with a good pen fill'd with black ink , which will quickly bring his hand to the formation of those characters , being at first shewed where to begin , and how to form every letter . and when he can do that well , he must then exercise on fair paper ; and so may easily be brought to write the hand you desire . § . 153. when he can write well , and quick , i think it may be convenient , not only to continue the exercise of his hand in writing , but also to improve the use of it farther in drawing , a thing very useful to a gentleman in several occasions ; but especially if he travel , as that which helps a man often to express , in a few lines well put together , what a whole sheet of paper in writing , would not be able to represent , and make intelligible . how many buildings may a man see , how many machines and habits meet with , the idea's whereof would be easily retain'd and communicated , by a little skill in drawing ; which being committed to words , are in danger to be lost , or at best but ill retained in the most exact descriptions ? i do not mean , that i would have your son a perfect painter ; to be that to any tolerable degree , will require more time than a young gentleman can spare from his other improvements of greater importance : but so much insight into perspective , and skill in drawing , as will enable him to represent tolerably on paper any thing he sees , except faces , may , i think , be got in a little time , especially if he have a genius to it : but where that is wanting , unless it be in things absosutely necessary , it is better to let him pass them quietly , than to vex him about them to no purpose : and therefore in this , as in all other things not absolutely necessary , the rule holds , nihil invita minerva . § . 154. as soon as he can speak english , 't is time for him to learn some other language : this no body doubts of , when french is proposed . and the reason is , because people are accustomed to the right way of teaching that language : which is by talking it into children in constant conversation , and not by grammatical rules . the latin tongue would easily be taught the same way if his tutor , being constantly with him , would talk nothing else to him , and make him answer still in the same language . but because french is a living language , and to be used more in speaking , that should be first learn'd , that the yet pliant organs of speech might be accustomed to a due formation of those sounds , and he get the habit of pronouncing french well , which is the harder to be done the longer it is delay'd . § . 155. when he can speak and read french well , which in this method is usually in a year or two , he should proceed to latin , which 't is a wonder parents , when they have had the experiment in french , should not think ought to be learn'd the same way , by talking and reading . only care is to be taken whilst he is learning these foreign languages , by speaking and reading nothing else with his tutor , that he do not forget to read english , which may be preserv'd by his mother , or some-body else , hearing him read some chosen parts of the scripture , or other english book every day . § . 156. latin , i look upon as absolutely necessary to a gentleman , and indeed , custom , which prevails over every thing , has made it so much a part of education , that even those children are whipp'd to it , and made spend many hours of their precious time uneasily in latin , who , after they are once gone from school , are never to have more to do with it as long as they live . can there be any thing more ridiculous , than that a father should waste his own money , and his son's time , in setting him to learn the roman language , when at the same time he designs him for a trade , wherein he having no use of latin , fails not to forget that little , which he brought from school , and which 't is ten to one he abhorrs , for the ill usage it procur'd him ? could it be believ'd , unless we had every where amongst us examples of it , that a child should be forced to learn the rudiments of a language , which he is never to use in the course of life , he is designed to , and neglect all the while the writing a good hand , and casting account , which are of great advantage in all conditions of life , and to most trades indispensibly necessary ? but though these qualifications , requisite to trade and commerce , and the business of the world , are seldom or never to be had at grammar schools , yet thither , not only gentlemen send their younger sons , intended for trades ; but even tradesmen and farmers fail not to send their children , though they have neither intention nor ability to make them scholars . if you ask them why they do this , they think it as strange a question , as if you should ask them , why they go to church . custom serves for reason , and has to those who take it for reason , so consecrated this method , that it is almost religiously observed by them , and they stick to it as if their children had scarce an orthodox education unless they learn'd lily's grammar . § . 157. but how necessary soever latin be to some , and is thought to be to others , to whom it is of no manner of use or service ; yet the ordinary way of learning it in a grammar school is that , which having had thoughts about i cannot be forward to encourage . the reasons against it are so evident , and cogent , that they have prevailed with some intelligent persons , to quit the ordinary road , not without success , though the method made use of , was not exactly that which i imagine the easiest , and in short is this : to trouble the child with no grammar at all but to have latin , as english has been , without the perplexity of rules talked into him ; for if you will consider it , latin is no more unknown to a child , when he comes into the world , than english : and yet he learns english without master , rule , or grammar ; and so might he latin too , as tully did , if he had some-body always to talk to him in this language . and when we so often see a french-woman teach a young girl to speak and read french perfectly in a year or two , without any rule of grammar , or any thing else but pratling to her , i cannot but wonder , how gentlemen have over-seen this way for their sons , and thought them more dull or incapable than their daughters . if therefore a man could be got , who himself speaks good latin , who would always be about your son , and talk constantly to him , and make him read latin , that would be the true genuine , and easy way of teaching him latin , and that that i could wish , since besides teaching him a language , without pains or chiding ( which children are wont to be whipp'd for at school six or seven years together ) he might at the same time , not only form his mind and manners , but instruct him also in several sciences , such as are a good part of geography , astronomy , chronology , anatomy , besides some parts of history , and all other parts of knowledge of things , that fall under the senses , and require little more than memory : for there , if we would take the true way , our knowledge should begin , and in those things be laid the foundation ; and not in the abstract notions of logick and metaphysicks , which are fitter to amuze , than inform the understanding , in its first setting out towards knowledge : in which abstract speculations when young men have had their heads imploy'd a while without finding the success and imployment or use of it which they expected , they are apt to have mean thoughts , either of learning or themselves , to quit their studies , and throw away their books , as containing nothing but hard words , and empty sounds ; or else concluding , that if there be any real knowledge in them , they themselves have not understandings capable of it ; and that this is so , perhaps i could assure you upon my own experience . amongst other things to be learn'd by a young man in this method , whilst others of his age are wholly taken up with latin and languages , i may also set down geometry for one , having known a young gentleman , bred something after this way , able to demonstrate several propositions in eucbid before he was thirteen . § . 158. but if such a man can not be got , who speaks good latin , and being able to instruct your son in all these parts of knowledge , will undertake it by this method ; the next best is to have him taught as near this way as may be , which is by taking some easie and pleasant book , such as aesop's fables , and writing the english translation ( made as literal as it can be ) in one line , and the latin words which answer each of them , just over it in another . these let him read every day over and over again , till he perfectly understands the latin. ( but have a care still , whatever you are teaching him , of cloging him with too much at once ; or making any thing his business but down-right vertue ; or reproving him for any thing but vice ) and then go on to another fable till he be also perfect in that , not omitting what he is already perfect in , but sometimes reviewing that , to keep it in his memory . and when he comes to write , let these be set him for copies , which with the exercise of his hand , will also advance him in latin. this being a more imperfect way than by talking latin unto him ; the formation of the verbs first , and afterwards the declensions of the nouns , and pronouns perfectly learn'd by heart , may facilitate his acquaintance with the genius and manner of the latin tongue , which varies the signification of verbs , and nouns , not as the modern languages do by particles prefixt , but by changing the last syllables . more than this of grammar , i think he need not have till he can read himself sanctii minerva with scioppius's notes . § . 159. when by this way of interlining latin and english one with another , he has got a moderate knowledge of the latin tongue , he may then be advanc'd a little farther to the reading of some other easie latin book , such as justin or eutropius , and to make the reading and understanding of it the less tedious and difficult to him , let him help himself if he please with the english translation . nor let the objection , that he will then know it only by roat ( which is not when well consider'd of any moment against , but plainly for this way of learning a language ) fright any one . for languages are only to be learn'd by reat ; and a man who does not speak english or latin perfectly by roat , so that having thought of the thing he would speak of , his tongue of course without thought of rule or grammar , salls into the proper expressions and idiom of that language , does not speak it well , nor is master of it . and i would fain have any one name to me that tongue , that any one can learn , or speak as he should do by the rules of grammar . languages were made not by rules , or art , but by accident , and the common use of the people . and he that will speak them well , has no other rule but that ; nor any thing to trust to , but his memory , and the habit of speaking after the fashion learn'd from those , that are allow'd to speak properly , which in other words is only to speak by roat . § . 160. for the exercise of his writing , let him sometimes translate latin into english : but the learning of latin , being nothing but the learning of words , a very unpleasant business both to young and old , join as much other real knowledge with it as you can , beginning still with that which lies most obvious to the senses , such as is the knowledge of minerals , plants , and animals ; and particularly timber and fruit-trees , their parts and ways of propagation : wherein a great deal may be taught a child , which will not be useless to the man. but more especially geography , astronomy , and anatomy . § . 161. but if , after all , his fate be to go to school to get the latin tongue , 't is in vain to talk to you concerning the method i think best to be observed in schools ; you must submit to that you find there ; nor expect to have it changed for your son : but yet by all means obtain , if you can , that he be not employ'd in making latin themes and declamations , and least of all verses of any kind . you may insist on it if it will do any good , that you have no design to make him either a latin orator , or a poet ; but barely would have him understand perfectly a latin author ; and that you observe , that those , who teach any of the modern languages , and that with success , never amuse their scholars , to make speeches , or verses , either in french or italian , their business being language barely , and not invention . § . 162. but to tell you a little more fully , why i would not have him exercis'd in making of themes and verses 1. as to themes , they have , i confess , the pretence of something usefull , which is to teach people to speak handsomly and well , on any subject ; which if it could be attained this way , i own , would be a great advantage ; there being nothing more becoming a gentleman , nor more useful in all the occurrences of life , than to be able , on any occasion , to speak well , and to the purpose . but this i say , that the making of themes , as is usual in schools , helps not one jot toward it . for do but consider what 't is in making a theme , that a young lad is employ'd about : 't is to make a speech on some latin saying ; as , omnia vincit amor ; or , non licet in bello bis peccare , &c. and here the poor lad , who wants knowledge of these things he is to speak of , which is to be had only from time and observation , must set his invention on the rack to say something , where he knows nothing ; which is a sort of egyptian tyranny , to bid them make bricks , who have not yet any of the materials : and therefore it is usual , in such cases , for the poor children , to go to those of higher forms with this petition , pray give me a little sense ; which whether it be more reasonable , or more ridiculous , is not easie to determine . before a man can be in any capacity to speak on any subiect , 't is necessary to be acquainted with it : or else 't is as foolish to set him to discourse on it , as to set a blind man to talk of colours , or a deaf man of musick . and would you not think him a little crack'd who would require another to make an argument on a moot point , who understands nothing of our laws ? and what , i pray , do school-boys understand concerning those matters , which are used to be proposed to them in their themes , as subjects to discourse on , to whet and exercise their fancies ? § . 163. in the next place consider the language that their themes are made in : 't is latin , a language foreign in their country , and long since dead every-where : a language , which your son , 't is a thousand to one , shall never have an occasion once to make a speech in , as long as he lives , after he comes to be a man ; and a language , wherein the manner of expressing ones self is so far different from ours , that to be perfect in that , would very little improve the purity and facility of his english style . besides that , there is now so little room , or use , for set speeches in our own language , in any part of our english business , that i can see no pretence for this sort of exercise in our schools , unless it can be supposed , that the making of set latin speeches , should be the way , to teach men to speak well in english extempore . the way to that , i should think rather to be this : that there should be propos'd some rational and material question to young gentlemen , when they are of a fit age for such exercise , which they should extempore , or after a little meditation in the place , speak to , without penning of any thing . for , i ask , if we will examine the effects of this way of learning to speak well , who speak best in any business , when occasion calls them to it , upon any debate , either those who have accustomed themselves to compose and write down before-hand , what they would say ; or those , who thinking only of the matter , to understand that as well as they can , use themselves only to speak extempore ? and he , that shall judge by this , will be little apt to think , that the accustoming him to studied speeches , and set compositions , is the way to fit a young gentleman for business . § . 164. but , perhaps , we shall be told , 't is to improve and perfect them in the latin tongue . 't is true , that is their proper business at school ; but the making of themes is not the way to it : that perplexes their brains about invention of things to be said , not about the signification of words to be learn'd : and when they are making a theme , 't is thoughts they search and sweat for , and not language . but the learning and mastery of a tongue , being uneasie and unpleasant enough in it self , should not be cumbred with any other difficulties , as is done in this way of proceeding . in fine , if boys invention be to be quickn'd by such exercise , let them make themes in english ; where they have facility , and a command of words , and will better see what kind of thoughts they have , when put into their own language : and if the latin tongue be to be learn'd , let it be done the easiest way , without toiling and disguisting the mind , by so uneasie an imployment , as that of making speeches join'd to it . § . 165. if these may be any reasons against children's making latin themes at school , i have much more to say , and of more weight , against their making verses ; verses of any sort : for if he has no genius to poetry , 't is the most unreasonable thing in the world , to torment a child , and waste his time about that which can never succeed : and if he have a poetick vein , 't is to me the strangest thing in the world , that the father should desire , or suffer it to be cherished , or improved . methinks the parents should labour to have it stifled , and suppressed , as much as may be ; and i know not what reason a father can have , to wish his son a poet , who does not desire to have him bid defiance to all other callings , and business , which is not yet the worst of the case ; for if he proves a successful rhymer , and get once the reputation of a wit , i desire it may be consider'd what company and places he is like to spend his time in , nay , and estate too . for it is very seldom seen , that any one discovers mines of gold or silver in parnassus . 't is a pleasant air , but a barren soil ; and there are very few instances of those , who have added to their patrimony by any thing they have reaped from thence . poetry and gaming , which usually go together , are alike in this too , that they seldom bring any advantage , but to those who have nothing else to live on . men of estates almost constantly go away losers ; and 't is well if they escape at a cheaper rate than their whole estates , or the greatest part of them . if therefore you would not have your son the fiddle to every jovial company , without whom the sparks could not relish their wine , nor know how to pass an afternoon idly ; if you would not have him waste his time and estate , to divert others , and contemn the dirty acres left him by his ancestors , i do not think you will much care he should be a poet , or that his school-master should enter him in versifying . but yet , if any one will think poetry a desirable quality in his son , and that the study of it would raise his fancy and parts , he must needs yet confess , that to that end reading the excellent greek and roman poets is of more use , than making bad verses of his own , in a language that is not his own . and he , whose design it is to excell in english poetry , would not , i guess , think the way to it were to make his first essays in latin verses . § . 166. another thing very ordinary in the vulgar method of grammar-schools there is , of which i see no use at all , unless it be to balk young lads in the way to learning languages , which , in my opinion , should be made as easie and pleasant as may be ; and that which was painful in it , as much as possible quite removed . that which i mean , and here complain of , is , their being forced to learn by heart , great parcels of the authors which are taught them ; wherein i can discover no advantage at all , especially to the business they are upon . languages are to be learn'd only by reading , and talking , and not by scraps of authors got by heart ; which when a man's head is stuffed with , he has got the just furniture of a pedant , and 't is the ready way to make him one ; than which , there is nothing less becoming a gentleman : for what can be more ridiculous , than to mix the rich and handsome thoughts and sayings of others , with a deal of poor stuff of his own ; which is thereby the more exposed , and has no other grace in it , nor will otherwise recommend the speaker , than a thread-bare , russet coat would , that was set off with large patches of scarlet , and glittering brocard . indeed , where a passage comes in the way , whose matter is worth remembrance , and the expression of it very close and excellent ( as there are many such in the ancient authors ) it may not be amiss to lodge it in the mind of young scholars , and with such admirable stroaks of those great masters , sometimes exercise the memory of school-boys . but their learning of their lessons by heart , as they happen to fall out in their books , without choice or distinction , i know not what it serves for , but to mis-spend their time and pains , and give them a disgust and aversion to their books , wherein they find nothing but useless trouble . § . 167. but under whose care soever a child is put , to be taught , during the tender and flexible years of his life , this is certain , it should be one , who thinks latin and language the least part of education ; one who knowing how much vertue , and a well-temper'd soul is to be preferr'd to any sort of learning or language , makes it his chief business to form the mind of his scholars , and give that a right disposition , which if once got , though all the rest should be neglected , would , in due time , produce all the rest ; and which if it be not got , and setled , so as to keep out ill and vicious habits , languages and sciences , and all the other accomplishments of education will be to no purpose , but to make the worse , or more dangerous man. and , indeed , whatever stir there is made about getting of latin , as the great and difficult business , his mother may teach it him her self , if she will but spend two or three hours in a day with him , and make him read the evangelists in latin to her : for she need but buy a latin testament , and having got somebody to mark the last syllable but one , where it is long , in words above two syllables ( which is enough to regulate her pronunciation and accenting the words ) read daily in the gospels , and then let her avoid understanding them in latin if she can . and when she understands the evangelists in latin , let her , in the same manner , read aesop's fables , and so proceed on to eutropius , justin , and other such books . i do not mention this , as an imagination of what i fansie may do , but as of a thing i have known done , and the latin tongue with ease got this way . but to return to what i was saying : he that takes on him the charge of bringing up young men , especially young gentlemen , should have something more in him than latin , more than even a knowledge in the liberal sciences : he should be a person of eminent vertue and prudence , and with good sense , have good humour , and the skill to carry himself with gravity , ease , and kindness , in a constant conversation with his pupils . § . 168. at the same time that he is learning french and latin , a child , as has been said , may also be enter'd in arithmetick , geography , chronology , history , and geometry too . for if these be taught him in french or latin , when he begins once to understand either of these tongues , he will get a knowledge in these sciences , and the language to boot . geography , i think , should be begun with : for the learning of the figure of the globe , the situation and boundaries of the four parts of the world , and that of particular kingdoms and countries , being only an exercise of the eyes and memory , a child with pleasure will learn and retain them : and this is so certain , that i now live in the house with a child , whom his mother has so well instructed this way in geography , that he knew the limits of the four parts of the world , could readily point being asked , to any county upon the globe , or any country in the map of england , knew all the great rivers , promontories , straits , and bays in the world , and could find the longitude and latitude of any place , before he was six years old . these things , that he will thus learn by sight , and have by roat in his memory , is not all , i confess , that he is to learn upon the globes . but yet it is a good step and preparation to it , and will make the remainder much easier , when his judgment is grown ripe enough for it : besides , that it gets so much time now ; and by the pleasure of knowing things , leads him on insensibly to the gaining of languages . § . 169. when he has the natural parts of the globe well fix'd in his memory , it may then be time to begin arithmetick . by the natural parts of the globe , i mean the several positions of the parts of the earth , and sea , under different names and distinctions of countries , not coming yet to those artificial and imaginary lines , which have been invented , and are only suppos'd for the better improvement of that science . § . 170. arithmetick , is the easiest , and consequently the first sort of abstract reasoning , which the mind commonly bears , or accustoms it self to ; and is of so general use in all parts of life and business , that scarce any thing is to be done without it : this is certain , a man cannot have too much of it , nor too perfectly ; he should therefore begin to be exercis'd in counting , as soon , and as far , as he is capable of it ; and do something in it every day , till he is master of the art of numbers . when he understands addition and substraction , he may then be advanced farther in geography , and after he is acquainted with the poles , zones , parallel circles and meridians , be taught longitude and latitude , and the use of maps , and by that time he is perfected in these circles of the globe , with the horizon and the eclyptick , he may be taught the same thing also on the celestial globe , with the figure and position of the several constellations , which may be shewed him first upon the globe , and then in the heavens . but in this as in all other parts of instruction , great care must be taken with children , to begin with that , which is plain and simple , and to teach them as little as can be at once , and settle that well in their heads , before you proceed to the next , or any thing new in that science , whereby children 'scape being amazed and confounded ; by which way of giving them first one simple idea , and taking care that they took it right and perfectly comprehended it before you went any farther , and then adding some other simple idea ( which lay next in your way to what you aim'd at ) and no more to it , and so proceeding by gentle and insensible steps , children have had early righter apprehensions , and their thoughts extended farther , than could have been expected . and when he has learn'd any thing himself , there is no such way to fix it in his memory , and to incourage him to go on , as to set him to teach it others . § . 171. when he has once got such an acquaintance with the globes , he may be fit to be tried a little in geometry ; wherein i think the six first books of euelid enough for him to be taught . for i am in some doubt , whether more to a man of business be necessary or useful . at least if he have a genius and inclination to it , being enter'd so far by his tutor , he will be able to go on of himself without a teacher . the globes therefore must be studied , and that diligently , and i think , may be begun betimes , if the tutor will but be careful to distinguish , what the child is capable of knowing , and what not ; for which this may be a rule that perhaps will go a pretty way ( viz. ) that children may be taught any thing , that falls under their senses , especially their sight , as far as their memories only are exercised : and thus a child very young may learn , which is the aequator , which the meridian , &c. which europe and which england upon the globes , as soon almost as he knows the rooms of the house he lives in , if care be taken not to teach him too much at once , nor to set him upon a new part , till that , which he is upon , be perfectly learn'd and fix'd in his memory . § . 172. with geography , chronology ought to go hand in hand , i mean the general part of it , so that he may have in his mind a view of the whole current of time , and the several considerable epochs that are made use of in history . without these two history , which is the great mistress of prudence and civil knowledge ; and ought to be the proper study of a gentleman , or man of business in the world , without geography and chronology , i say , history will be very ill retained , and very little useful ; but be only a jumble of matters of fact , confusedly heaped together without order or instruction . 't is by these two , that the actions of mankind are ranked into their proper places of times and countries , under which circumstances , they are not only much easier kept in the memory , but in that natural order , are only capable to afford those observations , which make a man the better and the abler for reading them . § . 172. when i speak of chronology as a science he should be perfect in , i do not mean the little controversies , that are in it . these are endless , and most of them of so little importance to a gentleman , as not to deserve to be inquir'd into , were they capable of an easy decision . and therefore all that learned noise and dust of the chronologist is wholly to be avoided . the most useful book i have seen in that part of learning , is a small treatise of strauchius , which is printed in twelves , under the title of breviarum chronologium , out of which may be selected all that is necessary to be taught a young gentleman concerning chronology ; for all that is in that treatise a learner need not be cumbred with . he has in him the most remarkable or usual epochs reduced all to that of the julian period , which is the easiest and plainest , and surest method , that can be made use of in chronology . to this treatise of strauchius , helvicus's tables may be added as a book to be turned to on all occasions . § . 173. as nothing teaches , so nothing delights more than history . the first of these recommends it to the study of grown-men , the latter makes me think it the fittest for a young lad , who as soon as he is instructed in chronology , and acquainted with the several epochs in use in this part of the world , and can reduce them to the julian period , should then have some latin history put into his hand . the choice should be directed by the easiness of the stile ; for where-ever he begins , chronology will keep it from confusion ; and the pleasantness of the subject inviting him to read the language will insensibly be got , without that terrible vexation and uneasiness , which children suffer , where they are put into books beyond their capacity , such as are the roman orators and poets , only to learn the roman language . when he has by reading master'd the easier , such perhaps as justin , eutropius , quintus curtius , &c. the next degree to these , will give him no great trouble : and thus by a gradual progress from the plainest and easiest historians , he may at last come to read the most difficult and sublime of the latin authors , such as are tully , virgil , and horace . § . 174. the knowledge of vertue , all along from the beginning , in all the instances he is capable of , being taught him , more by practice than rules ; and the love of reputation instead of satisfying his appetite , being made habitual in him , i know not whether he should read any other discourses of morality , but what he finds in the bible ; or have any system of ethicks put into his hand , till he can read tully's offices , not as a school-boy to learn latin , but as one that would be informed in the principles and precepts of vertue , for the conduct of his life . § . 175. when he has pretty well digested tully's offices , it may be seasonable to set him upon grotius de jure belli & pacis , or which i think , is the better of the two , puffendorf de jure naturali & gentium ; wherein he will be instructed in the natural rights of men , and the original and foundations of society , and the duties resulting from thence . this general part of civil-law and history , are studies which a gentleman should not barely touch at , but constantly dwell upon , and never have done with . a vertuous and well behaved young man , that is well versed in the general part of the civil-law ( which concerns not the chicane of private cases , but the affairs and intercourse of civilized nations in general , grounded upon principles of reason ) understands latin well , and can write a good hand , one may turn loose into the world , with great assurance , that he will find imployment and esteem every where . § . 176. it would be strange to suppose an english gentleman should be ignorant of the law of his country . this , whatever station he is in , is so requisite , that from a justice of the peace , to a minister of state , i know no place he can well fill without it . i do not mean the chicane or wrangling and captious part of the law ; a gentleman , whose business it is to seek the true measures of right and wrong , and not the arts how to avoid doing the one , and secure himself in doing the other , ought to be as far from such a study of the law , as he is concerned diligently to apply himself to that , wherein he may be serviceable to his country . and to that purpose , i think the right way for a gentleman to study our law , which he does not design for his calling , is to take a view of our english constitution and government , in the ancient books of the common law ; and some more modern writers , who out of them have given an account of this government . and having got a true idea of that , then to read our history , and with it join in every king's reign the laws then made . this will give an insight in to the reason of our statutes , and shew the true ground upon which they came to be made , and what weight they ought to have . § . 177. rhetorick and logick being the arts that in the ordinary method usually follow immediately after grammar , it may perhaps be wondered that i have said so little of them : the reason is , because of the little advantage young people receive by them : for i have seldom or never observed any one to get the skill of reasoning well , or speaking handsomly by studying those rules , which pretend to teach it : and therefore i would have a young gentleman take a view of them in the shortest systems could be found , without dwelling long on the contemplation and study of those formalities . right reasoning is founded on something else than the predicaments and predicables , and does not consist in talking in mode and figure it self . but 't is besides my present business to enlarge upon this speculation : to come therefore to what we have in hand ; if you would have your son reason well , let him read chillingworth ; and if you would have him speak well , let him be conversant in tully , to give him the true idea of eloquence ; and let him read those things that are well writ in english , to perfect his style in the purity of our language . if the use and end of right reasoning , be to have right notions and a right judgment of things ; to distinguish betwixt truth and falshood , right and wrong , and to act accordingly ; be sure not to let your son be bred up in the art and formality of disputing , either practising it himself , or admiring it in others ; unless instead of an able man , you desire to have him an insignificant wrangler , opiniater in discourse , and priding himself in contradicting others ; or , which is worse , questioning every thing , and thinking there is no such thing as truth to be sought , but only victory in disputing . truth is to be found and maintained by a mature and due consideration of things themselves , and not by artificial terms and ways of arguing , which lead not men so much into the discovery of truth , as into a captious and fallacious use of doubtful words , which is the most useless and disingenous way of talking , and most unbecoming a gentleman or a lover of truth of any thing in the world. natural philosophy , as a speculative science , i think we have none , and perhaps , i may think i have reason to say we never shall . the works of nature are contrived by a wisdom , and operate by ways too far surpassing our faculties to discover , or capacities to conceive , for us ever to be able to reduce them into a science . natural philosophy being the knowledge of the principles , properties and operations of things , as they are in themselves , i imagine there are two parts of it , one comprehending spirits with their nature and qualities ; and the other bodies . the first of these is usually referr'd to metaphysicks , but under what title soever the consideration of spirits comes , i think it ought to go before the study of matter , and body , not as a science that can be methodized into a system , and treated of upon principles of knowledge ; but as an enlargement of our minds towards a truer and fuller comprehension of the intellectual world to which we are led both by reason and revelation and since the clearest and largest discoveries we have of other spirits besides god and our own souls is imparted to us from heaven by revelation , i think the information , that at least young people should have of them , should be taken from that revelation . to this purpose , i think , it would be well if there were made a good history of the bible for young people to read , wherein every thing , that is fit to be put into it , being laid down in its due order of time , and several things omitted , which were suited only to riper age , that confusion , which is usually produced by promiscuous reading of the scripture , as it lies now bound up in our bibles , would be avoided . and also this other good obtained , that by reading of it constantly , there would be instilled into the minds of children , a notion and belief of spirits , they having so much to do in all the transactions of that history , which will be a good preparation to the study of bodies , for without the notion and allowance of spirits , our philosophy will be lame and defective in one main part of it , when it leaves out the contemplation of the most excellent and powerful part of the creation . § . 179. of this history of the bible , i think too it would be well if there were a short and plain epitome made , containing the chief and most material heads , for children to be conversant in as soon as they can read . this , though it will lead them early into some notion of spirits , yet is not contrary to what i said above , that i would not have children troubled whilst young with notions of spirits , whereby my meaning was , that i think it inconvenient , that their yet tender minds should receive early impressions of goblins , spectres , and apparitions , wherewith their maids and those about them are apt to fright them into a compliance with their orders , which often proves a great inconvenience to them all their lives after , by subjecting their minds to frights , fearful apprehensions , weakness , and superstition , which , when coming abroad into the world , and conversation , they grow weary and asham'd of , it not seldom happens , that to make as they think , a through cure , and ease themselves of a load has sate so heavy on them , they throw away the thoughts of all spirits together , and so run into the other but worse extream . § . 180. the reason why i would have this premised to the study of bodies ; and the doctrine of the scriptures well imbibed , before young men be entered in natural philosophy , is , because matter being a thing , that all our senses are constantly conversant with , it is so apt to possess the mind , and exclude all other beings , but matter , that prejudice grounded on such principles often leaves no room for the admittance of spirits , or the allowing any such things as immaterial beings , in rerum natura , when yet it is evivent that by mere matter and motion , none of the great phoenomena of nature can be resolved , to instance but in that common one of gravity , which i think impossible to be explained by any natural operation of matter or any other law of motion , but the positive will of a superiour being , so ordering it . and therefore since the deluge cannot be well explained without admitting something out of the ordinary course of nature , i propose it to be considered whether god's altering the center of gravity in the earth for a time ( a thing as intelligible as gravity it self , which , perhaps a little variation of causes unknown to us would produce ) will not more easily account for noah's flood , than any hypothesis yet made use of to solve it . but this i mention by the by , to shew the necessity of having recourse to something beyond bare matter and its motion in the explication of nature , to which the notions of spirits and their power , to whose operation so much is attributed in the bible , may be a fit preparative reserving to a fitter opportunity , a fuller explication of this hypothesis , and the application of it to all the parts of the deluge , and any difficulties can be supposed in the history of the flood as recorded in the bible . § . 181. but to return to the study of natural philosophy , though the world be full of systems of it , yet i cannot say , i know any one which can be taught a young man as a science , wherein he may be sure to find truth and certainty , which is what all sciences give an expectation of . i do not hence conclude that none of them are to be read : it is necessary for a gentleman in this loarned age to look into some of them , to fit himself for conversation . but whether that of des cartes be put into his hands , as that which is most in fashion ; or it be thought fit to give him a short view of that and several other also . i think the systems of natural philosophy that have obtained in this part of the world , are to be read , more to know the hypotheses , and to understand the terms and ways of talking of the several sects , than with hopes to gain thereby a comprehensive scientifical and satisfactory knowledge of the works of nature : only this may be said , that the modern corpusoularians talk in most things more intelligibly than the peripateticks , who possessed the schools immediately before them . he that would look farther back , and acquaint himself with the several opinions of the ancients , may consult dr. cudworth's intellectual system ; wherein that very learned author hath with such accurateness and judgment collected and explained the opinions of the greek philosophers , that what principles they built on , and what were the chief hypotheses , that divided them , is better to be seen in him , than any where else that i know . but i would not deterr any one from the study of nature , because all the knowledge we have , or possibly can have of it , cannot be brought into a science . there are very many things in it , that are convenient and necessary to be known to a gentleman : and a great many other , that will abundantly reward the pains of the curious with delight and advantage . but these , i think , are rather to be found amongst such , as have imployed themselves in making rational experiments and observations , than in writting barely speculative systems . such writings therefore , as many of mr. boyles are , with others , that have writ of husbandry , planting , gardening , and the like , may be fit for a gentleman , when he has a litle acquainted himself with some of the systems of the natural philosophy in fashion . § . 182. though the systems of physick , that i have met with , afford little encouragement to look for certainty or science in any treatise , which shall pretend to give us a body of natural philosophy from the first principles of bodies in general , yet the incomparable mr. newton , has shewn how far mathematicks , applied to some parts of nature , may , upon principles that matter of fact justifie , carry us in the knowledge of some , as i may so call them , particular provinces of the incomprehensible universe . and if others could give us so good and clear an account of other parts of nature , as he has of this our planetary world , and the most considerable phoenomena observable in it , in his admirable book , philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica , we might in time hope to be furnished with more true and certain knowledge in several parts of this stupendious machin , than hitherto we could have expected . and though there are very few , that have mathematicks enough to understand his demonstrations , yet the most accurate mathematicians , who have examined them , allowing them to be such , his book will deserve to be read , and give no small light and pleasure to those , who willing to understand the motions , properties , and operations of the great masses of matter , in this our solar system , will but carefully mind his conclusions , which may be depended on as propositions well proved . § . 183. this is , in short , what i have thought concerning a young gentleman's studies ; wherein it will possibly be wondred , that i should omit greek , since amongst the grecians is to be found the original , as it were , and foundation of all that learning which we have in this part of the world. i grant it so ; and will add , that no man can pass for a scholar , that is ignorant of the greek tongue . but i am not here considering of the education of a profess'd scholar , but of a gentleman , to whom latin and french , as the world now goes , is by every one acknowledged to be necessary . when he comes to be a man , if he has a mind to carry his studies farther , and look into the greek learning , he will then easily get that tongue himself : and if he has not that inclination , his learning of it under a tutor will be but lost labour , and much of his time and pains spent in that , which will be neglected and thrown away , as soon as he is at liberty . for how many are there of an hundred , even amongst scholars themselves , who retain the greek they carried from school ; or ever improve it to a familiar reading , and perfect understanding of greek authors ? § . 184. besides what is to be had from study and books , there are other accomplishments necessary to a gentleman , to be got by exercise , and to which time is to be allowed , and for which masters must be had . dancing being that which gives graceful motions all the life , and above all things manliness , and a becoming confidence to young children , i think it cannot be learn'd too early , after they are once of an age and strength capable of it . but you must be sure to have a good master , that knows , and can teach , what is gracefull and becoming , and what gives a freedom and easiness to all the motions of the body . one that teaches not this , is worse than none at all , natural unfashionableness being much better , than apish , affected postures ; and i think it much more passable to put off the hat , and make a leg , like an honest country-gentleman , than like an ill-fashion'd dancing-master . for as for the jigging part and the figures of dances , i count that little or nothing farther , than as it tends to perfect graceful carriage . § . 185. musick is thought to have some affinity with dancing , and a good hand , upon some instruments , is by many people mightily valued ; but it wastes so much of a young man's time , to gain but a moderate skill in it , and engages often in such odd company , that many think it much better spared : and i have , amongst men of parts and business , so seldom heard any one commended , or esteemed for having an excellency in musick , that amongst all those things that ever came into the list of accomplishments , i think i may give it the last place . our short lives will not serve us for the attainment of all things ; nor can our minds be always intent on something to be learn'd : the weakness of our constitutions , both of mind and body , requires that we should be often unbent , and he , that will make a good use of any part of his life , must allow a large portion of it to recreation . at least this must not be denied to young people , unless whilst you , with too much haste , make them old , you have the displeasure to see them in their graves , or a second childhood , sooner than you could wish . and therefore , i think , that the time and pains allotted to serious improvements , should be employ'd about things of most use and consequence , and that too in the methods the most easie and short , that could be at any rate obtained : and perhaps it would be none of the least secrets in education , to make the exercises of the body and the mind , the recreation one to another . i doubt not but that something might be done in it , by a prudent man , that would well consider the temper and inclination of his pupil . for he that is wearied either with study , or dancing , does not desire presently to go to sleep ; but to do something else , which may divert and delight him . but this must be always remembred , that nothing can come into the account of recreation , that is not done with delight . § . 186. fencing and riding the great horse , are look'd upon as so necessary parts of breeding , that it would be thought a great omission to neglect them : the latter of the two being for the most part to be learn'd only in great towns , is one of the best exercises for health which is to be had in those places of ease and luxury ; and upon that account makes a fit part of a young gentleman's employment during his abode there . and as far as it conduces to give a man a firm and graceful seat on horseback , and to make him able to teach his horse to stop and turn quick , and to rest on his haunches , is of use to a gentleman both in peace and war. but whether it be of moment enough to be made a business of , and deserve to take up more of his time than should barely for his health be employed at due intervals in some such vigorous exercise , i shall leave to the discretion of parents and tutors , who will do well to remember , in all the parts of education , that most time and application is to be bestowed on that which is like to be of greatest consequence , and frequentest use , in the ordinary course and occurrences of that life the young man is designed for . § . 187. as for fencing , it seems to me a good exercise for health , but dangerous to the life . the confidence of it being apt to engage in quarrels , those that think they have some skill , and to make them more touchy than needs , on points of honour , and slight occasions . young men in their warm blood are forward to think , they have in vain learned to fence , if they never shew their skill and courage in a duel , and they seem to have reason . but how many sad tragedies that reason has been the occasion of , the tears of many a mother can witness . a man that cannot fence will be the more careful to keep out of bullies and gamesters company , and will not be half so apt to stand upon punctilio's , nor to give affronts , or fiercely justifie them when given , which is that , which usually makes the quarrel . and when a man is in the field , a moderate skill in fencing rather exposes him to the sword of his enemy , than secures him from it . and certainly a man of courage who cannot fence at all , and therefore will put all upon one thrust , and not stand parrying , has the odds against a moderate fencer , especially if he has skill in wrestling , and therefore if any provision be to be made against such accidents , and a man be to prepare his son for duels , i had much rather mine should be a good wrestler than an ordinary fencer , which is the most a gentleman can attain to in it , unless he will be constantly in the fencing-school , and every day exercising . but since fencing and riding the great horse , are so generally looked upon as necessary qualifications in the breeding of a gentleman , it will be hard wholly to deny any one of that rank these marks of distinction . i shall leave it therefore to the father , to consider , how far the temper of his son , and the station he is like to be in , will allow or incourage him to comply with fashions , which having very little to do with civil life , were yet formerly unknown to the most warlike nations , and seem to have added little of force or courage to those who have received them , unless we will think martial skill or prowess , have been improved by duelling , with which fencing came into , and with which i presume it will go out of , the world. § . 188. these are my present thoughts concerning learning and accomplishments . the great business of all is vertue and wisdom . nullum numen abest si sit prudentia . teach him to get a mastery over his inclinations , and submit his appetite to reason . this being obtained , and by constant practice settled into habit , the hardest part of the task is over . to bring a young man to this , i know nothing which so much contributes , as the love of praise and commendation , which should therefore be instilled into him by all arts imaginable . make his mind as sensible of credit and shame as may be : and when you have done that , you have put a principle into him , which will influence his actions , when you are not by , to which the fear of a little smart of a rod is not comparable , and which will be the proper stock , whereon afterwards to graft the true principles of morality and religion . § . 189. i have one thing more to add , which as soon as i mention , i shall run the danger to be suspected to have forgot what i am about , and what i have above written concerning education , which has all tended towards a gentleman's calling , with which a trade seems wholly to be inconsistent . and yet , i cannot forbear to say , i would have him learn a trade , a manual trade ; nay , two or three , but one more particularly . § . 190. the busy inclination of children being always to be directed to some thing , that may be useful to them . the advantage may be considered of two kinds ; 1. where the skill it self , that is got by exercise , is worth the having . thus skill not only in languages , and learned sciences , but in painting , turning , gardening , tempering , and working in iron , and all other useful arts is worth the having . 2. where the exercise it self , without any other consideration , is necessary , or useful for health . knowledge in some things is so necessary to be got by children whilst they are young , that some part of their time is to be allotted to their improvement in them , though those imployments contribute nothing at all to their health : such are reading and writing and all other sedentary studies , for the improvement of the mind , and are the unavoidable business of gentlemen quite from their cradles . other manual arts , which are both got and exercised by labour , do many of them by their exercise contribute to our health too , especially , such as imploy us in the open air. in these , then , health and improvement may be joyn'd together , and of these should some fit ones be chosen , to be made the recreations of one , whose chief business is with books and study . in this choice , the age and inclination of the person is to be considered , and constraint always to be avoided in bringing him to it . for command and force may often create , but can never cure an aversion : and whatever any one is brought to by compulsion , he will leave as soon as he can , and be little profited , and less recreated by , whilst he is at it . § . 191. that which of all others would please me best , would be a painter , were there not an argument or two against it not easie to be answered . first , ill painting is one of the worst things in the world ; and to attain a tolerable degree of skill in it , requires too much of a man's time. if he has a natural inclination to it , it will endanger the neglect of all other more useful studies , to give way to that , and if he have no inclination to it , all the time , pains , and money shall be employ'd in it , will be thrown away to no purpose . another reason why i am not for painting in a gentleman , is , because it is a sedentary recreation , which more employs the mind than the body . a gentleman 's more serious employment i look on to be study ; and when that demands relaxation and refreshment , it should be in some exercise of the body , which unbends the thought , and confirms the health and strength . for these two reasons i am not for painting . § . 192. in the next place , for a country-gentleman , i should propose one , or rather both these ; viz. gardening , and working in wood , as a carpenter , joyner , or turner , as being fit and healthy recreations for a man of study , or business . for since the mind endures not to be constantly employ'd in the same thing , or way ; and sedentary or studious men , should have some exercise , that at the same time might divert their minds , and employ their bodies ; i know none that could do it better for a country-gentleman , than these two , the one of them affording him exercise , when the weather or season keeps him from the other . besides , that by being skill'd in the one of them , he will be able to govern and teach his gardener ; by the other , contrive and make a great many things both of delight and use : though these i propose not as the chief end of his labour , but as temptations to it ; diversion from his other more serious thoughts and employments , by useful and healthy manual exercise , being what i chiefly aim at in it . § . 193. nor let it be thought that i mistake , when i call these or the like trades , diversions or recreations : for recreation is not being idle ( as every one may observe ) but easing the wearied part by change of business : and he that thinks diversion may not lie in hard and painful labour , forgets the early rising , hard riding , heat , cold and hunger of huntsmen , which is yet known to be the constant recreation of men of the greatest condition . delving , planting , inoculating , or any the like profitable employments , would be no less a diversion , than any of the idle sports in fashion , if men could but be brought to delight in them , which custom and skill in any trade will quickly make any one do . and i doubt not , but there are to be found those , who being frequently call'd to cards , or any other play , by those they could not refuse , have been more tired with these recreations , than with any the most serious employment of life , though the play has been such , as they have naturally had no aversion to , and with which they could willingly sometimes divert themselves . § . 194. though when one reflects on these and other the like pastimes , ( as they are call'd , ) one finds they leave little satisfaction behind them , when they are over ; and most commonly give more vexation than delight to people , whilst they are actually engaged in them , and neither profit the mind , nor the body . they are plain instances to me , that men cannot be perfectly idle ; they must be doing something . the skill should be so to employ their time of recreation , that it may relax and refresh the part , that has been exercised , and is tired , and yet do something , which besides the present delight and ease , may produce what will afterwards be profitable . it has been nothing but the vanity and pride of greatness and riches , that has brought unprofitable and dangerous pastimes into fashion , and persuaded people into a belief , that the learning or putting their hands to any thing , that was useful , could not be a diversion fit for a gentleman . this has been that which has given cards , dice , and drinking so much credit in the world : and a great many throw away their spare hours in them , through the prevalency of custom , and want of some better employment to pass their time , more than from any real delight is to be found in them , only because it being very irksome and uneasie to do nothing at all , they had never learn'd any laudable manual art where with to divert themselves . ; and so they betake themselves to those foolish , or ill ways in use , to help off their time , which a rational man , till corrupted by custom , could find very little pleasure in . § . 195. i say not this , that i would never have a young gentleman accommodate himself to the innocent diversions in fashion , amongst those of his age and condition . i am so far from having him austere and morose to that degree , that i would persuade him to more than ordinary complaisance sor all the gaieties and diversions of those he converses with , and be averse or resty in nothing , they should desire of him , that might become a gentleman and an honest man. but allowance being made for idle and jovial conversation , and all fashionable becoming recreations ; i say , a young man will have time enough , from his serious and main business , to learn almost any trade . 't is want of application , and not of time , that men are not skilful in more arts than one ; and an hour in a day , constantly employ'd in such a way of diversion , will carry a man , in a short time , a great deal farther than he can imagine : which if it were of no other use , but to drive the common , vicious , useless , and dangerous pastimes out of fashion ; and to shew there was no need of them , would deserve to be encouraged . if men from their youth were weaned from that sauntring humour , wherein some , out of custom , let a good part of their lives run uselesly away , without either business or recreation , they would find time enough to acquire dexterity and skill in hundreds of things ; which though remote from their proper callings , would not at all interfere with them . and therefore , i think , for this , as well as other reasons before-mentioned , a lazie , listless humour , that idlely dreams away the time , is of all others the least to be indulged , or permitted in young people . it is the proper state of one sick , and out of order in his health , and is tolerable in no body else , of what age or condition soever . § . 196. to the arts above-mentioned , may be added perfuming , varnishing , graving , and several sorts of working in iron , brass , and silver : and if , as it happens to most young gentlemen , that a considerable part of his time be spent in a great town , he may learn to cut , pollish , and set precious stones , or employ himself in grinding and pollishing optical glasses . amongst the great variety there is of ingenuous manual arts , 't will be impossible that no one should be found to please and delight him , unless he be either idle or debauch'd , which is not to be supposed in a right way of education . and since he cannot be always employ'd in study , reading , and conversation , there will be many an hour , besides what his exercises will take up , which , if not spent this way , will be spent worse : for , i conclude , a young man will seldom desire to sit perfectly still and idle ; or if he does , 't is a fault that ought to be mended . 197. but if his mistaken parents , frighted with the disgraceful names of mechanick and trade , shall have an aversion to any thing of this kind in their children ; yet there is one thing relating to trade , which when they consider , they will think absolutely necessary for their sons to learn. merchants accompts , though a science not likely to help a gentleman to get an estate , yet possibly there is not any thing of more use and efficacy , to make him preserve the estate he has . 't is seldom observed , that he who keeps an accompt of his income and expences , and thereby has constantly under view the course of his domestick affairs , le ts them run to ruine : and i doubt not but many a man gets behind-hand , before he is aware , or runs further on , when he is once in , for want of this care , or the skill to do it . i would therefore advice all gentlemen to learn perfectly merchants accounts , and not think it is a skill , that belongs not to them , because it has received its name , and has been chiefly practised by men of traffick . § . 198. when my young master has once got the skill of keeping accounts ( which is a business of reason more than arithmetick ) perhaps it will not be amiss , that his father , from thenceforth , require him to do it in all his concernments : not that i would have him set down every pint of wine , or play , that costs him money , the general name of expences will serve for such things well enough , nor would i have his father look so narrowly into these accounts , as to take occasion from thence to criticize on his expences . he must remember that he himself was once a young man , and not forget the thoughts he had then , nor the right his son has to have the same : and to have allowance made for them . if therefore , i would have the young , gentleman obliged to keep an account , it is not at all to have that way a check upon his expences ( for what the father allows him , he ought to let him be fully master of ) but only , that he might be brought early into the custom of doing it , and that that might be made familiar and habitual to him betimes , which will be so useful and necessary to be constantly practised the whole course of his life . a noble venetian , whose son wallowed in the plenty of his father's riches , finding his son's expences grow very high and extravagant , ordered his casheer to let him have for the future , no more money , than what he should count , when he received it . this one would think no great restraint to a young gentleman's expences , who could freely have as much money , as he would tell . but , yet this , to one who was used to nothing but the pursuit of his pleasure , proved a very great trouble , which at last ended in this sober and advantageous reflection . if it be so much pains to me barely to count the money , i would spend , what labour and pains did it cost my ancestors , not only to count , but get it ? this rational thought , suggested by this little pains impos'd upon him , wrought so effectually upon his mind , that it made him take up , and from that time forwards , prove a good husband . this at least every body must allow , that nothing is likelier to keep a man within compass , than the having constantly before his eyes , the state of his affairs in a regular course of accounts . § . 199. the last part usually in education is travel , which is commonly thought to finish the work , and compleat the gentleman . i confess travel into foreign countries has great advantages , but the time usually chosen to send young men abroad , is , i think , of all other , that which renders them least capable of reaping those advantages . those which are propos'd , as to the main of them , may be reduced to these two , first language , secondly an improvement in wisdom and prudence , by seeing men , and conversing with people of tempers , customs , and ways of living , different from one another , and especially from those of his parish and neighbourhood . but from sixteen to one and twenty , which is the ordinary time of travel , men are of all their lives , the least suited to these improvements . the first season to get foreign languages , and from their tongue to their true accents , i should think , should be from seven to fourteen or sixteen ; and then too a tutor with them is useful and necessary , who may with those languages teach them other things . but to put them out of their parents view at a great distance , under a governour , when they think themselves too much men to be governed by others , and yet have not prudence and experience enough to govern themselves , what is it , but to expose them to all the greatest dangers of their whole life , when they have the least fence and guard against them ? till that boyling boisterous part of life comes in , it may be hoped , the tutor may have some authority . neither the stubbornness of age , nor the temptation or examples of others can take him from his tutor's conduct , till fifteen or sixteen : but then , when he begins to consort himself with men , and think himself one ; when he comes to relish , and pride himself in manly vices , and thinks it a shame to be any longer under the controul and conduct of another , what can be hoped from even the most careful and discreet governour , when neither he has power to compel , nor his pupil a disposition to be perswaded ; but on the contrary , has the advice of warm blood , and prevailing fashion , to hearken to the temptations of his companions , just as wise as himself , rather than to the perswasions of his tutor , who is now looked on as the enemy to his freedom ? and when is a man so like to miscarry , as when at the same time he is both raw and unruly ? this is the season of all his life , that most requires the eye and authority of his parents , and friends to govern it . the flexibleness of the former part of a man's age , not yet grown up to be head-strong , makes it more governable and safe ; and in the after part , reason and fore-sight begin a little to take place , and mind a man of his safety and improvement . the time therefore i should think the fittest for a young gentleman to be sent abroad , would be , either when he is younger , under a tutor , whom he might be the better for : or when he was some years older , without a governour , when he was of age to govern himself , and make observations of what he found in other countries worthy his notice , and that might be of use to him after his return : and when too , being throughly acquainted with the laws and fashions , the natural and moral advantages and defects of his own country , he has something to exchange , with those abroad , from whose conversation he hoped to reap any knowledge . § . 200. the ordering of travel otherwise is that , i imagine , which makes so many young gentlemen come back so little improved by it . and if they do bring home with them any knowledge of the places and people , they have seen , it is often an admiration of the worst and vainest fashions they met with abroad , retaining a relish and memory of those things wherein their liberty took its first swing , rather than of what should make them better and wiser after their return . and indeed how can it be otherwise , going abroad at the age they do , under a governour , who is to provide their necessaries , and make their observations for them ? thus under the shelter and pretence of a governour , thinking themselves excused from standing upon their own legs , or being accountable for their own conduct , they very seldom trouble themselves with enquiries , or making useful observations of their own . their thoughts run after play and pleasure ; wherein , they take it as a lessening , to be controul'd ; but seldom trouble themselves to examine the designs , observe the address , and consider the arts , tempers and inclinations of men , they meet with ; that so they may know how to comport themselves towards them . here he that travels with them , is to skreen them ; get them out when they have run themselves into the briars , and in all their miscarriages be answerable for them . i confess , the knowledge of men is so great a skill , that it is not to be expected , that a young man should presently be perfect in it : but yet his going abroad is to little purpose , if travel does not somewhat open his eyes , make him cautious and wary , and accustom him to look beyond the out-side , and , under the inoffensive guard of a civil and obliging carriage , keep himself free and safe in his conversation with strangers , and all sorts of people , without forfeiting their good opinion . he that is sent out to travel at the age , and with the thoughts of a man designing to improve himself , may get into the conversation and acquaintance of persons of condition where he comes ; which though a thing of most advantage to a gentleman that travels , yet i ask amongst our young men , that go abroad under tutors , what one is there of an hundred , that ever visits any person of quality ? much less makes an acquaintance with such , from whose conversation he may learn , what is good breeding in that country , and what is worth observation in it : though from such persons it is , one may learn more in one day , than in a years rambling from one june to another . nor indeed is it to be wondred ; for men of worth and parts , will not easily admit the familiarity of boys , who yet need the care of a tutor ; though a young gentleman and a stranger , appearing like a man , and shewing a desire to inform himself in the customs , manners , laws , and government of the country he is in , will find welcome assistance and entertainment , amongst the best and most knowing persons every-where , who will be ready to receive , encourage , and countenance an ingenuous and inquisitive foreigner . § . 201. this , how true soever it be , will not , i fear alter the custom , which has cast the time of travel upon the worst part of a man's life ; but for reasons not taken from their improvement . the young lad must not be ventured abroad at eight or ten , for fear what may happen to the tender child , though he then runs ten times less risque than at sixteen or eighteen . nor must he stay at home till that dangerous heady age be over , because he must be back again by one and twenty to marry and propagate . the father cannot stay any longer for the portion , nor the mother for a new sett of babies to play with ; and so my young master , whatever comes on 't must have a wife look'd out for him , by that time he is of age ; though it would be no prejudice to his strength , his parts , nor his issue , if it were respited for some time , and he had leave to get , in years and knowledge , the start a little of his children , who are often found to tread too near upon the heels of their fathers , to the no great satisfaction either of son or father . but the young gentleman being got within view of matrimony , 't is time to leave him to his mistress . § . 202. though i am now come to a conclusion of what obvious remarks have suggested to me concerning education , i would not have it thought that i look on it as a just treatise on this subject : there are a thousand other things that may need consideration , especially if one should take in the various tempers , different inclinations , and particular defaults , that are to be found in children , and prescribe proper remedies : the variety is so great , that it would require a volume ; nor would that reach it . each man's mind has some peculiarity , as well as his face , that distinguishes him from all others ; and there are possibly scarce two children , who can be conducted by exactly the same method . besides , that i think a prince , a nobleman , and an ordinary gentleman's son , should have different ways of breeding . but having had here only some general views , in reference to the main end and aims in education , and those designed for a gentleman's son , who being then very little , i considered only as white paper , or wax , to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases ; i have touch'd little more than those heads , which i judged necessary for the breeding of a young gentleman of his condition in general ; and have now published these my occasional thoughts with this hope , that though this be far from being a compleat treatise on this subiect , or such , as that every one may find what will just fit his child in it , yet it may give some small light to those , whose concern for their dear little ones , makes them so irregularly bold , that they dare venture to consult their own reason , in the education of their children , rather than wholly to rely upon old custom . the contents of the sections . a. alteration sect. 7. air 9. awe 43. arithmetick 169. astronomy 170. b. bed 22. beating 46. breeding 134 c. cloths 11. costiveness 23. craving 36 , 101. childishness 61. company 66 , 139. compulsion 74 , 121. chiding 75. curiosity 103 , 111. complaints 104. crying 106. cruelty 110 chronology 172. civil-law 175. d. diet 13. drink 16. drink strong 19. dejected 44. dancing 65 , 184. disposition 72. dominion 98. drawing 153. e early 34 , 39. example 69 , 81. excuses 125. ethicks 174. f feet 7. fruie 20. familiarity 91. french 154. fencing 185. g government 88. governour 64. god 129. goblins 131. geography 168. geometry 171. greek 183. gardening 192. h health 2. history 173. i. joyner 192. l. liberality 104. lying 124. learning 140. latin 155 , 167. law 176. logick 177. m. meals 15. mind 31. maimers 65. memoriter 166. musick 185. merchants accounts 197. o. obstinacy 76. p. physick 29. punishment 42 , 70. play-games 123. philosophy natural 177. 188. painting 191. r. rewards 51. reputation 55 , 60. rules 62. reasoning 80. reverence 91. reading 141. rhetorick 177. recreation 193. s. swiming 8. sleep 21. self-denial 44. shame 59. sauntring 116. spirits 130. t. tenderness 4. task 71. tutor 87. temper 95. truth 122. themes 162. trade 189 , 195. travel 199. v. vertue 128. verses 165. w. warmth 5. whipping 82. wisdom 133. writing . 152. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a48896-e310 health . tenderness . warmth . feet . alterations . swiming . air. cloths . diet. meals . drink . strong drink . fruit sleep . bed. costiveness . physick . mind . early . craving . early . punishments . awe . self-denial . dejected . beating . rewards . reputation . shame . reputation . childishness . rules . manners . dancing . manners . company . example . punishment task . disposition . compulsion . chiding . obstinacy . reasoning . examples . whipping . tutor governour . familiarity . reverence . governour . temper . dominion . craving . curiosity . complaints . liberality . crying . cruelty . curiosity . sauntring . compulsion . play-games . lying . excuses . vertue . god. spirits . goblins . truth . wisdom . breeding . company . learning . reading . writing . drawing . french. latin. themes . verses . memoriter . latin. geography . arithmetick . astronomy . geometry . chronology . history . ethicks . civil-law . law. rhetorick . logick . natural philosophy . greek . dancing . musick . fencing . trade . painting . gardning . joyner . recreation . trade . merchants accompts . merchants accounts . travel . the history, choice, and method of studies by monsieur fleury ... traité du choix et de la méthode des études. english fleury, claude, 1640-1723. 1695 approx. 357 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 105 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39820 wing f1364 estc r18281 12111067 ocm 12111067 54201 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39820) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 54201) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 68:5) the history, choice, and method of studies by monsieur fleury ... traité du choix et de la méthode des études. english fleury, claude, 1640-1723. [18], 188 p. printed for s. keble [and 3 others], london : 1695. translation of: traité du choix et de la méthode des études. reproduction of original in university of michigan libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng study skills. education -curricula. 2006-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-01 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2007-01 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the history , choice , and method of studies . by monsieur fleury , sometime preceptor to the princes of conty , monsieur d' vermandois , and to the dukes of burgoyne and anjou . lycensed , d. poplar . london , printed for s. keble , at the turks-head in fleet street ; iohn hindmarsh against the exchange in cornhil ; d. brown without temple-barr ; and r. sare at grays-inn gate in holborn . 1695. the preface to the reader . reading not long since in the lipsick translations , i therein met with so fair a character of this author , and this piece of his , that i presently procured the book ; and , having read it over , i was so well pleased with the argument , and the way of handling it , that ( having some spare-time upon my hands ) i thought it might not be altogether an vseless diversion , to try how that would appear in english , which gave me such satisfaction in french ; and which the editors of the lipsick transactions wish'd to see in the german tongue . a work of this nature is so necessary , and yet so very difficult , that several , who ( convin't of the usefulness of it ) have attempted it ; yet being discouraged in the prosecution , or else unfit for the vndertaking , have either left us only some models-vnfinish'd , or some gothick platforms more agreeable to the barbarous ages of learning , than to the state of that wherein we live. some have been too subtle and scholastical in their instructions ; others too gross and material : the one seem to suppose their scholars to be meer intelligences ; the other treat them , as if they were altogether material : and both have too much restrain'd their rules , to some particular sorts of studies and professions . as if all men besides had either no thoughts , or were under no obligation to order them after the best manner , and apply them to the most proper subjects . our author therefore thought himself oblig'd to extend his instructions to all mankind ; and consider all reasonable creatures ( who have minds to improve ) as students in some sort or other . and indeed , since all men have thoughts , and study is nothing but the attentive application of their thoughts to those objects which they are the most concern'd to know ; 't would be great injury to the rest of mankind , to exclude all , except two or three orders of men , from the benefit of studies . our author , that he might not be thus partial in a matter , where all persons have an interest , suits his instructions to all ages , sexes , conditions , and ways of life . he first prescribes rules for such studies as are absolutely necessary to all sorts of men whatever . then he passes on to those which are proper for them , whose birth and parts enable them to make some further progress in learning . in the next place he applys himself unto those whose condition requires greater improvements , than may be requisite for the common student . afterwards he gives directions about studies that are curious , as he calls them ; not because they are , in no sense , necessary ; but because they are not of so much use , as the others before-mention'd , tho' they be laudable and good in themselves : whereas those which he calls useless , are such vain and unprofitable curiosities , as are just good for nothing at all , but to fill the head with superstitious conceits , and fanciful chymera's . lastly , he tells us how children are to be instructed according to their several ages ; what studies are fit for women ; what for clergy-men , sword-men , and lawyers . this is a short view of the design of his second part ; after he has , in the first , given us an historical account of studies : which may well pass for a very ingenious , and learned essay upon that which my lord bacon calls , the historia literata ; and puts amongst the desiderata , under the title of oculus polyphemi . i would by no means derogate from the learned and vseful labours either of the ancients or moderns , who have written upon this subject . yet i must needs say , that to my apprehension , none ever managed it with such a judicious cboice , and vnaffected gravity , as he seems to have done . his great care is not to make a vain shew and barade of his learning . he writes not like a man who is full of himself , and possest with the troublesom spirit of polymathy , his business is to give the most useful and solid advice in the plainest and most simple words . he is not too tedious and operose upon some heads ; too scantly and defective in others : but with an equal and steddy hand , has drawn all the parts so , as to agree with one another , and strengthen the whole . in short , if i did not think that i do present the réader with a book of more value , than any thing i have yet seen in this kind , i should not have given him a needless trouble . several both of former times , and of late , have laid down many wise and and excellent rules for the skilful management of youth ; but i know no treatise , which , ( in so short a compass , and such a natural method ) comprehends the whole circle of instruction , as it relates both to the scholars studies , and his manners . so that i hope the reader will have reason to esteem this little book above many others which have been written upon this subject , either with too little judgment , or too much criticism . 't is to be observed , that the author takes upon him to prescribe to the universities , and publick schools . he undertakes , not to be a doctor of the chair ; or to indicate unto those celebrated places of education , whose rules and methods have been approved and established , both by law and custom . but , because private and domestick education , has of late been so much in fashion , and withal , usually so wretchedly managed ; he thought himself concerned to visit the family , take an account of the miscarriages in this matter , and do what in him lay , to redress them . and he did not intrude himself into this office , before he was called . for , in the preface , he tells us , that he composed this book at the desire of a certain gentleman , for the use of his child . now since there is the same reason for such kind of treatises in english , as in french , he hopes , that he shall be accounted no more in our own county , than in his own , a busie body in other mens matters . but though the book is not calculated for the universities , and publick schools , yet if the tutors of the one , and the masters of the other , will examin his rules and method with judgment and candour ; i presume they will see reason to acknowledge their obligations to the author , and will not , i hope , have much reason to be offended with the translatour . however , we do , with some assurance , promise our selves a favourable , reception from all those gentlemen , who educate their children in private ; as well as from the instructers , who shall take the care of them . for i question not , but upon experiment , it will be found , that a child of tolerable parts , educated after this manner , will in a far less time than 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 their most ancient study was musick , that they might have something wherewithal to divert , and imploy themselves innocently , at their leisure times , by singing , and playing upon instruments . rhetorick and philosophy came later , and began both of them much about the same time , as men of parts did differently apply themselves ; some ingaging in the management of affairs ; and others , retiring from the world , to give themselves wholly to the search of truth . that popular way , whereby the greek common-wealths were govern'd in their publick assemblies , where all matters were carri'd by the votes of the people , obliged them , who design'd to render themselves powerful , either by ambition , or interest , carefully to seek after the art of perswading the people to what they wou'd : to this end , besides publick speeches , they apply'd themselves to the pleading particular causes before the judges , that they might gain friends , and exercise themselves in speaking . thus eloquence became a surer means of advancement , than valour , and knowledge of war : because , a great captain , if he did not use his tongue well , had little power in their deliberations ; whereas an oratour , without being brave , cou'd either form or break the neck of the greatest enterprizes . so that the rhetoricians were that active sort of men , whom the greeks called politicians . the speculative men , whom they termed sophists , and afterwards philosophers , did at first apply themselves to the knowledge of the nature of things coelestial , and terrestrial ; that is to say , they were astronomers , and natural philosophers . but socrates resolving to leave off all pursuit after that which is without us , and to apply himself wholly to that which might make a man better in himself , was chiefly concern'd for the improving his mind , that he might reason as exactly as possible , and govern his life according to the best rules this reasoning shou'd discover to him . and thus he added to philosophy , two other parts , logick , and morality . in his time and in the times of his first disciples , philosophy , as well as rhetorick , were the serious , and continual imployments of men grown up , and form'd ; and not the transient studies of young persons . the most noble , and most considerable men thought themselves honour'd thereby . pythagoras was of the royal race . plato was descended from king codrus by his father , and from solon by his mother . xenophon was one of the greatest captains of his age. and from this time learning was in so great esteem , and became so much the mark of men of quality , that the name ideot , which in greek , only signifies a private person , was taken for an ignorant , and ill educated man , as generally the common sort of people are . among the kings of aegypt , syria , and macedonia , ( the successors of alexander ) there were many grammarians , poets , and philosophers . and indeed it is very reasonable , that in every country , they should apply themselves unto the sciences , who have most candor and civility , who being born to good estates , needing not to be sollicitous for the necessities of life , and have most leisure , or , who being call'd to great employments , have most opportunity of becoming useful to others , and most need to inlarge their capacity , and knowledge . the romans were instructed by the greeks , and did imitate them as much as they cou'd , even to the learning their language , which hitherto had not been practised in the world. neither the hebrews , nor the egyptians , nor the greeks , did learn any strange language as an help to their studies . 't is true , that the greek was a living language , and the trading tongue of the mediterranean sea , and all the east , which made it necessary for travel , traffick , and all sorts of business . it was also easie for the romans to learn it , as well by reason of the great number of greeks , both free-men , and slaves , who were every where dispers'd through italy ; as by the neighbour-hood of the greek colonies to the roman territories . the romans then had this study , over and besides what the greeks had ; and they first joined grammar thereunto , which they learnt as the greeks had done ; that is , with respect to the greek tongue . afterwards they apply'd themselves to the latin , which then was purify'd , fixt , and came to its perfection . but when the romans began to study , the studies of the greeks were very much changed . the authority of the poets was much sunk , because the natural philosophers had taught the world not to be deceived with fables , and ( with all men of sense ) had discredited their false religion , which had no other foundation but uncertain traditions , and gross impostures . the greeks had begun to write true histories , from the time of their wars with the persians ; and they had acquired a great knowledge of geography from the conquests of alexander . besides , the socratick philosophers taught a morality much purer than that of the poets : yet they did not cease to be very much esteemed , and to be looked upon , if not as heavenly and god-like , yet , at least , as great men , and the chief philosophers . we find in them every where very useful sentiments , and fair images of nature . they were always pleasant to read , to repeat , and sing : the ceremonies of religion preserved the use of them : their antiquity , and the custom of commending them , did not a little contribute to the keeping up of their credit . rhetorick it self , and philosophy , which then were the most solid studies , had degenerated under the empire of the macedonians . the greek cities , even those which had continued free , had now no affairs of great consequence to deliberate upon , as before . the orators often imploy'd their eloquence to flatter princes , or else to make themselves admired . besides , having seen the great usefulness of this art , they thought it expedient to have it taught to the youth ; and for this purpose , they instituted a sort of masters , whom they properly call'd rhetoricians ; who having not a genius sufficient for true eloquence , practised this trade , only to get a livelihood by it . these are they , who have form'd this art , which is still call'd rhetorick ; or at least , who have incumber'd it with that infinite number of little precepts which we see in their books . these are they , who have introduced declamations upon subjects invented at pleasure , and oft-times very unlikely , exercising youth to speak without knowledge , only to shew their wit. in short , these are they , who have introduc'd the false eloquence of the following ages ; and those general discourses , so full of words , and void of things . this evil was chiefly spread in asia , where the greeks were less free , and further from their original ; and it was at athens , where the true relish of eloquence and the liberal arts were the longest time preserved . philosophy was become a pretence for idleness , and a continual war of unprofitable disputes . aristotle was not satisfy'd with what was useful in logick , but carry'd the speculation on to the most minute exactness . he also apply'd himself very much to metaphysicks , and the most general reasonings . so many 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 dangerous . the poets were the devil's prophets , who breathed nothing but idolatry , and debauchery ; and made agreeable representations of all sorts of passions , and villanies . many philosophers despised all religion in general , and denied that there cou'd be any miracles , or prophecies . others made great endeavours to establish idolatry , by allegorizing natural things , and by the secrets of magick . moreover their morality was stuft with errours , and all turn'd upon this principle of pride , that it was in man's power to make himself good and vertuous . the oratours were full of artifice , lyes , reproaches , or flatteris ; and the most solid subjects of their discourses , were matters of business ; from which the christians studiously desired to sequester themselves . they believed , that they shou'd have lost the time given them to gain eternity , if they had imploy'd it in the reading foreign histories , in mathematical speculations , and other curiosities : and they always saw in them , great danger of vanity , a thing inseparable from the most innocent studies . so that the greatest part of christians apply'd themselves to the labour of the hands , and to works of charity towards their brethren . their schools were the churches , where the bishops daily explain'd the holy scriptures . there were also priests , and deacons , whose particular business it was to instruct the catechumens , and manage the disputes against the heathens . and every bishop took particular care to instruct his clergy , chiefly the younger sort , who attended continually about his person , to serve him as readers , and secretaries ; to follow him , and carry about his letters , and orders . and thus they learnt the doctrine , and discipline of the church , rather by domestick instruction , and long use , than by formal , and set lectures . nevetheless , it cannot be deny'd , but that there were many christians , who were very learned in the heathen books , and the prophane sciences . but if we do well examine the matter , we shall find , that the greater number of those persons had studied them before they became christians . and being well vers'd therein , they knew how to employ them to the purposes of religion . all the good they found in them , they vended again as their own , because all truth comes from god. they made use of the solid maxims of morality , which they found dispers'd in the poets , and the philosophers ; and also of the remarkable examples of history , to prepare the way to christian morality . on the contrary , they took advantage from the absurdity of the fables , and impiety of heathen theology , to encounter paganism with its own weapons ; and thus employed their knowledge of history in disputes against the heathens . it was with this intention , that africanus composed that famous chronology from which eusebius has taken his . it was with this design , that the same eusebius wrote his evangelical preparation ; and st. clement of alexandria , his advice to the gentiles , and his stromata . afterwards the arians , and other hereticks , ( who made use of philosophy , to destroy the faith ) did also oblige the holy fathers to imploy humane learning to overthrow their sophisms . thus they made use of prophane books with great discretion ; yet with an holy liberty . and therefore , when julian the apostate forbad christians to teach and study the books of the greeks , that is , the heathens , they lookt upon this as a new sort of persecution . whence it is plain , that at that time they profess'd to teach humane learning ; which yet was not permitted in the first ages ; if we may believe tertullian . but the reasons which he alledges are ceas'd since the conversion of the emperours , and the full liberty of christianity . this happy change made the philosophers to be neglected . st. augustine witnesseth , that in his time they cou'd no more be heard to discourse in the gymnasia , which were their proper schools ; though , in those of the rhetoricians , some of their opinions were still recited , but not taught ; neither their books explain'd , of which even the copies were very rarely to be met with : that no person dared to dispute against the truth , under the name of stoick , or epicurean ; but that to be heard , he was forc'd to mask himself under the name , of christian , and to be enter'd into some sect of the hereticks . st. augustine did not write this because he was not well vers'd in the writings of the philosophers ; for in his youth he had acquainted himself with them all : insomuch , that it may be said of him , that he was a perfect philosopher ; since there never was any man of a more penetrating spirit , profound meditation , and a more consistent reason . the greatest part also of the greek fathers , were famous philosophers . but 't is very remarkable , that amongst all the philosophers , renowned in antiquity , aristotle was he of whom they made least use . they found that he did not speak worthily of the divine providence , nor of the nature of the soul ; that his logick was too subtle , and his morality too low and humane ; for this is the judgment , which st. gregory nazianzen , gives of him . and although plato also has his faults , yet the fathers thought they cou'd make better use of him ; because in his writings they found more footsteps of truth , and more effectual means of perswasion . in short , 't is evident , that if they undervalued aristotle , it was not because they cou'd not understand him , which certainly they did , better than they who have since advanc'd him so high . prophane philosophy was decry'd , because true philosophers that is good christians , ( and especially the monks ) were every where to be seen . that contempt of honours , the opinion of men , riches , and pleasures ; that patience in poverty , and hardships , which socrates , and zeno had so much sought after , and of which they had discours'd so much , the solitaries of these days practised , after a much more excellent manner , without disputing , and without arguing . they liv'd in perfect tranquility , vanquishers of their passions , and continually united unto god. they were troublesome to no man ; and without writing , without speaking , without shewing themselves , except very rarely , they instructed the whole world by their example , and delighted it with the fragrancy of their vertues . there is therefore no reason to wonder , why they were had in such great veneration ; or to judge of these ancient monks , by those that appeared before the late reformations , whose looseness had caused this name , so much honour'd by the ancients , to be despised . it must be remembred , that these were the true disciples of st. anthony , st. basil , st. martin , and other saints , whose rules they practised , and whose vertues they imitated . for the monasteries were then the true schools , where was taught not only humane learning and the curious sciences , but the christian morality and perfection ; which was taught not so much by reading , as by prayer and real practice ; by the living examples of the brethren and the corrections of superiours . this perfection of monasteries drew to them the most wise and intelligent men ; and 't was often here only that such persons could be found , as were fit for the service and government of the churches : and they who were thus drawn out of the monasteries , did usually continue the exercises of the monastick life , in the state of the priesthood , and taught them to their disciples ; from whence came the near relation betwixt the monastick life and the clerical ; which was so ordinary after the fifth age. many bishops lived in common with their priests ; which made it more easie for them to instruct them in ecclesiastical knowledge ; and as for the younger clerks , they who were not near the person of the bishops lived with some holy priest , who particularly took care of their education . there were still some prophane schools , where was taught grammar so far as 't was necessary to write and speak correctly , rhetorick , which daily became more affected and childish ; history , which they began altogether to reduce into abridgments ; civil law , which always continued , because it depended no more upon religion than the other ; and the mathematicks , which are the foundations of many arts necessary unto life . learning suffer'd very much by the ruine of the western empire , and the establishment of the northern people ; so that there was scarce any thing of it left but amongst the clergy and the monks . in truth , excepting the clergy there were scarce any remainders of the romans , except peasants and artificers , who were generally slaves . the franks and other barbarians , did not study at all , and if they made any use of letters for the usual correspondencies of life , it was only of latin : for they knew not so much as how to write in their own language . profane studies , as philology and history were most of all neglected : it did not become clergy-men to busie themselves with them . it is well known how sharply st. gregory reproved didier bishop of vienna , because he taught grammar . besides having fewer books , and less convenience of studying , than in the foregoing ages , they betook themselves to that which was more necessary , that is to what immeadiately concern'd religion . charlemaign who was truly great in all his actions , did all that was in his power towards the re-establishment of learning . he drew together from all quarters the most knowing men , by honour and rewards . he himself studied too . he setled schools in the chief cities of his empire , and even in his own palace ; which was like a walking city . it appears by many articles of the capitularies what was taught therein . for it is recommended to the bishops , ( who by the duty of their place are concern'd to provide for the instruction of youth , ) that they shou'd take care that children were taught grammar , singing , casting account , or arithmetick . ( it may be seen in bede's works who lived sixty years before ) wherein their studies and all the liberal arts did consist . grammar was then necessary , because latin was altogether corrupted , and the roman language rustick ; as the vulgar language whence the french is derived was termed . this language , i say , was nothing but an uncertain and monstrous jargon , which men were ashamed to write or use in any serious business . as for the german language which was that of the prince and of all the franks , it began to be written and to be used in some translations of the holy scriptures ; and charlemaign himself made a grammar for it : the singing which was taught , was that of the ecclesiastical office , reformed at this time according to the roman custom ; and thereunto were joined some rules of musick . calculation or computation served for the finding out on what day easter was to be kept , and for the regulating the year ; it comprehended also the most necessary rules of arithmetick , by all which it appears , that these studies were only for those who design'd for the clergy : thus all lay persons were either the noblemen who concern'd themselves in nothing but war , or the commonalty busied in husbandry and trades . charlemaign was careful to disperse all over his territories that code of the canons which he received from pope adrian , the roman law , and other laws of all the people under his obedience , whereof he made new editions . he had a great many ancient histories ; and he was so curious , as to cause the verses which preserved the memory of the brave actions of the germans to be written , and put together . thus , together with the holy scriptures , and fathers of the church , then very well known , he furnished his subjects with all things necessary for their instruction . and if men had gone on to have studied according to this platform , and lay-men had been more ingaged in the pursuits of learning , the french might easily have attain'd and perfected that knowledge which is most useful for religion , for policy , and for the particular conduct of life ; which things ought , in my opinion , to be the end of studies . but curiosity which has always been injurious to learning , insinuated it self into study from this time : many studied astronomy , many believed astrological predictions . there were some , who , in order to write good latin , did scrupulously criticize upon the words and phrases of ancient authors . the greatest mischief was , that the monks enter'd upon these curiosities , and began to value themselves upon their knowledge , to the prejudice of their hand-labour , and silence , which hitherto had been so advantageous to them . the court of lewis the debonnair was full of them , and no business pass'd in his court , wherein they had not a share . afterwards the state falling into the greatest confusion by the sudden fall of the house of charlemaign ; studies also fell with it , all at once . in the time of charles the bald , publick acts are to be seen even of the capitularies , written in a sort of latin , altogether barbarous , without rule , and without construction ; and books were so scarce , that lupus abbot of ferrier , sent as far as rome to receive from the pope , the works of cicero to copy over , which at present are so very common ; insomuch , that when the little particular wars and ravages of the normans , had taken away the liberty of travel , and broken off commerce , studies became very difficult ; i mean , to the monks themselves , and the clergy ; as for others , they never dream'd of them , besides , they had more pressing business to dispatch : they were often forc'd to remove in disorder , and carry the reliques with them , to save them from the fury of the barbarians , abandoning their houses and churches to them , or else the monks and clergy were necessitated to take up arms in defence of their lives , and to hinder the prophanation of the holy places . in such great extremities , it was as easie for them to lose their books , as 't was difficult to study them , and write new copies of them . nevertheless , there were some preserved , there being always some bishop or monk remarkable for his learning . but wanting books and masters , they studied without choice , and without any other direction , than the example of their predecessors . thus it is recorded of st. abbo , the abbot of the benedictins upon the loire , in the time of hugh capet , that he had studied logick , arithmetick and astronomy ; and that afterwards he betook himself to the study of the holy scripture , and the canons , and to collect passages out of the fathers . from this time , as the royal authority became re-established , and hostilities began to cease , studies also revived ; so that , in the time of philip i. about the year 1060. men famous for their learning , were to be seen in several churches of france . there were likewise some schools in the cathedrals , as there were in the monasteries ; where there were schools within for the monks , and without for the seculars . they studied as before , divinity , the fathers of the church , the canons , logick , the mathematicks . thus they continued during the following age , always advancing and perfecting themselves , as we see by the writings of ivo of chartres , the master of the sentences , gratian , st. bernard , and other authors of the same time , whose stile and method is so different from later schoolmen . in the mean time , the first of these schoolmen followed them so near , that the change must needs have happened in the time of these great men ; that is to say , about the end of the twelfth age : and i can find out no other causes of it , but the knowledge of the arabians , and the imitation of their studies . the jews were they , who imitated them first : they translated their books into hebrew , and there being then jews in france , and all over christendom , the books which they had translated into hebrew , were render'd in latin. some of them might be received even from the arabians themselves , with whom the communication was easie , by the neighbourhood of spain , ( of which , they as yet held more than half ) and by the travels of those , who went upon the croisado . the vulgar opinion , that all mahometans , without distinction , did always profess ignorance , is a great mistake . they had an incredible number of men , famous for their learning , particularly many of the arabians and persians ; and they have written enough to fill large libraries . four hundred years before the twelfth age ( of which i speak ) they had diligently given themselves to study , and learning was never at so great an height with them , as when it was at the lowest with us ; that is , in the tenth and eleventh ages . these arabians , i mean , all those who call themselves musulmen , of what nation , or country soever , had two kinds of study , the one proper to themselves , the other taken from the greeks , who were subject to the emperours of constantinople . their particular studies , were in the first place , their religion , that is , the alcoran ; the traditions which they attributed to mahomet , and his first disciples ; the lives of their pretended saints , and the stories which they relate of them ; the cases of conscience upon the practical part of their religion , as prayer , purifications , fasting , pilgrimage ; and their scholastical theology , which contains so many questions about the attributes of god upon predestination , the judgment , the succession of prophesie , whence proceed so many sects amongst them , who treat one another as hereticks . others studied the alcoran and its commentaries rather as lawyers than divines , to find therein rules for the management of affairs , and the decision of differences : for this book is their only law , even in temporals . others apply'd themselves unto history , which had been very carefully written from the beginning of their religion , and their empire , and has been continued down ever since . but they were very ignorant of ancient histories , despising all mankind who lived before mahomet , and calling all that time the time of ignorance , because their religion was not known . they contented themselves with the arabian antiquities , contained in the works of their ancient poets , which to them served instead of the history for those times ; wherein ( it can't be denied ) they have followed the same principle which the old greeks did , of improving their own traditions , how fabulous soever . but it must be acknowledged also that their poetry never had any beauty , but what was very superficial , as flashy thoughts , and bold expressions . they never apply'd themselves to that sort of poetry which consists in imitation , and is most proper to move the passions ; and that , perhaps , which made them avoid it , was the despicable opinion they had of those arts , which any wise related thereunto ; as painting and sculpture , which their hatred of idolatry made them abhor . moreover , their poets were useful for the study of the arabick tongue , which then was the language of the masters , and most of the people of all this great empire ; and still at this day , is the common language of the greatest part , and every where the language of the religion . they studied it chiefly in the alcoran , and to learn it by conversation with the living : the most curious went from all parts to the province of irac , and particularly to the city bassora , which was to them what athens was to the ancient greeks : and there being then powerful princes in persia , many things were written in their language , which have been much improved since . these are the studies proper to the musulmen , and were as ancient as their religion . those which they had received from the greeks , were later by two hundred years ; for it was about the year 820. when the calif almamon desired of the emperour of constantinople the best greek books , and caused them to be translated into arabick . nevertheless , it doth not appear that they ever studied the greek tongue ; it was sufficient to make them despise it , because it was the language of their enemies : besides , there were so many christians in syria and egypt , who understood both arabick and greek , that they could not want interpreters ; and these christians translated the greek books into syriack and arabick for themselves , and for the musulmen . amongst the greek books , there were a great many which were of no use to the arabians ; they could not see the beauty of the poets in a strange language , and with a genius so quite different from them : add this further , that their religion would not permit them to read them ; they had such an horrour of idolatry , that they did not think it lawful to pronounce so much as the names of the false deities : and amongst so many millions of volumes which they have written , you shall scarce find one which mentions them . they were very far from studying all those fables , about which our modern poets have been so curious , and the same superstition might restrain them from reading histories ; besides , that they despised , as i have already said , all that was older than mahomet . as for eloquence and policy which were brought forth , and nourish'd in the most free commonwealths ; the form of the musulmen's government gave them no occasion to make use of them . they lived under an empire absolutely despotick , where they were not to open their mouths but to flatter their prince , and extol every thought of his , and where they were not concern'd , for that which might conduce to the 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 ignorant lay-men , by a singular way of speaking , and by vain subtilties . but these subtilties were dangerous , as it appeared by berengarius , abalard , and gilbert of poirée . this is the reason why the wisest persons , as st. anselm , peter of blois , and st. bernard , firmly resolved to follow the example of the fathers , rejecting these new curiosities : and the master of the sentences , giving himself more liberty , made fome false steps . in the mean time the books of aristotle came to be known , as i have said , and whether for the disputes against the jews and arabians , or for some other reason , i know not ; the divines thought they had need of them , and therefore did accommodate them to our religion ; whose doctrines and morality they explain'd according to the principles of this philosopher . this was done by albertus magnus , alexander hales , st. thomas , and many others after them : and their method of divinity may be reckoned the third , for there are two more ancient . the first was that of the fathers of the church , who studied the holy scripture immediately , chiefly drawing from thence the knowledge which was necessary for the instruction of the faithful , and the refutation of the hereticks ; this theology continued till towards the eighth age. the second was that of bede , of raban , and others of the same time , who not being able to add any thing to the instructions of the fathers , contented themselves with copying them , making collections and extracts out of them , and taking glosses and commentaries upon the scripture out of them also . the third was that of the schoolmen , who handled the doctrin of the scripture , and the fathers , by the form and instruments of logick and metaphysicks , drawn from the writings of aristotle : and thus cardinal perron defines it . at the same time the studies of civil law and medicks were revived , but it was impossible then to study civil law well since they wanted laws . the roman laws , and those barbarous laws which had been observed under the two first races of our kings , were abolished by contrary customs , or by forgetfulness and ignorance . they were not in a condition to make new laws , because as yet , they had not re-establish'd the foundations of civil society ; the liberty of travel , the security of trade and industry , the union of the citizens , the common people were either slaves , or look'd upon as such : the nobles lived dispers'd , and cantonized every one in his castle , with his arms always in his hand . there were no other laws in france , but unwritten customs , very uncertain , and very different , by reason of the prodigious number of lords , in whose power it was to give law. it is true , that in italy , the books of the justinian law were recovered , and it began publickly to be taught at montpelier and tholouse . but these laws were not laws for us , because the gauls had been freed from the roman-yoke , before justinian was in the world. furthermore , they were not able to understand them , by reason of ignorance of languages and history ; there not being any tradition of them preserved amongst us by the practice of our courts , for six hundred years after they were written . they did not however omit to study , and apply them as they could to their present occasions ; and they gain'd a great deal of authority by the great name of roman law , and by the extream necessity there was of some rules in judicial proceedings . the ecclesiastical law was not in such an ill condition . the practice of the canons was preserved , though discipline began to be remiss . there were many collections of ancient canons ; amongst others , that of gratian , who lived in the middle of the twelfth age. 't is true , they were not very correct , and they were intermixt with many passages of the fathers , which ought not to have the force of laws , together with the decretals fathered upon the first popes , which at last have been own'd to be suppositious . this example makes it appear , of how great importance it is , for the preserving tradition in its purity , that there be always in the church , persons who are skill'd in languages and history , and who are well vers'd in critical learning . medicks was still worse treated than civil law : hitherto it had been in the hands of the jews ; excepting some secrets of old women , and some traditions of receipts , which were preserved in families . the first books which they studied , were those of the arabians ; and amongst others , the writings of mesua and avicenna . they received their fooleries and superstitions ; and in the mean time neglected as these had done anatomy , and they consulted them also for the knowledge of plants . as there were none but the clergy and the monks who studied , so there were none but they who were physicians . fulbert bishop of chartres , and the master of the sentences , bishop of paris , were physicians . obizo , one of the religious of st. victor , was physician to lewis the gross : rigord , monk of st. denys , who has writ the life of philip the august was one also . one of the councils of lateran , held under innocent the ii. in the year 1139. takes notice of it , as an abuse long practised ; that monks and regular canons , to get money , profess'd themselves advocates and physicians . this council speaks only of those religious , who were profess'd ; and medicks ceased not to continue in the hands of clergymen three hundred years after . but it being never permitted to the clergy to shed blood , nor to keep a shop of ware : this might probably be the cause of the distinguishing physicians from chyrurgeons , and apothecaries . this distinction has for a long time kept physicians in the speculation only , without applying themselves to experiments . thus all studies were reduc'd to four sorts or faculties . the three principal , divinity , law , and physick . the fourth comprehended all preliminary studies , which were accounted necessary to arrive unto these higher studies , which were called by the general name of the arts. doubtless reason requires that men should study what is most useful : first for the soul , and then for the body , and the advantages of life . upon this project , vniversities were founded , especially that of paris , which could hardly have its beginning later than the year 1200. for a long time there had been about the bishops houses two sorts of schools : the one for the young clergy , to whom grammar , singing , and arithmetick , were taught ; and their master was either the chanter of the cathedral , or the ecolatrés , otherwise called the capiscol , that is , the head of the school . the other school was for priests , and clerks of an higher form ; to whom the bishop himself , or some priest commissioned by him , explain'd the holy scriptures , and the canons ; afterwards the theologal was expresly erected for this office. peter lombard bishop of paris , better known by the name of master of the sentences , had made his school very famous for divinity : and there were some religious of st. victor , in great repute for the liberal arts. thus the studies of paris became famous . the decretal also was taught there ; that is , gratian's compilation , which was look'd upon as an intire body of the canon law : there also medicks were studied . and thus joyning these four principal studies , ( which were called faculties ) together ; they named the compound of them all , vniversity of studies . and at last , simply vniversity : to denote that in one city alone , all things were taught which were useful to know . this establishment seemed so considerable , that the popes and kings favoured it with great privileges . persons came to study at paris from all parts of france , italy , germany , and england ; in a word , from all parts of latin europe , and thus the private schools of cathedrals and monasteries came to be neglected : let us see more particularly what was taught in each faculty . under the name of arts , were comprehended grammar and humanity ; the mathematicks and philosophy : but to speak properly , this name ought only to comprehend the seven liberal arts , of which we find treatises in cassiodore and bede , viz. grammar , rhetorick , logick , arithmetick , musick , geometry and astronomy . a master of arts should be one , capable to teach all these . for grammar , they read priscian , donatus ; or some other of the ancients , who had writ upon th● latin tongue , rather to acquaint the roman of their times , ( to whom it was natural ) with its utmost niceties , than to teach its elements to strangers . in the thirteenth age , latin was no longer in common use , amongst the people , in any place of the world ; and in france the ordinary tongue was that which we see in ville-hardoüin , in joinville , and other romancers of the same time . it seems to me , that they ought to have apply'd the art of grammar to this language , chusing the most proper words , and the most natural phrases , fixing the inflexions , and giving rules for construction and orthography . the italians did so ; and about the end of the same age , there were some florentines who studied to write well in their vulgar tongue ; as brunetto latini , john villani , and the poet dante . as for our language , it was not purified , but by time ; and they did not set upon it , by publick order in the french academy , till four hundred years after the institution of vniversities . 't is true , that latin was still necessary for the reading of good books , and the exercise of religion ; and they who studied at that time , were all church-men . latin also was necessary for business , and for publick acts ; and so it was for travel , so that interpreters were called latinizers . it was therefore impossible to be without latin ; but it was also impossible to establish the ancient purity of it , by reason of scarcity of books , and upon other accounts , which i have observed . they were forc'd to be contented with speaking , and writing it meanly . they made no scruple of mixing therewith many barbarous words , and to follow the phrase of the vulgar tongues ; they were satisfied with barely observing the cases , numbers , genders , conjugations , and principal rules of syntax . to this they wholly reduc'd the study of grammar , looking upon all the rest as an unprofitable curiosity , seeing men speak only to be understood ; and a more elegant sort of latin would have been more hardly understood . and thus that barbarous latin came to be formed , which has so long been used in the palace ; which is with difficulty corrected in the schools ; and which is spoken yet in germany and poland , for the convenience of travel . thence comes the necessity of glosses and commentaries , for the explication of the ancient books , written in a pure style . poetry consisted only in knowing the measure of latin verse , and the quantity of syllables ; for they went not so far as to distinguish the characters of composures , and the difference of styles . this appears by the poems of gunther , and william of breton , which are only meer histories of a flat style , and as bad latin as that wherein they wrote in prose . to the restraint of quantity and cuttings off , they added that of rhimes which made their leonine verses ; and often neglecting even quantity ; they only made simple rhimes in latin as in french , and this was that which they called the church hymns ; this was all the poetry of men which were serious . as for the vulgar poetry , which began to be in request about the twelfth age ( as may appear by so many romances and ballads , ) it soon became the peculiar talent of debauchees and libertines . such generally were the country trombadours , and other poets of this time , who followed the courts of princes . in the mean time it must be confess'd , that several of them were men of wit , and ( considering the time ) of politeness also ; yet their works were full of fulsom love , and extravagant fictions . from this time they continued more and more to separate the pleasure of discourse , from reasoning and solid studies ; and this is that which made rhetorick neglected in the schools ; for there they were not solicitous , either to please , or to move the passions . they chiefly apply'd themselves to philosophy , and they believed , that it needed no ornament of language , or any figure of discourse . thus endeavouring to render it solid and methodical , they made it very dry and ungrateful ; not considering , that a natural and figured discourse , spares a great many words , and helps the memory , by the lively images it imprints upon the mind . in the mean time , there being no study without curiosity and emulation : our learned men , did as the arabians had done , either through imitation , or by the same principle , and stuff'd their philosophy with an infinite number of questions , more subtle than solid , falling short extreamly of the idea of the ancient graecians . the logick of socrates , which we see in plato and xenophon , was an art of seriously seeking after truth , and he call'd it the dialectick art , because this search cannot be well made , but by conversation betwixt two persons , both careful to reason well . this art then consisted in answering rightly to every question in making exact divisions , in well defining words and things , and attentively weighing every consequence before 't was granted , without being in an heat , without fearing to be overcome , and to confess their errours ; and without desiring ( through prejudice , or any by-respects ) that one proposition should be true , rather than another . so that in this logick , morality enter'd , and eloquence found a place . for since men are usually passionate , or prevented with some errour , their passions must first be calm'd , and their prejudices removed , before truth be proposed , which without this preparation , would only offend them . now , this method requires marvellous discretion and address , for men to accommodate themselves to the infinite variety of minds , and their distempers : and this is that which we admire in plato . 't is upon this foundation , that aristotle parallels logick with rhetorick ; and says , that both the one and the other has the same design , which is to perswade by discourse . logick uses more solid and convincing reasons ; because , in particular conversation , we better know the disposition of him to whom we speak ; and we have liberty to try all necessary ways to conduct him to the knowledge of truth . instead of which , rhetorick , which is the art of discoursing in publick , is often obliged to follow the prejudices of its auditours , and to bottom its reasonings upon that which they acknowledge ; because it is impossible to perswade them to change , by speaking to them a little while , and in a great assembly . and upon this account , aristotle says , that rhetorick only uses enthymems ; that is to say , such reasonings as are partly in the auditours mind , and which it is not needful to explain . such was logick amongst the greeks : the art of finding out truth , as far as possible , by natural means . our philosophers seem to have considered truths , only in themselves , and the order which they have to one another , independently upon us . and 't is true , that this was always done in the mathematicks ; because their objects raise no passions in us . it is no man's interest to maintain , that a right line is a crooked one ; nor that an acute angle should be an obtuse one . but , since logick is the instrument of all sciences , and especially of morality , it ought to comprehend every thing that is necessary to make all sorts of truth to enter into men's minds ; and rather those which the passions do obstruct than others . nevertheless , it doth not appear , that our philosophers had sufficient regard to the dispositions of their disciples . they have apply'd to all sorts of subjects the dry method of geometricians ; and being the first of them had to do with very dull disciples ( for it was not known in france what was politeness 500 years ago , ) they took great care to separate all their propositions , to put all their arguments in form , and evermore to distinguish the conclusion , the proofs , and the objections : so that it was impossible for the dullest pupil to mis-apprehend them . they thought that they mightily shortned the work , by cutting off all ornaments of discourse , and all the figures of rhetorick ; but probably , they did not consider , that those figures which render the discourse lively , and animated , are nothing but the natural consequences of that effort , which we make to perswade others : besides , these figures do much shorten the discourse ; often they discharge an objection by one word , often an handsom turn is a better proof , than an argument in form ; and always thereby , the tedious repetitions of terms of art are avoided . let the experiment be made , and one page of scholastick discourse will be reduc'd to the fourth part , by changing it into an ordinary , and natural discourse : and yet they who are accustomed to this way of reasoning , believe that figurative expressions , contain nothing but words , and cannot own any thing to have reason in it , that is not distinguished by articles , and titles . i 'm very sensible , that 't is sometimes necessary to argue in form , or to use terms of art , and name the major and the minor , to give light to some important reason , and unravel a sophism : but it doth not therefore follow , that this must be always done . men do not ordinarily express themselves by set forms of speech , because these are necessary in contracts and oaths . something should be left to be done by the scholar , who ought not to be so injuriously treated , as to be supposed uncapable of observing the strength of a reason , if he be not pointed to it by the finger . the study of philosophy consisted chiefly in studying aristotle , whom the professors read , and explain'd in publick . but as the greatest part of commentatours are very copious upon the beginnings of their authors ; so here , in time , they made very tedious treatises upon all the praeliminaries of logick . of aristotles categories , which are only a short explication of all the simple terms which can enter into propositions , they have made a very large discourse , and have therewith mix'd a great deale of metaphysicks , and even theology for speaking of relation , some have enter'd very far into the mystery of the trinity . they have also made very long comments upon porphyry's introduction ; whence proceeded the famous treatise of universals . they have also joyned thereunto questions upon the name and essence of logick it self ; as whether it be an art , or a science , &c. and in these prefaces they dilated so much , that they were forc'd to be very short upon the rules of syllogisms , and all things else which make up the main body of aristotle's logick . the same almost has likewise been done in morality . there they have dilated upon the general questions concerning the end , of the soveraign good , of liberty , &c. so that they wanted time to treat of vertues in particular , and to give special rules for the conduct of life ; which nevertheless , seems to be the end of morality . and herein , aristotle might be of great use ; for he knew perfectly well the manners of men , and if his thoughts did not always soar so high as plato's , yet he reasoned more according to the actions of ordinary life , and the practices of men. but after all , this is but a low degree for christians to aim at , who ought to have learn'd from their infancy , a doctrin infinitely above , even that of plato himself . of all sciences , physick was the most imperfect , at the time when vniversities began to be form'd . this science was wholly taken from the arabians ; and instead of founding it upon experience , and beginning by well assuring themselves , what things were real and in truth , they founded it altogether upon aristotle , and his commentatours , and upon general reasonings . and truly it was not easie for the learned men of this time to make experiments : they were all either monks or clergymen , shut up in monasteries and colleges ; for most part poor , either by profession or by their fortune . the arts were at a very low ebb ; a great many inventions were lost , and few , as yet , of them were found again . the artisans were generally slaves , and very despicable ; men would not easily believe , that any thing could be learn'd of them . however , whether this had been so or no ; men's minds were not disposed to examin matters of fact , and consult experience : they rely'd upon the authority of books , and took all for granted which they said of the effects of nature , and their causes . they were so far from despising what was extraordinary , that the most marvellous things always seemed most worthy of their notice . hence came the belief of an infinite number of fables , with which the world is still infected , though pains are daily taken to undeceive men ; so many occult qualities , so many sympathies and antipathies , so many imaginary properties of plants , and animals : this also was that which raised the credit of magick and astrology , which then was but too high . the doctrin of the influences of the stars , was supposed , as an undeniable truth ; and these good men thought themselves happy enough , by proving , that they could not act upon the free wills of men ; giving all the rest of nature , even the organs of human bodies , to their direction . they believed , that there was a sort of natural magick ; and every thing , of which they knew not the cause , they ascribed to that which was supernatural , that is , the power of wicked spirits . for , being assured by religion , that there are such spirits , and that god permits them sometimes to deceive men , nothing did more handsomly conceal their ignorance , than to attribute to them all that , of which they could give no account . thus the fictions of the poets of this time , were not , by much , so absurd , as they appear to us . it was probable , even in the opinion of their learned men , that there had been , and that there were still in divers parts of the world , diviners and enchanters ; and that nature produced flying dragons , and divers kinds of monsters . this belief of fables in natural history , introduced a great many superstitious practices , especially in medicks ; where people always love to do something that is useless , rather than omit any thing that may be of advantage . to study natural philosophy ( under which was comprehended medicks ) was onely to read books , and dispute ; as if there had been no animals to dissect ; no plants , or minerals , whose effects were to be try'd ; as if men had not had the use of their senses , to have satisfy'd themselves of the truth of that which others had said . in a word , as if no such thing , as nature , had been in the world , to have been consulted in her self . much after this manner were arts , and especially medicks , treated in the universities . the same method was pursued in law. since the ignorance of latin and history hinder'd them from understanding the texts , they betook themselves to the summaries , and glosses of those who were presumed best to understand them : and who themselves , having not the help of other books , did onely explain one place of the digest , or the decretal , by another ; comparing them , as exactly as they could . the faults of these masters easily deceived their disciples ; and some so far abused their credulity , as to mix with their glosses ridiculous etymologies , and absurd fables . whether it was , that they did not apprehend that they could not practise the laws , if they did not understand them , or that they despaired to understand them better : however it was , their greatest endeavour was to reduce them to practise , to handle questions upon the consequences which they had drawn from the texts , to give counsel , and decide cases . but when they undertook to apply this roman law to our affairs ( which was so ill understood by us , and so different from our manners ) and yet , at the same time , preserve our customs , which it was impossible to change ; the rules of justice became much more uncertain . all civil law was reduc'd to school-disputes , and the opinions of doctors , who , having not sufficiently penetrated into the principles of morality , and natural equity , sought sometimes their particular interests . they also , who sought after justice , knew no other means of procuring it , but particular remedies against injustice ; which made them invent so many new clauses for contracts , and so many formalities for judgments . they , as the physicians did , labour'd onely to heal present evils , without taking care to stop the fountains of them , and prevent 'em for the future ; or rather they could not do it . for , to take away the general causes of vexatious process and injustice , it is requisite , that the soveraign power be concern'd ; that there be some certain and stable laws known to all the world , and publick officers fully authorized . a great many means of inriching , as well as ruining themselves , must be taken away from particular persons ; and , as far as possible , they must be reduc'd to the most simple and natural way of living ; as we see in that law , which god himself gave to his people , and which , whilst they observ'd it , made them so happy . but then europe was so divided , and princes so weak , both in power and intellectuals , that it never came into their heads to make such laws . divinity was more purely studied . and indeed we find in all times , a sensible protection of god over his church , always to preserve therein the sound doctrin . but though the doctrin was the same , as in the foregoing ages , the manner of teaching was different . the fathers of the church being , for the most part , bishops , very much imploy'd , scarce writ any thing , but when they were necessitated , for the defence of religion , against hereticks and pagans , and they treated onely of such questions as were really proposed . a good part of their works are sermons , which they made to the people , in explaining the holy scripture . but the doctors of the vniversities , being wholly taken up in studying and teaching , did separate even all the parts of ecclesiastical studies one from another . some confin'd themselves to the explication of scripture , which they called positive theology : others to the mysteries and speculative truths , which is called by the general name of scholastick : others to morality , and the decision of cases of conscience . thus their end in the schools , being to teach , they made it their business to treat of as many questions as they could , and to place them methodically . they thought , that to exercise their disciples , and prepare them for serious disputes against the enemies of the faith ; they ought to examine all the subtilties , which human reason could furnish them with upon these subjects ; and obviate all the objections of curious and restless spirits . they had leisure for it ; and they were provided with means of doing it , out of aristotle's logick , and metaphysicks , together with the commentaries of the arabians . thus they did much the same thing , which is done in fencing-schools , and the academies ; where , to give activity and spirit unto young men , they teach them many things , which are very rarely made use of , in real encounters . in explaining the master of the sentences , whose book was lookt upon as the body of scholastick divinity , they form'd every day new questions upon those which he had propounded : and afterwards they did the same upon st. thomas's sums . but now , it must be confess'd , that this forming , and resolving of questions , and , in general , this meer reasoning , did , for a long time , lessen mens application to positive studies , which consist in reading and criticism ; as the knowing the literal sense of scripture , the sentiments of the fathers , and matters of fact in ecclesiastical history . 't is true , these studies were very difficult , through the great scarcity of books , and the little knowledge of ancient languages . a bible , with the ordinary gloss compleat , was not to be found but in great libraries . a private person was rich when he had gratian's decretal ; and the greatest part knew not the fathers but by this collection . this was very much the state of studies in france , and in europe , when men began to apply themselves to humanity , i mean , chiefly to grammar and history . this restoration may be reckoned from the year 1450 , and the taking of constantinople , which made so many learned greeks retire into italy with their books . for though petrarch and bocace had revived these studies in the foregoing age , yet hitherto they had made but little progress . but in greece studies were yet well enough preserved . the commentary of eustathius upon homer is enough to shew , that , to these latter ages , there were remaining an infinite number of learned books , and men. thus , after the middle of the fifteenth age , a whole shoal of learned men appeared , all at once ; ( first in italy , then in france , and proportionably in the rest of europe ) who , with incredible diligence ayply'd themselves to the reading all the books of the ancients they could find , to the writing latin as purely as 't was possible ; and translating greek authors . the art of printing ( found out at the same time ) made it much easier for them to procure books , and to have them correct . so that several afterwards labour'd in putting out excellent editions of all the good authors , according to the best manuscripts ; enquiring after the most ancient , and comparing several together . others made very exact dictionaries , and grammars ; others commentaries upon difficult authors ; others treatises upon all those requisites which might help to the understanding of them ; as their fables , their religion , their government , their art of war ; and even to the least particulars of their manners , their habits , their eating , their diversions . insomuch , that they have taken all the pains necessary to make us understand as much as 't is possible , after such a long interval , all the rest of the ancient greek and latin books . but some have too much dwelt upon these studies , which are onely instruments for other studies more serious . for there have been some curious persons , who have spent their lives in studying latin and greek , and in reading all authors , for the laaguage sake ; or only to understand the authors , and explain some difficult passages of them , without going any farther , or making any use of them . there have been some who have gone no farther than mythology , and some other antiquities which i have mentioned ; who have sought after inscriptions , medals , and all that might give any light to authors , seeking onely the pleasure , which they found in these curiosities . some proceeding farther , have studied the liberal arts , according to the ancient rules , as eloquence , and poetry , nevertheless without practising them ; whence it came , that we have so many modern treatises of poetry , and rhetorick , and yet so few true poets and orators : and so many political tracts , made by those , who never were concern'd in business . lastly , the diligent reading the books of the ancients , produc'd in many such a blind respect for them , that they chose rather to follow their errors , than to give themselves the liberty to judge of them . thus it was believed , that nature was , in all respects , such as pliny has describ'd her to be ; and that she could do nothing but according to the principles of aristotle . the worst of it is , that many have admired their morality ; and did not consider , how much it was below that religion which they had learn'd from their cradle . others , though but a few , have exceeded on the other hand , having affected to contradict the ancients , and run as far as they could from their principles . but of those who have admired them , the most ordinary fault has been , an aukward imitation of them . it has been believed , that to write as they did , it was necessary to write in their language ; without considering , that the romans writ in latin , and not in greek ; and that the greeks writ in greek , and not in the egyptian , or syriack language . they thought themselves happy , if they could attain to the making good verses in latin ; they have also composed some in greek , at the peril of not being understood by any body : and they , who , as ronsard and his followers , began to make french verses , after their reading of the ancients , have fill'd them with their words , their poetical phrases , their fables , their religion , without concerning themselves , whether such poems might please those who had not studied as they had done : it was sufficient , that they made them admired for their profound learning . they imitated also the oratours ; they made harangues in latin , and stuff'd their discourses in french , with latin sayings . in a word , they thought to make use of the ancients , was to get them by heart , to speak of the things of which they spake , and to repeat their own proper words : in stead of which , well to have imitated them , they ought to have pitcht upon subjects which had more relation to us , as they had chosen those which appertain'd unto them to have treated them , as they did , after a solid and diverting way ; and to have explained them , as well in our language , as they had explained them in theirs . this new kind of study rais'd a sort of war amongst the learned . the humanists , charm'd with the beauty of their ancient authors , and valuing themselves upon their new discoveries , despised the common sort of doctors , who , following the tradition of the schools , neglected style , to follow things ; and preferr'd what was profitable , to what was pleasant and agreeable . the doctors on their side , i mean the divines and canonists , lookt upon these new philologers as grammarians , and poets , who amus'd themselves with childish toys , and vain curiosities . but the humanists made themselves heard , because they writ politely , and by the reading of the ancients , had learnt to railly with a good grace . the doctrine of luther , who arose a little while after , fomented these quarrels , and made them more serious . he was for reforming studies as well as religion . he was for having no philosophy , and no prophane sciences . he was for burning plato , aristotle , cicero , and all the ancient books , that nothing might be studied but the scripture , and all the remaining part of time spent in hard-labour . thus carrying the thing too high , he exposed the most holy maxims of antiquity to censure . the resistance which he found among the doctors of divinity , and the censures of the faculty of paris , and other vniversities , made him their irreconcileable enemy . he treated them with the last degree of contempt ; and melancthon , his faithful disciple , imploy'd all his wit , and all his fine learning , to render them ridiculous . but the reformers did not long continue in this their first severity against prophane studies . they soon became more zealous in studying humanity , seeing that eloquence , and an opinion of their singular learning had drawn a great many followers to them . they now lookt upon these studies as a necessary means towards the reformation of the church ; and would have this restoration of learning pass for a principal sign of the will of god in this matter . it seemed , if you wou'd have believed them , as if this knowledge of languages , and histories , which they had by constant pains acquired , was a certain mark of an extraordinary mission ; and making them to be admired by the ignorant , they easily perswaded them , that the catholick doctors were no better skill'd in religion , than they were in good learning . but they had not this weak advantage very long . the catholicks soon ingag'd them with their own weapons ; and used successfully against them the original languages , and the ancient authors , according to their own editions . then men began again to study the greek and latin fathers , very little known in the foregoing ages . they studied ecclesiastical history , the councils , the ancient canons : they ascended to the original of tradition , and took the doctrin from the fountain-head . the literal sense of scripture was sought after by the help of languages and criticism . i well know , that many , even of the catholicks , have driven these inquiries to vain curiosities , and that several also continued too much wedded to the old style of the schools . so difficult a thing it is , for men to keep themselves in a true mediocrity . the language of the scholastick philosophy , which came to us from the arabians , is not in it self , worthy of any particular respect ; it is like the architecture of our ancient churches . this architecture which we call gothick , and which truly is arabick , is neither more venerable , nor more holy , for having been apply'd unto holy uses in times , when men knew no better . it would be a ridiculous delicacy , to resolve never to enter into any churches built after this manner ; as it would be also a vain scrupulosity not to dare to build any of a better model . it is by chance , that these idea's come to be joyned to those of religion ; and that which comes from the customs and institutions of men , ought to be distinguished from what things are in themselves . if on the one hand , this restoration of humanity has render'd studies more solid and agreeable than before ; on the other , they have made them more difficult ; for they have been rather augmented than changed , and men were desirous to retain all . thus by little and little , and by a long tradition , that course of studies which is at present observed in the publick schools , has been formed . first of all , grammar with the latin tongue , poetry , that is , the making of latin verses , rhetorick , and upon occasion , history and geography , then philosophy , and afterwards divinity , law and medicks , according to men's different professions . i leave it to those who have pass'd through them , to judge , whether nothing is taught in the schools , but what is useful , and whether all that is necessary be taught therein . my design , as i said at first , is only to speak of private studies . and this is the reason why i have thought , that i may be permitted to set aside the authority of custom , and to reason freely concerning the matter of studies , as philosophers , ( who are the most obedient to the laws of their country ) nevertheless , take the liberty to reason upon politicks . i shall speak of studies in general , though my principal purpose is to restrain my self to those , which are most useful to youth , instructed in private ; and i shall only propose my reflections , which are founded upon experience . the second part of the choice , and method of studies . we ought , in my opinion , first to inquire what study is , and what end men should propound to themselves in studying . to heap together an abundance of knowledge ; though it be with great labour , and to distinguish ones self from the common sort , by knowing that which others are ignorant of ; is not sufficient to denominate a man a student . for if so , then to count all the letters of a book , or all the leaves of a tree , would be to study ; since this would be a very difficult task , and would end in a very singular sort of knowledge . but , why would this pains taking be ridiculous , but because it would be neither a profitable , nor a grateful work ? that therefore ought not to be called studying , which hath not for its end , at least , the pleasure of knowledge ; but yet , pleasure cannot justifie those studies which prejudice others that are better , or such imployments as are more useful . we should pity that sick person , who should be sollicitous about nothing , but to dress himself according to the mode , and eat every thing that is grateful to his palate , instead of seriously seeking after the means of a cure. a young artisan would deserve to be laugh'd at , who in the time of his apprenticeship , should entertain himself with drawing of pictures , and playing upon instruments , instead of learning his trade . he might think it a fine apology , to say , that he takes pleasure therein , and that painting and musick are more noble employments than those of the carpenter or the smith . but nevertheless , his father or his master would read him another lesson . leave these things , would they say , to musicians and painters , the time which you shall spend in their trades , will hinder you from learning your own . you are wholly to apply your self to that , and are permitted , only to spend the holy-days in your innocent diversions , instead of debauchery . much after the same manner young scholars may be accosted . your education must be the apprenticeship of your life ; you are to learn how to become an honest man , and skilful in the profession , which you shall undertake ; apply therefore your self altogether to that , which may make you so . but grammar , poetry , and logick ( he 'll say ) divert me : i find great pleasure in the knowledge of the tongues , in drawing etymologies , and making different reflections upon the language of men : i love to judge of styles , and to examine the rules of poetry : i love these learned speculations upon the nature of reasoning , and these exact enumerations of all those things which may form a conclusion . you have reason to do so ; all these pieces of knowledge are pleasant : they also are praise-worthy , and you may use them to such a degree : but beware least pleasure carry you too far , and that you do not bestow too much time upon them : natural philosophy also has great charms ; if you give your self up too much to mathematicks , you have work enough in them for your life . some have thought it too short for the study of history ; and others have spent it in mere curiosities of travel , of understanding the pleasant arts , as painting and musick , of inquiring after things that are rare . in the mean time , when will you begin to learn to provide for your subsistance ? when will you instruct your self in the things which are proper to your profession ? you ought wholly to renounce these pleasures , if you cannot tell how to moderate them ; but if you would pursue them in a reasonable degree , and seasonably , bestow upon them that time , which others squander away in eating and drinking , in play and unprofitable visits . but nevertheless , observe your times of exercising your body and unbending your mind ; for health and liberty of mind , is to be preferr'd to all curiosity . besides pleasure , there is still another great temptation to be avoided ; which is vanity . how many studies are there which men have sought after , only to make a show , to distinguish themselves , and astonish the ignorant . the way to know which they are , is to think what we should study , if we were to live in solitude , and never to speak to any body . nothing therefore should be called study , but the application to such kinds of knowledge as are useful in life . and there are two sorts of them ; one whereof are profitable for action , teaching men how to acquit themselves worthily in respect of those duties which are common to all mankind , or of those which are proper to each profession . the others are useful in retirement , furnishing us with means how to imploy our selves honestly in our times of repose , and to make advantage of our leisure hours , avoiding idleness and debauchery . the first ought to be the end of a man , as a man , whose perfection is moral vertue ; who is in the next place to be considered , as a member of civil society . it is also of great importance , that he should improve the intervals of action : all men's actions tend only to rest , and leisure ; and this estate is most dangerous unto those , who know not how to use it well . but they who know how to profit thereby , gain such knowledge , as may be serviceable to them in the conduct of their own lives , and those of others ; and moreover , in acquiring it , taste the purest pleasures of this life . for , as by bodily labour , men gain their bread , which the body receives with pleasure , and gives new strength unto it for new labour : in like manner , by business and the actions of life , we obtain rest ; wherein we learn how to manage the following actions of our lives , and that with pleasure . and providence hath so disposed the bodies of children , that whilst they are not yet capable of labour , they require a great deal of nourishment , to make them grow , and become strong . the same also is true of the soul , there being no age , wherein we learn so easily , and desire so much to learn , as during our childhood , when we are unfit for action ; instead of which , old age , wherein men become uncapable of learning , is very fit to instruct , and hath a great inclination thereunto ; insomuch , that there is no state of life , of which we may not make a good use , if we know how to co-operate with the intentions of the creatour . youth therefore is a very precious time ; curiosity and docibility are never so great as then . children would know all things , all objects are new to them , and they look upon them with attention and admiration ; they continually are asking questions , they are for attempting all things , and imitating all that they see done . besides , they are credulous and simple ; they take words for that which they signifie , till they be taught to be cautious , by finding that those about them do lye to them , and deceive them . they take what impression you will , having neither experience nor reason to resist them . the memory is never more pliable , nor more sure ; and what things they have in this age been accustomed to think on more than others ; to the same they apply themselves with more facility and pleasure all the days of their lives . 't is evident , that god hath given all these qualifications to children , to the end that they may learn that which may serve them all the rest of their lives . and it is also from the same providence , that they have not these dispositions bestow'd upon them in vain ; but that , at the same time , is given to them a capacity of retaining all that is necessary to them , and the external means of learning it . it is the fault of those who have instructed us , and ours afterwards ; if we want any of that knowledge which is necessary : whence it is , that the ignorance of our duties , renders us truly culpable . now the capacity which we have to know , and to retain , is not little ; and there is no man so meanly instructed , and of so gross an understanding , provided he be not altogether stupid , who knows not a vast many things . take a peasant , who knows not how to read , and never learn'd a trade , he knows how the most necessary things of life are done ; what is the price of them , what are the means to come by them ; he knows the trees and plants of his own farm , the nature of the soil , and the different ways of tillage it requires ; together with the seasons proper for each : he knows the way of hunting and fishing , according to the custom of his country ; and an infinite number of such like things which are useful and solid , and yet not ordinarily known by those who are called learned . the ignorant therefore are not such as think of nothing , and who have nothing in their memory . they have fewer things therein , and think oftner of them , without order and connexion ; or else they think of a great many things , but yet such as are little , mean , vulgar , and useless . the first are more dull and heavy , these more light and unstable . on the contrary , learned and skilful men , have not always their heads better made than others , but they use them more , they think more upon great , noble , and useful objects . but yet , how large soever this capacity of learning and retaining is , in those , whose natural dispositions are most happy , it is clear nevertheless , that it is limited , since it depends ( at least in part , ) upon the disposition of the brain , and the soul it self is a creature , whose vertue is finite . besides , life is short , the greatest part of it is imployed about the necessities of the body , and the rest is given us , rather for acting , than for learning . in short , without speaking of that which is above our reach , we may say , that no particular person can know all that , which yet the mind of man is capable of knowing . whoever should have the vanity to pretend to it , would leave a great many things unknown , to burthen himself with many which are superfluous ; and yet even in these , would daily discover countries , which were before unknown to him . we therefore ought to husband our time ; and with great care chuse that which we are concern'd to know , and so much the more , because we cannot forget , when we would . for knowledge is not like pictures or medals , which we put into a cabinet , that we may look upon them when we have a mind , and set them out of sight when we would not see them . we have no other place , wherein to put our knowledge , but our memory , and our soul it self ; there it remains , often as long as we live , and those things we desire the most to be rid of , are they which most frequently offer themselves . moreover , 't is our good or evil thoughts , which form our manners ; insomuch , that an errour which we have embraced , is like a poison we have suck'd in ; the effect of which is no more in our power to prevent . and if we be obliged to be careful in our choice of what we study our selves , we ought to be more careful for the instruction of others , especially children . it is more injustice to lavish away the goods of another man , than our own ; and it is a sort of cruelty to cause them to go astray , who are committed to our conduct . it is ordinarily thought , that this choice is of no importance to little children . as soon as the first sparklings of light begin to appear in them , they are generally suffered to receive a great many ill impressions , which must afterwards be blotted out : instead of helping them forward , they are usually encouraged in their defects . they are credulous , the story of the ass's skin , and an hundred other impertinent fables are related to them , which take possession of their memory , in its first rawness . they are fearful , they are told of hob-goblings , and horned beasts ; they are continually threatned . all their little passions are indulged ; their greediness , anger , vanity : and when they are catch'd in the net , when they say some foolish thing , by drawing a right consequence from an impertinent principle , which has been instill'd into them ; how are they laugh'd at , and triumph'd over , for having been deceiv'd ! and presently , how are they kiss'd , how are they caress'd , as if they had done well ! poor children are used as if they were made for the diversion of great persons ; as little dogs , or apes . in the mean time it should be considered , that they are reasonable creatures , whom the gospel forbids us to despise : upon this high consideration , that they have the blessed angels for their guardians . how much therefore are men , especially parents , obliged to take care of them , to cultivate their minds , and form their manners ? but what ! ( may it be said ) must children be educated in a dull and melancholy way , by speaking to them of nothing but serious and high matters ? not at all ; men ought only to take the trouble of accommodating themselves to their capacity , that so they may be assisted gently , and led along with sweetness . there are wanting in children only two things towards their reasoning well , attention and experience . the moveableness of their brain , which causes them continually to be in motion , and not continue long in one place , is the reason , why they cannot consider any one object for any considerable time , much less observe the order and connexion of things . the little knowledge they have of particular things , is the cause why they want principles of reasoning ; which are drawn from matters of fact , from laws of nature , and the institution of men. as for principles , which proceed purely from the light of nature , they have the same then , they will have as long as they shall live . they may therefore err , when they lay down a positive principle , or when they do not sufficiently attend to natural principles ; but they draw their conclusions aright , and if they had not then the notions of the great principles , and of good consequences , they would never have them : for men do not give these notions to one another , they proceed only from the creatour , since they are the foundation of reason it self . the defect of experience is that which may be first supply'd , by answering all their questions with the same simplicity , with which they proposed them ; telling them the truth in every thing as far as 't is useful for them to know it , and explaining it to them very clearly . nor is it enough to satisfie their curiosity concerning all the sensible objects , which make them speak ; but they should also be informed in useful histories , as that of religion , and of their country . but great care must be taken , to explain to them every thing , of which , as yet , they have had no experience , that so , if possible , they may say nothing , of which they have not a distinct idea in their minds . they may also be taught some fables , as those of the famous gods of antiquity , and the fables of aesop , which may be useful to them for morality . these toys do divert them , and do them no harm , when they are not given to them , as things of greater value than they really are . but they ought never to be deceived . as for attention , they must be brought to it with sweetness , and a great deal of patience . it will come with time . and when they shall begin to be more capable thereof , at first it may be excited , by the pleasure of some kind of knowledge which invites them : afterwards , by fear , threatnings , and even chastisements themselves . but let these last means be never used , but after all others have been attempted . as for their first instructions , i would have them given so , as that they should not perceive there is any design of instructing them . their intervals from play may be made profitable to them . when they are weary with running ▪ and exercising themselves , relate to them the history of the terrestrial paradise , sometimes the sacrifice of abraham , or the adventures of the patriarch joseph : at another , some fable ( as i have advised ) without obliging them to repeat that they have learnt , but leaving it to them , of their own accord , to do it , when they shall be in good humour . there are besides , divers artificial ways of exercising the curiosity of infants in this first age ; as by pictures , and images set before them , that they may desire the explication of them : by discourses held before them , as not thinking of them ; and continuing them , if they shall hearken to them , directing the discourse even to them also . when several are together , emulation may be of great use : that may be said to one before another , which we would have the other to learn : to him who shall be most obedient in other things , it may be propounded as a reward , to tell him some fine story . knowledge and study should frequently be commended before them , without letting them see , that it is upon their account . in short , the natural temper , and particular inclination of each child should be studied , that he may be brought to be attentive , either by pleasure , or some other motive which affects him . for this end , nets must be set for them on all sides , that they be deceived , for their own good as much as possible ; not so , as to render them quarrelsom and malicious ; and this is cheating them to their own advantage . above all , care should be taken , in these first years , when impressions are very strong , never so to joyn the idea of a rod , with that of a book , that they shall never think of study , but with dread : this makes study a pain to them ; and there are some , who never will be wrought upon after this manner . on the contrary , they ought to be drawn on with joy , which is natural to this age. we should laugh , and jest with them sometimes , provided , that authority doth not suffer thereby ; and rather expect some years before we enter them upon serious instructions , and regulated study . as the brain of children is very tender , and all things to them are new , they are much affected with the sensible objects which surround them , and are continually attentive to them . hence it is , that they do easily joyn together what affects them at the same time ; such a certain sound , with such a figure , or smell , which yet have no natural connexion with one another . hence it is , that they learn so easily to speak ; hence also it is , that chastisements have their effect upon them . but this also is that which is the cause of their errors : for they take all that for good which is agreeable to their senses , or which is joyned to any agreeable object ; and the contrary for evil . these first impressions are so strong , that often they form the manners of the child , for all the remaining part of his life ; and seems to be one of the causes of the different customs of whole nations . so that , he who could be so happy as to joyn agreeable sensations to the first instructions , which are given of things useful , for manners , or for the conduct of life : in a word , to joyn that which is truly good with pleasure : this man would have found the secret of education ; [ a secret much more valuable than that of the philosopher's stone . ] i know , that , upon this principle , sweet-meats , images and money , and fine cloaths are given to children , to recompence their diligence , and excite them to do well : but , by this , we do them more harm than good . hereby we cherish in them the seeds of gluttony , covetousness and vanity . they should be invited by more innocent pleasures than those of eating , of possessing any thing , and making themselves gazed upon and admired : and i know none so suitable to this end , as those of sight ; such are the beauties of nature , pieces of painting and architecture , symmetry , figures and colours . as the sight makes us attribute all its impressions to external objects , so its pleasures carry us onely to admire and love these objects , and not our selves , which is the great danger . agreeable sounds , and good smells have proportionably the same effect ; and this perhaps is the reason , why , in the solemn office of the church , it has been thought expedient , to yield something to these three senses . for this reason i should advise , that the first church to which the child is carried , should be the fairest , clearest , and most magnificent ; that he be rather instructed in a fine garden , and in the sight of a pleasant prospect , when the weather is serene , and when he is in the best humour . i would have the first books he is to use , well printed and bound ; that the master himself , if possible , be well-made , proper , speaking well , with a good tone , an open countenance , and agreeable in all his deportments : and seeing it is difficult to meet with these qualities joyn'd with others more essential , i would , at least , that he have nothing , that is unbecoming , rude and distastful . the little care that is taken to accommodate our selves to the weakness of children , in all these things , is the reason , that , for the most part , they have an aversion , and contempt as long as they live , for that which they have been taught by old , ill-humour'd , and melancholy persons ; and that the disgust they take against publick schools , built after an old fashion , which have neither light nor good air , often influences even their latin , and other studies . but whatsoever is done to make children attentive , it is not to be hoped they will continue so any long time ; nor that they can always be led on by pleasure . there is often need of fear ; joy distracts them , and joyning it self , to their natural levity makes them , in a moment , pass from one object to another . it is also to be feared , that they will be too familiar with their master , if he be always in a pleasant humour ; and that seeking always to divert them , he be too airy , and discover some weakness . he must therefore often take upon himself the character which doth more properly belong to him , which is the serious . he must sometimes shew anger both in his looks , and by the tone of his voice , to stop the carreer of these young minds , and make them enter into themselves . and sometimes if it be necessary , to pass from threats to chastisements , they may be managed several ways before they come to corporal punishments : and they ought to be made sensible , that they are only punished for want of attention , or some fault relating to their manners ; and not meerly for their ignorance , and want of wit ; to the end , that they may not look upon punishment as an evil , but a piece of justice . above all , all possible care should be taken , never to be really angry at them , what mein soever may be put on . i know very well that this is not easie ; the office of instructing is not always pleasant ; if the disciple begins to be tired , ( though he often is diverted by seeing something new : ) the master has reason much more to be so . and , in this case , resentment is soon taken , and it is ever and anon excited by the continual fooleries of children , so opposite to the humour of an old man , or one arrived to the years of maturity . besides , threatnings and chastisements are much a shorter way to give attention , than that insinuation , and those pleasant artifices of which i have spoken . but what is more commodious for the master ought not to be regarded ; and it is certain , that it is always more profitable for the scholar to be conducted by sweetness and reason . at least , great care should be taken that they be not corrected without cause , tho' it be but by a word , or a look ▪ for , how just soever the reprimand may be , it is always harsh ; especially in an age wherein the passions are so strong , and the reason so weak . it is a sort of wound , which imploys all the attention of the soul , and ingages her in thinking on the grief which she feels , or the injustice which she imagines she has received . insomuch , that if the injustice be real , and the child perceives it , either by something which goes before , or something which follows , ( as the judgment of others , or that of his master himself , when he shall , but never so little , come to himself ; ) if , i say , he perceives that his master is passionate , or that he is not exactly reasonable ; he will not fail either to hate , or despise him ; and , from that time , his master becomes useless to him . and it ought not to be imagined , that children are easie to be deceived herein : they are very sensible whether they have right , or wrong done to them ; and they have a very quick sense whereby they can discern the passions by the visage , and all external motions ; though , as yet , they know not how to express them , and do not so much as reflect that they do observe them . they have this good quality , that their ill-humour and their anger do not last long , and that they soon return to that joy which is more natural to them . let us be cautious not to oppose it : not to make them sad , by putting fear into them for a long time ; not altogether to discourage them , by driving it to excess . it is better that they should be a little wanton , then to be drooping and sad against their nature . on the contrary , they ought not , at any time , to be afflicted , but to the end that they may make good use of that composed state they shall be in afterwards . for it must not be expected , that reprimands , or instructions , will have any great effect upon them , as long as fear , or grief do possess them . they see nothing then but the evil with which they are threatned , or which they feel ; and , if the punishment be violent , their sighs oppress them , and they are besides themselves . but as soon as the tempest is over , and they are return'd to a reasonable temper , they fall to study afresh , and 't is then we should give them instructions , when they are in a condition to understand them . not that we should always expect so much reason from them , as to condemn themselves . but , at the same time , when they make their frivolous excuses , they see that they are in the wrong , and often do correct themselves afterwards . though i have ingaged my self to speak of this method of giving attention , with respect to the first instructions which are given to children ; yet it is easie to see , that it extends to all other studies proportionably . in the beginning , they should , as much as possible , be ingaged by pleasure , and afterwards retain'd by fear . as their reason shall become stronger , there will be less need of these artifices . let us return to the choice of studies , from which i have a little digress'd , to speak of the first instructions , and the general method of teaching ▪ study is the apprenticeship of life , it should furnish us with the means of acting well , and using our leisure well . life is short ; the capacity of the brain is stinted ; youth is the most proper time for learning . i think i have established these principles , and have reason thence to conclude , that we ought to chuse with great caution , what is to be taught to young persons . but , to make this choice well , we must not confine our selves to one certain sort of persons , or one certain kind of studies . we should , as much as possible , consider all at once ; all differences of men , and knowledge which are proper for them . let us consider all reasonable creatures of both sexes , of all conditions , as well those which are ascribed unto fortune , as riches , poverty , greatness , and the private life ; as those which proceed from choice ; as the sword , the gown , traffick and trades . and though we do not consider them but in one age onely , yet we shall not fail to examin all the degrees of them , from the first infancy to the ripe age , and perfect state of each person concerned in them . as for knowledge , the profitable ought well to be distinguished from the pleasant ; and the first should be divided according to the three sorts of goods for which they may be useful : the goods of the soul ; as understanding , and vertue : those of the body ; as health , and strength : and those which are called the goods of fortune , and which are the subject of business . amongst those pieces of knowledge which are profitable , those may be distinguished which are most so ; and they , without which none can be without , may be reckon'd as necessary . these distinctions being supposed , it will be easie to regulate the choice of studies of which we now treat . for 't is evident to any one , how little soever he will follow the dictates of reason , that , what immediately concerns our selves , as we are composed of body and soul , is to be preffer'd to all that which is without us ; and that amongst external things , those which are necessary for our subsistence , ought to be chosen before those , which onely give pleasure . it is sufficiently clear also , that they who have less leisure for study , or less capacity , as artisans , soldiers , poor people , and all women , ought to be instructed in that knowledge which is more generally useful : for , it is not just , that they , who have reason as well as others , should live without any instruction at all . to conclude , as for the distinction of ages , it is evident enough , that children must be so managed , that they be not over-charged at first ; and yet , that the time , when they are most capable to learn , should not be suffer'd to be spent unprofitably . i shall follow these distinctions through all the rest of this treatise ; and first , shall examin the studies which are most necessary to all the world ; afterwards those which are of no use , but to them who have most leisure ( as the rich , the honourable , &c. ) whether they be those which are very profitable , or those which are the most curious . afterwards , i shall observe in what order studies may be taught to youth . and lastly , i shall shew which are those , every man ought to apply himself unto , all the rest of his life , according to the profession which he embraces . amongst the instructions necessary to all the world , the care of the soul is most urgent : and it concerns us more to govern our wills well , than to enlarge our knowledge . the first study therefore is that of vertue . all men are not bound to have wit , to be learned , and expert in business , to excel in some sort of profession ; but there is none , of what sex and condition soever he be , who is not obliged to live well . all other goods , without this , are unprofitable , since this shews the use of the other . we can never have enough of this , and yet the greatest part of men have so little of it , that thereby it appears how difficult it is to attain it . we cannot therefore labour after this too soon , and ought not to think , that morality may be deferr'd to the end of our studies , and then that we should onely bestow but a little part of our time upon it , and thence presently pass to another study . for it should he begun from the cradle , at least as soon as the child is put into the nurses arms , and continued as long as he is under tuition . the master has hitherto done nothing , if his scholar goes not from him with resolutions to apply himself unto it all his life . i know very well , that it is the church , from whom the faithful ought to learn morality and religion ; and that the true professors of this science , are the bishops and the priests . but it is but too well known how little effect publick instructions have , at least , if domestick instructions do not assist , and prepare the way for them . divers methods , according to the condition of the child , ought here to be observed , by speaking of it to him , much less at the beginning , than when reason begins to exert it self in him , and always to augment your instructions , as it only grows stronger . at first , maxims ought to be laid down , without rendring a reason of them ; there will be a time to do that afterwards . and because i suppose a morality , which is christian , whose precepts are founded upon the doctrins of faith. i would begin with these doctrins , first of all to instruct the child . i have already touch'd upon this , when i said , we ought to begin with them , by teaching them matters of fact , and mentioned those , which should be first planted in their memories . for the first instructions of religion should then be instill'd into them , when it is not yet advisable to imploy them in any formal lessons ; being careful to recount to them a great many matters of fact , and maxims , to the end , that they may be furnished with principles of reasoning , when they shall afterwards come to have the strength of attention , and the habit of thinking . these discourses will be as it were , seeds sown at all adventures , which spring up , and bring forth more or less , as the soil is fruitful , and heaven is favourable . i shall not here dilate upon the particular method of teaching religion . what i have said upon this subject , may be seen in the preface to the historical catechism . when children have learn'd this catechism , or any other that is better , and are capable to read the holy scripture , care should be taken to make them know the outward beauties thereof ; i mean , the excellency of the different styles that they observe in the histories , how choice and orderly plac'd the matters of fact are ; how short , lively , and ( at the same time ) how clear the narration is : that they take notice , in the poetry of the nobleness of the elocution , the variety of figures , the sublimity of the thoughts : in the moral books , of the elegance , and brevity of the sentences ; in the prophets , the vehemence of the reproaches and threatnings , and the richness of the expressions : that all this be shewed to them , by comparison with prophane authors , whom the learned esteem so much ; and that it be by no means forgotten to signifie unto them , that the translations do not come up to the beauty of the original language . the same prophane authors will further help them to understand the manners of this first antiquity , and cause them not to be surprized by a great many modes of acting and speaking , which offend the ignorant , when they read the scripture ; which is that which i have endeavoured to do , in the manners of the israelites . i believe it will be useful to give them some slight knowledge of the fathers , and other ecclesiastical authors ; for i am concerned to see , that the most part of christians , who study , know virgil and cicero , better than st. augustin , or st. chrysostom . you 'll say , perhaps , that in them we do not meet with that wit and knowledge which we find in the pagan authors ; and that christian authors are proper for none but priests and devout persons : their title holy , is a prejudice to them ; and doubtless , makes many persons believe , that their works are full only of ungrateful exhortations , or meditations . men seek philosophy in aristotle , and put him to the torture , much against his will , to accommodate him to christianity ; and yet , they have in st. augustin a philosophy altogether christian ; at least , morality , metaphysicks , and the most solid part of logick : for , as for natural philosophy , he did not apply himself thereto . why should we not seek for eloquence in st. chrysostom , in st. gregory nazianzen , and in st. cyprian , as well as in demosthenes and cicero ? and why in them should we not also look for morality , rather then in plutarch and seneca ? prudentius , indeed , is not so good a poet as horace was ; but he is not to be despised , for he has writ with a great deal of wit and elegance , without borrowing the ornaments of the ancients , which did not agree with his subject . in a word , i would have the young man early advertised , that several saints , even those who were most zealous for religion , and most severe in their manners , as st. basil , st. gregory nazianzen , st. athanasius , were great wits , and very polite men ; and if they have undervalued human learning and the sciences , it was not because they wanted knowledge , but because they knew better . moreover , to balance the human vertues which are to be seen amongst the ancient greeks and romans , i would make my scholar observe , not only the same kind of vertues , but much greater , and others altogether unknown to the pagans , such as are to be found , either in the holy scriptures , or the most approved ecclesiastical histories . i would let him see the wisdom and the constancy of the martyrs , by the most authentick acts yet remaining , as those of st. pionius , priest of smyrna , of st. euplius deacon of catanea in sicily , of pope stephen , and of so many others : the reading of which is most delightful . i should make him admire the patience , and angelick purity of the solitary , by the relations of st. athanasius , st. jerom , palladius , cassian , and many other grave authors . lastly , i would let him know those , who lived as good christians , in the midst of worldly business , and great imploys ; as the emperour theodosius , st. pulcheria , charlemaign , st. lewis . though it be necessary to know that there never was any age wherein the church had not her great saints ; and to observe their different characters : nevertheless , to have a great and holy idea of christianity , it is adviseable chiefly to dwell upon the first ages , wherein the vertues were more frequent , and the discipline more vigorous . thus the manners of the christians , whether in the times of persecution , or the beginning of the churches liberty , should be plainly represented : their domestick way of living , the form of their assemblies , the prayers , fastings and administration of the sacraments , particularly of penitence : all this might be related very agreeably . a young man that had these ideas of religion , would have the great principles of morality , or rather , he would have the thing it self . for i would advise , that during this time , he should be taught the rules thereof , by the reading of holy scripture , particularly the epistles and gospels for sundays , the principal holy-days , and lent , and some little works of the fathers , as the confessions of st. augustin , the offices of st. ambrose , the considerations of st. bernard . and because this study should be carryed on by little and little , together with other studies of humanity and philosophy , care should be taken in his reading of prophane authors , to advertise him of all the errours which are to be met with in them , and the imperfection of their purest morality , in comparison with the christian ; to the end , that he may value these authors no more than they deserve . it is very useful to accustom children to judge of that which they read , and often to ask them what they think of such a maxim , or such an action , and what they would have done upon such an occasion . hereby their sentiments are discovered , which if bad , may be rectified ; if right , encouraged . it is good also to exercise them without books , upon the subjects of which they can talk ; as upon the occurrences of life , chiefly upon their little differences ; if several of them be brought up together , the matter will more affect them , and they will better understand the maxims . for here we ought not to deceive our selves , as if study consisted only in reading of books . all that is useful to know , has not yet been written ; and 't is impossible to read all that has been written . we should account reflexion and conversation to be a great part of our study . there are a great many things not to be learn'd , but by tradition and viva voce ; and also there are some which every one apprehends , by observing what others do , and reflecting upon himself . but 't is chiefly morality which is thus learn'd : every one forms his maxims , much less from that which he reads , than from that which he hears spoken ; especially in familiar conversation , which he thinks more sincere than publick discourses ; and from that which he sees those do , whom he accounts most rational . hence it is , that example and authority have so great an effect upon manners . for , seeing there are but few persons who have strength and patience enough for reasoning ( especially amongst youth ) and yet none would willingly be deceived : it follows , that they will believe the wisest , yet , not so much what they say , as what they do ; because actions are surer proofs of their sentiments than words . and here ; behold the great difficulty we meet with in teaching morality , i mean ill example , and the corruption of manners , not only in publick , but often also in private : for , you do well to tell a young person what you know to be the best , and to convince him by strong reasons . but he has always in the bottom of his soul , a violent prejudice , which renders all your reasonings suspicious ; and this is the common opinion . it seems to him , that common sense requires , he should prefer it to yours , and that 't is more reasonable to suppose that you are deceived , than that all the rest of mankind are so : and if , by chance , the master shall discover any weakness ( as where is the man , who doth not betray something of it sometimes ? ) if he be peevish , if his manners be ungrateful , or singular ; in a word , if he comes ( through his own fault , or otherwise ) to be hated , or despised ; presumption presently becomes a conviction , and his remonstrances have no further effect ; unless it be to prejudice the truth , and to render good maxims odious , or ridiculous to the scholar , all the rest of his life . men much rather follow the maxims of those , whom they esteem , and love ; and ( seeing men act by imagination , especially in their younger years ) they esteem , or love those , who are grateful to them , or seem to be happy , as persons of quality , the rich , those who have a good mien , who speak well , who are straight and handsom men. now these shining qualities are much more ordinarily to be met with in those who have less vertue , and more rarely in those who teach , than in others . besides , there are some men by general prescription , are supposed to be wise and vertuous , and yet are not so in effect ; as some fathers , old men , magistrates , and perhaps also clergymen and religious . insomuch , that young persons , though never so well inclin'd , are very hard put to it , how to chuse those whom they ought to follow . in the mean time , their passions grow , become stronger , and hold intelligence with those many enemies which attack them from without . yet all these difficulties should not discourage us ; and though we ought to hope for nothing , but by the power of the divine grace ; yet it is not sufficient only to implore this assistance by continual prayer , all human means should also be imploy'd . the success which doth not depend upon us , shall not be reckoned to us , neither shall we be reproached for it ; and whatsoever shall become of the scholar , the master shall be punished for his negligence , or rewarded for his pains . admonish therefore your charge , that to do well , he must draw himself out of the crowd , and not follow the greatest number : prove it to him , both by the authority of the gospel , and by reason , since whatsoever principle of morality you ground him in , all that you can account good in the world , will be very little , in comparison of the contrary evil. there are few rich men , a great many poor ; few that enjoy pleasure , and honours ; few learned , few wise men , abundance of sots and ignorant persons ; very little vertue , in what sense soever you understand it . make him observe that there is scarce any one whose actions are all of a piece , and who follows the same principle , whether it be good or bad . make him sensible , how ridiculous these contradictions , so ordinary in common life , appear . the same father , who preaches to his son in general , wisdom , and a regular life , at other times unwarily uses before him , licentious discourses , with pleasure relates the follies of his youth , and thus teaches him to be a good companion , and a spark amongst the ladies . the mother , who carries her daughter often to prayers , carries her also to a ball , and to a play ; and holding the catechism in one hand ( which she makes her repeat , ) with the other she puts on her ribbons and patches to make her fine . it cannot be avoided , but that men will fall into these absurdities , unless they stick to one only principle with an immovable firmness . in truth , it is not morality , if it be not perfectly one , and built upon one only principle . you ought not therefore to speak to your scholar of human morality , of worldly wisdom , of politicks , or the prudence of this world. nothing of this should enter into his mind , but it ought presently to be balanced with the maxims of the gospel , by making him comprehend well , that we must be christians altogether , or not at all ; that it avails nothing to be so by halves , least being abandoned of god , we should renounce our baptism : it is to belye our selves , not to follow the law without reserve , which we have owned as divine . but to establish a young man in this doctrine , it will not be unuseful to remove certain gross calumnies , which are often form'd against christian piety . there are some so little acquainted with it , that they think it allows , or at least , excuses sottishness , and meanness of spirit ; and that bravery and greatness of mind , are vertues only to be found in the men of the world. nevertheless , prudence and magnanimity are vertues recommended in the scripture , as well as temperance and justice ; and the contrary vices render us no less culpable before god , than before men. the difference is , that men often are not reasonable enough to excuse defects , which are purely involuntary . besides , devotion is accused for making men sad ; and if they durst say , it unhappy ; because , a great many of those who pass for devout persons , are ill humour'd , critical , and complaining , whereas , nothing is farther from christianity ; for that is a spirit of sweetness , tranquility and joy : and melancholy , is reckoned by the most ancient spiritualists , amongst the seven or eight sources of all sins , as well as gluttony and impurity . besides these considerations , and many other such-like , which may be useful to weaken the objections against morality , or altogether to remove them according to the masters ability , and the scholars docibility : method is of great consequence , for there is no part of studies which requires so much art and care. if children at first be over-charged with many precepts , they are tired , and discouraged , or if they take pleasure in them , they are apt to grow conceited , and to read lectures of morality before their time . they are admired and commended for the fine discourses they rehearse , which infuses a great deal of vanity into them . nevertheless , they cease not , at the same time , to act as children , that is to say , to follow their passions ; insomuch , that they so soon accustom themselves to speak well , and do badly , that they become more incorrigible than others ; because the excellent maxims which they know by heart , when yet they do not practise them , do not affect them at all ; and because they think they know more of them , than they who would correct them . 't is also very dangerous to make them reflect upon their faults , without seriously endeavouring to bring them to amend them : otherwise , these reflections will be like those idle discourses of such as tire the world , by telling of their faults , as well as of their distempers ; meerly out of vanity , to make themselves admired and distinguished from the rest of mankind , by the delicacy and unaccountableness of their sentiments . i am , say they , strangely afraid of thunder : i have a wonderful aversion to sots : i am impatient with my servants . i am very apt , every moment , to be transported with passion : and an hundred such like fooleries which they complain of , as of their megrims , and their vapours . nothing is more pernicious to a child , than to accustom him to this sort of language : the surest way is , to make him put your directions into practice , and as much as lies in you , make him sensible of all that you say , by his own experience . some men have heard much discourses about morality , and have spoke of it much themselves , who yet are ignorant ; that what we call the passions , are those lively motions which a man feels in his heart , and in his bowels ; when he fears , desires , and is in anger . he is accustomed to speak of them , as of the heavens , the stars , and of all things without him . young men therefore should be shown by the finger , and by the eye ( as i may so say ) what is every vertue , every vice , every passion , both in those with whom they converse , and principally in themselves . but above all things ( as i have said ) they must be taught to practise that which they know ; and in this , there is need of great patience and discretion . they are weak and light every moment ; they fall , and fall again into the same faults . they easily forget all their morality , when a new object of pleasure presents it self : and though they should recal themselves , they have not strength enough to resist it . to expect that they should attain , in a few days , unto this firmness of mind , is to expect , that a young plant , set to day , should to morrow have a solid trunk , and deep roots . we ought to wait a long time , and not to think it too much to labour often , and water the soil daily . this levity of children is indeed hard to be born with : but doth it not excite our resentment , rather because it is irksome to us , than because it harms them ? let us enter into our selves , are we proportionably wiser than they , in respect of the more perfect age to which we are advanc'd ? have we not , as well as they , our passions ? are we not addicted to our pleasures ? and if our divertisements seem to us to be more solid than theirs , perhaps to men more wise than we are , they would appear more ridiculous . let us make the comparison with justice . let us suppose our selves at the age of our scholars , and ingenuously confess , that at that age , their thoughts were ours . thus we shall find all children to be very near a-like . i say this , not as if we should neglect in others , the faults of which we our selves are , or have been guilty ; nor as if our scholars ought to take advantage thereof , if they should happen to come to the knowledge of them : but i say that this consideration should make us very gentle and patient ; least by pressing a young man too much , to ascend all at once to the highest pinnacle of vertue , by the most difficult ways , we cast him into despair . the instructions therefore of morality should be managed with great caution , and proportioned to the scholar's capacity , and much more to the strength of his soul. we should be always watchful to spy out the properest occasions , when they may be given most usefully , without scrupulously observing the order which we have proposed to observe in studies . often , from some fault which your scholar has committed , or some reflection made by himself , or which you occasion him to make , by reading some history , or book of humanity to him ; you 'll have a fit opportunity to instruct him in some important maxim , or to rescue him from some error . do not lose these happy opportunities . quit all things for morality . the occasions of teaching him history , or humanity , will occur oft enough ; but your scholar perhaps may come no more to be in so favourable a disposition : and that which is thus said , besides the business , as it were , and without design , doth ordinarily more good , than that which is discours'd to him in a formal lecture ; where he is upon his guard , because he knows that you will speak of morality before-hand . we ought not to be afraid of making digressions , which treat of something more useful , than the subject at first proposed . civility is a part of morality . it is not sufficient to observe the essential duties of probity , which makes a good man ; but also , we should practice those of society , which make a well-bred-man . rudeness and incivility are not to be found in a vertuous man , because they proceed either from pride , or a contempt of others ; or a neglect to instruct ones self in what he owes to them , and how he ought to behave himself towards all men ; or from a proneness to fall into anger . insomuch that it is impossible but a man must be civil and well-behaved , if he be humble , patient , charitable , modest and cautious . but , to the end , that vertue alone may doe this , it must be arrived to a very high perfection ; as it was amongst the ancient monks of egypt and the east , who were courteous and civil in the most affrightful solitudes . conversation with the world is indeed a shorter way to 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 you●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 object , that onely , which passes within our selves , and which we know the best ; and have no other design but to accustom our selves never to be deceived , nor to rest satisfy'd but with clear ideas ; and not to be over-hasty in passing judgment , and drawing of consequences therefrom . it is to be wisht that all , which doth not truly serve this end , might be taken away from them . without entering here , in particular , upon this instruction ( since i do not write a logick ) i should desire , that a child be early accustomed , to say nothing but what he understands , and not have any ideas , but the clearest that possibly can be . to this end , in all that he should learn , he ought continually to be exercised in dividing and defining , that hereby he might learn exactly to distinguish each thing from others , and to give to every thing that which appertains unto it . not that i would , as yet , charge his memory with definitions , and the rules of division and definition ; but make him practise them , upon those subjects , which should be most familiar unto him . when he shall have strength enough to retain several ideas , or several judgments likewise , at once , i would make him apprehend the difference of true , of false , of uncertain ; and i would convince him , that he ought not to deny every thing , nor to doubt of every thing ; but that 't is necessary to follow some certain rules in passing our judgments . in the next place , i would have him to observe those truths , which are the first , in the order of knowledge , and , upon the certainty of which , depends that of all the rest : whence would follow the knowledge of the soul , and its distinction from the body , the knowledge of god , and the rules of true , and false : from which all the rest of logick might be easily deduced . i would have it to consist in a very few precepts , that is , as many , neither more , nor less than such , as should really assist reason . for , if upon strict examination , it did appear , that men might reason as surely , and as justly , without all these observations , i should condemn them only upon this one account , that they would be unprofitable ; and should place them in the number of curiosities , how true and pretty soever they may be . but doubtless it will be found , that some rules of logick ( to how little a number soever they be reduc'd ) will be very useful to help reason : and also some axioms of metaphysicks , to which every man , that reasoneth , will be obliged to have recourse ; and which , consequently , will be the foundation of all his reasonings . all the world sees the usefulness of reasoning justly , and upon solid principles ( i do not say onely in sciences , but in business , and in all the affairs of life . ) but perhaps many may not see the necessity of ascending so high , as the first principles , because , in effect , there are few that doe so . the greatest part of men reason onely within a certain compass , from a certain maxim which the authority of others , or their own passions has imprinted upon their mind , to the means , necessary to acquire that which they desire . as for instance , i ought to be rich : therefore i will take upon me such an imployment ; i will take such a journey ; i will suffer this , and that ; and so of the rest . but what shall i do with my wealth , when i have gotten it ? but is it really advantageous to be rich ? this is that which they do not at all inquire after . they , who reason thus , never had other than vulgar spirits , of what profession soever they were : though they were the learned , and the doctors ; though they were ministers of state ; though they were princes . i call that a vulgar spirit , which is limited to certain pieces of knowledge , which is not imploy'd but upon particulars , and reasoneth onely upon experience . and i find , that one of this spirit is always the same , what object soever he proposes to himself . he doth not become greater for applying himself to publick affairs ; and is not more knowing for concerning himself in matters of science . he will never do more than reason probably upon the experience of that which he has read , and guess at one fact from another ; but he will never go so far , as to judge of what he reads , and refer every thing to its proper use . he who is truly learned , and truly a philosopher , goes further , and begins higher . he takes not up with the authority of others , nor with his own prejudices ; but rises always , till he has found a principle of natural light , and a truth so clear , that he cannot call it into question . and , when he hath once found it , he , with assurance , draws from it all its consequences , and never departs from it . whence it comes to pass that he is firm in his doctrin , and in his conduct ; that he is inflexible in his resolutions , patient in the execution , equal in his humour , and constant in his vertue . now this learned , this wise person may be found in all conditions . amongst the patriarchs we have examples of wise shepherds and husbandmen ; amongst the ancient monks , of wise artisans ; and of what profession soever a man is , he will never be as happy as he can be in this life , if he acts not upon certain principles ; or if a most immoveable faith doth not supply the defect of reasoning . but to speak in our own way , and with relation to those who have used to study amongst us , these solid reasonings , and these certain principles are chiefly necessary unto those who are to conduct others ; as clergymen , magistrates , and those who govern , or are concern'd in the management of publick affairs . to speak better , we ought not to reckon , that there are any true studies without this foundation : for , to know matters of fact , and gain experience , use is sufficient ; or if reading be joyned thereunto , there is no need of much instruction . but to form the mind , for a man to see clearly what he doth , to conduct himself by sure evidence , and not by uncertain opinion ; this is what ought to be sought after , and it is this inquiry which ought to be called study . the greatest part of men are more capable of this philosophy than is believed . it requires no extraordinary talent of memory , imagination , and briskness of spirit ; but onely a good common sense , attention and patience : so that there are none , but very light spirits , who cannot attain unto it . even peasants themselves , if they be not altogether stupid , may be often further instructed in this philosophy , than they who are more sprightly . to conclude , every one must be managed according to his genious ; and the master ought not to spend so much time in the instruction of those whom he teaches with pleasure , because their minds are open to receive what he says ; as thereby to neglect others , because they put him to more trouble . on the contrary , these last require more care , more affection , and more dexterity in the instructor : and 't is a sad thing , yet not to be 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 all men know naturally , but only names , and arbitrary distinctions . i more value a peasant , who knows of what corn the best bread is made , and how this corn is made to increase ; than a philosopher , who reasons only upon goodness , perfection and infinity , without ever descending lower . let , therefore , your scholar have a true and distinct understanding ; let him reason upon general principles , and put what he knows into a good order . but let him be satisfied with a few principles ; and let him be furnished with something to set in order ; i mean , with distinct and particular observations . hitherto , i have spoken only of those studies which tend to the perfection of the soul , by forming the mind and the manners . something also must be said , of those which may be useful to the body ; since , next to our soul , there is nothing which ought to be so precious to us , as this other part of our selves : and since also , the strict union of the one with the other , is the reason , why the soul is not in a condition to act well , if the body be not well disposed . i know that this sort of study is not in use amongst us ; we are sensible enough , that health , strength , good behaviour and beauty , are goods of the body ; but we are apt to suppose , that they must all be given by nature . the art of procuring them , is so much forgotten ; that , was it not certain , that the ancients had it , and also had carry'd it to as great perfection , it might not probably be believed , that it was possible . this is the art which the greeks called gymnastick ; which chiefly consisted in the exercise of the body ; and upon this account , it is foreign to my subject ; for i have not undertaken to treat of all that relates to the education of youth , but only of their studies . i shall therefore leave this treatise of exercises to some person , who shall be better vers'd in it than i am ; and i shall , in the mean time , only speak of that knowledge , which may be useful for the preservation of health . i will not call it by the name of medicks , because we do not now undertake this long and difficult art , which imploys men all their life ; and which is conversant about the healing of diseases , rather than the preventing of them : whereas , that which i here understand by this study , necessary to all men , is only some certain , plain and easie precepts , for the preserving , and increasing health . i would therefore , from the first infancy , have sobriety instill'd , as far as this age is capable thereof ; not by making children fast , for it is not yet time : but by not permitting them to eat as much as they would , nor all that they have a mind to , nor offering any thing to them which might tempt them , or giving them such rewards or punishment which depend upon eating . in their presence , gluttons and luxurious person , should be exposed to contempt , sometimes by way of raillery , sometimes by serious discourse ; diseases and other mischiefs observed , which proceed from the excesses of the mouth ; sobriety commended , and the good effects of it demonstrated : and all these discourses , as much as may be , should be made , without seeming to have any design of instructing them , and without directing your speech to them , that so they may be less upon their guard : but , above all , great care must be taken , not to bely these discourses , by any contrary speeches , or by any action . in a word , to enforce them , by your example . we see , by the manners of whole nations , how powerful the opinion , custom , and impressions of infancy are in this matter . drunkenness so frequent in the northern countries , is a monster in spain . the indians live all their life upon rice , pulse , and fruits , without eating flesh or fish ; and some of them are so exercised in fasting , that they can abstain for fifteen or twenty days together , without taking any nourishment . perhaps it may be thought , that these things belong rather to moral instructions ; but they are also proper means for preserving health : and it is not my purpose to enter , in particular , upon a large description of the vertues . in the mean time , since these instructions are useful to several ends , they are doubtless upon that account , the more excellent . to be in good health , it is convenient to be neat and clean , to breath a pure air , to drink good waters , to eat simple and plain meats ; and though nature sufficiently teaches all this ; yet , 't is not amiss to put children in mind of it , and cause them often to reflect thereupon ; for custom easily gets the upper-hand . whatever gives strength , doth also very much conduce to health ; which strength doth necessarily suppose . now that which strengthens , is not ( as the vulgar commonly believe ) to eat much , and to drink much wine , but proportionably to our nourishment and rest , to joyn labour and exercise . the exercises most in use with all men , are walking for a long time together , standing upright for a considerable while , carrying burthens , drawing at pullies , running , leaping , swiming , riding , exercising arms , playing at tennis , and other such-like , according to the ages , conditions and professions to which any one is designed . i shall leave the particulars to those , who perhaps , may sometime give us a treatise of exercises . i will only observe , that it is of great importance , for children early to have a good esteem for them ; together with a great contempt of the soft and effeminate life . he should be taught , that a man is capable of very little , if he cannot ( without altering his health ) sometimes take excessive pains ; breaking , if need be , all the rules of sleep and diet ▪ in short , that there are many vertues , which cannot be practised , but with a good body . st. paul says , indeed , that bodily exercise profiteth little : but he says this , in comparison with exercises of godliness ; and in a time , when the emulation of the greek athleticks , had carried them to an excessive curiosity . for many lived under a very severe discipline , and in very great hardship , without any other end , but to make themselves admired in the games . st. paul himself , elsewhere , makes use of this example , to shew christians how earnestly they ought to strive for the incorruptible crown . the christians , 't is true , did not ingage in these gymnastick exercises , which would have spent too much of their time ; much less in the combats and their publick shews , founded upon idolatry ; yet they did not omit to exercise the body by useful and hard labours . st. clement of alexandria , in his paedagogue , doth expresly advise it ; and the greatest part of the ancient monks have practised it . so that st. paul doth not say that the exercise of the body is good for nothing ; and though he thought it good for very little , in comparisan of christian vertues , he would doubtless have accounted it great in respect of that which we do now commonly preferr before it . for that which now a-days , makes exercises so little valued , is , because 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 children in private ; and if they will have them to study , it is by sending them to the publick schools . but perhaps , before i go any farther , it will not be out of the way , to say a word of that , which should invite those who are very poor , to study , or diswade them therefrom . regularly study , is not the means to acquire wealth , and belongs only to those who have an honest leisure . good sense requires , that a man should first begin by purveying for his subsistance , before he satisfies his curiosity . for they who apply themselves to study , when they have not whereupon to live , are like those travellers , who being landed in a desert island , should amuse themselves in contemplating the stars , and discoursing upon the ebbing and flowing of the sea ; in stead of making themselves cottages , and seeking out provisions . it may be said to them , if you desire to have the goods of fortune , as the most part of men do , why do you thus amuse your selves ? why do you not take the ordinary and natural means to procure them ? you are born for the country ; continue there : till the lands of your fathers ; or , if he has left you none , serve a master , do journey-work , learn a trade ; traffick , if you have wherewithal ; chuse some profession , whereby you may live honestly , and leave studies unto those who have leisure , who are rich ; or else do not concern themselves to be so . but , may some say , studies themselves are one of those professions whereby men gain a livelihood ; at least they lead to several profitable professions , the church , the court , physick : and in any of these ways a man may live more comfortably than by tilling the earth , and labouring at a trade . behold ! the vain hope which makes so many poor priests , and so many poor advocates . i do not say , that all who are poor ought to be debarr'd from studies , for then few , who could live at their own ease , would give themselves the trouble of teaching and bringing up children ; much less would they take upon themselves the charge of parishes , especially in the country . i should desire therefore no more , but that the number of these poor students were not so great ; that those of them might be chosen who have better abilities , and more vertue ; and the others who study for base and sordid ends , rejected . for it cannot be enough lamented to see , into what extremities young persons often are cast , who rashly embark themselves in studies , and then find it too late to learn a trade , yet think any other way of living unworthy of them . several , not knowing what to do , betake themselves , without any calling , unto religious societies : or if they be afraid of being shut up , and becoming subject to a rule , they seek after some practical imployment , belonging either to the treasury , or ( as their genius is ) they turn musicians , poets , comedians , mountebanks , or any thing you can imagine . also studies themselves suffer , by being handled by ill-bred and selfish persons , who are either wholly sollicitous how to get a livelihood , or how to grow rich. their end is not the knowledge of truth , and the perfection of reason , but interest : so that they force their thoughts , to make them comply therewith ▪ they study not that which is best in it self , but what makes the best return ; they endeavour not really to become more skilful , but to be thought so , and to please others . in a word , with them those are profitable studies , not which tend to the publick advantage , as the advancement of arts , and the perfection of manners , but those which make the students rich. but let us return to our subject . hitherto i have endeavour'd to speak of those studies , which are of use to all sorts of persons , to women as well as men , rich and poor . these studies are such as respect religion , manners , and the conduct of the mind , for reasoning justly , and health . i treated of them in all the latitude wherein he may teach them , who instructs a child that is honourably born , design'd to great imploys , and on whom the master bestows all his care , having all the encouragements he desires . proportionably , it may be judged , how much of them ought to be taught to an ordinary person , a woman , or an artisan . thus , to the poor , the instructions of a curate , careful of his duty , of a master of the private schools , or of an intelligent father , will suffice . they may also , for the most part , omit learning either to write or read : for i account it much more necessary , that they should be instructed in all that i have mentioned , as far as they shall be capable . i now come to studies , which are useful for business , and consequently are likewise common to all who have estates , of what sex and condition soever they be : and these studies are , grammar , arithmetick , oeconomicks , skill in law. but i must explain in what sense i understand all these words . by grammar i onely understand reading and writing , speaking french well , and writing correctly ; so that a man is not at a loss , either for choice of words , or construction of discourse ; and also can write well , even the most common things ; as a letter of business . i do not think a child should he taught to read before he be six years old , unless he be naturally one of very happy intellectuals . for this is a troublesome study ; there is nothing of that in it , which children seek after , which is pleasure : and there is need of a great deal of patience , of which they have none . let us judge of them by our selves . how difficult is it , at the age , when reason is perfect , to begin to read hebrew , or arabick ? we are push'd on by curiosity , we desire , with all our hearts , to learn these languages , and we are accustomed to study and industry . nevertheless 't is very ungrateful to fix our eyes a long time upon the same figures , so often to gather together the same letters , to supply , by memory , what is wanting in the writing ; ( as there wants something in all sorts of languages ) and , at last , for all the fruit of our labour , onely to pronounce words which we do not understand . and yet we take it ill , that poor children , who seek after nothing but their play , do not take all this trouble in good part ; and severely chastise them because they do not pore long enough upon their book . but , after all , why should we press them on so much ; especially , if their manner of living will oblige them to write and read all their lives ? are we afraid that they shall not know how to do so when they are grown up ? but do we see any of them , who , when they are ten or twelve years old , are without this learning ? it may be said , we do not see any such , because there are none who are not obliged to learn these things in their childhood . but do we think , that emulation , the shame of not being like others , and the necessity of writing and reading in all our other studies , will not also do very much in these ? in the mean time , the harshness of these first lessons , makes them , for a long time , disgust all study . we should have a great deal of patience with them , make them read but a little at a time , and insensibly increase , as it becomes more easie to them ; and , at the same time , teach them histories , or other things which may divert them . at first we make them read in latin , because 't is pronounced more as it is written , than the french. but , i believe , that the pleasure a child would have to understand what he should read , and to see the fruit of his labour , would make him go on faster . for this reason i should presently give him some french book , which he might understand . it easily appears , that the same difficulties which there are in learning to read , are also to be found in latin , and other languages ; and that they continue longer . there is also , by the custom of the schools , added to them another difficulty , which is that of the rules , and all the art of grammar . for tho' we are not accustomed to learn latin , but with the grammar ; nor the grammar but in latin , or upon the foundation of the latin grammar ; it is clear nevertheless , that these are two different studies ; since there is no language which may not be learnt by use ; as likewise there is none which has not its grammar . i have shewed , that this method began at the time when latin was the vulgar language ; and that the greek grammar , which is the first which we know , was made also by the greeks . thus , to imitate these ancients , whom we do , with so much reason esteem , the grammar should be studied in our own language , before it be studied in another . since this study would consist onely in causing the child to make reflexions upon a language which he already knows ; he would often take pleasure therein : and the difficulties which he should meet with would be less than they would be , when added to those of learning a language . there would be always this advantage , that he might be made perfectly to understand all the precepts by familiar examples . but i would not load him with over many rules , since the great curiosity in grammar consumes much time , and is of no use . you have perhaps labour'd a whole day , to get by heart one exception , whereof probably you 'll have no use three times in all your life . i should content my self with the principal definitions , and the most general rules ; and should propose no more to my self , than to speak and read well , to observe a very exact orthography in writing ; to understand all that i say , and all that i read , as far as the knowledge of the tongue may conduce thereunto . for this , it would suffice , to know the divisions of the letters , the parts of speech , and their subdivisions , and other things which i cannot mention in particular , at least , unless i should make a grammar . now , that these precepts should not be dry , and jejune , as they are in books , i would render them sensible and pleasant by the way of teaching them . when a child should have read in his own language , for some time , the things which he understood , and wherein , if possible , he should take pleasure ; one would begin to make him observe , that all that writing consisted onely in two and twenty letters , and that all the large discourses are composed onely of nine sorts of words ; that there are two kinds of articles ; that there are genders in nouns ; tenses and persons in verbs ; numbers both in the one and the other ; and thus of the rest . as soon as he shall know how to write a little , you might cause him to digest those histories which have been recited unto him ; and here the mean and improper words , the bad constructions , and the faults of orthography should be corrected . he might be told the rules of etymologies , and taught many of them occasionally . they serve very much for the understanding the meaning of words , and orthography , and are diverting . thus by a few precepts , and a great deal of exercise , he might learn in two or three years as much grammar as a gentleman need to have for the use of life ; and more than ordinarily they know , who have been eight or ten years in the college . the greatest part might stop here , and learn no other language at all . sword-men , practicioners , accountants , merchants , and all below these ; as also the greatest part of women may let latin alone : experience shews this . but , if they knew as much grammar , as i have said , it would be very easie for them to use good french books , and the translations of the ancients ; and perhaps , at last , they might be disabused , and not imagin , that that person must be a fool who does not understand latin. 't is true , latin is necessary for clergy-men , and men of the robe , and that it is very useful for souldiers , tho' it was onely for their travels ; and , amongst women , to the religious , for understanding the office which they read. but i believe , it would be much more easie to learn , if it was not embarassed with so many rules of grammar . not that i believe , it should be taught by use alone ; though there have been some examples of it , even in our time ; but the method of doing this is not sufficiently established , to propose it to the world. add to this , that whatever habit of speaking children might have , i should scarce believe that it would continue constant , in a language , which is not continually used , without the help of rules . 't is true , we have an example in the jews , who teach their children hebrew , without any rule , and make them very knowing therein ; but this is with a very long time . let us therefore rather make use of rules , provided that they do assist , and not over-burthen children . now , if they know them in their own language , the rest will be very easie . it will be onely making them observe what is different in the latin language . the want of articles , the declension of nouns , the passive in verbs , the liberty of placing the words differently , and the like . this , for the most part , onely would be exceptions from the general rules which they had learnt . to conclude , they should be continually exercised in reading some author , which they understood with pleasure ( if it might be ; ) and they should be taught the rules , much rather by use , than the strength of memory ; though it should not be forgotten also to cause them to get things by heart . that which will best imprint them upon their minds , will be composing ; but yet it must not be begun so soon , nor continued so long as reading , which ought to be their chief exercise , and continue , during the whole course of their studies . for there is this advantage in grammar , and the study of languages ; that , being as instruments , he who has once learnt them will confirm himself therein , proportionably as he shall use them : because the books wherein he learns things , are compounded of the words of a certain language put together , and placed according to grammar . arithmetick comes afterwards ; and i think it should be begun later ; that is , when reason is already formed ; as at ten , or twelve years . at first the scholar should be taught the practice of the four great rules ; he must be exercised in casting account , either with counters , or with the pen ; to make use of all sorts of cyphers ; to reduce the most usual weights and measures . afterwards he may go on to the rules which are more difficult , and be shown the reasons of all ; and the knowledge of proportions may be taught him , as his leisure and genius shall serve . it will be thought strange , doubtless , that i reckon oeconomicks amongst studies , and amongst the most necessary too : but hear what i would say for my self . the design of young persons studies should be , to acquire , in the first age that knowledge , which must be serviceable to them all the rest of their lives ; or at least , the principles of this knowledge , as i think i have already shewn . therefore , that which is necessary to the most common and ordinary affairs , that which respects the maintenance of life , and the foundation of civil society ; this knowledge surely ought to have the first place next after that which refers to man in himself , and directly conduces to the perfecting the soul or the body . so that it is principally the scholars ignorance of these kinds of things , which makes several despise both them and their studies . what are the thoughts of the eldest son of a family , who comes from the college ? to divert himself , to boast of his knowledge , and if he be pleas'd with study , to follow his curiosity : he never concerns himself how he subsists ; whence comes that which nourishes and cloaths him , and the like . he only considers how other young persons of the same quality live , and would , by no means , be less accounted of , nor want money to game , or satisfie his passions . in the mean time he fills his head with comedies , romances , musick ; or , if he wants wit , he confines himself to more gross pleasures . some great change in his fortune must happen , the death of a father , some great estate fall which he must take possession of , some great law-suit , a marriage , or an office to make him open his eyes , and see that there is any such thing as business in the world ; and that he has something to take care of as well as other men. i know that in all this , there is a great deal that is natural to youth , which is hurry'd on to pleasure by violent passions ; and has not experience enough to have any esteem for things that are useful . but this is the reason also why youth ought to be assisted and restrain'd , in stead of which it seems , as if men had a design to encourage their faults . young persons , 't is true , will never love labour and business . yet it ought , at least , to be endeavour'd , by preparing them early for them , that they may not appear so harsh and burthensome when they shall come to the age , when they must apply themselves unto them for good and all . upon this account , amongst studies necessary to all , who have any thing to manage and preserve , i reckon oeconomicks , and skill in the law : and observe wherein i make oeconomicks to consist . seeing the first objects which make impressions upon children , are those within the house , as its divers parts , the servants , and their different offices , the moveables , and working instruments . there is nothing to be done but to follow the humour of their natural curiosity , to teach them with pleasure the use of all these things , and make them understand , as far as they are capable , the solid reasons , which put men upon inventing them , by letting them see the inconveniencies which they remove . thus also they would be accustomed to admire the goodness of god in all things which he furnishes us with for our wants ; the industry which he has given unto men to make use of them ; the happiness of being born in a country that is cultivated , and in a well-instructed and polite nation : to take noble ideas of all things , which an ill education , and the vanity of our manners make us despise ; and not so much to disdain a kitchin , the back-yard , the market-place , as the most part of persons gentilely bred do . to conclude , thus they would be accustomed to make reflexions upon all that presents its self to them , which is the principle of all studies . for men mightily deceive themselves , when they imagin , that they must seek a great way off for that wherewith children are to be instructed . they are not to live , either in the air , or amongst the stars , much less in the imaginary spaces , in the country of the entia rationis , or second intentions ; but they must live on the earth , in this low world , such as it now is , and in this corrupted age of it . they ought therefore to know the earth which they inhabit , the bread which they eat , the animals which are useful to them ; and , above all , the men with whom they are to live and to act. and let them not , in the least , imagin that , to consider all the things which are about them , is to debase themselves . in a great family there will be more occasion for these instructions than in a less ; and there will be yet more , if children be sometimes in the city , and sometimes in the countrey . thus the children of persons of quality , who may have all these advantages , ought to know more things than others . as they grow in age , more may be told them concerning these things ; and , in some sort they might be indifferently well instructed in those arts , which respect the convenience of life , by letting them see men work at them ; and by explaining to them every thing carefully . they should then be shewn , either in the house , or elsewhere , how bread , and cloth , and stuffs are made . they should see taylors , tapistry-makers , joyners , carpenters , masons , and all who are concern'd in the building-trade , work in their particular callings . they should also be , some-ways , so far instructed in these arts , as to understand the language of the workmen , and that they may not be easily impos'd upon . now this study will , all this while , be a great divertisement for them : and seeing children desire to imitate every thing , they will be sure to play over all these arts. and herein they should not be roughly opposed , or laughed at , but gently assisted , by shewing them what will be chymerical in their designs , and what feasible . this might be an occasion of teaching them a great deal of mechanicks ; and they would have the pleasure of succeeding in some things , which in this age , is very great . it would also be well to acquaint them with the common price of the works which they may have occasion for , and the things which they may buy themselves , and even those which they may order others to buy . for , though these prices often change , yet , they who have known them once , will not be so much to seek ; especially , if they be once well told , why some commodities are so dear in respect of others ; and the most ordinary causes of the change of price . i should also desire that a young man be soon instructed , either by experience , or an exact relation , in all that is necessary for travel . this is the study which i call aeconomicks . it easily appears , that i do not pretend to make it a study in form , or that it should be learn'd by books . it might be learn'd by conversation and practice ; and would be , not so much the office of a master , as the care of a good father , or an affectionate tutor . other studies would assist it , and it would help them . to exercise the rules of arithmetick , the young person might make up the accounts , and keep a register of receipts and expences , which is so necessary a practice to every man , who has any thing to take care of , that it is recommended in scripture it self . in human authors , as cicero and virgil , it may be observed to them , how much the romans did then esteem husbandry , and a diligent application to their domestick affairs . this might be seen more in those authors which treat of country businesses ; as cato and columella , and in some books of the law. the young romans must needs have been very soon fit to act , and manage their affairs , since at fourteen years they were out of tuition ; were accounted grown men at eighteen , and took their place , and argued freely before the magistrates . as for the greeks , the aeconomicks of xenophon , aristophanes , theocritus , hesiod and homer , do shew , that they busied themselves very much within their houses , in management , and all kind of husbandry ; and that the richest and most civilized persons , did then make that their business and delight , which at this day is looked upon as the lot of the miserable . the authority of these great names , and the consent of such excellent writings , might give noble ideas of all , even the most common things of life . this also might make the scholar much more capable of profiting , even by the holy scripture ; seeing that all which is accounted so mean and dull , came from the simple and solid manners of that wise antiquity , when no person disdain'd to labour , more than he did to eat : and this , i think , i have shewn in the manners of the israelites . but whether the scholar shall read these authors , or the master relate to him what they say ; i would have him careful to make all things very sensible , and refer all to our own country usage and custom . let us leave it to the grammarians by profession , curiously to inquire after all the plants which virgil names , and the description of all the instruments of agriculture which hesiod mentions . let us only take occasion from what they say , to make our scholar understand that which at present is done in our country , and let us not be discouraged , if they use some word which we may not understand , provided that we know our way of management , as well as they did theirs . as for the law , since it depends less upon the imagination , and has more reasoning in it , we should wait till the mind be more accustomed to attend , and the judgment be form'd ; that is , till thirteen or fourteen years , and till our scholar be towards the end of his studies . nevertheless , it is much more easie to make this sensible and agreeable , than it is philosophy , which is the ordinary study at this age ; especially , after this foundation of aeconomicks , of which i have spoken , it would be a great deal more easie . you may suppose , that , by skill in the law , i do not here understand that long and difficult study , which makes lawyers by profession , and which contains the knowledge , not only of all the laws that are used in a country , upon any subject whatsoever , but of all that also , which serves to explain and apply them to particular matters . i only speak here of those studies which are necessary to all men of ingenuous birth . thus , as to law , i only understand that which every private person is obliged to know of it , in order to keep what he has , and to do nothing against the laws . every one is thus far obliged by the laws themselves , which presume that all citizens are instructed therein , since they impute the ignorance of them as a fault , and punish it , either by the loss of goods , if they have failed to observe the laws , in getting or preserving them , or by more severe punishments ; if this ignorance has betray'd them to some crime . nevertheless , no care is taken to instruct young persons in them , except those , who are designed for the gown ; and questionless , it will be thought strange , that i desire this should be done . but to examine things without prejudice , this study is as useful , at least , as philosophy , which they are taught ; and is not more difficult . but philosophy , it may be said , exercises the minds of young persons , and makes them subtle . so will also the subtleties of law , by which the principal points will be better understood : but 't is feared , that they would be tired , should they be told of the vsus fructus , and propriety ; of the difference betwixt the right of heir-ship , and bodies hereditary , betwixt the parts individible , and the parts divised , although solid effects of all these distinctions may be shown to them . is it not to be feared likewise , least the universals , the categories , the infinite in act , and in power , and the entia rationis , should put them out of humour ? in short , the knowledge of right , whether pleasant or not , is necessary to all , who live under the same laws . this study would be very easie , if we had certain and fix'd laws , as the romans had those of the twelve tables ; the athenians those of solon ; the hebrews those of moses , or rather of god. a man should need only to read these laws to know his duty . but it is not thus , a great deal of experience is required to distinguish , in the large volumes of the edicts of our kings , those which are observed , from those which are not . customs speak not but of certain matters . we follow a great many rules of the roman law ; the greatest part of which , nevertheless , is not received ; at least , not into the number of our customs . our law therefore , being so mixed , and so uncertain , there is great need of study , to understand it : i mean , to have such an indifferent knowledge of it , as is to be supposed in private persons . for to know it exactly , it is the study of a man's whole life . now this indifferent knowledge thereof , necessary to all , i make to consist in these things . first , in understanding the terms , ordinarily used in speaking of business , and which we meet with , in the ordinances , customs , and other law books ; as fief , censive , propres , acquest , déguerpir , garantir , and all the rest , which are not commonly used in the ordinary way of speaking . children may learn all these words betimes , especially , if care be taken to make them understand the sense , by sensible examples ; and the sooner they shall have learn'd them , the less barbarous they will appear afterwards . it will be much more worth their while , to charge their memory with them , than with names , figures of rhetorick , and the terms of philosophy . after this knowledge of their way of speaking , which implies a great many definitions ; i would have the scholar learn the most general maxims of the law , which relate to particular subjects ; as of tutelage , successions , marriages , the most usual contracts , without entring into the subtleties of the law , or much affecting the method ; but only observing therein a little order , for clearing up the understanding , and assisting the memory . in the next place , the manner of prosecuting ones right in the courts of judicature , should be treated of ; and , without descending to all the particulars of the process , the order of it in general , should be observed , and the necessity there is , of exactly observing in judicial proceedings , the forms established . the difficulty will be for the master to chuse out of books , that knowledge which is necessary ; and is so dispersed , and blended in them . for it must be confess'd , that , as yet , we have no book , where all that which i have spoken of is put together , and separated from the rest . till some person shall undertake this . justinian's institutes , the customary institution of loisel , that of coquil , and the index of ragueau , and other such-like books may be made use of . moreover , it would be well to read to the scholar , the whole custom of his country , and shew him some of the most common contracts , that he may understand the principal clauses of them . but some will say , have we not wrangling pettifoggers enough in france , without desiring that all men should be so ? behold ! the ordinary language of ignorant persons , to call those wranglers who understand business , and speak of it in proper terms . on the contrary , one of the greatest causes of litigious pleadings , is this ignorance of law. hence it is , that men make disadvantageous agreements ; which afterwards they will not perform ; that so many revocations , and restitutions are required against surprizes ; that they rashly undertake a process , the consequences whereof they do not foresee ; that having equity at the bottom , they commit it to the management of a sollicitor , who spoils a good cause , by his ill proceeding . so that if any knowledge of business produces wrangling , 't is that confused and uncertain knowledge of some little part of practice , without order , and without the knowledge of principles . whence it is , that the greatest pettifoggers are always the meanest sort of practitioners . now men must needs have these obscure and imperfect notions , when they are only instructed by use . besides that , this is a very slow master , and scarce ever informs , but by the faults which are committed . further , after a long time , you will hereby know only some certain particular matters , and which indeed you may know , even too particularly , and , at the same time , be intirely ignorant of all the rest . to me therefore it seems , that it would be better , not altogether to depend upon experience , but to be first prepared for it , by some general knowledge . for though it be true , that many are sufficiently vers'd in business , by use alone ; it ought to be confess'd , nevertheless , that they would be still better , and more easily instructed , if they joyned some study thereunto . and seeing there is a certain age , wherein we desire that young persons should study , though it were only to imploy them ; why should we not rather busie them , in that which may be serviceable to them afterwards ; than in that which is only for the school , that is , for nothing ? for the school is not of use , but so far as it fits us for the remaining part of life . now in this matter , there is no need to fear , least they should learn a little more law , than may be absolutely necessary for them . it is difficult , exactly to measure this necessary ; and they will retain ( we may be sure ) no more than the sum of that which they learn. this study , which of it self , is a little dull , may be made more delightsome , by the knowledge of many matters of fact ; which giving to the scholar a little experience before his time , would render both the maxims and the reasonings of law , more sensible . i would then , that the young man be often told , what are the different conditions of men of the same country , what their imployments , and what it is by which they subsist : that he knew how a peasant , an artificer , a citizen lives , what a judge is , or any other man of the robe ; i say , that which they are , and not that which they ought to be ; what was their birth , how they came to offices , how they live : that he be acquainted how the soldiers and the officers of the army subsist ; and also that he be inform'd concerning clergy-men , and the religious : in a word , concerning all men , with whom he must live . the different nature also of men's possessions should be describ'd unto him from the least farm , to the greatest lordship ; and how the rents of them are made . what is trade and the bank , and how men grow rich thereby . the different natures of rents ; to conclude , the different ways of living and subsisting , according to the difference of countries . and seeing they cannot learn all this , but by conversation , young persons ought to be taught to profit , by discoursing with all sorts of persons , even with peasants and servants . the way is , to make each of them speak of his own trade , and of things which he knows . both of them would gain by this mutual conversation . he that speaks , has the pleasure to instruct , and to make himself heard ; he who hears , has the pleasure to understand something new , and the profit will thereby abide with him . the reading also of the ancients , will help him to understand these same matters of fact ; as i have observed for oeconomicks . the orations and epistles of cicero , are full of wonderful variety of affairs ; which the scholar may be brought to observe , as he shall have occasion . if he is to live a private life , particular business should be chiefly explained unto him ; if he is design'd by his birth , to great imploys , he should be more kept to publick matters . titus livius , and other historians , will also teach him a great deal concerning them . thus , the same lesson might serve for several uses ; for grammar , for rhetorick , for history , for morality , for oeconomicks , for law. sometimes one kind of reflections should be made , sometimes another , as occasion shall serve ; and it would be hard , if none of them should take effect . but , in all these observations , curiosity which continually tempts , should be avoided , unless it be used as a ragoust to excite the appetite of knowing . for otherwise , it will be no great harm , not 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 in this matter , is , that a young prince , or other child of more inferiour rank , be early shewn the difference betwixt true and false policy ; that he be taught to abhor that , which only proposes to make the prince , or the body of men which governs , powerful , at the expence of all the rest of the people ; which makes the vertue of the soveraign to consist , in maintaining , and increasing his grandeur , leaving justice , faith , and humanity to private persons . that he be instructed , not much to relie upon the artifices , by which his neighbours may be weakened , in stirring up enemies against them , or exciting divisions amongst them ; nor the skill how to deceive his subjects in making them believe the state to be stronger than it is . for the avoiding all these evils , the greatest part of modern politicians should be laid aside ; especially , machiavel , and the english hobs. let us return to plato and aristotle , whose politicks are founded upon the solid principles of morality and vertue . their end is , not to exalt one man , or any number of men , above others , but to make men live as happily , as 't is possible , in society ; to procure to all private persons safety , the peaceable possession of their goods , health of body , liberty of mind , rectitude of heart , and justice . to confer all these benefits upon a whole society , these philosophers believed it was just , that some should be at the pains of watching continually over it ; that they might make provision for all its necessities , defend it from outward attacks , and preserve peace within . these , if i mistake not , are the principles of true policy . but to see it in its purity , we must go higher than plato and aristotle : it must be learn'd from moses , david , solomon , the prophets , and the apostles ; or rather god himself , whose interpreters they were . they will tell us , that all men are brethren ; that the first states were only great families ; that every one ought to love the country where he was born , and the society in which god had plac'd him : that it is just , that one man should give his life for the publick safety ; and that it is god alone , who hath appointed some men to govern others : that the person of the prince is sacred : that he is plac'd over the people to defend them , and to render justice unto them : that he cannot perform his duty , if god do not give him wisdom : and a great many such like maxims ; whereof a whole body of policy , taken from the holy scripture , might be composed . perhaps i have said but too much upon a subject , which few scholars have need of , and few masters are capable to teach . besides , the studies necessary to men ingenuously bred , there are others which are profitable for them ; but yet , such as may be altogether omitted . first of all , latin ; for i have not at all supposed , that the studies i have hitherto spoken of , should depend thereon ; and what i have said of the helps which may be drawn from ancient authors , for oeconomicks , and skill in law , ought to be understood , in respect of those only , who , over and besides , shall have learn'd latin , or greek , or else shall read the translations . but though latin be not necessary , yet it is very useful for religion , for business , and for studies . since the roman church has not thought it convenient to change the language of her prayers and her offices , no more than the greek , and other oriental churches , it is to be wish'd that all christians understood this language ; and that all , who have the convenience of learning it , should not neglect it . add to this , the satisfaction there must needs be , in being able to read the writing of so many latin fathers , and of understanding that version of scripture , the use of which is authorized by the church . for business , the greatest part of the terms , which are used in speaking about it , are latin , and drawn from the roman law ; of which it is impossible to talk well , in another language , as may appear by the law books of the modern greeks . lastly , for all studies , men are so accustomed to use this language , that it is become the common language of learned men , over all europe ; that the greatest part of modern authors have used it ; and that it is beneficial for the understanding all the ancients . i have spoken of the way of learning it ; and have advised , that more regard be had to use , than precepts . i shall here add , that the genius of every language ought carefully to be observ'd to the scholar ; and that he should be accustomed never to render latin but by good french ; nor french but by good latin. it ought to be demonstrated to him , that one word cannot always be render'd by another of the same species ; as a verb for a verb ; a noun for a noun ; nor always one word by one word ; because one latin word often expresses a whole phrase of the other . men have many more thoughts then they have invented different sounds , wherewithal to express them : so that there is no language , where we shall not fall short in some places . it is not therefore to translate exactly , only to turn the words , if the construction of the language , whence we translate them be barbarous . 't is true , this way of translating is more sure , as to the fidelity of it , and it gives the reader the pleasure of seeing , in the translation , the genius of the original language . such is the famous version of the 70 interpreters . it represents the original , word for word , and always renders the same hebrew words , by the same greek words . there can be no translation done with more exactness , and religious care . the respect for the holy text made them fearful to alter the sense thereof by the least change . but ordinarily to translate well , the same thought , and ( as much as may be ) the same figure , and the same strength of expression , should be render'd according to the natural mode of another language : and when the scholar misses this , he should be brought to see the fault of his translation . for example , complaining of an ungrateful person , would you say , i have received little thanks for my favour to him ? you should rather say , he hath ill requited the obligation which he had to me . the latin has this particular , in respect of us , that , seeing our language is derived from it , we believe that the words signifie the same that they do from whence they proceed , though often it is not so . table comes from tabula , which signifies a planck : chamber from camera , which signifies a roof : fortis signifies valiant : and valens , strong . he should also be shewn , that 't is an error to think , that the latin , or any dead language can be perfectly learnt . we can know no more of it , than is written , and we cannot understand all of it that is written . how many words are there in cato , and in other authors , who treat of rustick affairs , which no man now understands ? how many sorts of vulgar , and trivial things are there , which never were writ in latin ? even in the discourses , which we think we understand best , there are certain elegancies which we cannot relish ; as those which aulus gellius observes , in some places of cicero and virgil. and if it be almost impossible to learn , even the living languages ( which are not natural to us ) in the utmost perfection ; what can be hoped , as to those which subsist onely in books ? but our comfort is , that it would be useless to know them better . we have no need of latin , but for understanding books , or for making our selves understood by strangers . as to books , we can understand no more than is written : and to make our selves understood by strangers , we should speak latin much after the same rate that they do . nevertheless , i would not imitate the germans and polanders , who make no scruple of using the baldest latin , provided that they speak it easily . but yet i would more carefully avoid the affectation of some learned men , who , striving to speak latin very finely , are hard to be understood . i should rather chuse to speak worse , and be better understood . i would then accommodate my style to the capacity of the generality of the learned ; without neglecting it so , that it should be barbarous , or taking such pains about it , that it should be obscure . above all , i would have the character of books observed ; and not have the jests , or proverbs , which plautus makes his slaves speak , put into a treatise of divinity , or any other serious matter ; nor into a familiar letter , poetical phrases , and lofty figures , taken out of cicero's philippicks . these advices are necessary , since the vanity of some of our modern learned men has given occasion for them , in respect of all these indecencies . they often also mix greek words in their latin writings ; wherein , in my opinion , they do themselves no great honour ; since this is silently to confess , that they know not how to express in latin that which they say in greek : for he cannot be said to know a language well , who knows not therein how to express what he will ; at least by a circumlocution ; besides , thus to interrupt the discourse by words , which make the readers lose what follows , is to insult over them , if they know not greek . but if i should be necessitated to insert a greek , or an hebrew , or any word of another language into a latin discourse , i should always write it in latin letters , that i might not puzle my reader . the second of these useful studies , is history . but seeing it is difficult for one man to read all those we have , of all times , and all countries ; and it is not convenient that many persons should wholly imploy themselves in this sort of reading , there is need of choice and order in this , as much , or more , than in any other study . he who , as is usual , shall think it enough to read , at a venture , the first book of history which shall come to his hands , will be in danger of charging his memory with a great many fables , or of retaining nothing for want of understanding that which he reads , some principles therefore should be given to young men , for discerning what histories will be useful to them , and how they may read them profitably . but to doe this well , the foundations of this study should be laid from their infancy . for though novelty be a great charm in history , yet nothing is more ungrateful , than to find nothing therein but what is new ; to see therein nothing that you know , not so much as one place , or one person . the history of china is full of great occurrencies , and rare examples of vertue ; yet because we never have heard any thing of jao , nor of chimtamyou ; and even the latest geography of this great country , is not at all familiar to us ; this history ( at the first especially ) is very tedious to us . the memory is continually in labour . when we find a proper name , we know not whether we have already seen it or no ; or , we remember that we have seen it , but we have forgotten what it is ; or take a country for a man , or a man for a woman ; we see not the interest which one had to love or hate another . in short , the mind is opprest with so many novelties , all at once ▪ that it is in continual pain . on the contrary , when a man who has studied but a little , reads herodotus , or titus livius , he meets every where with what he knows ; the greatest objects are familiar to him . he has , all his life long , heard men talk of cyrus , of croesus , of rome and carthage . but he sees a great many particulars which he had no knowledge of ; and 't is this knowledge which makes his reading pleasant to him , because he knows whither to refer what he learns , and because he labours not to understand or retain the principal matters . the trouble is much more to them who have no learning at all ; accordingly they complain , for the most part , of their ill memory . but they ought rather to complain of their ill education ; which makes the greek or roman history almost as troublesom to them , as that of the chinese , or musul-men is to those , who have gon through the more ordinary studies . yet there is here a great difference ; for there are few among us who have not heard of alexander , caesar and charlemaign ; but who , except some few who are curious , knows any thing of almamon , or ginguiscan ? we cannot begin too soon to teach children the principles of history . at the same time , when we acquaint them with the matters of fact , which serve as a foundation to the instructions concerning religion ; we should also relate unto them , those which are the most considerable , surprising , pleasant , and easie to be remembred in prophane history . those rather than others should be chosen , which strike the imagination . romulus's wolf ; the death of lucretia ; the sacking of rome by the gauls ; the triumph of pompey , or that of paulus aemylius ; the death of caesar . and if they could have a sight of medals , statues , or pictures , the images of them would be more lively , and be imprinted deeper in the memory . this doubtless , is the greatest use of painting and engraving ; and it was a great advantage to the ancient greeks , that they might learn history even without reading , only by walking about in their cities . for wheresoever they turn'd their eyes , they found either imbossed works , or excellent pictures in their temples , in their publick halls , which represented battels , and other famous events ; or the statues of illustrious men , whose countenances resembled the originals , and whose habit and posture denoted what was the occasion of their advancement . even in the countrey it self there were to be seen , trophies , tombs and pyramids , which were as so many monuments of history . great care also there should be to acquaint children with a great many proper names of men and places ; that they might soon be familiar to them , and excite their curiosity . especially i would mention those to them which make the greatest figure in the history of the world , sesostris , ninus , nabucodonosor , cyrus , hercules , achilles , homer , lycurgus ; and the romans proportionably . but i would joyn thereto the names of modern history ; which yet are usually much less spoken of to children : william the conquerour , godfrey of boüillon , sancho the great king of navarre ; and all the other who have been most famous these six hundred years . neither would i altogether omit even the orientals ; i would have a child to have heard some talk of the cailiffs of bagdad and cairo ; of the great power of the turks , and that of the moguls : their names would not appear to them so barbarous afterwards , if they were accustomed to them betimes . they should also make use of geographical maps , for the names of places , which also they might learn according to the difference of all times , and all languages , as far as may be . in the beginning of these instructions , i would not confine my self to any order of dates , or chronology , but follow the curiosity of children , as occasion should be given , to recount to them all these names and actions . the matter of history being thus prepared , i would begin to put it into order , as soon as my scholar should be ten or twelve years old . i would then make him observe the epochs , which are used in the reckoning of time . the olympiades , the foundation of rome , alexander , the incarnation , the mahometan hegira . but i would not embarass him with an exact chronology , nor oblige him to retain the meer simple dates : for this requires a great effort of memory . i would also carefully abstain from speaking to him of the julian period ; and i would not use even the years of the creation of the world : for 't is very difficult , not to say impossible , to fix them ; and besides , they are not of great use , since to the times of the foundation of rome , and the olympiades ( which are the same almost ) there scarce is any history but the sacred : the succession of which , i should be satisfied if he knew well , according to the ordinary epochs , of the flood , of abraham , moses and solomon , without concerning himself much about the total sum of years , which cannot , without much difficulty , be drawn into a sum and unto those persons , and occurrencies which are most known to us , i would have him to refer that little of prophane history , which there is in these times : danaus and cecrops to moses , cadmus to joshua , homer to the prophet elias ; leaving the care of computing the years of the world to those , who have leisure and curiosity to study chronology more profoundly . moreover , i would often repeat unto him certain general observations , which render the study of history more short , more easie , and more useful . you must know ( would i say to him ) that we have not the histories of all times , nor of all countries . there have always been a great many ignorant nations ; and of those who have written , there are very few whose books we know . all the histories of the ancient orientals , of the egyptians , syrians , chaldeans and persians , are perished ; and the most ancient which we have , except that of god's people , is the history of herodotus : which was not written till about two thousand years after the flood , and twelve hundred after moses . to the time of jesvs christ we have scarce any books but those of the greeks and romans , wherein are recorded any histories ( which are certain , and worthy of belief ) more ancient than the foundation of rome . for five hundred years after jesvs christ , you have onely one history to follow , which is the roman . but after the ruin of the western empire , spain , france , italy and england composed each of them their particular history : to which must be added those of germany , hungary , poland , sweedland and denmark , proportionably according to the time when they began . nevertheless all these histories may be referr'd to that of france , because the empire of charlemaign comprehended the greatest part of these countries ; and in others , he was so respected , that the people accounted it their honour to imitate the manners of his subjects : whence it is , that the levantines comprise all the nations i have mentioned under the name of franks . this is the succession of the history which is most known to us ; except you will add thereunto the byzantine history , which we have for two hundred years . as for that of the musulmen , which contains all that hath passed for a thousand years in egypt , syria , persia , africa , and all the other countries , where the mahometan religion is spread , we are ignorant of it to this day . the reason of this is not , as is commonly believed , because the mahometans have written nothing , or because their books are lost : for there is as much of their history alone as would make a whole library ; but their books are neither printed , nor translated , excepting two or three , which go about in the hands of the curious . we know also , that the chinese have a long succession of history , whereof we have had in latin an abridgment about thirty years since . we know that the indians have very ancient traditions , written in a particular language . we know something of the history of mexico , and the incaes , which yet doth not rise very high ; and within these two hundred years we have had an infinite number of relations of several voyages . this is all that we know of histories . we see how little it is , in comparison with the whole compass of the earth , and all successions of ages ; yet nevertheless , as little as it is , 't is too much for one single man : so that it is in this study especially , we should chuse carefully , and limit our selves . first we ought to know what to hold to , as to the beginnings of each history , that we may not give credit to fables , which affect to advance too high . the surest rule is , to look upon all that as suspicious which precedes the time , when each nation received the use of letters . besides , the quality , and the times of the historians should be diligently observ'd . it may be said in general , that no histories deserve credit , but of those who have written of their own times ; or of those who have collected out of such historians ; whose books , by a successive tradition , may have been delivered down to us . but when there are interruptions in an history , and large obscure vacuities , all that went before ought to be suspected . i should content my self with this order , and these general rules for universal history , and oblige my scholar , to have a more special insight into the particular history of his own country . furthermore , this study should be very differently extended , or contracted , according to the quality of persons . a man of indifferent condition needs but a very little history : he , who is likely to have some share in publick affairs , should know a great deal more thereof ; and a prince cannot know too much . the history of his own country makes him see his own 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 to make advantage of it , and to study all the art of discourse , after this natural way . make him observe the addresses , which the grossest sort of people use to make their interests take effect ; with what force the passions make them speak , and what variety of figures they furnish : how the voice , the gesture and all the outward demeanour , is fitted to the motion of him who speaks . these examples are stronger in them , who are exercised in business , than in others ; in the city , than in the country ; at the court , than in the city ; and figures are more lively in women , than in men. the other means of teaching this art , which is exercise , should consist , not only in writing , but in speaking . i would have this exercise always to be perform'd in french , how well soever the scholar might know latin. 't is sufficient that he be busied in learning to speak well , without applying himself also to a language which is not natural unto him . 't is to be fear'd , that he would force his thoughts , for want of knowing how to express them true enough , or least he should lose some fine period in cicero : if he should treat of any ancient subject , he probably , will transcribe ( without understanding them ) the phrases of those authors he has read : and if the subject be modern , he will be puzled to speak of it in latin. for being accustomed to speak only to greeks or romans , he 'll be altogether at a loss , when he must speak to men , wearing hats and periwigs ; and is to treat of the interests of france and germany , where there is neither tribune to plead before , nor solemn popular assemblies , nor consuls . let him write therefore , in his own language ; first of all , narrations , letters , and other easie compositions . afterwards , let him make some elogy of a great man , some common place of morality ; but such as is solid , without jargon , galamafries , and false thoughts : let him express his real thoughts seriously . lastly , when he shall have made some progress , let him write whole discourses ; as dissertations upon the histories he shall have read , and upon the subjects he shall know the best ; that he may , as far as he shall be able , bring together all the circumstantial proofs of the matter , avoiding wandering , and general discourses . these written compositions do accustom youth to attend , to fix their thoughts , to chuse the best , and put them into order ; to make periods , and in them , to observe the turn , and measure , which please the ear : in a word , to speak exactly . the exercise of speaking , will accustom them to hold on a continued discourse , without being at a loss , without hesitating , or correcting themselves , to be bold and attentive . now by this exercise of speaking , i do not understand so much that which is called declaiming ( which , at most , is useful , only to those who , in time , are to speak in publick ) as those discourses which are familiar , coherent and maintained by those , who speak well of business , or relate an history well in conversation . this is that which i call rhetorick . but if your scholar be one of an extraordinary genius , you may carry him on to poetry , which is , in truth , but a more sublime sort of eloquence . i do not think , that this art should be taught to many ; seeing it is better there should be no wretched poets , than 't is necessary there should be any poets at all . for versification ought not to be accounted poetry , nor should we look upon poetry only as a diversion , judging of it according to modern examples . to see the true character of it , we should go as high as sophocles and homer : in them we shall see poetry very grave and pleasant both together , fit to form the judgment for the conduct of life , and full of instructions , very necessary to those for whom they were made ; that is to say , of their religion , and history of their country . we may see the same thing in pindar , and the other greek poets . the latins have only imitated them : it is true , that homer and pindar , who so well understood this art , have used it in fomenting idolatry , and making themselves pass ( by a wicked sort of imposture ) for inspired men and prophets ; not to speak of the imperfection of their morality : so that to find true poetry established upon a solid foundation , wherein we may securely taste all the pleasure the tongues of men can give it , we must go to the songs of moses and david , and other true prophets . 't is there we should take the true idea of poetry . it consists in my opinion , in giving to the most necessary truths , a pleasant and affecting relish , for the forming of men's lives , and rendering them happy ; and in imploying for this noble end , all that is most forceable , lofty , and sparkling in the mind of man ; all that is most expressive and elegant in speech , all that is most harmonious , and passionate in the sound of the voice . this therefore cannot be the sport of children ; it is miserably to abuse those excellent talents which god hath given us , to imploy them in wicked or useless subjects . we should rather labour to reconcile the lively imagination with good sense , and with vertue . there will be no great need of giving many rules of poetry , to one , who already knows those of eloquence : to such an one , scarce any thing more need to be given , but some exceptions ; thereby observing how high poetry may rise , and what it cuts off from ordinary discourses . the most necessary thing , would be to shew the different characters of the several pieces of poetry : as what is an ode , what an hymn , an elegy , an eclogue , and so of others ; describing them according to the model of the ancients , principally the greeks ; and shewing how we may imitate them . as for the rules of versifying , this is a business but of a few lessons ; exercise alone will make it easie . i do not here speak of latin verses ; if any of them be made , it should be , rather as an exercise of grammar , for knowing the quantity , and having choice of words for composing : and yet , i know not , whether this profit would balance the trouble , which the scholar would find in learning to make these latin verses . but they , who would pretend to poetry should exercise themselves in their own language , and write for their own nation . to conclude , i will not say , that poetry is an useless knowledge to all those who are not born poets , or do not intend to exercise this talent . 't is fit , that the greatest part of well-bred men should be able to judge of poetry , by true principles ; and to this purpose , that they should know the characters of the several compositions , and the examples of the ancients . but i cannot perswade my self to put this study into the number of those which are the most useful , of which i have already spoken . i only place it in the rank of laudable curiosities , which i am now about to enumerate . as the first therefore of these curiosities i reckon 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 , who give credit to it , to guide their lives by deceitful lights ; notwithstanding the express prohibitions of the law of god , which condemns , in general , all sorts of divination , and particularly , the fear of the signs of heaven . nevertheless , there are but too many , who suffer themselves to be bewitch'd with it ; and perhaps the prohibition contributes thereunto : for they are not men of the best understanding , nor the honestest , who amuse themselves therewith . 't is true , it is not criminal , when 't is restrain'd to the prediction of the changes of weather , and all that depends upon the motion of matter : but even in this , 't is false , and impertinent ; since it reasons upon fanciful principles , and which have no foundation in reason , or experience ; nor any connexion with the consequences drawn from them . of this kind also , is chiromancy , which foretells , i know not what , by the lines within the hand ; and i do not understand , why as great mysteries may not be discovered by those of the foot ; unless it be only because they cannot be so conveniently look'd upon . these are the reliques of ancient superstitions ; for all the divination of the heathens was of this nature . they observed the divers motions of the flame ascending upon the altar ; which they called pyromantie : they considered the conformation and situation of the extrails of their sacrifices ; and this was the art of their aruspices : the augurs observed the flying of birds , their singing , their manner of eating : other deviners made their predictions from prodigies ; whether they were really so in nature ; or whether they made those appearances to be esteemed as such , which had nothing in them extraordinary ; for superstition made men fearful of every thing . if one had met a black dog , or found a serpent , or if his stockings were wrong put on , and a thousand other accidents , to which we should scarce believe they had any regard , if the books of the ancients did not shew the truth of these things ; and if we did not still see some reliques of them . there were some who explained dreams ; others , who distinguished lucky and unlucky days . and abundance of people lived upon this trade of divining ; there were an infinite number of books about it ; it was a very long and difficult study . for since it was founded only upon the opinion of men , and upon pretended experiences ; it could have nothing certain . and this art of divination was supported , as other parts of idolatry , by the respect men had for antiquity ; for it was very ancient in the world. the romans and the greeks had it from the egyptians , chaldeans , and other orientals ; and it was authorized by religion . christianity had brought it altogether into contempt ; but the mahometans , and the jews , have , with great diligence , collected all that remained of it , both in books , and in the memories of men. they are , at this day , still much addicted to it , and the indian idolaters much more . amongst christian nations , those give most credit to these impostures , who are the least improved in good learning , for nothing is so proper to disabuse them herein , as the study of natural philosophy , and true astronomy . amongst pernicious studies we may further reckon all that which is called magick , even that which is termed natural ; which is made to consist in sympathies , and relations , betwixt certain numbers , and figures , and natural bodies ; betwixt the stars and metals , or plants , or the parts of human bodies : in a word , in all the rêveries of the cabbala . i account it also unworthy of a well-bred man to learn the tricks of leger-de-main , or to perform all those feats of activity , which make mountebanks so much admired . to do them well , a man must be very much exercised in them ; and the pleasure which may be taken in them , can never countervail the time spent in learning them . i should say the same of all sedentary games , which require so much attention , that after having play'd a while , the head is discomposed therewith : for those , methinks , are strange kind of divertisements , which make those who use them , to stand in need of being diverted afterwards . the glory of playing well at chess , is not , in my opinion , worth the pains ; which being well imployed , might acquire some solid knowledge , and if they , who have parts and leisure , would bestow upon some kind of study , which they like , some of that great deal of time , which must be thrown away upon games , to know them perfectly , they would receive more benefit , and probably , no less pleasure also . the ancient greeks and romans , lived pleasantly , though they played much less , and allowed more time to conversation , and reading . but custom has prevailed , and men now game for interest , rather than pleasure . having run through all the studies , which we should apply our selves unto in the time of youth , before we be determined unto any profession ; i think it necessary to observe , in what age i would have them placed ; and how they may be carry'd on all the time , from the most tender infancy , till men enter into the world , and into business . first , there should always be several studies going on at the same time . i have signify'd this , in several passages of this discourse , as when i say , that morality , logick , history , oeconomicks , should begin as soon as a child is capable to understand what is said to him ; though according to the different ages , very different methods should be observed therein . the same proportionably i have spoken of grammar , arithmetick , law , and of rhetorick ; and it should be understood of other studies , and bodily exercises , which are to be performed at the same time . and if any one wonder hereat , i desire him to consider , that children act , at the same time , by body and soul , and by the divers faculties of the soul , which are to be cultivated by these different studies . they exercise all at once , the will , the reason , the memory , the imagination . if their studies be separated , 't is to be feared , that their manners may be corrupted , whilst their memory is improving ; and that , whilst they are wholly busied in learning a language , their reasoning may go astray . it will be too later to recover it again , when ill habits shall be formed . besides , variety , more especially in this age , doth please : children study more willingly four different things in two hours , than one only in one hour . one study is a diversion to another , and the more different they are , the less fear there is of confounding them . to come now to the distinction of ages , and to lay down more distinctly , what hitherto i intended to say , i should desire , that an infant should be taken care of , as soon as he begins to understand and speak , which i reckon is when he is about three years old . till six , i should permit him to divert himself , and freely to look about him , presenting , as much as possible , those objects to him , which may be for instruction ; relating to him histories , answering his questions , and speaking before him ( as seeming to have no design ) that which may be useful to him ; yet so , that he might be able to understand it . i would not , at this age , oblige him to say any lesson , or get any thing by heart , but the creed , the lord's prayer , and some other prayers . a father , or a mother , careful of their duty , assisted by discreet and affectionate servants , may give him these first instructions . at six years he may have a master , who may begin gently to require something of him more regularly . he may recount to him some history , especially such as relate to religion : teach him the catechism , to fix in him the doctrin ( of which he discourses to him more largely ) and also to write , and read. at the same time , what he at first began to instruct him in , must be continued with more diligence than before ; rehearsing to him a great many matters of fact ; naming many famous persons ; letting them see pictures , and geographical maps ; and , occasionally , explaining to them that which relates to house-keeping , husbandry , and arts. in these first years great care should be taken to draw on children by pleasure . at nine or ten years they may be kept in more awe , and more severely used , if there be need . this is also the time , wherein he should be instructed in the more troublesom studies ; as grammar , compositions in french , the languages ( according to that profession which it may be reasonably foreseen the child will take to ) the latin , greek , german . it is good to begin them in this age , from eight or nine to twelve . this also is the time to learn the most simple operations of arithmetick , and geometry , to regulate history by chronology and geography . at twelve years old , it will be time to form the judgment , and to guide reason by logick , accustoming the youth to define and divide well , and to make reflections upon his thoughts . this is also the time to teach him the demonstrations of geometry , and other parts of mathematicks which he ought to know . moreover , he should be brought to read much , and to exercise his judgment upon authours : then also , or sooner , if it may be , the terms , and principal maxims of the law should be begun to be explained to him . at fifteen years , if you be not hastened , it will be soon enough to teach him rhetorick ; though you may try the genius of your scholar before , by several little compositions , by exercising him in grammar , and causing him to epitomize the histories which he is most concern'd to know the best : they will certainly improve his style . in these last years of studies he should also learn that more exactly , which , as yet , he has only rudely cut out ; as law , and policy , if his condition require it : and morality , which , if possible , he should throughly understand , even to the first principles thereof . to this time also those studies may be reserved , which have more of curiosity in them , as poetry , physicks ( or natural philosophy ) astronomy : that so more or less of them may be imparted to him , according to his leisure and inclination . this seems to me to be the most convenient way of managing studies according to different ages . i am sensible , that 't is impossible to prescribe any one , which agrees to all children ; and that there may be very great differences herein , from the differences of minds , which advance more , or less ; of conditions , which afford more or less leisure , and require more , or less study ; lastly of health , and the occurrences of life . yet i thought it would not be altogether useless to mark out this rude draught , according to which , very nearly , measures may be taken in this matter . it is further necessary to explain my self concerning the studies of persons of the other sex , of which i have said something in several places . it will doubtless be accounted a great paradox , to say , that they ought to learn any thing but their catechism , sowing , and several little matters ; to sing , dance , and dress themselves according to the fashion ; to make a curt'sy well , and speak civilly : for this is all , wherein their education is , ordinarily , thought to consist . 't is true , they have no need of the most parts of knowledge , which , at present , go under the name of studies : neither latin , nor greek , nor rhetorick , nor the college-philosophy are proper for them : and , if some of the more curious of them have learnt them , they commonly drew nothing from them but vanity ; which render'd them odious to other women , and despised by men. whence , as from certain experience , it has been concluded , that women were not capable of studies : as if their souls were of another kind , than those of men ; as if they had not , as well as we , a reason to direct , a will to govern , passions to strive against , health to preserve , and goods to take care of ; or , as if it was more easie for them , than us , to discharge all these duties , without learning any thing . 't is true , that women have usually less attention , and less patience for reasoning consequentially , less courage ▪ and resolution than men : and that the constitution of their bodies contributes something to this disparity , though doubtless their ill education doth more . but , for a balance , they have more quickness of mind , and penetration ; more sweetness , and modesty : and , if they be not design'd for such considerable imployments as men are , they have , upon this , and other accounts also , much more leisure , which degenerates into a great corruption of manners , if it be not imploy'd in some study . and we have particular reason in france , to desire that women should be knowing , and reasonable ; and that is the credit and respect which they have amongst us . that which causes several very polite men , to reason little , and speak with little coherence , is , because they turn their studies into raillery , and make profession of ignorance : and this , because , being form'd in the conversation of women , they retain the impressions thereof : whereas , on the contrary , amongst the ancients , with whom learning and reasoning were in honour , the women were more learned , and yet nevertheless not so much regarded . to see what studies may be useful to women , i think the surest way is to run over all those i have already explained . first then , they ought not to be over-ignorant in religion , nor too knowing therein . since they are ordinarily inclin'd to devotion ; if they be not well-instructed , they may easily become superstitious . it is therefore of great importance for them early to understand religion , to be as solid , great , and serious as it really is in it self . but if they be learned therein , 't is to be feared , that they may become dogmatical , and embrace new opinions , when they shall find opportunity for it . it is enough therefore to teach them the common doctrines , without entring into theological disputes ; and to take the most pains in instructing them in morality ; inspiring into them those vertues which most belong to them , as sweetness , modesty , submission , love of retirement , and humility ; and those to which their temper is most opposite ; 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 to be very well skill'd in logick and metaphysick , ( such as i have represented them ) that he may be able to demonstrate , by solid reasons , that every man of good sense , ought to submit himself to the authority of the catholick church . he should also be capable to defend religion against the hereticks ; and for this end to know the positive proofs of our belief , drawn from the scripture , the councils , or the fathers . he should know ecclesiastical history , the canon-law , not onely the practical , beneficial , and that which is curious in the ancient canons , but also the true rules of ecclesiastical discipline ( upon which all that is practical is founded ) and how that which is not practised has been abolished . he should know christian morality in all its extent ; not contenting himself only with the decisions of modern casuists , concerning what is sin , and what is not : but he should proceed further , and see how the fathers have judged thereof , and also be acquainted with their method of teaching vertue , and guiding souls to perfection . this is what we will find in cassian , and the monastick rules . a great esteem ought to be had of these works , which are the product of so many holy experiences . lastly , he should know the ceremonies of the publick office , the administration of the sacraments ; the practice of all ecclesiastical functions : but this study consists , not so much in reading of books , as in the observation of living tradition . when once he has the great principles of scripture , and the fathers , he will be much instructed by seeing the labours of others , and by labouring himself together with them . seeing that a clergyman is designed to instruct others , it is not enough for him to know all that i have mentioned : he must also know how to speak , and perswade . he therefore stands in need of that sort of logick , and that solid eloquence i have spoken of . for let us not deceive our selves , a man without gifts is not proper for the ministry of the church . a good priest is not onely a man who prays unto god , and leads an innocent life ; such an one , at most , is no more than a good monk. he is a priest to assist others ; and , as he is not accounted a good physician who doth not heal a great many diseases , neither is he to be called a good priest , who doth not convert a great many sinners . i do not say , that none ought to be made priests , but such as have a florid imagination , an happy memory , a pleasant voice , and such like qualities , which usually make preachers famous : but i should desire , that there were not any , who have not a solid judgment , and a right way of reasoning ; who should not know how to instruct , both in publick and in private ; with all the sweetness and authority which the difference of subjects and persons do require : in a word , who should not have some ray of that apostolick eloquence , the perfect model of which we have in st. paul. a clergy-man , unto whom so many pieces of knowledge are necessary , should not lose his time in prophane studies , or useless curiosities . he should also use great choice in the studies appertaining to his profession : let him not bestow too much time upon those large commentaries on scripture , the sight of which alone , is enough to terrifie , by the bigness and multitude of the volumes ; and to make one despair of ever understanding the text : let him not amuse himself with useless speculations , and the vain wranglings of the school-men : let him not suffer himself to be transported too far with the humour of criticizing upon matters of fact , and inquiring too curiously into ecclesiastical antiquities : for there are all these rocks to be avoided , even in the studies which belong unto him . he ought always to remember , that the christian religion is not an humane art , or science , wherein every one is permitted to seek , and invent : that his business is onely to collect , and faithfully preserve the tradition of the church . he should meditate attentively upon those rules which st. paul gives to timothy and titus , against curious questions ; that he may avoid vain disputes and referr all to charity . thus he will fix his mind on those studies which are necessary , and which relate the most to practice . for a clergy-man should not be a professedly learned man ; who spends all his life in his closet , in studying and composing books . he is to be a man of action , and , above all , of prayer . these are the two parts of the apostolick life , prayer and ministry of the word . he should therefore , every day , spend a considerable time in conversing with god ; for the cleansing himself from those spots which he has contracted by action , and intercourse with men ; for representing unto him , his own needs , and those of the whole church . we ought to give unto our neighbour all that assistance which we owe unto him , according to the place we have in the church , and the particular occasions which charity shall present . study is to be the business of our youth , and , in the rest of our lives , only our rest and diversion , usefully to fill up the intervals of action . when you shall find your self tired by visiting the sick , or the poor ; by the administration of sacraments , or instruction ; when you shall perceive you voice weakened , your breast heated , you 'll find a great pleasure in reading some good passage of the fathers , or ecclesiastical history ; in meditating calmly upon some place of scripture , or in hearing the conversation of a learned and pious friend . these are the divertisements proper for clergy-men . we now come to the sword-men . these are the men who ordinarily study the least : and yet there are two reasons of studying , which are peculiar to them . a man , who is naturally brave , fierce , and inclin'd to courageous actions ; whose birth or imploy heightens his courage ; who has his arms in his hand , and men under him , ready to obey , without asking a reason : this man is in a capacity of exercising all sorts of violence ; and if he be wicked , or only passionate and humoursome , he is insufferable to all the rest of mankind . he is a lyon let loose ; he is an armed madman . it is therefore of great moment , that they , whose inclination , and profession , do put them into so dangerous a condition , should have a great deal of reason and power over themselves ; to the end that they may use their courage and strength only for the publick good , and against the enemies of the state. it would be better that the house should not be guarded at all , than that it should be kept by dogs , who , without distinction , should fall upon those who belong to the house , as well as upon the thieves . the other reason is , the great idleness which usually attends a soldiers life . he knows not what to do , when in garrison in winter quarters , in a place where he must stay any time , when his wounds are under cure , and oblige him to think of them for a while . happy then is he , if he have a book , and can take pleasure in reading . further , i doubt not but that many more soldiers would love study , if they knew , or did consider , that alexander and caesar were very learned ; and that ignorance joyned to valour , never produced any other than brutal conquerours , and destroyers of mankind ; as the turks and tartars . now the studies which seem to me most proper for sword-men , are these ; amongst the tongues , the latin ; yet rather , for the conveniency of travel , than for reading . and , upon this account , they should be able to speak it , if not elegantly , yet at least fluently . with this tongue a man may travel all over the north ; it supplying the place of several others . nevertheless 't is very fit they should know the german tongue ; and the sooner they learn it , 't will be the better . when they shall be once well acquainted with the latin , they 'll easily learn italian and spanish . thus in what country soever they may have been born , they will understand the neighbouring-languages , which are the most necessary . they should know a great many histories : the ancient , to see therein the examples of great captains , greek and roman ; to know as particularly as may be , that military discipline , and that art of war , which made them so strong above other men. the modern history will give them a knowledge of the present state of affairs , and their original ; the right of the prince whom they serve , and the interests of other soveraigns . geography also is very necessary for them ; and , as for the countries , especially where they make war , they cannot know them too particularly , nor have a too exact topography of them . as to the mathematicks , they chiefly need arithmetick , geometry and mechanicks : for knowing these well , they 'll easily apprehend the practice of fortifications ; and all that either books or masters use to teach concerning the art of war. but there is one study which sword-men seldom undertake , and which yet , to me , seems very necessary , at least to those who are in command ; and that is , the policy and law of war. i mean , that they should know the jus belli , or right of war , in all its extent : as , what are the lawful causes thereof ; what formalities ought to be observed for the beginning of it ; how far acts of hostility should proceed ; what places and persons are exempt therefrom ; in a word , all that which respects this part of publick right , the execution of which is committed to them . they should be well-inform'd of the edicts of their prince , and the particular regulations for the subsistence and discipline of the troops ; and , above all , they should know the rules of those severe judgments which must be executed against desertion , and other military crimes . the rest of the art of war , which is the most essential part of it , cannot be learn'd by books , or lectures ; for it depends upon the exercise of body , upon conversation with persons , experienced in the trade ; and upon the actual service of him , who would be instructed therein . but if he be well educated , if he be early accustomed to seek after what is real and solid in all things ; to make reflection upon every thing he sees ; and put useful questions to all sorts of people ; he 'll know more of it in two campaigns , than others in ten. war is a more serious mystery than young men , who ingage in it , do represent it to themselves ; who , very often seek nothing else thereby , but libertinism and pleasure . to conclude , the better born he is , who is instructed therein , the more extensive ought his knowledge to be . he who is likely to be no more than a simple officer , or to command only particular parties , should be much better acquainted with little particularities , and much less with general things ; than he , who probably , will one day , govern provinces , or command armies . and this rule is common to all professions . the higher a man is brought up , the more objects his sight takes in at a time , to see their order in general ; but he is less concern'd to know every object exactly , than another man who is near it , and sees but one such at a time . the men of the gown , have truly , more need of learning , than the sword-men ; but yet they ought not to burthen themselves with it over much . they are design'd for business , and are to study , only to make themselves capable thereof . they are therefore to avoid that studious spirit ( opposite to the spirit of business ) which only hunts after the pleasure of knowing , or the glory of being reputed learned . they are to inquire after the middle , betwixt the scholastical knowledge of the law-doctors , and the gross ignorance of the meer practitioners . for these are ( as i may say ) two nations altogether different . the doctors ordinarily are concern'd to know how to supply antinomies and solutions for the reception of an officer , or for any other dispute : to understand the laws of the code and the digest , which are most remarkable for their difficulty , or else to give a new explication of them : to restore some passage : to explain a difficult word : to discover in some author of humanity , some piece of antiquity , or law : to reduce the law into order , by new divisions : to find out some singular method . in the mean time , they do not apply themselves enough to the custom of france : it has been observed that cujacias himself was very ignorant in business . on the other side , the practitioners know nothing , but the retail of that which they practise ; without ascending higher than twenty or thirty years , they may have spent in business ; and without looking further than the jurisdiction under which they practise ; without knowing the original , or reason of any thing . they only say , this is done , and this is not done ; not knowing again that which has changed its name . they understand , neither how to put things together , to divide , nor place them in order . in a word , they work like artisans , who for their art , have nothing to alledge , but the example of their master . to this ignorance of practitioners , we owe the style of the law-proceedings in matters of bargain and sale , of royal letters , of the edicts themselves , and customs which are for the most part digested with so little method and perspicuity . but the greatest evil which comes from thence , is the wrangling and confusion in business . the study therefore of lawyers , has for its end , the furnishing them with the great principles of the most ordinary matters of business ; and inlightening their minds , that they may treat of these matters ( naturally so entangled and obscure ) with order and distinctness . so that the gentlemen of the robe have great need of logick , that they may know how to divide , and define well ; not according to mathematical exactness , but so far as may be useful to the better carrying on of business . they have need of arithmetick , oeconomicks , and a great knowledge of all the particulars of life , of the management of country affairs , of trade , of the bank , and all the ways of subsisting , and growing rich. for most business is decided , rather by way of fact than right . and upon this account , they should be early accustomed to be diligent , patient , and laborious but , above all , they should have the knowledge of civil law. and this knowledge contains both the general principles of natural equity , which are chiefly to be sought for , in the books of the roman law ; and the positive rules of our particular law , which they will find in the edicts , and in the customs . nevertheless , there are a great number of maxims , which they cannot learn but by use . let them , by all means , apply themselves to the reading of the texts , whether of the roman or our french law ; seeing the texts only are the solid proofs in matters contested . but let them not neglect the reading of commentaries , in questions which they have leisure to study to the bottom : there they will often find good hints , provided they shall know how to use them with judgment . since the knowledge of law is the most proper to their profession , they ought not to neglect any part of it , no , not so much as to be ignorant of ( if possible ) any particularity of law-proceedings . 't would be well also for them to know history , so far , as it relates to the law : that is , they should take notice of the different laws and maxims , which have obtained in our country in different times . they ought to go further , if they be judges , and preferr'd to great places . it would well become them to ascend to the very fountains of the law , and examine the reasons thereof by the principles of true morality , and policy . in a word , though they are only obliged to execute the laws ; yet 't is adviseable that they should be capable to be legislatours . lastly , eloquence is very useful , not only to advocates , but to judges , and all those who are to speak of business : i mean that solid eloquence , of which i have so often spoken . — these are the studies which i esteem most necessary and useful , to all men in general , and to those of each profession in particular . finis . books printed for , and sold by richard sare , and jo. hindmarsh . fables of aesop , and other eminent mythologists , with morals and reflections . by sir roger l' estrange , in folio . the genuine epistles of st. barnabas , st. ignatius , st. clement , st. polycarp , the shepherd of hermas , and the martyrdom of st. ignatius , and st. polycarp , translated from the greek : by w. wake , d. d. in octavo . seneca's morals , by way of abstract , in octavo . erasmus colloquies , in octavo . tullies offices , english , in twelves . bona 's guide to eternity . the four last . by sir roger l' estrange . compleat sets consisting of eight volomes of letters , writ by a turkish spye , who lived forty five years undiscovered at paris , giving an impartial account to the divan at constantinople , of the most remarkable transactions of europe , during the said time , in twelves . humane prudence , or the art , by which a man may raise himself and fortune to grandeur , the sixth edition , in twelves . moral maxims , and reflections in four parts ; written in french by the duke of rochefoucault , now made english , in twelves . epictetus his morals , with simplicius his comment , made english from the greek , by george stanhope , late fellow of kings college in cambridge . the parsons councellor , or the law of tythes , the fifth edition , very much enlarged : by sir simon degge , in octavo . of the art both of writing and judging of history , with reflections upon ancient as well as modern historians : by the learned and ingenious eather le moyue . the moral history of frugality : by sir george mackenzie , in octavo . reasons , and essay : by sir george mackenzie . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the doctrine of a god and providence , vindicated and asserted ; by thomas gregory m. a. late of wadham college in oxford , and now lecturer of fulham near london , in octavo . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a39820-e2200 the design of this treatise . the studies of the greeks . arist . pol. l. 8. c. 3. plato leg. lib. 7. p. 209. plat. rep. l. m. aristoph . de nub . cic. acad. quaest . 1. c. 4. the studies of the romans . sueton. de illustr . gramm . sub initio . lucret. plato rep. ii.iii. cic. de orat. 11. c. 5. cic. de opt . gen . orat. cato . aeschin . in cteseph . cic. pro mur. horat. ep . l. 1. 2. gellius . xv . c. 11. suet. de illustr . gram . & clar . rhetor. initio . cic. de orator . l. 2. initio . vid. dial. de corrupt . eloq . juven . sat. 1. the studies of the christians . tert. de idol . c. 10. &c. august . ep . 132. ad memor . ep. 56. ad . diosc . tertul. de idol . c. 10. ep. ad diosc . greg. orat. 33. thomass . disc . 2. p. l. 1. c. 30 , 34 , 35 , &c. maeurs des christiens n. 46. the studies of the franks . moeurs christiens . n. 48. the studies of the arabians . the studies of the schoolmen , or those which were scholastick . perr . euchar . c. m. c. 29. v. hist . de droit franc. vniversities and their four faculties . theologal . decretal . the faculty of the acts. arist . ret. 1. medicks . or physick . s. tho. 1. 2. q. 9. art 5. ad 2. & 3. civil and canon law. v. glos . in c. 1. extra de summar . in verb. diabolus . item in institut . de jure nat . &c. s. 4 , 5 , 6. divinity . the restoration of humanity . v. epist . obscur . vir . erasm . ep. ad nov . germ. an . 1520. hist . eccles . de beze , initio . of the choice of studies . mat. xviii . 10. the way and method to give attention . the division of studies . civility and good breeding . logick and metaphysick . that men ought to have a care of their bodies . 1 tim. iv . 8. 1 cor. ix . 25. paedag. ●● iii. c. 10. men ought not to study meerly for interest . grammar . arithmetick . oeconomicks . eccl. xl . 11. 7. civil law or jurisprudence . fee , quit-rent , inheritance , purchase , to quit , to warrant . policy . languages , latin , &c. gell. lib. 1. c. 7. 13. c. 19. vid. gell. l. 1. c. 10. history . gen. 10. 1. natural history . geometry . rhetorick . sueton in jul. 55. vid. plat. gorg. august . doct. christian . l. iii. c. 2 , 5 , &c. doct. christian . l. c. 3. aristot . rhetor. l. 1. initio . poetry . curious studies . vseless studies . deut. xviii . 11. jer. x. 2. theophrast . charact . superst . terent. phorm . act. iv. sc . 5. the order of studies according to several ages . the studies of women . studies of clergy-men . 1 tim. 1. 3. 6. 3 — 20. 2 tim. 2. 14. &c. tit. 1. 9 , 10 , &c. 3 , 9 , 10. act. 6. 4. the studies of sword-men . plato . rep. 11. the studies of the men of the robe . cujas . the compleat gentleman fashioning him absolute in the most necessary & commendable qualities concerning minde or bodie that may be required in a noble gentleman. by henry peacham, mr. of arts sometime of trinity coll: in cambridge. peacham, henry, 1576?-1643? 1622 approx. 451 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 114 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a09195 stc 19502 estc s114333 99849559 99849559 14713 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a09195) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 14713) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1283:22) the compleat gentleman fashioning him absolute in the most necessary & commendable qualities concerning minde or bodie that may be required in a noble gentleman. by henry peacham, mr. of arts sometime of trinity coll: in cambridge. peacham, henry, 1576?-1643? delaram, francis, 1589 or 90-1627, engraver. [14], 124, 129-162, 161-172, [1], 170-211, [1] p. : ill. (woodcuts) anno 1622 imprinted at london [by john legat] for francis constable, and are to bee sold at his shop at the white lio[n] in paules churchyard, [london] : [1622] the title page is engraved and signed "fr. delaram. sculp. anno 1622". printer's name from stc. the first leaf is blank. the page after the first 172 is numbered 166. x4 is replaced by cancel fold x4.5; another fold ² y4.5 inserted after ¹y4. variant: with cancellandum x4. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng education -early works to 1800. courtesy -early works to 1800. heraldry -early works to 1800. 2002-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-02 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the compleat gentleman fashioning him absolute in the most necessary commendable qualities concerning minde or bodie that may be required in a noble gentlema● . by henry peacham . mr. of arts sometime of trinity coll : in cambridge . — inutilis olim ne videar vixisse — anno 1622 imprinted at london for francis constable and are to bee sold at his shop at the white liō in paules churchyard the compleat gentleman , whose titles are contained in these chapters following . chap. 1. of nobilitie in generall . chap. 2. of the dignitie and necessity of learning in princes and nobilitie . chap. 3. the time of learning , &c. chap. 4. the dutie of parents in their childrens education . chap. 5. of a gentlemans carriage in the vniuersity . chap. 6. of stile in speaking , writing , and reading historie . chap. 7. of cosmography . chap. 8. of memorable obseruation in suruey of the earth . chap. 9. of geometry . chap. 10. of poetry . chap. 11. of musicke . chap. 12. of drawing and painting in oyle . chap. 13. of armory or blazing armes . chap. 14. of exercise of the body . chap. 15. of reputation and carriage . chap. 16. of trauaile . ad optimae spei , generosissimaeque indolis adolescentem , d. gulielmum howard , illustriss . ac vere honoratiss . thomae comitis arundeliae , summi totius angliae mareschalli , &c. filium tertiogenitum . ingenio , genio , dum vis generosus haberi , ingenua haec discas , ingeniose puer . stemma nihil , cultis animum nisi moribus ornes , et studeas studijs nobilitare genus . to the trvly noble and most hopefvll mr. william hovvard , third and youngest sonne to the right honorable thomas earle of arundell and surrey , earle marshall of england , &c. what motiue ( noble sir ) may induce others in their dedications , i know not : sure i am none other hath incited me , then the regard of your owne worth , and that natiue ingenuitie and goodnesse of spirit , i haue euer perceiued in you , since it was my good hap to enioy your acquaintance , and to spend some houres with you at your booke in norwich ; where at this present you haue your education vnder the reuerend , religious , and my honorable good lord , the now lord bishop of norwich . and indeed , to whom rather of right should appertaine these my instructions , in regard of their subiect , which is the fashioning of nobilitie after the best presidents , then to your selfe euery way so nobly descended . beside , it is affirmed , that there are certaine sparkes and secret seeds of vertue innate in princes , and the children of noble personages ; which ( if cherished , and carefully attended in the blossome ) will yeild the fruit of industry and glorious action , not onely aboue the strength of the vulgar , but euen in the scient , and before the time nature hath appointed . so achilles , while hee was yet very young , vndertooke to shoote the fiercest lions and boares , and was so nimble on foote , that he was able to take a wilde beast without either ●oyle or dogge . alexander also , when an egyptian priest saluted him , being very young , by the names of son and child , replyed ; but you shall finde me a man before the walls of athens . but to omit heathenish examples , salomon wee reade , when he was but euen a child , begged wisdome of god , and grace to gouerne well : and ignatius , that holy martyr writeth , salomon was scarce 12. years of age , when he decided that hard controuersie betweene the two harlots : so iosias was but eight years old , when he walked religiously before god. and mee thinkes ( sir ) as in that cornelian stemme ( whereof scipio was said to be the top , and in quo ( vt plura genera in vnam arborem ) videtur infita multorum illuminata sapientia : ) already you grow apace , reflecting as from a faire glasse , that princely moderation and honesty of heart , of the good duke your great grand-father , the honourably disposed mind of my lord , your noble father , together with his loue and admiration , of whatsoeuer is honest or excellent : so that verily you need no other patterne to the absolute shaping of your selfe , then the images of your fore-fathers . but as aristotle saith of the vine , by how much it is laden with clusters , by so much it hath need of props : so say i of greatnesse and nobilitie , euer fruitfull , and apt to abundance , it hath hourely need of support and helpe , by all timely aduice and instruction , to guide and vphold it from lying along . wherefore , since the fountaine of all counsell and instruction , next to the feare of god , is the knowledge of good learning , whereby our affections are perswaded , and our ill manners mollified , i heere present you with the first and plainest directions ( though but as so many keies to leade you into far fairer roomes ) and the readiest method i know for your studies in general , and to the attaining of the most commendable qualities that are requisite in euery noble or gentle-man . nothing doubting , but that after you haue herein seene the worth and excellence of learning , how much it addeth to nobilitie ; what errors are hourely comitted through ignorance ; how sweet a thing it is to conuerse with the wisest of all ages by historie ; to haue in-sight into the most pleasing and admirable sciences of the mathematiques , poetrie , picture , heraldrie , &c. ( whereof i heere intreat , together with the most commendable exercise of the body , with other generall directions for carriage , trauaile , &c. ) you will entertaine this discourse , as vlysses did minerua at his elbow● your guide to knowledge ; the ground , not onely of the sweetest , but the happiest life . and though i am assured there are numbers , who ( notwithstanding all the bookes and rules in the world ) had rather then behold the face of heauen , burie themselues in earthly sloath , and basest idlenesse ; yet mr. william howard at the least , let vs recouer you from the tyrannie of these ignorant times , and from the common education ; which is , to weare the best cloathes , eate , sleepe , drinke much , and to know nothing . i take leaue , from my house at hogsd●n by london , may 30. who is , and shall be euer yours , henry peacham . to my reader . i am not ignorant ( iudicious reader ) how many peeces of the most curious masters haue beene vttered to the world of this subiect , as plutarch , erasmus , viues , sadolet , sturmius , osorius , sir thomas eliot , m. askham , with sundry others ; so that my small taper among so many torches , were as good out , as seeming to giue no light at all . i confesse it true . but as rare and curious stamps vpon coynes , for their varietie and strangenesse , are daily enquired after , and bought vp , though the siluer be all one and common w●th ours : so fares it with bookes , which ( as meddailes ) beare the pictures and deuices of our various inuention , though the matter be the same , yet for variety sake they shall bee read , yea ( and as the same dishes drest af●er a new fashion ) perhaps please the tastes of many better . but this regard neither mooued me . when i was beyond the seas , and in a part of france , adiorning vpon artoise , i was inu●●ed oftentimes to the house of a noble personage , who was both a great sould●er and an excellent scholler ; and one day aboue the rest , as we sate in an open and goodly gallerie at dinner , a young english gentleman , who desirous to trauaile , had beene in italy , and many other places , fortuned to come to his house ; and ( not so well furnished for his returne home as was sitting ) desired entertainement into his seruice . my lord , who could speake as little english , as my country-man french , bad him welcome , and demaunded by me of him , what hee could doe : for i keepe none ( quoth he ) but such as are commended for some good qualitie or other , and i giue them good allowance ; some an hundred , some sixtie , some fiftie crownes by the yeare : and calling some about him , ( very gentleman● like , as well in their behauiour , as apparell ) this ( saith he ) rideth and breaketh my great horses , this is an excellent lutenist , this a good painter and surueyer of land , this a passing linguist and scholler , who instructeth my sonnes , &c. sir ( quoth this young man ) i am a gentleman borne , and can onely attend you in your chamber , or waite vpon your lordship abroad . see ( quoth monsieur de ligny , for so was his name ) how your gentry of england are bred : that when they are distressed , or want means in a strange countrey , they are brought vp neither to any qualitie to preferre them , nor haue they so much as the latine tongue to helpe themselues withall . i knew it generally to be true , but for the time , and vpon occasion excused it as i could ; yet he was receiued , and after returned to his friends in good fashion . hereby i onely giue to know , that there is nothing more deplorable , then the breeding in generall of our gentlemen , none any more miserable then one of them , if he fall into miserie in a strange country . which i can impute to no other thing , then the remisnesse of parents , and negligence of masters in their youth . wherefore at my comming ouer , considering the great forwardnesse and proficience of children in other countries , the backwardnesse and rawnesse of ours ; the industry of masters there , the ignorance a●d idlenesse of most of ours ; the exceeding care of parents in their childrens education , the negligence of ours : being taken through change of ayre with a quartane feuer , that leasure i had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as i may truly say , by fits i employed vpon this discourse for the priuate vse of a noble young gentleman my friend , not intending it should euer see light , as you may perceiue by the plaine and shallow current of the discourse , fitted to a young and tender capacitie . howsoeuer i haue done it , and if thou shalt find herein any thing that may content , at the least , not distaste thee , i shall be glad and encouraged to a more serious peece : if neither , but out of a malignant humour , disdaine what i haue done , i care not ; i haue pleased my selfe : and long since learned , enuie , together with her sister ignorance , to harbour onely in the basest and most degenerate breast . chap. i. of nobilitie in generall : that it is a plant from heauen ; the roote , branches , fruit. if we consider arightly the frame of the whole vniuerse and method of the all-excellent wisedome in her worke ; as creating the formes of things infinitely diuers , so according to dignity of essence or vertue in effect , wee must acknowledge the same to hold a soueraigntie , and transcendent praedominance , as well of rule as place each ouer either . among the heauenly bodies wee see the nobler orbes , and of greatest influence to be raised aloft , the lesse effectuall , depressed . of elements , the fire the most pure and operatiue to hold the highest place ; in compounded bodies , of things as well sensible as insensible , there runneth a veine of excellence proceeding from the forme , ennobling ( in the same kind ) some other aboue the rest . the lyon we say is king of beasts , the eagle chiefe of birds ; the whale and whirle-poole among fishes , iupiters oake the forrests king. among flowers , wee most admire and esteeme the rose : among fruite , the pom-roy and queene-apple ; among stones , we value aboue all the diamond ; mettals , gold and siluer : and since we know these to transferre their inward excellence and vertues to their species successiuely , shall we not acknowledge a nobilitie in man of greater perfection , of nobler forme , and prince of these ? can we be curious in discerning a counterfait from the true pearle ; to choose our siens of the best fruit , buy our flowers at twenty pounds the roote or slip : and not regard or make difference of linage , nor be carefull into what stocke we match our selues , or of what parents we choose a seruant ? surely , to beleeue that nature ( rather the god of nature ) produceth not the same among our selues , is to question the rarest worke-mistris of ignorance or partialitie , and to abase our selues beneath the beast . nobilitie then ( taken in the generall sence ) is nothing else then a certaine eminency , or notice taken of some one aboue the rest , for some notable act performed , bee it good or ill ; and in that sence are nobilis and ignobilis vsually among the latine poets taken . more particularly , and in the genuine sence , nobilitie is the honour of blood in a race or linage , conferred formerly vpon some one or more of that family , either by the prince , the lawes , customes of that land or place , whereby either out of knowledge , culture of the mind , or by some glorious action performed , they haue beene vsefull and beneficiall to the common-wealths and places where they liue . for since all vertue consisteth in action , and no man is borne for himselfe , we adde , beneficiall and vsefull to his country ; for hardly they are to be admitted for noble , who ( though of neuer so excellent parts ) consume their light , as in a dark la●thorne in contemplation , and a stoicall retirednesse . and since honor is the reward of vertue and glorious action onely , vice and basenesse must not expect her fauours : as the people of rome created c. fla●ius from a tribune , senator and aedil● for stealing of a book of records . eushicrates , euph●rbas , and phylagrus , were ennobled for treason : and c●ttier by lewis the eleuenth , the french king , vnworthily aduanced from a mender of stockings , to be lord chancellor of france . neither must we honor or esteeme those ennobled , or made gentle in blood , who by mechanicke and base meanes , haue raked vp a masse of wealth , or because they follow some great man , weare the cloath of a noble personage , or haue purchased an ill coat at a good rate ; no more then a player vpon the stage , for wearing a lords cast suit : since nobilitie hangeth not vpon the aicry esteeme of vulgar opinion , but is indeed of it selfe essentiall and absolute . beside , nobilitie being inherent and naturall , can haue ( as the diamond ) the lustre but only from it selfe : honors and titles externally conferred , are but attendant vpon desert , and are but as apparell , and the drapery to a beautifull body . memorable , as making to our purpose , is that speech of sig●smund the empero●r , to a doctor of the ciuill law , who when he had receiued knighthood at the emperours hands , left forthwith the societie of his fellow doctors , & kept company altogether with the knights : which the emperour well obseruing , smilingly ( before the open assembly ) saide vnto him ; foole , who preferest knighthood before learning and thy degree ; i can make a thousand knights in one day , but cannot make a doctor in a thousand yeares . now for as much as the weale publique of euery estate , is preserued armi● & consilio , this faire tree by two maine branches disspreddeth her selfe into the militarie & ciuil discipline ; vnder the first i place valor and greatnesse of spirit : vnder the other , iustice , knowledge of the lawes , which ● consilij fons ; magnificence , and eloquence . for true fortitude and greatnesse of spirit were ennobled ( we reade ) iphicrates , that braue athenian , who ouerthrew in a set battaile the lacedaemonians , stopt the furie of epaminondas , and became lieutenant generall to artaxerxes king of persia , yet but the sonne of a poore cobler . eumenes , one of the best captaines for valour and aduice alexander had , was the sonne of an ordinarie carter . dioclesian was the sonne of scriuener , or book-binder : valentinian , of a rope-maker ; maximinus , of a smith ; a pertinax , of a wood-monger ; seruius tullus , sonne of a bond-woman , thence his name seruius : tarquinius priscus , of a poore merchant , or rather pedler in corinth : hugh capet , the first of that name , king of france , the sonne of a butcher in paris ; who when lewis the sixth , sonne of lothary , was poisoned by blanch his wife for adulterie , being a stout fellow , and of a resolute spirit , hauing gathered a company like himselfe , and taking his aduantage of the time , and distempered humour of the state , carried himselfe and his businesse so , that he got the crowne from the true heire , charles the vnckle of lewis . lamusius , the third king of the lombards , was the sonne of a common strumpet , found laid and couered with leaues in a ditch by king agelmond , who by chance riding that way , and espying a thing stirre in the ditch , touched it with the point of his lance , to see what it was : which the infant with the hand taking fast hold of , the king amazed , and imagining it as a presage of some good fortune toward the child , caused it to be taken out of the ditch , and to bee brought vp , which after ( nursed in the lap of fortune ) by many degrees of honor , got the crowne of lombardy . neither are the truly valorous , or any way vertuous , ashamed of their so meane parentage , but rather glorie in themselues that their merit hath aduanced them aboue so many thousands farre better descended . and hence you shall many times heare them freely discourse of their beginning , and plainely relate their bringing vp , & what their parents were . i remember when i was in the low-countries , and liued with sir iohn ogle at virecht , the reply of that valiant gentleman colonell edmondes , to a countrey-man of his newly come out of scotland , went currant : who desiring entertainment of him , told him ; my lord his father , and such knights and gentle-men , his couzins and kinsmen , were in good health . quoth colonell edmondes , gentlemen ( to his friends by ) beleeue not one word hee sayes ; my father is but a poore baker of edenbourgh , and workes hard for his liuing , whom this knaue would make a lord , to currie fauour with me , and make ye beleeue i am a great man borne , &c. so that the valiant souldier you see , measureth out of the whole cloath his honour with his sword : and hence in ancient times came rome , athens , carthage , and of late the ottoman empire to their greatnesse . honor being then highly prized , euery one aymed at nobilitie , and none refused the most desperate attempts for the good of his countrey . thus the decij , cato , marcellus , with infinite others , became ennobled , and had their altars , statues , columnes , &c. and were welnigh adored with as great respect , as their gods themselues . from no lesse meanesse of birth and beginning , we find many great and famous bishops , ciuilians , orators , poets , &c. to haue attained to the greatest dignities , both of church and common-wealth , and to haue checked with their fortunes , euen glorie her selfe . pope iohn the two and twentieth , was a poore shooe-makers sonne ; nicholas the fifth was sonne of a poulter ; sixt●● the fift , of a hog-heard : alphenus but a tailors apprentice , who running from his master , went to rome , and there studied the ciuill law , and so profited , that for his learning and wisedome , he was after created consull . vlpian but meanely borne , yet tutor to alexander the emperour . cicero was borne and brought vp at arpinum , a poore and obscure village : virgil , the sonne of a potter ; horace , of a trumpeter ; theophrastus of a botcher , with infinite others , i might alledge as well of ancient as moderne times . for doing iustice , the romanes of a priuate man and a stranger , chose numa for their king : and on the contrary , ( as plutarch writeth , comparing them together ) lycurgus of a king , for iustice sake , made himselfe a priuate man : for , a goodly thing ( saith plutarch ) it is by doing iustly to obtaine a kingdome , and as glorious to prefer iustice before a kingdome ; for the vertue of the one ( numa ) made him so esteemed and honoured , that he was of all thought worthy of it ; of the other , so great , that he scorned it . in like manner , for their good lawes and doing iustice , were aduanced to their thrones and goodly tribunals , minos , rhadamantus ( though subiects of poets fables . ) aratus , solon , &c. and how fairely ( beyond their lawrels ) the name of iust , became aristides , traiant , agesilaus , with many others , i leaue to historie to report . for magnificence , and obliging the places wherein they liued , by great benefits , were ennobled , tarquinius priscus , a stranger , and a banished man : and of later times , cosmo di medici in florence , vpon whose vertues , as vpon a faire prospect , or some princely palace , giue me leaue a little , as a traueller to breathe my selfe , and shew you afarre off the faire tutrets of his more then royall magnificence , being but a priuate man , as i finde it recorded in his historie by machiauell . this cosmo ( saith he ) was the most esteemed , and most famous citizen ( being no man of warre ) that euer had beene in the memorie of man , either in florence , or any other citie ; because he did not onely excell all others ( of his time ) in authoritis and riches , but also in liberalitie and wisedoms . for among other qualities which aduanced him to be chiefe of his countrey , he was more then other men liberall and magnificent , which liberalitie appeared much more after his death then before . for his sonne piero found by his fathers records , that there was not any citizen of estimation , to whom cosmo had not lent great summes of money : and many times also he did lend to those gentlemen , whom he knew to haue need . his magnificence appeared by diuers his building : for within the citie of florence hee builded the abbaits and temples of s. marco , s. lorenzo , and the monastery of s. verdiana , & in the mountains of fiesole , s. girolamo , with the abbey thereto belonging . also in mugello he did not only repaire the church for the friers , but tooke it downe , and built it anew . besides those magnificent buildings in s. croce , in s. agnoli , and s. miniato , he made altars , and sumptu●●● chappels . all which temples and chappels , besides the buildings of them , were by him paued , and furnished throughly with all things necessarie . with these publique buildings , wee may number his priuate houses , whereof one within the citie mee●e for so great a personage , and foure other without , at carriaggi , at fiesole , at casaggiuolo , and at trebio , all palaces fitter for princes , then priuate persons . and because his magnificent houses in italy , did not in his opinion make him famous enough , he builded in ierusalem an hospitall to receiue poore and diseased pilgrims . in which worke he consumed great summes of money . and albeit these buildings , and euery other his actions were princely , and that in florence he liued like a prince ; yet so gouerned by wisedome , as he neuer exceeded the bounds of ciuill modestie . for in his conuersation , in riding , in marrying his children and kinsfolkes , he was like vnto all other modest and discree●e citizens : because he well kn●w , that extraordinarie things , which are of all men with admiration beheld , do● procure more enuy , then those which without ostentation be honestly couered . i omit , as followeth shortly after , his great and excessiue charge in entertaining of learned men of all professions , to instruct the youth of florence : his bountie to argiropolo a gracian , and marsilio fi●ins , ( whom he maintained for the exercise of his owne studies in his house , and gaue him goodly lands neere his house of carreggi , ) men in that time of singular learning , because vertue reares him rather to wonder then imitation . to proceed , no lesse respect and honour is to be attributed to eloquence , whereby so many haue raised their esteeme and fortunes , as able to draw ciuilitie out of barbarisme , and sway whole kingdomes by leading with a celticke hercules , the rude multitude by the eares . marke anthony contending against augustus for the romane empire , assured himselfe he could neuer obtaine his purpose while cicero liued , therefore he procured his death . the like did antipater , a successor to alexander , by demosthenes , aspiring to the monarchy of greece . and not long since a poore mahumetan priest , by his smooth tongue , got the crowne of morocco from the right heire , being of the house of giuseph or ioseph . and much hurt it may doe , if like a mad mans sword , it be vsed by a turbulent and mutinous orator ; otherwise we must hold it a principall meanes of correcting ill manners , reforming lawes , humbling aspiring minds , and vpholding all vertue . for as serpents are charmed with words , so the most sauage and cruell natures by eloquence : which some interpret , to be the meaning of mercuries golden rod , with those serpents wreathed about it . much therefore it concerneth princes , not onely to countenance honest and eloquent orators , but to maintaine such neere about them , as no meane props ( if occasion serue ) to vphold a state , and the onely keies to bring in tune a discordant common-wealth . but it shall not be amisse ere i proceede further , to remoue certaine doubts , which as rubs clog the cleere passage of our discourse : and the first concerning bastardie , whether bastards may be said to be nobly borne or not : i answere with iustinian , sordes inter praecipuos nominarinon merentur . yet it is the custome with vs , and in france , to allow them for noble , by giuing them sometimes their fathers proper coate , with a bend sinister , as reignald earle of cornewall , base sonne to the conquerour , bare his fathers two leopards passant gardant , or in a field gules , with a bend sinister azure : the like hamlin , base sonne to geoffrey plantagenet , earle of surrey● some their fathers whole coate , or part of the same in bend dexter ; as iohn beauford , a bastard of somerset , bare partie per pale argent and azure , a bend of england , with a labell of france . sir roger de clarendon , base son to the blacke prince , his fathers three feathers , on a bend sable , the field or. i willingly produce these examples , to confirme our custome of ennobling them ; and though the law leaneth not on their side , yet stand they in the head of the troope , with the most deseruing : yea , and many times ( according to euripides ) proue a better ●hen the legitimate . who are more famous then remus and romulus , who laid the first stone of rome ; more couragious and truly valiant , then hercules , alexander , our king arthur of britaine , and william the first ? more critically learned then christopher longolius , iacobus faber ; more modest , and of better life , then coelius calgaguinus , the delight of his ferrara , with infinite others ? and where decretals and schoolemen may beare the bell , those two grandes , gratian and lombard ? a second question ariseth , whether he that is noble descended , may by his vice and basenesse lose his nobilitie or no. it is answered , that if he that is ignoble and inglorious , may acquire nobilitie by vertue ; the other may very well lose it by his vice. but such are the miserable corruptions of our times , that vices go for prime vertues ; and to be drunke , sweare , wench , follow the fashion , & to do iust nothing , are the attributes and marks now adaies of a great part of our gentry . hence the agrigentines expelled their phalaris : the romanes extinguished the memorie of the whole race of the tarquines , with those monsters of nature , nero , heliogabalus , &c. the sicilians dionysins the later , with others . thirdly , whether pouertie impeacheth or staineth nobilitie . i answere , riches are an ornament , not the cause of nobilitie ; and many times wee see there lyeth more worth vnder a thrid-bare cloake , and within , a thatched cottage , then the richest robe , or stateliest palace . witnesse the noble curij and fabritij , taken from a poore dinner of turneps and water-cresses in an earthen dish , to leade the romane army , and conquer the most potent kings of the world . fourthly , concerning aduocates and physitians , whether we may rancke them with the ennobled or no. aduocates or counsellors being interpreters of the law , their place is commendable , and themselues most necessarie instruments in a common-wealth ; wherefore , saith the ciuill law , their calling is honorable , they ought to be freed of mulcts , publike charges , and all impositions ; and to be written or sent vnto , as vnto persons of especiall worth and dignitie . touching physitians , though the profession by some hath beene thought seruile , and in times past was practised by seruants , as domitian ( saith seneca ) imper auit medico seruo , vt venenum sibi daret ; and that slouenly epithite of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be by aristophanes bestowed vpon aesculapius : yet it is an art nothing seruile and base , but noble and free , since we know not onely emperors and kings , but saints , yea , our blessed sauiour to haue cured the sicke ; as constantine , adrian , edward the confessor king of england , mithridates king of pontus , ( whose antidote yet beareth his name , ) artemisia queene of caria , who first found the vertue of mugwort , bearing her name in latine ; gentius king of illyricum ( now sclauonia ) who immortally liueth in the herbe gentiana : as also lysimachus in his lysimachia , achilles in achillea , or the yarrow : apollo , podalirius , moses , esay , salomon , ezechias . honor the phisitian , saith ecclesiasticus : then againe , all phisicke or medicine is from god , and he shall receiue a reward from the king : the skill of the physitian shall exalt his head , &c. and as ptolomy sometime obiected against zoilus concerning homer , so may i vnto our lordly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or physicke-haters : which of them all , trebble their reuenewes , can maintaine so many as one poore galen or hippocrates , who though dead many hundreds of yeares since , feed many thousands of families , euen at this present ? i heere intend no common chyrurgians , mountebancks , vnlettered empericks , and women doctors ( of whom for the most part there is more danger , then of the worst disease it selfe ) whose practise is infamous , mechanique and base . fiftly , concerning merchants ; the exercise of merchandise hath beene ( i confesse ) accounted base , and much derogating from nobilitie , except it be exercised & vndertaken by a generall estate , or the deputies thereof . aristotle therefore saith , that the thebanes and lacedaemonians had a law , that none should bee esteemed and held capable of honor in their common-wealth , except they had ten yeares before giuen ouer trading and merchandise : and valerius maximus reporteth , that among other things the romanes had to disparage tarquinius priscus withall , and make him odious to the people , was that he was a merchants sonne . saint chrysostome vpon that place of mathew , hee cast out the buyers and sellers out of the temple : gathereth , that merchants hardly and seldome please god. and certaine it is , that the ancient romans neuer preferred any that exercised merchandise , to any eminent place or office in their commonwealthe perhaps agreeing in one with aristotle , who speaking of merchants and mechanickes , saith ; vilis est huiusmodi vita , & virtuti aduersa , the kind of life is base , and contrary to vertue . but some may obiect vnto me the great estates of venice , genoa , florence , luca , &c. where their nobilitie is nothing disparaged by the exercise of merchandise . i answer ; as their coines at home they may raise themselues high or lower at their pleasure : but abroad ( like citie maiors ) in other countries they fall vnder value , and a great deale short of their reckoning . but if the owner of the earth , and all that therein is , hath so bestowed and disposed of his blessings , that no one countrey affordeth all things , but must be beholden not onely to her neighbours , but euen the most remote regions , and common-wealths cannot stand without trade and commerce , buying and selling : i cannot ( by the leaue of so reuerend iudgements ) but account the honest merchant among the number of benefactors to his countrey , while he exposeth as well his life as goods , to the hazzard of infinite dangers , sometime for medicinall drugges and preseruatiues of our liues in extremitie of sicknesse ; another , for our food or cloathing in t●mes of scarsitie and want , haply for vsefull necessaries for our vocations , and callings : or lastly , for those , sensus & animi oblectamenta , which the almightie prouidence hath purposely , for our solace and recreation , and for no other end else created , as apes , parrots , peacockes , canarie , and all singing birds ; rarest flowers for colour and smell , pretious stones of all sorts , pearle , amber , corall , cristall , all manner of sweete odou●s , fruites , infinitely differing in forme and taste : colours of all sorts , for painting , dying , &c. but i proceed . sixt and lastly , touching mechanicall arts and artists , whosoeuer labour for their liuelihood and gaine , haue no share at all in nobilitie or gentry : as painters , stage-players● tamblers , ordinary fidlers , inne-keepers , fencers , iuglers , dancers , mountebancks , bearewards , and the like ; ( except the custome of the place determine the contrary ) as her●d●tus and xenophon witnesse to haue beene obserued , both among the aegyptians , scythians , and corinthians . the reason is , because their bodies are spent with labour and trauaile , and men that are at their worke , assidui & accibui vmbratiles esse cogumur . yea , if a noble man borne in captiuitie , or constrained through any other necessitie , shall exercise any manuall occupation or art , hee by the opinion of some , loseth his nobilitie ciuill , but not christian , and shall at his returne bee restored . where i said the custome of the country , i intend thus : by the law of mahomet the grand signior , or great turke himselfe , is bound to exercise some manuall trade or occupation ( for none must be idle : ) as solyman the magnificent , that so threatned vienna , his trade was making of arrow-heads ; achmat the last , horne rings for archers , and the like . from the roote and branches , let vs taste the fruite , which fall not ( like the apples of sodoms ) with a light touch into nothing , but are as those of hesperides , golden , and out of the vulgar reach . first , noble or gentlemen ought to bee preferred in fees , honors , offices , and other dignities of command and gouernment before the common people . they are to be admitted neere , and about the person of the prince , to be of his counsel in warre , and to beare his standard . we ought to giue credit to a noble or gentleman , before any of the inferior sort . he must not be arrested , or pleaded against vpon cosenage . we must attend him , and come to his house , and not ●e to ours . his punishment ought to be more fauourable , & honorable vpon his tryall , and that to bee by his peeres of the same noble ranke . he ought in all sittings , meetings , and salutations , to haue the vpper hand , and greatest respect . they must be cited by bill or writing , to make their appearance . in criminall causes , noblemen may appeare by their arturney , or procurator . they ought to take their recreations of hunting , hawking , &c. freely , without controule in all places . their imprisonment ought not to bee in base manner , or so strict as others . they may eate the best and daintiest meate that the place affordeth ; to weare at their pleasure gold , iewels , the best apparell , and of what fashion they please , &c. beside , nobilitie stirreth vp emulation in great spirits , not onely of equalling others , but excelling them ; as in cimon , the elder scipio africanus , decius the sonne , alexander , edward our blacke prince , and many others . it many times procureth a good marriage , as in germany , where a faire coate and a crest , is often preferred before a good reuenew . it is a spurre in braue and good spirits , to beare in mind those things which their ancestors haue nobly atchieued . it transferreth it selfe vnto posteritie ; and as for the most part wee see the children of noble personages , to beare the lincaments and resemblance of their parents : so in like manner , for the most part they possesse their vertues and noble dispositions , which euen in their tenderest yeares , will but forth and discouer it selfe . hauing discoursed of nobilitie in generall , the diuision , and vse thereof : giue me leaue in a word , to in●eigh against the pittifull abuse thereof , which like a plague , i think , hath infected the whole world . euery vndeseruing and base peasant ayming at nobilitie : which miserable ambition hath so furnished both towne & country with coates of a new list ; that were democritus liuing , hee might haue laughing matter for his life . in naples , such is the pride of euery base groome , that though he be distalla , he must be termed signore , and scarce will ●e open a note from a poore calz●lai● , to whom he hath beene a twelue month indebted for his bootes , if d●n be not in the superscription . in venice likewise , euery mechanique is a magnifice , though his magnificenza walketh the market but with a chequin . in france , euery peasant and common lacquay , is saluted by name of mounsieur , or sire , the king himselfe hauing no other title . the word sire immediatly proceeding from cyrus , the persian word for a lord or great prince , as h. stephanus well noteth ; or as it pleaseth some , from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authoritie , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a lord or gouernor , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . goe but from paris to anjo● , and see if you find not all , from the count to the esculiers , allyed either to the king , some prince of the blood , noble peere , or other . in the low countries , mine old host at arnhem in gildrerland , changed his coate and crest thrice in a fortnight , because it did not please his young wife . for there ye must vnderstand , they are all gentlemen by a grant , ( they say ) from charles the fift , in consideration of a great summe of money they lent him in time of his warres . come into what house soeuer , though miju heer weert , be but a gardiner , ropemaker , or aqua●ita seller , you shal be sure to haue his armes , with the beauer full faced ( allowed to none but kings and princes ) in his glasse-window , with some ingenious motto or other of his owne deuice . i remember one t●link there , gaue for his coate a wilde goose in the water , with this witty one ; volans , natans . another , three hogs falling vpon a dog , who was lugging one of their fellowes ; with this , a endracht mackt macht . another , three great drinking bowles , orbiquiers , with this truly dutch , and more tollerable then the rest , vnderneath , quem non f●●●re disertum ? with infinite others of like nature : yet the ancient nobilitie ( whereof there are many honorable families ; as hohenlo , egment , horne , brede●ode , waggen●●r , betsolaër , with sundry others ) keepe themselues entire , and maintaining their ancient houses and reputation , free from scandall of dishonour , as well as wee laugh at these their boorish deuices . some againe , by altering letters or syllables , or adding to their names , will insinuate themselues into noble houses , and not sticke many times to beare their coates . but the most common and worst of all , is in all places the ordinary purchasing of armes and honors for money , very preiudiciall to true nobilitie and politique gouernment : for who will hazzard his person and estate to infinite dangers for honour , when others at home may haue it si●e sudore & sanguin● , onely by bleeding in the vena c●n● , called marsupium ? the pure oyle cannot mingle with the water , no more this extracted quintessence and spirit of vertue , with the dregges and subsistence of vnworthinesse . euripides , when his father told him he was knighted , made him this reply ; good father , you haue that which euery man may haue for his money . and certainely , vertue dum petis ar du● , will not stoope to take vp her reward in the streete . the french man is so bold , as to terme such intruders gentil-villaines ; but i dare not vse that word , lest some that challenge the first part of it , should returne me the latter . lastly , to conclude , most pittifull is the pride of many , who when they are nobly borne , not onely staine their stocke with vice , and all base behauiour , relying and vaunting of their long pedigrees , and exploits of their fathers , ( themselues liuing in sloath and idlenesse ) disparage and disgrace those , who by their vertuous endeuours are rising . to these and such , i oppose marius , and that stout reply of his in salust : they contemne me● as an vpstart , i scorn● their sloath and basenesse . againe , what they idlely heave and reade at home , my selfe hath either acted or seene ; if they scorne me , let them scorne their ancestors , who came by their nobilitie as i haue done : if they 〈◊〉 mine honor , let them also enuy my labours , mine innocence , my perils , &c. now see how equally they deale : that which they arrogate to themselues from the vertue of others , that they deny me from mine owne , because i haue no images , and my nobilitie is new , &c. shortly after : i cannot , to prooue my descent , bring forth the images of my ancestors , their triumphs , their consulships ; but if neede be , i can shew launces , my ensigne , caparisons , and other such warlike implements , beside a number of scarres vpon my breast : these are my images , my nobilitie , not left me by descent and inheritance , &c. and as resolute of late yeares , was the answer of verdugo a spaniard , commander in friseland , to certaine of the spanish nobilitie , who murmured at a great feast , the sonne of a hang-man should take place aboue them , ( for so he was , and his name importeth : ) gentlemen ( quoth he ) question not my birth , or who my father was , i am the sonne of mine owne desert and fortune ; if any man dares as much as i haue done , let him come and take the tables ●nd with all my heart . chap. 2. of the dignitie and necessity of learning in princes and nobilitie . since learning then is an essentiall part of nobilitie , as vnto which we are beholden , for whatsoeuer dependeth on the culture of the mind ; it followeth , that who is nobly borne , and a scholler withall , deserueth double honour , being both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : for hereby as an ensigne of the fairest colours , hee is a farre discerned , and winneth to himselfe both loue and admiration , heigthing with skill his image to the life , making it pretious , and lasting to posteritie . it was the reply of that learned king of arragon to a courtier of his , who affirmed , that learning was not requisite in princes and nobilitie , questa è voce d'un but , non d'un huom● . for if a prince be the image of god , gouerning and adorning all things , and the end of all gouernment the obseruation of lawes , that thereby might appeare the goodnesse of god in protecting the good , and punishing the bad , that the people might bee fashioned in their liues and manners , and come neere in the light of knowledge vnto him , who must protect and defend them , by establishing religion , ordaining lawes ; by so much ( as the sunne from his orbe of empire ) ought he to out-runne the rest in a vertuous race , and out-shine them in knowledge , by how much he is mounted neerer to heauen , and so in view of all , that his least eclipse is taken to a minute . what ( tell me ) can be more glorious or worthy the scepter , then to know god aright ; the mysteries of our saluation in iesus christ , to conuerse with god in soule , and oftner then the meere naturall man , to aduance him in his creatures ; to bee able with salomon to dispute , from the loftiest cedar on libanus , to the lowest hysop vpon the wall ; to bee the co●duit pipe and instrument , whereby ( as in a goodly garden ) the sweete streames of heauens , blessings are conueied in pietie , peace and plentie , to the nourishing of thousands , and the flourishing of the most ingenious arts and sciences . wherefore , saith the kingly prophet , erudimini reges , &c. as if he should say ; how can you kings & iudges of the earth vnderstand the grounds of your religion , the foundation and beginnings of your lawes , the ends of your duties and callings ; much lesse determine of such controuersies , as daily arise within your realmes and circuits , define in matters of faith publique iustice , your priuate and oeconomicke affaires , if from your cradles yee haue beene nursed ( as solomons foole ) with ignorance , brutish ignorance , mother of all miserie , that infecteth your best actions with folly , ranketh you next to the beast , maketh your talke and discourse loathsome and heauy to the hearer , as a burthen vpon the way , your selues to be abused by your vassals , as blinde men by their boyes , and to bee led vp and downe at the will and pleasure of them , whose eyes and eares you borrow . hence the royall salomon , aboue all riches of god , desired wisedome and vnderstanding , that hee might gouerne , and go before so mighty a people . and the ancient romanes , when their voyces were demaunded at the election of their emperor , cryed with one consent , quis melior quam● literatus ? hence the persians would elect none for their king , except he were a great philosopher : and great alexander acknowledged his , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his master aristotle . rome saw her best daies vnder her most learned kings and emperours ; as num● , augustus , titus , antoninus , constantino , theodosius , and some others . plutarch giueth the reason , learning ( saith hee ) reformeth the life and ma●●ers , and affoordeth the wholesomest aduice for the gouernment of a common-wealth . i am not ignorant , but that ( as all goodnesse else ) shee hath met with her mortall enemies , the champions of ignorance , as licinius gaue for his mot or poesie : postes reipublica literae ; and lewis the eleuenth , king of france , would euer charge his sonne to learne no more latine then this , qui nescit dissimulare , nescit regnare : but these are the fancies of a few , and those of ignorant and corrupted iudgements . since learning then ioyned with the feare of god , is so faithfull a guide , that without it princes vndergoe but lamely ( as chrysostome saith ) their greatest affaires ; they are blinde in discretion , ignorant in knowledge , rude and barbarous in manners and liuing : the necessitie of it in princes and nobilitie , may easily be gathered , who howsoeuer they slatter themselues , with the fauourable sun-shine of their great estates and fortunes , are indeede of no other account and reckoning with men of wisedome and vnderstanding , then glowormes that onely shine in the darke of ignorance , and are admired of ideots and the vulgar for the out-side ; statues or huge colossos full of lead and rubbish within , or the aegyptian asse , that thought himselfe worshipfull for bearing golden isis vpon his backe . sigismund king of the romanes , and sonne to charles the fourth emperour , greatly complained at the councell of constance , of his princes and nobilitie , whereof there was no one that could answer an embassadour , who made a speech in latine ; whereat lodouicke , the elector palatine tooke such a deepe disdaine in himselfe , that with teares ashamed , he much lamented his want of learning ; and presently hereupon returning home , beganne ( albeit hee was very old ) to learne his latine tongue . eberhard also , the first duke of wirtenberge , at an assembly of many princes in italy ( who discoursed excellently in latine , while he stood still and could say nothing ) in a rage strook his tutor or gouernor there present , for not applying him to his booke when he was young . i gladly alledge these examples , as by a publike councell to condemne opinion of heresie , beleeuing to teach , and teaching to beleeue , the vnnecessitie of learning in nobilitie ; an error as preiudiciall to our land , as sometime was that rotten chest to aethiopia , whose corrupted ayre vented after many hundreds of yeares , brought a plague not onely vpon that country , but ouer the whole world . i ceasse to vrge further , the necessitie and dignitie of learning , hauing ( as octaui●s said to decius , a captaine of anthonies , ) to the vnderstanding spoken sufficient ; but to the ignorant too much , had i said lesse . chap. 3. of the time of learning , dutie of masters , and what the fittest method to be obserued . as the spring is the onely fitting seede time for graine , setting and planting in garden and orchard : so youth , the aprill of mans life , is the most naturall and conuenient season to scatter the seeds of knowledge vpon the ground of the mind , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith plato , it behooueth in youth out of hand , to desire and bend our minds to learning : neither as good husbands , while time serueth , let slip one houre ; for , saith he , elsewhere , our ground is hard , and our horses be wild ; withall , if we meane to reape a plentifull haruest , take we the counsell of adrastus in euripides , to looke that the seed be good . for , in the foundation of youth , well ordered and taught , consists ( saith plato againe ) the flourishing of the common-wealth . this tender age is like water spilt vpon a table , which with a finger wee may draw and direct which way we list ; or like the young hop , which , if wanting a pole , taketh hold of the next hedge : so that now is the time ( as waxe ) to worke it plyant to any forme . how many excellent wits haue we in this land , that smell of the caske , by neglecting their young time when they should haue learned ! horace his quo semel , once fit for the best wine , since too bad for the best vineger , who growne to yeares of discretion , and solid vnderstanding , deepely bewaile their misspent , or misguided youth , with too late wishing ( as i haue heard many ) that they had lost a ioynt , halte their estates , so that they had beene held to their bookes when they were young . the most ( and without cause ) lay the fault vpon bad masters ; to say truth , it is a generall plague and complaint of the whole land ; for , for'one discreete and able teacher , you shall finde twenty ignorant and carelesse , who ( among so many fertile and delicate wits as england affoordeth ) whereas they make one scholler , they marre ten . the first and maine error of masters , is want of discretion , when in such varietie of natures as different as their countenances , the master neuer laboureth to try the strength of euery capacitie by it selfe , which ( as that lesbian stone aristotle speaketh of ) must haue the rule fitted to it , not that brought to the rule : for as the selfe same medicines haue seuerall operations , according to the complexions they worke vpon ; so one and the selfe-same method agreeth not with all alike : some are quick of capacitie , and most apprehensiue , others of as dull ; some of a strong memorie , others of as weake ; yet may that dullard , or bad memorie , ( if he be obserued ) proue as good , yea ( in aristotles opinion ) better then of the other . but we see on the contrary , out of the masters carterly iudgment , like horses in a teame , they are set to draw al alike , when some one or two prime and able wits in the schoole , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which he culs out to admiration if strangers come , as a costardmonger his fairest pippins ) like fleete hounds goe away with the game , when the rest need helping ouer a stile a mile behind : hence being either quite discouraged in themselues , or taken away by their friends ( who for the most part measure their learning by the forme they fit it ) they take leaue of their bookes while they liue . a second ouer-sight nigh a kin to the former , is indiscretion in correction , in vsing all natures alike , and that with immoderation , or rather plaine crueltie : true it is , quo quisque est solertior & ingeniosior , hoc docet iracundior . but these fellowes beleeue with chrysippus in quintilian , that there is no other method of making a scholler , then by beating him , for that he vnderstandeth not through their owne fault ; wherein they shew themselues egregious tyrants , for , correction without instruction is plaine tyrannis . the noble , generous , and best natures , are won by commendation , enkindled by glory , which is fax mentis honestae , to whom conquest and shame are a thousand tortures . of which disposition for the most part , are most of our young nobilitie and gentlemen , well borne , inheriting with their being , they vertue of their ancestors , which euen in this tender greennesse of year wil bewary it selfe , as well in the schoole as abroad at their play and childish recreations . quintilian aboue all others , desireth this disposition to make his orator of , and whom chiding greeueth , to be tenderly dealt withall ; yet haue i knowne these good and towardly natures , as roughly handled by our plagosi orbilij , as by dionysius himselfe taking reuenge vpon the buttockes of poore boyes for the losse of his kingdome , and railed vpon by the vnmannerly names of block-heads ( oft by farre worse then block-heads ) asses , dolts , &c. which deepely pierceth the free and generous spirit ; for , ingenuitas ( saith soneca ) non recipit contemptum ; ingenuitie or the generous minde , cannot brooke contempt ; and which is more vngentlemanly , nay barbarous and inhumane , pulled by the eares , lashed ouer the face , beaten about the head with the great end of the rod , smitten vpon the lippes for euery slight offence with the ferula , ( not offered to their fathers scullions at home ) by these aiaces flagelliferi ; fitter far to keep beares , ( for they thriue and are the fatter for beating , saith pliny ) then to haue the charge of noble and gentlemen . in germanie the schoole is , and as the name importeth , it ought to be meerely ludus literarius , a very pastime of learning , where it is a rare thing to see a rodde stirring : yet i heartily wish that our children of england were but halfe so ready in writing and speaking latine , which boyes of tenne and twelue yeares old will doe so roundly , and with so neate a phrase and stile , that many of our masters would hardly mend them ; hauing onely for their punishment shame , and for their reward praise . cauendum à plagis ( saith quintilian ) sed potiùs laude aut aliorum praelatione vrgendus est puer : that is , wee must hold our hands , and rather bring a child forward with praise , and preferring of others . beside , there ought to bee a reciprocall and a mutuall affection betwixt the master and scholler , which iudicious erasmus and lodouicus viues , ( sometimes teacher to queene marie , and a spaniard , who came into england with queene katherine her mother ) doe principally require , patris in illum in duendo affectum , by putting on a fathers affection toward him : and as pliny saith , amore , non artifice docente , qui optimus magister est : to win his heart and affection by loue , which is the best master , the scholler againe the contrary . so may a discrect master , with as much or more case , both to himselfe & his scholler , teach him to play at tennise , or shoot at rouers in the field , and profit him more in one moneth , beside his encouragement , then in halfe a yeare with his strict and seuere vsage . but in stead heereof , many of our masters for the most part so behaue themselues , that their very name is hatefull to the scholler , who trembleth at their comming in , reioyceth at their absence , and looketh his master ( returned ) in the face , as his deadly enemy . some affect , and seuerer schooles enfore , a precise and tedious strictnesse , in long keeping the schollers by the walls ; as from before sixe in the morning , till twelue , or past : so likewise in the afternoone ; which beside the dulling of the wit , and deiecting the spirit , ( for , otij non minùs quam negotij ratio extare debes ) breedeth in him afterward , a kinde of hate and carelesnesse , of studie when hee commeth to bee sui i●ris , at his owne libertie , ( as experience prooueth by many , who are sent from senere schooles vnto the vniuersities : ) withall , ouer-loading his memorie , and taking off the edge of his inuention , with ouer heauy taskes in themes , verses , &c. to be continually poring on the booke ( saith socra●●s ) hurteth and weakeneth the memorie very much ; affirming learning to bee sooner attained vnto by the eare in discourse and hearing , then by the eye in continuall reading . i verily beleeue the same , if we had instructors and masters at hand , as readie as bookes . for wee see by experience , those who haue beene blinde from their birth , to retaine more by hearing , then others by their eyes , let them reade neuer so much : wherefore fabius would haue , istud ediscendi taedium protinùs à pueris deuorari , this same toyle or tediousnesse of learning by heart , to bee presently swallowed or passed ouer by children . wherefore i cannot but commend the custome of their schooles in the low countries , where for the auoyding of this tedious sitting still , & irksome poring on the booke all day long ; after the scholler hath receiued his lecture , he leaueth the schoole for an houre , and walketh abroad with one or two of his fellowes , either into the field , or vp among the trees vpon the rampire ; as in andwerpe , breda , vtrechs , &c. where they conferre and recreate themselues till time calls them in to repeate , where perhaps they stay an houre ; so abroad again , and thus at their pleasure the whole day . for true it is , that lipsius saith , ingenia vegeta , must haue suos re●essus , strong and liuely wits must haue their retrait or intermission of exercise , and as rammes ( engines of warre in old time ) recoyle backe to returne with the greater force ; which the mind doth vnto study after pause and rest , not vnlike a field , which by lying fallow , becommeth farre more fat and fruitfull . a fourth error , is the contrary ( for , stulti in contraria currunt , ) too much carelesnesse and remissenesse in not holding them in at all , or not giuing them in the schoole that due attendance they ought : so that euery day is play-day with them , bestowing the summer in seeking birds-nests , or haunting orchards ; the winter , in keeping at home for cold , or abroad all day with the bow , or the birding-peece : they making as little conscience in taking , as their master in giuing their learning , who forgetreth belike , that rumour layeth each fault of the scholler vpon his necks . plato remembreth one protagoras , a bird of the same feather , who when hee had liued threescore yeares , made his boast , he had spent fortie of those threescore , in corrupting and vndoing youth . we haue , i feare , a race of those protager-asses euen yet among our common schoole-masters in england . but the diseases whereunto some of them are very subiect , are humour and folly ( that i may say nothing of the grosse ignorance and in-sufficiency of many ) whereby they become ridiculous and contemptible both in the schoole and abroad . hence it comes to passe , that in many places , especially in italy , of all professions that of peda●eria is held in basest repute ; the schoole-master almost in euery comedy being brought vpon the stage , to paralell the zani , or pantaloun . he made vs good sport in that excellent comedy of pedantius , acted in our trinitie colledge in cambridge : and if i bee not deceiued , in priscianus vapulans , and many of our english playes . i knew one , who in winter would ordinarily in a cold morning , whip his boyes ouer for no other purpose then to get himselfe a heat : another beat them for swearing , and all the while sweares himselfe with horrible oathes , he would forgiue any fault sauing that . i had i remember my selfe ( neere s. albanes in hertforshir● where i was borne ) a master , who by no entreatie would teach any scholler he had , farther then his father had learned before him ; as if he had onely learned but to reade english , the sonne , though he went with him seauen yeares , should go no further ; his reason was , they would then prooue saucy rogues , and controule their fathers ; yet these are they that oftentimes haue our hopefull gentry vnder their charge and tuition , to bring them vp in science and ciuilitie . beside , most of them want that good and direct method , whereby in shortest time and with least labour , the scholler may attaine vnto perfection ; some teaching priuately , vse a grammer of their owne making ; some againe , none at a●● : the most lillies , but praeposterously posted ouer , that the boy is in his quantitie of syllables , before hee knoweth the qualitie of any one part of speech ; for he profiteth no more then he mastereth by his vnderstanding . nor is it my meaning that i would all masters to be tyed to one methode , no more then all the shires of england to come vp to london by one high way ; there be many equally alike good . and since method , as one saith , is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , let euery master if he can , by pulling vp stiles and hedges , make a more neere and priuate way to himselfe , and in gods name say with the diuinest of poets : — deserta per avia dulcis , raptat amer , invat ire iugi● , quà nulla priorum cast aliam molli diuertitur orbita clive . with sweet loue rapt , i now by desart's passe , and ouer hilles , where neuer track of yore : descending easily , yet remembred was , that led the way to castalie before . but in stead of many good they haue infinite bad , and go stumbling from the right as if they went blindfold for a wager : hence commeth the shifting of the scholler from master to master , who poore boy ( like a hound among a companie of ignorant hunters hollowing euery decre they see ) misseth the right , begetteth himselfe new labour , and at last by one of skill , but well rated or beaten for his paines . they cannot commonly erre , if they shall imitate the builder , first to prouide the scholler with matter , then cast to lay a good foundation , i meane a sollide vnderstanding of the grammar , euery rule made familiar and fast , by short and pleasant examples , let him bring his matter into forme , and by little and little raise the frame of a strong and well knit stile both in writing and speaking ; and what doth harme in all other building , is heere most profitable and needfull , that is , translation . for i know nothing that benefiteth a scholler more then that ; first by translating out of latine into english , which laid by for some time , let him translate out of english into latine againe varying as oft as he can both his words and phrases . dosetus who hath gathered all the phrases of tullie into one volume , manutius , erasmus his cop●a , and drax his callipo●a with others , will helpe him much at the first ; let him after by his owne reading enrich his vnderstanding , and learne haurire ex ipsis fontibus , next exercise himselfe in theames and declamation if he be able . the old method of teaching grammar , saith suetonius , was disputation in the fore-noone , and declamation in the after-noone ; but this i leaue to the discretion of the iudicious master . i passe ouer the insufficiencie of many of them ( with ill example of life ( which plato wisheth aboue all things to be respected and looked into ) whereof as of physicke and ill physitians , there is many times more danger then of the disease it selfe ; many of them being no grammarians at all , much lesse ( as quintilian requireth in a schoolemaster ) rhetoricians to expound with proper and purest english , an eloquent latine or greeke author , vnfold his inuention : and handling of the subiect , shew the forme and fluencie of the style , the apt disposition of figures , the proprietie of words , the weight of graue and deepe sentences which are nerui orationis , the sinewes of discourse . musitians , without which grammar is imperfect in that part of prosodia , that dealeth onely with meter and rhithmicall proportions . astronomers to vnderstand authors who haue written of the heauens and their motions , the seuerall constellations , setting and rising of the planets , with the sundry names of circles and points ; as manilius and pontanus . and lastly , naturall and morall philosophers , without which they canot as they ought , vnderstand tullies offices , or aesops fables , as familiar as they seeme . farre be it that i may bee thought to question the worth and dignitie of the painfull and discreete teacher , who , if learning be needfull , must be as necessarie : besides , i am not ignorant , that euen the a greatest princes , with the most reuerend bishops , and most profound schollers of the world , haue not beene ashamed of tea●ching the grammer : or that i inueigh in the least , against the learned and worthy masters of our publike schooles , many of whom may be ranked with the most sufficient schollers of europe . i inueigh against the pittifull abuse of our nation by such , who by their ignorance and negligence deceiue the church and common-wealth of seruiceable members , parents of their money , poore children of their time , esteeme in the world , and perhaps meanes of liuing all their liues after . chap. 4. of the dutie of parents in their childrens education . neither must all the blame lye vpon the schoolemaster , fond and foolish parents haue oft as deep a share in this pretious spoile ; as he whose cockering and apish indulgence ( to the corrupting of the minds of their children , disabling their wits , effeminating their bodies ) how bitterly doth plato taxe and abhorre ? for auoiding of which , the law of lycurgus commaunded children to be brought vp , and to learne in the country , farre from the delicacie of the citie ; and the brutij in italy , a people bordering vpon lucania , following the custome of the spartans , sent their children after the age of foureteene away , to be brought vp in fields and forrests among shepheards and heardsmen ; without any to looke vnto them , or to waite vpon them : without apparell , or bed to lye on , hauing nothing else then milke or water for their drinke , and their meate such as they could kill or catch . and heare the aduice of horace : angustam , amice , pauperiem pati robustus acri militia puer condiscat , & parthos feroces vexet eques metuendus hasta , vitamque sub die , & trepidis agas in rebus , &c. friend , let thy child hard pouerty endure , and growne to strength , to warre himselfe inure ; learne brauely mounted , sterne caualeir , to charge the fiercest parthian with his speare : let him in fields without doores leade his life , and exercise him where are dangers rife , &c. if many of our young youths and gallants were dieted in this manner , mercers might saue some paper , and cittie laundresses goe make candles with their saffron and egges ; dicing houses and ten shillings ordinaries , let their large roomes to fencers and puppit-players , and many a painted peece betake her selfe to a wheele , or the next hospitall . but now adaies , parents either giue their children no education at all , ( thinking their birth or estate will beare out that : ) or if any , it leaueth so slender an impression in them , that like their names cut vpon a tree , it is ouer-growne with the old barke by the next summer . beside , such is the most base and ridiculous parsimony of many of our gentlemen , ( if i may so terme them ) that if they can procure some poore batcheler of art from the vniuersitie to teach their children , say grace , and serue the cure of an impropriation , who wanting meanes and friends , will be content vpon the promise of ten pounds a yeare at his first comming , to be pleased with fiue ; the rest to be set off in hope of the next aduouson , ( which perhaps was sold before the young man was borne : ) or if it chance to fall in his time , his ladie or master tels him ; indeed sir wee are beholden vnto you for your paines , such a liuing is lately fallen , but i had before made a promise of it to my butler or bailiffe , for his true and extraordinarie seruice : when the truth is , he hath bestowed it vpon him himselfe , for fourescore or an hundred peeces , which indeede his man two daies before had fast hold of , but could not keepe . it is not commonly seene , that the most gentlemen will giue better wages , and deale more bountifully with a fellow who can but teach a dogge , or reclaime an hawke , then vpon an honest , learned , and well qualified man to bring vp their children ? it may be , hence it is that dogges are able to make syllogismes in the fields , when their young masters can conclude nothing at home , if occasion of argument or discourse be offered at the table . looke vpon our nebilitie and gentry now adaies ( saith a wise and graue historian ) and you shall see them bred , as if they were made for mother end then pastime and idlenes ; they obserue moderation neither in talke nor apparell : good men , and such as are learned , are not admitted amongst them ; the affaires of their estates they impose vpon others , &c. but to view one of them rightly , ( saith sen●ca ) looke vpon him naked , lay-by his estate , his honors , et aliae fortunae mendacia , his other false disguisements of fortune , and behold his mind , what and how great he is , whether of himselfe , or by some borrowed greatnesse . but touching parents , a great blame and imputation ( how iustly i know not ) is commonly laid vpon the mother ; not onely for her ouer tendernesse , but in winking at their lewd courses ; yea , more in seconding , and giuing them encouragement to doe wrong , though it wore , as terence saith , against their owne fathers . i dare not say it was long of the mother , that the son told his father , he was a better man , and better descended then he . nor will i affirme that it is her pleasure , the chamber-maid should be more curious in fitting his tuffe , then his master in refining his manners . nor that it is she that filleth the cisterne of his lauish expence , at the vniuersitie , or innes of court ; that after foure or fiue yearesspent , hee returnes home as wise as ammonius his asse , that went with his master euery day to the schoole , to heare origen and porphyrie reade philosophy . but albeit , many parents haue beene diligent enough this way , and good masters haue likewise done their parts , and neither want of will or abilitie of wit in their children to become schollers , yet ( whether out of an ouer-weening conceipt of their towardnesse , a pride to haue their sonnes out-goe their neighbours , or to make them men before their times ) they take them from schoole , as birds out of the nest ere they be slidge , and send them so young to the vniuersitie , that scarce one among twentie proueth ought . for as tender plants , too soone or often remooued , beginne to decay and die at the roote ; so these young things of twelue , thirteene , or foureteene , that haue no more care then to expect the next carrier , and where to sup on fridaies and fasting nights : no further thought of studie , then to trimme vp their studies with pictures , and place the fairest bookes in openest view , which poore lads , they scarce euery opened or vnderstand not ; that when they come to logicke , and the crabbed grounds of arts , there is such a disproportion betweene aristotles categories , and their childish capacities , that what together with the sweetnesse of libertie , varietie of companie , and so many kinds of recreation in towne and fields abroad , ( being like young lapwings apt to be snatched vp by euery buzzard , they prooue with homers willow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and as good goe gather cockles with calignlas people on the sand , as yet to attempt the difficulties of so rough and terrible a passage . others againe , if they perceiue any wildnesse or vnstaiednesse in their children , are presently in despaire , and out of all hope of them for euer prouing schollers , or fit for any thing else ; neither consider the nature of youth , nor the effect of time , the phisition of all . but to mend the matter , send them either to the court to serue as pages , or into france and italy to see fashions , and mend their manners , where they become ten times worse . these of all other , if they bee well tempered , prooue the best mettall ; yea tulli● as of necessitie desireth some aboundant ranknesse , or superfluitie of wit in that yong-man , he would choose to make his orator of . vellem ( saith he ) in adolescente aliquod redundans & quod amputem : i wish in a yong man something to spare , and which i might cut off . this taken away ere degenerate with luxurious abundance , like that same ranke vine the prophet ieremie speaketh of , you shall finde the heart divino sain editum : and sound timber within to make mercurie of , qui non fit ex quouis lign● , as the prouerbe saith . and some of a different humour will determine , euen from the a , b , c. what calling their children shall take vpon them , and force them euen in despight of nature , like lycurgus his whelpes , to runne contrarie courses , and to vndertake professions altogether contrarie to their dispositions : this , saith erasmus , is , peccare in genium . and certainly it is a principall point of discretion in parents to be throughly acquainted with , and obserue the disposition and inclination of their children , and indeed for euery man to search into the addiction of his genius and not to wrest nature as musitians say , out of her key , or ( as tullie saith ) to contend with her , making the spaniel to carrie the asses loade ; which was well obserued by the lacedamonians and ancient romanes , in laying forth instruments of sundry occupations , before their children at a certaine age , they to choose what liked them best , and euer after to take vpon them that profession whereunto they belonged . how many are put by worldly and couetous fathers inuita minerua , to the studie of the lawes ( which studie i confesse to be honourable and most deseruing , ) who notwithstanding spend most of their time euen in diuinitie at the innes of he court ? and how many divines haue we , ( i appeale to the courts , ) heires of their fathers , friends , ( or purchased ) advousons , whom the buckram bagge would not better beseeme then the bible ? being neuer out of law with their parishioners , following their suites and causes from court to court , terme to terme , no atturney more . in like manner i haue knowne many commanders and worthy gentlemen , aswell of our owne nation as strangers , who following the warres , in the field and in their armes , haue confessed vnto me , nature neuer ordained them for that profession , had they not fallen accidentally vpon it , either through death of friends , harshnesse of masters and tutors , thereby driuen from the vniuersitie ( as an honorable friend of mine in the low countries hath many times cōplained vnto me : ) or the most common mischiefe , miserablenesse of greedie parents , the ouerthrow and vndoing of many excellent and prime wits ; who to saue charges , marrie a daughter , or preferre a yonger brother , turne them out into the wide world with a little money in their purses ( or perhaps none at all ) to seeke their fortunes , where necessitie deiects and besots their spirits , not knowing what calling or course to take ; enforceth them desperate to begge , borrow , or to worse and baser shiftes ( which in their owne natures they detest as hell ) to goe on foote , lodge in ale-houses , and fort themselues with the basest companie , till what with want and wandring so long in the circle , at last they are ( vpon the center of some hill ) constrained to say ( as hercules between his two pillars ) non vlterius . much lesse haue parents now a daies that care to take the paines to instruct , and reade to their children themselues , which the greatest princes and noblest personages haue not beene ashamed to doe . octauius augusins caesar , read the workes of cicero and virgil , to his children and nephewes himselfe . anna the daughter of alexi● the grecian emperour , was by her father so instructed , that while shee was yet a yong and goodly ladie , shee wrote of her selfe a very learned and authentique historie of the church . aemilius paulus the sonne ( who so brauely ended his daies at cannas when his colleague forsooke him ) seeing the fauour of the state not inclineable towards him , left the citie , and onely spent his time in the countrey , in teaching his owne children their latine and greeke ; notwithstanding he daily maintained grammarians , logicians , rhetoricians , painters , caruers , riders of great horses , and the skilfullest huntsmen he could get , to instruct and teach them in their seuerall professions and qualities . the three daughters of euer-famous sr. thomas moore , were by their father so diligently held to their booke ( notwithstanding he was so daily emploied being l. chauncelor of england ) that erasmus saith , he found them so readie and perfect in liuie , that the worst scholler of them , was able to expound him quite through without any stop , except some extraordinarie and difficult place . quod me ( saith he ) aut mei similem esset remoraturum . i shall not neede to remember , within memorie those foure sisters , the learned daughters of sr. anthonie cooke , and rare poetresses , so skilfull in latine and greeke , beside many other their excellent qualities , eternized alreadie by the golden pen of the prince of poets of our time ; with many other incomparable ladies and gentlewoman in our land , some yet liuing , from before whose faire faces time i trust will draw the curtaine . lastly , the fault may be in the scholler himselfe , whom nature hath not so much befriended with the gift of vnderstanding , as to make him capable of knowledge ; or else more vniust , disposed him to sloath , or some other worse inbred vice . marcus cicero , albeit hee was the sonne of so wise , so eloquent , and so sober a father ( whose very counsell and companie had beene enough , to haue put learning and regard of well liuing into the most barbarous gete : ) and had crattippus , so excellent a philosopher to his reader at athens : yet by the testimony of pliny , he proued so notorious a drunkard , that he would ordinarily drinke off two gallons of wine at a time , and became so debauched euery way , that few of that age exceeded him . sundry the like examples might be produced in our times , but one of this nature is too many . others on the contrary , are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and haue no other helpes saue god , and their owne industry ; wee neuer reade of any master virgil euer had . s. augustine likewise saith of himselfe : se didicisse aristotelis categorias nemine traden●● : that he learned aristotles categories , or praedicaments , no man instructing him ; which , how hard they bee at the first to wade thorough without a guide , let the best wit of them all try . and beda our countrey-man , ( for his profound learning in all sciences ) sir-named venerabilis , attained to the same within the limits of his cell in northumberland , though it is said he was once at rome . ioseph scaliger taught priuatly many yeares in a noblemans house , and neuer made abode in any vniuersitie , that euer i heard of , till called in his latter yeares to leyden in holland : and many admirable schollers and famous men , our age can produce , who neuer came at any vniuersitie , except to view the colledges , or visit their friends , that are inferiour to few doctors of the chaire , either for learning or iudgment , if i may so say , pace matris academiae . chap. 5. of a gentlemans carriage in the vniuersity . hauing hitherto spoken of the dignitie of learning in generall , the dutie and qualitie of the master , of a readie method for vnderstanding the grammar , of the parent , of the child : i turne the head of my discourse , with my schollers horse , ( whom mee thinkes i see stand ready brideled ) for the vniuersitie . and now , m. william howard , giue me leaue ( hauing passed that , i imagine , limbus puerorum , & those perillous pikes of the grammar rules ) as a well willer vnto you and your studies , to beare you company part of the way , and to direct henceforth my discourse wholly to your selfe . since the vniuersitie whereinto you are embodied , is not vntruly called the light and eye of the land , in regard from hence , as from the center of the sunne , the glorious beames of knowledge disperse thēselues ouer al , without which a chaos of blindnesse would repo●●esse vs againe : think now that you are in publike view , and nucibus reliclis , with your gowne you haue put on the man , that from hence the reputation of your whole life taketh her first growth and beginning . for as no glorie crowneth with more abundant praise , then that which is heere won by diligence and wit : so there is no infamie abaseth the value and esteeme of a gentleman all his life after , more then that procured by sloath and error in the vniuersities ; yea , though in those yeares whose innocencie haue euer pleaded their pardon ; whereat i haue not a little meruailed , considering the freedome and priuiledge of greater places . but as in a delicate garden kept by a cunning hand , and ouerlooked with a curious eye , the least disorder or rankness● of any one flower , putteth a beautifull bed or well contriued knot out of square , when rudenesse and deformitie is borne withall , in rough and vndressed places : so , beleeue it , in this paradise of the muses , the least neglect and impression of errors foot , is so much the more apparant and censured , by how much the sacred arts haue greater interest in the culture of the mind , and correction of manners . wherefore , your first care , euen with pulling off your boots , let be the choice of your acquaintance and company . for as infection in cities in a time of sicknesse , is taken by concourse , and negligent running abroad , when those that keepe within , and are warie of themselues , escape with more safetie : so it falleth out here in the vniuersitie ; for this eye hath also her diseases as wel as any other part of the body , ( i will not say with the physitians more ) with those , whose priuate houses and studies being not able to containe them , are so cheape of themselues , and so plyable to good fellowship abroad ; that in mind and manners ( the tokens plainly appearing ) they are past recouerie ere any friend could heare they were sicke . entertaine therefore the acquaintance of men of the soundest reputation for religion , life , and learning , whose conference and company may bee vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a liuing and a mouing library . for conference and conuerse was the first mother of all arts and science , as being the greatest discouerer of our ignorance , and increaser of knowledge , teaching , and making vs wise by the iudgements and examples of many : and you must learne herein of plato , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , to be a louer of knowledge , desirous to heare much ; and lastly , to inquire and aske often . for the companions of your recreation , consort your selfe with gentlemen of your owne ranke and qualitie ; for that friendship is best contenting and lasting . to be ouer free and familiar with inferiors , argues a basenesse of spirit , and begetteth contempt : for as one shall here at the first priz : himselfe , so let him look at the same rate for euer after to be valued of others . carry your selfe eeuen and fairely , tanquam in statêra , with that moderation in your speech and action , ( that you seemed with vl●sses , to haue minerua alwaies at your elbow : ) which should they be weighed by enuy her selfe , the might passe them for currant ; that you bee thought rather leauing the vniuersitie , then lately come thither . but hereto the regard of your worth , the dignitie of the place , and abundance of so many faire presidents , will be sufficient motiues to stirre you vp . husband your time to the best , for , the greedy desire of gaining time , is a couetousnesse onely honest . and if you follow the aduice of erasmus , and the practise of plinius secundus , diem in operas partire , to deuide the day into seuerall taskes of studie , you shall finde a great case and furtherance hereby ; remembring euer to referre your most serious and important studies vnto the morning , which sin sheth alone ( say the learned ) three parts of the worke . iulius caesar hauing spent the whole day in the field about his militarie affaires , diuided the night also , for three seuerall vses ; one part for his sleepe ; a second , for the common-wealth and publique businesse ; the third , for his booke and studies . so carefull and thriftie were they then of this precious treasure , which we as prodigall lauish out , either vainely or viciously , by whole moneths and yeares , vntill we be called toan account by our great creditor , who will not abate vs the vaine expence of a minute . but for as much as the knowledge of god , is the true end of all knowledge , wherein as in the boundlesse & immense ocean , all our studies and endeuours ought to embosome th●selues : remēber to lay the foundation of your studies , the feare and seruice of god , by oft frequenting prayer and sermons , reading the scriptures , and other tractates of pietie and deuotion : which howsoeuer prophane and irreligious spirits condemne , and contemne , as politian a canon of florence , being vpon occasion asked if hee euer read the bible ouer ; yes once ( quoth he ) i read it quite thorough , but neuer bestowed my time worse in all my life . beleeue you with chrysostome , that the ignorance of the scriptures , is the beginning and fountaine of all euill : that the word of god is ( as our sauiour calleth it ) the key of knowledge ; which giuen by inspiration of god , is profitable to teach , to conuince , to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse . and rather let the pious and good king alphonsi●s , be a president vnto you , and to all nobilitie , who read ouer the bible nor once , nor twice , but foureteene times , with the postils of lyra and burgensis , containing thrice or foure times as much in quantitie , and would cause it to be caried ordinarily with his scepter before him , whereon was engrauen , pro lege & grege . and that worthy emp. & great champion of christendome , charlemaigne , who spent his daies of rest ( after so mnay glorious victories obtained of the saracens in spain , the hunnes , saxens , gothes and vandals in lumbardie and italy , with many other barbarous nations , whereof milions fell vnder his sword ) in reading the holy scriptures , and the workes of the fathers , especially s. augustine , and his bookes de ciuitate dei , in which hee tooke much delight : whom besides , it is recorded , to haue beene so studious , that euen in bed , he would haue his pen and inke , with parchment at his pillow readie , that nothing in his meditation , nothing might ouer-slip his memorie : and if any thing came into his mind , the light being taken away , a place vpon the wall next him , was thinly ouer-laid with●waxe , whereon with a brasen pin he would write in the darke . and we reade , as oft as a new king was created in israel , he had with the ornaments of his kingly dignitie , the booke of the law deliuered vnto him ; signifying his regall authoritie , was lame and defectiue , except swaied by piety and wisedome , contained in that booke . whereunto alludeth that deuice of paradine , an image vpon a globe , with a sword in one hand , and a booke in the other , with , ex vtroque caesar ; and to the same purpose , another of our owne in my minerua britann● , which is a serpent wreathed about a sword , placed vpright vpon a bible , with the word , initium sapiemia . chap. 6. of stile in speaking and writing , and of historie . since speech is the character of a man , and the interpreter of his mind , and writing , the image of that ; that so often as we speak or write , so oft we vndergoe censure and iudgement of our selues : labour first by all meanes to get the habit of a good stile in speaking and writing , as well english as latine . i call with tully , that a good and eloquent stile of speaking . where there is a iudicious fitting of choise words , apt and graue sentences vnto matter well disposed , the same being vttered with a comely moderation of the voyce , countenance and gesture . not that same ampullous and scenical pompe , with emptie furniture of phrase , wherewith the stage , and our pettie poeticke pamphlets sound so big , which like a net in the water , though it feeleth weightie , yet it yeeldeth nothing ; since our speech ought to resemble , wherin neither the curiousnesse of the picture , or faire proportion of letters , but the weight is to be regarded : and as plu●arch saith , when our thirst is quenched with the drinke , then we looke vpon the ennameling and workmanship of the boule ; so first your hearer coueteth to haue his desire satisfied with matter , ere hee looketh vpon the forme or vinetrie of words , which many times fall in of themselues to matter well contriued , according to horace : rembe●● dispositam vel verba invita feq●untur . to matter well dispos'd , words of themselues do fall . let your stile therefore bee furnished with solid matter , and compact of the best , choise , and most familiar words ; taking heed of speaking , or writing such words , as men shall rather admire then vnderstand . herein were tiberiu● , m. ante●ie , and m●cenas , much blamed and iested at by augustus , himselfe vsing euer a plaine and most familiar stile : and as it is said of him , verbum insolens tanquam scopulum effugiens . then sententious , yea better furnished with sentences then words , and ( as tully willeth ) without affectation : for as a king said , dum tersiari studemus eloquendi formula , subterfugit nos clanculùm , apertus ille & familiaris dicendi modus . flowing at one and the selfe same height , neither taken in and knit vp too short , that like rich hangings of arras or tapistry , thereby lose their grace and beautie , as themistocles was wont to say : not suffered to spred so farre like soft musicke in an open field , whose delicious sweetnesse vanisheth , and is lost in the ayre , not being contained within the walles of a roome . in speaking , rather lay downe your words one by one , then powre them forth together ; this hath made many men naturally slow of speech , to seem wisely iudicious , and be iudiciously wise ; for , beside the grace it giueth to the speaker , it much helpeth the memorie of the hearer , and is a good remedie against impediment of speech . sir nicholas bacon , sometime lord chancellor of england , and father to my lord of s. alb●n●s , a most eloquent man , and of as sound learning and wisedome , as england bred in many ages : with the old lord william burgbley , lord treasurer of england , haue aboue others herein beene admired , and commended in their publique speeches in the parliament house and starre-chamber : for nothing drawes our attention more then good matter , eloquently digested , and vttered with a gracefull , cleere , and distinct pronuntiation . but to be sure your stile may passe for currant , as of the richest alloy , imitate the best authors as well in oratorie as historie ; beside the exercise of your owne inuention , with much conference with those who can speak well : nor bee so foolish precise as a number are , who make it religion to speake otherwise then this or that author . as longolius was laughed at by the learned , for his so apish and superstitious imitation of tully , in so much as hee would haue thought a whole volume quite matred , if the word possibile had passed his pen ; because it is not to be found in all tullie : or euery sentence had not sunke with , esse posse videatur , like a peale ending with a chime , or an amen vpon the organes in paules . for as the young virgin to make her fairest garlands , gathereth not altogether one kind of flower ; and the cunning painter , to make a delicate beautie , is forced to mixe his complexion , and compound it of many colours ; the arras-worker , to please the eyes of princes , to be acquainted with many histories : so are you to gather this hony of eloquence a , a gift of heauen , out of many fields ; making it your owne by diligence in collection , care in expression , and skill in digestion . but let me leade you forth into these all-flowrie and verdant fields , where so much sweete varietie will amaze , and make you doubtfull where to gather first . first , tullie ( in whose bosome the treasure of eloquence seemeth to haue beene locked vp , and with him to haue perished ) offereth himselfe as pater romani eloquij : whose words and stile ( that you may not bee held an heretique of all the world ) you must preferre aboue all other , as well for the sweetnesse , grauitie , richnesse , and vnimitable texture thereof ; as that his workes are throughout seasoned with all kind of learning , and relish of a singular and christianlike honesty . there wanted not in him ( saith tacitus ) knowledge of geometry , of musicke , of no manner of art that was commendable and honest ; he knew the subtiltie of logicke , each part of morall philosophy , and so forth . how well he was seene in the ciuill lawes , his bookes de legibus , and his actions in verrem , will shew you : which are the rather worthy your reading , because you shall there see the grounds of many of our lawes heere in england . for the integrity of his mind , though his offices had lien suppressed , let this one saying ( among many thousands ) perswade you to a charitable opinion of the same : arecta conscientia transuerfum vnguem , non oportet quenquam in omni sua vita discedere . whereto i might adde that tale of gyges ring in his offices , which booke let it not seeme contemptible vnto you , because it lyeth tossed and torne in euery schoole ; but be precious , as it was sometime vnto the old lord burghley , lord high treasurer of england , before named ; who , to his dying day , would alwaies carry it about him , either in his bosome or pocket , being sufficient ( as one said of aristotles rhetoriques ) to make both a scholler and an honest man. imitate tullie for his phrase and stile , especially in his epistles ad atticum ; his bookes de oratore : among his orations , those pro m. marcello , pro archia poeta , t. annie milone , sext. rose . amerino , pub. quinctio : the first two against catiline ; and the third action against verres . these in my opinion are fullest of life , but you may vse your discretion , you cannot make your choice amisse . after cicero , i must need● bring you caesar , whom tullie himselfe confesseth of all orators , to haue spoken the most eloquent and purest latine ; et haue bene loquendi laude●● ( saith he ) 〈◊〉 uteris , & ijs quidem reconditis & exquisith , summoque studio & diligentia est consequ●tus . and , in qūo ( saith quintilian ) ●anta vis , id acumen , ea concitatio , vt illum codem animo dixisse appareat quo bellauit . in whom there was so great vehe mency , that fine iudement , that courage and motion , that it seemes hee wrote with the same spirit hee fought . to reade him as you ought , you must bring with you an able iudgement , beside your dictionarie ; by reason of the diuersitie of countries . tracts , places , riuers , people , names of ancient cities and townes , to be sought out , in moderne , strange , and vnknowne names : of materials in buildings ( as in his bridge ouer the rhine framed , ex tignis , trab●bus , fibulis , sublicis , longurijs , &c. ) which , except you were seene in architecture , you would hardly vnderstand : then strange names and formes of warlike engines and weapons then in vse : sundry formes of fortification , water-workes , and the like ; which notwithstanding , since haue beene made knowne and familiar vnto vs , by the painefull labours of those all-searching wits , lipsius , ramus , gionanni de ramellis , and others : and may be read in english excellently translated and illustrated , by that learned and truly honourable gentleman , sr clement edmondes knight , clearke of his maiesties most honorable priuie counsell , my worthy friend : though many excellent workes of caesars , as his epistles , his astronomy , &c. through the iniquitie of enuious time , are vtterly lost and perished . now offereth himselfe cornelius tacitus , the prince of historians ; of whō i may not vntruly say ( as scaliger of virgil ) & euius ore nil tomere excidit , as well for his diligence as grauitie ; so copious in pleasing breuitie , each sentence carrying with it a kind of loftic state and maiestie , such as should ( me think ) proceed from the mouth of greatnesse and command ; in sense retired , deepe , and not fordable to the ordinarie reader . hee doth in part speake most pure and excellent english , by the industry of that most learned and iudicious gentleman ; whose long labour and infinite charge in a farre greater worke , haue wonne him the loue of the most learned , and drawn not onely the eye of greece , but all europe to his admiration . but there being , as lipsius saith , suus cuique lingua genius : let me aduise you of this by the way , that no translation whatsoeuer will affect you , like the authors owne and proper language : for to reade him as hee spake , it confirmeth our iudgments with an assured boldnesse and confidence of his intent and meaning ; remouing that scruple of iealousie we haue commonly of ignorant and vnfaithfull pens , which deale many times herein , sublesta fide . besides , it is an iniurie to the author , who heereby loseth somewhat of his value : like a peece of rich stuffe in a brokers shop , onely for that it is there at a second hand , though neuer worne , or newly translated but yesterday . the next titus liuius , whom like a milky fountaine , you shall euery where finde flowing , with such an elegant sweetnesse , such banquetlike varietie , that you would imagine other authors did but bring your mouth out of taste . in his first decade , you haue the comming of aeneas into italy , the building of rome , the first choise of the senate , the religious rites of numa , the braue combate of the horatij and curiatij , the tyranny of tarquine , the rape of lucrece by sextus his sonne , and first consuls created . in the third , the historie of the second punicke warre , hannibals passage against the league ouer the riuer iberus , who after eight moneths siedge ; tooke saguntum ; his passage ouer the pyrenean hills , his forraging of france : after ascending the alpes , with his ouerthrow of the romanes , with his horse troop●s at the riuer t●cin● , where scipi● ( after a●ricanus ) rescued his father , beeing verie grieuously wounded . his second ouerthrow of the romanes , at the riuer trebia , his hard passage in cruell weather and tempests , ouer the apponin● , &c. in the fourth , is recorded the occasion of the warre , against philip king of macedonia ( concerning the comming in of two young men of acarnania , into the temple of ceres at athens : ) against whom sulpitius was sent , by whom the macedonians were ouerthrowne in a● horse battaile : how l. furius subdued the rebellio●s gaules , ouerthrew hamilcar with thirtie fiue thousand carthaginians ; with many other expeditions of philip of macedon , and sulpitius . in the fift , the going out of the fire in the temple of vesta ; how titus s●mpronius gracch●● , subdued the celtiberian spaniards , and built a towne in spaine called gracchuris , after his name ; posthumius albinius triumphed ouer the portugals : the number of the citizens of rome reckoned by the poll , with the law of volu●●●ius saxa , by which no woman was to inherit , &c. be then acquainted with quintus curtius , who passing eloquently with a faithfull penne and sound iudgement , writeth the life and acts of alexander ; in whom you shall see the patterne of a braue prince , for wisedome , courage , magnanimitie , bountie , courtesie , agilitie of body , and whatsoeuer else were to be wished in maiestie ; till surfeiting ( in the best of his age ) on his excessiue fortunes , and euen burthensome to himselfe : by his ouer-greatnesse , he became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an vnprofitable burthen of the earth , and from the darling of heauen , to be the disdaine of all the world . after him ( whom indeed i should haue preferred before , as being honoured with the title of historia● 〈◊〉 ) followeth salust , commended most for breuitie ; as also for the richnesse of his speech and phrase ; but wherein his breuitie consisteth , the most are ignorant . our grammarians imagine , because his discourses ( as they say ) are only of the matter and persons barely and nakedly described , without circumstance and preparation , counsels and deliberations had before , effects and euents after : which is quite contrarie ; as may be seene by the conspiracie of catilin● , which hee might in a manner haue set downe in three words . but how amply , and with what adoe doth he describe it ? what circumstances more open , more abundant , then where he saith ; the romane souldiers being amazed with an vnwonted vprore , betooke them to their weapons : some hid themselues , others aduised their companions to stand st●●tly to it : they were afraid in euery place , the multitude of enemies was so great . the heauen was obscured with night , and thicke cloudes , the perill wis doubtfull : and lastly , no man knew whether it were safest for him to flye , or to stay by it ? and let them now see their error , who affirme his discourse to be vnfurnished of counsels , deliberations , consultations , &c. is not the reason set downe , why iugurth assaulted cirtha at the arriuall of the embassadours ? the intent and preparation of the warre by metellus the consull , laid open in an ample manner , wherein consisteth the richnesse of his discourse ? his breuitie indeed , worthy your obseruation and imitation , consisteth in shutting vp whole and weightie sentences in three words , fetching nothing afarre , or putting in more then needs ; but in quicke and stirring asyndeta's after his manner : as the most learned haue out of him obserued . and since it is tullies aduice , as was his owne vse ( as himselfe testifieth ) non in philosophia solum , sed etiam in dicendi exercitatione , cum gracis latin● con●●ngere : by this time acquaint your selfe with that golden cyri p●dia of xenophon , whom heere you shall see a couragious and braue commander , marshalling an army : there a most graue and eloquent philosopher , in the person of cyrus , shaping out vnto vs with inke of nectar , a perfect and absolute prince , ( to the example of all princes and nobilitie ) for his studies , his dyet , his exercise , his carriage , and euery way manner of liuing : insomuch , as the noble scipio africanus , as well in his warres abroad , as in peace at home , aboue all other held xenophon in highest regard , euer saying , he could neuer commend him sufficiently , or reade him ouer often enough . hitherto haue i giuen you a taste ( at your own choice ) as well for vniuersall historie , as your imitation in writing and speaking . that i account vniuersall , which entreateth of the beginning , increase , gouernment , and alterations of monarchies , kingdomes , and common-wealths : and to further you herein , you may reade iustine , diodorus siculus , zonaras , oresius ; of more later times , sabellicus , carion , with some others . for speciall historie , that reporteth the affaires and gouernment of particular estates ; you haue the most ancient herodotus , the noble and eloquent thucydides , arrianus , halicarnassaeus , polybius , suetonius , and others . all historie diuideth it selfe into foure branches : the first spreadeth it selfe into , and ouer all place , as geographie : the second , groweth and gathereth strength with tract of time , as chronologie : the third , is laden with descents , as genealogie : the fourth and last ( like the golden bow proserpins gaue aeneas ) is that , truly called by cicero , lux veritatis , which telleth vs of things as they were done , and of all other most properly is called historie . for all historie in times past , saith tullie , was none other then annalium confectio , the making of annales , that is , recording of what was done from yeere to yeere . but while i wander in forraigne historie , let me warne you , nefis peregrinus domi : that you be not a stranger in the historie of your owne countrey , which is a common fault impoted to our english trauellers in forreine countries ; who curious in the obseruation and search of the most memorable things and monuments of other places , can say ( as a great peere of france told me ) nothing of their owne our countrey of england , being no whit inferior to any other in the world , for matter of antiquitie , and rarities of euery kinde worthy remarke and admiration . herein i must worthily and onely preferre vnto you the glorie of our nation , m. camden , aswell for his iudgement and diligence , as the puritie and sweet fluence of his latine style ; and with him the rising starre of good letters and antiquitie , m. iohn selden of the inner temple . as for giraldus , geoffrey , higden , ranulph of chester , walsingham a monke of s. athanes with the rest , they did cum saculo caecutire , and tooke vpon credite many a time more then they could well answer ; that i may omit polydore virgil and italian , who did our nation that deplorable iniurie , in the time of k. henrie the eight , for that his owne historie might passe for currant , he burned and embezeled the best and most ancient records and monuments of our abbeies , priories , and cathedrall churches , vnder colour ( hauing a large commission vnder the great seale ) of making search for all such monuments , manuse . records , legier bookes , &c. as might make for his purpose ; yet for all this he hath the ill lucke to write nothing wel , saue the life of henrie the seuenth , wherein he had reason to take a little more paines then ordinarie , the booke being dedicated to henrie the eight his sonne . no subiect affecteth vs with more delight then historie , imprinting a thousand formes vpon our imaginations , from the circumstances of place , person , time , matter , manner , and the like . and , what can be more profitable ( saith an ancient historian ) then sitting on the stage of humane life , to be made wise by their example , who haue trod the path of error and danger before vs ? bodin tels vs of some , who haue recouered their healthes by reading of historie ; and it is credibly affirmed of king alphonsus , that the onely reading of qui●● . curtius , cured him of a very dangerous feuer . if i could haue beene so rid of my late quartane ague , i would haue said with the same good king : valeat avicenna , vi●at curtius ; and haue done him as much honour , as euer the chians their hippocrates , or the sun-burnd aegyptians their aesculapius . for moralitie and rules of well liuing , deliuered with such sententious grauitie , weight of reason , so sweetened with liuely & apt similitudes , entertaine plutarch ; whom according to the opinion of gaza the world would preserue ( should it be put to the choice to receiue one onely authour ( the sacred scriptures excepted ) and to burne all the rest ) especially his li●es and morals . after him , the vertuous and diuine seneca , who for that he liued so neere the times of the apostles , and had familiar acquaintance with s. paul ( as it is supposed by those epistles that passe vnder either their names ) is thought in heart to haue beene a christian ; and certes so it seemeth to me , by that spirit , wherewith so many rules of patience , humilitie , contempt of the world , are refined and exempt from the dregges of paganisme . some say that about the beginning of neroes raigne , he came ouer hither into brittaine ; but most certaine it is , he had diuers lands bestowed on him here in england , and those supposed to haue laine in essex neere to camalodunum , now maldon . againe , while you are intent to forreine authors and languages , forget not to speake and write your owne properly and eloquently : whereof ( to say truth ) you shall haue the greatest vse , ( since you are like to liue an eminent person in your countrey , and meane to make no profession of schollership . ) i haue knowne euen excellent schollers so defectiue this way , that when they had beene beating their braines twentie , or foure and twentie yeeres about greeke etymologies , or the hebrew roots and rabbines , could neither write true english , nor true orthographi● : and to haue heard them discourse in publike , or priuately at a table , you would haue thought you had heard loy talking to his pigges , or iohn de indagine , declaiming in the praise of wild geese ; otherwise for their iudgement in the arts and other tongues very sufficient . to helpe your selfe herein , make choice of those authors in prose , who speake the best and purest english. i would commend vnto you ( though from more antiquitie ) the life of richard the third written by sir thomas moore , the arcadia of the noble sir philip sidney , whome du bartas makes one of the foure columnes of our language ; the essayes and other peoces of the excellent master of eloquence , my lord of s. albanes , who possesseth not onely eloquence , but all good learning , as hereditarie both by father and mother . you haue then m. hooker his politie ; henrie the fourth well written by sir iohn hayward ; that first part of our english kings by m. samuel daniel . there are many others i know , but these will tast you best , as proceeding from no vulgar iudgments : the last earle of northampton in his ordinary stile of writing was not to be mended . procure then , if you may , the speeches made in parliaments frequent learned sermons , in terme time resort to the starre-chamber , and be present at the pleadings in other publique courts , whereby you shall better your speech , enrich your vnderstanding , and get more experience in one moneth , then in other foure by keeping your melancholy studie , and by solitarie meditation . imagine not that hereby i would binde you from reading all other bookes , since there is no booke so bad , euen sir be●is himselfe , owleglasse , or nashes herring , but some commoditie may be gotten by it . for as in the same pasture , the oxe findeth fodder , the hound a hare , the stork a lizard , the faire maide flowers ; so we cannot , except we list our selues ( saith seneca ) but depart the better from any booke whatsoeuer . and ere you begin a booke , forget not to reade the epistle ; for commonly they are best laboured and penned . for as in a garment , whatsoeuer the stuffe be , the owner ( for the most part ) affecteth a costly and extraordinarie facing ; and in the house of a countrey gentleman , the porch of a citizen , the carued gate and painted postes carrie away the glorie from the rest : so is it with our common authors● if they haue any 〈◊〉 at all , they set it like veluet before , though the backe , like ( a bankerupts doublet ) be but of poldauie or buckram . affect not as some doe , that bookish ambition , to be stored with bookes and haue well furnished libraries , yet keepe their heads emptie of knowledge : to desire to haue many bookes , and neuer to vse them , is like a childe that will haue a candle burning by him , all the while he is sleeping . lastly , haue a care of keeping your bookes handsome , and well bound , not cas●ing away ouermuch in their gilding or stringing for ostentation sake , like the prayer bookes of girles and gallants , which are carried to church but for their outsides . yet for your owne vse spare them not for noting or interlining ( if they be printed ) for it is not likely you meane to be a gainer by them , when you haue done with them ; neither suffer them through negligence to mold & be moath-eaten , or want their strings and couers . king alphonsus about to lay the 〈…〉 at naples , called for vitr●vius his book of architecture ; the booke was brought in very bad case , all dustie and without couers : which the king obseruing said , he that must couer vs all , must not goe vncouered himselfe : then commanded the booke to be fairely bound and brought vnto him . so say i , suffer them not to lie neglected , who must make you regarded ; and goe in torne coates , who must apparell your minde with the ornaments of knowledge , aboue the roabes and riches of the most magnificent princes . to auoide the inconuenience of moathes and moldinesse , let your studie be placed , and your windowes open if it may be , towards the east , for where it looketh south or west , the aire being euer subie●t to moisture , moathes are bred and darkishnesse encreased , whereby your mappes and pictures will quickly become pale , loosing their life and colours , or rotting vpon their ●loath , or paper , decay past all helpe and recouerie . chap. 7. of cosmographic . that like a stranger in a forraine land , yee may not wander without a guide , ignorant of those places by which you are to passe , and sticke amused , amazed in the labyrinth of historie : cosmography a second ariadne , bringing a lines enough is come to your deliuery , whom imagine standing on a faire hill , and with one hand , pointing and discoursing vnto you of the coelestiall sphaere , the names , vses , and distinctions of euery circle , whereof it consisteth , the scituation of regions according to the same , the reason of climates , length and shortnesse of dayes and nights , motion , rising and setting as well of fixed stars , as erratique , eleuation of the pole , paralells , meridians , and whatsoeuer els respecteth that coelestiall body . with the other hand downeward , she sheweth you the globe of the earth , ( distinguished by seas , mountaines , riuers , rockes , lakes and the like , ) the subiect of geographie , which defined according to ptolomey and others , is an imitation of the face ( by draught and picture ) of the whole earth , and all the principall and knowne parts thereof , with the most remarkeable things 〈◊〉 belonging . a science at once both feceding the eye and minde with such incredible varietie , and profitable pleasure , that euen the greatest kings and philosophers , haue not onely bestowed the best part of their time in the contemplation hereof at home , but to their infinite charge and perill of their persons , haue themselues trauailed to vnderstand the scituation of farre countries , bounds of seas , qualities of regions , manners of people and the like . so necessary for the vnderstanding of historie ( as i haue said ) and the fables of poets , ( wherein no small part of the treasure of humane learning lyeth hid ) that without it we know not how the most memorable enterprises of the world haue bin carryed and performed ; we are ignorant of the growth , flourish and fall of the first monarchies , whereat historie taketh her head and beginning : we conceiue nothing of the gouernment , and commodities of other nations , wee cannot iudge of the strength of our enemies , distinguish the limits betweene kingdome and kingdome , names of places from names of people : nay ( with mounsier gaular● ) we doubt at paris whether wee see there the same moone wee haue at london or not : on the contrary , we know this and much more , without exposing ( as in old time ) our bodies to a tedious trauaile , but with much more ease , hauing the world at will , or ( as the saying is ) the world in a string , in our owne chamber . how praeiudiciall the ignorance of geography hath beene vnto princes in forraine expeditions against their enemies , vnfortunate cyrus will tell you , ●h● beeing ignorant of oaxis and the streights , was ouerthro●ne by thomiris the scythian queene ; and of two 〈◊〉 thousand persi●ns in his armie , not one escaped through his vnskilfulnesse herein , as iustine reporteth . and at another time what a memorable victorie to his perpetuall glorie carryed l●onidas from the persians , onely for that they 〈◊〉 vnacquainted with the streights of * thermopylae ? and the foule ouerthrow that crassus receiued by the parthians , was imputed to nothing else , ●hen his ignorance of that countrie , and the passages thereof . alexander , therefore taking any enterprise in hand , would first cause an exact mappe of the country to bee drawne in collours , to consider where were the safest entrance , where he might passe this riuer , how to auoide that rocke , and in what place most commodiously giue his enemie battaile . such is the pleasure , such is the profite of this admirable knowledge , which account rather in the member of your recreations then seuerer studies , it beeing beside quickly , and with much ease attained vnto . prince henry of eternall memory , was herein very studious , hauing for his instructour that excellent mathematician , and ( while hee liued ) my louing friend master edward wright . to the attaining of perfection herein , as it were your first entrance , you are to learne and vnderstand certaine geometricall definitions , which are first punctum , or a pricke ; a line , a superficies either plaine , convexe or concave , your angels right , blunt and sharpe , figures , circles , semicircles , the diameter , triangles , squares of all sorts , paralells and the like , as master blundevile in his first booke of the sphaere will shew you ; for you shall haue vse of many of these , to the vnderstanding thereof . cosmography containeth astronomie , astrologie , geography and chorography . astronomie considereth the magnitude and motions of the coelestiall bodies . the coelestiall bodies are the eleuen heauens and sphaeres . the eleuenth heauen is the habitation of god and his angels . the tenth the first mooouer . the ninth the christall●ne heauen , the eight the starry firmament . then the seuen planets in their order , which you may remember in their order by this verse . post sim svm sequitur , vltima lvn asub●st : would you count the planets soo●e , remember sim svm and the moone . the first letter s for saturne , i for iupiter , m for mars , s for the sunne , v venus , m mercurie ; lastly the moone . the imperiall heauen is immoueable , most pure , immense in quantitie , and cleere in qualitie . the tenth heauen or first moouer , is also most pure and cleare , and maketh his reuolution in foure and twentie houres , carrying with the swiftnesse the other heauens violently from east to west , from their proper reuolutions , which is from west to east . the ninth , or christalline heauen , moueth by force of the first mouer , first from east to west , then frō west to east vpon his owne poles , and accomplisheth his reuolution in 36000. yeares . and this reuolution being finished , plato was of opinion , that the world should be in the same state it was before ; i should liue and print such a book againe , and you reade it in the same apparell , and the same age you are now in . two schollers in germany hauing laine so long in an inne , that they had not onely spent all their money , but also ran into debt some two hundred dollers ; told their host of plat●s great yeare , and how that time sixe and thirtie thousand yeares the world should be againe as it was , and they should be in the same inne and chamber againe , and desired him to trust them till then : quoth mine host , i beleeue it to be true ; and i remember sixe and thirty thousand yeares agoe you were here , and left iust such a reckoning behind to pay , i pray you gentlemen discharge that first , and i will trust you for the next . the eight heauen or glorious starry firmament , hath a threefold motion , ( viz : ) from east to west in foure and twenty houres , secundism primum mobile ; then from west to east , according to the motion of the ninth heauen ; then sometimes to the south , and somtime towards the north , called motus trepidationis . touching the motions of the planets , since you may haue them in euery almanacke , i willingly omit them . the spheare of the world consisteth of ten circles , the aequinoctiall , the zodiacke , the two colures , the horizon , the meridian , the two tropiques , and the two polar circles . the aequinoctiall , is a circle diuiding the world , as in the midst equally distant from the two poles : it containeth three hundred and sixtie degrees , which being multiplyed by sixtie , ( the number of miles in a degree ) make one and twentie thousand and sixe hundred miles , which is the compasse of the whole earth . the third part of which ( being the diameter ) about seuen thousand and odde miles , is the thicknesse of the same . those who dwell vnder the aequinoctiall , hauing no latitude either to the north or south , but their daies and nights alwaies of an equall length . the zodiacke is an oblick circle , diuiding the spheare athwart the aequinoctiall into points , ( viz : ) the beginning of aries and libra : in the midst whereof is the eclipticke line ; the vtmost limits thereof are the two tropiques , cancer and capricorne : the length thereof is three hundred and sixtie degrees , the bredth sixteene . it is diuided into twelue signes , sixe northerly , and sixe southerly : the northerne are , aries , taurus , cancer , gemini , leo , virgo ; southerne , libra , scorpio , sagittarius , capricornus , aquarius , pisces : he turneth vpon his owne poles from west to east . the two colures , are two great moueable circles , passing through both the poles of the world , crossing one another with right sphearicall angles : so that like an apple cut into foure quarters , they diuide into equall parts the whole spheare : the one passeth thorough the aequinoctiall points and poles of the world , and is called the aequinoctiall colure : the other passeth through the solstitiall points , and is called the solstitiall colure . the horizon , is a circle immoueable , which diuideth the vpper hemispheare , or halfe part of the world from the neather : it hath the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which is termin● , or to bound or limit ; because , imagine you stood vpon high-gate , or the towre hill at greenewich , so farre as you can see round about as in a circle , where the heauen seemeth to touch the earth , that is called the horizon : the poles whereof , are the point iust ouer your head , calleth zenith in arabian ; and the other vnder your feete , passing by the center of the world , called nadir . the meridian is an immoueable circle , passing through the poles of the world : it is called the meridian of meridies noonetide , because when the sun rising frō the east , toucheth this line with the center of his body , then it is noone to those ouer whose zenith that circle passeth , and midnight to their antipodes , or those who are iust vnder them in the other world . the number of meridians , are 180. ( allowing two to euery degree in the aequinoctiall ) which all concenter in either pole , and are the vtmost bounds of longitude . by the meridian , the longitude of all places is gathered , and what places lye more easterly or westerly from either . the longitude of any place , is that distance you find vpon the aequinoctiall , betweene the meridian of the place , whose longitude you desire ; and the first meridian which directly passeth ouer the canarie , or fortunate ilands : which distance or space you must account by the degrees , purposely set vpon the brazen circle ; or if you please by miles , allowing sixtie to euery degree . longitude is onely taken east and west . latitude is the distance of the meridian , betweene the verticall point ( or pole of the horizon ) and the aequinoctiall , being euer equall to the height , or eleuation of the pole aboue the horizon : or more plainly , the distance of any place , either north or south from the aequinoctiall , which you are to take ( vpon the standing globe ) by the degrees of the brazen meridian , that countrey or place in the globe , whose latitude you desire , being turned directly vnder it . the tropicke of cancer is an imaginary circle , betwixt the aequinoctiall and the arcticke circle ; which circle the sunne maketh about the thirteenth day of iune , declining at his farthest from the aequinoctiall , and comming northerly to vs-ward ; then are our daies at the longest , and nights shortest . capricorne the like to the antarcticke circle , making our daies the shortest about the twelfth of december . the arcticke circle ( anciently accounted the horizon of greece ) is a small circle : the center whereof is the north pole of the world , which is inuisible ; it is so called from arctes the beare , or charles w●ine , the northerne starre , being in the tip of the taile of the said beare . the antarctike , which is neere to the south pole , and answering the other vnder vs. but i had rather you learnd these principles of the sphere by demonstration , and your owne diligence ( being the labour but of a few houres ) then by meere verball description , which profiteth not so much in mathematicall demonstrations . wee will therefore descend to geographi● , which is more easie and familiar , ( the definition i gaue you before . ) i come to the subiect , the terrestrial globe , which is composed of sea and land. the sea is a mightie water , ebbing and flowing continually about the whole earth , whose parts are diuersly named according to the places whereupon they bound . in the east it is called the indian sea ; in the west the atlanticks , so named from the mount atlas in mauritania : in the north , the hyperborean ; in the south , the meridionall , or south sea , commonly called mar del zur . the mediterranean sea , is that which stretcheth it selfe by the middest of the earth from west to east , diuiding europe , asia , and africa . sinus ( or a gulfe ) is a part of the sea , insinuating and embosoming it selfe within the land , or betweene two seuerall landes : as the gulfe of venice , the persian gulfe , the red sea , sinus mexicanus , vermilius , gangeticus . fretum ( or a streight ) is a narrow passage betweene two lands , as the streight of magellan , anian , gibralterre , &c. an hauen , is the entrance of the sea within the land , at the mouth of some riuer or creeke , where shippes may ride at anchor . a lake , is a great and wide receptacle of water , euer standing still , and not mouing out of the place ; as the lake asphal●i●es , lacus larius , or lago di como , lansann● by geneva , &c. the earth , is either continent or iland . a continent is the land , continued without any diuision of sea , as the low countries to germany , that to austria , austria to hungary , &c. an iland , called insula , quasi in sale , is a land encompassed round with the sea , as great britaine , ireland , corsica , candia , &c. an isthmus , or chersonesus , is a streight or necke of land betweene two seas , as cimbri●a , chersonesus , taurica , aurea , and achaica . peninsula ( quasi penè insula ) is a land enuironed with the sea , except at some narrow place or entrance ; as that vaste continent of peru and brasil in america , were an iland , but for that streight or necke of land , betweene panama and nombre de dies : which philip the second , king of spaine , was once minded to haue cut for a shorter passage for ships into the south sea , but vpon better deliberation he gaue ouer his proiect . a cape or head of land , is the vtmost end of a promontorie , or high land , standing out into the sea , as the cape de bu●na speranza , cape mendozi●● , s. vincene , cape verde , the great cape s. augustine in america , &c. proceeding now to vnderstand the seuerall parts and regions of the world , with their scituation ( as it is meet , dwelling in an house , you should know all the roomes thereof ) you may if you please , obserue ptolomi●s method , beginning first with europe ; and herein with our northerne ilands of great britains , ireland , the orchades , and thule , which are the contents of his first table , and so forth into europe : but he was erronious in his descriptions , obscure by reason of his antiquitie , the names of places since changed ; nauigation by the benefit of the load-stone , perfected ; the want whereof heretofore hath beene occasion of infinite errors among the ancients , as well diuines as historiographers and geographers : as lactantius and s. augustine , could neuer bee perswaded , that there were antipodes , or people going feete to feet vnder vs ; the contrary whereof experience hath taught vs. arrianus , that much esteemed greeke authour , affirmed the scituation of germany to be very neere to the ionique sea. stephanus also , another countrey-man of his , saith that vienna was a citie of galilie . strabo saith , that danubius hath his head neere to the adriatique sea , which indeed ( being the greatest riuer of europe ) riseth out of the hill arnoba in germany , and by hungaria , and many other countries , runneth into sclauonia , receiuing threescore other riuers into his channell : it is therefore farre more safe to follow our later writers . in euery countrey ( to giue one instance for all ) in your obseruation you are to follow this method ; first to know the latitude , then the longitude of the place , the temperature of the climate , the goodnesse or barrennesse of the ground , the limits of the countrey , how it is bounded by sea or land , or both ; by east , west , north , or south : into what prouinces it is diuided within it selfe , the commodities it affoordeth , as what mines , woods or forrests ; what beasts , fowles , fishes , fruits , herbs , plants ; what mountaines , riuers , fountaines and cities : what notable matter of wonder or antiquitie : the manners , shape , and attire of the people ; their building , what ports and hauens ; what rockes , sands , and such like places of danger , are about the place : and last of all , the religion and gouernment of the inhabitants . you shall haue drawne vpon your globe or mappe , vpon the vastest seas ( where most roome is to bee spared ) a round figure , representing the mariners compasse , with the two and thirtie winds ; from euery of which there runneth a line to the land , to some famous citie , hauen , or either ; to shew you , in that sea and place what course you are to keepe to goe thither , whether full north , north-east , south , or south-west , and so forth . these winds , of the spaniards are called rombes : and for that , columbus and vesputius , italians , with others , first discouered the east and west indies ; the eight principall winds , are commonly expressed in the italian . this compasse hath the needle in manner of a flowre-deluce , which pointeth still to the north , i could wish you now and then , to exercise your pen in drawing , and imitating cards and mappes ; as also your pensill in washing and colouring small tables of countries and places , which at your leasure you may in one fortnight easily learne to doe : for the practise of the hand , doth speedily instruct the mind , and strongly confirme the memorie beyond any thing else ; nor thinke it any disgrace vnto you , since in other countries it is the practise of princes , as i haue shewed heretofore ; also many of our young nobilitie in england exercise the same with great felicitie . i haue seene french cards to play withall , the foure suites changed into maps of seuerall countries , of the foure parts of the world , and exactly coloured for their numbers , the figures 1. 2. 3. 9. 10. and so forth , set ouer the heads ; for the kings , queenes , and knaues , the pourtrai●s of their kings and queenes , in their seuerall countrey habits ; for the knaues , their peasants or slaues ; which ingenious deuice , cannot be but a great furtherance to a young capacitie , and some comfort to the infortunate gamester ; when , what he hath lost in money , he shall haue dealt him in land or wit. chap. 8. obseruations in suruey of the earth . first , how almightie god by his diuine prouidence so disposed the earth in the first creation ( not falling out by chance , as some haue thought ) that one countrey , in one place or other , is so neerely ioyned to the next ; that if after it might happen to be ouer peopled , as wel man as beast , by some smal streight or passage might easily bee prouided of a new habitation : which acosta hath well obserued , resoluing vs that doubt , how wilde beasts , as wolues , foxes , beares , and other harmfull beasts , should swim ouer so vaste seas , and breede in ilands . secondly , how the wit , disposition , yea , deuotion and strength of man , followeth the qualitie and temperature of the climate ; and many times the nature of the soyle wherein he liues : as wee see the easterne people of the world , very quicke in their inuentions , superstitious vnto idolatry , as in chin● , calecut , ia●a , and other places . on the contrary , those as farre north in lapla●d , ●●eland , and other places , as dull , and in a manner senc●lesse of religion , whereupon they are held the most notorious witches of the world . we see those that inhabit mountaines , and mountainous places , to be farre more barbarous and vnciuill , then those that liue in the plaines : witnesse the inhabitants of the huge hils sierras , and the andes in america , the mountainous north part of n●ua franci● , the nararrois in spaine , and the highland men in scotland . we see and finde it by experience , that where the soile is dry and sandy , the ayre is most pure ; and consequently , the spirits of the inhabitants actiue and subtile , aboue those who inhabite the fens and marishes . thirdly , consider the wonder of wonders , how the ocean so farre distant , holdeth motion with the moone , filling our shoares to the brim from the time of her appearing aboue the horizon , vntill she hath ascended the meridian : then decreasing as much vntill she toucheth the line of midnight , making his tide twice in foure and twentie houres and odde minutes : how the atlantick or westerne ocean is most rough and dangerfull , the south sea , or del zur , albeit of infinite vastnesse , on the contrary so calme and quiet , that you seemed rather to saile vpon dry land then water . how in the sea of cal●cut it is high water , but at euery full moone : in the sea by the shore of indus , but at euery new moone : how in the maine ocean the currant runnes from east to west , toward the streight of magellan , but from west to east in the med●erranean . fourthly , how in one place the north-wind , as vpon the coast of scythia , neere the mouth of the great riuer duin● , bloweth in a manner perpetually , so that the west or south-west winds are scarce knowne . in another , the east : in the indian sea the winds keep their turnes , obseruing the course of the sunne , which being in aries and libra , the westerne winds blow perpetually . neither lesse admirable are the in-land stoods , and fresh waters for their properties , as nilus , who onely by his ouerflowing , maketh aegypt fertile ( where it neuer raineth . ) eur●pus an arme of the sea by eub●●● ( an iland of the sporades in the aegean sea ) which ●bbeth and floweth seauen times in a day . likewise , much may bee said of our lakes and fountaines in england , scotland , and ireland , of turning wood into stone , iron , and the like . fiftly , it is worthy the consideration , how the diuine wisedome for the behoofe of mankind , hath set an enmitie betweene birds and beasts , of prey and rapine , who accompany not by heards : as lyons , beares , dogges , wolues , foxes , eagles , kites , and the like ; which if they should doe , they would vndoe a whole countrey : whereas on the contrary , those which are necessary and vsefull for mankind , liue gregatim , in heards and flockes , as kin● , sheepe , deere , pigeons , partridges , geese , &c. sixtly , how nature hath prouided for the creatures of the northerne parts of the world , as beares , dogs , foxes , &c. not onely thicke skinnes , but great store of haire or feathers , to defend them from the extremitie of the cold there : on the other side , to those in guiena , by reason of the extreame heate , none at all ; as you may see by the guiney dogges , which are daily brought ouer . seuenthly , how god hath so disposed the riuers , that by their crookednesse and winding , they might serue many places . let vs then consider , how the most fruitfull places and beautifull cities , haue become the dwellings and homes of the most slaues , as spaine ouer-runne by the moor●s , italy by the gothes and vandals ; and at this day , a great part of europe by the turke . how the earth like an aged mother , is become lesse fruitfull , as we see by the barrennesse sometime of the most fertile places , the decay of the stature and strength of men within these few yeares . it is also worthy obseruation , to see how the earth hath beene increased by the accesse of ilands , and againe beene diminished by inundation and gulfes breaking againe into the same . the ilands of the echinades , were cast vp by the riuer achelous , and the greatest part of aegypt by nilus , so were the rhodes and delos . of lesser ilands beyond melon anaphe , betweene lemnos and the hellesp●nt nea , ( as one would say new-come ) and else-where alône , thera , therasia , and hiera , which also from the euent was called automate . and that sundry goodly countries on the contrary , haue beene eaten vp by the sea , our neighbour zeland , and many other places will giue lamentable testimonie : beside the face of the earth hath since the creation , bene much altered by avulsion or diuision of the sea , as sicily was diuided and seuered from italy ; cyprus , from syria ; eub●● from boetia , atlas and macris from eub●●● , barbycus from bythinia , lencosia from the promontorie of the syrenes : and as some suppose , le●bos from ida , prochyta and p●th●●usa from misena ; and which is more , spaine , from barbarie , as strabo is of opinion . againe , it is affirmed by volseus , that our great britaine hath beene one continent with france , and that tract betweene douer and calais , hath beene gained by the sea , there called mare gess●riacum . excellent is that contemplation , to consider how nature ( rather the almightie wisedome ) by an vnsearchable and stupendious worke , sheweth vs in the sea , the likenesse and shapes , not onely of land creatures , as elephants , horses , dogges , hogges , calues , hares , snailes , &c. but of fowles in the ayre , as hawks , swallowes , vultures , and numbers the like ; yea , it affordeth vs men and women , and among men , euen the monke : but hereof see iu●tius in his batania , and if you please alex : ab alexandris with some others . moreouer what inestimable wealth it affoordeth in pearles , corall , amber , and the like . by reading you shall also finde what strange earthquakes , remoouing of whole townes , hilles , &c. haue beene vpon the face of the earth , raising of it in one place , leauing gulfes , and vastitie in another : and lucius marcius , and sextus iulius being consuls in rome , in the country of mutinum , two mountaines met and ioyned themselues together . in the raigne of nero , vectins marcellus being ouerseer of nero's affaires , and steward of his court , medowes and oliue trees were remooued from a common high way side , and placed a good way off on the contrary side ; so whereas they stood before on the right hand , as one trauelled , they were now on the right hand . the like happened within these few yeeres to pl●●rs a towne of the grisons among the alpes . lastly , let vs take a view of the earth it selfe , which because it was diuided with the sea , riuers , marshes , &c. yet making one absolute circle , homer calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for this cause numa pompilius dedicated a temple to vesta in a round forme : the roundnesse of it is prooued of mathematicians by shadowes of dials , and the eclipses ; also by descent of all heauie things to the center , it selfe being the center of the vniuerse , as aristotle and ptolomey affirme . now in respect of heauen , it is so small a point , that the least starre is not darkened with the shaddow thereof : for if the smallest starre , albeit in iudgement of our sence , seemeth but a pricke or point , yet farre exceedeth the bodie of the earth in greatnesse , it followeth in respect of heauen , that the earth must seeme as little . beside , if the earth were of any quantitie in respect of the higher orbes , the starres should seeme bigger or lesse in regard of those hypsomata ( altitudes ) or the climes : but it is certaine that at the selfe same time , sundrie astronomers finde the same bignesse and eleuation of the selfe same starre obserued by their calculation , to differ no whit at all ; whereby we may see if that distance of place which is on the earth ( in respect of the heauenly orbes ) exceedeth all sence , it followes that the earth ( poore little point as it is ) seemes the like , if it be compared with heauen : yet this is that point , which with fire and sword , is diuided among so many nations , the matter of our glorie , our seate ; heere we haue our honours , our armies , our commands ; heere we heape vp riches , at perpetuall warre and strife among our selues , who ( like the toad ) shal fall asleepe with most earth in his pawes : neuer thinking how of a moment of time well spent vpon this poore plot or dung-hill common to beasts as well as our selues , dependeth eternitie , and the fruition of our true happinesse in the presence of heauen , and court of the king of kings for euer and euer . now i must take leaue of our common mother the earth , so worthily called in respect of her great merits , of v●i for shee receiueth vs being borne , shee feedes and cloatheth vs brought forth , and lastly as forsaken wholly of nature , shee receiueth vs into her ●●p , and couers vs vntill the dissolution of all , and the last iudgement . thus haue i onely pointed at the principles of cosmographie , hauing as it were giuen you a taste , and stopped vp the vessell againe , referring the rest to your owne diligence and search . and herein you shall haue your helpes , m. blund●●ile in his treatise of cosmographie and the sphaere , d. deo , m. cooke in his principles of geometrie , astronomie and geographie : ge●●● frisins , ortelius , copernicus , cl●nius the iesuite , ioannes de monte regis , mercator , munster , hunter , and many others ; of ancient writes ptolomey , dionisius halicar nasseus . for mappes i referre you wholly vnto ortelius and those set last forth by hondius being later then plancius , and more perfect by reason of the late discouerie , made by scho●ten , vnto the 57. and 58. degrees of southerly latitude beyond the streight of magellan ; and of late m. henrie hudson , to the 61. or 62. to the north-west , beyond terra de labrador : to omit that terrible voyage of barentson and his companie , for the discouerie of the north-east passage , by the backe-side of noua z●mla , which out of a dutch translation you may reade in english . chap. 9. of geometrie . since plato would not suffer any to enter his schoole , which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or not entred into geometrie ; and xenocrates turned away his auditors , if vnfurnished with geometrie , musicke and astronomie , affirming they were the helpes of philosophie : i am also bound by the loue i beare to the best arts and your studies , to giue it you also in charge . philo the iew calleth it the princesse and mother of all sciences , and excellently was it said of plato , that god did alwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; but more diuinely of salomon : that god did dispose all his creatures according to measure , number and weight ; that is , by giuing the heauens their constant and perpetuall motion , the elements their places and praedominance according to lightnesse or grauitie , and euery creature its number and weight , without which , it were neither able to stand vpright or mooue . to the cōsideration of which depth of wisedome let vs vse the helpe of this most ingenious and vsefull art , worthy the contemplation , and practise of the greatest princes , a science of such importance , that without it , we can hardly care our bread , lie drie in our beds , buy , sell , or vse any commerce else whatsoeuer . the subiect of geometrie is the length , breadth , and height of all things , comprised vnder the figures of triangles , squares , circles , and magnitudes of all sorts , with their termes or bounds . it hath properly the name from measuring the earth , being first found out in aegypt ; for when nilus with his ouer-flowing drowned and confounded the limits of their fields , certaine of the inhabitants more ingenious then the rest , necessitie compelling , found out the rules of geometry , by the benefit whereof , after the fall of the water , euery man had his owne portion of ground lotted and laide out to him : so that from a few poore and weake principles at the first , it grew to that height that from earth it reached vp to the heauens , where it found out their quantities , as also of the elements and the whole world beside . out of aegypt , thales , brought it into greece , where it receiued that perfection we see it now hath . for by meanes hereof are found out the formes and draughts of all figures , greatnesse of all bodies , all manner of measures and weights , the cunning working of all tooles , with all artificiall instruments whatsoeuer . all engines of warre , for many whereof ( being antiquated ) we haue no proper names ; as exosters , sambukes , catapultes , testudo's , scorpions , &c. petardes grenades , great ordnance of all sorts . by the benefit likewise of geometrie , we haue our goodly shippes , galleies , bridges , milles , charriots and coaches ( which were inuented in hungarie and there called cotzki ) some with two wheeles , some with more , pulleies and cranes of all sorts . shee also with her ingenious hand reares all curious roofes , and arches , stately theaters , the columnes simple and compound , pendant galleries , stately windowes , turrets , &c. and first brought to light our clockes and curious watches ( vnknowne to the ancients : ) lastly our kitchin iackes , euen to the wheele-barrow . beside whatsoeuer hath artificiall motion either by ayre , water , winde , sinewes or chords , as all manner of musicall instruments , water workes and the like . yea , moreouer such is the infinite subtiltie , and immense depth of this admirable art , that it dares contend euen with natures selfe , in infusing life as it were , into the sencelesse bodies of wood , stone , or mettall : witnesse the wooden doue of archytas , so famoused not onely by agellim , but many other authors beyond exception , which by reason of weights equally peized within the bodie , and a certaine proportion of ayre ( as the spirit of life enclosed ) flew cheerefully forth as if it had beene a liuing doue . albeit iul. cals . scaliger accounteth this doue no great peece of workemanship , when he saith , he is able to make of his owne inuention with no great labour , a ship which shall swimme , and steere it selfe , and by the same reason that architas his doue was made , that is , by taking the pith of rushes couered ouer with bladders , or those thinne skinnes , wherein gold-beaters beate their leaues , and wrapped about with little strings of sinewes , where when a semicircle shal set one wheele on going ; it mooning others , the wings shall stirre and mooue forward . this archytas was a most skilfull mathematician , as it may be gathered out of horact , who calleth him mensorem , a measurer et marie & terra , numeroque carentis arena , of sea and land , and number-wanting sand . and not inferiour to the aforesaid doue of archytas was that woodden eagle , which mounted vp into the aire , and flew before the emperour to the gates of norimberg of which , as also of that yron flie , that flew about a table , salust lord of bartas maketh mention . ramus attributeth the inuention of either of these , in the preface of his 2. booke of his mathematicall obseruations , to ioannes regiom●ntanus . callicrates , if we may credite plinie , made antes and other such like small creatures of iuorie , that their parts and ioynts of their legges could not be discerned . myrmecides milesius also among other monuments of his skill , made a coach or waggon with foure wheeles , which together with the driuer thereof , a flie could easily hide and couer with her wings : besides a ship with her sailes , which a little bee could ouerspread . varr● teacheth how small peeces of this nature and subtilest workmanship , may be discerned , that is , saith he , by laying close about them , blacke horse haires . of later times , hadrian iunius tels vs that he saw with great delight and admiration , at mechlin in brabans , a cherrie stone cut in the forme of a basket , wherein were fifteene paire of dice , distinct each with their spots and number , very easily of a good eye to be discerned . and that the ilias of homer written , was enclosed within a nut , cicere tels vs he saw it with his eyes , though alexander thought it worthy of a farre better case , the rich cabinet of darius . by the statue of homer the ancients vsually set a nightingale ( as by orpheus a swanne ) for the manifold varietie and sweetnesse of his voice , or the continuance or holding out to the last the same sweetnesse : for some are of opinion , that the perfection of musicall sounds are to be discerned in the nightingales notes . plinie reckoneth vp sixteene seuerall tunes shee hath , and fitteth them to latine words very properly as vnto ditties , which the translator of plinie hath nothing neere so well fitted in the english which might surely haue beene as wel done , as i haue obserued in their notes . but to returne , scaliger ( whether in iest or earnest i know not ) tels cardanus of a flea he saw with a long chaine of gold about his necke , kept very daintily in a boxe , and being taken forth , could skip with his chaine , and sometime sucke his mistresses white hand , and his belly being ful , get him to his lodging againe , but this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alexander wittily scoffed , when he gaue a fellow onely a bushell of pease , for his paines of throwing euery time a pease vpon a needles point standing a pretty way off . archimedes to the wonder of all the world , framed a brasen heauen , wherein were the seauen planets with their motions . hereof claudian wrote a wittle epigram . sap●r king of persia ( as du bartas in the sixt day of his diuine weeke mentioneth ) had an heauen of glasse , which , proudly sitting in his estate , he trod vpon with his feete , contemplating ouer the same , as if he had beene iupiter , and vpon this occasion calling himselfe brother to the sunne and moone , and partner with the starres ; for in his letter to the emperour constantius he beginneth thus : rex regum sap●r , particeps syderum , frater soli● & luna , &c. nor must i forget that heauen of siluer sent by ferdinand the emperour , to solyman the great turke , wherein the motions kept their true courses with those of the heauens , the starres arising and setting , the planets keeping their oblique motion , the sunne eclipsed at his iust time , and the moone duely changing euery moneth with the same in the heauen . by these see the effects of this diuine knowledge , able to worke wonders beyond all beleefe , in so much as archimedes affirmed , hee would moue the whole earth , might a place bee giuen him whereon to stand . but i rather beleeue him , who saith , the foundation thereof shall neuer be mooued . much was it , that with his left hand only , he could by his skil draw after him the weight of fiue thousand bushels of graine , and deuise ( at the cost of hier● ) those rare engines , which shot small stones at hand , but great ones a farre of ; by benefit of which deuice onely , while the stones fell as thicke as haile from heauen among the enemies , syracusa was preferred from the furie of marcellus ready to enter with a resolute and most powerfull armie . the oracle of apollo being demanded when the warre and miserie of greece should haue an end , replyed : if they would double the altar in delos , which was of a cubique forme ; which they tryed by adding another cube vnto it , but that auailed nothing . plato then taking vpon him to expound this riddle , affirmed the greekes , were reproued by apollo because they were ignorance of geometry . nor heerein can i blame them , since the doubling of the cube in solides , and quadrature of the circle in plaine , hath euer since so troubled our greatest geometricians , that i feare except apollo himselfe ascend from hell to resolue his owne probleme , we shall not see it among our ordinarie stone-cutters effected . but in briefe , the vse you shall haue of geometry , will be in suruaying your lands , affoording your opinion in building anew , or translating ; making your milles aswell for grinding of corne as throwing foorth water from your lower grounds , bringing water farre off for sundry vses . seeing the measure of timber , stone and the like ( wherein gentlemen many times are egregiously abused and cheated by such as they trust ) to contriue much with small charge and in lesse roome . againe , should you follow the warres ( as who knowes the bent of his fate ) you cannot without geometry fortifie your selfe , take the aduantage of hill or leuell , fight , order your battaglia in square , triangle , crosse ( which forme the prince of orange hath now alate taken vp ) cres●entwise ( and many other formes iovius sheweth ) leuell and plant your ordinance , vndermine , raise your halfe moones , bulwarkes , casamates , rampires , rauesins , with many other meanes as of offence and defence , by fortification . so that i cannot see how a gentleman , especially a souldier and commander may be accomplished without geometrie , though not to the heighth of perfection , yet at the least to be grounded and furnished with the principles and priuie rules heereof . the authors i would commend vnto you for entrance hereinto are in english. cookes principles , and the elements of geometry , written in latin by p. ramus , and translated by m. doctor hood , sometime mathematicall lecturer in london . m. blundeuile , euclide translated into english. in latine you may haue the learned iesuite clauius , melancthon , frisius , valearius his geometry military . albert durer hath excellently written heereof in high dutch , and in french fercadell vpon euclide , with sundry others . chap. 10. of poetrie . to sweeten your seuerer studies , by this time vouchsafe poetry your respect : which howsoeuer censured and seemeth fallen from the higest stage of honour , to the lowest staire of disgrace , let not your iudgement be infected with that pestilent ayre of the common breath , to be an infidell ; in whose beleefe , and doer of their contrary actions , is to be religious in the right , and to merit if it were possible by good workers . the poet , as that laurell m●i● dreamed of , is made by miracle from his mothers wombe , and like the diamond onely polished and pointed of himselfe , disdaining the file and midwifery of sorraine helpe . hence tullie was long ere he could be deliuered of a few verses , and those poore ones too : and ovid , so backeward in prose , that he could almost speake nothing but verse . and experience daily affordeth vs many excellent yong and growing wits , as well from plow as the pallace , endued naturally with this diuine and heauenly guift , yet not knowing ( if you should aske the question ) whether a metaph●re be flesh or fish . if bare saying poetrie is an heauenly gift , be too weake a proppe to vphold her credite with those buzzardly poore ones , who hauing their feathers moulted can creepe no farther then their owne puddle , able onely to enuie this imperi●ll eagle for sight and flight ; let them if they can looke backe to all antiquitie , and they shall finde all learning by diuine instinct to breathe from her bosome , as both plato and tullie in his tusculanes affirme . str●●● saith , poetrie was the first philosophie that euer was taught , nor were there euer any writers thereof knowne before musaus , hesiod and homer : by whose authoritie plato , aristotle and gale● , determine their weightiest controuersies , and confirme their reasons in philosophie . and what were the songs of linus , orphens , amphi●● , olympus , and that dittie i●pa● sang to his harpe at did●'s banquet , but naturall and morall philosophie , sweetened with the pleasaunce of numbers , that rudenesse and barbarisme might the better taste and digest the lessons of ciuilitie ? according to lucretius ( italianized by ariosto ) and englished by sir iohn harrington , sed veluti putri● 〈◊〉 hia tetra medentes , cum dare conantur , priùs or as pocula circum contingunt mellis , dulci flavoque liqu●re , vt puerorum at as impr●vida iudificetur , &c. as leaches when for children they appoint , their bitter worme-wood potions , first the cup about the brimme with honnie sweete they noint , that so the childe , beguild may drinke it vp , &c. neither hath humane knowledge beene the onely subiect of this diuine art , but euen the highest mysteries of diuinitie . what are the psalmes of dauid ( which s. hillari● so aptly compareth to a bunch of keies , in regard of the seuerall doores , whereby they giue the soule entrance , either to prayer , reioycing , repentance , thanksgiuing , &c. ) but a diuine poeme , going sometime in one measure , sometime in another ? what liuely descriptions are there of the maiestie of god , the estate and securitie of gods children , the miserable condition of the wicked ? what liuely similitudes & comparisons , as the righteous man to a bai● tree , the soule to a thirstie hart , v●itie to oyntment , and the dew of hermon ? what excellent allegories , as the vine planted in aegypt ; what epiphonema's , prosopopoca's and whatsoeuer else may be required , to the texture of so rich and glorious a peece ? and the song of salomon ( which is onely left vs of a thousand ) is it not a continued allegorie of the mysticall loue betwixt christ and his church ? moreouer the apostles themselues haue not disdained to alledge the authoritie of the heathen poets , aratus , me●ander and epimenides ; as also the fathers of the church , nazianzen , s. augustine , bernard , pr●demius , with many others , beside the allowance they haue giuen of poetrie , they teach vs the true vse and end thereof , which is to compose the songs of sion , and addresse the fruite of our inuention to his glorie who is the author of so goodly a gift , which we abuse to our loues , light fancies , and basest affections . and if mechanicall arts hold their estimation by their effects in base subiects , how much more deserueth this to be esteemed , that holdeth so soueraigne a power ouer the minde , can turne brutishnesse into ciuilitie , make the lewd honest ( which is scaligers opinion of virgils poeme ) turne hatred to loue , cowardise into valour , and in briese , like a queene command ouer all affections ? moreouer the muse , mirth , graces , and perfect health , haue euer an affinitie each with either . i remember plutarch telleth vs of telesilla , a noble and braue ladie , who being dangerously sicke , and imagined past recouerie , was by the oracle , aduised to apply her minde to the muse and poetrie ; which shee diligently obseruing recouered in a short space , and withall grew so sprightly couragious , that hauing well fortified argos with diuers companies of women onely , her selfe with her cōpanions sallying out , entertained cleomenes k. of the lacedamoniās with such a camisade , that he was faine to shew his back , leauing a good part of his people behinde , to fill ditches ; and then by plaine force of armes draue out demaratus another king , who lay very strong in garrison within . alexander by the reading of homer , was especially mooued to goe thorough with his conquests . leonidas also that braue king of the spartanes , being asked how ti●taus ( who wrote of warre in verse ) was esteemed among poets , replied excellently● for my souldiers , quoth he , mooued onely with his verses , runne with a resolute courage to the battaile , fearing no perill at all . what other thing gaue an edge to the valour of our ancient britons , but their bard●s ( remembred by athenaus , lucan and sundry other , ) recording in verse the braue exploits of their nation , and singing the same vnto their harpea at their publike ●easts and meetings ? amongst whom taliessi● a learned bard , and master to merlin , sung the life and actes of king arthur . hence hath poetry neuer wanted her patrones , and euen the greatest monarches and princes , as well christian as heathen , haue exercised their inuention herein● as that great glorie of christendome charlemaine , who among many other things , wrote his nephew roulands epitaphe , after he was slaine in a battell against the sarracens , among the * pyrenaan hills : alphonsiu king of naples , whose onely delight was the reading of virgil : robert king of sicilie ; and that thrice renowned and learned french king , who finding petrarchs toombe without any inscription or epitaphe , wrote one himselfe , ( which yet remaineth ) saying ; shame it was , that he who sung his mistresse praise seauen yeares before her death , and twelue yeares should want an epitaphe . among the heathen are eternized for their skill in poesie , augustus caesar , octanius , adrian , germanicus . euery child knoweth how deare the workes of homer were vnto alexander , euripides to a●yntas king of macedon , virgil to augustus , theocr●us to ptolomey and ●●v●nic● , king and queene of aegyp● : the stately pindar to hiere king of sicilie , ennius to scipie , ausonius to gratian , ( who made him pro-consull : ) in our owne countrey , a chaucer to richard the second , gower to henrie the fourth , with others i might alledge . the lady anne of bretaign● , who was twice french queene , passing through the presence in the court of france , espying chartier the kings secretarie , and a famous poet , leaning vpon his elbow at a tables end fast asleepe , shee stooping downe , and openly kissing him , said ; we must honour with our kisse , the mouth from whence so many sweete verses and golden poems haue proceeded . but some may aske me , how it falleth out , that poets now adaies are of no such esteeme , as they haue beene in former times ? i answere , because vertue in our declining and worser daies , generally findeth no regard : or rather more truly with aretin● ( being demaunded why princes were not so liberall to poesie , and other good arts , as in former times ) because their conscience telleth them , how vnworthy they are of the praises giuen them by poets ; as for other arts , they make no account of that they know not . but since we are heere ( hauing before ouer-runne the champaigne and large field of historie ) let vs a while rest our selues in the garden of the muses , and admire the bountie of heauen , in the seuerall beauties of so many diuine and fertile wits . we must beginne with the king of latin● poets , whom nature hath reared beyond imitation , and who aboue all other onely , deserueth the name of a poet ; i meane virgil . in him you shall at once finde ( not else-where ) that prudence , efficacie , varietie , and sweetnesse , which scaliger requireth in a poet , and maketh his prime vertues . vnder prudence is comprehended out of generall learning and iudgement , that discreete , apt suting and disposing , as well of actions as words in their due place , time and manner ; which in virgil is not obserued by one among twentie of our ordinary grammarians , who ( to vse the words of the prince of learning hereupon ) onely in shallow and small boates , glide ouer the face of the virgilian sea. how diuinely , according to the platonickes , doth he discourse of the soule ? how properly of the nature , number of winds , seasons of the yeare , qualities of beasts , nature of hearbs ? what in-sight into ancient chronologie and historie ? in briefe , what not worthy the knowledge of a diuine wit ? to make his aentas a man of extraordinary aspect , and comlinesse of personage , he makes venus both his mother and ladie of his horoscope . and forasmuch as griefe and perpetuall care , are inseparable companions of all great and noble atchieuements , he giues him achates quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his faithfull companion ? what immooued constancy , when no teares or entreaty of eliza could cause him stay ? what piety , pitty , fortitude , beyond his companions . see how the diuine poet gaue him leaue to be wounded , lest his valour in so many skirmishes might bee questioned , and that a farre off , not at hand , that rather it might be imputed to his fortune , then his rashnesse or weaknesse ; then by one who could not be knowne , to giue the enemie occasion rather of feare , then of challenging the glorie . and whereas he bringeth in camilla , a couragious lady , and inuincible at the swords point in encountring other ; yet he neuer bringeth her to try her valour with aeneas . againe , that tarchon and she might shew their braue deeds he makes aeneas absent : as also when turnus so resolutely brake into his tents . lastly , what excellent iudgment sheweth he in appropriating the accidents and histories of his owne times , to those of the ancient , as where he bringeth in venulus plucked by force from his horse , and carried away with full speed ? the like caesar confesseth to haue happened to himselfe . aene as with his right arme naked , commaunds his souldiers to abstaine frō slaughter . the like did caesar at the battaile of pharsalie , and with the same words . but thus much out of the heape and most iudicious obseruations of the most learned scaliger . efficacie is a power of speech , which representeth a thing after an excellent manner , neither by bare words onely , but by presenting to our minds the liuely idea's or formes of things so truly , as if wee saw them with our eyes ; as the places in hell , the fierie arrow of acesta , the description of fame , the flame about the temples of ascanius : but of actions more open , and with greater spirit , as in that passage and passion of dido , preparing to kill herselfe . at trepida & coeptis immanibus effera dido , sanguineam voluens ac●em , m●●ulisque trementes interfusa genas , & pallida marte futura , interior a domus irrumpit limin● , & altos conscendit furibunda rogos , ensemque recludie dardanium , &c. which for my english readers sake , i haue after my manner translated , though assured all the translations in the world must come short of the sweetnesse and maiesty of the latine . but she amazd and fierce by cruell plots , rouling about her bloody eye , her cheekes all-trembling and arising , full of spots , and pale with death at hand , perforce she breakes into the in-most roomes . — enraged then she climbes the loftie pile , and out of sheath the dardane sword doth draw : ne're for such end ordained ; when a while the troian garments , and knowne couch she saw , with trickling teares her selfe thereon she cast , and hauing paus'd a little , spake her last . sweete spoiles , while fates and heauens did permit , receiue this soule , and rid me of my cares ; what race my fortune gaue i finish'd it , &c. moreouer , that liuely combat betweene nisus and volscens , with many other of most excellent life . a sweete verse is that , which like a dish with a delicate sauce , inuites the reader to taste euen against his will ; the contrarie is harshnesse : hereof i giue you an example in the description of young pallas ( whom imagine you see laid forth newly slaine vpon a biere of crabtree and oken rods , couered with straw , and arched ouer with greene boughes ) then which no nectar can be more delicious . qualem virgine● demessum pollice florem , seu mollis viola , seu languent is hyacinthi , cui nec sulger adhuc , nec dum sua ferma r●cessit , non iam mater alit tellus viresque ministrat , &c. euen as the flower by maidens finger mowne , of th'drooping hy'cinth , or soft violet , whose beautie's fading , yet not fully gone ; now mother earth no more doth nourish it , &c. the like of faire eurialus breathing his last . purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro , languescit moriens , lassove papauera collo demisere caput , pluvia cum fortè gravantur . looke how the purple flower , which the plow hath shorne in sunder , languishing doth die ; or poppies downe their wearie neckes do bow , and hang the head , with raine when laden lie , &c. this kind , plutarch tearmeth flowery , as hauing in it a beautie and sweete grace to delight , as a flower . varistie , is various , and the rules of it so difficult , that to define or describe it , were as to draw one picture which should resemble all the faces in the world , changing it selfe like pr●tens into all shapes : which our diuine poet so much , and with such excellent art affecteth , that seldome or neuer he vttereth words , or describeth actions spoken or done after the same manner , though they be in effect the same ; yea , though the conclusion of all the bookes of his aeneides bee tragicall , saue the first ; yet are they so tempered and disposed with such varietie of accidents , that they bring admiration to the most diuine iudgements : among them all not one like another , saue the ends of turnus and mezentius . what varietie in his battailes , assailing the enemies campe , besieging cities , broyles among the common people , set battailes in fields , aides of horse and foot ? &c. neuer the same wounds , but giuen with diuers weapons , as heere one is wounded or slaine with a peece of a rock , a flint , fire-brand , club , halberd , long pole : there another with a drinking boule or pot , a rudder , dart , arrow , lance , sword , * bals of wildfire , &c. in diuers places , as the throat , head , thigh , breast , hip , hand , knee , before , behind , on the side , standing , lying , running , flying , talking , sleeping , crying out , entreating . of place , as in the field , in the tents , at sacrifice , vpon the guard , in the day time , in the night . to proceede further , were to translate virgil himselfe ; therefore hitherto of varietie . i forbeare his most liuely descriptions of persons , times , places , and manner ; his most sweete and proper similitudes , as where he resembleth aeneas , who could not be mooued by any entreatie or teares of dido , or her sister anna , to a stubborne oake after this manner . at veluti annosam valido cum robore quercum , alpini borea nunc hinc , nunc flatibus illinc , eruere inter so certant ; it strider , & altè consternunt terram concusso stipite frendes , &c. as when the alpine winds with each contend , now this , now that way , with their furious might , some aged oake vp by the rootes to rend , lowd whistling's heard , the earth bestrewed quite ( the body reeling ) all about with leaues : while it stands firme , and irremoued cleaues vnto the rocke ; for looke how high it heaues the loftie head to heauen-ward , so low the stubborne roote doth downe to hell-ward grow . againe , that elegant comparison of ar●●ns ( hauing cowardly slaine the braue ladie camilla , and retired himselfe for feare● into the body of the armie ) to a wolfe that had done a mischiefe , and durst not shew his head . at velut ille prius que●●tela inimica sequantur , continuò in montes sese anius abdidit altos occiso pastore lupus , magnove iuvenco conscius audacis facti , caudamque remulcens subiecit pauit antem vtero , sylvasque petiuit , &c. and as a wolfe that hath the shepheard slaine , or some great beast , before the countrey rise , knowing him guiltie , through by-waies amaine hath got the mountaines , lee●ing where he lies , or clapt his taile betwixt his legges , in feare tane the next coppise , till the coast be cleare . after virgil , i bring you ouid , as well because they liued in one time , ( yet ouid confesseth he saw virgil but once in all his life ) as that he deserueth to be second in imitation , for the sweetnesse and smooth current of his stile , euery where seasoned with profound and antique learning : among his workes , his epistles are most worthy your reading , being his neatest peece , euery where embellished with excellent and wise sentences ; the numbers smoothly falling in , and borrowing their lustre and beautie from imitation of natiue and antique simplicitie : that of acontius is somewhat too wanton ; those three , of vlysses , demophoon , and paris to o●none , are suspected for the weaknesse of conceit , in regard of the other , to be none of ouids . concerning his bookes , amorum and de arte amandi , the wit with the truly ingenuous and learned will beare out the wantonnesse : for with the weeds there are delicate flowers in those walkes of venus . for the argument of his metamorphosis , he is beholden to parthenius , and diuers others , and those who long before wrote of the same subiect . about the yeare 1581. when the king of poland made warre in moscouia , certaine polonian embassadours trauailing into the in-most places of moscouia , as farre as podolia and kiouia : they passed the great riuer boristhenes , hauing in their company a certaine young gentleman , very well seene in the latine , greeke , and hebrew tongues ; withall , an excellent poet and historian : he perswaded the polonians to well horse themselues , and ride with him a little further ; for he would ( said he ) thew them ouids sepulcher ; which they did : and when they were gone six daies iourney beyond boristhenes , through most vaste and desolate places , at last they came into a most sweete and pleasant valley , wherein was a cleere running fountaine , about which the grasse growing very thicke and high , with their swords and fauchions they cut it downe , till at last they found a stone , chest , or coffin , couered ouer with stickes and shrubs , whereon , it being rubbed and cleansed from mosse and filth , they read ouids epitaph , which was this : hîc situs est vates , quem diui caesaris ira augusti , latia cedere iussit hume : sapè miser voluit patrijs occumbere terris , sed frustrà : hunc illi fata dedere locum . this his sepulcher ( saith mine authour ) remaineth vpon the borders of greece , neere to the euxine sea , and is yet to be seene . of lyricke poets , as well greeke as latine , hold horace in highest account , as the most acute and artificiall of them all , hauing attained to such height , that to the discreete iudgement , he hath cut off all hope of equalizing him : his stile is elegant , pure and sinewie , with most wittie and choice sentences , neither humili contentus stylo ( as quintilian saith of him ) sed grandil●quo & sublimi . yea and if we beleeue scaliger , more accurate and sententious then pindar . his odes are of most sweete and pleasant inuention , beyond all reprehension , euery where illustred with sundrie and rare figures , and ve●ses so sluent , that the same scaliger protesteth he had rather be a composer of the like , then be king of whole arragon . in his satyres he is quicke , round and pleasant , and as nothing so bitter , so not so good as iuvenal : his epistles are neare ; his poetica his worst peece , for while he teacheth the art , he goeth vnartificially to worke , euen in the verie beginning . iuvenal of satyrists is the best , for his satyres are far better then those of horace , and though he be sententiously tart , yet is his phrase cleare and open . persius , i know not why we should so much affect him , since with his obscuritie hee laboureth not to affect vs ; yet in our learned age he is now discouered to euery schoole-boie : his stile is broken , froward , vnpleasing and ha●sh . in martial you shall see a diuine wit , with a flowing puritie of the latine tongue , a true epigrammatist : his verse is cleare , full , and absolute good , some few too wanton and licentious , being winked at . lucane breathes with a great spirit , wherefore some of our shallow grammarians , haue attempted to equall him with virgil : but his errour is , while hee doth ampullare with bigge sounding words , and a conceipt vnbounded , furious and ranging , and cannot with virgil containe himselfe within that sweete , humble and vnaffected moderation ; he incurreth a secret enuie and ridiculous contempt , which a moderate and well tempered style auoideth . seneca , for maiestie and state yeeldeth not to any of the grecians whosoeuer , cultu & ni●ore , to vse scaligers words , farre excelling euripides : and albeit he borrowed the argument of his tragaedies from the graecians , yet the spirit , loftinesse of sound , and maiestie of stile is meerely his owne . claudian , is an excellent and sweete poet , onely ouerborne by the meannesse of his subiect , but what wanted to his matter he supplied by his wit and happie inuention . statius is a smooth and a sweete poet , comming neerest of any other to the state and maiestie of virgils verse , and virgil onely excepted , is the prince of poets aswell greekes as latine ; for he is more slowery in figures , and writeth better lines then homer . of his works his sylue are the best . propertius is an easie cleare and true elegiacke , following the tract of none saue his owne inuention . among comicke poets , how much antiquitie attributed to plautus for his pleasant veine ( to whom volcatius giueth the place next to cacilius , and varro would make the mouth of muses ) so much doe our times yeeld to terence , for the puritie of his stile : wherefore scaliger willeth vs to admire plautus as a comoedian , but terence as a pure and elegant speaker . thus haue i in briefe , comprised for your behoofe , the large censure of the best of latine poets , as it is copiously deliuered by the prince of all learning and iudge of iudgements , the diuine iul. cas. scaliger . but while we looke backe to antiquitie , let vs not forget our later and moderne times ( as imagining nature hath heretofore extracted her quintessence , and lest vs the dregges ) which produce as fertile wits , as perhaps the other , yea and in our brittaine . of latine poets of our times in the iudgement of beza and the best learned , buchanan is esteemed the cheife : who albeit in his person , behauiour , and fashion , he was rough hewen , slouenly and rude , seldome caring for a better out side then a rugge-gowne girt close about him , yet his inside and conceipt in poesie was most rich , and his sweetnesse , and facilitie in a verse , vnimitably excellent , as appeareth by that master peece his psalmes ; as farre beyond those of b. rhenanus , as the stanza's of petrarch the times of skelton : but deseruing more applause ( in my opinion ) if hee had fallen vpon another subiect ; for i say with one , mihi spiritus diuinus eiusmod● places quo scipsum ingessit a patre , & illorū piget qui dauid psalmos suis calamistris inustos sperarant efficere plausibiliores . and certaine in that boundlesse field of poeticall inuention , it cannot be auoided , but something must be distorted beside the intent of the diuine enditer . his tragedies are loftie , the stile pure , his epigrams not to be mended , saue heere and there ( according to his genius ) too broad and bitter . but let vs looke behinde vs , and wee shall finde one english-bred ( whose glorie and worth , although cineri suppôsta doloso ) is inferiour neither to buchanan , or any of the ancients , and so much the more to be valued , by how much the brighter he appeared out of the fogges of barbarisme and ignorance in his time ; that is , ioseph of exeter , who liued vnder henrie the 2. and richard the first , who wrote that singular and stately poeme of the troian warre , after the historie of dares phrygius , which the germanes haue printed vnder the name of cornelius nepos . he died at bourdeaux in france , where he was archbishop , where his monument is yet to bee seene . after him ( all that long tract of ignorance , vntill the daies of henrie the 8. ( which time erasmus calleth , the golden age of learning , in regard of so many famously learned men , it produced more then euer heretofore ) flourished sir thomas more , sometime lord chancellor of england : a man of most rich and pleasant inuention : his verse fluent , nothing harsh , constrained or obscure ; wholly composed of conceipt , and inoffensiue mirth , that he seemeth ad lepôres fuisse natum . how wittily doth hee play vpon the arch-cuckold sabinus , scoffe at frenchified lalus , and herney a french cowardly captaine , beaten at the sea by our english , and his shippe burned , yet his victorie and valour to the english disgrace , proclaimed by brixius a germane pot-aster ? what can be more loftie then his gratulatorie verse to king henrie vpon his coronation day ? more wittie then that epigramme vpon the name of nicolaus an ignorant phisitian , that had beene the death of thousands , and abyngdons epitaph ? more sweete then that nectar epistle of his , to his daughters margaret , elizabeth , and cicelie ? but as these ingenious exercises bewraied in him an extraordinary quicknesse of wit and learning , so his vtopia his depth of iudgment in state-affaires , then which , in the opinion of the most learned budaus in a preface , before it our age hath not seene a thing more deepe & accurate . in his yonger yeeres , there was euer a friendly and vertuous emulation , for the palme of inuention and poesie , betweene william lillie the author of our grammer , and him , as appeareth by their seuerall translations of many greeke epigrammes , and their inuention tried vpon one subiect ; notwithstanding they lou'd and liu'd together as deerest friends . lillie also was beside , an excellent latine poet , a singular graecian ; who after he trauelled all greece ouer , and many parts of europe beside , and liued some foure or fiue yeeres , in the i le of the rhodes : he returned home , and by iohn collet deane of paules , was elected master of pauls schoole , which he had newly founded . shortly after , began to grow eminent , aswell for poesie as all other generall learning , sir thomas challoner knight ( father to the truly honest , and sometime louer of all excellent parts , sir thomas challoner , who attended vpon the late prince ) borne in london , brought vp in cambridge ; who hauing left the vniuer sitie , and followed the court a good while , went ouer with sir henry knyuet , embassadour to charles the fift , as his friend and companion : what time the emperour being preparing a mightie fleete against the turkes in argier , the english embassadour , sir thomas challoner , henry knowles , m. henry isam , and others , went in that seruice as voluntaries with the emperour . but the galley wherein sir thomas challoner was , being cast away by foulenesse of weather , after he had laboured by swimming for his life as long as he was able , and the strength of his armes falling him , he caught hold vpon a cable throwne out from another galley , to the losse and breaking of many of his teeth , and by that meanes saued his life . after the death of king henry the 8. he was in the battaile of muskleborough , and knighted by the duke of s●mmerset . and in the beginning of the raigne of queene elizabeth , hee went ouer embassadour into spaine , where at his houres of leisure , he compiled ten elegant bookes in latine vers . de ropub . anglorum instauranda ; superuised after his death by malim , and dedicated to the old lord burghley , lord treasurer . being sent for home , by her maiestie , he shortly after died in london , and was buried in paules neere to the steppes of the quire , toward the south-doore , vnder a faire marble ; but the brasse and epitaphe written by doctor haddon , by sacrilegious hands is since torne away . but the muse and eternall fame haue reared him a monument more lasting and worthy the merit of so excellent a man. of english poets of our owne nation , esteeme sir geoffrey chaucer the father ; although the stile for the antiquitie , may distast you , yet as vnder a bitter and rough rinde , there lyeth a delicate kernell of conceit and sweete inuention . what examples , similitudes , times , places , and aboue all , persons , with their speeches , and attributes , doe as in his canterburie-tales ( like these threds of gold , the rich arras ) beautifie his worke quite thorough ? and albeit diuers of his workes , are but meerely translations out of latine and french , yet he hath handled them so artificially , that thereby he hath made them his owne , as his troilus and cresseid . the romant of the rose , was the inuention of ithan de mehunes , a french poet , whereof he translated but onely the one halfe : his canterburie-tales without question were his owne inuention , all circumstances being wholly english. hee was a good diuine , and saw in those times , without his spectacles , as may appeare by the plough-man , and the parsons tale : withall an excellent mathematician , as plainly appeareth by his discourse of the astrolabe to his little sonne lewes . in briefe , account him among the best of your english bookes in your librarie . gower being very gracious with king henrie the 4. in his time carried the name of the onely poet , but his verses to say truth , were poore and plaine , yet full of good and graue moralitie : but while he affected altogether the french phrase and words , made himself too obscure to his reader ; beside his inuention commeth farre short of the promise of his titles . he published onely ( that i know of ) three bookes , which at s. marie oueries in southwarke vpon his monument lately repaired by some good benefactor , lie vnder his head ; which are , vox clamantie , speculum meditantis , and confessio amantis . he was a knight , as also was chaucer . after him succeeded lydgate , a monke of burie , who wrote that bitter satyre of peirs plow-man . he spent most part of his time in translating the workes of others , hauing no great inuention of his owne . he wrote for those times a tollerable and smooth verse . then followed harding , and after him skelton , a poet laureate , for what desert i could neuer heare ; if you desire to see his veine and learning , an epitaph vpon king henry the seauenth , at west-minster will discouer it . in the latter end of king henrie the 8. for their excellent facultie in poesie were famous , the right noble henrie earle of surrey ( whose songs and sonnets yet extant , are of sweete conceipt : ) and the learned , but vnfortunate , sir thomas wyat. in the time of edward the sixth liued sternhold , whom king henry his father , a little before had made groome of his chamber , for turning certaine of dauids psalmes into verse : and merrie iohn heywood , who wrote his epigrammes , as also sir thomas more his vtopia , in the parish wherein i was borne ; where either of them dwelt , and had faire possessions . about queene maries time , flourished doctor phaer who in part translated virgils aeneids , after finished by arthur golding . in the time of our late queene elizabeth , which was truly a golden age ( for such a world of refined wits , and excellent spirits it produced , whose like are hardly to be hoped for , in any succeeding age ) aboue others , who honoured poesie with their pennes and practise ( to omit her maiestie , who had a singular gift herein ) were edward earle of oxford , the lord buckhurst , henry lord paget ; our phoenix , the noble sir philip sidney , m. edward dyer , m. edmund spencer , m. samuel daniel , with sundry others ; whom ( together with those admirable wits , yet liuing , and so well knowne ) not out of enuie , but to auoide tediousnesse i ouerpasse . thus much of poetrie . chap. xi . of musicke . mvsicke a sister to poetrie , next craueth your acquaintance ( if your genius be so disposed . ) i know there are many , who are adeo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and of such disproportioned spirits , that they auoide her companie ; as a great cardinall in rome , did roses at their first comming in , that to auoide their sent , he built him an house in the champaigne farre from any towne : or as with a rose not long since , a great ladies cheeke in england , their eares are readie to blister at the tendrest touch thereof . i dare not passe so rash a censure of these as pindar doth , or the italian , hauing fitted a prouerbe to the same effect , whom god loues not , that man loues not musicke : but i am verily perswaded , they are by nature very ill disposed , and of such a brutish stupiditie , that scarce any thing else that is good and sauoureth of vertue , is to be found in them . neuer wise man ( i thinke ) questioned the lawfull vse hereof , since it is an immediate gift of heauen , bestowed on man , whereby to praise and magnifie his creator ; to solace him in the midst of so many sorrowes and cares , wherewith life is hourely beset : and that by song , as by letters , the memorie of doctrine , and the benefits of god might be for euer preserued ( as we are taught by the song of moses , and those diuine psalmes of the sweete singer of israel , who with his * psalterie so lowdly resounded the mysteries and innumerable benefits of the almightie creator , ) and the seruice of god aduanced , as we may finde in 2. samuel 6. vers . 5. psalme 33. 21. 43. and 4. 108. 3. and in sundrie other places of scripture , which for breuitie i omit . but , say our sectaries , the seruice of god is nothing aduanced by singing and instruments , as we vse it in our cathedrall churches , that is , by “ antiphonie , restes , repetitions , varietis of moodes and proportions with the like . for the first , that it is not contrary , but consonant to the word of god , so in singing to answer either : the practise of m●riam the prophete●se , and sister of moses , when she answered the men in her song , will approue ; for repetition , nothing was more vsuall in the singing of the leuites , and among the psalmes of dauid , the 136. is wholly compounded of those two most gracefull and 〈◊〉 figures of repetition , symploce and anaphora . for resting and proportions , the nature of the hebrew verse , as the meanest hebrician knoweth , consisting many times of vneuen feete , going sometime in this number , sometimes in that ; one while ( as s. hierome saith ) in the numbers of sappho ; another while of alcaus , doth of neoessitie require it : and wherein doth our practise of singing and playing with instruments in his maiesties chappell , and our cathedrall churches , differ from the practise of dauid ; the priests and leuites . doe we not make one sound in praising and thanking god , with voyces and instruments of all sorts . d●●●e ( as s. hierome saith ) reboet laquear ●empli : the roofe of the church ecchoeth againe , and which lest they should cauill at as a iewish ceremonie , we know to haue beene practised in the ancient puritie of the church ; but we returne where we left . the physitians will tell you , that the exercise of musicke is a great lengthner of the life , by stirring and reuiuing of the spiri●s , holding a secret sympathy with them ; besides , the exercise of singing , openeth the breast and pipes ; it is an enemy to melancholy and deiection of the mind , which s. chrysostome truly calleth , the deuils bath . yea , a curer of some diseases : in apugli● , in italy , and therea bouts , it is most certaine , that those who are stung with the taramula , are cured onely by musicke . beside , the aforesaid benefit of singing , it is a most ready helpe for a bad pronunciation , and distinct speaking , which i haue heard confirmed by many great diuines : yea , i my selfe haue knowne many children to haue bin holpen of their stammering in speech , onely by it . plato calleth it , a diuine and heauenly practise , profitable for the seeking out of that which is good and honest . homer saith , musitians are worthy of honor , and regard of the whole world ; and we know , alb●it ly●urgu● imposed most streight and sharpe lawes vpon the lacedaem●ni●ns , yet he euer allowed them the exercise of musicke . aristotle auerreth musicke to be the onely disposer of the mind to vertue and goodnesse ; wherefore he reckoneth it among those foure principall exercises , wherein he would haue children instructed . tulli● saith , there consisteth in the practise of singing , and playing vpon instruments , great knowledge , and the most excellent instruction of the mind : and for the effect it worketh in the mind , he termeth it , sta●ilem , thesaurum , qui moros instituit , componi●que , ac mo●tit ●rarum ardores , &c. a lasting treasure , which rectifieth and ordereth our manners , and allayeth the heate and furie of our anger , &c. i might runne into an infinite sea of the praise and vse of so excellent an art , but i onely shew it you with the finger , because i desire not that any noble or gentleman should ( saue his priuate recreation at leasurable houres ) prooue a master in the same , or neglect his more weightie imployments : though i auouch it a skill worthy the knowledge and exercise of the greatest prince . king henrie the eight could not onely sing his part sure , but of himselfe compose a seruice of foure , fiue , and sixe parts ; as erasmus in a certaine epistle , testifieth of his owne knowledge . the duke of venosa , an italian prince , in like manner , of late yeares , hath giuen excellent proofe of his knowledge and loue to musicke , hauing himselfe composed many rare songs , which i haue seene . but aboue others , who carryeth away the palme for excellency , not onely in musicke , but in whatsoeuer is to be wished in a braue prince , is the yet liuing maurice landgraue of hessen , of whose owne composition i haue seene eight or ten seuerall sets of morets , and solemne musicke , set purposely for his owne chappell ; where for the greater honour of some festiuall , and many times for his recreation onely , he is his own organist . besides , he readily speaketh ●en or twelue seueral languages : he is so vniuersall a scholler , that comming ( as he doth often ) to his vniuersitie of marpurge , what questions soeuer he meeteth with set vp , ( as the manner is in the germane and our vniuersities ) hee will extempore , dispute an houre or two ( euen in bootes and spurres ) vpon them , with their best professors . i passe ouer his rare skill in chirurgeri● , he being generally accounted the best bone-setter in the country . who haue seene his estate , his hospitalitie , his rich furnished armorie , his braue stable of great horses , his ●●tesie to all strangers , being men of qualitie and good parts , let them speake the rest . but since the naturall inclination of some men , driueth them ( as it were ) perforce to the top of excellencie : examples of this kind are very rare , yea great personages many times are more violently carried , then might well stand with their honours , and necessitie of their affaires : yet were it to these honest and commendable exercises sauouring of vertue , it were well : but many neglecting their duties and places , will addict themselues wholly to trifles , and the most ridiculous and childish practises . as eropus king of macedonia , tooke pleasure only in making of candles : domitian , his recreation was to catch & kill flyes , and could not be spoken with many times in so serious employment . p●olomans philadelphus was an excellent smith and a basket maker . alphonso atestino duke of ferra●ra , delighted himselfe onely in turning and playing the ioyner . rodolph the late emperour in setting of stones , and making watches . which , and the like , much eclipse state and maiestie , bringing familiaritie , and by consequence contempt with the meanest . i desire no more in you then to sing your part sure , and at the first sight , withall , to play the same vpon your violl , or the exercise of the lute , priuately to your selfe . to deliuer you my opinion , whom among other authors you should imitate and allow for the best , there being so many equally good , is somewhat difficult ; yet as in the rest herein you shall haue my opinion . for mo●●●s , and musicke of pietie and deuotion , as well for the honour of our nation , as the merit of the man , i preferre aboue all other our phoenix , m. william byrd , whom in that kind , i know not whether any may equall . i am sure , none excell , euen by the iudgement of france and italy , who are very sparing in the commendation of strangers , in regard of that conceipt they hold of themselues . his cantiones 〈◊〉 , as also his gradualia , are meere angelicall and diuine ; and being of himselfe naturally disposed to grauitie and pietie , his veine is not so much for light madrigals of canzonets , yet his virginella , and some others in his first set , cannot be mended by the best italian of them all . for composition , i preferre next ludouico de victoria , a most iudicious and a sweete composer : after him orlando di lasso , a very rare and excellent author , who liued some forty yeares since in the court of the duke of baueir . he hath published as well in latine as french many sets , his veine is graue and sweete : among his latine songs , his seuen poenitentiall psalmes are the best , and that french set of his wherein is susanna vn jour . vpon which dittie many others haue since exercised their inuention . for delicious aire and sweete inuention in madrigals , luca mar●●zio excelleth all other whosoeuer , hauing published more sets then any authour else whosoeuer ; and to say truth , hath not an ill song , though sometime an ouer-sight ( which might be the printers fault ) of two eights , or fifts escape him ; as betweene the tenor and base in the last close , of , i must depart all haplesse : ending according to the nature of the dittie most artificially , with a minim rest . his first , second , and third parts of thyrsis , veggo dolca 〈◊〉 ben chi fa hoggi mio sole cantava , or sweete singing amaryllie , are songs , the muses themselues might not haue beene ashamed to haue had composed . of stature and complexion , hee was a little and blacke man : he was organist in the popes chappell at rome a good while , afterward hee went into poland , being in displeasure with the pope for ouermuch familiaritie with a kinswoman of his , ( whom the queene of poland , sent for by luca marenzio afterward , she being one of the rarest women in europe , for her voyce and the lute : ) but returning , he found the affection of the pope so estranged from him , that hereupon hee tooke a conceipt and died . alphouse ferabosco the father , while he liued , for iudgment and depth of skill , ( as also his sonne yet liuing ) was inferior vnto none : what he did was most elaborate and profound , and pleasing enough in aire , though master thomas morley censureth him otherwise . that of his , i saw my ladie weeping , and the nightingale ( vpon which dittie master bird and he in a friendly aemulation , exercised their inuention ) cannot be bettered for sweetnesse of aire , or depth of iudgement . i bring you now mine owne master , horatio vecchi of modena ; beside goodnesse of aire most pleasing of all other for his conceipt and varietie , wherewith all his workes are singularly beautified , as well his madrigals of fiue and sixe , as those his canzonets , printed at norimberge : wherein for tryall , sing his viuo in fuoco amoroso lucretia mia , where vpon i● catenat● more , with excellent iudgement , hee driueth a crotchet thorough many minims , causing it to resemble a chaine with the linkes . againe , in s●is potessi raccor'i m●i sospiri , the breaking of the word sospiri with crotchet & crotchet , rest into sighes : and that , fa mi vn canzon● , &c. to make one sleepe at noone , with sundry other of like conceipt , and pleasant inuention . then that great master , and master not long since of s. markes chappell in venice ; second to none , for a full , loftie , and sprightly veine , following none saue his owne humour : who while he liued , was one of the most free and braue companions of the world . his poenitentiall psalmes are excellently composed , and for pietie are his best . nor must i here forget our rare countrey-man , peter phillips , organist to their altezza's at bruxels , now one of the greatest masters of musicke in europe . he hath sent vs ouer many excellent songs , as well motets as madrigals : he affecteth altogether the italian veine . there are many other authors very excellent , as boschett● , and clandie de monte verde , equall to any before named ; gimmoni ferreti , stephano felis , giulis rinaldi , phillipe de monte , andrea gabrieli , cyprian de rore , pallaui ceno , 〈◊〉 , with others yet liuing ; whose seuerall workes for me here to examine , would be ouer tedious and needlesse ; and for me , please your owne eare and fancie . those whom i haue before mentioned , haue bene euer ( within these thirtie or fortie yeares ) held for the best . i willingly , to auoide tediousnesse , forbeare to speake of the worth and excellency of the rest of our english composers , master doctor douland , tho : morley , m. alphonso , m. wilbie , m. kirbie , m. wilkes , michael east , m. bateson , m. deering , with sundry others , inferior to none in the world ( how much soeuer the italian attributes to himselfe ) for depth of skill and richnesse of conceipt . infinite is the sweete varietie that the theorique of musicke exerciseth the mind withall , as the contemplation of proportions , of concords and discords , diuersitie of moodes and tones , infinitenesse of inuention , &c. but i dare affirme , there is no one science in the world , that so affecteth the free and generous spirit , with a more delightfull and in-offensiue recreation , or better disposeth the minde to what is commendable and vertuous . the common-wealth of the cynethenses in arcadia , falling from the delight they formerly had in musicke , grew into seditious humours and ciuill warres , which polybius tooke especially note of : and i suppose , heereupon it was ordained in arcadia , that euery one should practise musicke by the space of thirty yeares . the ancient gaules in like manner ( whom iulian tearmed barbarous ) became most curteous and tractable by the practise of musicke . yea , in my opinion , no rhetoricke more perswadeth , or hath greater power ouer the mind ; nay , hath not musicke her figures , the same which rhetorique ? what is a reuert but her antistrophe ? her reports , but sweete anaphora's ? her counterchange of points , antimetabole's ? her passionate aires but prosopopoe's ? with infinite other of the same nature . how doth musicke amaze vs , when assures of discords she maketh the sweetest harmony ? and who can shew vs the reason why two basons , bowles , brasse pots , or the like of the same bignesse ; the one being full , the other emptie , shall , striken , be a iust diapason in sound one to the either ; or that there should bee such sympathy in sounds , that two lutes of equall size being laid vpon a table , and tuned vnison , or alike in the gamma , g sol re vt , or any other string ; the one stricken , the other vntouched shall answer it ? but to conclude , if all arts hold their esteeme and value according to their effects , account this goodly science not among the number of those which lucian placeth without the gates of hell , as vaine and vnprofitable : but of such which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the fountaines of our liues good and happinesse : since it is a principall meanes of glorifying our mercifull creator , it heigthens our deuotion , it giues delight and ease to our trauailes , it expelleth sadnesse and heauinesse of spirit , preserueth people in concord and amitie , allaieth fiercenesse and anger ; and lastly , is the best phisicke for many melancholly diseases . chap. 12. of drawing , limning , and painting : with the liues of the famous italian painters . since aristotle numbreth graphice generally taken , for whatsoeuer is done with the pen or pencill ( as writing faire , drawing , limning and painting ) amongst those his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or generous practises of youth in a well gouerned common-wealth ; i am bound also to giue it you in charge for your exercise at leasure , it being a quality most commendable , and so many waies vsefull to a gentleman . for should you ( if necessitie required ) be employed for your countries seruice in following the warre , you can describe no plot , manner of fortification , forme of battaglia , situation of towne , castle , fort , hauen , iland , course of riuer , passage through wood , marish , ouer rocke , mountaine , &c. ( which a discreete generall doth not alwayes commit to the eye of another ) without the helpe of the same . in all mathematicall demonstrations nothing is more required in our trauaile in forraine regions . it bringeth home with vs from the farthest pa● of the world in our bosomes , whatsoeuer is rare and worthy the observance , as the generall mappe of the country , the riuers , harbours , hauens , promontories , &c. within the landscap , of faire hils , fruitfull vallies : the formes and colours of all fruites , seuerall beauties of their floures , of medicinable simples neuer before seene or heard of : the orient colours , and liuely pictures of their birdes , the shape of their beasts , fishes , wormes , flyes , &c. it presents our eyes with the complexion , manner , and their attire . it shewes vs the rites of their religion , their houses , their weapons , and manner of warre . beside , it preserueth the memory of a dearest friend , or fairest mistresse . and since it is onely the imitation of the surface of nature , by it as in a book● of golden and rare-limmed letters , the chiefe ende of it , wee reade a continuall lecture of the wisedome of the almightie creator , by beholding euen in the feather of the peacocke a * miracle , as aristotle saith . and that you should not esteeme basely of the practise thereof , let me tell you that in ancient times painting was admitted into the first place among the liberall arts , & throughout all greece taught only to the children of noble men in the schooles , and altogether forbidden to be taught to seruants or slaues . in no lesse honour and esteeme was it held among the romanes , as we finde in plinie and many others who euery where advance the professors ; and the dignity of the practise thereof nothing base or seruile , since one of the most noble families in rome , the fabij thought themselues much honoured by the addition of that sirname pictor . for the first of that name , although he was most honourably descended , honoured with many titles , consulships and triumphs , excellently learned in the lawes , and beside accounted in the number of the orators of his time ; yet he thought his skill in painting added to these honors , and his memory would heare the better of posteritie , for that he was endued with so excellent & quality : for after with his owne hand he had painted the temple of salus round about within , and finished his worke , he wrote in faire letters in an eminent place , quintus fabius pinxi . neither was it the exercise of nobilitie among the ancients onely , but of late dayes and in our times we see it practised by the greatest princes of europe , without praeiudice to their honors . francis the first , king of france , was very excellent with his pencill ; and the vertuous margaret queene of navarre beside her excellent veine in poesie could draw and limne excellently ; the like is reported of 〈◊〉 duke of savois . nor can i ouerpasse the ingenuitie and excellency of many noble and gentlemen of our owne nation herein , of whom i know many ; but none in my opinion , who deserueth more respect and admiration for his skill and practise herein then master nathaniel bacon of broome in suffolke ( younger sonne to the most honourable and bountifull minded sir nicholas bacon , knight , and eldest barronet , ) not inferiour in my iudgement to our skilfullest masters . but certainely i know not what fauourable aspect of heauen that right noble and ancient family , which produceth like delicate fruites from one stemme so many excellent in seuerall qualities , that no one name or family in england can say the like . painting is a quality i loue ( i confesse ) and admire in others , because euer naturally from a child , i haue beene addicted to the practise hereof ; yet when i was young , i haue beene cruelly beaten by ill and ignorant schoolemasters , when i haue beene taking , in white and blacke , the countenance of some one or other ( which i could do at thirteene and fourteene yeares of age : beside the mappe of any towne according to geometricall proportion , as i did of cambridge when i was of trinitie colledge , and a iunior sophister , ) yet could they neuer beate it out of me . i remember one master i had ( and yet liuing not farre from s. athanes ) took me one time drawing out with my pen that peare-tree and boyes throwing at it , at the end of the latine grammar● which he perceiuing , in a rage strooke mee with the great end of the rodde , and rent my paper , swearing it was the onely way to teach mee to robbe orchard as beside , that i was placed with him to bee made a scholler and not a painte● , which i was very likely to doe ; when i well remember he construed vnto me the beginning of the first ode in horace , edite , set ye forth , 〈◊〉 , the sportes , atavit r●gib●● , of our ancient kings ; but leauing my ingenious master , to our purpose . for your first beginning and entrance in draught , make your hand as ready as you can ( without the helpe of your compasses ) in those generall figures of the circle , ovall , square , triangle , cylinder , &c. for these are the foundation of all other proportions . as for example , your ovall directs you in giuing a iust proportion to the face . your square or cube for all manner of ground plots , formes of fortification , wherein you haue no vse of the circle at all . your circle againe directs you in all orbicular formes whatsoeuer , and so forth of the rest . hauing made your hand fit and ready in generall proportion , learne to giue all bodies their true shaddowes according to their eminence and concauity , and to heigthen or deepe as your body appeareth neerer or farther from the light ; which is a matter of great iudgment , and indeede the soule ( as i may say ) of a picture . then learne all manner of draperie , that is , to giue garments and all manner of stuffes , as cloth , silke , and linnen their naturall and proper soldes ; which at the first will seeme strange and difficult vnto you , but by imitating the choisest printes and peeces of the most iudicious masters , with your owne obseruance you will very easily attaine the skill . but since i haue already published a booke of drawing and limming ; wherein i haue discouered whatsoeuer i haue thought necessa●ie to perfection herein , i will referre you for farther instruction to it , and onely here giue you the principall authors for your imitation . since , as i said , proportion is the principall and chiefe thing you are first to learne , i commend vnto you that prince of painters and graund-master albert durer , who beside that his peeces for proportion and draperie are the best that are , hee hath written a very learned booke of symmetrie and proportions , which hath beene since translated out of high dutch into latine . and though his peeces haue beene long since worne out of presse , yet you may happen vpon them among our skilfull painters , which if you can get reasonably keep them as iewels , since i beleeue you shall neuer see their like : they seeme old , and commonly are marked with a great d in an a. for a bold touch , varietie of posture , curious and true shaddow : imitate goliziu● , his printes are commonly to be had in popes head alley . himselfe was liuing at my last being in the low countries at harl●● ; but by reason of the losse of one of his eyes , he hath giuen ouer a hinge in copper , and altogether exerciseth his pencill in oyle . the peeces of michael angelo are rare and very hard to be comeby . himselfe liued in rome , and was while hee liued esteemed the best painter in europe , as verily it seemeth by that his famous peece , of the last iudgment in the popes chappell , being accounted one of the best in the world . hans holben was likewise an excellent master , hee liued in the time of king henry the eight , and was emploied by him against the comming of the emperor charles the 5. into england . a i haue seene many peeces of his in oile , and once of his owne draught with a penne a most curious chimney-peece k. henry had bespoke for his new built pallace at bridewell . of later times and in our age the workes of shadan , witrix , and my honest louing friend crispin de pas of vtrecht are of most price ; these cut to the life , a thing practised but of late yeares : their pieces will best instruct you in the countenance , for the naturall and 〈◊〉 dowes therof , the cast and forme of the eie , the touch of the mouth , the true fall , turning & curling of the haire , for ruffes , armour , &c. when you are somewhat ready in your draught ( for which you must prouide pens made of rauens quils , black lead , dry pencils made of what color you please by grinding it with strong wort , & then rowling it vp pencilwise and so let it dry ) get my booke , entituled the gentlemans exercise , which will teach you the vse and ordering of all manner of colours for limning , as how to make any one colour what you please by the composition of many , as a scarlet , carnation , flame colour , all manner of greenes for leaues or banckes , purples for the breake of the morning , the violet , the hyacinth , &c. all manner of changeable colors in garments of silke ; brownes & blackes for haire colours , the colours of barks of trees , the sea , foūtains , rocks , flesh colours or carnations for the face & complexiō , with the manner of preparing your card , & inbriefe whatsoeuer is needfull to be knowne of a practitioner . now hauing your colors in their shels finely ground and washed , and varietie of pencills great and small , beginne first to wash ouer some plaine printes , then after to imitate to the life ( according vnto my directions in that booke : ) wherein by degrees you will take incredible delight , and furnish your conceipts and deuices of emblems , anagrams , and the like with bodies at your pleasure , without being beholden to some deare and nice professed artist . painting in oyle is done i confesse with greater iudgment , and is generall of more esteeme then working in water colours ; but then it is more mechanique and will robbe you of ouer much time from your more excellent studies , it being sometime a fortnight or a month ere you can finish an ordinary peece . i haue knowne michael lanss of delf in holland , the most excellent painter of all the low countries , to haue beene ( at times , ) a whole halfe yeare about a picture , yet in the end to haue blurred it out ( as it is his manner ) for some small disresemblance , eyther in the eye or mouth ; so curious is the workemanshippe to doe it well : beside oyle nor oyle colours , if they drop vpō apparell , will not out ; when water colours will with the least washing . but lest you should think me ignorant or enuious , i wil not conceale frō you the manner of working herein , and though it may bee you shall not practise it , it may profit others . first for your table whereupon to draw your picture , plane it very euen , and with size ( made of glue sodden long in faire water , till the glue be quite dissolued ) mingled and heat with spanish white finely ground , white it ouer ; then let it dry , then white it ouer againe , and so the third time , when being dry , scrape it very euen with a sharpe knife till it be smooth , then prime it with red lead or some other colour , which being drie , draw your picture out vpon it with a peece of chalke , pencill of coale , lastly , with black lead ; so lay on your colours . grind all your colours in linseede oyle , ●aue when you grinde your white for ruffes and linnen ; then vse the oyle of walnuts , for a linseede oyle will turne yeallowish . hauing all your colours ready ground , with your pallet on the thumbe of your left hand , & pencills for euery colour , in the same lay your colours vpon your pallet thus : first , your white lead , then lake , iuorie , blacke , seacoale blacke ( as you see the complexion ) lampe blacke , vmber for the haire , red lead , yealow oaker , verdigreace ; then your blewes , masticot and pinke , the rest at your pleasure , mixing them on the other side of the pallet at your pleasure . to begin a picture , first drawe the eye , the white thereof make of white lead with as little char-coale black ; hauing finished it , leaue from the other eye the distance of an eye , then draw the proportion of the nose , the compasse of the face , after that make the mouth , the eare , the haire , &c. after you haue made the white of the eyes and proportion of the nose , &c. lay your carnation or flesh colour ouer the face , casting in here and there some shadowes which worke in with the flesh colour by degrees . your flesh colour is commonly compounded of white lead , lake , and vermilion , but you may heighthen or decpen it at your pleasure . then shadow the face all ouer as you see cause , and finish the nose , compassing the tippe of it with some darke or light reddish shadow . the shaddowes for your face are compounded commonly , of iuory , blacke , white lead , vermilion , lake , sea-coale blacke , &c. then shaddow your cheekes and lippes ( with the mouth stroke , which make of lake onely ) with vermilion and lake as you list mixed together . now make the circles of the eyes . for the gray eye , take charcoale blacke and white lead heighthened or deepened at your pleasure . for the blacke circle of the eye , take vmber , sea-cole-blacke , and a little white , and mixe them as you thinke fit . for the round ball in the eye take lampe-blacke and verd-greace , for lampe-blacke will hardly dry without it . for the hands and the shaddowes betweene the fingers vse the same flesh-colours and shaddowes as in the face for heighthening or deepening . if you would make a flesh-colour of a swarthy complexion , mingle white lead , lake , and yealow oker together , and in the shadodwes , put in some vmber and sea-coale blacke . for blacke haire , take lampe● blacke onely , and when you will haue it brighter , mixe it with a little vmber , white , and red lead . for flaxen haire , take vmber , and white lead ; the browner you will haue it , put in the more vmber , the whiter more white ; but if darker , yet adde to a little sea-coale blacke . for yealow haire , take masticote , vmber , yealow oker , and a little red lead ; if you will haue it redder , put in the more red lead and vmber . for a white haire , take halfe iuorie blacke , and halfe of vmber , and with your knife temper them well vpon your pallet with white lead , with more white , or vmber , or i●ory , raising or deepening it at your pleasure . for the teeth , take white lead , and shaddow it with char-coale blacke . for ruffes , lawnes , and linnen . for linnen , take white lead mingled with char-coale black , so making it whiter or darker at your pleasure ; for your sine lawnes , put a little oyle smalt in amongst it , and with a fine little bagge of taffata stuffed with wooll or the like , take vp the colour and presse it hard downe where you would haue it . for veluets of all colours . for blacke-veluet , take lampe-blacke and verdigreace , for your first ground ; but when it is dry , lay it ouer with iuory blacke and verdigreace , ( to help it to dry ) and for the shaddow vse white lead , with a little lampe blacke . for greene veluet , take lamp blacke , and white lead , and worke it ouer like a russet veluet ; then being dry , draw it onely ouer with verdigreace , and a little pinke , and it will be a perfect greene veluet . for a sea-water greene veluet , lay on the aforesaid mingled russet verdigreace onely , if you will haue it more grassy , put to more pinke . for a yellowish greene , put a little masticot among your verdigreace at your pleasure : but note this , al your shaddowing must be in the russet , and these greens onely drawne lightly ouer . for red veluet , take vermilion , and shaddow it with browne of spaine , and where you will haue it darkest , take sea-cole blacke mingled with spanish browne , and shaddow where you will , letting it dry , then glaze it ouer with lake , and it will be a perfect red veluet . for a crimson or carnation veluet , put the more or lesse white lead to the vermilion , as you shall see cause . for blew veluet , take oyle smalt , and temper it with white lead ; ●he brighter you will haue it , put in the more white ; the sadder , the more smalt . for yellow veluet , take masticot and yellow oker , and deepen it for the shaddow with vmber . for tauny veluet , take browne of spaine , white lead , and lampe blacke , mixed with a little verdigreace to shaddow it , where you see occasion ; and when it is dry , glaze it ouer with a little lake , and red veluet added vnto it . for purple veluet , take oyle smalt , and temper it with lake , halfe lake , halfe smalt ; then take white lead and order it as bright or as sad as you list . for ash-coloured veluet , take char-cole blacke , and white lead , and make a perfect russet of the same , deepning it with the black , or heigthening it with your white at your pleasure . for haire-coloured veluet , grinde vmber by it selfe with oyle , and lay it on your picture , and heigthen with white lead and the same vmber . for sattens in oyle colours . for blacke satten , grinde lamp black with oyle , then mixe it with some white lead ; where you will haue it shine most , mingle some lake with your white lead . for white satten , take white lead ground with oyle , then grinde iuorie black by it selfe , and where you will haue it sad , adde more of the blacke . for greene satten , take verdigreace and grinde it by it selfe , then mixe some white lead with it ; and where you will haue it bright , adde some pinke : if more inclining to a popingiay , adde more pinke to your white lead ; and to deepen it more , adde more verdigreace . for yellow satten , grinde masticot by it selfe , yellow oker by it selfe , and vmber by it selfe ; where you will haue it lightest , let the masticot serue ; where a light shaddow , let the oker serue , where the darkest or saddest , vmber onely . for blew satten , take oyle , smalt , and white lead , ground by themselues ; white lead for the heigthening , and smalt for your deepening , or darkest shaddow . for purple satten , mixe oyle , smalt , with lake , and white lead : heigthening with white lead . for orenge tauny satten , take red lead and lake , where you will haue it brightest take red lead by it selfe , and where made sad , lake . for red satten , grinde browne of spaine by it selfe , mingling vermilion with the same ; where you would haue it light , put in a little white lead . for haire coloured satten , take vmber and white lead ; heigthen with your white lead , and for the darke shaddow of the cuts , adde to your vmber a little sea-cole blacke . for taffata's . make your taffata's all one as you doe your sattens , but you must obserue the shaddowing of taffata's ; for they fall more fine with the solds , and are thicker by much . for changeable taffata's take sundry colours , what you please , and lay them vpon your garment or picture one by another ; first casting out the solds , then with your pencill driuing and working them finely one into another . for cloth. cloth likewise is as your sattens , but that you must not giue so shining and suddaine a glosse vnto it . for l●●ther . as buffe , take yellow oker , and some white lead mixed with it : and where you will haue it darker by degrees , mixe vmber with it , and when you haue wrought it ouer , take a broad pencill and frieze it ouer with vmber and a little sea-coale blacke . for yellow leather , take masticot and yellow oker , shaddow it with vmber at your pleasure . for blacke leather for shooes , lampe blacke , shaddowed with white lead . for white leather , white lead , shaddowed with iuorie blacke . to expresse gold and siluer . to expresse gold vpon armour , or the hilt of a sword or rapier , take vmber , red lead , and masticot ; lay your ground onely red lead , if you please , mixed with a little pinke , and where you will haue the shaddow darke , vse vmber , where the light , masticot . for siluer , take char-coale blacke and white lead ; where you will haue it darke , vse more char-coale , and for the light , giue it a bold and suddaine stroke with your white . and thus you make your pearle . note , that you must grind your sea-coale and char-coale ( of a sallow , if you can get it ) in faire water first , and when it is dry , grind it in oyle . for skie and landscape . for a sky or landscaps , that seeme a great way off , take oyle smalt , or bice if you will , and with linseed oyle onely temper it on your pallet ( for in grinding smalt or bice , they vtterly lose their colour ) with white lead , and where it looketh redde as the morning , vse lake , &c. of wood colours , barkes of trees , &c. your wood colours are compounded either of vmber and white , char-coale and white , sea-coale and white , vmber blacke and white , or with some greene added . sometime adde a little lake or vermilion . of sundry greenes in oyle . for a deepe and sad greene , as in the in-most leaues of trees , mingle indico and pinke . for a light greene , pinke and masticot : for a middle and grasse-greene , verdigreace and pinke . remember euer to lay on your yellowes , blewes , reds , and greenes , vpon a white ground which giueth them their life . to make cleane your pencils , rub soape hard into them , and lay them by a while , after wash them in warme water . to make cleane your grinding stone and mullar , rub it ouer with crums of bread . to keepe your colours from drying in the heate of summer , set them in the bottome of a bason of water . if you would get farther experience , acquaint your selfe with some of our excellent masters about london , where there are many passing iudicious and skilfull . the onely and most esteemed peece in the world for iudgement and art , is the battaile ( commonly called , the battaile of doomes day ) fought in the night betweene s●lym the first , emperour of the turkes , and ishma●l sophi king of persia. it is a night peece done by bellino , the famous venetian painter , by the commandement of s●lym , after his victorie , and sent as a present to the duke and state of venice , where it yet hangeth in their counsell chamber . there is likewise a very rare and admirable peece in and warpe , done by a blacksmith vpon this occasion . this smith falling in loue with a painters daughter , ( who vowed neuer to marrie any , but of her fathers profession ) gaue ouer his trade of a smith , and sell to painting some foure or fiue yeares : in which time , the hope of gaining a faire maid guiding his hand , hee became so cunning , that he not onely obtained his wench , but a masse of wealth by his pencill ; there being offered for this one peece alone , seauen thousand crownes . it hangeth in one of the great churches there , s. georges or our ladies , i remember not well which . but thus much of drawing and painting in generall . now it shal not be amisse , for the aduancement of this excellent skill , which none can loue or admire more then my selfe ( that i may omit the liues of the ancient graecian and romane painters ) to come neerer our times , and acquaint you with the best masters italy alone hath affoorded . ioannes cimabus . italy being ouer-runne , and miserably wasted with warres , what time all good learning and arts lay neglected , about the yeare 1240. painting and painters were there so rare , that they were faine to send into greece for men skilfull herein . of whom the italians learned the rudiments and principles of this art , in a manner quite lost amongst them . so that while certaine graecian painters , sent for by some of the nobilitie of florence , were painting a church in florence , one ioannes cimabus a young man , and naturally affecting this art , grew so farre into familiar acquaintance with them , that he learned the manner of their draught , and mingling colours , that in a short time he excelled the best masters among them ; and was the first that i can find among the italians , that brought painting into credit , and got a name by his skill herein . for some of his peeces for the raritie , were carried out of his house into the new church in florence , with musicall instruments of all sorts , and solemne procession● others being vttered at great rates ouer all france and italy ; in so much , as charles the french king moued with his fame , came to florence to see his worke. he died in the yeare 1300. leauing behind him his scholler giotto , who by the opinion of dante 's in his purgatorie farre surpassed him : he was so humorous , saith the interpreter of dante 's , that if himselfe or any other espyed any fault in his work , he would ( like mishael ianss , now liuing at delft in holland ) deface and breake it in peeces , though he had bestowed a tweluemoneths paines thereon . andrea taffi . about this time also , the graecians brought the art of working in musiue , or mosaique to venice , where in s. markes church they wrought it ; with whom taffi falling acquainted , hee drew one of the best masters among them , named apoll●●●m , to florence , who taught him to bake mosaique glasses , and to temper the size for them : so they wrought together ; but the rudenesse of that age was such , that neither they nor their workes were in that esteeme as they deserued . gaddo gaddi . about this time also liued gadde gaddi , a very rare master , a florentine borne ( for the fine and subtile aire of florence , hath produced men of more sharpe and excellent spirits , then any other place of italy ) who excelled in mosaique , and wrought it with better iudgement then any before him ; insomuch as hee was sent for to rome , anno. 1308 the yeare after the great fire , and burning of the church of s. iohn lateran● , and the pallace of pope clement the fifth : whence well rewarded , he returned backe into tuscane , where he dyed anno 1312. margaritene . margarit●n●● was borne in arezz● , a very skilfull master : he was the first that deuised laying gold or gilding vpon bole armoniacke to be burnished , as we see it in knops now adaies vpon the valences and canopics of beds ; and to make a glew for picture tables , that should neuer decay . giotto . giotto was not onely a rare painter , but also an excellent architect , for all manner of curious conceipt in building : and to say truth , was the first who of latter times in italy brought picture into admiration , and her true height . he was borne at vespign●●● , a village fourete●ne italian miles from florence : his father was an husbandman , and gi●tt● being a boy of some twelue yeares of age , was set by him to keepe sheepe : but nature hauing ordained him for another end ; the boy while hee was tending his sheepe , would be practising with a sticke vpon the sand , or dustie high-way , or vpon void places vpon walls with a coale , to draw whatsoeuer sorted with his fancie . it fortuned on a time , while he was drawing the picture of one of his sheepe , cimabus to passe by , who admiring such art in the boyes draught , ( who had neuer any other direction saue out of his naturall inclination ) demanded of him if he would dwell with him : who answered , yea , if his father were so contented . the father agreed , and placed him with cimabus , who in short time so excelled , that he farre surpassed the rusticke greeke manner of working , bringing forth a better moderne art , and the true working by the life , which had not beene knowne in two hundred yeares before . he was very inward and familiar with dante 's the poet , whose picture he drew : he was of all others famous for his skill and conceipt in expressing affections , and all manner of gesture , so that he might be truly called natures scholler . his workmanship is especially seene at acesi , a citie of vmbria , in the cloisters of s. francis , where the body of s. francis lyeth buried : where among other rare inuentions of his , is to be seene a monke kneeling before obedience , who putteth a yoake vpon his necke , he holding vp both his hands to heauen , and shee laying her forefinger vpon her mouth , casteth vp her eyes towards christ , from whose side the blood issueth in great abundance . on either hand of her stand wisedome and humility , to shew where true obedience is , there is wisedome and humility , which helpe to finish euery good worke : on the other side is an historie where chastity standeth vpon a strong and high rocke , as not to be won , or mooued by the force of kings , though they seeme to offer crownes , scepters , and palmes . at her feete lyeth purity , in the shape of a childe washing it selfe , and by chastity standeth pennance , hauing diuen away with her discipline winged loue : in a third place standeth pouerty barefooted , treading vpon thornes , a dogge barking at her ; at one side , a child throwing stones at her , on the other , another child with a sticke putting the thornes towards her legs . this pouerty is marryed to saint francis , whom christ giueth by ioying their hands : in a fourth place is saint francis , praying with such great deuotion , and inward affection expressed in his countenance , that it detaineth the beholder with singular admiration . from thence returning toward florence , he wrought in distemper ( as we call it ) or wet with size , sixe histories of patient i●b , wherein are many excellent figures : among others the positures and countenances of the messengers bringing the sorrowfull newes vnto him , which are not to be mended : withall a seruant , with one hand keeping off the slies from his sore master , and with the other stopping his nose : the countenances and draperies of the standers by done with such grace and iudgement , that the same hereof presently went ouer all italy . insomuch that pope benedict sent a messenger from rome into tuscany to know what manner of man giotto was , and what his workes were ; beeing purposed to beautifie saint peters church with sacred histories by the hand of some excellent master . this messenger or courtier from the pope , taking his iourney to florence , passed by siena , and still enquiring out the best masters , tooke a draught of something from euery one of them to carry back to the pope , to choose as he thought best : comming to florence in a morning betimes , he came to the shop of giotto , desiring ( as he had done of others ) to giue him a touch with his pencill , or some peece to show his holinesse . giotto being merily disposed , tooke a sheete of paper , vpon which , with a pencill ( setting one arme vnder his side ) hee drew so absolute a circle , that by no co●passe a truer could be drawne ; hauing done , smiling he gaue it to the cour●●ier , saying , there is my draught . the cour●ier imagining he had flouted him , said , is this all ? giotto replyed , it is all , and more then enough . when the pope with others of iudgement saw it , and heard the manner how carelesly he did it , he admired and confessed , he passed all men of his time in excellency it this being knowne , it grew a prouerbe in italy , m●re round then giotto's circle . the pope after this , did him much honour , and very liberally rewarded him . hee had painted vpon a certaine wall the picture of the virgin mary , and when this wall was to be mended , such care ( by reason of the excellency of his art ) was had of this picture , that it was cut square and taken downe whole out of the wall with a great deale of paine and cost . he made in mosai●●● , in the fore court of saint peter , the ship wherein peter and the apostles were in danger of drowning , their actions and gestures full of feare , the sailes full of wind , with the behauiour of fishermen in such extremitie . at avag●●● , hee wrought for pope cle●●●● the fift ; & in many other places of france his workes are yet remaining . anno 1316. he was at last sent for by robert king of naples , for whom there ( in the church of the cloyster of saint clare ) he made many histories both of the old and new testament , with the whole historie of the reuelation : it is said that herein his invention was admirable , and that he was much holpen by his deare and ingenious friend dan●es the poet. the king was not onely pleased with the excellencie of his hand , but with his many witty answers and conceipts ; wherefore sometime he would sit by him halfe a day together to see him worke . once the king said vnto him , giotto i will make thee the foremost man of my court ; i beleeue it ( quoth giotto ) and that ( i thinke ) is the reason why i am lodged in the porters lodge at your court gate . another time also the king said thus vnto him , giotto , if i were as thou , the weather is so exceeding hot , i would giue ouer painting for a while ; whereunto giotto replyed , indeed sir , if i were as you , i would let it rest indeed . another time , being at worke in the great hall of the court , the king merily requested him , to paint him out his kingdome ; giotto made no more adoe , but presently painted an affe with a saddle on his backe , and smelling at another new saddle that lay before him at his feet , as if he had had a mind to that , rather then the other vpon his backe ; and vpon each saddle a crowne and a scepter : the king demanded what he meant thereby ; giotto replyed , such is your kingdome and subiects , for they desire new lords daily . in his returning to fl●rence , he made very many rare peeces by the way , deuised many excellent models for building ; beside other his workes in caruing , plaistique , &c. the citie of florence not onely roially rewarded him , but gaue him and his posteritie a pension of an hundred crownes a yeare , which was a great summe in those times . he died to the griefe of many , in the yeare 1336. and was buried at florence , vpon whom angelus politianus wrote this epitaph worthy so excellent a man. ille ego sum per quem pictura extincta re●ixis , cui quam recta manu● , ●am fuit & facilis . natura decrat , nostra quad defuit arti , plus licuit nulli pingere necmeli●● . miraris * ●turri● egregiam sacre are sonantem , hac qu●que de module cre●it ad astra 〈◊〉 ; denique sum iottus , quid opus suit illareferre ? hoc nomen lengi carminis instar erit . stephano fiorentino . this stephano beeing giotto's scholler , what with his masters furtherance , and his owne industry , became not onely equall to his master , but in some respects excelled him , as many of his works doe manifest , namely the virgin mary in the church called camp● sante at pisa , which to say truth , excelled that of his masters in the cloister of sant● spirit● in florence . he painted the transfiguration of our blessed sauiour in the mount with moses and elias , where the light was seene to shine downe vpon the apostles , who with such a faire action lay so wrapped in their mantles that ye might perceiue all the foldings vpon the ioints , and made the nakednes to shine through their thinne cloathes , which was neuer seene before or vsedby giotto . in another chappell he made the fall of luci●er , wherein hee shewed many excellent foreshortnings of bodies , armes , and legges ; wherefore by the artists of his time . he was named occhi● di natura , the eye of nature , he wrought at rome , milane , and many other places : many excellent pieces of his are yet to bee seene in florence , which for breuity i omit the dyed anno 1350. petro laurati of siena . petro laurati was famous in his time , especially for making of glories , wherein he surpassed all others before him . at arezze with excellent skill hee painted vpon a ●eeling angels dancing as in a ring about mary , seeming to sing and play on instruments ; where in their eyes and countenances you may see expressed a true godly ioy : another troope of angels with various and delicate action carrying her vp into heauen . he dyed , 1350. b●namic● buffalmacco . buffalmacco was scholler to taffi , and as excellent in his profession , so was he merry and of pleasant conceit : wherefore hee was familiar with brun● and calandrin● , rare artists and of his owne humour , many of whose iestes are recorded by boccace . buffalmacco being a young youth while he dwelt with taffi , was called vp by his master by two or three of the clocke in winter mornings to his worke , grinding of colours or the like , which grieued him much ; and bethinking himselfe how to make his master keepe his bed , he got vp in the fields some thirty or forty dorres or beetles , and a little before his master should rise , fastning little waxe candles vpon their backs , puts them in lighted , one by one into his masters chamber ; who seeing the lights moouing vp and downe , began to quake for feare , committing himselfe to god with hattie prayer , and couered himselfe ouer head and eares in his bed , hauing no mind to worke or awake buffalmacco . in the morning ●ee asked buffalmacco if hee had not seene a thousand diuels as he had ; who answered no , for he was asleepe , and wondered he called him not : called ? saide taffi , i had other things to thinke of then to paint , i am fully resolued to goe dwell in another house . the night following though buffalmacco had put in but onely three lights into his chamber , yet could he not sleep for feare al that night : it was no sooner day but taffi , left his house with intēt neuer to come into it againe . buffalmacco hereupon went to the priest of the parish to desire his aduice , telling him that in his conscience the diuell next vnto god hated none more then painters , for that , said buffalmacco , we make him odious in the peoples eyes by painting him terrible and in the vgliest shape we can deuise ; and more to spight him , wee paint nothing but saints in churches to make the people more deuout then otherwise they would , wherefore the diuels are very angry with vs , and hauing more power by night then by day , they play these prankes , and i feare they will doe worse except we gine ouer this working by candle light . this he spake so confidently , and in so deniure a manner to the priest , that the priest anouched it to be true , and with great reasons perswaded taffi euer after to keepe his bed ; which beeing published about , working by candle-light was left through the towne euer after . the first proofe of his skill he shewed at a nunnery neere pisa now wholly ruined , being the birth of christ , where herod killed the children of bethlem ; where the affections and lookes of the murtherers , mothers , nurses resisting with biting , scratching , tearing , pulling , &c. are excellently expressed . moreouer , he drew the foure patriarkes , and the foure euangelists , where he expressed saint luke with great art , blowing the inke in his pen to make it runne . he was in his time one of the merriest and finest companions of the world : he died , anno 1340. ambrosio lorenzetti of siena . this ambrosio was a painter of siena , he was chiefely commended for that grace he had in contrining postures and accidents of history : he was the first that most liuely could resemble tempests , stormes , raine , &c. he was very moderate , and went rather like a philosopher then a painter . he dyed at siena . petro cavallini of rome . this was scholler vnto gi●tt● , and wrought with him in the ship of mosaique in the front of saint peters in rome . there is yet a crucifixe of his yet to bee seene at arezzo , and another in the church of saint paul in rome , of admirable life and skill . he was wondrous deuout and religious . he dyed 1363. and lyeth buryed at pauls without rome with this epitaph . quantum romana petrvs decus addidi● vibi , pictur● , tartum da● decus ipse p●l● . simon of siena . simon of siena was a rare artist , and liued in the time of the famous and laur●ate poet francis petrarch , in whose verses he liueth eternally , for his rare art & iudgement showne , in drawing his laura to the life . for invention and variety he was accounted the best of his time . andreas orgagna . andreas orgagna was a fl●rentine , and both a painter , poet , architect and caruer , though hee began first with caruing . one of his best peeces he wrought in pisa , which was all sorts of worldly and sensuall epicures , rioting and banquetting vnder the shaddow of an orenge tree , within the branches and bowes whereof , sly● little amorettos or cupids , shooting at sundry ladies lasciuiously dancing and dallying amongst them ; which ladies were then liuing , and all discerned by their seuerall countenances : as also many gallants and princes of that time drawne in the same table . on the other side of the table , he made an hard rocke , full of people , that had left the world , as being eremites , seruing of god , and doing diuers actions of pietie , with exceeding life ; as here one prayeth , there another readeth , some other are at worke to get their liuing , and among the rest , there is with admirable art and iudgment , an eremite milking of a goat . withall , saint macharius , who sheweth the miserable estate of man to three kings riding on , hunting in great state with their queenes , and sheweth the● a graue wherein lie three dead kings , whose bodies are almost rotten ; whereon they looke with a great feare , liuely expressed in their countenances , and one wishly looking downe into the graue , stoppeth his nose , &c. ouer this flyeth death in blacke with a sith in his hand : all about on the earth lye people along of all ages , sexe , and condition , slaine , and dying by sundry meanes . he also painted the iudgement , where hee placed in hell most of his foes that had molested him , and among the rest a scrivener , whose name was cecehode ascol● , and knowne for a notable knaue in his profession , and a coniurer beside , who had many wayes molested him : he was by children and boyes discerned to be the same man , so well had he exprest him to the life . he dyed aged 60. yeares , 1389. and lyeth buryed at florence . thomas masaccio . this thomas , sirnamed masaccio or the slouen ( for that he neuer cared how hee went in his cloathes ) was borne in the castle of saint iohn de valderno ; and being a youth , so much addicted his mind vnto painting , that hee cared in a manner for nothing , not so much as to demand money of his debters where it was due , but when meere necessitie draue him thereunto ; yet was he curteous vnto all . he excelled in perspectiue , and aboue all other masters laboured in nakeds , and to get the perfection of foreshortning , and working ouer head to bee viewed standing vnder . amongst other his workes , that of saint peter taking a penny out of the fishes mouth , and when he payeth it for tole , is famous . in briefe , he brake the ice to all painters that succeeded for action in nakeds and foreshortnings , which before him were knowne but of few . for by his peeces and after his practise , wrought fryer iohn of ficsole , frier phillip phillipine , alessan : baldovinetti , andrea del caslagna , verochio dominico de grillandaio , di botticello , leonarde de vinci , pedro di perugia , frier bartholome ● of saint marks , mariotte , albertinell , the rare and euer admired michael angelo , bonarotti , raphael d' v●bine , and sundry others . he dyed it was suspected of poison in the 26. yeare of his age . his epitaph was written in italian by hannibal coro . leon baptista alberti . this alberti was an excellent linguist , hauing his latine tongue very exactly . he was borne in florence , and was both an excellent painter and architect ; hee wrote tenne bookes of architecture in latine , which he published in print , anno. 1481. moreouer hee wrote three bookes of the art of painting , a treatise of measuring heigthes , besides certaine bookes of policy , with many other discourses . he was descended of a noble house , and was very inward with pope nicholas the fi●t . he was excellent for the descriptions of battailes , night workes , glittering of weapons , and the like . frier phillipo lippi . phillipo lippi borne in florence , was a poore childe , and left fatherlesse and motherlesse , was brought vp by an aunt ; at eight yeares of age , placed in a monasterie of the ●●cobines , where out of his naturall inclination , he practised drawing and painting ; and in short time grew to that excellence , that he was admired of all : making in his cloyster many histories in we● , after masaccio's manner . at seuenteene yeares of age he forsooke his order . being in la marcad ' ancona , he put himselfe with some friends to sea , but were in short time taken by the pirats of barbaris , and sold into the country for slaues , wearing heauie chaines about their legges . in this estate liued phillipo eighteene moneths , but growing familiar with his master , one day , when he saw his time and his master in a good humour , tooke a coale , and vpon a white wall drew him from head to foot : this being seene of his fellow slaues , and shewed vnto his master , who had neuer seene a picture before , was cause of his deliueance : for making his escape , or at least his master winking thereat , he made shift to come to naples , where hee wrought in colours a most curious altar-table for king alphonsus . hence hee went to florence , and made another altar-table , which pleased cosmo de medicis wondrous well ; whereupon hee was employed by cosmo in making many small pictures , whereof some were sent vnto eugenius the fourth , whereupon he grew in great fauour with the pope . he was so addicted vnto women , that what euer he got , hee bestowed and spent it among them : whereupon cosmo shut him vp into a chamber in his house , that he might follow his worke close ; but hauing beene thus mewed vp by the space of two daies , the humou● of gadding tooke him againe in the head ; and one euening cutting his sheets , made ropes of them , and so gat out at a window . but shortly after , found and brought to cosmo againe , he had libertie to go and come at his pleasure , and was better attended and serued then before . for said cosmo. the excellence of rare spirits are heauenly formes , and no burden-bearing mules . many excellent peeces he made in florence , admired and applauded by the best masters . at pr●t●o by florence , where hee was acquainted , the nunnes of sancta margarita procured him to make their high altar-table , where being at worke , hee espied a beautifull virgin , a citizens daughter of florence , whose name was francisco bati : this maid was there kept to be made a nunne ; she was most beautifull , her name was lucretia , & so he wrought with the nunnes , that he obtained leaue to draw her picture ; but by continuall gazing vpon her countenance , he became so enamoured of her , that what by close messengers and other meanes , he got her out of the nunnerie : he got her away and married her , and by her he had a sonne , named also phillip , who became an excellent painter . this frier phillips workes are to bee seene at prato . and amongst other s. bernard layed out dead , his brethren mourning about him , and many cripples and diseased persons , which ( as it was said ) with touching the herse and his body , were healed . then hee most excellently wrought the martyrdome of s. stephen , the beheading of s. iohn baptist , with many others . he died aged fiftie seuen , anno 1438. hee had a stately monument of marble erected ouer him ; his epitaph was written by angelus politianus , which for the elegancy i will set downe . co●ditus his ego sum , picturae fama philippus , nulli ignota mea est , gratia mir a manus . artifices , potui digitis animare colores : sperataque animos fallere voce di● . ipsa mess stupuit natura expressa figuris , meque , suis fassa est artibus esse parem . marmorco tu●ulo medices laurentius hic me condidit ; antè humil● p●l●ere tectus eram . antonello de messino . antonello borne at messino , ought not to be forgotten , who was the first that brought painting in oyle into italy . for certaine oyle peeces being sent by the merchants out of flanders to alphonsus , the first king of naples , which the king had in great admiration , for that they could not be washed out with water : comming to the view of antonello , antonello could neuer be in quiet vntill he had found out the inuentor , whose name was iohn van eyck , who entertained antonello very curteously , and shewed him his art what he could ; but at last , iohn van eyck dying , antonello returned vnto venice , where his workes of the magnifici were much admired , and for that he brought the working in oyle the first into italy ; he was honored with this epitaph . d. o. m. antonius pict●r , pracipuum messan● & t●tius siciliae ornam●ntum , hac hum● contegitur , non sol●m suis picturis in quibus singulare artificium , & venustas fi●t , sed & quod coloribus el●● miscendis splendorem & perpetuitatem primus italica pictura con●ulit , summo semper artificum , ●●●di● celebratus . dominico ●irlandaio . this dominico was a florentine , by profession at the first a gold-smith , but falling to painting , hee became a great master therein . his first worke was a chappell for the family of the vespucci , wherein hee drew in his sea habit , and standing vpon an vnknowne shoare , americus vesputius , who gaue america her name . his best peeces are to be seene at s. maria n●vella in florence . he died anno 1493. raphaell d'vrbine . i ouerpasse for breuitie sake , many other excellent and famous artists of italie , equalling the former , as bellino , pallaiuoli , botticello , verrocchio , andreas mantegna of mantua , so highly esteemed and honoured of duke luduvico gonzaga ; francesco francia , michael angelo : and will comprise them in the excellencie of one onely raphaell d'vrbine , who was borne at vrbine ; whose fathers name was gi●vanni de santi , a painter also . this raphaell was brought vp vnder petro perusini in perusia , where he so gaue his mind from a child vnto drawing and painting , that in short time hee contended for the palme with the greatest masters of europe , and was for his admirable inuention , sirnamed the wonderfull . there was a great aemulation betweene raphaell and the afore named francesco francia , who liued and wrought at b●logna , till at the last through meere admiration , by report of each others skill , they grew most louing friends , greeting each either by letters continually ; yet had francia neither seene raphaell vrbine , nor any of his workes ( by reason he was old and could not trauaile , abiding alwaies in bologna ) vntill it fortuned that raphaell vrbine hauing made a s. cicilia in a faire altar-table , for the cardinall de pucci santi quatro , which was to be set at bologna , at s. giovanni sopra monte ( or on the hill : ) which table he shut in a case , and sent it to francia , as vnto a deare friend , that if any thing were amisse , or it happened to be defaced or iniured in the carriage , hee would amend it : and beside , so much befriend him , as to set it vp in the place appointed , and to see it want nothing fitting . when he vnderstood thus much by raphaels letter , hee opened the case with great ioy , and set the peece in a good and faire light ; which when he had throughly viewed , he was so amazed , and grew so out of conceipt of himselfe and his owne worke , confessing his worke to be nothing , in respect of raphaell vrbines : which so strucke him to the heart , that he died ( presently after he had set the peece in his place ) anno 1518. the fame of raphael vibine at this time was so great , that he was sought for and employed by the greatest princes of europe , as namely , the popes adrian and leo ; francis the first , king of france , henry the eight , king of england ; the dukes of florence , vrbane , mantu● , and diuers others . those stately hangings of arras , containing the historie of s. paul out of the acts ( than which , eye neuer beheld more absolute art , and which long since you might haue seene in the banquecting house at white-hall ) were wholly of his inuention , bought ( if i be not deceiued ) by king henrie the eight of the state of venice , where raphaell vrbine dyed . i haue no certainty , but sure i am , his memorie and immortall fame , are like to liue in the world for euer . if you would reade the 〈◊〉 at large of the most excellent painters , as well ancient as modern , i refer you vnto the two volumes of vasari , well written in italian ( which i haue not seene , as being hard to come by ; yet in the libraries of two my especiall and worthy friends , m. doctor mountford , late prebend of pauls , and m. inigo lones , surueyer of his maiesties workes for building ) and caluin mander in high dutch ; vnto whom i am beholden , for the greater part of what i haue heere written , of some of their liues . chap. 13. of armorie , or blazon of armes , with the antiquity and dignitie of heralds . it is meete that a noble or gentleman who beareth armes , and is well descended , bee not onely able to blazon his owne proper coate ; deriue by pedegree the descent of his family from the originall , know such matches and allies as are ioyned to him in blood : but also of his prince , the nobilitie , and gentry where he liueth , which is not of meere ornament , as the most suppose , but diuersly necessary and of great consequence : as had i fortuned to haue liued in those times , when that fatall difference of either rose was to be decided by the sword ; with which partie in aequitie and conscience could i haue sided , had i beene ignorant of the descent and pedegree royall , and where the right had beene by inheritance of blood , match , or alliance . how should we giue nobilitie her true value , respect , and title , without notice of her merit : and how may we guesse her merit , without these outward ensignes and badges of vertue , which anciently haue beene accounted sacred and precious ; withall , discerne and know an intruding vpstart , shot vp with the last nights mushrome , from an ancient descended and deseruing gentleman , whose grandsires haue had their share in euery foughten field by the english since edward the first ? or my selfe a gentleman know mine owne ranke ; there being at this instant the world ouer , such a medley ( i had almost said motley ) of coates , such intrusion by adding or diminishing into ancient families and houses ; that had there not beene within these few yeares , a iust and commendable course taken by the right honorable the earles marshals , for the redresse of this generall and vnsufferable abuse , we should i feare me within these few yeares , see yeomen as rare in england , as they are in france . besides , it is a contemplation full of pleasing varietie , and for the most part , sympathizing with euery noble and generous disposition , in substance the most refined part of naturall philosophie , while it taketh the principles from geometry , making vse almost of euery seuerall square and angle . for these and other reasons , i desire that you would bestow some houres in the studie of the same : for a gentleman honorably descended , to be vtterly ignorant herein , argueth in him either a disregard of his owne worth , a weaknesse of conceipt , or indisposition to armes and honorable action ; sometime meere ideotisme , as signeur gaulart , a great man of france ( and none of the wisest ) inuiting on a time many great personages and honourable friends to his table , at the last seruice a march-pane was brought in , which being almost quite eaten , hee bethought himselfe , and said ; it was told mee , that mine armes were brauely set out in gold and colours vpon this march-pane , but i haue looked round about it and cannot see them : your lordship ( said one of his men ) eate them vp your selfe but now . what a knaue ( quoth mounsieur gaulart ) art thou ? thou diddest not tell me before ieate them , i might haue seene what they had beene . the dignitie and place of an herald , among the ancient romans was very great ; that same lus feciale , or law of armes , being first instituted by ancus martius , as liuis testifieth , though some ascribe it to numa pompilius , who ordained a colledge of heralds . the office of an herald , was to see that the romanes made not warre iniustly with any of their confederates ; to determine of warre , peace , leagues , agreements , wrongs taken or offered by them or their enemies , and the like . now if the enemy had offered them wrong , or taken away any thing from them by violence , they first sent messengers to demaund their right , and the restoring of that they had taken away ; which was done in a soleanmne●sorme , and the words pronounced distinctly , and with a loud voyce : and this manner of deliuering their message , was called clarigatio . the forme was this , ioucn●●egotestem facio , siego impiè iniusletque , illas res dedier populo romano mibique exposco , ●unc patriae compotem nunquam sinas esse . if they refused their demaunds , or to make ●●stiitution : first all league and friendship ( if any were betwixt them ) being renounced and broken , after thirty daies , ( which they solemnly obserued ) they proclaimed open warre , and with fire and sword inuaded the enemies countrey , and by force recouered their owne . neither was it lawfull , for either consull or senate , or any of the common people , to take vp armes against an enemy , without the consent and approbation of the heralds . among the heralds , there was one the cheese and aboue the rest , whom they called pater patratus ; and hee was chosen one who was to haue children , and his owne father aliue : him one of the inferior heralds , crowning his head and temples with veruaine , made him the cheese or king , either in concluding peace , or denouncing warre . the most ancient forme of denouncing warre , is set downe at large by liuie . the tybarens are reported to haue beene so iust in their making warre , and defiance of their enemies , that they would neuer meete them , but first they would send them word of the day , place , yea , and very houre they meant to fight . moreouer , if any complaint by the enemy were made of breach of the league , the heralds examined the truth , and hauing found out the authours , they deliuered them vp to the enemy to doe with them as hee listed : or if any without the consent of the people , senate & heraldes , eyther fo●ght or made peace , entred league , &c. the romanes freede themselues again , by deliuering vp the authors to their enemies . so were the consuls t. veturi●s . & sp. postumius for their error at caudium , and making peace with the samnites contrary to the will of the people and senat , together with t. numicius and q. aemilius tribunes , deliuered to the enemy . the words of postumius himselfe , ( who made request that himselfe with the rest , who had offended , might be deliuered to the enemy ) are thus recorded by livie . dedamur per ficiales , nudi vinctique ex●lvamus religions populu● , fi qua obligavimns : ne quid divini bum●●ive obstet , quo minus instuns piun . qu● de integreine 〈◊〉 bellum . the forme and words on their deliuery to the enemies hands , were these : quandoquidem hice homines iniussu populi romani , quiritum soedus ictu● iri sposponderunt , atque ob ●am rem noxam nocuerunt : ob eam rem quo populus romanus seelere impio sit solutus , bos●e homines vobis dedo . and so , many yeares after was c. mancinus deliuered to the numantines , with whom hee had entred into league contrary to the will , and without the knowledge of the senate . heraldes also examined and determined of wrongs and iniuries done vnto embassadours , and punished them by deliuering vp in like manner , the parties offending , vnto the nation or state offended . they looked also to the strict obseruing of euery branch of the league , or truce ; in briefe their authority was comprised in these few words , ' belli , pacis , foederum , induciarum , oratorum feciales indices sunte . spurius fusius was the first herald that cuer was created among the romanes , and had the name of p●ter patratus in the warre which tullus hostitius made against old latines . their priuiledges were great and many , and too long for me here to reckon vp . and to conclude , for farther search of their institution , priuiledges , and office , i referre you to iehan le feron , a french authour . i purpose not heere to enter into a large field and absolute discourse of blazonry with all the lawes & termes thereof , hauing beene already preuented by bara , vpton , gerrard leigh , master ferns , master guillim ( late portculleis pursuiuant ) in his methodicall display of heraldry , with sundry others . so that , in a manner , more cannot bee saide then hath beene : my selfe besides hauing written something of this subiect heretofore , but onely to poynt vnto you as a stranger vpon the way , the fairest and shortest cut vnto your iournies end in this art. the word blazon is from the french e●blasonner ; and note that we in england vse herein the same tearmes of art with the french : because the ancients of our nobility for the greater part , acknowledge themselues to bee descended out of normandy , and to haue come in with the conquerour , many retaining their ancient french names , & charges vnto this day ; as beauchamp , beaumont , sacuill , neuill , with many others . your a. b. c. in this art , let be the knowledge of the sundry formes of shieldes or escotcheons which are , and haue beene ordinarily borne in ancient times . among all nations we of europe haue onely two kinds in vse ( the lozen●s excepted ) viz. that we vse in england , france , germany , &c. and the ouall they beare in italy : which forme they yet ( from the old romanes ) holde in vse . the word escotcheon is deriued from the french un esci● , that from the latine scutam , and that againe from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke , which is leather ; because the ancients had their shieldes of tanned leather , the skinnes laid thicke one ouer another , as appeareth by that of vlysses , vpbraiding aiax : quae nisi fecissem , frustra telamone creatus , gestasset laeva taurorum tergora septem . and caesar ( saith cābrensis ) fighting hand to hand with nennius , a british king fast had his sword , nayled into nennius his shield ( being of hard leather , ) at which aduantage nennius had slaine him , had not labienns the tribune stepped in betweene , and rescued his master . now the ancient shields by reason that they were long , and in a manner of that forme as some of the knights templers had theirs , as appeareth vpon that their monument in the temple church , differed much from the buckler or target which was round , as it may appeare out of livie . clypeis a●tem romani vsi sunt ( saith he ) deinde postquam facti sunt stipendiarij , scuta pro clypeis fectre . and virgil compareth the great eye of cycl●ps to an argolican target , for who will deny but that an eye is round ? that their shieldes ( as i haue said ) were long , and in a manner couered the whole body , he saith else-where , scutis protecti corporalongis . hereupon scutum was called in greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because it resembled a dore , which is euer more long then broad . the carthaginians made their shieldes of gold . m. aufidius tels vs that his ancestours ( being romanes ) had theirs of siluer . alexander king of the iewes opposed against prolomy 8000. fighting men , which hee tearmed h●catomachi , as much to say as , fighting each man against an hundred , because they vsed brasen shields . the numidians vsed shieldes made of elephants hides impenetrable to any dart , yet on the other side they had this discommoditie , that in rainy weather they would like a sponge so soake in the water , and become hereby so heauy , the souldiers could hardly beare them . the shield in times past was had in such honour , that he who lost or alienated the same , was accounted as basely of as he that with vs runnes from his colours , and was seuerely punished : and the graecians fined him at a greater rate who lost his shield , then he who lost his sword or speare . because that a souldier ought to take more care that he receiueth not a mischiefe , then he should doe it of himselfe . bitter was that iest of scipio , when hee saw a souldier bestow great cost in trimming and glazing his shield : i can not blame thee ( quoth he ) that thou bestewest so much cost vpon thy shield , because thou trustest more to that then to thy sword . the lacaeademonians of all other the most warlike , by the lawes of lycurgus , brought vp their children to the vse of shields from their infancy ; and famous is that lacaedemonian mother for that her speech to her son , when she deliuered him a shield going to the warre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sonne either bring backe this shield , or bee thou brought backe thy selfe ( dead ) within it . but thus much of the shield or escotcheon . armes or ensignes at the first had their chiefe vse for distinction of tribe from tribe , armie from armie being composed of two or moe colours , whereof one was euer white or yealow , which we now tearme mettals , and that of necessitie ; for without the mixture of one of these , the other as too darke of themselues , could not bee discerned farre , neyther of white and yealow onely , as participating too much of the light . hence they say ( though not generally true ) where there is wanting colour or mettal , it is false armorie . i will not stand here to dispute ouer philosophically , as some haue done , of the praeeminence of one colour aboue another , or out of profound ignorance affirme blacke to be the most ancient colour , because darkenesse was vpon the face of the earth in the chaos ; as if colour were not qualitas visibilis luminis beneficio , and privati● were formarum susceptibilis ; and white the next , because god said fiat lux , as if light were a qualitie resulting of an lementarie composition , it beeing created before all mixed bodies : yea with aristotle i rather affirme blacke properly to be no colour at all , as partaking of the pure elements nothing at all , for he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of the elements mingled together , as earth , water , aire , not yet reduced to their proper substance , as wee may see in charcoales , all bodies consuming but not consumed , whereupon it is called niger , of the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifieth dead , as a colour proper to dead things . the colours , to say truth , immediately proceeding from the elements , are yellow and white : yellow beeing an effect of the fire . and all heate ( as we may see in gold ) begotten by the heate of the sunne , by the mixture of the clearest and most pure quicke-siluer , and the finest red brimstone , in fruite and corne ripened by the heate of the same , in choller , vrine , lie boyled , the bellies of hot venemous serpents and the like . the white is proper to the water and earth , as we way see in all watery bodies congealed , as ice , snowe , christall , glasse , pretious stones beaten into to powder : also the most rootes , the pulpe of apples , peares , and the like of watry substance , of earth in the ashes of wood and stones burned , all which turne white , being by the fire purged from water and aire . concerning the aire it selfe , it hath no colour at all . now after your two mettals , yealow and white , gold or siluer , which in armory we cal or & argent , you haue foure principall colours , viz. sable or blacke , azure or blew , gules or red , verd or greene. there are others , as purpure sanguine tenn● , which are in more vse with the french and other nations then with vs in england . from simple colours and diuision by bare lines , they came to giue their charges quicke and liuing things , such as sorted best with their fancies and humours , neyther without reason . the alani a warlike people , and extreame louers of their liberty , gaue in their ensigne a cat , a beast which of all other cannot brooke bo●●●ge . the gothes to expresse their crueltie with their ranging resolution , gaue a beare ; the romanes gaue the eagle , which euery legion seuerally bare . the reason whereof iosephus giueth , quòd & vniuersarum anium regnum habeat , & sit valentistima , so did the thebans and persians , as forcatulus reports ; beside , xenophon ( saith he , ) remembreth he saw in the armie of cyrus a golden eagle displayed , borne vpon a long speare , as his ensigne . yet generally plinie saith , the charges of their ensignes were of siluer , because that mettall was most sutable to the day light , and was to be discerned farther : so portius latro telleth catiline of his siluer eagle borne before him as the ensigne of his rebellion and furie . besides the eagle , the romanes vsed to beare in their banners the wolfe , in memorie of remus and romulus , fed by the milke of a shee-wolfe , as livie sheweth . when they vndertooke any expedition wherein great secrecy was to be vsed , then they aduanced the minotaure in their standards , to shew that the counsaile of commanders ought to be no lesse kept secret then the labyrinth which was the abode of the minotaure . withall they bare the horse , as the most martiall beast , and seruiceable in the warre , being full of furie , and desirous of victorie ; and in the ides of december , a horse was sacrificed to him who had broken the right wing of his enemies battaile : lastly , they bare a hogge in their ensignes , because the warre being finished , they vsed to make a truce by sacrificing a young swine ; which whosoeuer violated or went backe from , ought forth with as a hogge to be stoned to death : hereupon they had a forme of battaglia which they tearmed the hogges face . but all these ( the eagle onely excepted ) were by caius marius turned out of vse : but i shall haue elsewhere occasion to write more at large of these and the like imperiall badges . the kings of portugall bare in a field argent fiue escotcheons azure , each charged with as many plates ; on a bordure gules tenne castles , or , in remembrance of fiue kings , whom ( each seuerally leading a mightie army ) alphonsus the first , king of portugall ouerthrew neere to the city of scallabis in portugal now called trugill● ; there appearing at the same time ( saith osorius ) christ crucified in the heauen , whose fiue wounds those fiue plates represent . those castles are his holds in barbary which he wonne from the moores . the dukes of bavaria haue anciently borne their armes palie bendy arg . and azure , for that it resembled the party coloured cassocks of the ancient b●ij , who were those gaules that attempted the surprise of the capitol , whom virgil describing as by night , saith , virgatis lucens sagulis , which hee vnderstandeth by the white , as most easily to bee discerned in the night time . the towne of dort or dordrecht in holland , from a ciuill broile that long since occasioned much slaughter , staining the streetes ( being onely two aboue a mile in length , ( the riuer running in betweene ) with blood , bare in a field gules a pale argent . the city of collen , in regard it can shew the monuments of the three kings who offered to our sauiour , beareth argent , on a chiefe gules three crownes or. the city of andwarpe in brabant , for that sometime a tyrant prince was lord of that place , and punished offenders in cruell manner , by cutting off their hands ( whose pourtraiture cut in stone to the life , stands erected ouer one of the ports toward the sceld , with a sword in one hand , and a mans hand smitten off in the other ) beares foure hands , couptè in salteir , an eagle double necked , displaied in chiefe , to signifie that it is an imperiall citie ; and hence had it the name of antwerpe , as much to say as hand●werpen , which in dutch signifieth to cast or throw away the hand . the stoute and warlike henry spencer bishop of norwich , who supprest by his courage and valour , that dangerous rebellion , and about nerthwalsham , ouerthrew litster the captaine , hath ( as it is to bee seene vpon his monument in the body of the qui●e of christ-church in norwich ) ouer his proper coate of spencer , vpon an helmet , his episcopall miter , and vpon that michaell the arch-angell with a drawne sword . marie coates are conferred by the prince or state vpon merit and desert , for some honourable act performed to the common-wealth , or honour of the prince ; as that deuice vpon sir francis drake ( which was q. elizabeths owne ) now vsurped and borne ( the colour of the field changed siō sable into azure ) by oliuer à noert of vtrecht , who also of late yeares sailed about the earth . and at my last being in the low countries , was captaine of a foot company of dutch in huysden . the said coate fairely cut in stone , standeth ouer a porch at the entry of his house there . the mound or ball with the crosse , was by charles the fifth , added by way of augmentation , to the armories of the palsgraue of the r●ine , in regard of vienna , so brauely defended by phillip earle palatine , together with the count solmas , against the furie of solyman , who laid siedge to it with aboue 300000. men ; yet glad ( at the rumour of the emperour charles his comming ) to shew his backe . for solyman , ( as himselfe was wont to say ) seared not charles as he was emperour of germany , but that good fortune which euer attended him in his greatest enterprises . and no doubt but the blessing of god was vpon him , as being one of the most religious , iust and worthiest princes that euer liued . the family of the haies in scotland , bare arg. three escotcheons gules , vpon this occasion . at what time the danes inuaded scotland , and in a set batraile had put the scots to the worst : one hay with his two sonnes being at plow not farre off , and seeing his countrey-men flying frō their enemies , to come vp a narrow lane walled with stone on both sides , towards him ; with their plowbeames in their hands , meeting them at the lanes end , in despite beate them backe to charge their enemies afresh , reuiling their cowardize , that now hazarded the whole kingdome : whereupon with a stout resolution they put themselues againe into array , and returning backe vpon the danes ( who were both disordered , and in a feare lest a new supply had come downe to the scots succour ) ouerthrew them vtterly , and regained a most memorable victory . he●eupon hay was by the king ennobled , and had giuen him for his bearing , in a field siluer , three escotcheons gules : the rest a plow-man with his plow-beame on his shoulder : and withall for his maintenance , as much land as a faulcon put off from hand could sly ouer erc she did alight , which land in scotland is to this day called hay his land ; and the faulcon alighting vpon a stone , about seuen miles off , gaue it the name of the falcons stone , euen to this day . armes againe are sometimes taken from professions , and those meanes by which the bearers haue raised themselues to honourable place ; as the dukes of florence , for that they are descended from the family di medic● , or phisitians , bare in a field azure , sixe lozenges . sometimes they are wonne in the field from infidels , ( for no christian may directly beare anothers coate by his sword ) as was the coate of millan from a sarace● ; it being an infant naisant , or issuing from the mouth of a serpent . and after the winning of granad● from the moores , in the times of ferdin 〈◊〉 and is●bell , kings of castile , the pomgranate the armes of that kingdome , was placed in the bast of the escotcheon royall ; and in regard it was gained principally by the meanes of archerie , the bow and quiuer of arrowes was stamped vpon the spanish sixpence , which remaineth at this day to be seene . coates sometimes are by stealth purchased , shuffled into records and monuments , by painters , glasiers , caruers , and such : but i trust so good an order hath beene lately established by the right honorable , the late cōmissioners for the office of the earle marshalship , & carefull respect of the heralds with vs , that all hope of sinister dealing in that kind , is quite cut off from such mercenary abusers of nobilitie . many times gained at a cheaper rate , by bearing , as the boores in germany , and the netherlands , what they list themselues ; neither can their owne inuentions content them , but into what land or place soeuer they trauaile , if they espy a fairer coate then their owne ( for they esteeme coates faire or good , as our naturals , according to the varietie of colours ) after their returne they set it vp in glasse for them and their heires , with the crest and open beauer , as if they were all princes ; as at wodrichom or worcom , hard by louestein , i found ouer a tradesman coate , no worse crest then the three feathers in the crown , and in many other places whole coates of the french nobilitie . heereof examples in those parts are so frequent , that i must say , inopem me copia fecit . now being acquainted with your colours , the points and euery place of the escotchcon , which the accidence of armorie of master guillims display , will at large instruct you in , begin to practise the blazon of those coats which consist of bare and simple lines , without charge , as that ancient coate of waldgra●● , who beareth onely party per pale arg. and gules ; and the citie of virecht partie per bend of the same . then your fields equally compounded of moe lines , as quarterly , b●ndey , barrey , gyronned , checkey , masculie , &c. withall , know the names and vse of all manner of your crooked lines , as endemed , embat●elled , nebulè , or vndeè , danncé●●●è , &c. know then those honorable and prime places , or ordinaries , with their species , as the cheese , so called of chef in french , that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because it possesseth the head , or vpper third part of the escotcheon . the fesse holding the middle third part of the shield , containeth vnder it the barre , barrulet , coste , barresgemells , &c. the bend , the bendlet , single and double cotize . next know the furres , counterchangings , bordures , tressures , orles , frets ; all formes of crosses , differences of brothers , roundles of euery kind ; as beasan●s , pla●es , pommices , &c. then proceede to the blazon of all vegetable things , as flowers , trees , &c. then to all quicke and liuing things , as beasts , birds , fishes , serpents , and the like . when you haue done , know honorable additaments , whether they be by way of augmentation , or markes and differences of alliance . coates of augmentation , as those of queene katherine parre , queene katherine howard , and queene iane seymor , conferred by king henry the eight . by cantons , as ferdinand king of spaine , honoured sir henry guilford with a canton of granado : and king iames , molin● , the v●ne●ian embassadour , with a canton of the rose of england , and thistle of scotland empaled . then ensue differences of alliance , by bordures , labels , bends , quarterings , and the like . by the bordure , no where more frequent then in the soueraignes coate , when the blood roiall was deriued into so many veines , to the distemper of the whole body , vnder the dissention of yorke and lancaster . thomas of woodstocke , as also humphrey duke of glocester ( who lyeth buried in the abbey of s. albanes , vpon the south-side of the quire , and not in paules ) bare the soueraigne coate within a bordure argent . richard plantagenet ( sonne and heire of richard earle of cambridge ) duke of yorke , and father to edward the fourth , bare quarterly france and england , within a bordure argent , charged with lionceeaux purpure . edmund of hadham , sonne of owen tuder , by queene katherine , the soueraigne coat within a bordure azure , with martlets and flower-de-luces or. iohn beaufort , sonne of iohn of gaunt , and his posteritie , the same within a bordure componeè , argent and azure . charles the seuenth , king of france , in the yeare 1436. gaue leaue vnto nicholas duke of ferrara , to beare the armes of france in a shield , within a bordure componeè or and gules , before the armes of ferrara , in recognisance of the league and fidelitie , wherein hee promised to stand bound to serue the king at his own charges . and for the like respect , lewis the eleuenth , in may , 1465. allowed pietro de medici , to beare three flower-de-luces in his shield , which i haue seene borne in cheife , vpon one of his sixe lozenges . of difference by the labell . a second difference is by the labell , borne chieefely as the difference of the elder brother . as edward the blacke prince , and all our princes of wales , eldest sonnes to the king , beare their fathers soueraigne coate , with a labell of three points , siluer . iohn of gauns had his labell ermin . edmond of langley duke of yorke , on his labell siluer , nine torteauxes . edmond plantagenes , sonne and heire of richard duke of yorke , earle of ru●land , ( who being a child scarce twelue yeares of age , was stricken to the heart with a dagger by the lord clifford at the battaile of wakefield ) had vpon his labell of fiue points argent , two lionceaux gules , with nine torteauxes . the coate of vls●er and mortim●r being ●mpaled with his owne , as may be seene in the windowes of f●deringhay castle , the mansion house of the duke of yorke , where by his father richard duke of yorke , and cicely nevill his mother , hee lyeth buried ; whose bodies remoued out of f●deringhay church-yard , ( for the chancell , in the quire wherein they first were laid , in that fury of knocking churches and sacred monuments in the head , was also felled to the ground ) lapped in lead , were buried in the church by the commandement of queene elizabeth , and a meane monument of plaister wrought with the trowell , erected ouer them , very homely , and farre vnfitting so noble princes . i remember master creuse , a gentleman , and my w●rthy friend , who dwelt in the colledge at the same time , told me , that their coffins being opened , their bodies appeared very plainly to be discerned ; and withall , that the dutchesse cicely had about her necke , hanging in a silke riband , a pardon from rome , which penned in a very fine romane hand , was as faire and fresh to be read , as it had beene written but yesterday . of difference by the bend. a third difference , is by the bend baston , &c. as the house of bur●●● beareth fr●●●● , with a b●tune gules , though the proper and true coate of 〈◊〉 is of , a lyon gules , within an orle of escallops azure . lewis earle of eureux in normandy , brother to philip le b●ll , bare seme de france , with a batune componeè , argent and gules . iohn earle of l●●●aster , and brother to richard the first ( afterward king ) bare for his difference a batune azure . if the mother be of the ligne royall , many times her coate is preferred into the first quarter ; as h●nry earle of d●●●nshire , and marqu●sse of exeter , ●●re his mother k●tharines coate , who was daughter to king edward the fourth . and the like humphrey stafford , who was the first duke of buckingham by anne platag●n●● : his mother , ● the coate of thomas of woodstocke , whose daughter she was . this coate , i remember , standeth in the great chancell window in the church of kimbalt●n . in france it hath beene , and it yet a custome among the nobilitie , to 〈◊〉 their owne proper coates , and take others ; as perhaps their wi●es , or the armes of that srig●●●● , whereof they are lords : or whence they haue their titles , as mons. hugues , brother to king philip , marrying the daughter and heire of herbere earle of ver●●●d●●●s , forsooke his proper coate , and bare his wiues , which was checky , or , and azure , onely three flower-de-luces added in chiefe , to shew he was of the blood . and robert coun● de dreux , albeit he was brother to king lewis 〈◊〉 , bare checky , azure and or , with a bordure gules . robert duke of burgogne , brother to henry the first , tooke for his bearing , the ancient armes of the dukes of burgogne , which was bendy or and azure , within a bordure gules , giuen by charlemaigne to sanson duke of burgogne . and whereas we in england allow the base sonne his fathers coate , with the difference of a bend batune , sinister , or bordure engrailed , or the like : it was in france a long time forbidden ( i thinke vnder the capets ) to the princes of the blood ; as 〈◊〉 earle of m●mfort , base sonne to king robert , was forced to leaue his fathers coate , and beare gules , a lion à la queue fourcheè or , passeè per à lentour , argent ; for , le maison de france ●●●●tant les bastardes , no leur endurè son armeirè , &c. saith tillet . the last and least obseruation is of crests , the helmet , the mantle , and doubling thereof , which according to the manner of diuers countries , are diuersly borne . in germany they beare their beauers open with barres , which we allow in england to none vnder the degree of a baron : in some places they haue no crests at all . if you would farther proceed in nobilitie or heraldry , i would wi●h you to reade these bookes of 〈◊〉 ob●●itie in gener●●● : simon simonius de n●●ilit●●e , 〈…〉 at leipsig . 1572. chassan●●●● , his catalogus gloria mun●● . hippolitus à collibus , his axumata nobilitatis . conclusiones de nobilitate & doctorain . published by one of meckleburg , who concealeth his name , printed 1621. dedicated to the archbishop of breme . petrus eritzius , coun●●●●er to the elector of brandenburge , published conclusiones de nobilitate , in quarto . lionellus de pracedentia ●omi●um . of the spanish nobilitie these authors haue written . ioannes ab arce offalora , in folio . priuilegios y franquezas y libertades des bijos d●algos de senniorio de vizcaia , &c. in fol. ludovicus de moll●●a , de primog●nior●m hispanicorum iure , &c. in fol. iosephus de sesse , in decis . aragon . decis . 8. 9. 10. &c. gonzales de c●rte , his nobliza del andaluzia , in fol. of italy , sicily , naples , &c. scipie mazzella nelle neapoli illustrata , in quarto . paulus merula in cosmograph . lib. 3. pt . 3. in italian . of france . the workes of tillet , fer●● , charles l'ois●●● , choppin , theatre d'honneur . of germany , or the empire . fran. contzen , his politiques , in fol. the collections of goldastus , with some others . the practise of blazonrie . willeged the first abbot dyed the same yeare that off a did , of very griefe it was thought , for the death of his king and kinsman , whom he dearely loued . anno 8●8 . after him succeeded these in order . eadricke . vulsigus . wul●●●us . eadfrithus . wulsinus , who built saint peters church , saint michaels and saint stephens , and made a faire market place in the towne . alfricke . aldredus , who digged vp and searched the ruines of verlam-cesire , which in his time were dens of theeues and whores ; saued all the tile and stone for the repaire of the church , and in digging vpon the north side in the vale found oaken plankes pitched , shelles peeces of oares , and a rusty anchor or two . eadmer , after his death ( being a religious and a good man ) imitating his predecessour , saued all the ancient coines , vrnes and other antiquities hee could finde there . leofricke , was sonne to the earle of kent , and after being chosen to be archbishop of canterburie , he refused it : this abbot in a time of dearth solde all the iewels of his church to buy bread for the poore . after him succeeded alfricke . leostan . fr●theric . paul. in this abbot were giuen to the monastery of saint albanes , the celles of wallingford , of tinnemuth , of bealvare , of hertford and binham . richard , who liued in the time of william rusus , when the cell of saint marie de wymonaham or windham in norfolke was giuen vnto this abbey , beeing sounded by william de albeney , father to william de albeney first earle of arundell . gaufridus , who founded the nunnery of sopwell therby on the other side of the riuer , founded and so called vpon this occasion : two poore women hauing built themselues a small cabben , liued in that place a very austere life , praying , and seruing god with great deuotion ; and for that they liued for the most part with no other sustenance , saue bread and the water of a well there , wherein they vsed to soppe or dippe their bread , it had ( saith mine author ( a monke sometime of that abbey ) the name of sopwell . then radulphus . robert. simon . garmus . iohn . william &c. off a gaue to this his abby of saint albans , these towns following , viz. thei l , edel●●●●● , wiclesfield , cages●o cum suis , berechund , rike●aresworth , bacheworth , crok●leie , michelfield , britchwell , watford , bilsey , merdell , * haldenham , spr●t , enefeild , st●●●●●● , h●●●●●ted , winelesham , biscopsco● , c●d●●●dune , and mild●●dune . egelsride his sonne and successour gaue a sandruge and penefield . alfrick● abbot of this church , ( after archbishop ) & leofrick his brother gaue kingesbury , c●ealdwich , westwic , flamsted , nort●●● , r●●●●hang w●●●●field , birstan , and vpton . aethelwold bish. of dorchester gaue girshuna , cuicumba , tyme , aegelwin , redburne , thuangnā , lingley , grenburga . one tholfe gaue estune and oxaw . one sexi gaue h●chamsted . one ha●dh gaue newha● and beandise . therefeld , a religious woman gaue a sceanl●a & bridel . aegelwina another gaue batesden , offal and standune . one aegelbert gaue craniford . a●●an , cutesham . winsimus gaue esenden . osulsus and his wife gaue st●dham and wilsin●● : others walden , cudicote , scephal , bethell , with sundry other celles , churches , and goodly possessions of me vnnamed . if i should set you downe the inestimable wealth consisting in plate , iewells , bookes , costly hangings , altar-cloathes , and the like , which by our english kings , nobilitie and others haue from the foundation vnto the dissolution , with the sundry priuiledges this abby had , i should weary my selfe with writing , and you with reading ; but i omit them , hauing onely proposed a mirrour to the eyes , not of the church pillars of ancient , but the church pillers of our times . the auncestors of this noble family were frenchmen borne , taking their surname of a towne in normandy called sackuill , whereof they were lords , and came into england , to the aide of duke william the conquerour , as appeareth by an auncient manuscript or chronicle of brittaine , now in the custody of mr. edward gwinn , where he is called a chiefetaine , and is the seauenth man ranked in a catalogue of names there ; for as it may be obserued out of mr. camdens remaines , that the better sort about the time of the conquest began to take vp surnames , so againe they were not setled amongst the common people vntill the raigne of king edward the second . he moreouer affirmeth , that the most ancient and of best account , were deriued from places , whereof this name of sackuill is one , and to adde yet more vnto it , ordericus vitalis the monke , in his normane story saith , that herbrann de sackuill , was liuing in the time of william the conquerour , being father of three noble knights , iordan , william , and robert de sackuill , and of a vertuous and beautifull ladie , named auice , who was married to walter lord of alfage & hugleuill , by whom shee had issue ; iordan l. of alfage & hugleuill , that married iulian the daughter of one gods●all , who came into england with q. adelize , of lo●●ine , the wife to king henry the first : after whose death , the said queene married to william de albency earle of arundell , from whom the now right honorable , thomas earle of arundell , and surry , and earle marshall of england is descended . s. iordan de sackuill knight , the eldest sonne , was sewer of england by the gift of the said conquerour , but liued and died in normandy . s. robert de sackuill knight , the yonger sonne liued in england , and gaue together with his body the mannor of wickham in suffolke● to the abbey of s● . iohn baptist in colchester , leauing issue a son named s● . iordan de sackuill , a very eminent man in the time of king richard the first , as appeareth by a charter of the said king , made to the monkes of bordes●ey in buckinghamshiere . s● . iordan de sackuill , that obtained of king iohn a friday market weekely , and a faire once a yeare in his towne of sackuill in normandy , as saith the kings publike records in the tower of l●●don . holiinshed , fol. 186. doth there ranke iordan de sackuill , as a baron , calling him one of the assistants to the 25. peeres of this realme , to see the liberties of magna charta confirmed . and for further proofe , that they were men of no meane ●anke , it is apparent in the red booke of the excheaquer in the 12. and 13. yeeres of the said kings raigne , in these words , hubertus de anestie tenes , 2. food . in anestie , & parua hornmcad , & dimid . 〈◊〉 . in anestie de honore richard● de sack●yle . agai●e , s● . iordan de sackuill knight , grand● childe to the said iordan de sackuill , was taken prisoner at the battaile of e●esham , for siding with the barons against king henry , the third , in the 49. yeare of his raigne , whose sonne and heire , named andrew sackuill , being vnder age at the time of his fathers death , and the kings wa●d , was like wise imprisoned in the castle of deuer , ann. 3. e●n . 1. and afterward by the speciall command of the said king , did marry ermyn●●de an honourable ladie , of the houshold to queene 〈◊〉 or , whereby he not onely gained the kings fauour , but the greatest part of his inheritance againe . from whom the aforesaid richard earle of dorset , with s● . edward sackuill knight of the bathe , his brother ( and others ) are descended ; one of whose auncestors , by marrying a daughter and co-heire of rase de denn , sonne of rodbert pincerna , that held the lordship of buckhurst , with diuers other mannors and lands in sussex , about the time of the normain conquest . in right of which marriage they haue euer since continued lords of the said mannor of buckhurst with diners other manors and l●nds in sussex , &c. which william earle of devonsh● was sonne of s● . william cavendish , of chattesworth in the said countie of derby knight , treasurer of the chamber to king henry the eight , edward the sixt , and queene marie ; by his wife elizabeth , daughter of lohn hardwick , of hardwick esquire . the auncestors of this noble familie , called themselues g●r●ms , whose issue in processe of time , assumed to themselues , the surname of cavendish , as being lords of the towne and mannor of cavendish in suffolke ; out of which familie disbranched that famous trauailer , mr. thomas cavendish , who was the third that trauailed about the world , whose voyage you shall finde , set downe at large in the english discouerers , written by mr. 〈◊〉 . it is borne by the name of hobart , and was the proper coate of sir iames hobart knight , atturney generall vnto king henry the seauenth ; a right good man , withall of great learning and wisedome : hee builded the church of lodd●n , and saint olaues , commonly called saint toolies bridge in the county of norfolke . this worthy knight lyeth buryed vnder a faire monument in the middle i le on the northside in christs church in norwich but it is now borne ( with the coate of vister by the gift of king iames vnto him as a barronet ) by the honourable and nobly minded sir henry hobart knight and baronet , lord chiefe iustice of the common pleas , of blickling in the county of norfolke ; whose vprightnesse in iustice , and loue to his country , hath ( like his owne starre communicatiue of it selfe ) dispersed the fairer beames into all places . r●x dilect● 〈◊〉 s●o roberto de woodhouse , archidiacone de richm●nd thesa●rario s●o salutem . negotia●os & statum regni contingentia , &c. vobis mandamus ●irmiter i●iungentes quod omnibus alijs prater●issis &c. beside i haue s●ene the will of king henry the fourth , and he●rie the fifth , where one was a gentleman of henry the fourth's chamber , and by his will made one of his executors ; as also he was to henry the fifth , who wrote his letter to the p●ior , and chapter of the church of the trinitie in norwich , to giue him leaue to build himselfe a chappell in their church . so that from time to time , they haue held an honourable place , and at this day are worthy stayes and pillars of iustice in their countries . nor must i heere let fall the worth of two sons of this gentleman , sir thomas woodhouse knight ( who marryed blanch sister to the right honourable henry now viscount rochf●rt ) and master roger woodhouse his brother , gentlemen , not onely learned , but accomplished in what euer may lend lustre to worth and true gentilitie . this was also the coate of sir thomas louell , knight of the garter , made by king henrie the seuenth , of whose ho●se hee was treasurer , and president of the counsell . this sir thomas louell was a fift sonne of sir ralphe louell of barton bendish , in the countie of norfolke . this his coate with the garter about it , standeth ouer lincolnes inne gate . he founded the nunnery of halliwell ( where was also his house ) on a wall of which not ma●y yeares since was to be read this inscription . all ye nuns of halliwell , pray ye both day and night : for the soule of sir thomas louell , whom harry the 〈◊〉 made knight . it appeareth also that sir william louell lord morley , was knight of the garter : for in morley * church the seate of his baronnie , is yet remaining in a glasse window ( which i haue seene ) this coate with the garter about it . this coate armour is verie ancient , as is proued by sundry bookes of armes , church windowes , and seuerall deeds , wherof i haue seene two bearing date anno 18. richard the 2. with seales of this very coate fixed thereunto , with this inscription about the same ( viz : ) sigillum robertide ashfield ; as also another deed bearing date , anno 3. henrie the fixt , made from robert the sonne of iohn ashfeild of stow-langton , esquire , to simon finchan● , and iohn whitlocke , with a faire seale of red waxe : whereupon was a griff●● s●iant , with his wings displayed , ouer whose body is this armes , with this inscription about the who●e seale ( viz : ) s. robertide ashfeild armig. the aboue named robert ashfeild builded the church of stow langton , in the quire whereof ( which i haue seene ) hee lyeth butied vnder a faire marble ; he was seruant vnto the blacke prince , whom he followed in his warres in france . this coate is thus borne by sir lohn ashfeild , knight , sole heire of that family , now gentleman of the bedde chamber to prince charles . this ancient name and family of crow , was anciently of suffolke ; for about the time of k. edward the 4. thomas crow of suffolke the elder , purchased bradsted in kent , whose sonne thomas crow the yo●ger married ioane the onely daughter and heire of nicholas boare , son of iohn , sonne of richard boare , that married lora the daughter of simon stocket of bradsted in kent . the aforesaid ioane brought to thomas her husband , his house called stockets with a chancell built by the aboue named simon stockets , as appeareth by a french deede tempore edw. 2. as also a house and certaine land called boars , by whom shee had issue iohn crow the elder , father of henry crow , father of william crow of bradsted esq. who married anne the second daughter and coheire of iohn sackuill of chiddingleigh in sussex esq. the said mannor of chiddingleigh hath beene in the possession of the sackuills aboue three hundred yeeres , and at this day is part of the inheritance of the right honorable richard sackuill earle of dorset and baron of buck●urst ; which william crow and ann● his wife , hath issue , sackuill crow their sonne and heire now liuing , with others . this coate of talbot belongeth vnto the right worshipfull master thomas talbot , doctour of the ciuill law of miliers hall in wim●ndham in the countie of norfolke , a very learned and honest gentleman . if you would proceede further in blazonry , and the true knowledge of the des●●●ts of our english nobility , i refer you to that exact , iust and elaborate worke of my singular and learned friend master augustine vincent , rouge-croix , very shortly to be published● which let it be vnto you ( of all that haue written in that kinde ) instar omnium . so i referre you henceforward to your priuate reading and obseruation . chap. 14. of exercise of the body . i now from your priuate studie and contemplation , bring you abroad into the open fields , for exercise of your body , by some honest recreation , since aristotle requireth the same in the education of nobilitie , and all youth . since the mind from the ability of the body gathereth her strength and vigor . anciently by the ciuill law these kinds of exercises were onely allowed of , that is , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which are the exercise of armes by single combate , as running at tilt-barrians , &c. coiting , throwing the hammer , sledge , and such like . running , iumping , leaping , and lastly wrestling : for the first , it is the most noble , those epithites of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , haue beene the attributes of kings and princes , whose delight in auncient times was to ride and mannage great horses . hereby you are ennabled for command , and the seruice of your country . and what , saith tullis , can bee more glorious , then to bee able to preserue and succour our country , when she hath neede of our helpe ? it is the onely commendation that saluste giues to iugurth , who did not ( saith he ) giu● himselfe ouer to be corrupted by sloath and riot ( as many of our gallants now adayes doe ) but as it is the custome of that nation , exercised himselfe by riding , throwing the dart , and running with his equals : and though he excelled all other in the height of glorie , notwithstanding he was held deare and beloued of all men , &c. and casar vsed the exercise of ●iding so much , and hereby became so actiue and skilfull , that laying his hands behinde him , he would put his horse to his full carreer , make him on the suddaine take hedge or ditch , & stop him , put him into a ring , and the like . and marius after he had beene seauen time ● consul , and fourescore yeares of age , exercised himselfe daily in the field of mars with the romane youth , instructing them to handle their weapon , to ride , &c. the like also did pompey euen to his last expedition . and virgil speaking ( i take it ) of the spartan youth : saith , venat● invigilant pueri , sylva●que , fatigans . flect●r● ludis equos , & spicula tendere cornu , &c. and at this day it is the onely exercise of the italian nobility , especially in naples , as also of the french ; and great pitty of no more practised among our english gentry . running at the tilt is a generous and a martiall exercise , but hazardous and full of danger ; for many hereby ( euen in sport ) haue lost their liues , that i may omit henry the french king , with many other princes and noble personages of whom historie is full . tilting and torneaments were inuented by manuel comnenus emperour of constantinople , as saith nicetas , who wrote about the yeare 1214. before his time wee reade not any where that this exercise was vsed vnder the romane empire . the same nicetas reporteth of a solemne iustes or torneaments which the saide manuel comnenus shewed vnto the latines at antioch , what time they went to make warre in the holy land : for the latines making a braue shew in their rich armour well horsed , with their lances , and presenting themselues before the emperor ; the emperour to shew them that the graecians were nothing inferiour vnto them in brauery or courage , appointed a day when they and the latines ( for the glory of either empire ) should so many to so many , and with lances without points , encounter eyther brauely moūted , and made one of the number with his graecians ; who , saith nicetas , so brauely carryed himselfe , that he vnhorsed two latine commanders , casting them from the saddle to the ground . in our launces now adayes ( of what wood soeuer they are made of ) there is nothing so much danger as hath beene in times past : neyther in our moderno practise of warre haue they almost any vse at all . the prince of orange hath abandoned them , hauing not a launce in his whole armie , but hath carbines in their roome . spinola hath some troopes of them , yet not many , as i obserued . those of shertogen-bosch vnder grobbendonckse , are esteemed the best horse spinola hath . for throwing and wrestling , i hold them exercises not so well beseeming nobilitie , but rather souldiers in a campe , or a princes guard : neither haue i read or heard of any prince or generall commended for wrestling , saue epaminondas achmat the last grand signeur and emperor of turkie , who tooke great delight in throwing the hammer , and was so strong that he ouerthrew his stoutest iauizaries , there being reared in constantinople for one extraordinary cast which none could come neere , two great pillars of marble . running and agility of body haue beene esteemed most commendable in the greatest princes and commanders that euer liued ; and the old romanes ( next after trial made of their strength , and view of their limmes and person ) chose their souldiers by running , for it was an old custome among them , to assault the enemy by running all close together in grosse to the charge . and casar tells vs that strokes are surer laid on , and the souldier made more nimble and ready in running and by motion . homer gaue achilles ( which perhaps some of our great feathered gallants would disdaine , yet haply better deserue ) the epithite of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or swiftfooted . and a alexander we reade excelled all his court in running . sertorius a braue commander vnder caesar , could nimbly runne vp the most steepe mountaines , leape broken and vnpasseable rockes , and like inuious places ; insomuch as metellus beeing sent with a powerfull armie against him , he knew neither where to finde him , nor how to come by him , by reason of his nimble footemanship . thereupon he sent his colleague pompey , who beeing by sextorius ouerthrowne at the first encounter , escaped very narrowly ; for beeing vnhorsed , and hauing receiued a great wound , while the souldiers were busied in striuing , some for his horse , others for the most rich furniture ( his caparison , bridle , saddle , stirrops , being in a manner all of gold , and shining with pretious stones of inestimable valew ) watching his opportunity , by swiftnes of foot escaped from them all , and returned safe to his quarter . leaping is an exercise very commendable , and healthfull for the body , especially if you vse it in the morning , as we reade alexander and epimanondas did . vpon a full stomacke or to bedward , it is very dangerous , and in no wise to be exercised . the skill and art of swimming is also very requisite in euery noble and gentleman , especially if he looketh for emploiment in the warres ; for hereby ( besides the preseruing of his owne life vpon infinite occasions , ) he may many waies annoy his enemie . horatius cocles onely by the benefit of swimming saued his country , for when himselfe alone had long defended , and made good the bridge ouer tyber against the hetruscans , the romanes brake it downe behind him , wherewith , in his armour , he casthimselfe into the riuer , & ( notwithstanding a shower of darts & arrowes were sent after him ) swam with safety into the city , which rewarded him with a statue erected in the market place , and as much land as he could encompasse with a plough in a day . and as desperate was the attempt of a number of romane gentlemen in the first carthaginian warre , who leaping in a night from the hatches of their ships into the sea , by maine force thrust and drew the carthaginian shippes into the hauen , and deliuered them to luctatius their generall . and as resolute was that attempt ( no whit inferiour to the former ) of gerrard and haruey , two gentlemen of our owne nation , who in eightie eight in the fight at sea , swam in the night time , and pierced with awgers , or such like instruments , the sides of the spanish gallions , and returned backe safe to the fleete . scauola , a man of inestimable courage , and who came with caesar in his expedition for brittaine , after hee had made good a whole day together , a mightie rocke or passage against the brittaines , in the night time loden with double armes and an heauy shield , cast himselfe into the deepe , and swam safe to caesar and his fleete . neither is it to be wondred at , that the romanes were so skilfull in swimming : for they were daily exercised in the same after their other exercises , and had a place in the riuer of tyber appointed vnto them for the same purpose , adioyning to the field of mars ; and another of great depth , rough and full of whirlpits on purpose , to exercise their horses in . shooting also is a very healthfull and commendable recreation for a gentleman ; neither doe i know any other comparable vnto it for stirring euery part of the body : for it openeth the breast and pipes , exerciseth the armes and feet , with lesse violence , then running , leaping , &c. herein was the emperour domitian so cunning , that let a boy a good distance off hold vp his hand , & stretch his fingers abroad , he would shoote through the spaces without touching the boyes hand , or any finger . and commodus ( saith herodian ) had so good an aime , that he would fixe on the brow of a deere two shafts as euenly , and spreading in distance , as if they had beene his owne hornes . but for the further excellence and vse of this exercise , i referre you to that excellent booke of m. aschams , intituled toxophilus , wherein you shall finde whatsoeuer is requisite to be knowne of a compleate archer . hawking and hunting are recreations very commendable and befitting a noble or gentleman to exercise ; hunting especially , which xenophon commendeth to his cyrus , calling it a gift of the gods , bestowed first vpon chiron for his vprightnesse in doing iustice , and by him taught vnto the old heroës and princes ; by whose vertue and prowesse ( as enabled by this exercise ) their countries were defended , their subiects and innocents preserued , iustice maintained . for there is no one exercise that enableth the body more for the warre , then hunting , by teaching you to endure heate , cold , hunger , thirst ; to rise early , watch late , lie and fare hardly : and eusebius is of opinion , that wilde beasts were of purpose created by god , that men by chasing and encountring them , might be fitted and enabled for warlike exercises . heereupon alexander , cyrus , and the old kings of persia , employed themselues exceeding much herein , not to purchase venison and purucy for the belly , but to maintaine their strength , and preserue their health , by encreasing and stirring vp the naturall heate within , which sloth and sitting still wasts and decaies : to harden the bodies by labour against the enemy ; and withall , to search out the natures of wilde beasts , which knowne , they might leaue the same recorded to their posteritie . and the famous phisitian quercetan , aboue all other exercises commendeth this as most healthfull , and keeping the bodie sound and free from diseases . the old lord gray ( our english achilles ) when hee was deputie of ireland , to inure his sonnes for the war , would vsually in the depth of winter , in frost , snow , raine , and what weather soeuer fell , cause them at midnight to be raised out of their beds , and carried abroad on hunting till the next morning ; then perhaps come wet and cold home , hauing for a breakfast a browne loase , and a mouldie cheese , or ( which is ten times worse ) a dish of irish butter : and in this manner the spartans and laconians dieted , and brought vp their children till they came vnto mans estate . hawking was a sport vtterly vnknowne to the ancients , as blondinus and p. iouius in the second booke of his historie , where he entreateth of the muscouitish affaires witnesseth ; but was inuented and first practised by fredericke barbarossa , when he besieged rome : yet it appeareth by firmicus , that it was knowne twelue hundred yeares since , where he speaketh of falconers , and teachers of other birds : and indeed beyond him , i thinke it can no where be found that falconrie was knowne . there haue beene many who haue written of falconrie , fredericke the second , emperour of germany ( whom melancthon worthily commendeth , and equalleth to the ancient heroës , for his many victories archieued by his valour : his skill in all learning , being able to speake foureteene seuerall languages : his libertie , magnificence , affabilitie , mil●nesse , &c. insomuch , that in him alone , saith he , ended and died the remainder of ancient maiestie ) wrote heereof two excellent bookes , which ioachi●● camerarius ( hauing by him the first coppie in a manuscript ) published together , with a treatise of albertus magnus , of the nature of hawkes , and printed it at norimberge . budaus hath also written a large discourse of hunting and hawking , part whereof is annexed to the latter end of henry estienn●s french and latine dictionarie : in english m. blundeuiles booke is the best that i know . by the canon law hawking was forbidden vnto clergie men , as afterward hunting , by reason the exercise and instruments wherewith beasts are slaine , are militarie , and not so well agreeing ( as they giue the reason ) with spirituall warfare : but i cannot see but that they ( many of them being great princes , and pillars of the church , daily employed and pressed with the weight of state affaires ) may haue their recreatiōs as well as others . but to preuent their pastime , there is such an order taken with their parkes , that many of our best bishopricks can now adaies scarce shew one of ten , or twentie . norwich had thirteene parkes , and of all other was most iniustly dealt withall . if they had taken away twelue and left the odde one , it had beene indifferent ; but to rob the church of all , was more then too much . but as allow not altogether that seuere education of the old spartan● in their children , hazzarding many times the healths of young and tender bodies , by some tedious ague ; yea , also their liues , by the mischance of a leape or stumbling of your horse : so as much doe i detest that effoeminacie of the most that burne out day and night in their beds and by the fire side , in trifles , gaming , or courting their yellow mistresses all the winter in a citie ; appearing but as cuckoes in the spring , one time in the yeare to the countrey and their tenants , leauing the care of keeping good houses at christmas , to the honest yeomen of the countrey . some againe are so intent to their pleasure , that they neuer care for keeping within , as sometime was mithridates , that it is reported of him ; for seauen yeares space together hee neuer came within house , neither in citie nor in the countrey . and barnaby viscount of millan , was so carried away with the loue of hunting , that hee made a law ; whosoeuer should kill any wilde boare , or had killed any in fiue yeares before that his statute was enacted ( contrary vnto an ancient edict ) or were priuy to the eating of any at any gentlemans table , should be imprisoned and tortured after a greeuous manner . beside , he afflicted the countrey marueilously , by dispersing many thousands of dogges to be kept and brought vp in villages and among the paisants , to their infinite trouble and charge . mahomet sonne to amurath , on the contrarie , when he made warre in caramania , turned out of seruice 700. of his fathers faulconers , and caused as many of olde huntsmen to follow armes , and his campe , in stead of the kennell . cap. 15. of reputation , and carriage in generall . there is no one thing that setteth a fairer stampe vpon nobilitie then euenesse of carriage and care of our reputation , without which our most gracefull gifts are dead and dull , as the diamond without his foile : for hereupon as one the frontispice of a magnificent pallace , are fixed the eies of all passengers , and hereby the heigth of our iudgements ( euen our selues ) is taken ; according to that of the wiseman , by gate , laughter , and apparrell , a man is knowne what he is . wherefore i call it the crowne of good parts , and loadstone of regard . the principall meanes to preserue it is temperance and that moderation of the minde , wherewith as a bridle wee curbe and breake our ranke and vnruly passions , keeping as the caspian sea , our selues euer at one heigth without ebbe or refluxe . and albeit true it is that galen saith , we are commonly beholden for the disposition of our minds , to the temperature of our bodies , yet much lyeth in our power to keepe that fount from empoisoning , by taking heede to our selues ; and as good cardinall poole once said , to correct the malignitie of our starres with a second birth . for certainly vnder grace it is the roote of our reputation and honest fame ; without the which , as one saith , we are dead long before we are buryed . ● . for moderation of the minde and affections , which is the ground of all honestie , i must giue you that prime receipt the kingly prophet doth to a yong man , teaching him wherewith to cleanse his way , that is ; by keeping , saith he ( oh lord ) thy statutes , meaning the feare of god in generall , without which ( hee euer first striking at the head ) our iudgements are depraued , and left to our selues we are not able to giue any thing his true esteeme and value . therefore first to be truly honest is to bee truly religious , for if the feare of men be a great motiue to keepe our selues within compasse , much more will the feare of god , recall vs from our lusts and intemperance . hereby the minde getteth the dominion and vpperhand , wisely gouerning that goodly kingdome nature hath allotted her . and if it was sometime said of fabiu● , citiùs solē è sua sphara diuelli , quam fabium ab honestate potuisse , how heedfully ought a christian who carrieth the lanterne in his hand , looke to his feete , when an heathen could goe so directly in the darke , onely by the glimpse of nature and without stumbling ? moreouer since the ciuill end of our life is , v● in honore cum dignitate v●vamus , you shall withall finde good learning and the artes to conferre a great helpe and furtherance hereunto , being a polisher of inbred rudenesse and our informitie , and a curer of many diseases our minds are subiect vnto : for we learne not to begge to ourselues admiration from other , or boastingly to lay to view so rich and pretious furniture of our minds , but that we may be vsefull to others , but first to our selues ; least ( as some pretious receipt ) while we keepe that in a boxe which can cure another ; our selues lie lame and diseased . the first vse then hereof ( i meane your learning ) as an antidote against the common plague of our times , let it confirme and perswade you , that as your vnderstanding is by it ennobled with the richest dowrie in the world , so hereby learne to know your owne worth and value , and in choice of your companions , to entertaine those who are religious and learned : for as i said heretofore , conuerse of old was the mother of skill and all vertuous endeauours , so say i now , of all vice and base●es if regard be not had . therefore hold friendship and acquaintance with few , and those i could wish your betters , at the least of your owne ranke , but endeare your selfe to none ; gaud●bis minùs , minies dolebis . the best natures i know delight in popularitie , and are pliable to company-keeping , but many times buy their acquaintance at ouer deare a rate , by being drawne either into base actions and places of which they are ashamed for euer after ; or to needlesse expence by laying out or lending to importunate base and shamelesse companions , gaining losse of their monies , time , sorrow and griefe of friends , disrepute of the better sort , and lastly contempt of the vilest among the common vulgar . anti●chus epiphanes , king of asia , for his popularity and delight in company , was sir-named the mad : and likewise for the same appius claudius was depriued of his office , and fearing beside shame the hatred of the senate , counterfeiting blindnesse , for euer after kept himselfe at home . we reade also of a certaine king of the gothes , who making his souldiers his drinking companions , was for his free and kind heart at the last drowned by them in a tub of ale. nor mistake me that i swerue so much on this side , that i would deny a prince or gentleman the benefit of discourse and conuerse with the meanest : for maiestie and greatnesse cannot alwaies stand so bent , but that it must haue the remission and relaxation sometime to descend from the court to the cottage , which cannot choose but giue it the better tast and rellish . adrian the emperour would most curteously conferre with the meanest , detesting those his high minded courtiers , who vnder a colour of preseruing his estate and honour , enuied him this sweetnesse of humilitie and priuacie . vespasian in like manner was woont not onely to salute the chiefe senators of rome , but euen priuate men , inuiting them many times to dine and suppe with him , himselfe againe going vnto their houses . philopoemen was so curteous and went so plaine , his hostesse in meg●ra tooke him for a s●ruing-man . and certainly this affabilitie and curtesie in greatnesse , draweth our eyes like flowers in the spring , to behold , and with admiration to loue it wheresoeuer we finde it . there is no better signe ( saith one ) in the world of a good and vertuous disposition , then when a prince or gentleman maketh choice of learned and vertuous men for his companions ; for presently he is imagined to bee such an one as those to whom he ioyneth himselfe : yea saith aristotle , it is a kinde of vertuous exercise to bee conuersant with good and vnderstanding men . whom then you shall entertaine into the closet of your brest , first sound their religion ; then looke into their liues and carriage , how they haue beene reckoned of others . lastly , to their qualitie how or wherein they may be vsefull vnto you , whether by aduice and counsell , direction , helpe in your studies , or seruiceablenesse in your exercise and recreations . there is nothing more miserable them to want the counsell of a friend , and an admonish●r in time of neede : which hath beene and is daily the bane of many of our yong gentlemen , euen to the vtter ruine of themselues and their posteritie for euer . who when like alciates fig-tree vpon the high and innacessible rocke , they are out of reach and cannot be come vnto by men who would dresse and preserue them ; espied a farre off are onely preyed vpon and haunted by vultures and dawes ; and while one addeth fewell to the fire of his expence , for the which he is like to pay twentie for two , at twentie and one ; another sootheth him in play ( knowing the best fishing is in troubled waters ) another tēdreth him a match of light stuffe : all at once preying for themselues , these greene things of sixteene or eighteene are quite deuoured before they were ripe . wherefore i must next commend vnto you frugality , the mother of vertues , a vertue which holdeth her owne , layeth out profitably , auoideth idle expences , superfluity , lauish bestowing or giuing , borrowing , building , and the like : yet when reason requireth can be royally bountifull , a vertue as requisite in a noble or gentleman , as the care of his whole estate , and preseruation of his name and posterity ; yet as greatly wanting in many , as they come short of the reputation and entire estates of their forefathers , who account thrift the obiect of the plow or shoppe , too base and vnworthy their consuleration , while they impose their faire estates and most important businesse , vpon a cheating steward , or craftie bailiffe , who in few yeares ( like the young cuckow ) are ready to deuoure their feeder ; and themselues like sleepie pilots , hauing no eye to the compasse , or sounding their estates , are runne on ground ere they be aware . first then assoone as you shall be able , looke into your estate , labouring not onely to conserue it entire , but to augment it either by a wise forethought , marriage , or by some other thriftie meanes : and thinke the more yee are laden with abundance , the more neede ( like a vine ) ye haue neede of props and your soundest friends to aduise you . neither doe i imagine you will be so rash as to giue no care to good counsell , to your ruine , as caesar did , when hee refused a booke of a poore scholler , wherein the intended plot against him was discouered . marcus ca●o , who was so victorious in warre , so prudent in peace , so eloquent in the oratorie , learned in the lawes , neglected not thereby his estate , but looked , as livi● saith of him , euen into his husbandry himselfe : and plutarch writeth of philopoemen , a great and famous commander , that notwithstanding his great affaires and employments , hee would euery morning bee stirring by breake of day , and eyther to dressing of his vines , digging or following his plough : and cicero to heighthen the honor of king d●iostar●s reporteth thus of him , in deiotaro sunt regia virtutes , quod i● ca●sar , ignorare non arbitror , sed pr●●cip●è singularis & admiranda frugali●as . and the romanes had a lawe that hee who could not looke into his owne estate , and imploy his land to the best , should forfeite the same , and be held for a foole or a mad man all his life after . aristid●s , albeir he was an excellent man otherwise , yet herein he was so carelesse that at his death he neither loft portion for his daughters , nor so much as would carry him to the ground , and defray the charge of his funerall . be thriftie also in your apparrell and clothing , least you incurre the censure of the most graue and wisest censor , cui magna corporis cultus cura , 〈◊〉 magna virtutis inturia : and henry the fourth , last king of france of eternall memory , would oftentimes merily say , by the outside onely , he could found the depth of a courtier : saying , who had least in them made the fairest shew without , inviting respect with gold lace and great feathers , which will not be wonne with toyes . neyther on the contrary , be so basely parsunonious or frugall , as is written of one of the kings of france , in whose accounts in the eschequer are yet remaining . item so much for red satten to sleeue the kings old doublet : item a halfe-penny for liquor for his bootes , and so foorth . or to bee knowne by a hat or doublet tenne or twenty yeares ; then with some miserable vsurer curse the maker for the slightnesse of his felt or sluffe , murmuring it will not last to see the reuolution of the first moouer . but vsing that moderate and middle garbe , which shall rather lessen then make you bigger then you are ; which h●th been● , and is yet obserued by our greatest princes , who in outside goe many times inferiour to their groomes and pages . that glory and champion of christendome , charles the fift , would goe ( except in times of warre ) as plaine as any ordinary gentleman , commonly in blacke or sadde stuffe , without lace or any other extraordinary cost ; onely his order of the golden fleece about his necke in a ribband : and was so naturally frugall , not out of parsimonie ( being the most bountifull minded prince that euer liued ) that as guicciardin● reporteth of him , if any one of his points had chanced to breake , he would tye it of a knot and make it serue againe . and i haue many times seene his excellence the prince of orange that now is , in the field , in his habite as plaine as any country gentleman , wearing commonly a suite of haire-coloured slight stuffe of silke , a plaine gray cloake and hat , with a greene feather , his hatband onely exceeding rich . and ambrose spin●la generall for the archduke , when he lay in weasell at the taking of it in , one would haue taken , but for an ordinary merchant in a plaine suite of black . and the plainnes of the late duke of norfolke derogated nothing from his esteeme . so that you see what a pitifull ambition it is , to striue to bee first in a fashion , and a poore pride to seeke your esteeme and regard , from wormes , shells , and tailors ; and buy the gaze of the staring multitude at a thousand , or fifteene hundred pounds , which would apparrell the duke and his whole ●rande consiglio of venice . but if to do your prince honour , at a tilting , employed in embassage , comming in of some great stranger , or you are to giue entertainment to princes or noble personages at your house , as did cosmo de medici , or haply ye command in the warres , spare not to be braue with the brauest . philopoemen caused his souldiours to beespare in apparrell and diet ( saith plutarch , ) and to come honourably armed into the field : wherefore hee commanded in goldsmiths shoppes to breake in peeces pots of gold and siluer , and to be imployed in the siluering of bittes , guilding of armours , inlaying of saddles , &c. for the sumptuo●s cost vpon warlike furniture , doth encourage and make great a noble heart : but inother sights it carryeth away mens minds to a womanish vanitie , and melting the courage of the mind , ( as homer saith it did achill●s , when his mother laid new armes and weapons at his feete . ) the spaniard when he is in the field , is glorious in his cassocke , and affecteth the wearing of the richest iewels ; the french huge feathers , scarlet , and gold lace : the english , his armes rich , and a good sword : the italians pride is in his neapolitan courser : the germanes and low dutch to be dawbed with gold and pearle , wherein ( say they ) there is no losse except they be lost . but herein i giue no prescripon . i now come to your diet , wherein be not onely frugall for the sauing of your purse , but moderate in regard of your health , which is empaired by nothing more then excesse in eating and drinking ( let me also adde tobacco taking . ) many dishes breede many diseases , dulleth the mind and vnderstanding , and not onely shorten , but take away life . we reade of augustus that he was neuer curious in his di●t , but content with ordinary and common viandes . and cato the censor , sayling into spaine , dranke of no other drinke then the rowers or slaues of his owne galley . and timotheus duke of athens was wont to say , ( whō plato invited home to him to supper , ) they found thēselues neuer distempered . contrary to our feastmakers , who suppose the glory of entertainment , and giuing the best welcome to consist in needelesse superfluities and profuse waste of the good creatures , as scylla made a banquet that lasted many dayes , where there was such excessiue abundance , that infinite plenty of victualls were throwne into the riuer , and excellent wine aboue forty yeares old spilt and made no account of ; but by surfetting and banquetting , at last he gat a most miserable disease and dyed full of lice . and ca●sar in regard of his lybian triumph , at one banquet filled two and twenty thousand roomes with ghests , and gaue to euery citizen in rome ten bushels of wheate , and as many pounds of oyle , and besides three hundred pence in mony . we reade of one smyndirides , who was so much giuen to feasting , and his ease , that hee saw not the sunne rising nor setting in twenty yeares ; and the sybarites forbad all smiths and knocking in the streetes , and what thing soeuer that made any noise , to bee within the city walls , that they might eate and sleepe : whereupon they banished cocks out of the city , and invented the vse of chamberpots , and bad women a yeare before to their feasts , that they might haue leisure enough to make themselues fine and braue with gold and iewels . aboue all , learne betimes to auoide excessiue drinking , then which there is no one vice more common and reigning , and ill beseeming a gentleman , which if growne to an habit , is hardly left ; remembring that hereby you become not fit for any thing , hauing your reason degraded , your body distempered , your soule hazarded , your esteeme and reputation abased , while you sit taking your vnwholesome healthes , — vt iam vertigine tectum ambulet , & geminis exsurgat mensa lucernis . — vntill the house about doth turne , and on the board two candles seeme to burne . by the leuiticall law , who had a glutton or a drunkard to their sonne , they were to bring him before the elders of the city , and see him stoned to death . and in spain● at this day they haue a law that the word of him that hath beene convicted of drunkennesse , shall not bee taken in any testimony . within these fiftie or threescore yeares it was a rare thing with vs in england , to see a drunken man , our nation carrying the name of the most sober and temperate of any other in the world . but since we had to doe in the quarrell of the netherlands , about the time of sir iohn norrice his first being there , the custome of drinking and pledging healthes was brought ouer into england : wherein let the dutch bee their owne iudges , it we equall them not ; yea i thinke rather excell them . tricongius and the old romanes had lawes and statutes concerning the art of drinking , which it seemes , are reuiued , and by our drunkards obserued to an haire . it being enacted , that he who after his drinks faltered not in his speech , vomited not , n●yther reeled , if he dranke off his cups clean●ly , seek not his wind in his draughs , spit not , left nothing in the pot , nor spilt any vpon the ground , he had the prize , & was accounted the brauest man. if they were contented herewith , it were well , but they daily inue●t new and damnable kinds of carrow●ing ( as that in north-holland and frizeland ( though among the baser sort ) of vpsi● monikedam , which is , after you haue drunke out the drinke to your friend or companion , you must breake the glasse full vpon his face , and if you misse , you must drinke againe , ) whence proceede quarrelling , re●iling , and many times execrable murthers , as alexander was slain in his drunkennesse ; and domitius , nero's father slew liberius out right , because he would not pledge him a whole carrowse , and hence arise most quarrells among our gallant drunkards : vnto whom if you reade a lecture of sobrietie , and how in former ages their forefathers dranke water , they sweare water is the frogges drinke , and ordained onely for the driuing of milles , and carrying of boates . neither desire i , you should be so abstemious , as not to remember a friend with an hearty draught , since wine was created to make the heart merry , for what is the life of man if it want wine ? moderately taken it preserueth health , comforteth and disperseth the naturall heate ouer all the whole body , allayes cholericke humours , expelling the same with the sweate , &c. tempereth melancholly . and as one saith , hath in it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a drawing vertue to procure friendship . at your meate to be liberall and freely merry , is very healthy and comely , and many times the stranger or guest will take more content in the chearelinesse of your countenance , then in your meate . augustus the emperour had alwayes his mirth greater then his feasts . and suctonius saith of titus , vespasians sonne , he had euer his table furnished with mirth and good company . and the old lord treasurer of england , lord william burghley , how emploied soeuer in state affaires , at his table hee would lay all businesse by , and bee heartily merry . charles the great vsed at his meates to haue some history read , whereof hee would afterwards discourse . and francis the first , king of france , would commonly dispute of history , cosmography , poetry . his maiesty our soueraigne , altogether in points and profound questions of diuinity . when i was in virocht , and liued at the table of that honourable gentleman , sir iohn ogle , lord gouernour , whither resorted many great schollers and captaines , english , scottish , french , and dutch , it had beene enough to haue made a scholler or souldier , to haue obserued the seuerall disputations and discourses among many strangers , one while of sundry formes of battailes , sometime of fortification , of fireworkes , history , antiquities , heraldrie , pronunciation of languages , &c. that his table seemed many times a little academic . in your discourse be free and affable , giuing entertainment in a sweete and liberall manner , and with a cheerefull courtesie , seasoning your talke at the table among graue and serious discourses , with conceipts of wit and pleasant inuention , as ingenious epigrammes , emblemes , anagrammes , merry tales , wittie questions and answers , mistakings , as a melancholy gentleman sitting one day at a table , where i was , started vp vpon the suddaine , and meaning to say , i must goe buy a dagger , by transposition of the letters , said : sir , i must goe dye a begger . a plaine country man being called at an assize to bee a witnesse about a piece of land that was in controuersie , the iudge calling , said vnto him , sirrha , how call you that water that runnes on the south-side of this close ? my lord ( quoth the fellow ) our water comes without calling . a poore souldier with his musket and rest in breda , came one day in , and set him downe at the nether end of the prince of orange his table , as he was at dinner ( whit●●r none might bee priuiledged vnder the degree of a gentleman at the least to come : ) the gentleman-vsher of the prince demanded of him , if hee were a gentleman : yes quoth the souldier , my father was a goldsmith of andwarpe : but what can you doe in your fathers trade , ( quoth he ) i can set stones in mortar , for he was a bricklaier , and helped masons in their workes . for epigrammes , pasquine will afford you the best and quickest i know . you shall haue them all bound in two volumes . i remember hee tells vs once vpon a sunday morning , pasquine had a sowle shirt put on , and being asked the cause , pasquine made answer , because my laundresse is become a countesse . you shall haue a taste of some of my anagram● such as they are . vpon the prince . carolvs . ô clarus . charles prince of wales . all fraunce cries , ô helpe vs. of the queene of bohemia and princesse palatine of the rhene , my gracious ladie , elisabetha stevarta , has artes beata velit . being requested by a noble and religious ladie , who was sister to the old lord , de la ware , to try what her name would afford , it gaue me this : iane west . entua iesû . and vpon the name of a braue and beautifull ladie , wife to sr. robert mordaunt , sonne and heire to sr. le straunge mordaunt knight and barronet in the country of norfolke : amie mordaunt . tumore dianam . tumore dianam . minerua , domat . me induat amor . nuda , ó te miram . vi tandem amor . vpon the name of a faire gentlewoman this in italian : anna dvdlaeia . e●la nuda diana . vpon a sweete and modest young gentlewoman , mistris maria mevtas . tuame amaris to comfort my selfe liuing in a towne , where i found not a scholler to conuerse withall , nor the kindest respect as i thought : i gaue this my poesie , the same backward and forward svbi dvra arvdibvs . of m. doctor hall deane of worcester , this , added to the body of a glorie , wherein was written iehouah in hebrew , resembling the deitie . ioseph hall all his hope . of a vertuous and faire gentlewoman at the request of my friend who bar● her good will : francis barney . barres in fancy . and this , theod●sia dixon . a deo dixit honos : or o dea , dixit honos . of my good friend m. doct. dowland , in regard hee had slipt many opportunities in aduancing his fortunes , and a rare lut●nist as any of our nation , beside one of our greatest masters of musicke for composing : i gaue him an embleme with this ; ioannes dovlandvs . annos iudendo hausi . there were at one time in rome very wittie and vnhappy libels cast forth vpon the whole cōsistory of cardinals in the nature of emblemes . i remember cardinal farnesi had for his part a storke deuouring a frogge , with this , mordeo non morde●tes . bellarmine a tiger fast chained to a post , in a scroule proceeding from the beasts mouth in italian : da mi mia libertà , vederete chi io sono : that is , giue me my libertie , you shall see what i am , meaning perhaps he would be no longer , &c. and those were very knauish that were throwne vp and downe the court of france , the escotcheon or armes of the partie on the one side of a pastboard , and some ingenious deuice on the other ; as one had the armes of the house of di medici of florence , on the one side , on the other an inkhorne with the mouth turned downward , with this tart pasquil : elle faut d'encre : and so of the whole court. emblemes and impresa's if ingeniously conceipted , are of daintie deuice and much esteeme . the inuention of the italian herein is very singular , neither doe our english wits come much behind them , but rather equall them euery way . the best that i haue seene , haue beene the deuises of ti●tings , whereof many are reserued in the priuate gallery at white hall , of sr. phillip sidn●ie's , the earle of cumberland , sr. henry leigh , the late earle of essex , with many others , most of which i once collected with intent to publish them , but the charge disswaded me . but aboue all , in your talke and discourse haue a care euer to speake the truth , remembring there is nothing that can more preiudice your esteeme then to be lauishtongued in speaking that which is false , and disgracefully of others in their absence . the persians and indians had a law , that whosoeuer had beene thrice conuicted of speaking vntruth , should vpon paine of death neuer speake word all his life after . cato would suffer no man to bee praised or dispraised , but vsed alwaies such discourse as was profitable to the hearers ; for as one saith , dict●ria minuum maiestatem . iestes and scoffes doe lessen mai●stie and greatnesse , and should be farre from great personages , and men of wisedome . chap. 16. of trauaile . i will conclude with trauaile , which many disallow in gentlemen , yea and some great trauellers themselues ; but mee thinkes they are as one who hath filled his owne belly , and denieth the dish to his fellow . in my opinion nothing rectifieth and confirmeth more the iudgment of a gentleman in forteine affaires , teacheth him knowledge of himselfe , and setleth his affection more sure to his owne country , then trauaile doth : for if it be the common law of nature , that the learned should haue rule ouer and instruct the ignorant , the experienced , the vnexperienced , what concerneth more nobility , taking place aboue other , then to be learned and wise ? and where may wisedome be had , but from many men , and in many places ? hereupon we find the most eminent and wise men of the world to haue beene the greatest trauailers ( to omit the patriarches and apostles themselues in holy writ ) as plato , pythagoras , aristotle , theophrastus , osyris king of aegypt , who trauelled a great part of the world , and caused to be engrauen vpon his sepulcher , heere vnder i lie king osyris , eldest sonne of saturne , who haue left no part of the world vnsearched , whitherto i haue not come , teaching againe whatsoeuer i haue found , for the vse and commoditie of mankinde . and xenophon to intimate vnto vs the benefit and excellent vse of trauaile , saith that cambyses , by his trauaile learned many excellent things , which he taught cyrus his sonne : and hauing trauailed as farre as mero● ( as a perpetuall monument of his long voyage ) he built a citie in the forme of a persian shield . and it was the vsuall boast of alexander ( said archelaus a cosmographer ) that he had found out more with his eies , then other kings were able to comprehend in thought : and to no small commendation of himselfe , menelaus in homer , reporteth that hee had beene in aegypt , cyprus , phoenicia , and seene thebes hauing an hundred gates , and at euery gate two hundred horse-men for the guard . but say some , few of our gentlemen are bettered by their trauaile , but rather returne home worse then they went in manners , and many times in religion , therefore it were better they ●arried still at home , according to clandian : fulix qui patrijs avum transegit in agris , ipsa domus puerum quem vid●t ipsa senem : qui bacule nit●●s , in qua repta●it arena , vni●● numerat sacula longa casa . hee 's blest who in 's owne countrie ends his daies , whose homestead see 's his old age and his birth , &c. but this happinesse is but pu●rorum bea●●tude , as one saith ; and the greatest vnhappinesse to the truly generous and industrious minde . if therefore you intend to trauell , you must first propound vnto your selfe ; the end , which either is ad v●luptatem vel ad vtilitatem , pleasure or profit . for the first , euery one naturally affecteth , and the foole himselfe is tickled with the sight of strange townes , towers and habits of people . therefore you must hold you to the other which is profit , which againe hath two branches , your owne priuate , or the publique ; your priuate , as the recouery of your health , by some outlandish meanes , as the water of the spaw , some phisitian , famous for his cure in such & such kinds , change of aire , or gaining as a merchant by trasique , or some profession wherein you excell others . the publique is the generall good of your countrey , for which we are all borne , it challenging a third part of vs. but before you trauaile into a strange countrey , i wish you ( as i haue heretofore said ) to be well acquainted with your owne ; for i know it by experience , that many of our yong gallants , haue gone ouer with an intent to passe by nothing vnseene , or what might bee knowne in other places ; when they haue beene most ignorant here in their owne natiue countrey , and strangers to their iust reproofe could discourse , and say more of england then they . in your passage , i must giue you in either hand a light , preseruation , and obseruation . preseruation of your minde , from errors , and ill manners ; of your bodie from distemperature , either by ouer eating , drinking , violent or venereal exercise . for there is not any nation in the world more subiect vnto surfets then our english are , whether it proceedeth frō the constitution of our bodies , ill agreeing with the hotter climates , or the exchange of our wholsome diet and plentie , for little and ill drest ; or the greedinesse of their fruits and hotte wines , wherewith onely wee are sometime constrained to fill our bellies , i am not certaine . no lesse perill there is , ab istis callidis & calidis soli●●●liabus , which almost in euery place will offer themselues , or be put vpon you by others . keepe the fountaine of your minde from being empoisoned , especially by those serpents , error and atheisme , which you shall finde lurking vnder the fairest flowers : and though you heare the discourses of all , and listen to the charmes of some , discouer your religion or minde to none , but resembling the needle of the compasse , howsoeuer for a while mooued or shaken , looke northerly , and be constant to one . to be carried away with euery fancie and opinion , is to walke with c●i● in the land of * giddinesse , the greatest punishment that god laied vpon him . before you enter into obseruation , first seeke the language that you may be fit for conference , and where the language is best spoken there settle , and furnish your selfe with the discreetest and most able masters . for as heere in england , so in other places , the language is spoken with more elegancie and puritie in some places more then others . for the french , orleans and thereabouts is esteemed the best . florence for the italian , lipsick for the high dutch , and valledolid for the spanish . to helpe you in coniugating your verbes , you may vse the helpe a while of a grammer of that language , but in generall you must expect your perfection from conference ; for hereby the true accent , and the natiue grace of pronunciation ( which no booke can teach ) is onely attained . now aswell for neighbourhood sake , as that the french tongue is chiefely affected among our nobility , it being a copious and a sweete language , wherein so many famous workes by as great wits as any euer europe bred , haue beene published : i wish you first of all to see france , being seated vnder a temperate and most wholesome climate , and shall not endanger your health so much , as being sent vpon the suddaine from a colde countrey , into the scorching heate of another more remote . i will not stand to make any topographicall description of the countrey , i being herein both preuented long since by a faithfull pen ; beside i remember i am to write onely one chapter , not a volume . you shall finde the french , i meane of the noblest and better sort , generally free and curteous , vnto whom euen among their princes , state and maiesticque retirednesse are burthensome , so that sometime you shall see them familiar with the meanest . la nouë speaking of the french nobilitie , saith elle est tres vallere●se & courtoise : et ● y à estat en la chrestienté , on elle soit 〈◊〉 si grand ●●●brè . they are exceeding valiant and curteous , and there is no estate in christendome where they are in so great number . they delight for the most part in horsemanship , fencing , hunting , dancing , and little esteeme of learning and gifts of the minde ; contrary to the custome of the ancient roman●s , as cate the cens●r , c●sar , pa●lus aemylius and many others , no lesse famous for knowledge then action ; whereof themselues and their friends oftentimes complaine . commi●●s layeth the fault vpon the remissenesse of parents in their education . il● nourissent leur enfans seulement à faire les s●ts , en habillements et en par●lles : de nulle le●tre ils n'ont cognoissance , they breed their children to play the wa●ton fooles , both in apparell and words , but as for learning they know nothing . the french are full of discourse , quicke witted , sudden in action , and generally light and inconstant ; which c●sar found long since , writing of them , quod sunt in consilijs capiendis mobiles , & nouis plerumque rebus student , and else-where , he calles galloru● subita & repentina consilia , moreouer as among the spanish and dutch , one fashion of apparell still obserued amongst them , argueth a constancie of minde and humour , so their change and varietie , their vainnesse and leuitie ; for euery two yeere their fashion altereth . their exercises are for the most part tennise play , pallemaile , shooting in the crosse-bow or peece , and dancing . concerning their dyet , it is nothing so good or plentifull as ours , they contenting themselues many times with meane viandes● onely in the solemne feasts , and banquets of entertainment , they are bountifull enough , yea farre exceede vs : as for the poore paisant , he is faine oftentimes to make vp his meale with a mushrome , or his grenoilles ( in english frogs , ) the which are in paris and many other places commonly sold in the market . concerning their building , is it very magnificent and i know not whether in all europe , any buildings may for maiesty and state be compared with those of france , ( though they haue beene miserably spoiled by the last ciuill wars ) they being the best architects of the world ; vpon the view of some of which ( as breathing on a faire hill ) i will detaine you a while . and first wee will begin with the lovure in paris . the lovure is the royall seate of the kings of france , famous throughout all europe , situate neere to the towne walles on the west side : by which ru●neth the riuer of se●●e , which in old time serued rather for a fortresse then a kings house , and herein was a tower wherein were kept the king● reuenues and treasure . which after by king francis the first , was pulled downe , and in this place was begun the building of the front , which is of masonry , so enriched with pillars , frizes , architr●●es and all sort of architecture with such excellent symmetry and beauty , that throughout all europe , you shall hardly finde the like . it was begunne by francis the first , finished by henry his sonne , vnder the appointment of the lord of clagny , and afterwards encreased by francis the second , charles the 9. last of all made the wonder of all other workes by that beautifull gallery , the worke of henry the 4. the tuilleries sometime belonged to the suburbes of saint honorè in paris , by the side of the lovure , and was indeed a place wherein they made tiles , and by reason there were many faire gardens about it , the queene mother drawing the plot her selfe , seeing it a pleasant and fit place , began first to build here . it is a roiall worke all of free stone . the portall or entrance is very stately of marble pillars and iasper . fontaineblea● is scituate in the forrest of biere , in a plaine encompassed with great woods , and was in olde time a retiring place for the kings of france . francis the first , who loued to build , tooke great pleasure in this seate and builded here the house , as we see it at this present ; the base court hereof is esteemed the fairest of all franc●● in the second court there is the purest and fairest fountaine esteemed in the world , wherefore it was called bell●●au● , and so fontaine belle 〈◊〉 . r. francis loued this place so well , that he spent most of his time here , beautifying it while hee liued with all sorts of commodities , goodly galleries , sto●es , &c. and caused the r●rest masters of europ● in painting tobe sent for , for the beautifying it with all manner of histories . also heere he placed the rarest antiquities he could get . in briefe , whatsoeuer he could wrap or wring , he thought too little for this place ; it is about 1. 4. leagues from paris . bl●is is an ancient castle 〈◊〉 from the riuer of lo●●e vpon an hill . here the old kings of france were wont to reside , especially louis the twelfth tooke delight in this place , who was called pater patri● . it hath belonging vnto it two goodly forrests , one on this side the riner , the other on the other . going forth of the gardens of the house , you passe into the forrest vnder foure rowes of elmes , at the least 12. hundred paces : this is rather remarkeable for the antiquity then the beauty . the towne standeth beneath , about the which are these faire places within 2. or 3. leagues , bury , b●●●●●gard , ville-sansm , chind●ny , and some others . amboise is one of the principall buildings of france , it also standeth vpon the loire vpon a high sea●● ; at the foote hereof is the towne , and neere that a goodly forrest : this castle is seene a great way off both by the hill , and the valley yeelding so goodly a prospect , as i neuer beheld a better , for from the terrasses that enuiron the castle , you may easily discerne tours and the abbay of mar●●●stier seauen leagues off ; the castle standeth vpon a rocke , at the foote whereof there is a cloister . this house is in picardi● , vpon the way from paris to soissons , distant from paris 16. leagues , 5. from soiss●n● ; it standeth close vpon the forrest of ret●● it is of very great receipt , as may appeare by the enclosure of the par●e . here king francis ( whose onely delight was in building ) for many yeares together set mason● a work● , the rather because it adioyned vnto the greatest ●orrest of all france , himselfe louing hunting exceedingly . here are the goodliest walkes in europe , for the tre●s themselues are placed in curious knots , as we vse to set our her●●s in gardens . charleval is in normandy vpon the way from paris to r●v●n , neere to the village of fl●●ry . it was built by charles the 9. at the instance of the lord of 〈◊〉 it standeth in a valley enclosed with mountaines aboue , which is the forrest of lyons : among ●hose mountaines are many goodly prospects one within another , it is 3. leagues by a pleasant valley easily discerned to the riuer seime● had it beene quite finished it had been● the chiefe building of france . this castle or royal house is called b●is de vin●●●● it is scituate within one league of paris , and two of saint denuis the place of buriall of the french kings , so that these three stand in a manner in a triangle . it is a very sumptuous worke and of admirable art : it was begun by charles countie of valeis , brother to philiy the faire , and finished a good while after by charles the fift . this house hath many faire courts in it , withall about it a parke , containing in circuit 16 , or 17. thousand pace● , which amount to two leagues and an halfe , stretching on the south , euen vnto the riuer of s●ine , and by north vnto the riuer of mar●● , which ioyning at the village of constuen●● ( so called of their meeting ) neere chare●●●●● fall downe vnto paris . this in ancient times was the vsuall court and abode of the french kings , but now little freequented , and falling in a manner to ruine . but i omit farther to speake as well of the royall houses , and those of the noblesse , being indeed the beauty of france . whereof there are many other , as s. ma●● , chen●ncean , chamb●●rg , boul●gu● , creil , coussie , folembray , montargis , s. germain and la mu●tl● , which are all the kings houses and worthy your view and regard , if you happen to finde them in your way . in briefe hold france for one of the most rich , fertilest , and brauest kingdomes of the world. and since spaine and france , are but one continent , let vs passe the pyrenean hils , and take some obseruations there . spaine lyeth southerly from france , in northerne latitude from 37. to 44. degrees or there about , in the same heigth and paralell with the azores ilands . it is farre hotter then fra●●e , a very dry country , yet abounding in sweet springs , riuers , and all sorts of fruites . pasture there is little or none in respect of the great heat , but infinitely furnished with vineyards , oliue trees , hauing corne sufficient saue onely in the skirts of the country , which are mountainous , hilly and barren , yet abounding in goates and other cattell . for victuals you shall finde it very scarce , not that the counttey affordeth not a sufficiency , but that the people beingby cōstitution , hot & dry , are not able to digest heauy and more solid meat , like vnto ours ; but rather chuse fruits , sallets and sweet meates , as mermalade , by them called membrillada ( for membrill● is a quince ) and conserues of all sorts , for coolenesse and lightnesse of digestion . the people are by nature generally proud and haughty , but withall very ciuill , faithfull to their friend , and aboue all to their prince , for seldome or neuer haue any of that nation bin known to haue bin traitors : their souldiers are infatigable , resolute , and obedient vnto their commanders , but withall lasciuiously giuen , and too cruell in victory . the gentry affect not the countrey , but desire to liue in walled townes altogether , where they dedicate themselues either to some imployment of state , or businesse of warre , saue such who are of the better sort , dedicated to the church , of whom there is at the least a third part . their habite in apparell is all one for colour and fashion , which hardly makes a distinction of parties ; onely they are discerned by their seruants ( in whom they obserue an excellent equipage ) their regelado horses , ca●oches and horselitters . the women are blacke , and little , but very well fauoured , and for discourse admirable : these haue a more eminent distinction of habit , and are all discerned by their apparell of what qualitie they are , they affect strangers much , and are liberall in their conuerse with them . the heart of the countrey is very scarce of fish , that which they haue , are either tons or pilchards , brought salted from biscay , on the one side , and from valencia on the other : yea , the church for want of fish is faine to giue a licence to cate the entrailes of beasts vpon fasting dayes . all their meate , fruits and bred are sold by the pound , and not except before an officer which they call alcalda , so that no stranger can be dec●iued either in waight or price . they treade their corne out with oxen in the fielde assoone as it is reaped , their mules and horses eating the straw with barley , for oates they are not so well acquainted with . it is a countrey for trauaile very combersome in respect of lodging and dyet , except when you come into the walled townes , where you shall according to their manner be accommodated well enough . they trauaile all on mules , keeping their horses for beautie and shew , putting them to no vse , saue onely to be led vp and downe . their coines are the best of europe , ●ince all their neighbours make a gaine of them , as a peece of eight reals ( or sixe pence of our money ) goeth in france for foure shillings & sixe pence : a doublon in gold , that which is a pistolet with them , being thirteene shillings , is in france and other places 29. reals , which is 14. s. 6. pence of our money . most of the coine that passeth for ordina●y and triuiall things , as wine , bread , melons , peaches , is of brasse , which they cal quartas and quartillias . of their marauedies , twenty make three pence . their buildings are faire and stately , and the king , though hee hath many goodly houses & palaces , as in siuill . granado , toledo , cordo●a , valladolid , &c. yet the esc●rial , seuen leagues from madrid , is the place where the king most resides , and this exceedes all the buildings of christendome , for beauty and curiosity in contriuing , to which i● adioyned one of the goodliest monasteries of the world , wherein are to be seene the rarest water-workes that men can deuise . spaine being diuided into many kingdomes or prouinces , you are allowed to carry about you , onely but an hundred reals ; what you haue aboue it is forfeited , and for that purpose , at euery bridge or passage where the countries part , you are to be searched . and i hope you haue heard so much of the inquisition and the danger thereof , that i shall not here need to giue you any caueat . na●arre affordeth , by reason of the mountaines , a very hard passage . whereof pampel●na is the chiefe citie , herein are the best muttons , and made the strongest wines : this countrey is so abundant in rosemary , that they make it their ordinary fewell in heating their ouens , and for their other vses . aragon aboundeth in wine and corne , which portugall so wanteth , that all the corne in that kingdome is not able to suffice lisbone onely , but they are faine to haue it of the bretaigners , hollanders , and from the azores ilands . last of all it is worthy the noting , how that in their vniuersities , as salamanca , alcala , c●nimbra , &c. and other of their colledges , they care little for the latine , but dispute and keepe their exercises in spanish or the portugueze tongue , yet haue they great schollers in all professions . thus haue i onely giuen you a taste how and what , especially to obserue in your trauaile . i willingly omit to speake of italie , germany , and other countries , by reason they haue beene so exactl● described by master sands and others , vnto whose ample discourses ( excepting your personall experience ) i referre you , it being here mine onely intent , but to giue you some few directions in generall : and so i conclude , wishing all happinesse to your selfe , and prosperous successe to your studies . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a09195-e500 pindar . in ne●sis , ode 3. io●●es monach . in vita alexandri . regum 1. cap. 3. ver . 9. ignatius lib. epist. cap. 3. cicero . arist. in e●●icis . notes for div a09195-e1100 sy●●● in his fairy queene . nobilitie defined . aentas siluius lib. 4. de ge●●is alyhonsi . georg. f●s●●llus this happened at the councell of constance , where the doctors and knights were ( about some serious businesse ) diuided into two seueral assemblies . a pertinax , or stubborne , so sir-named , because he came from his father , who would haue made him a scholler , he choosing rather to be a wood-monger . capitolinus ● . see the treasure of times . ex historia lo●●●bard . the inge●●●ous reply of colonell edmonds . plutarch . in lycurgi & numa comp . machiauell . hist. floren●in . lib. 7. a described by lucian to be aged , b●ld , & wrinckled , browne coloured , clad with a lio●s skin , holding in his right hand a club , in his left a bow , with a q●●●er at his back , & long small chaines of gold and amber fastned through little holes to the tip of his tongue , drawing a multitude of people willing to ●ollow after him , onely shaddowing vnto vs the power of eloquence . plato in timaeo . pi●r . vak●●●● lib. 6. of bastardie . 1. question . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in andr●●eda . concerning vice and basenesse . concerning pouertie . 3. question . of aduocates and phisitians . 4. question . extat lex constantini , lib. 10. co●ici● . aristophanes in pluto . to whom was first giuen , being a deuoute and most religious king , the gift of curing the kings euill , whence it hath beene deriued to our kings of england his successors . of merchants 5. question . hippolitus à collibus , axiom , de nobilitate . chrysost , super mathaeum . francis. pa●●icium de repub. lib. 1. cap. 8. arist. politic . 7. cap. 4. of salomons merchants . see chronicles 2. cap. 1. verse 16. chron. 2. 9. verse 21. of mechanicall arts and artists . 6. question . xenophon in occ●●●mica . a faint and spent reason . ●ippolyt . à coll. in axiomat . nobilis atis . the fruit and vse of nobilitie . which was the office of a ba●on in ancient times . in lexic● . demost. oly●th . ● . a concord makes might hippolytu● à collibus . notes for div a09195-e4810 si ad naturam eximiam eruditi● accesseris 〈…〉 singulare quoddam existere sole● , cit. ●te a●chia po●ta . nic●phorus , lib. 17. cap. 40. regum . 1. cap. 4. 33. psalm . ● . prou. 15. plato , lib. 5. de re●ub . ecclesiast . 15. vo●isc●i● taci● . plutarch in corialano . eutropiu●● plutarch . alcia● . in emblem . iacob . wimphe 〈◊〉 . appian . notes for div a09195-e5500 plato p●litic . 6. in ph●●dre . the first and maine errors of masters . in e●bi● . cicero pro rose . comaedo . quintilian , lib. inst●ti● . 1. cap. 3. virgil. senec. de moribus . erasm. in epist. ad ( christianum iubece●sem . pl●● . epist. l●b . 4. clcero pr● plan● . conue●se with the learned better th● reading . iipsius in epist. plutarch . ad trasanum . phil●●●●● , 1 physic●rum . see m. doctor webbe his appeale to truth . georgio . 3. a augustus and octa●●us caesar. d●●ny●ius . 1. armelius . 〈…〉 &c. notes for div a09195-e6950 in gorgia . horac . lib. 3. ode 2. phili● de commines , lib. 1. seneca ad lucil. epist. 31. matres omnes silys in p●ccato & auxilio in paterna inu●ia e●se solem . terms . ● heaut●●● . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. de oratore . ier. 2. 21. shee is cited by b iewel in his apologie . in farragine episle larum . george buchanan . cicero offic. lib. 1. marcus cicero , cum pater abstin●●tis simus suiras , bi●os congros haurire ●olitus est ( test● plani● . ) temulen●●● impegis scyphum m. agrippa . valer. max. notes for div a09195-e8160 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euripides in andromache . seneca de breuitate vitae , cap. 1. & 3. d. pezel 2. post●ll . melan●●l on . preferring ● o● eouer wickedly and prophanely the odes of pindar , before the psalmes of dauid . chrysoft . in epist. ad celoss . cap. 3. luke 11. 52. 2. tim. 2. 3. in vita alphonsi . eginardue in vita caroli magni . notes for div a09195-e8940 cicero 1. de orato●e . ci● . in prolog . r●●tor . an arte po●t . hen●icus oilauus angliae rex in cysstola quadam ad erasmum ro●crod . in farragi●● epist. a exod. 4. cicero . tacitus in oratore . ad atticum , lib. 13. caesar. cicero , lib. 4. de claris oratoribus . quintilian . lib. 10. a● filium . corn. tacitus . t. liuius . q. curtius . t●liad 6. salustius . scaliger pe●t . lib. 4 cap. 24. xenophon . speciall history . history , how diuided . a●●●id . 6. cic. 2. de oratore . the old lord treasurer burleigh , if any one came to the i. i. of the counsell , for a licence to trauaile , he would first examine him of england ; if he found him ignorant , would bid him slay at home and know his own countrey first . his britannia with the life of queene elizabeth . his lanus angl. titles of honour . together with his ma●e clausum , though not yet printed . the iniurie polydore virgil , did to our nation . diodorus sicula . plutarch , how highly valewed among the learned . the iust praise of seneca . in vita seneca . the late published life of henrie the seauenth . seneca epist. 109. the epistles of bookes , oft times the best peece of them . how to keepe your bookes . the answer of king alphonsus , concerning vitru●ius . mappes and pictures . notes for div a09195-e11760 a meridians , paralels , &c. the necessity of cosmography . * thermopylae that long hill of greece through which there is a straight & a narrow passage environed with a rough sea and deepe senne ; so called from the wels of who● waters which are there among the rocks . cosmography a sweet and pleasant study . the principles of geometry first to be learned . vide clerian . in sacr●bos●● , ed●t●●l● . the planets in their order . a merry tale of two poore schollers and their host. diuision of the spheare . the aequinoctiall line . the zodiack . the colures . the horizon the meridian longitude . latitude . of the tropickes . the arcticke circle . the antarcticke circle . the sea. a gulfe . a streight . a hauen . a lake . of the earth . a continent . an iland . an isthmus . peninsula . a cape . ptolo●i●s method best to be obserued . the sundry errors of historians and others , for want of skill in geography what to obserue in a strange countrey . of the mariners compasse . washing of mappes and globes in colours , very profitable to a learner . notes for div a09195-e14080 countries had not their scituations by chance . the wit and constitution of men , according to the temper of the body . mountainers more barbarous , then those of the vallies . of the ocean , the diuers & wonderfull motions therof . and so swift , that from moabar to maedagascar ( or the i le of s. laurence ) they may come in twentie daies , but are not able to re●nne in 3. moneths . so from spain into america in thirty daies , but cannot returne in three monthes . iul. c. scaliger , excre . 37. the strange properties of floods and lakes . beasts & birds vseful to man , liue in heards and flocks . of the creatures in hot and cold countries . of riuers . of certaine ilands cast vp by seas and riuers . many countries againe lost by inundation . strabo lib. 1. great brittaine supposed to haue beene one continent with france . see olaus magnus his description of the northerne parts of the world . at swartwale neere brill in holland , is to be seene a mermaides dead body hanging vp . a●ist . lib. me●●or . 1. cap. 4. ptolom . cap. 6. alphrag 〈◊〉 disert . 14. augustine . m. hughes de vs● globiyr . at frankford , amsterdam , and turned into french. m. edward wright de vs● sphera . notes for div a09195-e15710 lacrius lib. 4. wisedome chap. 11. petrach de regno lib. 2. ● . 14. protiu in eucl●d . lib. 2. c. 14. martianus capellain geem . precleses in euclid . lib. 2. c. 4. see the hungarian history . whence couch had the name agellius l. 10 cap. 12. scaliger ●uercis . 326. ad cardanum . horat. lib. 1. c●rm . ode ●8 . bartas le 6 〈◊〉 du 1. semain . plin. l. 7. c. 21. & lib. 36. c. 5. varr● de ling● a latin. lib. 6. iunius lib. animad cap. 6. plin. lib. 7. cap. 21. pliny lib. 10. cap. 29. ex●rcitat . 326 carl. rhodigin . lib. 8. cap. 3. p. ●onius & sabellicus is suppleme● : hist. lib. 24. this heauen was carried by 12. men before solyman , and taken to peeces and set vp againe by the maker . plutarch in marcello . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 psalm . 24. notes for div a09195-e16900 plato in p●●dro . 〈…〉 hil. in prologo psalm . psal. 80. psal. 90. psal. 1. psalm . 104. * the place to this day is called rowlands vallie , and was in times past a great pilgrimage , there being a chappell built ouer the tombe , & dedicated to our ladie , called commonly but corruptly our ladie of rouceuall . panormitan , lib. 1. de geslis alphensi . a who gaue him , it is thought , his mannor of ewhilme in oxfordslhire . to charles the eight & lewis the twelfth . prudence . in poetie . lib. 3. qui & idea , ca. 25. aeneid , 11. par●ise ciuibus . aneid . 4. sweetnesse . aeneid . 11. aeneid . 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pale scal. lib. 3. p●c● cap. 27. * phalari●a . aeneid . 4. aeneid . 11. ouid. virgilium 〈◊〉 v●di . vide surium , in commentari● retum in orbe gestarum . anne 1581. fol. 1026. horace . scaliger poet. lib. 6. totius t●●aco●●●usis rex . iuvenal . persius . martial . lucane . seneca . claudian , ignobili subiecte oppressus . statius . propertius . plautus . terence . buchanan . iul. cas. scaliger . ioseph of exeter . sir thomas more . william lillie . sir thomas challoner . sir geoffrey chaucer . gower . lydgate . harding , skelton . henrie batle of surrey . sir thomas wyat. northmimmes in herford-shire neere to s. albanes . notes for div a09195-e22240 deut. 32. * it was an instrumēt three square , of 72. strings , of incomparable sweetnesse . “ answering one another in the quire. chron. 2. ca. 5. ver . 12. and 13. i● lib. de a●gore animi . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 odyll . 8. arist. politic. cicero t●sc . quast . lib. 1. erasm. in farragine epist. d. of venosa the iust praise of maurice lan●graue of hessen . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . m. william ●yrd . ludouice de victoria . luca mar●nzio . horatio 〈◊〉 . horatio vecchi . giou 〈◊〉 croce peter phillips . boschett● his motets of 8. parts , printed in rome 1594. polyb. lib. 4. cap. 7. iulian imperat. in epist. ad antioch . rhetorique and musicke their affinitie . the strange effects and properties of musicall proportions . notes for div a09195-e24270 the manifold vse of painting or l●●ning . iob : 9. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lomazi●e alber● . durer . ●ub gol●●ius . michael angelo . ha●ns holben . a he painted the chappell at white hall , and s. iames ioseph of arimathia , lazarus rising from the dead , &c. were his . ioan. sha●●● , witrix . crispin de pas●e of painting in oyle . of preparing your table for an oyle picture . a the fi●●er for our yealow ruffes . * the modell of the steeple of the cheefe church in florence notes for div a09195-e29800 lib. 1. dionysius halicarna● antiquit . rom. lib. 2 bal●asar ayala de●nic & off●●s bell. lib. 1. i●n . lib. 1. & 〈◊〉 . lib. 16 cap. 4. & dion . halicarn . lib. 2. antiquit . rom. livi●● l. ● . 9. cicero offic. lib. 3. flor. l. 2. cap. 18. vide no●●um marecellum . lib. 3. cicero lib. 2. delegitus . de laprimitive institution d●s ●●ys , herauldz et poursus vans d' armes . girald . camb. ●iv . lib. 8. iosephus . plutarch in vita pelop●●a . arist 〈◊〉 lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . iosephus lib. 3. xenophon . de cyri. paed . lib. 7. curtius lib. 3. martij pueri . porcina srons , pitrius lib. 9. hierog . 〈◊〉 . the corte of portugall . osorius de r●gis institutions . d. of bavaria . m freeherus in origine , palasina● . verslegan . 〈◊〉 . freherus . dr origine yala● . solymans opinion of the emperour charles . holinshead in the t●●le of scotland . the originall of the noble family of the ha●es in scotland . aluares de violla . fields of equall composition . the fesse . remaines . m. guillim in his display . of difference by the bordure . tillet . tillet . * alduham . a sandrige . a 〈…〉 so that iames was atturney generall vnto henry , & now henry vnto iames. m. iohn woodhouse . * in norfolk . master ●ug . vincent . notes for div a09195-e38360 in l. sol●●● . ● . de alea lusu & ale●●● . of horsemanship . of tilting and torneaments . guide panci●llo . in lib de reb . no viter re●ertis , tit . 20. nicetas , lib. 3. of throwing , leaping , and wrestling . of running . c. casar in epistolis . a to cure the smalnes●e of his voice , he would vsually run vp a hil , a fit embleme for such as when they haue ascended the heigth of preferment , both looke and speak big . of leaping . of swimming . liv. lib. 2. decad. 1. the resolute aduenture of gerrard and haruey in 88. of shooting . langius , lib. 2. epist. 59. quercetan . in diatetico poly . hist. sect. 2. cap. 11. iul. firmicus lib. 5. , cap. 8. melancthon lib. 5. chron● . folio 789. budaus de venatione & aucup●o . concil au●el . cap. 4. agath●usi . 55. epanneusi . ● . 4 ● . ex●● . de clerico ●enatore . volatteran , lib. 7. av●iq● . ionius in barnaba . 〈◊〉 lib. 7. notes for div a09195-e39960 ecclesiastic . psal. 1● 9. 9. athenaeus lib. 5. cap. 4. diodorus lib. 20. 1. magnus lib. 7. cap. 17. erasim lib. 6. apotheg . ca spartians . xi●hilinus . plutarch . in philo●●m . philip commines , c. 34. ludouis viues . in emblem . of frugalitie . iustine . plutarch in philopoemen . ci● pro deiotaro . iulia●us 〈◊〉 decura ●urio : plutarch in aristide . the modesty and humility of charles the fifth . the duke of norfol●● . machiauest● in host. florent . in philopoem . plutarch . of diet. seneca rhet. 7. cicero pro caetio . pluta●●h de sanitate tuenda . plutarch . in scylla . sab●ll . em●●ad . 2. su●toni●● . euery romane penny was about seuen pence halfe penny of our mony . c. rh●digi● . lib. 6. cap. 35. suidas & politian . lib. 15 miscellan . drinking the destruction of wit , & plague of our english gentry . inv●nal . saty● . drunkennes not many yeares since very rare in england . plin lib 4. historia sub finem . prouerb . 23. ecclesiast . 31. vers . ●7 . athena●s . sleidan lib. 19 affability in discourse . this hapned in norfolke . of a souldier of breda . pasqu●●e , a marble image in rome , on which they v●e to sixe libels . because an earle in rome had marryed a chamber-maide . plato saith , it is onely allowed , physitions to lie for the comfort of the sicke . notes for div a09195-e42810 d●●●ys . halicarna●● . d●●●er . s●c . lib. 1. di●g l●ers . lib. 2. in vita arthel . lipsiu● . * nod. gene. 4. m. dallington . casar com. 3. the lovure . the tuilleries fontaineblea● . bl●is . amboise . villiers cos●ere●● . charleval . the castle of 〈◊〉 . of spaine . yet the finest wooll is of s●g●uia . of education, especially of young gentlemen in two parts, the second impression with additions. walker, obadiah, 1616-1699. 1673 approx. 520 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 155 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67252 wing w400 estc r3976 12246455 ocm 12246455 56954 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67252) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56954) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 881:16) of education, especially of young gentlemen in two parts, the second impression with additions. walker, obadiah, 1616-1699. [10], 280 [i.e. 298], [1] p. [s.n.], oxon. : 1673. reproduction of original in huntington library. attributed to obadiah walker. cf bm. errata: p. [1] at end. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng young men -education -early works to 1800. education -england -early works to 1800. 2002-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-12 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2002-12 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of education . especially of young gentlemen . in two parts . the second impression with additions . oxon . at the theater ann. 1673. the preface . it is not the design of this discourse to intrench upon any knowledg already disposed , and appropriated into arts and sciences , as they are at this time delivered ; but only to propose such things to consideration and use , as , lying scattered and in common , are less cultivated and regarded . for this reason 't is in vain to expect accurateness of method or stile ; but the first part is almost wholly writ in manner of essaies , the second of aphorismes : the stiles most free , loose , and unscientifical . the most useful knowledg is that , of a mans self : and this depends upon that more universal consideration of , quid homo potest ; naturally , and artificially : i. e. what abilities are in us originally , by the gift of god ; and what attainable by our own industry . and both these in order to knowledg or action . to advance this discovery , it is hoped that these papers may contribute some hints and steps ; whereby others may proceed to perfect the whole building . which who shall effect , or but considerably promote , shall perform a service as acceptable , as beneficial , to mankind . the perfecting of a young man in sciences and speculative learning is the business of so many books and persons ; that it seems superfluous to engage in that part of instruction . it was therefore thought more useful to furnish some rules and principles of active life ; as being that , whereto gentlemen seem more disposed both by their births , and general inclinations ; and whereto also little assistance could be expected from our ordinary speculations . i have therefore rather chused to gather up disorderly , and bind together , such scattered counsels and notions , as have occurred either in observation , or in some italian writers , not ordinary amongst us . if any person shall hereby be any whit forwarded toward the attaining the great end of his creation ; 't is all that is here aimed at . almighty god give success according to the riches of his goodness . amen . a table of the chapters . in the first part . chap. i. necessary to learning . 1. capacity . 2. instruction . 3. practise . the two last of which are comprehended in education . pag. 1. chap. ii. of the duty of parents in educating their children . p. 13. chap. iii. of the educator . p. 25. chap. iv. of the educated . p. 29. chap. v. general directions to the educator . p. 35. chap. vi. of ordering the dispositions and manners of the educated . p. 47. chap. vii . of frugality , or ordering his mony , and expences . p. 61. chap. viii . of the preservation of his health . p. 66. chap. ix . of the divers passions , inclinations , and dispositions of man , and the waies to rectifie and order them . p. 71. chap. x. of parts or capacities in general , and of their diversity , and how to be ordered and rectified . p. 98. chap. xi . of invention , memory , and judgment ; and how to help , better , and direct them . p. 124. chap. xii . breif directions for elocution . p. 163. chap. xiii . of bettering the judgment . p. 174. chap. xiv . of travelling into forreign countries . p. 193. chap. xv. of prudent chusing a calling , or state of life . 200. part . ii. chap. i. of civility . pag. 210. chap. ii. of prudence . p. 232. chap. iii. of prudence in conversation , and discourse . p. 244. chap. iv. concerning business . p. 259. chap. v. of servants . p. 273. chap. vi. of giving , receiving , and promising . p. 277. chap. vii . of prudence in acquiring emploiment , and preferment . p. 281. of education . chap. i. necessary to learning . 1. capacity . 2. instruction . 3. practice . the two last of which are comprehended in education . 1. that a man may attain perfection in any art , science , or virtue , three things are requisite . 1. a natural ability , power , or capacity . 2. art , or instruction . 3. exercise and practise . capacity consists 1. in fancy or invention . 2. memory . and 3. judgment , of which we shall speak at large hereafter . and these in several persons are very different . for granting , what some philosophers say , that they are originally equal in all men , as being the soul it self ; yet in reality , because every soul comes into a body endued with various dispositions ; and the organs , which the soul employeth , and are as necessary to the producing its operations as the soul it self , are not in all equally well-disposed , there ariseth great variety of capacities , and abilities : god almighty distributing these his gifts of nature to every one in what measure himself thinks fittest . 2. i know there are , who accuse the divine providence , as more niggardly or sparing towards men , then other animals ; which without teaching , know not onely what is sufficient for their subsistence , but some things also , which men learn by long imitation : as , to go , to swim , to express their passions and thoughts . yea and some manual arts , which are in us the effects of education , are in beasts the actions of sense , or instinct . but truely this complaint is without reason . for if we think impotency to be an advantage , and those creatures to be in the best condition who have least to do ; it is true that beasts are happier than men , and vegetables than animals . but if every thing be made for action , and the more able it is to work , the more noble ; if plus posse follows & argues nobilius & perfectius esse ; then is our condition infinitely the better ; as not only having more , but more various , more sublime , and more difficult operations . it is necessary for beasts to be born with haire , feathers , scales , or shels , because they had not the ingeny to make themselves garments ; which , to their very great convenience , they might alter according to the seasons : nor had they the knowledge of creating fire , building houses , and the like . nature furnished them with beaks , claws , and horns , because they could never arrive to find out a stone , to be melted and framed into all sorts of instruments and utensils . their knowledge ariseth no higher then of what is pleasant or painful ; they apprehend not convenient , or inconvenient ; just , or unjust ; happy , or miserable . god , as a master of a family , gives the servants their set salary , and employs them ; but his children he educates and instructs to command and dispose , not their own onely , but even the faculties of all the other : therefore were beasts to live by nature , but man by art. beasts were to be perfect at first that they might be presently employed , man by habits of his own acquiring . for beasts , besides their sustentation in this present life , were to expect no other recompense ; but man by his labour was to merit , and by wel-employing his abilities to inherit a reward , and that eternal . he made indeed no creature , which he endowed not with sufficient abilities for the uses of their creation : and most also with a power to better and advance them by assiduous practice ; but the end of all inferior creatures was comprehended in their actions of life , for the conserving , and propagating that : but man he created capable of a supernatural employment ; of a life to be continued infinitely beyond and above this small moment ; and of operations sublimer then providing for the belly . and therefore he adorned him with faculties accordingly ; an ability to discern betwixt good and bad , virtue and vice ; reflection upon his own actions ; an understanding capable to know and comprehend the whole world ; and more then that also , to be present to all past , and future , as well as present things ; to multiply a small inconsiderable proposition to infinity ; and to know him who exceedeth all knowledg . 3. nor are these faculties even in infants ( tho imperfect ) altogether obscure . for as soon as they have strength ( with which beasts are born ) they do more then beasts ; they exert greater testimonies of natures bounty , framing in themselves human actions , whereas beasts work only according to their own kind . for even the nobler faculties shew themselves betimes ; fancy in imitation of others ; memory in retaining what is imitated ; and judgment in selecting certain actions , and parts of actions for their imitation , which are the principles and manner of all learning . i deny not , but sometimes there is such an impotency , or defect in the organs ( which also i doubt not most frequently , if not alwaies , to be a disease , and often curable by a discreet physician ) as renders the subjects , according to the degrees of the indisposition , unfit or uncapable of any instruction ; and that all labour bestowed upon them is lost : or at least so unapt are they , as it is not tanti to employ so much industry as is requisite to render them , indifferently , like other men . neither is this exact difference of capacities alwaies ( in childhood especially ) so easily discerned , as it may be with conversation and tryal . let the educator therefore think himself to be but as a midwife , who cannot bring forth a child , where there is none ; but where there is , can assist the birth , though the mother be sickly , and the child infirm . and as it is loss of labour to sow where there is no soil ; and as where the parts are meaner , the greater measure of cultivating by instruction and practice is requisite ; by which even mean parts may be bettered : so where there is a greater measure of parts , less institution and exercise will advance in them a greater harvest , and great industry will raise them to admiration . of these several degrees , it is diligently to be considered , that some have a bare capacity , sufficient to be instructed , moving only as they are drawn ; who , like bottles , render no more then is just put into them . others have a great inclination to knowledg , running , when once set in the way , either to any , or some one science in particular ; and having the grounds and principles given , they are able to raise conclusions , gather corollaries ; and having the foundation laid , build up the rest themselves . others ( though few ) are as automata , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their own masters ; and have a genius , or somewhat extraordinary , to assist them . which who so have , and withal a probity of affection , and willingnes to take pains , they seem set out by god himself richly fraught for his glory , and the good of mankind . it is also to be observed , that , where there is a great indisposition to one study , ( as many times there is , some being by nature more inventive , others more retentive ; some very active , others slow , &c. ) it is seldome worth the labour to strive to introduce the contrary to such inclination . amended and bettered such persons may be , but totally cured they rarely are ; and in their own way they may prosper excellently with less pains . i speak not here of inclination to virtue or vice ; for there is no man so disposed , but he may be virtuous if he please , as shall be shewed hereafter . this of capacities . 4. but the best capacity , without instruction by precepts and examples , to which are subservient exhortations , admonitions , threatnings , corrections , &c. is ready to spend it self upon low , mean , and many times vicious employments : as the best ground , except tilled and sowed with profitable seed , produceth only ranker weeds . satis norunt prudentes ( saith pasch. in vitâ pybrach ) virtutis & vitiorum semina cum nascendi origine copulata , vi educationis , in alteram partem necessario emicare : adeo ut bonum esse , non à natura datum , sed arte sit quaesitum ; ac proinde bene institui sit efficacius , quam feliciter nasci . his meaning is ; that parts are indifferent of themselves to produce good or evil ; and great parts ( as themistocles was told by his master , fili , tu nihil mediocre eris , sed vel magnum patriae lumen , vel magna pestis ) are fitted for great , whether good or bad , undertakings ; great errors and wickednesses proceeding only from great wits . education and discipline form our manners ; and that only every one knows which he is taught . the faculties of the soul can work of themselves ; but as not except upon an external object ; so neither to the utmost of their power , without imitation ; nor in the best , i. e. the right and true manner , but by instruction . we are born with hands , feet , and tongue ; and have by nature power to write , dance , and speak ; yet none of these can we do , except assisted , sustained , and formed by either those , whom we see so to employ the same members ; or by those by whom we are , as soon as strength permits , taught and moulded into such habits . so all men are born with reason , but have not the use of it at first . and when we begin to serve our selves of it , it is so weakly , that we are easily overcome by sense , which till then hath guided us . and , if at this dangerous conjuncture we be not assisted , 't is much to be feared our reason will be but of small use to us : especially since we find great store of tracks and encouragements in the broad way of pleasure ; and therefore shall be unwilling to leave it for the narrow , rough , and unbeaten routtes of industry and labour . it is true , that persons of very great parts can , out of their own observation , ( for so all sciences at first began ) or when they arrive at years of discretion by the help of books , ( that is , other mens experience ) advance without a teacher to a considerable perfection . as lucullus is said to have come into asia an excellent general , who departed from rome an unexperienced soldier . the same is also storied of the lord deputy montjoy . though , to confess the truth , these instances are not very rare : for ( which seems strangely absurd ) there is no art , to obtain which less diligence is used , then this of soldiership , though of the greatest consequence . but we had lately a person , who without any experience in navigation , by reading and study , at the very first essay of his art , happily and discreetly commanded a ship to the east-indies . some commend only practice : others think reading sufficient ; both to blame : joyned together they do best . reading advanceth more , and sooner then practise alone . a reader is more universal , better for many things ; more accurate and observant in his practise : a practisers knowledge is in a shorter compass , in ordinary cases , and is longer before it come to perfection . reading is other mens experience , which by meditation and practise becomes our own ; but it makes us somewhat too exact , and to expect all things should fall out according to our imaginations ; whereas the world in fancy is much different from that in reality ; not clothed with those particularities , and circumstances , which are either parts of , or inseparable from it . though reading however be good , yet 't is best with those who have already had an instructer ; who can apply his precepts and advices to all accidents , supply defects , answer all doubts , retrench excesses , inculcate what is neglected , call to mind what is forgotten , and set his charge in the straightest and nearest way . 5. yet both capacity and instruction are effectles without practise and exercise ; which consists ( according to the nature of the thing to be learned ) in meditation , thinking , or contriving ; observing others practises ; and actually trying and working . precepts serve very well for a guide ; but advance not the guided , except himself follow them ; they facilitate the beginning and progress , but the person himself must set to his own endeavour , if ever he intends to attain perfection . never have i seen parts , how great soever , without industry and study to produce any good ; much evil indeed i have known proceed from thence . such persons may prove sometimes plausible discoursers , and of an agreable conversation in ordinary companies for a time , till their stock be spent : but it is industry and exercise , that renders a man knowing and solid ; that makes him not fear to be asked a question in what he professeth . and if industry be necessary to great , much more to mean parts ; which it bettereth and advanceth to perfection and honour . and since to have great natural parts is not in our power , but we must be contented with those which god hath given us ; we must set our rest upon our labour and industry , for correcting our bad , bettering our indifferent , and perfecting our good inclinations . and of this ( the use and profit we make of our talents ) must we give a severe account . nothing changeth nature , but another nature , custome ; not force , not reward , not passion . our thoughts are according to our inclinations , our discours and speeches according to what we have learned , but our actions according to what we have bin accustomed . how often do we see men promise , vow , engage , yea and resolve to change v. g. an ill habit , and yet continue to do as they did before ? how many see we daily who began well , and , as long as they took pains , profited exceedingly ; but when trusting to the goodness of their parts , and that small stock of knowledge laid in before , not improving it further , but giving themselves liberty of mirth and pleasure , have not only not profited , but bankerupted also , and lost their principal ? besides , industry and exercise of themselves render us thinking , vigilant , attentive , provident for all cases , and accidents ; lay up a treasury against all events ; prevent surprizes ; and make us familiar , and ready to all that may happen . but by idleness , and pleasures , the spirit is relaxed , the understanding unbended , the fancy over-grown with rust and rubbish , and the memory perished . 6. these two last ( instruction , and practise ) are comprehended in education . there is but one way and manner of learning , be the subject what ever it will. in manual arts the master first sheweth his apprentice what he is to do ; next works it himself in his presence , and gives him rules , and then sets him to work . the same is the way of breeding a gentleman , or a scholar . the educator prescribeth his end ; gives him rules and precepts ; presents him examples and patterns ; and then sets him to act according to what was before taught him . and if the educated apply himself seriously to meditate , contrive , observe his copy , and be content to be admonished and corrected when faulty , he will , no doubt , arrive to the intended perfection ; which is to perform his duty with ease , readiness , and delight ; i. e. to advance his art into another nature . for in this art equals nature , that is , as she , works without deliberation , and is indisposed to the contrary ; as a good musicians hand consulteth not what string to touch , but runs to it as readily , as nature doth to the proper muscle , when she would move a finger . only in this they differ , that nature god hath given us , art is of our own acquisition ; nature is perfect at the first moment , art is not obtained without study and industry . and the earlier we begin , the better it is . for should we suffer young-men , as they say of hercules , to chuse virtue or vice , labour or pleasure , when they come to years of discretion ; and in the interim let them spend their youth in the vanities , and follies , that age suggests to them ; is not this that wherein the devil tempted our first parents , presenting them the excellency of the knowledge of good and evil ? whereas it had bin much better to have known good only , and left evil to have been understood by the examples of such , as would not consider . but into what hazzards are these uninstructed persons cast , should it please god to cut them of in their youth ? is it not , as if they said ; let them habituate themselves in vanity , idlenes and folly , that they may afterwards judg better of virtue , i. e. of that whereof they have no experience ? how can they chuse good , since they know not what it is ? and every one must follow and embrace what he knows . shall we let them first vent their malice ? but by practise it increaseth : let them defer their choice till they may make it with discretion ? but without teaching they will never come to discretion . for every habit , especially when according to a natural inclination ( as these are by reason of the remainder of that evil , left in us for our exercise ) hurries them violently , and at length irresistably also . at best ; suppose a child should escape accidentally , i. e. by the care of parents , or his own naturally good disposition , this rock ; yet those , who start late , are so far behind , that when they should be ready for employment , they are learning the principles of it , and are surpriz'd and at a gaze where to begin . the great inclination of youth is to pleasures ; and that , either to idlenes and sleep ; whence proceed inconsideration , carelesnes , hatred of labour and thinking ; or else to eating , drinking , or the other lusts of the flesh . and all these , indulged and accustomed , grow stronger , and at last inextirpable . for they end in habitual sin , darknes of understanding , and extinguishing the light both of gods spirit , and reason . virtutem ( saith pasc. vit . pibr . ) nisi in primaeva germina , dum tenera sint & mollia , instilletur , frustra in adultis requiras . the reason why we see so many old men fools , is because we see so many young men unlearned . those , who are employed in missions for converting nations to christianity , find little fruit in treating with ancient men . it is also necessary to get an habitude of virtue and knowledg in youth , that in that age , when our understanding fails us , wee may do nothing unbeseeming us . but the force of education is seen in nothing more , then that whole nations , from age to age , continue in the very same customes and manners : and to change these , especially to the better , is a difficulty even beyond imagination . those , who are brought up in wars , are active , restles , violent , ungovernable but by force ; brought up in peace , lazy , unexperienced ; in trade , subtil , interessed , covetous ; amongst poor men , mean-spirited ; amongst idle persons , good for nothing . again , were there a city consisting of subjects without education , what a confusion would it be ? without obedience , without breaking their own humors and passions , every one following his own lusts , without regarding any other , without discretion , civility , even without humanity it self . t is good education of youth , that makes virtuous men and obedient subjects ; that fills the court with wise councellers , and the common-wealth with good patriots . even trees , if not cultivated when young , change their nature into wildnes ; and beasts grow fierce and resty if not tamed and broken in youth . nature is bettered , and made useful by education ; and what our industry produceth in us contrary to nature , is stronger , and converts nature into it self . to neglect instructions is to want other mens experience , and to begin again at the very foundation of every art , or science ; which being by little and little advanced , and not yet perfected ; he much hinders himself , that takes not advantage of the height they are already arrived to . and not to exercise parts is to loose them ; and not to use them to the best , is to debase and vilify them . for they , whose spirit suffers them not to be idle , and yet are not instructed to the best advantage , fall upon trifles , turning , watchmaking , hunting , or worse . one i have read of brought to alexander , who by many years practise , had obtained the dexterity of throwing a small seed through a needles eye . the king for a just reward gave him a sack full of those seeds . but math. huniades the warlike king of hungary , was more severe with him , that brought him a wooden coat of male , wherein was not one ring wanting , a work of fifteen years ; for he commanded him to prison for fifteen yeares more , to expiate for so much time and parts spent in so fruitles an employment . chap. ii. of the duty of parents in educating their children . 1 i desire parents would seriously consider , that education of their children is not left to their pleasure , but a duty imposed on them . god , the great father of us all , deposited the children in the fathers charge ; and provided by his laws , and threatnings , they should be reverenced and obeyed by them . they are part of your selves , and what you do for them is indeed for your selves . you expect honour by them at all times , & may sometime also stand in need of their help . 't is what you either have enjoyed from your parents , or lament your loss by their neglect . you have brought forth children into this world of misery and trouble , and will you so leave them ? will you not assist them in passing through it as well as they can ? it is but reasonable they should by a speedy death be taken away from the future evil , if you refuse to fortify them against it . you provide them estates ; to what purpose , if you also procure them not parts to use them ? by that you appear to be their provident parents , but by this you are paralleled to their good angels , in taking care and watching over them . but i will speak no more of this : for though there be some inhuman and irrational parents , that desire their children should be like themselves ; that think their own honour and respect eclipsed if their sons be wiser , or worthier then they ; and are contented their children be wicked , least their own actions be shamed : some also who for covetuousnes , neglect , or ignorance , will not bestow good education upon them ; yet there are so few of this sort , and their error so manifest , that it needs no further discovery . another and not inferior error of parents there is , that out of i know not what tendernes , they are unwilling their children should undergo such hardships and severities as a good education doth require . which is , as if the mother should not suffer her new-born infant to be molested with the pain of swathing , and binding , till it grows better able to endure that torment . many parents are afraid , their childrens spirits , i. e. their obstinacy and pride , should be broken with due correction , and harsher chiding . but the greatest , and most general error of parents is ; that they desire their children to be more plausible , then knowing ; and to have a good mine , rather then a good understanding ; or at least , to have both together : to employ the same time to acquire serious studies , and à-lamodeness ; to study gravity and levity ; gallantry and philosophy together . but ( besides what i said before , if these come in competition , pleasure will certainly carry the cause ; both more time bestowed and greater proficiency shall be made in that , then the other ) it seems to me little less then impossible , that two things so unlike , if not contrary , should be together attended ( one hour of pleasure obliterating more , then three of study will imprint ; ) that two so differently commanding masters should be obeyed . if the soul can apply it self to such dissonant studies , why may not the eye also , at once , aime at two opposite marks ? the gallants chiefest study is to spend his time ; the other 's to save it : the one is for living in pleasure and mirth ; the other , in labour and seriousnes . the one for adorning and trimming himself , to visit , game , play , &c. the other for watchfulnes , industry , devotion . in sum , the one placeth his design to be conformable and acceptable to those , who understand least ; to some such silly women and ladies , from whom if you take vanity , nothing remains : the other strives to approve himself to god , his holy angels , the example of all worthy and wise men of the past and present age . why are rich clothes but to be shown ; shown to them , who best understand them ? they best understand them who mind nothing else , who can judg of every punctilio of the mode , and can read a lecture upon a knot of ruban . besides gallantry is ridiculous , except accompanied with formality of conversation , punctuality in dancing , visiting , courting ; which inevitably engage them in loss of time , folly , and averting the understanding from serious and useful thoughts . and this is as consentaneous to reason , as experience ; for the soul is fortified by introversion upon it self , continual meditation , and reflecting upon its operations , faculties , and the objects therein reserved : whereas all sensual pleasures call forth the forces of the soul to the outward parts and members of the body : whence proceeds that continual combat , so much spoken of both by philosophers and divines , between sense and reason , the body and the soul , wisdome and pleasure . methinks therefore children should be educated to all severity of labour , and virtue ; and to this outward politure , by the bye only ; to make those their study and employment , and to regard these so much as not to be offensive to those they converse withal . pleasure and recreation indeed is so far necessary , as to keep up the strength and alacrity of the bodily forces , without which the soul cannot work ; but i speak not of these at this time , but of that which is esteemed a part of busines , and employment . cyrus and darius , great captains and wise men , ruin'd their families and monarchy , because they educated their children after the median fashion , i. e. amongst their wives and women ; who never suffering them to want any thing , nor to be contradicted , their delicacy made them slothful and languid ; the slavery and flattery of those about them rendred them haughty and imperious : so that they could neither labour wirh cheerfulnes , nor command without arrogancy : that made them contemptible , as effeminate ; this odious , as insolent . i wish the persians were the onely faulty in this matter . whoever would educate a child to folly and ruine , must give him his own will ; not suffer his humor to be contradicted ; be careful that he never come in danger or hardship ; that he be above labour and industry ; and every days experience shews us , that fortuna , quem fovet , fatuum facit . but it is very considerable , contrary to the persians , that many great princes have brought up their children to industry and hardship . egin●artus saith of charles the great , liberos suos it a censuit instituendos , ut tam filii , quem nepotes , primo liberalibus studiis ( quibus & ipse operam dabat ) erudirentur . tum filios , quamprimum aetas patiebatur , more francorum equitare , armis ac venationibus exerceri fecit . filias lanificio assuescere , coloque ac fuso , ne per otium torperent , operam impendere , atque ad omnem honestatem erudiri fecit . augustus wore the clothes spun and made by his wife , daughter , and grand-children , as suet. informs us . monsieur de rhodez thus describes the education of henry the great of france . his grand-father would not permit him to be brought up with that delicatnes , ordinarily used to persons of his quality ; well knowing , that seldome lodgeth other then a mean and feeble spirit in an effeminate and tender body . neither would he allow him rich habilements , and childrens usual trifles : nor to be flattered or treated like a prince . because all these things are causers only of vanity , and rather raise pride in the hearts of infants , then any sentiments of true generosity . but he commanded , he should be habited , and educated like the other children of that country ; that he should be accustomed to run , to leap , to climb the rocks and mountains ; that by such means he might be inured to labour , &c. his ordinary food also was course bread , beef , cheese , and garlick ; and he often went bare-foot , and bare-headed . the same care was taken by whole nations , especially such as were of a military constitution . the lacedemonian and other antient nations customs are to every one known . olaus magnus describes the manner of the education of the nobility of the warlike nation of the goths , l. 8. c. 4. they were accustomed to endure beating and wounds , to change of heat into sudden cold , to suffering of fire and frost , to lying upon boards , course and uneasy clothing , strong , but ordinary food , violent and wearisome exercises according to every age ; such as riding , darting , shooting , wearing heavy arms , especially helmets , sheilds , spears , boots and spurs , swimming on horseback , and in armor . i shall not instance in any more for fear of seeming to much to upbraid the present delicacy . 2. the duty of the parents therefore is first to begin betimes ; for very frequently the blandishments of nurses , and the foolish , vain , or evil conversation of those about them , leave such impressions even upon their infancy , as are difficultly defaced , even when the child arrives to discretion , and maturity . besides , the nurses form the speech , the garbe , and much of the sentiments of the child . the ancient romans ( saith quintilian ) when a child was born , put him not out to an hired nurse , but brought him up in his mothers chamber , under the eye of some grave and virtuous matron , chosen out of the neighbourhood , who was to have him continually in her presence ; coram quâ neque dicere fas erat quod turpe dictu , neque facere quod inhonestum factu videretur : ac non studia modo , sed remissiones etiam , lususque puerorum sanctâ quâdam gravitate ac verecundiâ temperabat , &c. and so considerable was the education of children thought to be , that , as he saith , cornelia the mother of the gracchi , aurelia , the mother of augustus caesar , were governesses to great mens children . 3. secondly , though a discreet and careful nurse be provided , yet let not the father remit his diligence to wean him betimes ; nor permit tenderness to overcome his judgment , or his present false , the durable and perfect love ; but hinder , as much as is possible , the sowing of evil seeds , and prevent the very first beginnings , and sprowtings of bad actions . there is indeed no man that seeth not the vast difference in childrens inclinations to virtue or vice ; how easy some are advised , how difficultly others restrained , even by correction . there remaining in every one somewhat of that pravity derived to us from our first parents , inclining us as much , if not more , to evil , then to good ; yet some more violently then others : which inclinations , though they render us not guilty ( the sin being washed away by baptisme ) yet our consenting to them is sin , as our resisting them is virtue , and our fighting against and overcoming them , is the great employment of our life . and truely were it not for evil examples and councells , or at least for want of good ones , the victory would not be so difficult , as we commonly suppose , and find it ; nor the difference of inclinations so manifest . for thus much must be acknowledged to the glory of our maker ; first that as every constitution hath a disposition to evil , so that very disposition is contrary to another evil , to which the indifferent would be more obnoxious ; and secondly , inclineth also to the neighbouring good ; every defect , by the wise ordering of providence , being ballanced with another advantage ; as proneness to anger prompts also to activenes , and hardiness to attempt difficulties ; the slow , and phlegmatick , are also perseverant and constant in their resolutions ; that which disposeth to lust , suggests also persuasivenes , plausibility , and cheerfulnes : desire produceth industry , fear breeds quiet and cautiousnes . and by the way , let this be remembred , that it is much easier to bend a natural mis-inclination to its neighbour virtue , then to its opposite : as an angry person is easilier perswaded to activenes , then meeknes ; the tenacious , to frugality , rather then bounty ; obstinacy to constancy , fawningnes to complaisance , and ignorance to obedience . so that any one becomes evil rather then good , is not so much the fault of his constitution , as the perversnes of his will ; following the suggestions of sense rather then the dictates of reason . 't is pleasure in children , that recommends the evil , and warps them from the good : 't is inconsideration and folly more then the difficulty or unnaturalnes of virtue . and if there be any such man , as without delight or interest , pursues bad rather then good , he wanteth either the reason , or desires common to all mankind . nor did wise law-makers institute reward and punishment to constrain men to doe against nature ; but to equiponderate the prejudices of pleasure and interest , i. e. to countenance reason against sensuality . i cannot forbare setting down a notable saying of quintilian cap. ult . natura nos ad optimam mentem genuit , adeoque discere meliora volentibus promtum est ; ut verè intuenti mirum sit illud magis , malos esse tam multos . and seneca , nihil est tam arduum & difficile , quod non humana mens vincat , & in familiaritatem producat assidua meditatio : nullique sunt tam feri & sui juris affectus , ut non disciplinâ domentur . quodcunque sibi imperavit animus , obtinuit . sanabilibus aegrotamus malis , ipsaque nos in rectum genitos natura , si emendari voluerimus , juvat . thus they out of the strength of their reason and experience : perhaps also they had learned so much from socrates , who by his own example , shewed that even the worst disposition was conquerable by reason . and this is to the shame of so many pretended christians . but how would they have glorified god , had they known the advantage given us by grace and his holy spirit , always ready to assist our good endeavours ? though seneca seems to have discerned some glimpse of that also . ep. 41. sacer intra nos spiritus sedet , malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator & custos . bonus vir sine deo nemo est . an potest aliquis supra fortunam , nisi ab ipso , surgere ? ille dat consilia erecta & magnifica . o pie domine , o salvator bone , saith salvian l. 7. quantum per te efficiunt studia disciplinae , per quae mutari possunt vitia naturae ! and speaking there of the africans , he saith , adeo exclusa naturae originalis sinceritas , ut aliam quodammodo in his naturam vitia fecerunt . the sum is , though all dispositions be not equally good , yet the worst may , by the industry of the educators , and gods grace , never wanting till refused , be so reformed and bettered , as to be able to do god , his prince , and family , honour and service . and the greatest frowardnes and worst inclinations , we find in children , are conquerable ; and when actually overcome , those very persons may better succeed , then the more facile and complying . only as i said let them be taken betimes : and the rather , because it cannot be known but by experience , how any childs disposition may prove and shew it self . but if instead of rectifying his evil inclination , any one indulge it ; and instead of bridling incourage it ; he makes it his master . whence come those irregular and extravagant desires , and actions , which we see in many persons , of stealing , drinking , inconstancy , and the like . 4 my third advice is , that parents would have their children ( as much as they can ) under their own eye and inspection . by this they shall be preserved from evil companions , imitatation of bad superiors , their councel , discours , and such like ; but more then all , from indiscreet , impertinent , unmanaged servants . for youth not having the judgment to measure it self from its own actions , knows it only by reflection , from others relations ; and thinks it self such really as a fawning servant represents him : and servants who are usually brought up in that low condition , and have their thoughts and speeches suitable , cannot be fit companions to a gentleman . but above all , the example of the father is of greatest force to educate a son. o te beatum adolescentem ( plin. lib. 8. ep . 13. ) qui-eum potissimum imitandum habes , cui natura te simillimum esse voluit . the father's actions authorise the same in the child ; nor can the father chastise him for what himself is guilty . great care must the father take therefore least he give any bad example either of intemperate anger with servants , or of using any evil , obscene , or undecent words ; and to be such as he desireth his son should represent him . it concerns him also to overlook even his governor and educator , when he is of age to stand in need of one , both to keep him to his diligence , and create authority to his instruction . cato , though he kept a master expresly for his son in his own house , yet did himself always frequently teach him . so did augustus his grand-children caius and lucius . the great theodosius used frequently to fit by arsenius , whilst he taught his sons arcadius and honorius ; to whom also he commanded such respect to be given by them , that surprizing them once sitting , and arsenius standing , he took from them their robes ; and not till after a long time and much intreaty restored them . and if the father and family be of good example , it seems to me best to educate him at home , and leave him in his first bed , till he have taken some root before he be transplanted . if the child be of a soft , or of an haughty disposition , or the family of evil examples , 't is better to send him abroad betimes . but generally , the best place of education seems to be amongst companions ( as near as may be , his equals ) at some distance from home ; but whether he may repair every night , or very frequently . if this cannot be , then with companions in his fathers house ; for to teach one alone , besides other inconveniences , is extreamly tedious both to master and scholar . for want of these opportunities the next is at a public school ; but then great care is to be had that the family , where he sojourneth , be of good example . and much better would it be for him there to have a pedagogue ( which in those countrys , that abound with clergy , is seldome omitted ) i. e. one somewhat versed in learning ; who may continually attend the child , see to his repetitions , and the performing his tasks & exercises , model his manners , and preserve him from danger , and the like . 5. parents also , fourthly , ought to guide them , as much as is possible , with kindnes and affection ; endeavoring to convince and perswade them of the excellency of labour , seriousnes , learning , virtue , sufferings , and the like ; and even denying what they think not fit to grant them with sweetnes and love ; and even chastising them with sorrow , and for vices only , in things indifferent giving them liberty . in bodily sicknesses the patient is the first who desireth the cure ; but the distempers of the mind are to be discovered and perswaded to the patient by reason and good admonition . neither must the father destine his child to such an employment as himself thinks fittest to serve his other occasions . though most mens parts are capable of many employments , yet are many less disposed to one then another ; and so much , as it is not worth the time and labour many times ( as is said before ) to endeavour the change of such inclinations . consider therefore both his disposition , and the nature of the calling , i. e. what faculties it chiefly employs : and whether those faculties be most eminent in the subject ; and so fit them together ; and you shall not need to fear their corresponding to your care . however , if after all your endeavours they prove not to your desire ; as many times it happens : murmur not against god , who permits them to miscarry ; either that men may take notice , that all wel-doing is from his grace , not our wisedome ; or that your faith and patience may be tried , and your self purged from all human and secular affections and interests ; or that some faults in your self may be punished in them . chap. iii. of the educator . 1. the fathers greatest diligence is seen in chusing a good governor , or director of his son. a good educator therefore , whether one be to be chosen , or any one desires to render himself such , being instead of a father to his charge , ought to be ; first , religious , virtuous , and grave , both himself and family ; that he may give good example , and not need to fear that his scholar resemble him . he must therefore be sure to live with greater severity then he exacts of his charge . then also may he hope by his prayers to obtain a blessing upon his endeavours ; and ( performing his duty as in the sight of god ) to give up his accounts cheerfully , and receive his reward from him . 2. prudent , and discreet , as in all other things , so especially in observing the childs disposition , and to know what it will produce . for many times the medicine is to be applied to the disease , not to the symptome . not too severe , nor too indulgent ; not too austere , least he affright ; nor too familiar least he become contemptible to his charge . for young men understand not much the reason of his demeanor . he must praise without flattery , chide without contumely , and correct without passion ; be cheerful without levity , affable without fawning , grave without morosity , and merry without folly . 3. patient , humble , and meek , to pass-by , dissemble , and bear with , many impertinencies , dulnesses , forgetfulnesses : to endure many affronts , contempts , passions , and sometimes very evil words . not to despond , though success answer not his industry ; for almighty god gives grace when he pleaseth , nor doth all seed immediatly sprout : however he shall be rewarded not according to the others proficiency , but his own industry and sincerity . 4. master of his tongue , for that is his great and universal instrument . besides , the speech of the master authoriseth the childs imitation . he must therefore religiously avoid , not only all wicked , profane , and obscene ; but also all undecent , all passionate , all hyperbolical , superfluous , customary , vain , speeches ; knowing that the greatest reverence is due to children . 5. diligent , making it his busines to assist and better his charge , to observe all his motions and speeches ; for tho all cannot be amended at once , yet no default is to pass unregarded ; least that connivance authorize the committing it , and the frequent committing produce an habit . yet let him not so trust to his own industry , as not by continual prayer , to recommend his employment to the giver of success . 6. not covetous . especially let him not fancy to himself the making advantage by insinuating into the interest of his charge , for that breeds jealousies at least : nor into his affections , for their gratitude is writ in sand , and their passions change with new objects . besides , after a while he will be look'd upon as impertinent , and exercising ridiculously an obsolete power . if , besides these qualifications , he have experience of forreign parts ; if he understand learning and sciences ; if wel-born , of a good presence , and address , and wear his clothes hansomely , it will admit him into the respect of his charge , and facilitate the performance of his duty . 7. in all times , great care was taken for providing good educators ; for they said , it was better to prevent vices , then punish them . and in most states the magistrates appointed them ; nor was it lawful amongst many nations for parents to employ any others , or educate their children , but in public . the canons of most churches , since christianity , have charged that election upon the bishops : and that with so much reason and prudence , that the contrary practice hath once , and is even now ready , to endanger the ruin of this government . the ancient persians ( despairing to find all requisite accomplishments in one ) had usually four distinct persons to educate their princes : one supreme , who had the general inspection over both masters and scholar ; another eminent for sanctity and virtue , to teach him religion , honor and justice : a third for learning , to principle him in knowledg and wisdome : and a fourth to perfect him in his carriage , valour , exercise of armes and chivalry . and , tho this be above the capacity and reach of most subjects ; yet by this every one may see what is perfectest , toward which he may advance as his estate will bear . and let them be sure of this , that if they will have the best educators , they must liberally encourage them ; for worthy persons will not labour without considerable rewards , both of means and respect . besides , the gratitude of princes , and great persons to their educators , invites others to fit themselvs , and to undergo that laborious and hazardous employment . alexander the great built up stagyra for aristotles sake , and spared lampsacus for anaximenes's . augustus bestowed great honours upon the person and country of apollodorus ; and forgave the alexandrians , to gratify areus his master in philosophy . trajan dignified his master plutark with the consulship . memorable is the piety of m. aurelius , who made proculus proconsul ; and took junius rusticus with him in all his expeditions , advised with him of all his both publick and private businesses , saluted him before the praefecti-praetorio , designed him to be second time consul , and after his death obtained from the senate publicly to erect a statue to his memory . tantum autem honoris magistris suis detulit , ut imagines eorum aureas in larario haberet , ac sepulchra eorum aditu , hostiis , floribus semper honoraret , saith capitolinus . see the gratitude of gratianus to his educator ausonius in his epistle to him . carolus magnus exceedingly honoured alcuinus ; as did also theodorick cassiodorus , making him his counceller and confident . so did otho iii. gerbertus ; for whose sake , & ut habeat magister quid principi nostro petro à parte sui discipuli offerat , otho gave to the church , to be disposed of by his governour , eight comitatus , or counties , pesaurum , fanum , &c. will. rufus made lanfranc archbishop of canterbury . laur. medices greatly enriched joh. argyropilus , and marsilius ficinus his educators . and truely it seems to me , that one of the greatest advantages of wealth is , that thereby may be procured better education , then those can have , who are not able to requite a worthy person . chap. iv. of the educated . the educator cannot perform his duty , unless he know the aime and scope of his employment , i. e. unless he consider diligently , what a one the educated ought to be framed by him . 1. first then we suppose , that no man cometh into this world either to be idle , or follow and enjoy only his own pleasure and humour ; but to be serviceable to his maker : who ( acting as a rational agent ) maketh nothing for our , but him , self ; and out of his infinite favour to us , is pleased to honour us so much , as both that some way we may do him service , and thereby also in the highest manner advantage our selves , by advancing his kingdome and interest , i. e. by doing good ( for god is the universal good ) both to our selves and others . there is no exception even of the greatest prince from that general burden laid upon us by god himself : in sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo . i. e. every man is to have some laborious employment , either of body or mind , which is to be his calling , and of which he is to render a strict and severe account . solomons princess eats not the bread of idlenes . s. paul laboured . our lords whole life was divided in labores and dolores . the greatest prince is obliged to the greatest observance ; and some have accounted themselves but as the general ministers or stewards of their subjects . the high priest among the jews had , and the grand seignior at this time hath a trade , at which ( as i am informed ) he is to labour every day ; which is for no other intent but to mind him of this general obligation . and good reason this is ; for there cannot be imagined such a difference amongst men , all of the same kind , made all of one mass , having the same entrance into , and exit out of this life ; that some should be born for pleasure only , others for labour ; some for themselves only , others for the sustentation of them in their idlenes . 2. the greater means and opportunities any one hath of glorifying god , the greater duty and obligation lieth upon him . the reason is plain ; it is god that bestows all good things ; who being no respecter of persons , gives to every man to profit others . and the more he ( as the husband-man ) sows , the more he expects to reap ; more from him that had five talents , then from him that had but two . 3. whatever a man enjoys , enabling him to glorify god , and to do good to himself , or others , is a talent . as strength , health , parts , &c. also whatever gives him greater authority , as riches , and honors , or reputation ; the two foundations of nobility ; which rendring them eminent and conspicuous above other men , sets them also , at least , as lights and examples to be followed by their inferiors . 4. persons of quality , therefore , besides the obligation of private persons , have others also particular and peculiar to their condition . first , as rich men , they are to make all the advantage they can for bettering themselves and others by their riches . they are gods stewards ( after they have taken what is necessary or convenient to themselves , and families , the better to perform such duties ) not for luxury , delicious fare , or fatting themselves , as beast are for the day of slaughter ; nor for accumulating wealth , the rust whereof will corrode their consciences as fire would their flesh : nor for furnishing their vain pleasures , or extravagant desires . but for providing for the poor , ( the immediate and particular care and charge of almighty god ) many of whom he hath left in worse condition then the beasts and fowls ; were they not preferred to these treasurers ; but for public and magnificent works , which exceed the ability of meaner persons . besides , that charity and generosity are ingenious to invent many waies of assisting others . secondly , as masters of numerous families , they are to provide for their several relations , wife , children , servants , neighbors . and not only temporal , but also , spiritual supplies . every family being a little church , and every master of a family a magistrate within his own walls to govern , advise , direct , reward and punish those under his charge . thirdly , as members of a noble stock , they are to advise , assist and benefit also their brethren and kindred , to whom they have a more particular relation then to the rest of mankind . they are also to correspond unto , and in themselves ( as in a burning-glass ) concenter the characters of their worthy predecessors ; and communicate them as well as their wealth down also with advantage to their descendants . and let them remember that it is not less praise-worthy to deserve to be a prince , then to be one . 4. as the most considerable members of a common-wealth , they are engaged in more peculiar duties toward the prince , and his subordinate magistrate ; to know and obey the laws , and assist toward the observation of them by others . beside this , to fit themselves for such employments as they may probably be call'd unto . whether to be courtiers , and domestick servants to the prince . magistrates in peace , commanders in war. councellers of , or officers under the prince . employed in forreign parts , as agents , ambassadors , &c. or in the church , as clergy-men , secular or religious , active or contemplative . nec sic quisque debet esse otiosus , ut in eodem otio utilitatem non cogitet proximi ; nec sic actuosus , ut contemplationem non requirat dei. aug. de c. d. 5. these , and such like , are the callings and employments of gentlemen ; who , as you see , ought not to overvalue or think themselves better , because of their wealth or honour ; but to have greater obligations . and as they may justly expect greater rewards , because of greater temptations , so are they to fear greater punishments , because of greater opportunities of doing good , and because every fault is more conspicuous and dangerous in them then in inferiors . but besides they must not forget themselves also to be private persons : but let their public busines be what it will ; they will , and must have some time to themselves also to bestow on their particular inclinations . whereof , first , that is best spent , which is employed upon almighty god. and by the way , let them take notice , 1. that they ought not to undertake any employment , which will not allow them every day a competent time for their devotions . 2. next , that is best employed which is set upon ingenious studies ; especially such as are beneficial and advantagious to the public ; or such as poorer persons are not able to support . such are the history of his own or other countreys , search of antiquity , natural history , and experiments ; medicine ; forreign laws ; mathematicks , astronomical observations ; mechanicks , and the like ; it being a noble study to observe , how god governs natural , as well as free agents . thus is salomon praised for his knowledg in plants ; moses for being versed in all the learning of the egyptians ; daniel was chief of the magicians ; abraham a great astronomer ; david and job eminent philosophers , avicen , averroes , and almansor were all princes . radulfus the emperor gave his mind to jewelling ; gratianus to making of arms. but heed must be taken least those be made the principal , which should only be accessories and divertisements . 6. now to all these the educators care cannot extend , nor is it expected it should . but this he ought to do : first , to lay in his charge the foundation of religion and virtue . 2. to improve his natural parts as much as he shall be able . 3. to ground him so far in such general knowledges , as may be serviceable or useful unto him , till he be able in some measure to proceed in them by his own industry , and by them be also fitted for the other . 4. and lastly to assist him in such particular arts or faculties as he seems most fit for , inclined unto , or likely to follow . but these not all at once , but as his judgment and parts are prepared to receive them : that being not superficially or slightly painted or tincted , but thorowly furnish'd to all good employments , he may have both ability and delight to pursue by himself the same routte ; and in his private studies build up that knowledg and wisedome , whose foundation was laid by his teachers . which is the end of the educators pains , and will perhaps take up more of the young-mans age , then is usually allowed by parents to that purpose . and perhaps it will not be amiss here to advertise , that governors be not too soon cast off . augustus caesar kept posidonius his instructor with him till his old age ; and when he then desired of the emperor to be dismissed into his own countrey , where he might dye in quiet out of the tracas and noise of the world ; cesar desired before his departure , to receive some good rules from him for better governing himself ; the philosopher answered , that when he perceived himself angry , he should , before he undertook any business , repeat over the alphabet ; augustus considering his prescription , replyed , that he perceived he had still need of him , and perhaps as much as when he was first under his care ; so refused to dismiss him , but gave him an appartment in the palace , better , and nearer to himself , increased his revenues , and kept him with him as long as he lived . chap. v. general directions to the educator . 1. the educator having thus his end proposed , and his matter ( the educated ) delivered into his hands , let him consider how to work this matter to that end . and first he should endeavour thorowly to understand what parts and capacity , as also what dispositions and inclinations , his charge hath ; i. e. how apt to , or averse from this end . next , how to frame and order these dispositions ; which to correct , which restrain , which encourage . for many times an unskilful gardiner spends much vain labour to gather out the roots of summer-weeds , which would perish in the digging . 2. much doth it concern the educator to carry himself discreetly . for young men observe diligently , and censure severely ( when amongst their camerades ) and their governors in the first place . his first case must be to steer evenly between mildness and severity . yet making use of more or less of each , according to the disposition of his charge , and the present occasion . it requires great judgment to join sweetnes and efficaciousnes in his commands : not to advance into harshnes and morosity on the one side ; nor degenerate into softnes and laschenes on the other . harshnes is discovered in these and the like particulars . in enjoyning things in themselves too difficult , unfesible , unsuportable , or too hard for that person : or commanding obscurely , or equivocally , as if he were seeking an occasion to chide ; or enjoyning them too imperiously , and not shewing the reason of his commands : in not directing him how to do them : in unseasonable urging , and exacting them either in regard of the time , or the ability , or disposition of his charge : in pressing all things great and small with the same vigour and importancy , or because it is his command : in rejecting all reasons to the contrary , as excuses ; and not hearing his charge speak for himself : in shewing himself jealous and suspicious , or to have an ill opinion of his charge , or giving occasion to suspect him morose , unsatisfiable ; or that all his actions and speeches , tho dubious , are interpreted in the worst sense : in exaggerating all mistakes and errours into sins and crimes : in denying all , or most of his desires , tho the things be reasonable , or unprejudiciable : in unseasonble , nimious , opprobrious chiding , and such like . 3. remissnes on the contrary shews it self in these things . if he take notice only of great and scandalous , not smaller or secreter faults . if what is well enjoyned , either because of the educated's unwillingnes , or others intercessions , be not as it ought , exacted ; but either omitted , or changed into an easier . if he judg faults , because ordinarily committed , or his charge is inclined to them , lesser then indeed they are . if he think them incorrigible , and so go not about to rectify them . if indeed he resent them as faults , but chideth or correcteth not so much , as is sufficient to amendment . if , when he hath shewed him his faults , and that he is displeased with them , he leave the amendment to the young man. if , to please others , as the parents , kindred , companions of his charge , he yeild to a greater indulgence then he ought , or if out of timidity and fear of offending his charge , he neglect his duty . 4. now to avoid both these rocks , either of which is fatal ; let the governor be resolute to obtain his end , but sweet and mild in prescribing and exacting the means . to be sure not to let any vice pass unreprehended , and according to the nature or danger of it , to be more or less eager ; but for things indifferent , indecencies , fancies , little humors ( which are neither vicious , nor scandalous ) to bear with them till their turn come to be weeded out . endeavour to beget in your charge a perswasion , that you reprehend or correct , not out of your own interest , pleasure , or passion ; but out of a true , internal , sincere affection ; which , if you really bear such towards him , will not be difficult . and if you can thus far advance , you may go a step farther ; i. e. breed in him an affection toward you ( for love begets love ) and then the great difficulty of your work is past : in this also the parents must assist . this must be increased by shewing your self at all times concerned in his interests ; openly taking part in , and justifying his quarrels , tho privately you reprehend him severely , ( for thus he sees you are careful of his reputation ; ) by your diligent care and attendance on him when sick ; and many other occasions will be suggested of honestly insinuating into his affections . but take heed you flatter him not , nor praise him too much , yea tho he deserve very well ; for many times immoderate praise makes him proud and insolent ; many times also lasch and negligent , thinking he hath got applause enough , and needs no more endeavour ; but , as if he hath already hit the mark , unbends and throws away his bow . indeed the moderate suffering of praise , is as great a tryal of wisedome and prudence , as the cupel is of silver . 5. strive also to enamour him of what you would teach him . for to him that doth willingly what he must of necessity , the proficiency is certain . to be a good and virtuous man , consists almost solely in the will : quid tibi opus est ut sis bonus ? velle . sen. ep . 80. he that desires to be so , wants little of being so . and this is done by recommending your commands & instructions with the reason of them ; for when the judgment is convinced , the will surrenders of her self . i cannot deny but this is contrary to the practise of too many of our great schools , where children learn only , because it is minus malum ; tho painful and troublesome , yet not so much altogether as perpetual chastisement . many have doubted whether children of person of quality should at all be beaten , pretending it is slavish , and if in another age , injurious ; that he , who will not reform with chiding , will be also obstinate against beating . tho there is no justifying those masters , who think every thing lawful against that unresisting age , who being overburdened with numbers , make cruelty pass for diligence , and supply their want of care with plenty of the rod : as if they , who are committed to their charge , are abandoned to their passion ; or as if reason were not to be used to those who are not yet masters of it : yet corporal chastisement is necessary , even for great mens children also , especially for such stubborn dispositions , as care not for shame , but are afraid of pain . but not this till last of all . for the educator is to try all means before he comes to that : exhorting , examples , employments , praise and shame , promising , threatning , rewards alwaies before punishments . divers laudable crafts also , and deceits are to be practised ; as to commend him sometimes more then he deserves , or for what he hath not done , but you feign to believe he hath done it . to let him know that you pass-by many failings in compassion to his age ; to seem not to believe the evil related of him , but to nourish a better opinion : to put his faults upon another , and exaggerate them in his presence ; to declare the punishment deserved or inflicted ; to watch over him so as to hinder the acting of his evil intention , without taking notice of it . it was also the custome to punish the young prince's favorite for the prince . if these suffice not , try smart chiding ; wherein take heed of unbeseeming words , which a noble nature many times resents long after , but all are apt to imitate towards others . beware also of too importunate , or unseasonable reprehensions ; as either when the offender is in passion , or in public , or your self in passion ; tho it be not amiss sometimes to seem so . neither be alwayes chiding , for that breeds insensibility and carelesnes , and authorizeth his fault by your own . nescio quomodo hoc ipsum , quod concupiscitur , jucundius fit cum vetatur , & contumax est animus ( maxime puerorum ) & in contrarium atque arduum nitens . indiscreet reprehension is many times recommendation of the vice . let corporal punishments be the last refuge , and when the rest , tryed , are found insufficient ; for what is done willingly is best done , horses and beasts are subdued by the rod , but man hath a free-will , which ( if possible ) is to be gained by reason . what we do for fear of punishment we really detest ; and , were we left to our selves , we would not do it . yet by accustoming to do it , though for fear , the bugbear that caused our hatred is driven away , and by little and little we acquire an habit of , and by degrees a love to , it . 6. take all faults , vices especially , at the beginning , by preventing as much as you can all occasions and opportunities of ill-doing ; as let him not frequent suspected places , not be abroad , tho with a friend , nor be late from his lodging , and the like . for tho he do at such time nothing blame-worthy , yet that irregularity indulged will breed inconveniencies first , and faultines afterwards . plato having chid a young man for a slight fault , and he replying 't was no great matter , answered , but the custome of it is . tho he cannot amend all at once , yet he must not settle in any one . many times also we see a word cast in by chance , or in merriment , to have greater force then a formal admonition . quintilian , if any of his young scholars commited a fault , especially too bold and venturous , would tell him , that for the present he disliked it not , but for the future he would not endure it : so he both indulged their wit , and corrected theit errours aegre enim reprehendas quae sinis consuescere . especially beware of all obscene discourse , and those equivocal phrases , which the wicked invent to express their lust ( ingeniously as they think ) most plausibly , i. e. dangerously . as likewise of all filthy songs , and of libels , wherein either the magistrate , or other person is taxed . forbear also ( chiefly if the child be naturally timorous ) all discourse of witches , spirits , fayries , and the like ; which intimidate the spirit , and fill the head with vain and frightful imaginations . also all fond romances , whether of giants or love. those seem to have taken their original about the time of the holy-war , when all europe was upon the gog of fighting , to which they thought those fond stories were very conducing ; but these from later times , when courtship and lust were in greater account then arms and valour . but whatever they be , being but castles in the aire , it matters not whether they are built for palaces or prisons ; thay have both a bad effect : for they impress upon children , and ( which is almost the same ) upon women , and weak silly men also , false notions . they are to the mind what a feaver is to the body , filling the soul with preternatural , irregular conceits , and hindering the true understanding and reall notion of things as they are in the world , which true histories set forth . they represent actions by a false glass , as in the idle imaginations of silly and loose people . if wandring and insignificant fancies in the brain , ( romances in the thought ) be so troublesome to all well-minded people ; to have such in writing , is certainly much worse . what a madness is it to increase these by suggesting more non-sense ? by printing our follies , and publishing our resveries ? they shew us lust instead of love , false honour and valour instead of true ; the world in imagination for that in reality , agreeable dotages , pleasant means to render men fools . the most dangerous of all romances , are those , which are dressed up with all the artifice of good words , habits , action , &c. on purpose to withdraw the soul from seriousnes and virtue , to vanity and filthines : comedies , i mean , which who with delight frequenteth , returns with the passions and humours there represented , shall i say ? or recommended . the design of them is sensual delight and pleasure ( to say no worse ) which a good serious man looks upon as his greatest enemy : nemo ad voluptatem venit sine affectu ; nemo affectum sine casibus suis patitur . vbi voluptas ibi studium , per quod sc. voluptas sapit . tert. de spect. upon the same reason i would disswade all conversation with fools , jesters , buffoons , and all such as accustome to , and study to procure , laughter . a dangerous and pestilent sort of pleasure , that renders the mind's indulging it , like to his that causeth it , light , foolish , vain , and contrary to that seriousnes and thinkingnes requisite to prudence and gallantry of spirit . when this passion is over , reflect upon what caused it , and the manner of it , and you shall scarce find any action wherof you will be more really ashamed ; as of that which nature hath not suffer'd to be acted without uncomely motions of the mouth and countenance . e impossible ( saith danti p. 53. ) che sia pace o verit à nella republica , se colui che governa e amico de buffonerie , & bugie . and as it is in a common-wealth , so in a family , and in all conversation . 7. let him do every thing for a good end , & the best way . first , direct his intentions aright , and by that means his actions become virtues ; and ( which is more ) there will be insensibly implanted the very essence of religion . to carry himself decently , tell him , not that the people will think better of him , that he shall be more accepted in conversation ; but tell him that he ought to carry himself as the noblest and worthiest of gods creatures . to study and be diligent ; not that thereby he may arrive to honors here , and be acceptable to great persons , but to do god his creator the more service , and the like . to do his actions the best way , will breed a laudable ambition in him to excell in that which is good . and since in every age the same faculties are employ'd , only the objects changed , and the actions of those faculties not many ; it must need be , that our whole life is but reacting the same thing frequently over upon divers subjects and occasions . as the fool personates the same humour , tho in divers comedies ; and tho sometimes lance , jodelet , or scaramuccio , yet 't is all but the same buffoon . in infancy little quarrels with their brethren , peevishnes , wilfulnes , &c. are afterwards angers , hatreds , envies , prides , jealousies ; and a sensiblenes in youth for a gig or a suggar-plum , is the same afterwards for honour or interest . and he is not the only wise man who discourseth of , or acteth , great and high matters , but he who speaks or doth , whatever it be , great or small , pertinently , and according to the nature of the subject . therefore let your charge , even in his youth , frequently reflect upon his own and others actions , and censure them freely , that himself may be engaged to know to do better when the like occasion recurs . 't is generosity not to admire every thing he hears or sees ( which some miscall civility ) but to use his judgment ; to discommend as well as praise ; nor to acquiesce in every answer , but to seek for solid reason , and , according to his capacity , satisfaction . let him also in in his sports be prompt , diligent , active , subtil , free , not dishonest ; and where there is any engagement for victory , earnest , contriving , watching advantages , yet not quarrelsome ; endeavouring to overcome , yet patient if vanquished : and these qualities will be also afterward put on in more serious matters ; for if hunting be a praeludium to war , childrens sports are so to all other actions of their life . 8. it is also necessary that the educator have the disposing of the servants ; or at least that the child have none but virtuous and discreet persons to serve and wait upon him , especially in his chamber : whose discourse at his rising and going to bed have great influence upon him many times , either to confirme or deface such notions , as have bin infused into him the day before . great care also must be had of recommending him to good companions , and rather those that are somewhat above him in years , of a good reputation , and such as you will be content he may imitate . if you come into a strange place , you may discover evill company ; if they be extraordinarily officious without any reason ; if they applaud whatever the young man saith , or doth ; if they offer their service and assistance to all purposes ; if they advise against the governor , or to liberty , libertinisme , or idlenes ; if they railly , droll , and speak evil of others , especially of virtuous men , or such as the young man is recommended to ; if they endeavour to draw him to unknown , obscure , or suspected places , or bring him into much company . beware of such men , and get your charge out of their hands as soon as you can . 9. i have often thought it a great shame to see beasts , as horses and dogs , taught with so much care and industry , their natural vices corrected , and their disposition reformed , by almost certain rules fitted , out of observation , to every humour and imperfection : yet many men to return not only not bettered , but much deteriorated from their governors ; till i considered , that besides the ignorance , negligence , and insufficiency of the educators , or their undertaking to bring up too many , and all by the same way , there was also required on the part of the educated , the generous concurrence of his own free desire and endeavour to do well . that some also have such natural imperfections and perverse dispositions , as if not taken at the first moment , as it were , the primo-prime acts , and preserved with infinite care and industry from temptation , are difficultly reformed and straightned . nero was not rectified by seneca and burrhus , tho it is probable , had he been a private person , and so long under their care till he had got an habit , and imbibed those instructions they gave , he might have proved a virtuous person . but the tree returned to its native crookednes before it had time to grow straight . cicero's son to the stupidity of his nature , added drunkennes and good fellowship ; and no wonder if from athens and cratippus , he returned as he went to them . m. aurelius provided 14. of the most approved masters of the whole empire ( the learned julius pollux being one ) to educate his son commodus ; and within a while cashiered five of them , because he had observed some levities in their carriage . yet could not the other nine rectify the froward and barbarous humour , perhaps suck'd from , and encouraged afterward , by his mother , at the time of his conception in love with a gladiator . caracalla was nursed by a christian ( tert. ad scapulam ) whose education had such force upon him , that for a long time he behaved himself so , as he gained the love of all men , hujus puoritia blanda , ingeniosa , &c. saith spartianus . but afterward the natural humors which were not sufficiently by that short time of good education purged out , sermented again , and corrupted the whole mass . in such cases therefore , i advise the educator to be contented to do his endeavour , and not easily despond ; but if no betterment , to have patience ; and without all passion , and with due respect to the person ( careful not to fix any scandal or permanent infamy upon the family ) send him away . he may be fit for somewhat else ; as the spanish proverb saith , that which will not make a pot , may make a cover : or others may be more fitting for him , or more fortunate then your self . and so , as physicians remove their incurable patients far off into the countrey , free your self from him , that you may not be shamed by him , nor your self see his shame . chap. vi. of the ordering the disposition and manners of the educated . this i begin withal , because it is the chiefest and foundation of all the rest . for if you can plant in him a virtuous disposition , the rest is easy , and follows as natural corollaries from thence . and this is sustained upon two general bases , conscience , and honor. therefore , 1. let the educator in the very first place endeavour to plant in his charge a true sense of religion . i mean not that , which consists in disputing for a party , or in discourse only ; but that in the heart and affections . that he may seriously remember and acknowledg his creator betimes ; and accustome himself to bear that yoke , which in time will grow easy , and at length pleasant : and that he may not be ashamed to own god almighty for his master in this adulterous and atheistical generation . our lord said , that the good seed , being sown in the ground of an honest and tractable disposition , cannot but bring forth in youth the blade , then the eare , and at last arrive at maturity . regard not any wicked proverb , or censures of early piety . but if religion once take root in the spirit of a child ; 1. the principal is saved , should it please god to call him betimes out of the world. 2. neither can he in his whole life miscarry . for this is founding him upon the rock , which withstands all floods and tempests ; i. e. it is a principle , universal , perfect , unfailable ; upon which whoever builds , shall live uniformly , contentedly , and happily , both here and hereafter : a principle which will bear him up in all estates , accidents , and actions ; a principle , he never need change , or forget . his sufferings by it will be pleasant , his life blameles , his actions prudent , his words discreet , his thoughts virtuous and regular , and in all things shall he live according to the perfection human nature is capable of . religion prescribes a certain end , the glory of god , or doing as much good as he can to himself and others ; which is an high and noble aime , and direction ; and hinders all lownes of spirit , disorder and confusion in actions , and inconstancy in resolutions . for if any object be proposed , he considers not so much what is lawfull or expedient , as what is best to be done . from want of such a scope or mark it comes , that most men shoot under , employ their minds in little by-businesses , unworthy their dignity , and not honorable if effected . indeed our understandings are foolish , and desires irregular ; and to rectify them we have fathers and governors , whose wisedome we make our guide ; yet is not theirs comparable to that of our lord set forth in the holy scriptures . frequently therefore inculcate the greatness of god , the creator and governor of all , and every particular , in this world ; the shortnes of our life , and certainty of judgment ; the great reward for the good , and severe punishment for the bad . explain to him the mysteries of the lords prayer , the creed , commandments , his obligation in baptism , and the doctrine of the sacraments in due time . accustom him often to meditate , and set before him the manner of the life , which our great lord , the only son of god , lived here on earth ; and the great sufferings and mortifications he voluntarily chose and underwent ; that so he may not prefer in his thoughts any way before it . frame also for him prayers conformable to his age and condition , which may contain a summary of his duty . and take care that he say them every morning and evening upon his knees , not in bed ; and as he advanceth , change them , lest they become a meer form . let him also every night , at his going to bed , recollect historically what he hath done , and said that day ; and for what he hath done amiss to be sorry , and for what well done give thanks . let him also frequently ( suppose twice a day ) read some part of the scripture , and the historical and sapiential books rather then the other , which are more difficultly understood . in the morning let him , as much as he can , order his actions and emploiments for the whole day ; foreseeing what temtations that day are likely to come upon him , and how he may best prepare against them . 2. let him also be made to know his own dignity , the sublime ends to which he was created , and the noble actions which are in his power . ad magna , imò ad maxima , nati sumus , not as beasts groveling on the earth , obedient to their appetit , and labouring only for their belly . major sum , & ad majora genitus , quam ut mancipium sim mei corporis . sen. man hath a design higher then nature , to be like to almighty god and his holy angels ; to overcome himself , master his passions , and rule over others , not by fear and violence , but by reason , justice , and choice . the arts and sciences he invents , the laws and government he establisheth , the cities and fleets he buildeth , argue him to be of a most noble extraction ; and that a good man is worthy to be reverenced of his own self ; in as much as he will do nothing misbeseeming so noble and eminent a nature . and especially let him be fortified , and well prepared to entertain sufferings ; which is the great trial and cupel of gallant spirits , and without which he can never become perfect , i. e. his faculties can never be advanced to the height of their power . for in some sort suffering is the one half of our life , as doing is the other . sufferings in body , sicknesses , pains , want of conveniencies in diet , lodging , liberty , wearines , &c. in good name , obloquies , defamations , revilings , affronts , too much reputation , expectation , and the like . in his mind , ignorances of what he desires , or is fitting for him to know , discontents for loss , or miscarriage of relations , and friends , breaches of friendship , treacheries , ingratitudes , failings of his designs , insulting of enemies , &c. in external things , losses , poverty , with infinite more . i shall not name spiritual afflictions , because seldom incident to this age . now for these and the like , let him be instructed how to render himself as little , as is possible , obnoxious to them , by not setting his mind upon what is not in his power ; by good considerations proper to every sort , such as are furnished in many books , particularly in petrarch . but especially let him be practised and inured to suffer and bear so many as his age well permits , with courage and patience . however , he may arrive to the discretion not to be disturb'd for trifles , for the loss of a horse , a dog , or a picture , or somewhat of smaller value . and if he can bear a small burthen in youth , doubt not but he will be able to carry greater still as he grows in age . 3. endeavour to sow in him the seeds of true honor , to be afraid of shame for misbehaviours , and to value the good opinion of virtuous and worthy persons . the desire of honor is of so great force in all our actions , that the false and conterfeit of it is the great incentive and encouragment to all wickednes ; that those men , who neglect and despise religion , yet pretend altogether for honor ; that the horridest and most dangerous designs never want persons to act them , if they can be perswaded to be honorable ; that the pretended diminution of it is thought not sufficiently revenged with the loss of life ; that for it so many battels are fought , so many friendships broken , so many laws , even of religion despised , and conscience and justice trampled on . but these are from a misapprehension and mistaking that to be honorable , which indeed is not so . but i would my educated should esteem reputation only from wise and virtuous persons , which is the attestation of them , that know best , to his actions , and a public recommendation to emploiment . by this means he shall list himself under that ensign , and be ranged with that party , whereof our lord himself is the captain ; and he will take pleasure in virtue and piety , when he sees his actions and waies conformed to the sentiment of the world of all gallant persons , both past and present . nor shall he need to hunt after applause and fame ; that will follow him fast enough , with those that are either indifferently , or well inclined . but he must expect obloquy from the contrary party ; and many evil words , and much raillery will be spent upon him ; in vain , if he have the courage to despise them . being a gentleman , then let him consider that he is above the tongues of evil men : that he is engaged to nobler and sublimer designs and actions then other persons ; he must steer by higher stars , and aim at somewhat more heroical . other men labour for a fortune , and are a long time before they can arrive at that height to which he is born , and wherein the virtues of his fore fathers have placed him : he is already , because of his wealth , secured from necessity and want of what may be convenient or useful for his studies ; from necessity , too often the mother of low and abject thoughts , with which a poor man first combats before he can conquer any advantage of emploiment . besides , by his family he is already placed upon the theater , where all his actions shall be observed and praised , even more then they deserve ; all mens eyes are upon him expecting somewhat extraordinary from him ; and so he needs not some eminent action to introduce him into the good opinion of the world. let him therefore aim at somewhat above , not only ordinary persons , but his own condition also ; least he fall equal to those below him ; for he cannot in practise reach the height his imagination designs . let him say continually with himself , for what came i into the world ? why hath god gived me such riches , such parents , such respect amongst men , but to do more good ? surely i have received five talents , a greater increase and return is expected from me . magnam fortunam magnus animus decet . 4. this greatnes of spirit consists principally in these virtues , ( omitting most of those , which erasmus in his enchiridion militis christiani , recommends very effectually , but are common to all christians as well as to a cavalier ) i will only recite such as are more noble , heroical , and honorable ; and leave the pressing of them to the industry of the educator . his title of gentleman suggests to him the virtue of humility , courtesy , and affability ; easy of access , and passing by neglects and offences , especially from inferiors . pardoning also injuries , as being superior to them ; and not provocable to injure another . generosum apud animum cito moritur iracundia . he despiseth no man for his fortune or misery ; and is not afraid to own those who are unjustly oppressed ; for such , ordinarily , are men of parts , and if of virtue and integrity , they commonly rise again . he is not proud , no not when commended , nor doth any thing render him insolent or haughty above other persons . nor doth he strive to make himself known to be a gentleman by huffing , swelling , strutting , or domineering over inferiors ; nor by disobedience , and restines towards superiors ; much less by hectoring and quarelling . so neither by his clothes and peruque : nor stands he upon his family , name , wealth , honor of his kindred or ancestors ; but strives to equal himself with those that began their reputation , in civility , industry , gentlenes and discretion . by obedience to laws , submission to governors ; not content to do barely what is enjoined , or to make law the adequate rule of his actions , he forbears more then the law forbids , and doth more then it commands : he storns to take advantage of his quality to exemt him from such duties , exercises , and rules , as meaner persons are obliged unto . he doth nothing for fear of punishment ; nor leaves he a good action because of the danger , obloquy , or the like . courage is the proper virtue of great spirits . wherefore he defieth all little crafts and subtilties in negotiations , and thinks to master his designs by reason , and magnanimity , rather then finesse and devices . he is also , as much as is possible , equal and alike ; in his conversation , calme , peaceable ; and the same in private as in public . he bears also adversity cheerfully : when deservedly chid or corrected , is patient ; is open , and free , not dissembling or hiding himself behind little nets , or fig-leaves . invalidum omne naturâ querulum est . he scorns to tell a lie . tasso said , that other vices were like clip'd or light , but lying like counterfeit and false mony , which an honest man ought not to pay , tho himself received it . nor is he afraid to confess his faults , because he committeth them unwillingly ; nor ashamed to discover his ignorance , for he hath a desire to learn. he is also laborious , abstinent , and willingly undertakes difficult and painful emploiments : he had rather be in a camp then in a bed-chamber , and is afraid of nothing more the the dead sea of sloth and pleasure . difficulties , he knows , bake and concoct the mind , lazines effeminates and loosneth it . he is ready to do good to all ; give rather then receive ; is bountiful , values not great favours done by himself , so much as small ones received . is not ungrateful to others ; but himself desires no recompense , and is content , tho unworthily used . bona facere & mala pati regium est . he thinks it much below him to hate any one . in sum , he is bold without rashnes ; affable without flattery ; prudent without cunning ; secret without dissimulation ; devout without hypocrisy . he is constant , not opiniatre ; liberal , not prodigal ; gentle , not soft ; open , not foolish ; frugal , not covetous . he fears nothing , he despiseth nothing , he admires nothing . 5. to beget in him these and all other virtues , set before him good examples ; if of his own family , ancestors , and kindred 't is the better : as also are those of his own countrey , condition , time , age , acquaintance , and present , rather then ancient and absent . no prince ( except of a very base alloy , as nero and commodus ) if he hear of a good musician or comedian , desire to be like him ; but if he knows of the noble acts of his equal , he wisheth his own were such . acquaint him also with the stories of good and virtuous , rather then great-fam'd men , for this many times fills his head with vain and fruitles imaginations . and here i cannot but recommend to all persons the reading of lives , of modern rather then ancient persons : which are not the worse ( if drawn truly ) because somewhat hansomer then the original . as monsieur peiresk , and monsieur de renty , alessandro luzzaga , &c coglione , giacome medices , marquis of pescara , pibrac , giac. foscarini , &c. sir tho. more , proposed to himself jo. picus mirandula , whose life and some of his works he translated into english. carolus calvus caused a manual to be made for his instruction in his daily duty , out of the lives of famous persons ; and that excellent book of m. aurelius , seems to be no other , then such memorials as he collected for the governing himself and empire . examples also of evil men , if discreetly represented , are as useful ( if not more ) then others ; for wise men learn more by fools , then fools by wise men . the thorns also which are dug out of his own ground by admonition or correction , must serve to make a fence for the future : and he must be manured with the weeds pluck'd up in his own garden . all the faults , both of himself , and other men , being useful to preserve him from the like . 6. let him also know the great advantage of innocency above repentance . he that keeps himself from great sins , is as one that hath a prosperous voiage ; he that repents as he that saves himself upon a plank . consider what the good father said to the frugal son ; all that i have is thine . and what s. john of those who continue virgins , i. e. innocent ; that they have a new and peculiar song , that they , as immediate attendants , follow the lamb whither soever he goeth . and that they are the first fruits most holy unto god and our lord. how happy is he that never goes out of his way ! with a reasonable constant pace he must needs advance much further then other persons . especially fortify him against the three great ruins of youth , luxury , debauchery , and gaming ; and all other faults , which tho in themselves lesser , yet his peculiar inclination may render them as dangerous as the other . but if his garment cannot be kept alwaies clean ; yet have a care it may be with all possible speed washed ; and let all endeavour be used to preserve him from habitual and customary sins ; for rather then permit these , you ought to render him up to his parents , who perhaps may find a cure you know not . dionysius ( 't is better to use a forreign example for that , which is too common amongst us ) having in his youth indulged himself the liberty of debauchery , and finding too late the inconvenience , and endeavouring to oblige himself to the strict rules of temperance ; was answerd , tho perhaps untruly , that he could not safely do it ; if he relinquished his drinking he would fall into a consumtion ; so in his own defence he was forced to continue in his sottishnes . so true is that of our lord , he that committeth sin is the servant of sin ; and especially in this sin of drunkennes , whilst that extraneous supernatural fire quenching the true , native , genuine heat of the body , requireth still to be nourished by its equal or stronger . 7. the great spring and origine of lust is idlenes ; and if drinking increase the fire , lust takes away the fewel , both shorten the life . ply him therefore with continual labour and study , that the temter may find no bait to cover his poison . this is the remedy against that fire , which consumeth so many noble persons , families and nations ; an enemy not to be contended withal , but avoided . after you have detained from him all romances , lascivious books , pictures and discourses , and yet prevail not ; bodily labour interchanged with study must be prescribed : and if this remedy not , change places , and suggest new objects continually . a worthy prince of late times , being , by a servant of his , temted to this sin , shewing him all things prepared for the purpose ; the prince opened the door of the room , and commanded the officious ruffian to give him place and secrecy ; which he had no sooner done , but the prince shut the door upon him , and forbad him ever to come again into his presence . and truly this temtation is the exact , and almost adequate , trial of a brave and heroical spirit . he that is not carried away with every beauty , nor too much with any one ; that is deaf to pleasure & those enticements which so few can avoid , hath a noble soul and well grounded virtue . but if neither sense of honor , which this sin wounds more then any other , ( shame alwaies accompanying those unlawful , as blushing doth the lawful actions ) nor sense of the grievousnes of the sin , nor the expensivenes , nor spoiling his parts , nor danger to his person , nor the fear of diseases , and shortnes of life , nor conscience of his duty and virtue , nor emploiment , nor any other remedy will serve ; 't is best to marry him . this sort of love , said tasso , is a vice , wherein the same coin is not current between buyer and seller : the one pays honor , conscience , virtue as well as money , the other but love at the very best . but betwixt man and wife there is money for money , love for love , and all other things equal . but i look not upon marriage as a remedy only for fornication , except in such young men , who before the time , are impetuously carried on to those desires ; it is much more honorable , but seldom falls under the educators cognisance ; and if it do , he is rather to advise who is unfit , then who is fit for a wife . 8. the inconveniencies of gaming , are , 1. acquaintance with low , base , unworthy company . 2. learning also from them sordid and unmanly arts , as sharking , cheating , lying , equivocating , which is by such counted overwitting their camerade . 3. loss of time and money . 4. great engagement of the passions , which is the most effectual and speedy means to obliterate any good thought , and introduce the superiority of the bestial part . 5. learning , or at lest patiently enduring those abominable swearings , cursings , blasphemings , &c. 6. danger from other mens passions . how many have bin murthered , more duelled , upon play-quarrels ? monsieur faret observes , that only three sorts of persons follow the trade of gaming . 1. covetuous , who for love of money care not what means they employ to obtain it , and find none easier and cheaper then this which requires no stock , no tools , no learning , and is readily taken up by any one that hath but little wit , and less conscience . 2. lazy and effeminate , who not knowing how to spend their time better , can devise no divertisement so proper as this lasch exercise . 3. desperate , who being by fortune , or their own wickednes , reduced to that extremity , that they live to day , as if they were to die to morrow , think they may obtain that subsistence by cheating or hazard , which they cannot hope reasonably for by their industry ; and not having any virtue , ability , or lawful emploiment to supply their debauchery , they betake themselves to prey upon the weaknesses and ignorance of better men then themselves . here then it is to be supposed , that no gentleman desires to advance his fortune by the detriment of an other , and that to avoid coveteousnes ( the author of those horrid mischiefs in gaming ) he ought to forbear gaming , as the trade and emploiment of necessitous , idle , dissolute persons : the cheats whereof are so infinite , that it is impossible a virtuous or ingenious person should learn or avoid them ; and that it is a science which will neither credit its professor , nor quit the charge of the learning . yet if not as a trade , but with due caution practised , plays may be learned ; such especially as are menaged by skill , and not fortune only , to acquaint him with numbring , and to quicken his fancy and memory . besides , musick , discourse , and such other divertisements will not hold out long conversation with the same persons . but then let him not play for more money then the loss of it will be insensible to him ; and if his play can bear its own charge , seek not to gain by it . and let him ( as much as is possible ) practise to be unconcern'd in the winning or loosing ; to play calmly without passion . to which if he can arrive , he hath been serious in his play to very good purpose . let him also be veracious , and abominate a lie , or cheat , even in his play . and lastly , if a by-stander , let him beware of discovering the faults , either unskilfulnes , or deceit of the gamesters ; else both parties will hate him . chap. vii . of frugality , or ordering his money and expences . 1. wealth i. e. money being the great instrument , whereby all things are performed in civil societies ; and therefore being equal to all other external commodities of our life ; whereby also well laid out friends are gained in the court of heaven ; it is necessary the educated be taught the use and value of it betimes . it is reported of sr thomas more 's father , that to the intent his son might prove a good husband , and employ his time and intention wholly upon learning , he would never permit him to have any money , but when he wanted any thing to ask for it . quod adeo stricte observavit , ut nec ad reficiendos attritos calceos , nisi à patre peteret , pecuniam haberet . and this severity sir thomas more afterwards mightily commended ; for by that means ( saith he ) i could not furnish any vice or pleasure , i could not loose my time in gaming , nor knew i what unthristines or luxury were , nor could i employ my self in any thing but my studies . sir thomas more was indeed one of a rare and extraordinary spirit , so observant of his father , that the history saith he never offended him , nor was ever offended with any thing his father said or did to him : and when himself was lord chancellor of england , before he ascended his own tribunal in westminster-hall , he went to the kings-bench-court ( where his father was judge ) to ask him blessing upon his knees : and i beleive had his father indulged him the command of all his estate , he would have done no otherwise then as without it . so that whether is better to keep all money from a youth , or let him have some small proportion ( for any great part he must by no means be possess'd of ) is a question not to be decided by this example . i knew two persons of quality , great friends , who brought up their sons together , and were of divers opinions and practises in this point . if we may judge by the event , he , who had the power of money , proved the better husband . but neither do i think this to be any more then one single example ; more , i am confident , have miscarried on the other side . methinks the best general rule ( because several dispositions are to be handled several waies , which must be left to the discretion of an ex-experienced educator ) is ; that he be allowed so much a month to be spent according to his own fancy , yet over-looked , not scrictly watched ( except where there is reason to suspect some ill menagement ) by the governor . who is also to restrain him from debauchery , gaming , and all notorious acts of prodigality : and on the contrary to provoke him to compassionate the necessitous , be liberal to such as have any way served him ( nothing being so unbecoming a gentleman as ingratitude ) and such like . but by no means let him have all his allowance in his own power , for that is to put the bridle out of his mouth , the means whereby the governor must coerce him . 2. let him , ( at first with the direction of his governor ) do as much of his own business ( i mean buying , trucking , giving , receiving , paying , chusing , clothes , books , &c. ) as he is capable : for hereby his mind is inured to a great piece of wisdom , [ soli sapienti notum est , quanti res quaeque taxanda sit . sen. ep . 82. ] to esteem , compare one thing with another ; to judge and value , not only things necessary for the present , but all others also . for the grounds and principles of judgment and discretion are the same , tho the subjects , whereupon they are exercised , are divers . nor let him fear the silly opinion of such persons , as think cheapning or chusing a derogation to their honor , or buying for the just value a cheating of the seller . i have seen the greatest king in christendom refuse to buy what he conceived too dear , and to change the shop where he thought himself not well used . persons also of very good quality in italy are not asham'd to go to a shop , chuse , and bargain , v. g. for their clothes , and make the taylor also cut them out of the whole piece before them . whereas an ordinary gentleman amongst us thinks himself abused , if not cousened . as if it were noblenes to expose and suffer themselves to be overreached , derided , and fooled by an impudent pedlar , or flattering host. who , tho in our nation they arrive , by the impudent folly of those , who know no nobler way of generosity then to be fooled by the meanest and unworthiest of all people , to buy the estates of such prodigals , as degrade themselves first into a familiarity , then into an equality , at last into an inferiority , with them : yet in other countreys , where men have and make use of the parts god hath given them , they are kept in that degree and rank which befits their profession . 3. let him alwaies buy with ready money ; which will both keep him in mediocrity of expences , within his bounds , teach him the value of money , and acquire him very great reputation both with tradesmen and others . he buyeth cheaper and better commodities , and is not imposed upon with false bills and accounts . by this means also he may learn to live under his revenue ; which whosoever doth not , can never keep himself out of debt . it is therefore dangerous to have to do with them that keep books , which are authentick records , tho governed many times by careles or dishonest boys ; except himself also keep another , and as diligently look to his accounts ; and that frequently to , ( old reckonings never turning to the profit of the debtor ) : and if after the manner of merchants , under the notion of creditor and debtor , 't is the easier and better . but if he keep his accounts severely , not only they with whom he deals , but his servants also , will be more careful what reckonings they bring him . 4. young men out of emulation have a great vanity of desiring whatever they see their equals enjoy , and this proves many times a dangerous and expensive folly : being accompanied most-what with a speedy loathing , or neglect of what they unreasonably long'd for . omnis flultitia laborat fastidio sui . a young man need not be altogether cured of this distemper : if it can be regulated , excellent use may be made of it for his instruction in many knowledges , and gaining him much experience . but to moderate the exorbitancy , the best way is to make him an example to others ; by putting him upon some particular curiosity by himself , which may with reputation be opposed to those many vanities of his camerades . and such a one also as need not perish with the using , as globes , maps , pictures , medals , curiosities of art and nature , &c. 4. neither let the educator be too morose or solicitous to keep him from all vanity in clothes or expences , lest he be discouraged . for few being willing to learn out of the school of experience , and she being a good mistress , if not the sole one , it is very fitting to make her a partner in our instruction . only the educator ( that is , reason ) must be the chief master , and let his charge take out only such lessons under her , as his guide shall think fit : that is , such as may convince the younker of the vanity of those and the like desires . scriptum est enim ( saith rog. bacon very wisely ) qui non errat non invenit , qui non corrumpit non emendat , qui non tristatur non laetatur . chap. viii . of the preservation of his health . because it is very tedious , chargeable , and sometimes dangerous to repair for every small distemper to a physician , it is very fitting the governor should know to preserve his charge in health . for without that he is uncapable to undergo any emploiment ; neither can he study , nor follow his exercises , when sick ; but is troublesom to others , and unprofitable to himself . 1. in youth excess in eating and drinking is very frequent , necessary therefore it is to moderate his appetite . for if the stomack be stretched beyond its true extent , it will require to be filled , but never well digest what it receives . besides it is much better to prevent diseases by temperance , sobriety , chastity , and exercise ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) then cure them by physick . qui enim se medicis dederit , seipsum sibi eripit . summa medicinarum ad sanitatem corporis & animae abstinentia est . he that lives abstemiously or but temperately , needs not study the wholesomnes of this meat , nor the pleasantnes of that sawce , the moments and punctilios of air , heat , cold , exercise , lodging , diet ; nor is critical in cookery and vintnership ; but takes thankfully what god gives him . especially let all young men forbear wines and strong drinks , as well as spiced and hot meats ; for they introduce a preternatural heat into the body , and at least hinder and obstruct , if not at length extinguish the natural . 2. but if overtaken by excess ( as it is difficult alwaies to stand upon guard ) the best remedy is vomiting , or fasting it out ; neither go to bed upon a full stomack , except by reason of drinking , it be necessary to remove him from company ; that the world may not be witnes of his brutality ; and that himself may be hindred from all extravagancies , and be ashamed of it the next day . let physick be alwaies the last remedy , that nature may not trust to it . 3. if through melancholy , timorousnes , or womanish education ( for i see very few women well educate men ; nor men women ) your charge have imaginations that he is alwaies sick ; ( if he only pretend so that he may avoid study and labour , 't is another case ) do not at first seem to discourage him , but rather bring him off his humor by painful and harsh physick ; which is the cure also of those melancholic persons , whose sicknes , tho they are frequently indisposed , yet is not dangerous either for life or labour . 4. much of health consists in exercises and recreations , which must be regulated according to the country , season , &c. but generally rather violent then lasch ; such , i mean , as may cause the body to transpire plentifully ; and exhale those black and fuliginous vapors , which are wont to oppress young men ; that nature be not hindred in her circulation . neither be afraid , tho he be weary and tired : for wearines is no disease , nor doth simple heat without putrefaction cause a feaver . besides brisk exercise will render him strong , active , mettlesome ; whereas idlenes contracts a stagnation of humors , numnes of the joints , and dulnes in the brain . yet violent exercises , as running , leaping , wrestling , are not so fit for thin , choleric , and weak bodies : rendring such old and gowty before their time , as they did constans the emperor . 5. dancing is a moderate exercise ; so much whereof is to be learn'd as may give a good and graceful motion of the body . no nation civil or barbarous , ancient or modern ( except our late contradictive spirits ) that express not their joy and mirth by it , which makes it seem a sprout of the law of nature . but the use , which is now frequently made of it , especially since it is become a difficult study , and many years , besides infinite practise , required to a reasonable perfection in it , i cannot but utterly condemn : subscribing to the severe , but true , censure of that most excellent modern historian monsieur de rhodez . there is nothing ( saith he ) which doth more dissipate the powers of the spirit , nor more enervate the forces of the soul , then the ravishing harmony , the continual agitation of the body , and the charms of ladies conversation . the great triumph of sensuality is such meetings , where the eare is fed with musick , the eyes with beauties , the smell with perfums , the tast with banquets ; whither none are invited or come , but to please or be pleased . could their thoughts be then seen , in what a hurry and tumult should we perceive them ? what desires , what fears , what impatience , what lust , what jealousy , what envying , what despisings ! &c. card. borromeus in his book against balls and dances saith : that he , when a young man at the university , and his companions , with great importunity prevailed with one of their professors , a grave and prudent person , to go along with them to a ball : who having observed the actions and circumstances thereof , told them with great astonishment , that it was an invention of the devil to destroy souls , by corrupting the very being and essence of christian virtues . when a servant lighteth a torch , we give him strict charge not to carry it amongst flax , straw , or the like . why do not parents forbid their children to frequent those places , where is more danger of kindling another manner of flame ? to have the imagination swelled with the presence of beauties in their trim , and under a full sail , when the blood is chased , and the mind set upon pleasure ; is not drinking cold water , but strong poison to one overheated . 6. it will not be amiss here to add , that divers bodily diseases , infirmities , and undecencies may by the educators care be regulated , and either wholly , or in good part , amended . for few there be , who have all the members of their body equally sound and well-disposed ; the worst is corrected by bringing spirits to that part with labour and exercise : as shooting in a long bow , for the breast and arms . bowling for the reins , stone , gravel , &c. walking for the stomack . riding for the head : and the great drusus having weak and small thighs and legs strengthened them by riding , especially after dinner : as did also his late majesty . squinting and a dull sight , are amended by shooting . crookednes by swinging and hanging upon that arm . stammering by deliberate and slow speaking , and observing what words run most currently . so both mr mede and mr oughtred helped themselves . divers misaffections in the eyes , by spectacles . bashfulnes and blushing , by frequent speaking in company , &c. chap. ix . of the divers passions , inclinations , and dispositions of man , and the ways to rectify and order them . 1. but that the educator may clearly see his work , and have it , as it were , wholly in his view ; i will dig a little deeper ; anatomize and lay open the soul with its operations . perhaps not so accurately and punctually , yet as plainly , and for practice as usefully , as i can ; regarding not the curiosity or philosophy , but the necessity and utility of the knowledge . for he that knows quid homo potest , will quickly perceive what his charges abilities are , and what his defects ; and consequently what the remedies . 2. in the soul then are two sorts of powers , cognoscitive for knowledge . motive for action . knowledge ( omitting apprehension as not falling under our consideration ) consists in invention , memory , and judgment , of which in their places . action is in the will ( of which we shall not speak ) or affections . and these are either concupiscible or irascible , and both these are passions or inclinations . passions are the natural motions of the soul towards objects agreeable or disagreeable . or the motions , or effects , which objects pleasing or displeasing immediately cause in the soul. i. e. what the soul suffers from its objects immediately without deliberation . tho some call passions only the more irregular and ungoverned actions of the soul. inclinations are the frequenter , and customary working according to those passions . and , if meerly according to natural suggestions , they are properly called inclinations : but if they proceed to excess , and be not bridled and regulated , they become vices . but if regulated by reason or gods spirit , they are properly virtues . if by the probity of nature , without much deliberation , our inclinations work laudably , i. e. as they do when habitually regulated by reason , then are those natural inclinations called natural virtues , or good nature . 3. by the way take this caution , that you trust not to these natural virtues , as if they were , or could be , sufficient to make a man habitually and throughly virtuous : or , as if he , that acteth according to them , were really and sufficiently virtuous . what seneca saith of valour , is true of all the rest . paucissimos fortes natura procreavit , bona institutione plures reddidit industria . and this our holy religion expresseth more plainly , when it distinguisheth between grace and nature ; for if natural dispositions be not sufficiently virtuous morally , neither are moral virtues sufficient for obtaining heavenly and spiritual graces . dispositions indeed they are to virtue , but must themselves also be ordered and directed by prudence : else they will run into many mistakes ; love , where there is more reareason to hate , and cajole , where they should chastise : they will also neglect many actions of virtue , and run into many of vice . nor is it a sufficient excuse for any evil-dispositioned , v. g. an angry person , to say , that he is so naturally , for we are to live by reason and grace , not by nature ; nor is it well said of a thief , i am so naturally , for to what purpose have you reason ? 4. passions . inclinations proper to , or arising from , them . 1. love. sweetness , kindness ; contrary to insensibleness of good . 2. hatred . maliciousness , evil-naturedness . 3. desire . heat or eagerness ; contrary to coldness or indifferency . 4. aversation . frowardness , peevishness . 5. hope . courage , boldness ; contrary to faintheartedness , cowardliness . 6. fear . timidity , softness , ( contrary to hardiness , ) indifferency , lazines , quietness , love of ease , dulnes . 7. confidence . credulity ; contrary to distrust . 8. despair . impatience ; contrary to patience , longanimity . 9. joy. cheerfulnes ; contrary to sadness . 10. sorrow . melancholy , saturninenes ; contrary to mirth , jovialness . 11. acknowledgment . gratitude , generosity ; contrary to ingratitude . 12. wrath or choler . roughness , harshness , morosity , contrary to meekness . anger . promptness , briskness , rashness , revenge . pride . haughtiness , swelling . 13. shame , modesty , bashfulness . 14. impudence . hastiness , impertinency . 15. repentance . flexibility ; contrary to obstinateness . 16. pitty . tenderness , mercifulness ; contrary to hardheartedness , cruelty . 17. envy . malice . 18. emulation . activeness . 19. indignation . vehemency . 20. reverence . humility . 21. contempt . surliness , disdain , scorn , insolence . 22. love of women . amorousness , uxoriousness . 23. jealousy . suspiciousness , doubtfulness , suspense , misinterpretation . it is to be noted , that many times a man worketh contrary to his natural inclinations ; because the inclinations follow the cognoscence of the soul : and it happens frequently , that a violent and strong apprehension may be formed on a suddain , contrary to what is usual . as the sound of drums , trumpets , shouts , examples , &c. may put such apprehensions into a coward , as may make him valiant ; and on the contrary weariness , darkness , rumors , sombre and dismal accidents , &c. may intimidate a valiant man. wherefore it is great rashness to judge of any mans inclination by any particular action : or to think that every man must work , as he is inclined . again ; passions having their force , because reason and the commanding part of the soul doth not restrain and bridle them ; it seems that inclinations are best discerned when they are most at liberty : as childrens at their play , when they think not of dissembling , or restraining them . and 2. that they , who command not one passion , are also obedient to others ; and that he who is one way passionate , is likely to be so in all , or any . and 3. that the educator , seeing the inclination of his charge , may moderate , change , and govern it as it shall be convenient ; and that by changing objects , and apprehensions ; but chiefly by shewing him the good or bad of that , or the contrary , that is , by rationally persuading him to submit it to reason . 5. these inclinations are but as the elements and principles of our dispositions and humors : which are made up of many of these ( man as all other creatures being de-de-compositum ) and these in several degrees and predominancies ; and these also mingled and tempered with the differences of knowledge or apprehension . and by the way , upon these grounds , i perswade my self , it would not be difficult to enumerate all , or the greatest part of our actions , and the causes and order of them ; which is a piece of knowledge the most conducing to the well menaging of our selves that can be ; for the variety of passions , inclinations , and dispositions is the cause of all human business and affairs in the whole world. from the mingling of inclinations , and apprehensions , arise those infinite sorts and varieties of ( as the french and spaniards call them ) wits ; we term them dispositions . the chiefest i have observed , i will here set down , for an essay and sampler , to direct those who have more leisure to add to them according to their experience . and it would be a good work to characterize them so vively , that men ( at least such as are extravagant ) may see themselves as in a glass ; and discovering their imperfections , amend and alter them . in general some dispositions are bad , others good . bad are such as these . 1. such as want wit , dead , stupid , senseless , heavy , dull , forgetful , sottish , not able to apply themselves to any thing , yet are crafty , and deceitful ; these are miserable . 2. idle , sensual , slothful , gluttons , without memory or care , cat-witted , dissolute , foolish , impertinent , obstinate , untractable . 3. weak , base , low , fearful , irresolute , soft , troubled , mazed , confused , emty , open , bashful , sheepish , sneaking , low-spirited , yet many times crafty and malicious ; these easily become a prey to low and mean companions . 4. vain , giddy , harebrain'd , bird-witted , inconstant , such as employ their thoughts in things of no value ( as domitian in catching flies ) skipping from place to place , neglectful , haters of thinking , inconsiderate , heeding nothing after it is out of their hands . fantastical , restless , light-headed , crack-brain'd , carried away with every new object , never considering what is best , unconstant , impatient , changeable ; that work without affection or delight , doing what they must to make an end , rather then to do it well . 5. curious , scornful , mockers , jeerers , taunters , abusive , reproachful , tatlers , charlatans , who upon all occasions are ready to publish all they know to the prejudice of another ; delightful in making debates and mischief , enemies of god and charity , breeders of all petit factions , news-brokers . 6. buffoons , ridiculous , flatterers , apes , rimers , players , wits , airy , light , foolish . 7. proud , pretenders , pedantick , vain-glorious , formal . 8. contentious , litigious , quarrelsom , blustering , cowardly , hectors , froward , perverse , disloyal , treacherous , envious . 9. ambitious , arrogant , fierce , rash , impudent , violent . 10. crafty , sly , double , malicious , cheats , versuti , and who can change their shape , mine , and discours , according to their advantage . 11. covetuous , sordid . 12. of angry persons some are sour , harsh , ill to please , sturdy , sullen , intractable , unadvisable ( a disposition mixed up of pride and melancholy ) peevish , fixing upon the worst , morose ( a delicate sort of wasps ) who are offended if every thing be not done the best way , i. e. as they would have it . some mens anger vapoureth away in words , clamor , scolding , reviling , railing , threatning . others say little , but lay up revenge against an opportunity ; this is incident to superiors , who conceive it below them to quarrel , and who think themselves despised , if every thing is not conformed to their will. others neither chide nor revenge , but turn their wrath upon themselves , as melancholic men do . i pitty these , for they have already the reward of their peaceable wrath : who have a pleasure in their torment , and a kind of satisfaction in their most agreeable discontent . but it were better for them to chide even without reason , then store up this sooty humor , which corrodes body and soul. some are quickly angry , and quickly pacified , hasty . some are quickly angry , and difficultly pacified . some difficultly angry , and difficultly pacified . some difficultly angry , and easily pacified . the disposition of god himself . 13. pragmatical , prating , impertinent , giving judgment in every business without a fee , without asking , in every mans company unwelcome . 14. mad , wild , furious , brutish , untamed , terrible , pertinacious , cruel , impious , divelish , cross , precipitious , despiteful , revengeful , tyrannical . 15. ill-natured , solipsi , valuing themselves only , their own judgment and interest , deceitful . 16. melancholick , jealous , suspitious , discontented , interpreting every thing in the worst sense ; and every displeasure to be contemt , affront ; and all men to be against , and enemies to , him . 17. extravagant , heteroclites , alchymistical or blessed-stone-men , astrologues , diviners , passionate lovers , romantick . good dispositions also are of several sorts . 1. subtil , sharp , piercing , ready , vigilant , attentive to business , sagacious . 2. argute , acute , quick in giving answers and reparties , resolving doubts and speculative questions , inventive . 3. facetious , merry , cheerful , gay , jovial , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. wise , prudent , judicious , that examine things to the bottom , able to discern and judge of things alike , sage , grave , practical , experienced , that know opportunity . 5. free , noble , generous , bountiful , meek , peaceable , quiet , moderate , magnificent . 6. bold , resolute , free in reprehending others , and speaking their own minds , back'd with reason , hardy in difficult enterprises , brave , warlike , valiant , sensible of honour . 7. stable , magnanimous , constant , patient in adversities , and businesses . 8. industrious , thinking , ingenious , universal . 9. religious and devout . there is also great mixture and composition of these , sometimes contraries seeming equally eminent in the same person . procopius saith of justinian , juxta malignus erat & deceptu facilis , cujus ingenium pravum & fatuum dixeris . dissimulabat ipse fraudibus omnium expositus . temperamentum insolitum , cum ex contrariis constet . inconstans amicis , inimicis inexorabilis ; avarus , contentiosus , novarum rerum cupidus ; ad scelera facile , ad optima nullis suasionibus moveri poterat . yet is not this temper so unusual as procopius supposeth . for most men mistake a vice for a seemingly like , but really-contrary , virtue . as pride for greatness of spirit ; hectorisme for valour ; cunning for wisedome ; which are really contraries . and indeed concerning young men , and all others ( as women , persons ill-educated , &c. ) who follow their present apprehensions and impetus , without much considering their actions , or rectifying their inclinations by reason , it is oftentimes hard to discern whether they be virtuous , or vitious ; which is not so concerning those who are habituated : for then all virtues go together , as well as all vices . and those constellations are easily discovered by their own light . but natural virtues are often accompanied with such natural vices as are habitually contrary . as meekness is often joined with faithfulness , and then it proceeds from want of spirit and apprehension . whereas habitual or acquisite meekness hath perhaps an inclination to sloth , but hath mortified and bridled it . and every virtue appeareth and sheweth it self , when necessity or fitting occasion requires it . so gravity in a child , and those who being old are yet children in understanding , is accompanied with dulness , formality , pride , and censoriousness : because it proceeds from want of mettle , not from choice ; and seeks to justify and shrow'd that defect by finding fault with others . whereas true and laudable gravity is opposed only to levity and folly . so natural civility and courtesy is joined with effeminacy ; severity with implacability , and the like . 6. climats also , and divers other accidents , produce various inclinations ; not that any country produceth only one inclination , but only more of one then another . so all of one age are not alike inclined , tho most of them are ; and more in youth then age , because the manners are then least artificial . i will set down therefore , and because most to our purpose , inclinations of youth : that the educator may in some measure be able to judge , which are imperfections of the age , and therefore likely to fall off when his charge arrives to maturity . only this caution ought to be observ'd ; that he humor or encourage not his charge in any of them , for that is to perswade him to be a child alwaies . and 2ly that , if he be in any of them exorbitant , the fault then seems to be of the person , not of the age ; which happens very frequently : and therefore requires more care , and a more early and efficacious remedy in the edication . young men then , being guided by sense , nature and passion , not reason , experience or discretion , are inconstant and unsetled . for the sense being easily tired with the enjoiment of its object , and the soul ( being made for somthing better ) not finding satisfaction in things sensible , they conceive à fastidiousness of the present , and a desire to change : and this is necessary for their condition , that they may not obstinately and fixedly resist ( as old men commonly do ) the introducing of such habits as are necessary to the perfecting their faculties , and making them happy . for tho their passions be eager , and sensuality predominant , yet their resistance is strongest at the beginning , afterwards they with patience are brought off ; their natural inconstancy suggesting advantages to the director . for their present thoughts being vented , they are at long-running , as a fish when wearied , brought tamely to your hand : therefore also you may hope well of most of them , but be confident of none . hence also it cometh that with less reluctance they embrace such knowledges as do not thwart their pleasures , and senses , but of morality and prudence they are less capable ; and that in sickness when sensuality fails , they are easiliest wrought upon . therefore also are they open , and free , easily discovering their thoughts and inclinations . eager , also , hasty , unadvised , sudainly resolving and as violently pursuing what they resolve for a little time . quicquid volunt valde volunt . stomacful also , as not tamed by adversity or necessity . they are also taken with shows , gallantry in cloathing , &c. desirous of what they see , and weary of what they possess : ambitious to do what they cannot , or should not , but neglectful of what they ought and can . therefore gladly would they be learned , but not study ; be excellent , but not take pains : consequently expensive , easily seduced , negligent , careless , fearless , forgetful , improvident and credulous : desirous of honor , and making a shew of excelling in beauty , clothes , &c. of getting the victory at play and gaming , yet valuing honour more then gain ; wanting experience they are angry , fierce , enemies of thinking and consideration , and therefore rather affecting bodily exercises , at which they labour and sweat without measure . full of hope also , catching at appearances , gay , merry , laughers , modest , bashful ( because ignorant ) pittiful , loving their companions and and follies more then riches ; the want whereof they value not , because they know not their value ; therefore not looking beyond the present , nor avoiding ill consequences . imitative also ; for the soul , being a blank paper , and naturally desiring to be furnished , greedily imbibes what it sees before it ; and this is that faculty , with which god indued them on purpose that they may learn , and advance in knowledge and wisedom . children speak nothing but what they hear , and do nothing but what they see : hence they are generally addicted to designing , acting , &c. such then being the conditions of young persons ; those who have the contrary are to be feared and well look'd after ; especially the sly , reserved , close , who are also commonly cunning and malicious , for this reservedness proceeds either from pride , conceit of their own abilities , and unwillingness to be taught ; or from evil designs ; for who strives to conceal what he cares not who knows ? or from jealousy , that other persons counsel them not for the best . these do usually guide themselves by words that seem to them accidentally spoken , whereby they are easily ensnared and ruined . for no man being able to bear the burden of his own thoughts , and these having no friend or confident , they have no other course to steer . they will with all patience hear your advice and reprehension , when they are resolved nothing shall work upon or alter their purposes . sometimes they will take notice of so much as serves to their own designs , and misinterpret and detort what you say , even contrary to your intention . these persons are commonly seized by flatterers , mistresses , or at best fall into low and mean courses . it is difficult to cure this malady , yet ere they know their strength , threats and punishment do them good : or accidental recommendation of such to their conversation , who may humor them by counterfeiting the same inclinations , and complying with them , till by little and little they can shew them the great advantage of freedom and openness . it hath bin also the observation of learned men , that the sad , melancholick and querulous hardly advance to any great proficiency . praecipuè vitentur tristes , & omnia deplorantes , quibus nulla non causa in querelas placet sen. neque illum tristem semperque demissum sperare possum crectae circa studia mentis fore . quint. querulousnes often proceeds from some inward debility of body , as sharp humors , mal-conformation of some part , or the like . impudence is commonly a forerunner of debauchery , violence , contemt of laws ; also of heedlesness , forgetfulness , slowness to learning and wisedom . confidence is the medium betwixt it and bashfulness . 't is observed in the life of emanuel philibert duke of savoy , that when a child , he had the confidence to speak to any person , as he did to charles v. that great emperor ; but if what he said was not approved , he pressed it not , nor was offended when denied ; which seems indeed to be the true notion of modesty and confidence , to express his mind freely , yet entirely submitting himself to the judgment of his superiors . bashfulnes on the contrary is an evil weed , but sign of a fruitful and good indoles . care must be had , that in weeding it we extirpate not modesty . a bashful man is not his own master , nor useth his own judgment , but is over-awed by others boldness : and the more impudent have more power over him . 't is also an evil guardian of youth , betraying it , contrary to its own desire and inclination , to the worst men , who hurry it to evil actions and places . how many have lost their estates , honors and lives , because they were ashamed to distrust ? a man invites you to drink , to game , to rob , to be bound for him : cast of that foolish modesty , deny him . an impudent flatterer comes to eat upon you , he begs an horse , a ring , a garment , give to the deserver , not the beggar . some are so bashful , as not to send for a good physician , or chuse a good lawyer or governor , because they are acquainted with a worse . begin betimes to break this fault in small matters , exert your liberty and judgment in denying to drink , to accept a recommendation , to lend money , to admire every one you hear praised . and be constant , not overcome with importunity , another sort of impudence . 7. there are two dispositions most incident to young persons of quality , because they most resemble greatness of spirit , tho in truth as much opposite to it as a dropsy to health : of which i shall speak somewhat more copiously , these are anger and pride . 1. an angry inclination in children discovers it self , either by pettishness , peevishness , hastiness , &c. or by surliness and sullenness . tho all in youth of mettle are promt and seem to be angry naturally , yet doth that shew it self in briskness and cheerfulness , this in frowardness and incorrigibility . if this evil weed grow up with them in age , and they be not broken of it betimes ; it makes them follow their own impetus , despise counsel of friends , and authority of superiors ; eripi sibi suum judicium , etsi pravum , non sinunt ; they defend and hug their error , and had rather continue in it , then change , or repent by others advice . also because they are inconsiderate and furious , they pursue their purposes good or bad with great force and concernment ; and therefore take not the aptest and most rational means to obtain them . ( for reason judgeth what is fit and just , anger useth that as fit which it judgeth to be such ; which makes many good hunters , for we are not angry with beasts , few good soldiers . ) hence it comes that angry men are unwary , easily deceived ; not open and plain , but exposed to them , who are willing to take advantage . apt also to judge evil , and hate other men upon slight occasions ; therefore are they not fit for friendship : also uneven , and unequal in their conversation ; many times also inexorable , unsociable , and tyrannical : and their discourses runs much upon oaths and curses . many are the causes of angriness ; sometimes a choleric humor , from their nativity , or adventitious , so we see families very subject to it ; but most commonly it proceeds from weakness of judgment . and generally the more impotent , the subjecter to it : as children , women , aged , sickly , in adversity , or such as are other-waies also passionate . so we are more testy and angry when weary , when watched , or any other trouble upon us , as a thorn in a finger breeds a feaver in the whole body . some are angry out of choice , thinking it a piece of grandezza , and that it makes them feared and respected . others by an evil custome , being by their parents or educators indulged their own wills ; who at first not suffering others to contradict them , at length neither dare they themselves . because this passion admits no counsel as other passions do , but is , as when a man sets his own house on fire , all full of tumult and confusion , that no orders can be heard or obeyed ; it is difficultly cured . in age it is remedied either by afflictions and crosses , which providence bestows upon such persons as he loves , or by prudent considerations ; such as these . because it springs commonly from small matters , a word , a jest , a taunt , a neglect ; endeavour to pass by , pardon , and get quit of the occasions ; examine no faults too curiously ; chaw not nor reflect upon them ; argue not , nor consider what other men will think or say , for that blows and kindles the flame . neither desire great , much , difficult , or rare things ; nor desire vehemently ; be as indifferent to all things as is possible ; and make use of common things , rather then appropriate them to your self ; that i and mine are great sticklers for anger . when you are in a fit , reflect upon your self and your inner constitution , see how the whole frame is disordered ( it is a passion even in the external as deformed as dangerous ) and either conquer it ( which after you have done sometimes , the victory to a vigilant person is much easier ) or at least defer what your passion promts you to do ; for whatever is done in anger , may also be done with judgment . for discretion saith not , do not punish a faulty servant , but do it prudently . some endeavor to suppress and quench it by violence , but then it is apt to ferment either into melancholy , or malice , and envy . the education also of choleric persons is not less difficult , except they be menaged when very young ; for then their humor may be broken by force and punishment ; but when they begin to understand their strength , fair means must be used , for fear of breaking also their spirit ; and while we cure the angry man , we make him soft and lazy . for this passion , and spirit , are many times so twisted together , that it is difficult to distinguish the actions of one from those of the other ; and consequently to pluck up one without destroying the other . it is in vain to admonish or reprehend when the passion is violent , for at best 't is but as burning feathers under the nose of one in a fit of the falling sickness , which may perhaps raise him up , but cannot cure him . but when he is sober , furnish him with good remedies and considerations against a time of necessity ; as men do when they fear a siege , and expect no relief from abroad . or check it with another passion , as with shame , or fear , or joy . indeed cheerfulness and moderate pleasure clear up the spirits : and tho sadness and anger differ , yet are they much alike in their causes , and the same medicines are good for both . 2. pride is many times grafted upon anger : and is so like to it , that it is not easy to discern which operations proceed from which cause . it is grounded in an error of the understanding , i. e. a vain and false opinion of his own excellency above others , and above the truth . in youth it discovers it self by contemt of others , ingratitude , injuriousness ; accepting all honor , respect , and officiousness as due and deserved , but paying none : therefore conversing more willingly with inferiors , and domineering over them also ; neither is a proud man familiar or friendly to any but flatterers , to whom he easily becomes a prey . his care is not to do well , but to seem so ; and therefore he is ashamed to confess a fault , error , ignorance , or inferiority ; to learn or be taught ; to be chid or corrected . instead of amendment he is sullen and dogged . he is seldome free from envy , and therefore impatiently hears the praises of another , especially his equal ; but he swells , looks big , struts , vapors , and boasts to shew what he thinks himself to be : he is displeased , hateth , and revengeth if not treated according to his merit . comparing himself with others 't is to his own advantage ; looking only upon their errors , and aggrandizing them into faults and vices : but upon his own virtues , which are all heroical . especially prying into the actions of superiors , whom he imagines to usurp upon him , who deserves and can menage all things , better then they . therefore if in power , he becomes imperious , tyrannical , opiniastre , impatient , if every thing correspond not to his desires : but if he fall into misery , as commonly such do ( being more exposed to it by reason of their high valuing of themselves ) he is low , vile , cowardly , and dejected . his great badge is singularity , and his discours runs much upon i , we , mine , &c. this being a fault of the mind , and not radicated in the temper of the body , is reduced to equanimity by mortification of his own conceits and fancies : either by punishments , by reason and good counsel , or conversing much with strangers ; or by the method taken by god almighty to humble him by others resisting , , despising , and crossing him . 8 i have not observed that any physiognomical signs are infallible : not , tho many of them concur in the same indication ; and tho many famous authors and proverbs in all languages seem to authenticate them . for indeed the temperature of the body seems no otherwise to be the cause of the actions of the soul or person , then as the temper of the axe is the cause of cutting ; to which many other things as figure , weight , motion , &c. are required as well as it ; and yet all together are but the instrument of the man , who by greater strength , dexterity , &c. can work better with another sort of a worse tool , and can make one advantage remedy another disadvantage . we see also that study and experience give more force to the soul , then any disposition whatsoever of the body ; even as temperance , labour , &c. make the body more obedient : all which are great testimonies of the souls spirituality . 't is commonly set down by authors , that tall and strong men are of small understanding and courage : that it is a sign of wit , to have a curiouc tast , and delicate stomack ( which indeed proceeds sometimes from the weakness of that faculty by too much intentive study ) and many such like : which it is in vain to repeat ; since it is not difficult to shew that some of contrary dispositions have the same signs : and of contrary signs , v. g. to ingenuity , are yet ingenious . seneca saith of claranus ep . 66. inique se gessit natura , & talem animum malè collocavit : aut fortasse voluit ho● ipsum ostendere , posse ingenium fortissimum ac beatissinium suh qualibet cute latere . et videtur in exemplum editus , non deformitate corporis foedari animam . the like is verified of the president pedro gasca , that recovered to the king of spain , peru almost wholly revolted : and of many more in our memory . yet thus much i willingly grant , that the passions discover themselves almost inevitably by the countenance ; because they , being sudain and violent mutations in the soul , cause the like also in the spirits ; which shew themselves through the skin : or in the motions also of the exterior members . but it is not so with the inclinations and dispositions , which are by our own industry and habituations turned now into natural : and impress no such violent or extraordinary motions in any part , either of spirits , or body . 9. more trust is to be had to such other signs , as seem to be the flowers , which preceed and pretend some smell of the fruit it self . these then promise virtue ; modesty , obedience , advisableness , compassionateness , loving virtue in others , and consorting with such , cheerfulness , aptness to friendship , impatience till reconciled to any he offended , mildness , humility . those who are apt to shed tears , are of a softer and lovinger disposition , as those who cry and shed no tears , prove commonly stubborn . signs of nobleness and generosity are , to confess a fault rather then tell a ly , or frame a cobweb excuse ; to be ashamed to be overcome in any laudable study or exercise ; not to be angry when justly reproved , or corrected , ( moneri posse , ac velle , summa virtus est ; ) to do more for honor then reward ; not to be easily discouraged or despond , but to be more sprightly ; to desire difficult emploiments ; to pass by small offences ; not to deride others defects ; to be more ready to excuse then aggravate faults of his companions ; lastly , to be grateful , especially to his masters , teachers , and servants . signs of a capacity for sciences , are , attention to what he goes about ; demanding the reasons of things . [ by the way , asking questions very much discovers the ingeny of a child : for to ask many is a sign of curiosity and wit ; to ask vain and impertinent ones , or the same over again , or not to stay for an answer , of folly and inconsiderateness ; material and pertinent ones , of judgment and discretion . ] why is the great question of knowledge ; not to be satisfied with a slight answer ; sagacity , and much thinking ; not talkative , but reflecting wardly , meditating with , and entertaining himself . primum argumentum compositae mentis , posse consistere , & secum morari . good imitation of what he sees . if he have so much confidence of his parts , as to hope with industry to conquer every thing , but without labour to do nothing well ; if he have a strong faithful memory for things , tho not for words ; if a rational , methodical , and regular understanding . as democritus seeing protagoras , when a youth , to bind up a fagot orderly , and to the best advantage , conceived him fit to be a scholar . and cimabue rationally conceived great hopes of giotto bondone , when being a poor boy and keeping his fathers sheep he saw him designing one of them upon a brick . afterwards he became the restorer of that whole art , and the famousest man of his age . a child that delights in tormenting , and vexing either beasts or men ( as the daughter of caligula , that let her nails grow to scratch her companions and play-fellows ) is of an evil , perfidious , and bestial nature . delighting in gallantry commonly portends lowness and weakness of spirit , as have those women , who have nothing but their outside to entitle them to humanity . but slovenliness , if it proceed from negligence , i. e. if he be careless in other things , especially of concernment , is a very ill sign : ad morem discincti vivere nattae . but if from particular neglect of delicateness , as too low and mean , 't is a good sign , cave tibi à male cincto puero . a sign of timorousness and effeminacy is to indulge divers fancies , and to pretend to see imaginations and spectra ( things which valiant men are seldom troubled withal ) as also to pretend antipathy to divers sorts of meats ; &c. and timorousness is the prologue to craft and dissimulation . unseasonable gravity many times indicates slowness to sciences , negligence , and weak memory . quickness of wit is in danger to usher in pride , contemt , abuse of others , and neglect of study . acuteness and sagacity is often accompanied with anger and precipitiousness . such also , if students , are apt to fall into needless curiosities , factions and heresies . for they search not to the bottom ; but having principles think to work out the rest by the dexterity of their wit. vain-gloriousness is alwaies subject to flatterers . distinguish between softness and meekness : the more soft the less understanding , the more meek , the greater generosity and nobleness of spirit : a soft man hath no anger or gall , a meek man bridles and masters it . huffing and swaggering ( like bottled drink ) commonly shews want of spirit , for it is but froth that makes that noise , and presently such become vapid , and distastful . 10. we must take heed of thinking any of these imperfections or faults incurable , because according to a natural inclination : or if a child be not exactly such a one as we would have him , that he must be treated as the brachmans did their children , whose indoles they disliked , abandon them in the woods to the wild beasts ; or as the inhabitants of madagascar , who expose all their children born upon a friday . turpiter desperatur quicquid fieri potest , saith quintilian . illud desperandum est posse nos casu bonam mentem influere : laborandum est : & ut verum dicam , ne labor quidem magnus est ; si modo animum formare incipimus , antequam durescat pravitas ejus . sed nec indurata despero . nihil est , quod non expugnet pertinax opera , & intenta ac diligens cura . sen. ep . 50. let the industrious and skilful educator make many trials and divers experiments , as physicians do , before they give a determinate prognostic . now , of cures some are general . as 1. to make them know their infirmity , and that it is an infirmity ; and 2. that they be willing to be cured . for it is not as in corporeal diseases , when the body is necessitated , by connexion of causes , to undergo and suffer the malady incumbent . but here the soul is in its own power , subject to it self only and its own will , and that directed by the understanding . wherefore the first step to a cure , is to convince by reason that they do ill , i. e. to acknowledge their disease : the desire to have it cured follows naturally . so that it is in the power of reason to rule absolutely over the affections and dispositions of the soul. but because reason sometimes is misled , or obstinately mistaken , almighty god hath given us his holy religion , and his spirit , to govern reason also , and render every thought obedient to faith. so that in religion lies the universal and never failing remedy of all the evils of the soul. but many times particular and topical ones are also to be applied . a child , when he begins to go , refuseth immediately to be assisted ; so when the will begins to follow its own choice , it then also begins to scorn a guide ; the appetite of liberty being stronger then that of security . great industry therefore and discretion is requisite to turn it the best way ; endeavouring , as physicians , to introduce the contrary of what is amiss , and supply what is defective ; to coerce and discountenance the bold and impertinent ; to encourage the soft and modest : severe to the merry , cheerful to the melancholic . waken the taciturn with questions , and silence the loquacious with baffling fallacies . bridle the too forward and eager , and spur up the lazy and slothful . 11. some there are , who are lazy and unindustrious to study , yet very active and sprightly in bodily exercises ; these many times are fitter for other emploiments then learning . others are to all purposes slow and sawntring , and these are to be cured with bodily labor . first make them play , run , leap , &c. afterwards bring them to study . for there seems to be a moisture clogging their spirit , which must be first shaken of ; for if they be indulged they will become more sleepy , even till chang'd into dormice . then never let them want work , yet not much at a time , but be careful that what you command them be sedulously performed . there are also who are pettish , peevish , hard to please , and are alwaies lean , maigre , and consumtive : which proceeds from a sharp , thin humor , easily exasperated , and to such a degree as may be very prejudicial . it is best therefore to deal with those gently and smoothly ( the default being more in the body then the mind ) and not put them upon crabbed , intricate , vexatious , or intentive studies ; nor be too rigorous in exacting an account of them . it would be worth labor to try whether such medicines , as dulcify the blood , would not profit them . like to these are they , who seem rough , harsh , regardless of civility , and not easily mingling conversation . these , ( if not such in extremity ) when mellowed by experience , prove better then the complaisant and amicable . keep this sour disposition to study , virtue , and knowledge ; and tho he grumble and repine , be content so as he doth his work ; and he is in less danger of temtation , becomes more solidly virtuous , and lasts much the longer . as the wine , which pleaseth in the cuve , must be drunk in the must . they are also fitter for friendship then the compliant ; for these are equal to all , and the greatest interest can be gain'd in them is but civility ; the other chuse their company , and fix upon the best . this sourness proceeds ordinarily from a brisker , and fiercer spirit , not willing to go in the ordinary routte , nor follow the track of those he undervalues ; but loves the generous tast of liberty . whereas the soft wax , that melts with every ones fingers , keeps no impression . but if this harshness be extream , and increase with age ; consider whether it grow from pride , and then the root is to be digged up ; or from natural inclination ; and then let him frequent facetious and merry company , let him converse with strangers , with whom he must stand upon his guard . womens acquaintance also , if discreet persons , is not ill for this disease . with the froward and perverse begin to use severity betimes , and master him before he know his own strength . let him not be humored or gain by his sturdiness ; but let him know by experience , that his tricks are not only undecent , but vain also and uneffectual . imitate god almighty , who to the meek sheweth himself gentle , but to the perverse , froward : that he may humble the high looks and thoughts of the proud . for indeed this sullen humor , which against all reason will be guided only by its own opinions , and will brook no contradiction , is the effect of the greatest pride ; and is too frequently found in persons of quality , when cockered by parents , or flattered by servants . when they are children rough usage is good for them , but afterwards it irritates them the more . then if sober reasoning open not their eyes , they must be ( as wild trees ) often transplanted and removed into strange company . for where unacquainted they dare not shew their humor ; especially before such as will not brook their impertinencies , but answer them with laughter , scorn , or somewhat more severe . indeed generally all bad dispositions are reclaimed by conversation , and the example of other persons , especially such as are eminent in the virtue you would produce . afflictions also have a wonderful force , which are discreetly to be menaged by the educator , for then the humors are ripe for purgation . chap. x. of parts or capacities in general ; and of their diversity ; and how to be ordered and rectified . hitherto we have spoken of dispositions in order to the regulation of life and manners . in the next place we must treat of what concerns knowledge and science . and in order to this we must resume ; that there are three faculties ( of which we shall speak by and by more copiously ) naturally implanted in us , wit , judgment , and memory . concerning which that you may the better understand my intention , i will set down the most common and usual differences of capacities . and first take notice , that the goodness of wit is seen in , first quick apprehending what is proposed : and 2ly ready , pertinent , and copious invention . a memory then is counted excellent , when it quickly embraceth , and long retaineth , what is committed to it . and that judgment is commended , which subtilly compareth , and accurately discerns between things that are like . next , that wits some are ordinary , others extraordinary . extraordinary , such are : 1. imaginative persons , who 1. either have their fancy so volatil and skipping from one thing to another , that they cannot fix long upon any one subject . sometimes this proceeds from levity and impatience of the labor of thinking ( non est enim minor lassitudo animi quam corporis , sed occultior ; ) sometimes from melancholy . and such a degree there is of this , as is incurable but only by medicine , that is frenzy and madness . or 2ly who have great and ready variety of fancies or suggestions , but little of judgment . even as cisterns , whereinto the water continually flows , are never clear . these catch at , and sit down with , their fullest apprehensions , without weighing or considering the contrary ; and are called phantastical . the best way to cure both these , is to fix them , by setting them to mathematicks , geometry especially , where they are not suffered to tast a second dish , till they have perfectly digested the former ; and by employing their memory . disputations also in public are very profitable . 2. precocious persons , whom the proverb hath branded to be of small duration . perhaps because these sine tempers are usually less strong and durable , their spirits either exhaling and spending , or fixing and thickning . so that like corn upon stony ground , they spring up upon a suddain , shew all they can do , are in admiration for their forwardnes ; but wanting root , they bring forth yellow , and emty eares before the harvest , and so vanish . thus hermogenes the orator was heard with admiration at 12. years old , at 24. with laughter . yet by the good leave of the proverb , i have not seen many of precocious parts , except by their own or educators fault , miscarry . for many times it happens that those persons , seeing their advantage in the race above their companions , slacken their speed , betaking themselves to pleasure and idlenes ; or as they say of rablais , who not finding his good parts and serious studies encouraged according to his expectation , abandoned himself to buffoonery . these pregnant wits , being much courted for their plausible conversation , endanger their ruin from those , who pretend to woe their friendship . it would be better for them to consider , that they are not matched only with those who started at the same time with them , but with those also who had advantage ; and that he is to be crowned , not who doth as well as others , but as well as he can . but because of the prejudice most men have against precociousnes , it will not be amiss to shew some late examples of those who begun betimes , have proved admirable , and lasted a long while . the great card. bellarmine , whilst at school , interpreted publicly cicero's oration pro milone ; at 16. began to preach , and openly read the grounds of divinity , card. du perron read over the almagest of ptolemy in 13. days before he was 18. years old . torquato tasso spoke plain at 6. months old ; at 3. years went to school ; at seven he understood latin and greek , and made verses ; before 12. he finished his cours of rhetoric , poetry , logic , and ethics ; at 17. he received his degrees in philosophy , laws , and divinity ; and then printed his rinaldo . and tho of prodigious natural parts , yet the writer of his life observes , that he writ ( his poëms especially ) by the force of indefatigable study , rather then vivacity of wit , or fruitfulnes of invention ; which rendered them admirable , for he began there where others would have ended . augustus caesar at 19. years old , contrary to the advice of his friends , put himself upon the menagement of affairs , claimed , and entred upon , the inheritance and succession to his great uncle julius . so did cosmo ( the great cosmo ) medici , at 17. years old , contrary also to the counsel of his kindred , take upon him the government of the republic of florence , after the murder of his cousin duke alexander . by the bye also 't is observed , that to both of these the first day of augustus was fortunate , to the one for the battel at actium , to the other for the two victories over the two strozzi , father and son. vesalius began when a child to cut up mice and rats ; mich. angelo to draw figures : galen to compose medicines . jo. picus earl of mirandula out-went his teachers , nor could they propose any thing to him , which he did not immediately apprehend ; and the 900. conclusions , which he proposed to defend against all opposers about 21. years of age , shew what he was , and he never retired till his death . jos. scaliger saith of himself , that all the time he lived with his father in his youth , he every day declamed , and before 17. years old made his tragedy oedipus . besides many other particulars which he reciteth in the life of his father . to vid. fab. pibrac then not 20. years old , the great alciati in his public lectures acknowledged the solution of many great difficulties in the civil law. grotius at 8. years old made verses , and performed his public exercises in philosophy ; before 15. he put forth his comment upon martianus capella . at 16. he pleaded causes . at 17. he put forth his comment upon aratus . lipsius writ his books variarum lectionum at 18. years old . ingenium habuit docile , & omnium capax praeter musices : memoria non sine praeceptorum miraculo etiam in puero , quae in senectute non defecit . cent. 4. ep . 87. sr phi. sidney ( saith sr fou. grevill ) tho i knew from a child , yet i never knew other then a man ; with such staiednes of mind , lovely and familiar gravity , as carried grace and reverence above greater years . and what his parts were , appears by that strange affection born him by lanquet , and william prince of orange , who kept correspondence with him when but a youth . calvin printed his institutions before 25. years old . alph. tostatus learned all the liberal sciences without being taught ; and writ in the 40. years he lived as much as most men can in that time well read : yet was he also counsellor to the king , referendary major of spain , and professor of philosophy , divinity , and law in the university of salamanca . i could bring also very many more of our own nation , and my own knowledg ( besides mr oughtred and mr cowley ) to testify against that proverb : but i think very few examples ( vopiscus saith none ) can be given of such , as being dull and heavy in their youth , arrived to any great perfection in their age . neminem ( says he in probo ) unquam pervenisse ad virtutum summam jam maturum , nisi qui puer seminario virtutum generosiore concretus aliquid inclitum designasset . mai non si raccoglie buon frutto nell ' autumno , sel ' albero non ispunta buone foglie nella prima vera . danti . indubitatum est , eos , qui in ullà re unquam excelluerunt , mature puerilibus annis ad eam rem accessisse . p. com. p. 59. totum in hoc consistit , primum in beneficio dei , proximè in educatione . ibid. let no man therefore slacken his endeavor towards these early fruits , nor let the young man himself despond , but rather ( which is a great truth ) say , that god almighty hath thus furnished him to be an ornament to his creation , and an assistance to mankind . let the educator also be more careful of him , and not leave him to himself , for there will come cold frosts and hails , loathings and tediousnes of labor , which , if not well defended , will hazard his dropping off . the subtil and delicate edge , if encountring too great difficulties , is in danger to turn ; in such cases therefore let them not be tired out , but assisted to expedite themselves with ease and delight . propose to them high and noble studies , but give them your hand ; keep them continually running , but not at their full speed , lest they grow weary , and loath , and abandon them . and indeed it is a much greater difficulty and master-piece , to direct and conduct great parts , then mean ones . parts are indifferent to good or bad , and great parts to great good or great evil ; and all great evil as well as great good proceeds from them . and which way soever they go , they are not easily diverted , their abilities supplying them still with sufficient defence for themselves . maxima ingenia , saith seneca , miror & timeo , mediocria probo ; as he is in less danger who walks on a plain , then he who dances on a rop● . minutius , in the preface to his paradoxes , tells us of one creighton , a scottishman , who at 21. years old ( when he was killed by order of the duke of mantua ) understood twelve languages , had read over all the poets , and fathers , disputed de omni scibili , and answered ex tempore in verse : ingenium , saith scaliger , prodigiosum , & admiratione magis quam amore , dignum , ei judicium defuit . principes solent illa ingenia amare magis , quam bene doctos . such persons , if not well regulated ( which as i said is difficult ) become many times proud and conceited , angry and precipitious , scornful and presumtuous , many times also light and freakish . and truly mean and indifferent , or even low wits , have more pleasure and satisfaction then these high-flyers . for trusting to their parts they neglect study and exercise , and so are easily surprised and discovered , when either not fully apprehending the question and the consequences of an opinion , or themselves not well disposed for discourse . 3. there is another sort who have not so great parts , but have a volubility of language , are able upon a suddain to speak de omni ente & non ente , and of them too , pro & con . this passeth amongst women and ordinary people for eloquence and great parts , but amongst discreet and serious persons , for impertinence . and the rather , because these men chuse to talk commonly of things they understand not , or are most improper and unknown to the company ; and of them also , without order , or method ; and have , when at a non plus , certain common places to retire to ; lest they should fall into that terrible disgrace of having no more to say . 4. some persons ( tho very few ) have a strong indoles or inclination to , and abilities for , some particular science ; strong , i say ; for a slight fancy to one more then another is not straightways ( as they call it ) a genius to such a thing : for most men are not altogether indifferent to all sorts of learning , ( tho card. du perron could never observe that he was more affected to , or more apt for , one science then another ) and yet may arrive to a great perfection in that , whereto they are least disposed . but if his genius lead him so strongly to any one science , that he be unapt to others , it is by all means to be humored . ne tentes ( saith quintil. ) quod effici non potest ; nec ab eo , quod quis optime facit , in aliud , cui minus est idoneus , eum transferas . it is reported of ch. clavius , that being found by the jesuits , under whose education he was , very unapt for learning , and ready to be sent back to his parents , to be some other way emploied , before they would quite abandon him , one of them resolved to try him in mathematics ; wherein in a short time he profited to admiration , and grew very famous and eminent in those studies . or if his genius be accompanied with a noble and generous wit , let great endeavor be used to teach him other sciences ; and if that , he is inclined to , be not the noblest , to take him off from it also . omnino iniquum est nobiliora ingenia dehonestari studiis minoribus . yet many times it is difficult to bring such off their inclination ; as in monsieur pascal ; out of the preface to whose last book i will transcribe some passages very memorable both concerning the precociousnes of his wit , and strong inclination to mathematics . monsieur pascal was observed in his childhood to have had an admirable understanding to pierce into the profundity and depth of things ; and to discern solid reason from superficial words . in so much that when they offered him words only , his understanding was restles and unsetled , until he had discovered reason . at 11. years old , at table , having struck an earthen dish , and observed it to make a sound , which ceased as soon as touched with his hand , he was very earnest to know the cause thereof ; and from that began to demand many other questions concerning sounds , in so much that he made then a small , but very ingenious , treatise concerning sounds . this his strange inclination to ratiocination , made his father fear , that if he should give him any insight into geometry and mathematics , he would be so much taken with them , that he would neglect all other studies , especially languages . he therefore resolved to hinder him , to lock up all books of those sciences , and not so much as to speak of them in his presence . but all this cautiousnes served only to excite his curiosity ; so that he often intreated his father to teach him mathematics , or at least to tell him what they were . his father to satisfy him somewhat , in general said , they were sciences which taught how to make figures equal or proportional one to another , and withal forbad him to speak to him , or think any more , of them . a command impossible for such a wit. for upon this hint he began to revolve them continually in his mind , especially at his times of recreation . once especially being in a large hall ( where he used to divertise himself ) he began to make figures with a coal on the pavement , as a circle , a triangle of equal sides , or of equal angles , and the like , and this he did easily . afterwards he began to search out and make propositions . but all books and instruction being by his fathers diligence concealed from him , he was forced to give names and definitions after his own invention . a circle he called a round , a line a bar , &c. after this he framed also to himself axiomes , and upon them demonstrations after his own manner , till he arrived to the 32. prop. e. l. 1. his father surprizing him in this posture , was mightily astonished when he heard him discourse , and as it were analize his propositions . and hereupon , by the advice of friends , he put into his hands euclides elements , which he read and comprehended at 12. years old , with as great pleasure and facility , as other children do romances : he read and understood it all by himself without any master ; and advanced so much in that knowledg , that a while after at paris he entred into the conferences of learned men , held once a week concerning mathematical questions . thither he brought his own inventions , examined others propositions , &c. and yet was all this knowledg only the product of his leasure hours . at 16. years old he composed a treatise of conics , which monsieur descartes would not believe but to have bin the work of his father , endeavoring to procure reputation to his son. at 19. years old he invented that instrument of arithmetic , which is in print ; and at 23. having seen the experiments of torricelli , he also added to them a great number of his own . this example of monsieur pascal is very extraordinary , as was that of pet. damianus to piety ; who being a boy and almost starved and naked , by the churlish and unnatural usage of his brother , yet having found a piece of mony , not regarding his own necessities , he bestowed it upon a priest to pray for his fathers soul. most men are fit for many sciences , and that inclination , which they have to one more then another , is ordinarily from their ability to perform one more then another : as memory is for some ; wit for others ; courage and bodily strength for others , &c. or from their own imitation , or others recommendation , by word or example , to one thing more then another ; or from some external and accidental effect they have seen or known of any one , or some such like . but tho all men have not , or scarce any have , all faculties excellent in an equal degree ; it will be the teachers care and educateds endeavor to better that , wherein they are most defective ; but so all waies , that you conduct them by that way they will go . too much strained-wits , as forced grounds , badly correspond to our hopes . unusquisque suum noscat , saith tully , ad quas res aptissimi erimus , in iis potissimum elaborabimus . seneca saith , that virgil was as unfortunate in prose , as cicero in verse . but i am rather perswaded that both the one and the other proceeded from want of practise . for tasso was eminent in both : and ovid was an acute and eloquent declamator as well as a fluent poët . and sen. l. 2. cont. 3. stories of him , that being importuned by his friends for liberty to expunge three verses out of his writings , he yeilded upon condition he might except three , and named those they would have blotted out . 5. besides what i have already mentioned , there are in teaching sciences , two great rules to be observed . 1. begin not to teach a new science till your scholar understand all that is necessary to it ; as not rhetoric till he know grammar , and the latin tongue , for so he will learn both more , and cheerfuller . whereas the mind cannot to purpose intend many things at once . tho such studies as have correspondence and affinity may well be conjoined ; for the comparing illustrates both , and variety takes off the tediousnes . see quint. l. 2. c. 12. be not too hasty with your scholar ; advance him not too fast ; lay the foundation sure and stable . for he that eats faster then he digests , breeds crudities , and work for the physician to purge away . besides he that understands , goes on cheerfully and securely . which i take to be the reason , why men of age make greater progress in learning , then children . jul. scaliger began not to learn greek till 40. years old , and then mastered it in a very few months , as he did french and gascon in three . pet. damianus learn'd not to read till mans estate , yet proved one of the eminentest scholars of his time . balaus entred so late upon the law , that they told him he intended to be an advocate in the other world. 2. teach not too much at once , but take your lesson in pieces , let him spell before he read ; invent in english before in latin , confusedly before in order ; then chuse the best , put it in order , turn it into latin , and then file and polish it . it is reported of virgil , that he first composed his matter in prose , then turn'd it into verse , afterwards reformed those verses to fewer ; and last of all revised and amended them . to these rules i must add , that he be taught things necessary or useful . such are , 1. languages . the bulla aurea , tit . 26. commands all the sons of electors to be brought up from 7. years old , in the italian and slavonian languages , and to perfect that study before 14. that is prescribed to the german nobility ; but for ours it seems requisite , that they learn the latin tongue , so much as to understand an author readily , to write and speak it competently ; and if they go abroad , the more readily they speak it , the better . other of the learned languages are ornaments , but not so necessary as the modern : and of these , theirs , with whom we have most converse , are the most useful . 2. it is requisite that he learn to speak perspicuously , decently , and persuasively , which is rhetoric . to understand the difference of stiles epistolary , historical , and for orations in all the three kinds . also to compose and pronounce them hansomly , at least in his own language . it is better also , if he understand and practise ( tho not much , except he have a considerable dexterity in it ) poetry ; without which no man can be perfect orator , but his fancy as well as expressions will be low and mean. poetry warms the imagination , makes it active , and promt to soar to the top of parnassus ; it emboldens to the use of a lofty metaphor , or confident catachresis . besides accustoming the stile to measure gives insight , judgment , and readines also in oratorical number . it teacheth also to chuse good words , to consider , weigh , and pierce better into what we read , to take notice of the most delicate artifice , and discern sparks of diamonds . so that it is observed , that when poetry is despised , other sciences also are in the wane . one great piece of poetry , and perhaps the most familiar and proper , is the dramatic , in which could they be of good subjects , well garbled , and discreetly handled , it would not misbecome our young gentleman to have his part . 3. musick i think not worth a gentlemans labor , requiring much industry and time to learn , and little to loose , it . it is used chiefly to please others , who may receive the same gusto from a mercenary ( to the perfection of many of whom few gentlemen arrive ) at a very easy rate . i should rather advise singing , especially if you fear him subject to a consumtion ; which , besides that it strengthens the lungs , modulates the voice , gives a great grace to elocution , and needs no instrument to remove or tune . 4. to discourse pertinently and rationally is also necessary . this is logic ; which tho taught in every colledg , and every one learneth , yet do very few attain perfection in it . error is so well disguised , verity is also sometimes so deep , and our cord so shallow , that it requireth very much experience , to be able readily to discover the truth , and dissolve a sophism . these knowledges already mentioned are but foundations , upon which all sciences are built , but themselves appear not in the edifice . for they are nothing but regulating and perfecting the actions of our natural faculties ; not informing them with any new or extrinsecal accedent ; they are disposing and preparing the table , that good resemblances may be drawn upon it . they are necessary that a man may make the best advantage of his natural parts in apprehending of other arts and knowledges . some indeed have bin of opinion , that a gentleman needs no more , but what nature hath given him . licinius , and a great general in our own times , were so illiterate , that they could scarce write their own names . lewis xi . desired his son might understand no more latin then , qui nescit dissimulare , nescit regnare . and what harm had it bin , if he had permitted his son ( charles viii . ) to have learned somewhat of latin ? he could at the worst but have done as he did , that is commit his busines to others , and not be able to discern good counsel from evil , and interessed . but it seems that prince had but one trick in king-craft , and that a very mean one ; more latin might have taught him others , and not to have needed that , so base and unworthy of a prince . as it did those great monarcks , who were practised in them , julius , augustus , and the rest of that family ; ( whereof nero , to his dishonor , was the first that stood in need of borrowed eloquence , seneca making his speeches for him ; ) trajan , hadrian , m. aurelius , and that miracle of princes , severus alexander . hannibal writ the lives of two famous generals : and alexander slept with homer under his pillow . i will not muster up any more examples ; they are infinite . learning , i. e. sciences are not necessary to every man ; nor all to any man ; yet are they useful to all , tho not to all equally . but that is best , which is most beneficial and proper for every ones condition of life . learning and study makes a young man thinking , attentive , industrious , confident , and wary ; an old man cheerful , and resolved . 't is an ornament in prosperity , a refuge in adversity ; an entertainment at home , a companion abroad : it cheers in solitude and prison ; it moderates in the height of fortune , and upon the throne . in these parts of the world we seem to run after sciences , and think them to be all things ; whereas the great and universal busines of our life , especially active , is wisdom , prudence , noblenes , and liberty of spirit . sciences are necessary to mans life , and professors of them are requisite to instruct such , whom it concerns to know and exercise them ; in other persons wisdom is the chiefest , and what can be spared from acquiring that , let it be bestowed upon science . by the way , take notice , that these are not both the same , that to be learned is not to be wise ; nor are sciences to be placed in the upper room , notwithstanding the honor and wealth to be acquired by them . they are particular means for the obtaining particular ends ; and dispose a man very much for wisdom also : but the great universal art is , tu regere imperio populos , &c. to excel others in virtue , prudence , and those abilities which render him more useful in the general concernments of mankind . besides sciences are easily learned being taught by routte and course ; but wisdom requires greater advertency , and more accurate observation ; which all are not able to learn , and very few to teach . but , if a young man be industrious and of good parts , there is time enough for both sciences and wisdom . those are more properly the emploiments of youth , this of maturer age . he may obtain those before he be well capable of this , i mean a sufficient perfection in them ; not so much as is required for a professor , but so much , as is necessary or requisite for a gentleman . nor will the acquisition of them hinder his progress in this , but much further , and advance , it . both because of the well-disposing of the faculty , and of the affinity between both knowledges . amongst sciences therefore i recommend to him , 5. the practise of discoursing , or the seeking after truth by evidence , which is mathematics , geometry especially . i mean not a superficial taking upon trust the propositions , or the practical part only , or instruments ; these spoil , make not , mathematicians , but the high road of demonstration . this is the first part of the building that appears above ground ; it is practising them in the greatest instances of invention that we know ; it fixeth the fancy , it accustometh to thinking , and enquiring after truth in all discourses . analytica is the gage of a mans parts , and algebra the pinnacle of argumentation . only let it be remembred , that i advise it here as a piece of education , not a profession . i would not have a gentleman give up himself to it ; for it makes him less fit for active life , and common conversation ; except he well consider that he cannot find his demonstration in all matters ; except he can be content with such evidence as the subject affords ; and not despise a proof , because he can say somewhat against it : and except he can apply his mind and intention to things as they are in the world ; and not rack them to the accurate model of his exactly regulated imagination . 6. natural philosophy , but especially ethics , and politics , should also not be neglected . which will dispose him , when he comes to greater maturity , to comprehend the laws , especially of his own , and neighboring nations , and their government . of which i shall speak hereafter . 7. yet one thing we lack . albertus magnus desired of god 5. years before his death , that he might forget all that he had learned in those studies , that he might intirely give himself up to devotion . the example also of monsieur pascal is very eminent . tho he was able , as any man could be , to pierce into the secrets of nature , and actually did see very far into them ; yet more then ten years before his death , he so well understood the vanity and nothingnes of all those kinds of knowledg , and conceived such a distast against them ; that he could hardly endure men of parts should seriously discourse of , or busy themselves , in them : from that time he alwaies professed , that nothing besides religion was an object worthy an ingenious mans study ; that it was a proof of the lownes , whereto we were thrown by the fall , that a man should seriously fasten upon the search of such things , as contribute little or nothing to his happines . wherefore his usual saying was , that all those sciences produced no consolation in the times of affliction ; but that the knowledg of christianity was a comfort both in adversity , and defect of all other knowledg . he believed therefore , tho there were some advantage or customary obligation to study things of nature , and to be able to conceive and discourse rationally concerning them ; yet it was absolutely necessary not to prize them above their just value . and that if it were better to know and undervalue , then be ignorant of , them ; yet it were better to be ignorant of , then know and overvalue , them . the gentle spirit of petrarch also long before his death quitted his helicon and muses for mount olivet and divinity . card. du perron kept not so much as any book of humanity ( tho formerly a great poet and orator ) either poetry , oratory , or history in his library . jo. picus mirandula extreamly repented his love verses ; so did bembus , ronsard , marc-ant. muretus , laur. gacubaro , and cavalier marini . and naugerius tho formerly a famous poet , yet afterwards so much detested all licentious compositions , particularly martial ; that every year he bought up a considerable number of such books , and upon his birth-day solemnly burnt them . nonnus in penance for his dionysiaca paraphras'd the gospel of st. john. pet. veliardus not being able to abolish the custome of reading the poets , &c. omnes poetas , scriptoresque profanos evangelicos faciebat . omnia ad exaedificandam in timore domini juventutem accommodabat , ut unde non pauci perniciem periculumque suis discipulis ferunt , inde illi in salutem & morum disciplinam compararet . orlan . in vita p. fabri . these , you will say , did well to begin to disengage themselves of their riding posture , when they came in sight of their home : but that it will be difficult to perswade young men coming into the world to follow these examples . this i grant , yet some time should be given to him that gives us all , even in youth ; and the more the better ; and as before i advised to the practise of religion in the very beginning , so , as they grow towards maturity , i would perswade them to the study of divinity , even that decried study of school-divinity . which the great earl of strafford , and many other very wise persons and states-men have themselves studied , and to others recommended . theologia scholastica principi viro necessaria ; nam , dum quaestiones suas discutiunt , omnes subtilitates , effugia , suspiciones , omnes denique ingenii machinas & vires produnt , &c. the writers of this do more exactly canvas , and search out , their subject then any others whatsoever . which partly might be the reason why monsieur pascal fell into such an utter dislike and loathing of his physical and mathematical studies in comparison of divinity . for tho he afterwards made that discourse of the roulet or cycloid , yet all therein was found out by chance , and almost without study ; and besides he intended it for another purpose far differing from mathematics . but if ever this study was necessary , it is now much more certainly , when some are ready by the study of nature to immerse god in the matter ; and with those impieties of democritus and epicurus to confound him with nature : and others for want of this ballast in these unsettled times , are driven upon rocks and sands by the ignorance of some , and craft of others , that lye in wait to deceive the better-minded , but less-learned then themselves . 6. and the best place and manner of learning these , and all other arts and sciences , or what belongeth to them , i take to be in the universities . and so hath bin the general opinion from the very beginning of learning . these were the schools of the prophets in gods church ; and such were athens , alexandria , and many other places , among them that followed their own reason . for these were the great markets for learning ; here resided the best learned , and greatest frequency of them ; here was emulation and mutual information in studies ; here were opportunities of discoursing , studying , and continual advance ; here were books , privacy , and all other necessaries for that purpose . and still to this day in all christendom is this observed ; every nation , whether kingdom , or common-wealth , makes the establishing and well regulating their universities , one of the principal parts of their care . for from hence they draw able subjects for all professions and emploiments ; here they institute , both in learning and manners , the whole youth of the nation , and the hopes and honor of the growing age . and therefore do the supreme magistrates , by such great rewards , and immunities , encourage and procure the best professors and teachers in every art and faculty . and such rewards are needful to entice persons of great parts ( as such must be ) , to such indefatigable and uncessant labor and study , and to quit all the means of advancing themselves in the common-wealth to serve the public . in these places you may find skilful men in all knowledges you desire : some give their mind and time to languages , others to sciences ; either to have a right and large knowledg , or comprehension of things , whether the effects of nature or manner of her operations , or of the sublimer and abstruser general propositions concerning the higher and noble entities , and such as are not obliged to the laws of nature : others to be able to express their knowledg and notions , whether popularly by orations and speeches , wherein they are frequently exercised , or convincingly to learned men , by their continual disputations , to which they are educated . i mean not that arguing and discoursing , which a student useth with his own self to find out truth , but that which comprehendeth both , and the assistance also of others , public and open argumentation pro & con . this is it which brings a question to a point , and discovers the very center and knot of the difficulty . this warms and activates the spirit in the search of truth , excites notions , and by replying and frequent beating upon it , cleanseth it from the ashes , and makes it shine and flame out the clearer . besides it puts them upon a continual stretch of their wits to defend their cause , it makes them quick in replies , intentive upon their subject : where the opponent useth all means to drive his adversary from his hold ; and the answerer defends himself sometimes with the force of truth ; sometimes with the subtility of his wit ; and sometimes also he escapes in a mist of words , and the doubles of a distinction ; whilst he seeks all holes and recesses to shelter his persecuted opinion and reputation . this properly belongeth to the disputations , which are exercises of young students , who are by these velitations and in this palaestra , brought up to a more serious search of truth . and in them i think it not a fault to dispute for victory , and to endeavor to save their reputation ; not that their questions and subjects are concerning things of small moment , and little reality : yea i have known some governors that have absolutely forbidden such questions , where the truth was of concernment ; on purpose that the youth might have the liberty of exerting their parts to the uttermost , and that their might be no stint to their emulation . but indeed in natural philosophy ( wherein the greatest liberty is given ) what is there that is not disputable ? and even they , who most pretend to experiments , will find it difficult to produce one new , or confute an old , universal proposition ; and when they shall discover one , they will find it disputed both with contrary reasons and experiments . so true is that of salomon , eccles. 3. tradidit mundum disputationi eorum , ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est deus ab initio usque ad finem . and of siracides , ecclus. 18. non est minuere neque ad●icere , nec invenire magnalia dei. cum consummaverit homo tunc incipiet , & cum quieverit aporiabitur . there may be further discoveries , as perhaps was the circulation of the blood , and some others ; and with all thankfulnes we acknowledg , and embrace their labors that endeavor such advancement , but to lay new principles , especially since the received are incorporated into all common speech , and our languages are formed according to them ; and consequently all mens notions set according to them , which will not be altered and extirpated by small fancies , is a busines of an higher difficulty . besides that aristotle himself , whom all universities , christian , have followed about 400. years ( longer then any other of his maligners have continued theirs ) but the grecians and arabians much longer time , was not a novice in natural history ; witnes those most learned works in that subject . yet did he write his philosophy conformable , not contradictory , to his knowledg in particulars ; and therefore it must needs be very difficult to overthrow that which is so well grounded , which was the product of so much experience ; and by none but those who are better versed in that learning then himself . neither is his philosophy more notional then all sciences , which are delivered in a synthetical , i. e. a doctrinal method , and begin with universal propositions . i acknowledg indeed one point of education , wherein i wish our universities more defective then they are , i. e. that which the ladies call breeding and accomplishment ; a fault incident to all these schools of learning , even to athens it self ; for plutarch tells us , that long before his time some persons wondred , why those , that went fine gentlemen to athens , and very knowing , after a year or two's stay there began to know nothing ; and the longer they staied the greater clowns they proved . a negligence incident to those , who have their minds more emploied then their bodies ; and who converse not with the gallantry of the age . 7. that you may judge the better of universities , i will set down the manner of instructing in forreign universities , or also our own in former times ; without reflecting upon , or judging our present practise . anciently in oxford and paris , ( the two only general studies for a long time on this side the alps ) i suppose in the others too , their reading was dictating , and their learning writing those dictates of their master . card. d' estouteville about 1476. reformed this tedious and unprofitable way of teaching , and brought in ( as it should seem ) the manner now generally used ; which is , first an account of the former lectures ; then to read and write about half an hour ; then to explicate that about an equal time . experience since hath added an hour more for the scholars conferring one with another in circles , in presence of their reader , and disputing upon questions given them the reading before . the hour that remains , the master begins another lecture , explains it to them , and gives them questions for their next disputations . yet the jesuits in portugal , to ease their scholars also of much of the labor of writing dictates , have printed a course of philosophy , which they explain , confer , and dispute upon . and this seems the best way : but whether introducible amongst us ; or if it be , whether better then tutors reading privately in their chambers , especially if tutors be diligent , it is not fitting for me to determine . 8. the true method of studying to render any one a learned man , i conceive not to be , to trust to his memory ; aliud enim est meminisse aliud scire : meminisse est rem commissam memoriae custodire ; at scire est & sua quaeque facere , nec ab alio exemplari pendere . and these differ as much as digesting our meat , and reserving it in a cupboard . wherefore neither is it to be able to quote many authors , nor tell their opinions , nor to repeat their pretty sentences or profound subtilties : as neither to read many books , nor to say them by heart , is to be a scholar : but to digest what is read , and to be able to know where a difficulty lies , and how to solve it , i. e. to make it your own , and to be able to satisfy your self and others in that which you conceive to be truth . first of all then , propose to your self a subject ; never read at adventure the book newly come out , or in fashion , whatever subject it handles , for that is commonly lost labor : but read alwaies with design : then shall you know where you are , how far you have gone , what is behind both of that science , or of the whole encyclopaedia . having fixt upon your subject , take an author , a modern one , and the learneder the better : and consider first the latitude and method of your science ; and then begin with his first question ; upon which first use your own thoughts ; or at least yours together with his , i. e. let your imagination loose , both before and when you read ; discourse , doubt , argue upon and against ; and draw consequences from your author ; who is many times but a ladder to your own inquisitivenes . when you have found a difficulty , which neither your own thoughts , nor his writing , do resolve , make use of other authors of the same subject ; for what one wants another supplies ; your difficulty perhaps your author foresaw not , another did . and by the citations of modern authors you will easily be directed where to look for satisfaction . when that question and the difficulties and solutions are fixed in your mind by sufficient meditation , go to another , and so forward . chap. xi . of invention , memory , and judgment ; and how to help , better , and direct them . it is not my purpose to intermeddle with any particular art or science in this discourse ; but only with such things , as do not properly fall under , or belong to , any of them , yet are generally required to them all . and first i must reassume , what before i only mentioned , that there are three faculties to be cultivated , wit , memory , and judgment . 1. wit , the actions whereof are fancy , or invention , is in ordinary acception , nothing else but a quicker apprehension of such notions , as do not usually enter into other mens imaginations . it consists ( saith thesauro ) in 1. perspicacity , which is the consideration of all , even the minutest , circumstances : and 2. versability , or speedy comparing them together ; it conjoins , divides , deduceth , augmenteth , diminisheth , and in sum puts one thing instead of another , with like dexterity , as a jugler doth his balls . it differs very much from judgment ; that is more perspicacious , this more profound ; that more quick , this more stable ; that chiefly considers appearances , this reality ; that produceth admiration and popular applause , this profit and real advantage . ingenious men are commonly impatient of thinking , and therefore take appearances for reality ; and their fancy still suggesting new conceits , suffers them not to weigh or compare reasons : wherefore they are commonly unfit for busines ; their ability consisting in sudain apprehensions , and quick expressions ; whereas 't is only study , and thinking , that hatcheth and produceth all noble designs and actions . and if ingenious men do come to consider seriously , or to deliberate , they are able to say so much for either side , that they have no resolution ; they dispute well , but conclude nothing . consequently they are irresolute , inconstant , and unfortunate : and their wit failing before they arrive at old age , and not being furnished in their memory and judgment , they become flat and contemtible . but if wit be joined with power , it is very dangerous to the public . sapientia sine eloquentia parum prodest civitatibus ; eloquentia sine sapientia nimium plerunque obest , prodest nunquam . saith cie . l. 1. de invent. i think i may truly add , that all mischiefs in common-wealths proceed from these wits ; for wise men will not disturb government , and fools cannot . whereas the judicious man is fitted for any emploiment , considers what dangers and evils may happen , and avoids them ; consequently is prosperous , brings about his designs , advanceth himself and family . and the longer he lives , the more doth his talent increase . in sum , the one is best in a tavern or coffy-house , the other at a councel-table : the one is a facetious companion , the other a faithful friend ; the one a good droll , the other a good patriot ; the one makes us merry , the other wise . wit , say some , proceeds from active spirits , or a greater degree of heat in the brain ; the excess whereof produceth madnes ; and so difficult it is to determine what degree serves for one , and what for the other , that the proverb assigns them the same confines . and indeed the conceits of mad-men are nothing else but high and extravagant metaphors : as that of one who fancied himself a fire-brand , and desired every one he met to blow him . another thought himself a mustard-seed . another took himself for a glass-alembick with a long nose , the droppings whereof he called rose-water . others were cocks , urinals , &c. a lesser degree of madnes was that they called enthusiasm ( many times from some vapor or water out of the earth ) which was imagined to come from the gods , and which created the most ingenious poets . who all , pretending to that afflatus , continually call'd upon the muses , nymphs , and presidents of those inspiriting places , in the beginning of their poems . and they , who are denied by nature this faculty , and will not take the pains by study and exercise to prepare and fit themselves , are wont to increase their heat or frenzy by wine ( which causeth a temporary madnes ; ) or by some high passion , which hath the same effect as drunkennes . magna pars eloquentiae est dolor , said seneca , when he heard a dull orator declame most eloquently that day his son died . so polus the actor , that he might more vively represent the grief of a father upon the body of his deceased son , brought in an urn the ashes of his own son newly dead . this for one passion . so for anger , si natura negat , facit indignatio , versum . archilochus and hipponax two very bad poets , yet for spite and rabbia , to be revenged of two persons that injured them , invented those doggrel sorts of verses , iambics and scazons , whose force they so well applied , that their adversaries made away themselves . and for love , let the smith of antwerp be witnes ; who , being refused by his sweet-heart because of his dirty profession , changed his hammers and anvil for pencils and tables , and arrrived to be the famousest painter of his time . but to let these pass ; wit is the mother of facetiousnes , conceits , jests , raillery , satyricalnes , ( which is almost synonymum to wit , ) drollery , quick reparties , quaint metaphors , and the like , in conversation . of projects , new inventions , mechanical instruments , &c. and in learning is the great nurse of poetry , oratory , musick , painting , acting , and the like . 2. judgment is the deliberate weighing and comparing of one subject , one appearance , one reason , with another ; thereby to discern and chuse true from false , good from bad , and more true and good from lesser . which who so doth , is a wise man , beloved of god , and reverenced of all good men . its parts consist 1. in circumspection , or consideration , of all circumstances , advantages , accidents , &c. 2. in sagacity , or collecting much from little hints ; which requires both a great vivacity , serenity , and subtilty of spirit ; all these together make up solertia . 3. in caution or weighing all things for , and against , the subject . and 4. providence , or provision of futures , what may , and what may not , most probably fall out ; which is the height of human wisdom . a judicious man is stable , solid , serious , looks after truth , real advantage , and happines ; is fit to govern and obey : is not rash or inconstant ; believes not easily ; nor easily disbelieves , but as his reason guides him . his discourse is not so plausible as solid ; useth reasons more then metaphors ; speaks to purpose , and knows when to hold his peace . he is what every one strives , but few arrive , to be . this faculty is proper for all sciences that depend upon rational discourse , and much thinking , as divinity and the profound mysteries thereof ; natural philosophy , and moral ; practical medicine , law , judicature , and government in peace and war. 3. memory is the calling to mind or recollecting of what hath bin before known and apprehended . they that excel in it are accounted many times greater clerks then wise men ; are able to cite many books , and authors , and their editions ; can tell their opinions ; and enterlace their discourse with ends of gold and silver . yet , if not menaged by judgment , their opinion or learning is of little force or esteem amongst knowing men ; who yet can gather many useful things out of their confusion . this faculty is necessary for lawyers , whose learning lies in quotations , and records ; and who number , rather then weigh , their authorities . 't is also proper for learning languages , criticismes , philology , antiquities ; for putting out , commenting upon , and making indexes to , authors . it is a natural faculty , and conspicuous even in children , who by it learn till they arrive to some considerable degree of understanding . 4. it is commonly imagined , that a great memory seldom accompanieth a great wit , or a good judgment ; and that these three are incompatible one with another ; that they have divers habitations in , and a divers temperature of , the brain . whereas i think the contrary is generally , but not alwaies , true . and thence is gathered an effectual argument , that they are all menaged by one great agent , the soul or spirit ; which is above temperature , place , and matter . that one man proves not excellent in all or many sciences , proceeds not from the inhability of one or other faculty of the soul ; but either from the long time required to one study ; from want of industry , every one being most ready to make use of , and cultivate , that , wherein they have some natural advantage , and to neglect the other ; or from the two great attachment men have to what they first master , so that all following studies are cast into the mold of the first ; or lastly from a mistake , for that memory is not so conspicuous , except where wit and judgment are wanting . yet in these later times what persons have we seen eminent in all three faculties ? erasmus , when a youth , had all terence and horace by heart ; jos. scaliger in 21. daies got by heart all homer ( the ilias containing 31670 verses , and the odysses about the same number ) and in 4. months all the other greek poets . monsieur peiresk , when a youth at school , could repeat all ovids metamorphosis , and justins history without book . card. bellarmin , saith gallutius , had such a memory , ut quicquid legeret scriberetve statim ac subito reciperet , quicquid recepisset , fidelissimè constantissimèque retineret . p. paolo sarpi's great memory , as well as wit and judgment , even from a child , read in his life . what a man monsieur pascal was in divers sciences , his other works ; what in divinity , the provincials letters , demonstrate . i will omit julius scaliger , joh. picus , paulus scalichius , adr. turnebus , casaubon . card. perron in four daies got by heart all ecclesiastes in hebrew , and besides his other vast abilities , was also an excellent poet. mr oughtred in his old age had ovid and virgil fresh in his memory . fr. suarez had s. austins works so by heart , that he could repeat , not only the sense , but for the most part his very words ; and if he was asked of any thing in his own works ( 22. volums in fol. ) he could tell the place and very page where he treated of it . but this himself called not memory , but reminiscence ; for it was indeed as much judgment as memory : for he was so well versed in that learning , and so perfectly master of it ( having read the whole course of school-divinity , as i remember , 17. times over ) that if he were asked of any point , or conclusion , he would discourse of it just in the same manner , and order , as he had writ it in his books . i could produce many more instances . but in reason , the goodnes of the judgment must depend upon invention and memory ; that being the faculty which gives sentence according to the reports of the other two . yet few there are in whom these faculties are , as i may say , mingled ana . it is best therefore that all be cultivated and advanced as high as they are capable to be : and what is most defective is most to be helped . and children having memory by nature , invention not till youth , nor judgment till maturity , their memory is first to be menaged : only with this caution , that they be made to understand what they learn , and the reason of it , as soon as they shall be capable . 5. of the bettering of judgment we shall speak in another place ; but for memory , because we remember better those things , 1. which we learn from our childhood ; 2. which we are more attentive to ; 3. which we exercise our selves most in ; 4. which we orderly apprehend ; 5. which we can call to mind from the beginning ; 6. which we conceive to be somewhat like ; 7. and which is pleasing to us ; and because childhood and youth have their memory ( tho not so excellent as men , yet ) more useful then their understanding ; therefore what ever they learn , let it be got by heart ; that they may repose and store up in their memory what their understanding afterwards may make use of : let them also frequently render it , and after several interstitiums ; which will be a great help to their memory , to the perfecting of which nothing conduceth so much as practise . yet there is also an artificial help to memory , which is variously and obscurely delivered by many authors ; the shortest and easiest is this . make use of a sufficient number of places best known to you ; as of towns in the way to london , the streets of london , or the signs in one street , such in fine as are well known to you . keep their order perfectly in mind , which first , which second , &c. and when any word is given you to remember , place it in the first town , street , or sign ; joining them together with some fancy , tho never so extravagant , the calling to mind your known place will draw along with it the fancy , and that the word joined to it . and these you may repeat afterwards either in the same order as they were delivered , or backwards , or as you please . this serves very well for words , and indifferently for verses after much practise ; but it requires a long time by this art to remember sentences . a succedaneum to memory is writing ; and students are wont to serve themselves of common-place-books , excellent helps to ordinary memories . the best way that i know of ordering them , is ; to write down confusedly what in reading you think observable . [ young students commonly take notice of remarkable histories , fables , apologues , ( such as are not in esop ) adagies , if not in erasmus , or manutius . hieroglyphics , emblems , symbols ; ( which are all but simile's drest after divers fashions ) histories of heathen gods , laws and customes of nations . wise and useful sentences . elegant figures , reasons and causes , descriptions and the like . ] leaving in your book a considerable margin ; marking every observation upon the page as well as the pages themselves with 1 , 2 , 3. &c. afterwards at your leasure set down in the margin the page of your index , where the head is , to which such sentence relates : and so enter into the index under such a head the page of your note-book , wherein such sentence is stored . these note-books , if many , are to be distinguished by a , b , c , &c. your index must be well furnished with heads ; yet not too much multiplied , least they cause confusion . your own experience will continually be supplying what is defective . 6. invention is bettered by practise , by reading , by imitation , and by common-places . 1 for practise , let him have a teacher , who himself hath some considerable dexterity and practise in it , who may guide his charge by fit and easy rules and exercises , and not thrust him upon fishing in books at first ; and may take his subject after him , and shew him what more might have bin said , and what he hath said , bettered . neither let the young man torture his mind at all ; but set down what is suggested by his memory or fancy concerning his subject , be it considerable or no. the soul will by little and little heat , and wind it self , unto higher conceptions ; and in transcribing , he may reject what is too obvious . let him be taught first to fill up a sentence with epithetes , oblique cases of the instrument , manner , cause , and all circumstances and relations : which is easily known by the rection of the parts of his sentence . practise him in most easy oppositions of not and but ; in most easy descriptions of things most familiar to him , to enure him to the observation and taking notice of what he sees : in enumeration of parts and species , as the old is better . in histories or fables ; giving him somewhat to make out the rest , as ultima omnium spes evolavit è dolio ; in most easy and familiar similes , as of a shepheard and magistrate , pismire and industrious person ; sufficient variety of these is collected by erasmus . under simile's are comprehended also metaphors , allegories , fables , parables , symbols and the like . and it were a good exercise amongst a circle of scholars , to propose a symbol ( the easiest first ) and every one to answer in his turn ; v. g. let every one give his symbol of fortitude , and a motto or word for it such as , a pillar , which sustaineth the greatest weight laid upright upon it , the motto rectum stabile ; a palm tree that grows up against a pressure , tu ne cede malis , sed contra audentior ito ; to a die , homo quadratus ; an oaken-bough struck with lightning , impavidum ferient : a rock , an anvil , an helmet , &c. fables are taken ( as symbols from things natural ) from things animate , as an eagle , cock , &c. clothing them with speech and action ; such betwixt men , are parables . so there are mixtures of all these , as , easter said to the griggs , tarde venerunt . there are also compound subjects , which they call emblems , of which alciat , sambucus , and many others have made volums . such are also impresa's of great men , a vast number whereof are collected by typotius and others . another way of practise is , to apply all such things as he seeth , or as occur in his ordinary busines or conversation , to somewhat of morality , policy , &c. as seeing an ivy thrust down the wall upon which it grew , one said , that was the perfect emblem of a flatterer ; an onion having its germe covered with so many scales , representeth a man that conceals his intention under many pretences , and the like . 2 for reading ; verse him well in inventive authors : such are generally all paradoxists , satyrists , such as write one against another , declamators , controvertists , and generally orators and poets , as cicero , quintilian , seneca ; i name him last , because , tho his matter be very good , yet he husbands it well , and spreads it thin . among the latin poets , lucan , juvenal , claudian , epigrammatists , &c. let him also use his own invention before he reads upon his subject ; and in reading set down what his own fancy suggests upon , or besides , the author ; and let him alwaies read . cassiodorus reports of tully , that he refused to plead when it was expected , because he had not read upon his subject . 3 for imitation ; let him imitate those he readeth ( as is taught in rhetoric ) by translating , paraphrasing , epitomizing , and composing upon his own subject somewhat like the other . give him the same subject with an author unknown to him ; and then compare his conceits , fancies , reasons , metaphors , &c. with the authors . let him also vary discourses , as an history into a dialogue , or epistle ; which take their arguments from all occasions ; as antenor to priamus , to send back helena . agan emnon to menelaus to quit her . so to vary comedies and dialogues into epistles and discourses , as mitio to demeas to spare his son , and the like . 7. 4 for common-places and helping the invention by them , many have written very copiously ; others think it altogether unuseful . for that experience testifies ; that those , who have passed the course of their studies , and never understood or practised this art , have yet had very good inventions ; that those who use their fancies , do not at all serve themselves of these common-places , nor beg at every door for arguments and metaphors ; that the matter suggested by these places is only general , or an heap of universal notions , which is rather a disadvantage then an help . thus l' art de penser . but on the contrary , it must be acknowledged , that all the ancients , aristotle , cicero , &c. made great account of this ; that tho some have great parts , that they can without art perform the effects of art , yet all fields have not a river or a spring in them , but some require the diligence of a bucket ; that those ( whom they called sophistae ) who governed in their daies , made profession , out of these places , to teach to discourse upon any subject pro & con , and to say all that could be spoken concerning it : that many of late daies have attained to plausibility in discourse meerly by lullies art , which is but a few of those common-places ; and those too the most general and indistinct : that all conceptions are drawn out of these places ; and if reason naturally as it were , and of her self runs to them , it cannot but be very useful ( for art is a more certain guide then nature ) to make her see her own power , to discover to her self her great treasure , and to direct her , whither to go for what she wants . for if the soul be a great palace furnished with all necessaries ; is it not a considerable assistance to the general dispenser , to shew him where every thing is disposed and deposited in its proper place ? the sole reason , why these are not more taught in the schools , is , because they are included in , and learned together with , logic and philosophy ; and tho the use of the topics in logic be quite different from this here intended ( which seems to be the mistake of that author ) yet being the things are the same , it is left to the diligence and versability of the understanding , to apply them according to all their uses . the uses of topics in logic and rhetoric , are to discover the value and force of a proposition in order to find out the truth , and to produce assent in our selves or others , either by conviction or perswasion ; but here they serve to procure a right notion and apprehension of things , by considering all that belongs to them : as also to communicate the same right notions to others ; and by questions to draw forth as many notions as the subject will afford . it is true also , that these places are general ; for being the common springs of wit and invention , they cannot be otherwise ; invention being the well applying of general predicates to particular subjects . thus much also i confess , that these topics are not so profitable to them , who already understand sciences , as to those who are ignorant , and concerning the usefulnes of them to such , matteo pellegrini ( of whose fon● del ' ingegno i have made much use in this chapter ) telleth us ; that the gentleman , for whom he composed that book , by the use of it , arrived to such a perfection , as to be able in a short time to write , without defacing one word , many pages concerning any the meanest subject proposed to him ; to the great admiration of as many as knew him . it is also to be noted , that some subjects are barren , which notwithstanding will serve very well for beginners ; such are universal , plain , ordinary themes and propositions , which are to be fertilized by divers artifices ; chiefly by clothing them with some rare or unaccustomed circumstances ; such as have a shew of novelty or unexpectednes , for nothing else is grateful . as to congratulate for a degree , marriage , &c. are barren , except there be somewhat particular of age , severer examination , extraordinary merit , &c. it is also to be noted , that , tho some persons have such happy inventions , that they can presently compare notions , and as it were descant ex tempore upon a subject ; yet will they sometimes be at a loss ; and then these topics will be useful unto them , tho perhaps not so much as to ordinary wits ; who must read , and observe much , that they may store up a magazin of conceptions ; and practise much also , that they may readily and easily by their questions pump out what is to serve their occasions . for every proposition is the answer to some question , and we think we understand perfectly , when we are able to answer any question concerning our subject . all subjects also are either of single words , or propositions . invention concerning single words consists chiefly in substituting other single words for it , whether for expressions only , or to raise more matter for propositions . in short , the height of the invention , a single word is capable of , is an high metaphor , catachresis , or hyperbole . i will give you an example of a single theme , and how the fancy descants upon , and menageth it through all the predicaments , out of imman . thesauro , to save my self the labor . his subject is a bee , dead , in amber , which he makes a compound subject , and takes first the several parts , bee , and amber . substantia . apis . animans , fera , avicula , corpusculum vivax , insectum . electrum . gemma inanimis , heliadum sororum lacrima , arborum sudor , humor concretus , viscus , gelu . quantitas . ap. pusilla , brevis , levis , monstrosa . el. gutta , stilla , rara merx , informe corpus , formas se in omnes vertens . qualitas . ap. flava , auricolor ( for first she was iron-colored , till jove changed that for golden , because she was his nurse ) sonora , ingeniosa , prudens , sedula , casta , vilis , metuenda , sonitu minax . el. flavum , mellicolor , illustre , perspicuum , clarum , pretiosum , nobile , à fluido aridum , tenax , gelidum , fragile , sterile . relatio . ap. fimo-genita , mellis genitrix , nobilissima insectorum , jovis nutricula , fera socialis , reip. amans , fucorum hostis , regi fida , colonis chara ; harpyiae , amazoni , pegaso similis ; aristaei inventum . el. ex populo genitum ; matronis carum ; speculo , auro , vitro , simile . actio & passio . ap. hortos populatur ; dulces è floribus succos delibat ; furunculos insectatur ; nocuis nocet ; telum jaculatur ; venena fundit ; nectareos molitur favos ; facibus ceras ministrat ; aliis mellificat ; domos architectatur ; remp. gerit ; regibus paret ; pro rege militat ; fumo necatur . el. magneticâ virtute paleas rapit ; animalcula illaqueat ; labra mordet ; oculos allicit ; phaetontem extinctum deflet ; artificum torno expolitur , elaboratur . locus & situs . ap. hyblaea , cecropia , odoris innata floribus , hortorum cultrix , ceratae urbis inquilina ; domi nidificat ; dulces nidos fovet . el. in eridani ripa , ad phaethontis sepulcrum stillat ; monilibus & armillis inseritur ; thesauris atque scriniolis servatur . motus . ap. per fiorea rura volitat , vagatur ; semper fugax , quasi aliger equus , & eques ; dum volitat , pugnat , el. trunco haeret & profluit ; lentum , segne . quando . ap. brevis aevi ; in castris hyemat ; vere novo se prodit ; in aurorâ roscidum nectar legit . el. aeternum , immortale ; vere liquatur ; densatur bruma . habere . ap. pennigera , alata , loricata , armata ; tubam & hastam gerit ; ipsa telum & pharetra . el. aurium appendix ; virginum gestamen ; monilium decus & luxus ; inter opes numeratur . so joining several of these together , you may call a bee ingeniosum insectum ; hyblaea hospes ; ales cecropia ; nobilissima simi filia ; aurea jovis altrix ; florum praedo , hirudo ; florae satelles ; cerearum aedium architecta ; nectaris propinatrix ; mellis opifex ; pusilla hortorum harpyia ; volans venefica ; loricata avicula ; alata amazon ; volatilis tuba ; viva telorum pharetra ; surunculorum terriculum , &c. and amber , pretiosum gelu ; luctuosa eridani gemma ; jucunda heliadum lacrima & monile ; phaethontis funus ; lapideum mel ; aridus liquor ; concretus fluor ; aurum fragile ; gemmeus arborum sudor ; gelidus ignis ; viscosa lux ; avicularum illex & pedica ; flavus palearum magnes ; gemma rapax , mordax ; fulva eridani supellex ; lubricae opes , tenaces divitiae ; populea spolia ; lapis non lapis ; armillarum pupilla ; lacrimosum matronarum delicium , nobile aurium pondus . then he joins both together , not considering that the bee is dead . substantia . nova metamorphosis ! olim flebilis niobe in saxum , nunc apis flebilem in gemmam migrat : mirae deliciae ! apis inter gemmas numeratur : lapis animatur , animal lapidescit : medusam vidit apicula ; imo eadem medusa est & lapis : novas natura docet insitiones , in arbore gemmas , in gemmis apes : prodigiosa fecunditas , lapis aviculam parturit , &c. quantitas . myrmecidis anaglyptis adnumerandum opus ; apis in guttâ . unica haec apis rempub . perosa sibi vivit ; sola suum implet aviarium , & pusillâ se in aulâ jactat , &c. qualitas . fulva apis fulvâ lucet in gemmâ ; electrum dixeris in electro . cerne ut gemmeo radiet fulgore ignobile insectum ; dices etiam apicula est sidus . alget apis in flamma ; ardet in glacie : quid enim electrum nisi flammeum gelu ? vilissima rerum apis electro pretium astruit ; nescias utrum utri plus conferat , electrum api , an apis electro . haec pretiosior est captiva quam libera , eo carior quo clarior . hem voluptuarius puellarum terror apis in gemma ; de alieno superbit apis , luce fulgens non suâ . relatio . jovis altrix praemium alterum tulit , olim aurea , nunc gemmea ; imaginem cernis quam nemo expressit , sine caelo caelatam ; nimis ipsa sui amatrix apicula perpetuo se miratur in speculo . actio . arbor apim , apis oculos rapit ; ex istâ gemma pateram confice , nectar apicula propinabit . cerne ut arcto complexu hyblaeam volucrem gemma soveat ; dices electrum esse adamantem . ad phaethontis sepulerum dolens apicula lacrimis obruitur . aucupio delectantur heliades , viscus est lacrima . incauta apis in lacrimis invenit insidias . in furto deprehensa gemmeis compedibus tenetur apicula . non impune arbores pupugit ut flores . florum praedo fit arborum praeda . avarae volucri viscus est gemma . electrum vidit apis , mel opinata in illecebris laqueum reperit . dolosas experta gemmas , viscata munera , &c. locus & situs . gemmeâ in thecâ latet venenum . in gemmâ latitat fera : & opes timentur . apum regina regiam invenit qualem nec semiramis . auream domum sibi condidit nero , apis gemmeam . sumtuosa haec apis in gemmâ nidificat . in speculo excubias ducit . gemmam custodit apis quâ custoditur . apim coluere aegyptii , apem avari . infidae infida latebra latentem prodit . ubi asylum sperabat carcerem invenit , &c. tempus . strenua bellatrix apis in gemma hyemat , aestivat in glacie . brevis aevi avicula lacrimis aeternatur . nuper avis , nunc lapis . motus . vernis fessa laboribus apis vacationem obtinuit in gemmâ . castrorum desertrix in ostro cubat . a lento velox tenetur . in liquido haeret , in sicco nat at . nimis alte volitans icario lapsu naufragium fecit . effugere si potest , nollet , illustrem sortita carcerem . rara avis volucri gemma , &c. habitus . novum indumenti genus , vestita est apis & nuda pellucet . jam matronales inter luxus feram numeres , &c. if you add to these another circumstance , the bee dead in amber , you discover a new field of matter . substantia . venesica hic jacet cui gemma venenum suit . titulo non eget hic tumulus , latentem cernis . lethalis hic succus , quam necuit , servat ; dubites , apisne mortua sit an electrum vivat ; exanimatum corpus suum animavit sepulorum . hoc cadaver , uti hectoreum , pretio redimitur , &c. quantitas . pusillum hoc sepulorum mausoleo insultat . ingens miraculum apis mortua . unica jam non est phoenix , alteram ostendit eridanus . qualitas . obscura olim avicula , dum extinguitur , lucet . hoc cadavere nihil pulerius , nihil hâc umbrâ clarius ; flysium habet in gemma . luxus est sic perire . pretiosum hoc funus invidiam morti detraxit . relatio . gemmeum apiculae typum cernis in protypo . sese ipsa finxit & fixit . narcissi fatum experta est apis in speculo mersa . hanc puellae vivam oderunt , mortuam colunt . actio & passio . exigua haec artifex majori ingenio cadaveri cavit quam corpori ; ceream sibi domum molita , sepulcrum gemmeum . nec lacrimis eget nec face ; in lacrimis conditur , in tumulo lucet . crudelis nympharum pietas ! innocuam apim dum lugent , necant : hanc amore an odio peremerint , nescias , complexu praefocarunt . mortuae heliades hostem occiderunt . mirum , auceps in gemmâ latuit . locus & situs . huic cadaveri sepulorum non debes sed serinium . nobili leto laeta volucris fimo-genita in gemmâ moritur . sarcophagi pulcritudine capta mortem solicitavit . hunc tumulum violabit nemo ; pretium vetat . rapax volucris rapaci conditur gemma ; florum harpyia sic condi debuit . motus . fugacem licet aviculam lenta mors tenuit . casses abdiderat inter gemmas . diu pennis velificata carybdim reperit in gemma . novum inalum ! in lapide mergi . tempus . quod immortalis sit apis nil superis debet , sed morti . aeternitatem phario regi astruit myrrha , api electrum , utrique lacrima . lethali hoc succino mors apem perdidit , apis mortem . habere . gemmeum cadaver cerne ; tales proserpina gemmas gestitat . inops victavit apes , dives moritur . thus much for single words ; it follows concerning propositions or sentences : these consist of subject , copula , and predicate . the subject in invention is either kept , and other copula's and predicates applyed to it ; or changed to raise more matter ; and then is substituted in its place either , 1. synonymum : as for little , take epitome , compendium , pigmeus , homuncio , punctum , atomus , &c. or some other of those expressions , found out in the places for single words . 2. genus ; as for treachery , take deceit . 3. species ; as for treachery , take treason against the prince , or countrey , as tarpeias ; against enemies , as sinon ; or against friends , as bocchus's betraying jugurth to sylla . 4. the cognata ; as for treachery take feigned friendship . 5. or its simile's ; as of a fisher baiting his hook ; a coy-duck intising those of its own kind into the danger . for beginning ; root , fountain , spring , ( as of a watch ) seed . 6. opposites ; as fidelity . the copula , for so we will at present call those verbs auxiliary , by some of which all questions are made , and by which the predicatos , whether verb or noun , are joined to the subject . these are , am , was , with their divers cases and persons , have , had ; do , did : make , made : suffer : shall , should : will , would : may , might : can , could : owe , ought : useth or is wont . these again vary questions by the tenses or times ; present , past , or future : and both these a long or short while : such are these questions , is it ? was it ? hath it bin alwaies ? lately , or a long time agoe ? will it be ? would it be ? may it be ? might it be ? &c. ought it or behoveth it to be ? useth it , or is it wont to be ? again all these are either affirmative or negative . is it not ? was it not ? hath it not bin ? they are also varied with if , as , if it be , if it were or were not what would follow ? if alexander , had fought with the romans ? if the sun go out of the zodiack ? for predicates , ordinarily authors do prescribe no other common-places for invention then the predicaments ; which indeed do supply answers to very many questions , but not to all . i have therefore rather chosen to follow matteo pellegrini , who reduceth all predicates that can be applied to a subject ( as near as his observation could reach ) to twelve heads , or ( as he calls them ) fountains and springs of invention ; which are these . 1. the relation or commerce between the object and human faculties . 2. constituents or parts . 3. the causes , principles , or efficients . 4. the end. 5. the action . 6. passion . 7. quality . 8. quantity . 9. time. 10. place . 11. the subjects . 12. the correspondents . of which i shall speak in order , shewing what sub-heads every place containeth , and how matter may be drawn out of them by questions . yet i shall not set down all that is to be said , for that were both impossible and unnecessary ; but sufficient to make the use of them , and of all not set down , understood and practicable . the manner to use them is this ; set down the common place with its particular heads upon a several table or page ; till by frequent perusing and practising they become ready and familiar to you . then , by the auxiliary verbs put in form of a question , find out such notions contained in each place as are agreeable and fitting to your subject : change also the subject ( as often as you have need ) by some of the former waies , and apply the questions after the same manner to them also . 1. common-place . the relation of the object to the faculties of man , is as divers as the faculties are ; 1. sense external , internal . 2. understanding . 3. expression . 4. affection . concerning sense ( your subject being the object of some of them ) are these and infinite other questions , v. g. a battel . have i ever seen it ? at least painted ? or described ? might i have seen it ? where ? how long agoe ? how often ? had i seen it , what would it have wrought in me ? i would i had seen it , for , how can i imagine it ? what notion have i of it ? hath my friend , or stranger , or acquaintance seen it ? had he seen it , or not seen it , what would have followed ? hath he dream'd of it ? if a battel be so terrible when heard , much more when seen ; yet more when present in it . could virtue be seen how would it allure all the world ! 't is pitty a lye cannot be seen , that all men might beware of it . again , the passion of the sense affords such questions as these . the comet , did it deceive , weaken , blind , astonish , confound , please , comfort , cheer , the sense ? semper ego auditor tantum ? nunquamne reponam , vexatus toties rauci theseide codri ? &c. 2. concerning understanding , or the internal faculty of knowing . the actions whereof are thinking , imagination , apprehension , comprehension , perfected when we have a compleat notion , or idea of our object ; this by many men ( an original of many errors ) is confounded with assent . assent or beleif that the object is so , or not so ; hereto belong also doubting , opinion , beleiving or crediting another , science or perfect knowledg , deceit , error , prevision or foresight , remembrance , there being nothing that falls not out to be the object of the understanding , &c. concerning these , we frame commonly these with infinite other questions . v. g. columbus's finding out the new world. how came it into his thought ? did any think of it before ? what imagination or conception was formed of it ? why were not such , as before him had that imagination , excited to undertake it ? did the ancients think it impossible ? did they doubt , whether it were not all sea ? did they beleive their predecessors that denied the antipodes ? how did columbus first assent to it ? what arguments , what authorities moved him ? if he had not thought upon it , would any other ? a thing so probable did it find many abetters ? &c. how did it move , work upon columbus , when he first gave his full consent ? what resolutions did he take upon it ? &c. 3. expression , or that faculty which discovers our minds to others , comprehendeth words , languages , spoken or written ; our own or forreign ; ancient or modern ; copious or barren ; elegant or rude ; pleasant or harsh ; perspicuous or obscure ; ambiguous , equivocal , synonymous , proper , natural , figurative . again , verse or prose ; narration , interpretation , question : instructing , disputing , determining , affirming , denying , proposing , answering , confuting , amplifying , exhorting , praying , commanding , advising , congratulating , condoling , &c. all these again are true or false ; likely or unlikely ; doubtful or certain . to this head are referred also all expressions not by words ; as by painting , graving , symbols , emblems , characters , cyphers , hieroglyfics , impresas ; as also signs with the hand , eye , or other motion of the body ; either natural , or by consent of general custome , or particular correspondence . as also all natural expressions of passions , as sighing , laughing , &c. v. g. being to speak of america and its inhabitants ; i ask what is the name of the country ? what language it is ? who imposed it ? whence derived or took he it ? what is its true signification ? what the reason of imposing it ? what synonymas to it ? is it equivocal ? who hath writ of it ? in what language ? how much ? &c. again , is there any map of it ? what doth it resemble ? is it painted any where ? &c. 4. affection hath these sub-heads , whence questions may be suggested . delight and trouble ; pain and pleasure ; love and hatred ; desire or aversion ; hope or fear ; gratitude or ingratitude ; anger , admiration , veneration , contemt , indignation , compassion , complacency , and in short all other motions , or passions of the soul. in reference whereto i demand , if v. g. a visit of a friend hath ever , and when , and how often , delighted me ? whether it be a thing desirable , joyful , &c. to me ? or if to any other , and to whom ? &c. if he should come , how would my passions be affected ? what content ? &c. ii. second common place of constituents containeth three heads . 1. of essential degrees of genus's , species , &c. 2. of particulars of its species ; and 3. of parts constitutive . the first hath subheads all essential predicates . beginning first with ens , enquiring if your subject ( v. g. an unicorn ) be , or if there be such a thing . so descending , if it be a substance , or accident . if a substance , whether corporeal , or incorporeal . if an accident , whether quantity , quality , motion ( action and passion ) relation , time , or place ; running through the species of your genus till you come to your subject it self . these subdivisions of every genus are to be found in the predicaments . for example , an eagle . is there such a thing ? a substance or accident ? is it a substance created ? corporeal ? compounded ? living ? mortal ? animal ? irrational ? volative ? wild ? that flies single , not in flocks ? with a hooked-beak ? living by prey ? &c. so concerning the first predicate , many questions offer themselves . as , war is a thing , no great matter if it were not in the world. were it not that we see it acted every day , we should esteem it a fabulous chimera ; such as cerberus , and the furies . were it not , from how many calamities should we be free ? oh that there were never known the names of quarrels , dissentions , hatreds , fightings ! but that love , charity , and peace reigned every where . what sort of entity is war ? pursuing it through all its differences ; it is an action , not peaceable or profitable , but troublesome and offensive : offensive upon deliberation , not by nature , as cold is contrary to heat : for interest of state , to distinguish it from robbery or private quarrels . menaged with open violence , not secret plots , with armed multitudes , against an enemy that defends himself with a competent army , &c. the second suggesteth to us considerations , if the subject be one or many , simple or various ; and of how many sorts , v. g. how many sorts of eagles ? of war ? by sea , by land , offensive , defensive ; just , unjust ; horse , or footfights ; fair or barbarous . so for particulars , the war of the turks against the venetians , english against hollanders , french against spaniards . the third of constituent parts , whether essential , integral ; and these homogeneal or heterogeneal . adjuncts , as hairs are parts of beasts , leaves of trees , and these either excrementitious , or else perfective and for ornament ; as pillars are parts of noble buildings , theaters , fountains , piazza's , &c. of great cities . or parts of order , as beginning , middle , end : superior , inferior ; internal , external , &c. the soul , hath it parts ? may it have ? why hath it or hath it not ? if it had or had not , what sort of parts ? how many , &c. iii. the third common-place is of causes , efficients or principles , to which are reduced , occasions , instruments , means , or any concurrents , assistants , or accessories to produce the effect . these again are remote , near , or immediate ; universal , particular : primary principal , or secundary and less principal : total , partial , separate , conjoined : internal , external : necessary , contingent , fortuitous , intended : weak , strong : which may , or may not , be hindred : easy , hard : possible , impossible : prepared , unprepared : dispositions , &c. again , all these are either of the thing it self , or the thing being such as it is , clothed with accidents and circumstances . in human actions also are other heads , as the person , our selves , or some other , friend , neighbour , stranger , enemy ; which work either by chance , by reason , by passion , and these love , hatred , &c. by force , necessity , or violence ; by custome , by error or mistake , by opportunity , &c. as war : by whom or between whom made ? who the occasion ? what moved to it ? what was the true cause ? what the pretence ? whence began it ? with what armes and forces was it menaged ? what instruments or furniture ? what conveniences ? how many artillery ? how many horse ? how many foot ? how many shot ? what stock of mony ? what strength ? what experience ? what counsel ? who the general ? what a one for skill , courage , fortune ? what under-officers of all sorts ? how qualified ? was he constrained to fight ? did he undertake the charge voluntarily ? out of duty ? ambition ? doth he menage it by intelligence ? treachery ? or force ? iv. the fourth common-place is of the end and means , or of good ; for the end of every agent and every action is good either real or seeming ; near or far off ; private or public . of ends there are several degrees or subordinations . the ultimate or supreme end . the chiefest is the glory of god the creator : next , the perfection of the universe . and these are universal of all things . next follow more particular or mediate ends , the conservation of the species ; the conservation of the individuum : its delight or pleasure ; excellency ; and convenience ; honestum , or duty ; profit to the agent , his friends , neighbors , the public , his country , &c. all natural agents , though they work for an end , yet intend it not , but are directed to it . only man , being a rational creature , knows and aimes at an end . and the end of the man is one ; of his art , another : as the statuary makes a statue to get mony , &c. but of his art is to resemble the archetype . of mens intentions or aims , some are principal , others accessory ; some ordinary , others accidental . pompey married caesars daughter ; not for the love of progeny , nor for her beauty , or dowry ; but for his own ambition , an accidental end to marriage . some direct , others perverse ; as a father recounts to his son the worthy actions of his ancestors , to provoke him to the like ; which he perverts to pride , libertinism , dis-subjection to laws and magistrates , and insolence towards his inferiors . and this happens sometimes out of error and mistake ; as when an orator diverts his art to get applause ; sometimes also out of malice and wickednes , as when a general desires victory to satisfy his private revenge . when a man goes to church to look upon an hansom woman , &c. again of ends , some are ultimate and principal , others secundary , instrumental , or means to obtain the other . as a prince gives out mony , to form an army , to fight an enemy , to overcome him , to take away his dominion , to seize it for himself . this is the ultimate end , the other are means . of these also some are proper and convenient for the end ; as if he , that designs to be a soldier , learns to menage an horse , to understand and use arms , to endure hunger , cold , wearines , wounds , watching , &c. others are improper , as to quarrel , to swagger , to be drunk , fight , kill and slay , every one he meets . to be an orator , the proper means are to study reasoning and argumentation ; to imitate cicero , demosthenes , &c. to observe the best way of disposing his matter , clothing it with good words , phrases , figures , &c. the contrary and improper way , or rather impediment , is to scrape together a parcel of well-sounding words , a few snaps of wit , &c. again , some ends are obtained , others hindred ; as a man desires health and strength , sed grandes patinae , tucetaque crassa annuere his superos vetuere . a father desires his son to be virtuous and prudent , and provides him masters , books , &c. but the young man abandons himself to ill company , &c. hindred by our own folly , opposition of friends , enemies . &c. or fortuitous accidents . questions concerning the end are such as these . wherefore ? why so ? to what end , purpose , intention ? for whose sake ? for what good doth , worketh , maketh , he this ? what shall he reap by it ? hath he obtained his end ? hopeth he , shall he obtain it ; what means taketh he to obtain it ? are they rational , prudent , proper ? who can , hath , will , hinder him ? or it ? v. the 5. common-place is of actions . whereof some are immanent , when the agent is also the patient , commonly expressed by verbs neuters in latin. such are , to grow , to fail , to move , to rest , to want , to hast , to declame , to study , &c. to think , understand , &c. others are transient , when the agent and patient are divers , aad are expressed by verbs transitives , as striking , heating , &c. again , some actions concern being ; as v. g. pride , what doth , can , shall , will , &c. it produce ? [ note that all the auxiliary verbs have their greatest use and force in this classe ] generate , perfect , preserve , consume , destroy ? conversation begetteth similitude in manners , mutual confidence , uniting interests , conserves friendship , and is apt to procure advancement , &c. debauchery consumes the estate , destroies health , &c. others concern qualities , and indeed all actions proceeds from the virtues or faculties of their agents ; whether natural or acquisite ; and actions are as various , and copious , as qualities are . as a wise man gives good counsel , and doth his actions wisely . a young man doth , can , may , is wont to do foolishly . strong wine , doth , is apt to inebriate . in action , the place , time , and quantity often afford matter considerable . he can speak more boldly in an ale-house , then at court. the sun warmeth and enlightneth ( because bigger ) more then venus ; more also when nearer . how doth it move , act ? by it self , by another ? by nature , force , chance ; as the efficient , end , pretence , &c. circularly ? directly ? how in youth ? how in age ? how at first ? how afterwards ? slowly or hastily ? constantly or by intermissions ? equally or unequally ? mediately or immediately ? to action are reduced also consequents or effects , which answer to the question , what doth it , or he , work ? and of these some are made , some are done ; some endure no longer then the action it self ; as , the room is no longer light then it is enlightened . if the auditors mind him not , all is done , as soon as the preacher hath spoke his sermon . others remain after the action is ended ; as health remains , tho the medicine have ended ; science remains , when the study is finished . science gets honor , honor emploiment , emploiment riches . a prince what doth he ? what ought he , &c. to do ? to administer justice . what will that do , or is it apt to produce ? to maintain plenty , security , peace . what are the effects of these , naturally , usually , alwaies , continually ? the peoples love , and readines to spend their lives and estates for him . hence no danger of insurrections , rebellions , &c. he will live in great honor , and reverence with his neighbors , &c. the golden apple , thrown by discord amongst the gods at a feast , what consequents had it , might it have ? &c. delight of the guests : emulation and desire of the three goddesses : chusing of paris to be judge : mercuries descent to carry him the message : his undertaking it : his beholding the three goddesses , &c. so the immediate effect of the sun is heat , thence the warming of the earth , raising vapors , thence clouds , rain . again , from heat , seasons of the year , generation of all plants , metals , &c. vi. the sixth common-place is of passion , or receiving an action . but especially suffering , which is chiefly of evil . to this belongs being made , being done ; was the world , could it be , could it be made , from eternity ? the rebuilding of the city , is it , may it , could it be done , finished , perfected , destroied , consumed and changed into better , worse ? why do some men grow as fat as ehud , none as big as goliah ? qualities . the moon , because receiving her light from the sun , is subject to eclipses , changes , full , &c. priamus , because old , lived to be spoiled of his kingdom , to see his sons slain , his city destroied , &c. the ethiopian is burnt with heat , the laplander frozen with cold . in sum , what ever heads belong to action , may be also easily applied to passion . what doth the object work upon us ? our senses ? &c. what do all simples and medicines ; air , and all things ( called by physicians ) preternatural ? all things edible ? &c. work upon us in order to health and sicknes ? what do all arts work ? what all virtues , vices , estates , ages , sexes , &c. work ? well ? ill ? or indifferently ? vii . the 7th common-place is of qualities , which hath these heads . 1. good and evil in themselves , good is perfect , worthy , noble , excellent , happy , &c. evil the contrary . in respect of others , necessary , helpful , superfluous , profitable , agreeable , hurtful , &c. as lucifer was created a most noble and excellent spirit ; but afterwards became unfortunate , wicked , dangerous , malicious , in endeavoring to diminish the glory of god , and devising mischief to man. full of hatred against heaven , and deceit against earth , &c. by which means he is become the vilest , and most detestable of all creatures . 2. qualities occult , which are known only by their actions . what is the power , faculty , &c. of the loadstone ? to draw iron , to make it move towards the north , &c. who could beleive the power of circe , to change men into hogs ? 3. qualities sensible , such are beauty , uglines ; figures of all sorts ; light , darknes ; colours of all sorts , natural , artificial ; white , black , &c. for hearing , sounds of all sorts , shrill , loud , skreeking , whistling , din , noise , &c. so for smells of all sorts , and tasts : also tangible qualities , as heat , cold ; dry , moist : heavy , light ; hard , soft ; liquid , solid , thin , thick , subtil , gross , clear , &c. and all these natural , or adventitious . as lucretia was beautiful naturally , &c. 4. qualities of the mind , faculties , or powers natural , or accidents , as in the understanding , perspicacity , sagacity ; memory , tenacious , treacherous : invention , ready , slow : the affections also and passions : virtues and vice belong to this head . 5. adjuncts ; as naked , clothed , armed , adorned , trimmed ; not men only , but houses , cities , sepulchres , fountains , and the like . 6. situation ; as cloth is tenter'd , folded , &c. a pillar upright , leaning , fallen , hanged up , &c. a living creature standeth , sitteth , lieth , kneeleth , &c. 7. relations ; as lord , subject , judg , advocate , accused , magistrate , master , servant , scholar , teacher : maried , unmaried ; rich , poor , &c. noble , ignoble ; glorious , in disgrace , &c. viii . the 8th common-place is quantity ; this is easily and vulgarly known with its species . to it therefore belong number , one , many , few , &c. v. g. how many suns are there ? is it never seen double , or triple ? why can there be no more ? if there were more , what would follow ? is it divisible or indivisible ? extended ? how far ? how many parts hath it ? how great is it ? how large , long , high , thick ? greater then the earth ? how often ? how is it to be measured ? how long hath it lasted ? is it diminished or increased ? hath it any weight ? ix . the 9th common-place of time , hath these heads , alwaies , sometimes , v. g. what is the duration of the creator ? he hath alwaies bin . is it possible he should be not eternal ? if he were not eternal , what would follow ? why is he eternal ? can any thing be eternal besides him ? duration is varied into past , present , and future . prudence considereth things past , that it may govern the present ; and maketh conjectures from both , that it may well menage the future . the past is considered by memory ; the present is in acting ; in the future are concerned our hopes , fears , providence , cautiousnes , &c. 2. divers measures , of time ; as ages , years , months , daies , hours , moments , and parts of time as morning , evening ; spring , summer ; infancy , childhood , &c. the beginning , middle , ending of the duration of any thing . 3. occasion , as favorable , opportune , accustomed , purposed , &c. with their contraries . x. the 10th common-place is where , or place . to which belong . 1. the several parts of the universe ; as air , earth , fire , water , heavens , firmament , &c. north , south , &c. zones , climates , &c. land , sea , islands , &c. countries , asia , africk , &c. india mittit ebur , molles sua thura sabaei . where shall we find deceit ? in shops and markets , in narrow souls . where subtilty ? in the genoueses . where industry ? in holland . 2. place is either proper , common ; due belonging to another . a scholar in a market is a fish on dry land . place also is natural , violent , accidental ; where it ought , is wont ; it may safely , well , be . our country , dwelling , &c. 3. differences of place ; before , behind ; on the right , left &c. hand ; above , under ; over against , towards , &c. neer to , far off ; in , by , at , &c. where stood carthage ? italiam contra , tyberinaque ostia . where is water to be had ? in the fountain , river , sea , well , &c. 4. qualities of place , cold , hot ; fruitful , barren ; clean , dirty ; champaigne , mountainous ; tilled , untilled , sandy , chalky , &c. desert , inhabited . 5. civil places , as an house , town , village , villa , shop , market-place , street , theater , church , hall. public or private . sacred or profane , solitary , inhabited , our own , anothers . where may a man plant , build , &c. upon his own . where do flatterers frequent ? the court. 6. the power or property of place . vervecum in patriâ , crassoque sub aere natus . xi . the 11th common-place is the subject to which any thing belongeth , or wherein any thing is . there is nothing that may not be the subject of another . the cause may be of its propriety . virtuous actions to whom are they proper ? in whom to be found ? in prudent persons . what things are hot ? those exposed to the sun , are neer to the fire , are in motion . who are cunning ? they who have much experience . the effects and signs . who are noble ? they who do nothing basely , or craftily . who are true princes ? they who govern for the good of their people . who are subject to anger ? they who have a sharp nose , curled hair , red face , &c. substances are most properly the subject of other things . as god is the fountain of goodnes , the angels receive it immediately from him . men and other creatures are good each in his kind . so for all other things . what things are , may be , use to be , ought to be , accounted long ? [ actions and passions ] a journy from england to china . the works of tostatus abulensis . delay of what is earnestly desired . [ time ] the lives of men before the flood . [ piace ] the way from paris to constantinople . what things are weak and feeble . [ quantity ] things small and little . [ quality ] sick persons , women , pale persons , fearful , tired , &c. [ action ] children , old men. [ place ] the asiatics , &c. xii . the last common-place is correspondents , which hath many under it , as 1. before and after ; first , second , third , &c. last : beginning , middle , ending . more or less . whether is before , saturn or the sun ? in dignity and perfection the sun is before : in place descending saturn is before . in time they are equal . 2. the same and divers or different . virgil was the author of the georgies , who of the aeneids ? the same . how doth his poems differ from homers , theocritus , hesiod , tasso ? &c. 3. equal and unequal : double , triple , &c. half , and generally all proportions . 4. like , unlike ; contrary , opposite ; and these varied with more and less . alexander and jul. caesar were like in boldnes , unlike in stature ; of contrary dispositions . whether was more prudent ? less fortunate ? was plato a better philosopher , or dionysius a worse tyrant ? the astrologues prediction of caesars death , brings to mind the like of the earl of pembrok . 5. union or conjunction in the same action ; as when two act one upon another . mutually , as two enemies , or emulators seeking to undermine one another . or when both act upon a third , as two rivals toward the same mistress . or both suffer from a third , as two servants under the same master . or one act and the other receive or suffer , as the master and scholar , judge and accused . 6. together , near , far of : antecedent , concomitant , subsequent , either in place , dignity or time . christmas brings to mind good cheer , mirth , jollity . a feast suggests meats , cooks , fish , foul , flesh , sawces , dishes , chargers , wines , cups , plates , &c. the spring brings in summer , autumn , winter . caesar makes me think of brutus , cassius , pompey , &c. chap. xii . brief directions for elocution . i beg the readers pardon , if , contrary to my own design , i here subjoin to the discourse of invention , a few lines in order to regulate our speaking and writing , what we have invented . and the rather , because amongst the very many books of rhetoric , i have not seen any , that declares the differences and reasons of stiles and figures so exactly as eman. thesauro . out of him therefore , for the greatest part , i have drawn this short scheme and prospect ; whereby any , even meanly practised , capacities , may be able to discern and judg of what is well , and orator-like written or spoken ; and consequently himself also to imitate the eloquentest authors , there are then divers manners of speaking and writing . 1. concisely , in few short abrupt sentences , as men ordinarily speak in common conversation , without any art , or order . as dic mihi damaeta , cujum pecus ? an melibaei ? non , verum aegonis . nuper mihi tradidit aegon . such is very frequent in the comedians . vos isthaec intro anferte : abite . sosia adesdum . paucis te volo . dixi , audivistis , tenetis , judicate . 2. somewhat artificially but imperfectly ; 1. without any observation of numbers , correspondence , measure , &c. when a period hath no certain bounds , but goes on till the matter be ended , keeping the mind of the auditor still in suspense , till all is said which is to say ; which when it will be , the auditor cannot divine , because he cannot foresee where the speakers design will determine . such are the beginnings of most of s. pauls epistles . such is that beginning of cicero's oration pro caelio . si quis judices forte adsit , ignarus legum , &c. till you come to quibus otiosis , ne in communi quidem otio , liceat esse . so in that pro milone beginning at occidi , occidi non sp. maelium &c. unto non modò vestibulo privaret , sed omni aditu & lumine . so in catone majore . plus apud me antiquorum authoritas valet , &c. unto per visum ex africano audisse dicebat . such is that dithirambique scene in senecas oedipus which begins , effusam redimite comam nutante corimbo mollia nisaeis armati brachia thyrsis . &c. such that of virgil in his silenus . namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta , &c. and aeneid . 6. principio caelum ac terras , camposque liquentes , &c. such is most of the historians manner of writing . this fashion of speech the greeks called oratio pendens , ar. rhet. l. 3. c. 9. such when an athenian ambassador used at sparta , the senate replied , the first part of your oration is gone out of our minds , and the second never entred in . 4. afterwards thrasimacus , or whoever he was , that first observed the pleasingnes in lyrics to proceed from their pauses and measures , began to practse the same in prose ; and to mince those great and unlick'd masses into shorter and rounder periods . of these , that , which consists of one entire sense only , and is not divided into members , ( such as are most of senecas ) is called by aristotle periodus supina : and by reason of the omission of the transitions , and the frequent repetition of the same matter in several words , is by most orators rejected . wherefore others , out of more diligent observation of what was pleasing , changed those round and incoherent periods into many more concise members : carving them , as it were , into divers clauses and parcels ; which were also made correspondent and commensurate one to another . so that they became neither intire , nor yet maimed ; not metrical , yet not without meeter ; not in feet , yet not altogether loose ; without verse , not without rythme ; verse compared with other prose , prose compared to verses . this came not in fashion amongst the romans till the latter end of tullies time ; which made his first orations not to be so eloquent as his latter ; and himself to complain that he was going out of the world when he began to understand rhetoric . and of some orators in his time he saith ; in iis erat admirabilis cursus orationis , ornata sententiarum concinnitas non erat . i. e. they had a wonderful fluency in their stile , choice words , and round full periods , but they wanted the neat distribution of them into parts and members . the first is like an head of excellent hair , but hanging down , and flagging ; this other like the same hair disposed and made up into rings and curles . examples of these are infinite in plinies panegyric . 4. this harmony or correspondence of the clauses of a period consists in three things , 1. equality of the members . 2. contraposition of the words . 3. similitude of terminations . 1. equality is , when the divers clauses of a period consist of equal number of words , or of syllables , or times , ( two short syllables being equal to one long ) which is altogether as graceful . as speremus quae volumus ; quod acciderit feramus . cic. alterum optare crudelitatis est , alterum servare clementiae . superbia in fronte ; ira in oculis ; pallor in corpore ; in ore impudentia . plin. si quid obtigerit , aequo animo paratoque moriar ; neque enim potest accidere turpis mors forti viro ; neque immatura consulari ; neque misera sapienti . cic. 2. contraposition , antithesis , is a conversion or retorsion of the same words in divers clauses of the same period . for the same words are severally ( and often contrarily ) joined , to make as it were a seeming contradiction , or paradox at least . as saepius accidit ut imprudentes felixiter , prudentes infeliciter agant . inselix dido nulli bene nupta marito ; hoc pereunte fugis , hoc fugiente peris . stultus prudentibus , prudens stultis , visus . sometimes also words of a contrary signification are joyned together elegantly in one periodus supina . as , inclinata resurgo . carpit & carpitur una . qui spectavit vulnera vulnus habet . sparta ibi muros habet ubi non habet . sometimes words signifying contrary things are placed in divers clauses of the same period . as , aut vivos amplifica , aut mortuos derelinque . alba ligustra cadunt , vaccinia nigra leguntur . sometimes they are placed in manner of a dilemma . morere , si casta es , viro ; si incesta , amori . jupiter aut falsus pater est , aut crimine verus . 3. similitude of terminations , whether . 1. by iteration of the same words in several clauses . 2. of the same cases and persons of nouns and verbs , though not the same words , yet of the same or like sound . of the spartans at thermopylae . trecenti sumus , sed viri , sed armati , sed lacones , sed ad thermopylas ; nunquam vidi plures trecentos . of the same , nos sine deliciis educamur , sine muris vivimus , sine vita vincimus . this correspondence is sometimes in one word , sometimes in 2 , 3 , 4 ; and 5 sometimes , but rarely . indignus cui vel improbi bene vel probi malè dicant . dum laurum acquisivit regiam , palmam amisit popularem . vel in negotio sine periculo , vel in otio cum dignitate esse possint . aeque nocent & qui nolentibus vitam officiosè impertiunt , & qui volentibus mortem malitiosè negant . an tu me per hos in patriam revocare potuisti , ego te per eosdem in patria retinere non potero ? 5. besides these , there are two other sorts of figures , or ornaments of speech . the first are such as move the affections , and perswade as well as delight , and therefore may well be called pathetical . the second are such as consist in ingenious expressions in the words themselves . pathetical are those figures , which serve to express some passion , or other operation of the mind ; as the imagination , understanding , &c. whether they concern apprehension , appetite , anger , or any other affection whatsoever . such are , 1. cognitio , to this belong these and the like expressions . agnosco , audio , intelligo , scio , experior , video , &c. agnosco , agnosco ; victum est chaos . sen. nunc scio quid sit amor . virg. nescio quo pacto fieri dicam . cic. 2. demonstration , to which belong en , ecce , adspice , audite , &c. en quo discordia cives perduxit miseros ! en queis , &c. virg. intuemini huic erutos oculos , illi confractos pedes ; quid exhorrescitis ? sic iste miseretur . 3. narratio , to which belong , dicam , enarro , &c. favete linguis ; carmina non prius audita musarum sacerdos virginibus puerisque canto . hor. — nunc quâ ratione quod instat confieri possit , paucis adverte , docebo . hospes , disce novum mortis genus . 4. affirmatio , est labor , non nego ; pericula magna , fateor ; multae insidiae sunt bonis , verissime dictum . cic. affirmo tibi , caie mari , non sic restitisset . qum . negatio . nego esse quicquam à testibus dictum , quod &c. jole meis captiva germanos dabit ? non . 5. ironia . ni fallor , feminas ferrum decet . 6. aposiopesis . novimus & qui te . 7. praeteritio . non dico te à sociis pecunias accepisse ; non sum in eo occupatus , quod civitates , regna , domos omnium depeculatus es ; surta , rapinas omnes tuas omitto . 8. juramentum . per has lacrymas dextramque tuam te . virg. testatio . vos , dii patrii , penates , testor , integro me animo ac libero p. sullae causam defendere . 9. animadversio , epitasis . a reflecting upon what was said before , or animadverting upon some circumstance of what preceded . obrepsisti ad honores commendatione fumosarum imaginum ; upon which he animadverts , quarum nihil habebas simile praeter colorem . cic. in pis. tu intrare illum senatum poteris , o tulli , in quo pompeium non sis visurus ? tu illam togam induere , quae armis cessit ? sen. in suas . regina quondam ancilla nunc quidem tua . 10. parenthesis . 11. correctio . antronium in campo vidimus , & quid dico ? vidisse nos ? ego vidi . 12. repetitio . commotus non es , cum tibi mater pedes amplexaretur ; non es commotus . 13. admiratio . novum monstrum ! integer alitur , debiles alunt . sen. 14. exclamatio . 15. extenuatio . levia memoravi nimis ; haec virgo feci . leve est quod actum est . 16. commemoratio . o mysis , mysis , etiam nunc scripta illa dicta mihi sunt in animo . 17. praesagitio . nescio quid animus grande praesagit malum . 18. dubitatio . dubito an moriendo vicerit , an vincendo sit mortuus . 19. inquisitio & interrogatio . nunc quaero abs te , quare patrem suum roscius occiderit : quaero quando occiderit . cic. 20. responsio . quaeris , quo jaceas post obitum loco ? quo non nata jacent . 21. interpretatio . si intelligis , cicero , non dicit roga ut vivas ; sed roga ut servias . when anthony offered him his life if he would ask it . 22. occupatio , or preventing an objection . 23. fictio . fingite vobis , antiquam illam urbem videre , lucem orbis terrarum , &c. 24. imaginatio . jam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moveri sedibus . virg. 25. expressio , ectypôsis . putares cadaver ambulare . quacunque iter faceret , ejusmodi fuit , ut non legatus populi romani , sed ut quaedam calamitas pervadere videretur . cic. verr. 26. prosopopoeia . tecum patria sic agit . cic. cat. 27. apostrophe , when we speak to one that hears not . o fons blandusiae splendidior vitro , dulci digne mero . hor. 28. ratiocinatio , when one discourseth with himself . cur pallas non nupta ? virum non invenit ullum . 29. conclusiuncula , when the foregoing matter is reflected upon and concluded with somewhat unexpected . as cicero , having declared how the herbetesi were by verres condemned to pay a great sum of mony to two of his mistresses , concludes . itaque civitas una sociorum atque amicorum ; duabus deterrimis mulierculis vectigalis fuit . epiphomena . sic dii spreti exardescunt . sic humana consilia castigantur , ubi se coelestibus praeferunt . val. max. compendium . illis parentis nullus aut aequi est amor , avidis cruoris , imperii , armorum , doli : diris scelestis , breviter ut dicam , meis . oedip. 30. perplexitas . quid agimus ? animum distrahit geminus timor ; hinc gnatus , illinc conjugis cari cinis . pars utra vincit ? 31. approbatio . sic , sic agendum est . bene est . abunde est . hic placet poenae modus . 32. imperium . egredere ex urbe catilina , — egredere , purga regna ; lethales tecum aufer herbas : libera cives metu . medea . admonitio . vos pro mea summa diligentiâ moneo ; pro authoritate consulari hortor ; pro magnitudine periculi obtestor . cic. obsequium . tuus , o regina , quid optes explorare labor , mihi jussa capessere fas est . so for the passions . blanditiae . animula dulcis , suavis animula . salutatio & apprecatio . bene valeas , quisquis es . sit tibi terra levis . dii te ament qui haec legis . veneratio . delubra & aras coelitum , & patrios lares supplex adoro . abominatio . heu stirpem invisam ! & fatis contraria nostris . irrisio . ah , ah , ah , lepidus amator silicernius . execratio . dii te perdant , fugitive . cic. optatio . fecisset utinam deus immortalis . maximè vellem , judices . invocatio . hymen , ô hymenaee veni . votum . voveo tibi victimam , fortuna redux . obsecratio . per has aniles ecce te supplex comas , atque ubera ista penè materna , obsecro . commendatio . si te in germani fratris dilexi loco : sive haec te solum fecit maximi , seu tibi morigera fuit in rebus omnibus : te isti virum do , amicum , tutorem , patrem . bona nostra haec tibi committo , ac tuae mando fidei . concessio . do quod vis ; & me victusque volensque remitto . gratiarum actio . non erimus regno indecores , nec vestra seretur fama levis , tantive abolescet gratia facti . virg. recusatio . non me delectant ignoti domino servorum greges : nec sonantia laxi ruris ergastula : nolo dives esse : patrem gratis amo . exultatio . jo. triumphe ! tu moraris aureos currus , & intactas boves . jo triumphe ! nec jugurthino parem . horat. jactantia . et nos aliquod nomenque decusque gessimus . gratulatio . laetare , gaude gnata ; quam vellet tuos cassandra thalamos . plausus . at mihi plaudo ipse domi , simulac nummos contemplor in arcâ . horat. ejulatio . hei mihi ! nequēo quin fleam . expostulatio . improperium . ingrate cessas orbis ? excidimus tibi ? poenitentia . potens jam cecidit ira : poenitet ; facti pudet . sen. spes . spero equidem mediis , si quid pia numina possunt , haesurum scopulis . desperatio . actum est , conclamatum est . occidimus . aures pepulit hymenaeus meas . timor , horror . sudor per artus frigidus totos cadit : omen tremisco misera feralis dei. sen. pavet unimus , horret : magna pernicies adest . verecundia . heu me ! per urbem ( nam pudet tanti mali ) fabula quanta fui . audacia . impudentia . resistam : inermes offeram armatis manus . dabit ira vires . ingentem confidentiam ! num cogitat quid dicat ? num facti piget ? excandescentia , minae . accingere ira ; teque in exilium feras furore toto . vae tibi causidice . diris agam vos ; dira detestatio nullâ expiatur victimâ . nemesis . indignatio . isthic nunc metuenda jace : non te optima mater condet humo , patrioque oner abit membra sepulcro : alitibus liquere feris ; aut gurgite mersum undaseret . virg. miseratio . compescere quidem verba , & audacem manu poteram domare ; sed meus captis quoque scit parcere ensis . confessio . me amare hanc fateor ; si id peccare est , fateor id quoque . tibi , pater , me dedo ; quid vis oneris impone , impera . deprecatio . miseremini familiae , judices ; miseremini fortissimi patris ; miseremini filii . cic. 3. other figures there are , which consist in the words ; as metaphors of divers sorts , whether the genus for the species , species for the genus , part for the whole , or the like . as hypotyposis , or applying of words of life and sense to things inanimate . as hyperboles , laconisms , oppositions , such as campi liquentes , liquidi chrystalli ; or deceptio , when a sentence ends unexpectedly . spero tibi eventuram hoc anno maximam messem mali . her mouth , oh heavenly ! wide . tuâ nitet in fronte sulgor aureus ; argentum in cirris ; smaragdus in oculis ; sapphirus in labiis ; chrysolithus in genis ; collum in resti . metaphors are of divers sorts , i. e. are taken from divers common places . 1. from likenes homo quadratus . 2. from the attribute regnat gladius . 3. equivocation jus verrinum . 4. hypotyposis pontem indignatus araxes . 5. hyperbole instar montis equum . 6. laconismus carpathii leporem . 7. opposition mens amens : 8. deception vale apud orcum . more particulars may be found in authors ; thus much is sufficient for this place , where this discourse intruded it self , besides my intention . chap. xiii . of bettering the judgment . 1. the judgment is that faculty whereby we discern , i. e. judge of , true and false ; good and bad ; better and less good . naturally some ( i. e. sedate considering persons ) are better disposed to it then others ; but none at ain any considerable perfection in it any other way , then by experience . experience ( i say ) of others communicated by books or instruction , and of themselves by their own observation . the habit , which perfects this faculty , ( as that which regulates the will and affections is virtue ) is wisdome or prudence . that great power , whereby we live in happiness and content ; whereby we excell all other creatures , and most men also ; being by it out of the reach of their deceit and craft , and not imposed upon , or derided , by them ; whereby our reason and better part is regulated ; and whereby we ought to govern both our selves and others . this if it be applied to particular subjects hath severall names ; as if to govern cities or common-wealths , 't is political prudence ; if armies and war , military ; if a family , oeconomical , &c. with none of which i intermeddle , but only with that , which concerns every particular person in the conduct of his life : and here only in general ; reserving to the second part such particular rules , as either my own or others experience , that i have read , have suggested . in this place therefore i shall only advise ( as wall as i can ) how the faculty is to be cultivated for the implanting that great perfection . 2. and first take notice ; that the exercising this faculty is the employing of all the rest . for it is in vain to give judgement without examining the reasons ( devised by invention ) for both parties ; and the like cases in former times suggested by memory . for the chief employment of the judgment being concerning the future , either the choice of an end , or of apt means to an end ; no man can promise to himself any success in his election without engaging all the powers he hath . as there must be . 1. [ supposing the end to be already resolved upon and alwaies before his eyes ] a proposal or finding out severall v. g. mediums to an end . which is called counsel . 2. a comparing these together , that he may be able to chuse the best and properest , and honestest for his purpose , ( for if he use dishonest means , tho proper , 't is craft and subtilty , as to chuse improper is folly and want of wisdom . ) this is the immediate action of judgment ; and which consists of many parts . as 1. circumspection of all circumstances of time , place , and all other opportunities ; 2. caution for prevention of hinderances , considering all dangers , and difficulties , he is likely to encounter ; and either providing to decline and avoid , or arming himself to resist , or suffer them . 3. solertia or good and rational conjecturing of what is likely to succeed . 4ly a firm resolution , and competent secrecy . and lastly a constant and due execution of what is well resolved . now because this knowledge is very difficult , and at the best but a conjecture , it is necessary to consider what hath succeeded heretofore upon such premises , for that is most likely to happen again : but this cannot be done without the assistance either of books or experienc'd persons , who have seen and known the like cases and successes : and this cannot be without much observation and taking notice of things in the time of their actual flourishing ; and storing up such rules and histories in the memory for future application . by the way it will not be amiss to take notice , that as there is no new thing under the sun , so neither any new action ; but the same are represented over again under varying circumstances ; so that he , who intends to be a wise man , must endeavour to distinguish the action ( as physicians do in judging diseases ) from the circumstances ; that he may be able to give a good judgment and prognostic ; and afterwards to frame a general rule , which may stand him in stead at other times and occasions . 3. opposite to wisedom is folly , that base , abject , low , poor , sordid , condition ; which renders a man wearisome to himself , and contemtible to others ; exposed to every ones deceit and craft ; a slave to his own passions and others flatteries ; and a stock whereupon to graft any vice , shame , or misery . this is made up of two ingredients , ignorance and error . to avoid which , as also to rectify the understanding , and abtain a true notion of things as they exist in the world , and relate to us , it is necessary that we . 1. endeavour to be set at liberty from the dominion . 1. of vices . 2. of passions . 2. to use much attention , consideration , and weighing things themselves . 4. that a man may be virtuous it is not sufficient that he now and then do virtuous actions ; nor that he do them frequently out of good nature , interest , mode , passion , or the like : but that he work discreetly , constantly , habitually , and for a good end , and by deliberation and choice ; which two last conditions necessarily presuppose prudence . so that as no virtue without prudence , neither is it without them . for it hath bin the observation of all knowing and discreet persons , and thay have delivered it for a certain rule , as hath also the holy spirit , and wisdom of god himself ; that virtuous courses onely , together with gods grace obtained by much prayer and intercession , are capable to make a man wise , i. e. to direct his actions in such manner as he shall not need to repent of them . and that therefore such actions are called good : and others evill , because of the evil consequents ; that they bring such as perform them to sorrow , repentance and misery . hereupon are grounded those rules in the holy scripture , that the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom , that the beginning of wisdom is to avoid folly , and wickedness . that it is sport to a fool to do wickedly , and the like : religion being the chiefest and supremest of all virtues . an evil man seeks occasions to gratify his humor ; and at best thinks to stop at the confines betwixt passion and vice ; but a wise man avoids the occasions of vice , which he looks upon as a disease of the soul , contrary to the natural and due constitution of it , and subverting its true tone and disposition . and that every vice in particular is contrary to prudence , appears ; because covetousnes instead of wisdome introduceth craft , subtilty , deceitfulnes , which are called the wisdom of the world. pride breeds confidence of a mans self , and despising others advise and counsel ; and lust ( the third fountain of all vices ) is the mother of negligence , precipitious inconsiderateness , inconstancy , and at length of that blindness of understanding , which renders them uncapable of discerning , such things especially as concern their souls , but even such also as are advantageous to their temporal welfare ; and of chusing better from worse ; fit and convenient from improper and aliene . 5. passions , tho not so immediately concurring to the ruine of the judgment as vice , yet indirectly and by consequent destroy it also . for being ( as i said before ) undeliberate motions towards objects pleasing or displeasing , and therefore in the sensitive soul ; the objects passing through that to the understanding , carry with them that tincture or forme they there receive by those actions ; not now as pleasing or painful , but as good or bad ( for so the passions represent them . ) and if the intellect do not speedily reflect upon the deceit ; and separate and cleanse the natural from the passionate , wherewith it is stained , it becomes partaker of , and ingaged in , the error . and so not only looseth the true notion and knowledge of the object , but apprehends it also under a wrong and false idea ; mistaking v. g. the pleasure or good for the object . and whatever it receives or considers , whilest in that disposition , is conceived under the same mistake . so that all passions more or less , according to the degree of their strength , render the understanding partial and unindifferent , and consequently erroneous , and unfit to judge in any thing of moment . hence it is , that a man in passion , tho the alteration be only in himself , yet imagines the world without him to be changed . what was before esteemed ; when now look'd upon through this false light , appears contemtible ; and the contemned becomes admirable . the beloved or desired is without faults , is excellent and easy ; the hated is all faulty , unworthy , and impossible . yet is this no great matter compared to the passions , when they are in their height and vigor . do we not see how for the satisfying of a lust , and enjoying a revenge , a man breaks through all laws , all obligations natural and civil ? how he regards not what injury or affront he offers even to magistrates and parents ? how he despiseth all inconveniences and evill consequences , his own or other mens reasons may forewarn him ? but i will not meddle with these extravagants , utterly unfit to be carved into mercuries , and will consider those which work more mildely ; and seduce , not trample upon , the judgement . such are , 1. self-loue , or self-estimation , an overvaluing of a mans own parts , opinions , or actions . an error in some sort necessary to the well-being of man ; for should every one know exactly the measure of his own ability , the greatest part of the world would be miserable . every man , therefore , makes himself the standard for all others , esteeming every ones abilities and actions , as they are equal or conformable to his own : and this seems to be a natural suggestion ; but if it be too much indulged , so that either for pride of his own parts , knowledge , &c. or for interest and covetousness ; or for honor and reputation ; or for custom and education ; or any other by-respect , a man warp his judgment , he lies under a lasting and universall prejudice . for this is the beginning of opiniatrety ; and when despising the advice and judgment of others , he follows only his own counsel , is it not just that he should be permitted to fall into the consequences of his own opinion ? he that bends , and plies his reason to his passion , why should he not enjoy the product of his indiscretion ? why should he that sows folly , reap the fruit of counsel and advisement ? but to instance in the foresaid particulars . 1. he that is conceited of his own worth , eo ipso despiseth others , and therefore will not read or take pains to informe himself what other men say or know , but when he fixeth in himself this proposition , that other men are more ignorant then he ; then whatever comes in his fancy , seems to be an addition to knowledg ; and must either be reserved as a mystery , or vented as the depth of science , and oracle of wit ; though many times it is but either a great error , or at best , a vulgar truth , and the most extravagant and grotesque conceits , as being most of all his own , he esteems and values the most . such a man frames to himself notions and opinions , which all the world is to submit to , and these alone are to be taught and propagated ; and all opposers are opiniastres , and ignorant , if not malicious , contradicters of the truth , and envious of the glory of him that discovers it . hence comes the spirit of contradiction , that let the adverse opiner say what he will , his reasons will not be heard ; for indeed our learned man stands upon his guard against truth ; and so at last , instead of fair arguing , turns to chicanery and pedantery . 2. how much interest and secular respects wrest the judgement , is manifest to any one that observes ; that the thriving opinions , and such as are countenanced by them that can reward , never fail of abettors . but i can easilier pardon these then those who for love of gain oppose the magistrate and government ; who knowing the humor of the ordinary people to be against obedience , and subjection , make use of it to disturb the peace , that they may fish the better . they gain proselites that they may grow rich ; they gather churches that they may collect wealth ; and heap up disciples , that they may multiply collections . thus they deceive unlearned and unstable souls , of their temporal , as well as their spiritual , goods : and care not what craft and deceitfulnes they use that they may fill their puries ; their arts are infinite , and seen of every one but those who are deceived by them . 3. vain-glory , or desire of seeming more knowing then other persons , is as strong a passion , ever since our first parents were carried away by it , as any that molests our souls . this goes masked many times under a vizor of seeking reformation , advancing knowledg , and the like ; when it is in reality seeking applause , insinuating into a party , and vaunting our own selves . the beginnings of this delusion are many times very subtil , and difficultly discerned , except by those who are very jealous of themselves . hence comes an itch to invent or publish new opinions and fancies ; to quarrel for a new interpretation , and even go to law for the primogeniture of a notion . from hence also , if sharpned a little by coveteousnes , comes all seditions , disobedience to magistrates , heresies , schismes , and rebellions . is it not strange to see an ignorant person , without comprehending , or so much as tasting , the principles of arts and knowledg , to judg for himself , and scorn to be guided ; especially in things of consequence , where most caution is to be used ? he that will not refuse to be taught to be a shoe-maker , scorns to be instructed in divinity ; and he will submit to a master of a trade , that will not bow to a doctor . if a man well furnish'd with this spiritual pride , happens to be informed in some particular knowledg above the rest of his condition ; he immediately thinks himself inferior only to angels ; instruction he despiseth ; all ignorance , yea and sometimes science too , he defieth ; and pretends to nothing but inspiration , and , the consequent of that , infallibility ; then hath the devil perfected his work in him , he is advanced as far in error as is possible , and becomes a seducer and an impostor . 4. of all opiniatrety , that which proceeds from custome , and education , is the least absurd ; yet a fault it is also , and more difficultly conquerable then the rest . for the errors become in a manner connatural ; and tho a disease , yet have so tincted the understanding , that it apprehends nothing but through them . and therefore the more any one knows in his error , the more difficultly is it eradicated ; yet time , and labor will do much ; one custome not being to be expelled but by another . from this force of education it comes , that heresies and dissessions are for so many generations continued ; that whole orders , and sometimes nations espouse one opinion ; and that contrary to another as wise and learned as it self . 2. timorousnes , basenes , or slothfulnes , is another origine of errors , quite contrary to those produc'd by self-love ; when a man seems to have no opinion of his own , but to assume the colour and tincture of those with whom he converseth . the opiniatre takes for false what any other person affirms , the complaisant for true . this is indeed the most peaceable way , and the best to make a fortune , but corrupts the judgment more then the other . for such a man either despiseth truth as a thing of no value , not worth laboring for ; or his own soul , as if god had not given him reason , but had brought him into the world , and not endued him with sufficient ability to guide himself in it . such men usually admire other mens persons , and take things upon the credit either of a greater number against a less ( which in difficult matters is very dangerous ) or sometimes of a less against a greater . or of persons not versed in what is desired to be known , as of a learned man in things of piety or secular prudence ; of a pious man in matters of learning and the like : yet this is better then to take a mans judgment , because of some external and accidental advantages ; as to think a man learned , or in the truth , because a friend or acquaintance . or , i am of his opinion , because i gain , or hope to get , by him . or , he is rich , for which men hold him wise . he hath so many legions , therefore he hath reason . or , he is in great office , he is above us , therefore wiser then us ; he is of our order , therefore we must sustain him . from this admiration of persons it comes , that he is thought a good preacher that sweats and labors in the pulpit ; or he a good advocate that bawls at the bar ; or he a wise man that talks gravely . we also think him a wicked person or our enemy that is acquainted with such , as if all that converse together joined in the same interest ; him proud and insolent , that neglects a due civility ; him ignorant , that is slow and silent ; and him to have taken good counsel , that hath success . hence also it proceeds that most men admire what is in fashion and vogue even in religion it self , and learning , as well as in clothes and phrases . that men are taken with shews and splendor , and vain appearances ; and are unwilling to go out of the track ; but relinquish reason , and many times virtue it self , because they want company . but that which most imposeth upon persons of learning and prudence , is ; if they see a man say much truth , and well , they are apt to take the rest of his discourse upon that credit . the strong carries off the weak ; and the understanding once conquered , is not willing to try her strength a second time against the victor . 3. i will mention no more of the passions ; but in short reduce all the causes of errors to 2. heads of misjudging . the first is too hasty assenting , the second too slow . for the first , 1. there being no proposition , for which somewhat may not be said ; many men ( whether out of passion , interest , want of ability or leisure , lazines , or whatever other cause ) rest with the first appearance , and by little and little take root , and fix in error . alas how few can judg of probabilities ! of them that can , how few will take pains to weigh and consider ? how many are concern'd that error should be truth ? and who are so easily deceived , as they that think themselves wisest ? hence it comes , that so many men abandon themselves to sensuality , covetousnes , and other vices , without remorse , or discovering the fallacy , for they assume to themselves certain reasons built upon slight foundations , which they are concern'd should be true , and therefore they will not examine them : but because they have some ( tho but very small ) shew of reason , they serve them , first for discourse with others , and then to fool themselves . as generally for all vice they urge . the example of other men , the most , many also in prosperity , and many esteemed good , that yet are vicious some way . that it is not so bad , or dangerous , as is pretended . that many sin , yet but few punished . and the like . for pleasure , such as these , that natural desires are vainly implanted in us , if not lawful . that it is for poor and impotent persons not to bestow upon themselves what they desire ; to bridle appetites and lusts is an argument of lownes of spirit , or want of power ; and that by this , great persons are distinguished from mean ones and inferiors . that if pleasures had not been fitting , nature had not joined them to those actions , which are mostly hers ; and that therefore beasts are alwaies regulated by them . that no men , whatever they pretend , but use them . that studying , or emploiment , is only that pleasures , and rest , may be enjoied in old age with more gusto . that thinking is a dull formality ; and desiring a laborious life , by him who can live at ease , is a busy folly . so for covetuousnes . that a good patriot endeavors to encrease the stock and wealth of the nation , which prodigals wast and consume . that it is a great fault to spend and abuse those things , which may be put to good use . that nothing breeds respect but wealth ; that alone is equal to all things ; the ransom of a mans life ; the last appeal , and resort of all calamitous persons . that it is but storing up what is necessary , &c. the like pretences , and fig-leaves may be found for all other irregular and vitious desires . to which if a man by education , interest , passion , or any other way , be biass'd and prepossess'd ; and his indifferency removed ; he will easily take up these plausibilities ; and by them make his reason and truth truckle under his lusts and desires . qui vult decipi , decipiatur . but this fallacy of hasty judging reaches further , even the learned and philosophers are guilty of drawing universal conclusions out of insufficient inductions . the instances are infinite , but not fit for this place . but see in common conversation what argumentations are frequent amongst us . some professing religion , live not accordingly , therefore all religion is hypocrisy . some grave men are only formal , therefore all gravity is formality . some things are uncertain , therefore there is no truth at all , &c. 2. the last error in judgment i shall note , is contrary to the former , i. e. too long deferring assent . when a man hath considered a question , and finds on either side arguments ; many times he will not put himself to the trouble , or for want of judgment he is not able , to consider ; which is more probable , which easilier answered , &c. but sits down with suspense of assent ; thinks , that of two so equal in probability , either part , or neither , may be safely taken ; and is contented with scepticism . in justification of this folly some have made a profession , and instituted a sect ; defending that there is no proposition so probable , but its contradictory is as probable : and that no man can be certain of any thing , against which any reason may be objected . so that wee are not to beleive our selves awake , because we , somtimes , dream that we walke , think , eat , &c. a doctrine more then brutish ; for the beasts feed , and sleep , guided by their senses , notwithstanding the manifold errors , and deceits of them , without any scruple of doubting . against human nature also , and injurious to our good creator ; blaming him for giving us no more certainty then is needful or useful ; and not such a one as by curious persons may be imagined . t is also against their own practise ; for what sceptic ever refused to eat or sleep , pretending that the necessity of those actions was not grounded upon a principle of absolute certainty , or the like ; which notwithstanding , they willingly suggest to others ? upon the testimony of senses and reasoning upon the objects supplied from the senses , all the moments of our lives and fortunes depend ; peace and war , government and obedience , and the rest . he would be very ridiculous , that being convinced of robbery before a magistrate , should plead that the senses of the witnesses might erre ; that they might be at that time asleep ; and dream they were robbed ; that it is dangerous to take away a mans life without absolute certainty . in short , not to assent to sufficient evidence , i. e. to so much as all men are wont to assent unto , and upon which they set their lives and fortunes , seems to be a disclaiming of humane nature , and a silly affectation to be what man never was , is , nor can be . 6. i will instance in no more errors , but proceed to the remedies ; of which some concern the educator , others the educated . for the first . 1. i would not have the instructor to be offended , if his charge take not every thing upon his authority ; obest plerumque iis , qui discere velint , authoritas docentis . but encourage him to ask questions , and move doubts ; accustom him to give his opinion and reasons in doubtful cases ; especially such as fall out at that time , and upon the place . for want of such , let him censure the ancients ; let him accuse the murderers of caesar ; jeer cato for killing himself , &c. quicken also and waken his spirit , by giving him liberty to contradict you , when he finds reason for it ; and when he doth not , do you shew him what arguments are against your self . encourage in him all thinking and exercise of the mind ; and let him judge and censure freely what he reads or hears ; sparing persons alwaies for charity sake ; and discourage him not for every error he commits . take not all the talk to your self ; nor make to him long harangues , expecting a youth should go along with you , and understand and believe all you say . but discourse with him much after socrates's manner ; which teacheth him to know things even before he learn them , i. e. by considering and comparing them with things obvious and familiar , to wind up to the knowledge of things unknown and obscure . this will enlarge and exalt his spirit to an universal contemplation of the natures of things as they really are ; and make him to admire nothing ; to be surpriz'd with nothing ; and not condemn every thing that is not cast in his own mold , or framed after his own mode and taste . thus he will not be offended with small matters ; nor be amaz'd to see contrary humors , opinions , or fashions , nor be like a man brought up in a bottle , see all things through one hole . it is also observable , that the more any one knows , the less is he ingaged in opiniatrety ; but this i only mention . 2. he that seeks truth , and to perfect his judgement , must endeavour to render himself indifferent , free , and disengaged , that he may be ready to pass his sentence secundum allegata & probata : which is chiefly by delivering himself from the power and dominion of all passions whatsoever . which is done by regulating the imagination ( for there is their beginning ) i. e. by subjecting it to reason and the understanding ; that it may not without consultation follow the suggestions of sense , and unruly motions of the appetite . and this is not difficult if the particular occasion can be foreseen ; but because that happens not frequently , it is requisite to set a continual guard over our weakest place , where we are most obnoxious to the enemy ; and to have a continuall magazine of such sober and , moderate considerations , as advice , reading , and experience will furnish . but if notwithstanding you cannot prevent these apprehensions , which indeed is difficult ; i mean for a man to stand so continually upon centry , his arms ready and fixed , and in his hands ; then at the time of the assault , retire ; let the motion spend it self in vaine , and suffer it not to fix upon the object . but at the worst , play an aftergame . if anger v. g. have prevailed against you , force your self to beg pardon ; and let shame and ( especially voluntary ) punishment , & penance , bring wrath to reason . so against insolence contradict your own , tho lawfull , desires another time , and do contrary to what you most affect . in sum , observe your own inclinations ( for accidental passions are not so dangerous ) and watch over them diligently ; which is also better and easilier performed , if you can procure a faithful monitor to assist and advise you . next set not your affections to much upon any thing whatsoever , even not upon the public , or works of charity which are not necessary ; pursue nothing with eagerness and engagement . and think not , when you have conquered three or foure times , that the war is ended . passions are much the weaker by being overcome ; but take heed they rally not . qui sani esse volunt , ita vivere debent , ut perpetuo curentur . good counsel . is not to be taken as physic , but as nourishment , continually received , ruminated , and digested . and lastly , when you are foiled , put some penance upon your self , and resolve upon greater diligence for the future . and using these means , doubt not , by gods blessing , but to arrive in time to a sedate tranquillity of mind and a clear understanding of the truth , a condition not more advantageous to the possessor , then grateful to , and admired by , them with whom you converse . 3. the last means i propose of acquiring a good judgement , is consideration , weighing , or thinking much upon the probabilities of both sides ; and that not onely at the present , when the mind is engaged and concern'd in , and for the business ; but at leisure , suppose at night , when you recollect what you have done all the day ; for then the mind is free to review , and revise her own actions . he that useth this , will find in himself other thoughts and conceptions then he can possibly imagine , and he will see the same difference as is betwixt looking into muddy , and clear , water . hence it will follow that much busines is a great impediment to him that desires to perfect his judgment ; nemo occupatus bonam mentem invenit . sen. an experienc'd person is capable of engaging himself in many emploiments , but a beginner must not ; nor in any one busines that taketh up his whole time : for by that means indeed he may be well skilled in that one thing ; but he cannot arrive at the largenes and comprehensivenes required to true wisdom . again , whatsoever conduceth to heighten , and , as i may say , to spiritualize , the soul , is also advantageous to wisdom . and this nothing doth so much ( of the several parts of learning and sciences i have spoken before ) as devotion or contemplation ; which is a borrowing of light immediately from the sun ; and a lifting and raising up the soul to god ; who of his infinite goodnes hath made the reward of his service in some sort the effect of it also . now the first consideration a wise man fixeth upon , is the great end of his creation ; what it is , and wherein it consists : the next is of the most proper means to that end : afterwards he weighs the difficulties and hinderances , he is likely to rencounter in his obtaining that end . after which he weighs all particular occurrences , how they conduce to , or at least agree , with that end , and those means so chosen . but for these , i refer you to such authors as have spoken expressly concerning them . chap. xiv . of travelling into forreign countries . 1. the advantages of travel are , 1. to learn the languages , laws , customes , and understand the government , and interest , of other nations . 2. to produce confident and comely behavior , to perfect conversation and discours . 3. to satisfy their minds with the actual beholding such rarities , wonders , and curiosities , as are heard or read of . it brings us out of the company of our relations , acquaintances , and familiars ; making us stand upon our guard , which renders the mind more diligent , vigorous , brisk , and spiritful . it shews us , by consideration of so many various humors , and manners , to look into and form our own ; and by tasting perpetually the varieties of nature , to be able to judg of what is good and better . and it is most useful for those , who by living at home , and domineering amongst servants , &c. have got an habit of surlines , pride , insolence , or other resty and slovenly custom . as also for those , who are entangled with unfitting companions , friends , loves , servants . for those , who are seized upon with the vices of their own country , such with us are drinking , rusticity , sowrnes in conversation , lazines , &c. and then , every one must be sent into the place most proper to reform him ; as drunkennes is not much used in france ; less in italy and spain . debauchery with women not so frequent in germany , flanders , &c. gaming is common every where , but less in italy . quarrelling dangerous in italy , and spain . prodigality is often helped by setting a certain allowance , in a place where he cannot be trusted , where he is necessitated to live within his compass ; or in prison ; or shamefully run away without paying his host . it is also profitable for all persons learned , inquisitive , and curious : who , by the conversation of learned men , and use of books unusual with us , and libraries , may very much augment their knowledg , as well as their experience . 2. i would not advise any young man to go abroad without an assistant or governor , a scholar : one able to instruct him in such ingenious arts , as are fitting for him to know ; to chuse his companions ( else a young man left to himself , not having to employ his time , must of necessity fall to debauchery , and evil company , who are alwaies ready to seize upon young straies ; ) to assist him in sicknes , or any other necessity ; to advertise him of his failures ; to exact the performance of his studies , exercises , and emploiments ; to husband his allowance ; to keep him company , and furnish him good discourse , and good example . 3. whoever would have his son molded upon the form of such a nation , must send him thither young ; that his tongue may be plied to their language , and his whole carriage imbibe , by imitation , their manner and fshion , before tincted with any other . but if that design be not regarded ( as i conceive it not very convenient for any one to quit his own country customs , [ customs , i say , not vices ] ) then it is better to travel when they arrive at some judgment , to discern better from worse ; when able to furnish discourse , and by that means enter gratefully into conversation . whereas being sent young , and having no knowledg or experience , they cannot advantage themselves abroad , but are there in a kind of amazednes ; variety of objects , which they neither understand , nor value , confounding , rather then edifying , them . and truly i conceive the cheif reason , why travellers have so little ( especially good ) conversation of the natives , to be , because of the jealousy they have of young travellers ; that nothing is to be advanced by their conversation worthy the trouble of their bad language , impertinent discourse , silly questions ( for such those demands seem to be , which concern things to them familiar and obvious ) and frequent visits . methinks therefore , it were better every one to be educated at home , to the subjection and obedience of his own country laws , and customs ; ( except the laws and government be subverted , as they lately were ; and except there be some such nation in the world , as admire all laws and customs but their own . ) etcocles would not give hostages to antipater of the youth , but of grown men. and the persians , when wanting a king , they sent for some of the royall family , then hostages at rome , were afterwards displeased at , and cut them off , as not agreeing with the manners and customs of their country . besides 't is better they should stay , till by instruction and study they have arrived to a capacity of employing their time profitably and delightfully by themselves ; without being ( as too many are ) forced to seek divertisement with others : then leave their country at that age , when they should be habituated and molded into the laws of it . and this is the reason , why not knowing their native duty , and living as strangers , licentiously , and not according to the best examples abroad ; they bring home instead of solid virtue , formalities , fashions , grimaces , and at best a volubility of talking non-sense , &c. yet some , perhaps , think them then well educated ; and that forreign vanity is preferable to home-discretion . this is also the reason why they are forced , for passing their time , to apply themselves to such conversation as they can find ; and good company being very rare and shy , but bad alwaies ready , and offering themselves , 't is no wonder if they run into extravagant expences , as well as evilnes of manners . or if they escape these , then the fencing , dancing , and language-master catch them , from whom picking up some scraps and shreds of discourse , at home they vent them for laces and rubans . or at best of all , they sow but gape-seed , which , if well husbanded , yeilds them a goodly crop of wonders in their own country . 4. exercises commonly learn'd in travel are dancing , fencing , riding , to which some add vaulting , and anciently swimming , ( for which reason suetonius takes notice of it as a strange thing , that c. caligula , so good at other exercises , could not swim : he observes that augustus instructed himself his grand-children to write and swim ; swimming also was publicly taught at athens ) music , and designing . and these , i conceive , might as well , if not better , be learned in our own country ; were it not either for the sloth or opiniatrety of our nation . the use of dancing and fencing is sufficiently , if not too much , known ; riding renders him master of the noblest and usefullest of all beasts ; vaulting makes the body active , but else is not of so great use as wrestling were , if in fashion ; or swimming ; which is both more healthful , and many times proves to be of great consequence and necessity . music i advise not ; since to acquire any considerable perfection in it , takes up too much time ; and to understand little of it , is neither graceful , satisfactory , nor durable . to thrum a guitar to 2 or 3 italian ballad tunes , may be agreeable for once , but often practised is ridiculous . besides i do not remember to have seen any gentleman , tho very diligent and curious abroad , to qualify himself with that skill , but when he came to any maturity , he wholly rejected it . designing i advise to , but only as a parergon , not an emploiment . and the small mathematics strangers learn in france serve to little , besides getting mony to the teacher . rules in travelling . 1. be very careful with what company you associate upon the way in pension , lodgings , &c. but make no such familiarity ( except you have of a long time tried the person ) as not to leave your self liberty to come off when you please . neither be ready to make or accept assignations of meetings , at taverns , &c. especially be not the first motioner . much time is lost , ill acquaintance got , mony spent , and many mishaps come by it . besides they beget and draw in one another , the most idle alwaies contriving to twist in another meeting . 2. suspect all extraordinary and groundless civility of foreigners , as a design upon your purse ; and what mony you lend upon the way to strangers , count it given , not lent . nor ever declare what mony or jewels you have ( of which notwithstanding you ought to have a reserve , not to be touched but upon extraordinary occasions : ) but alwaies make your self poorer then you are . 3. make even with your host for pension , and all other demands , at the end of every month , and take his hand to an acquittance ; for by that means you hinder all after-reckonings ; and they are wont , at your leaving them , to pick some quarrel , or seek some pretence upon you to get more of your mony . and so upon a journy , when you are not at an ordinary , reckon with your host after supper . and where you never mean to return , extend your liberality at your first coming , or occasionally as you have need of them , and defer it not till your departure . 4. injuries from strangers , especially in their own country , are easily , safely , and discreetly , put up ; but never safely revenged , where they have more friends , and power , then your self . especially beware of intrigues with women : infinite quarrels and tragedies have begun there . 5. for health , without which you can do nothing . when you begin ( especially a long journy ) for three or four of the first daies , or meals at least , abate a third of your ordinary eating , the like do also at your arrival to rest , tilll your body be somewhat accustomed to the alteration . in travelling , especially in hot weather , drink as little as you can ; especially by the way , for that increaseth your thirst , heateth , and disposeth you to a feaver . mix water with wine , but water alone to one subject to thirst , makes him more thirsty . 6. if you find your self indisposed , of feaverish , throw in a glister , miss a meal or two , cover your self well in bed , that your body may transpire or sweat , or else let blood . but if it seems by your wearines , unquietnes , disturbed sleep , high pulse , pain , &c. that it tends to a real sicknes , call the physician betimes . 7. have with you a little venice-treacle , or some such antidote ; that if you eat any bad meat or drink , go to bed presently after supper , or find any thing heavy on your stomack , or be tired with a long , wet , or tedious journy , by taking a little of it , you may restore your self . lucatellos balsom also ( if well made ) serves against ulcers , wounds , aches , galls , bruises by falls , and like accidents . 8. if your occasions require you to voiage in hot weather , be very careful to preserve your head from the heat of the sun ; be very abstemious in your diet , and take the best care you can , your body be open . accidental heat also is best expelled by transpiration . 9. drink not before you eat , for that quencheth appetite ; nor at any time without eating , especially no mornings drinks , and beware of raw fruit , the most pleasant and newly gathered commonly is worst ; corrected much by eating bread with it . 10. temperance , chastity , and moderate exercise are the great advancers of health and long life . de resto in every country observe the rules of health , practised by the discreetest inhabitants . chap. xv. of prudent chusing a calling , or state of life . upon the discreet choice of our calling , or state of life , depends our whole content and felicity : for if we chuse that which is agreable to our inclinations and abilities , both of body and mind , we work cheerfully , our life is pleasant , and we are constant to our purposes . but if , capable of better , we chuse a worse and lower , we espouse a continual vexation : if we aime at what is above our capacity , we despond and despaire . players fit their parts to their persons ; and let us exercise our selves in what we are most fit for . and if necessity force us against our inclinations , let us use diligence to comply with it as hansomely as is possible : and at least avoid vice , rather then pursue things which are not given us . 2. in all our actions , the principal guide we have is the end ; as in travelling the place whither we are to go directs the way . and since we have , by the law and condition of our creation , one principle ( reason ) in us , which doth , or may and ought uniformely to produce all our operations , we may also have them all directed to the same scope and intention . we are indeed composed of body and soul ; and the body is guided by sense ; but the soul ( the better part ) doth , or ought to govern the body , and it self be governed by reason illustrated in christians by gods holy spirit . 3. they who aime at nothing but satisfying their sense , are such as either , 1. never look before them , but live in diem , without care or prudence , passing their time in mirth and jollity , without design or consideration , except to contrive that to morrow may be as this day ; or to escape some present pressure and difficulty which interrupts their delights . or 2. do indeed advise and propose an end , but such a one as is either not obtainable ; or if obtained , not satisfactory , universal , or durable . such are pleasures , riches , and honours . any , or all , of which to be made the principal and ultimate end of our actions , is great folly and madnes . for neither will they avail us in sicknes and the calamitous parts of our life ; whereto also they often engage us ; and , in the prosperous , they are not in our power to command them when we please ; nor keep them when we have them ; nor do they satisfy us , if we keep them . they grow tedious and burdensom , subject us to cares , sorrows , envy , and dangers : and there is somewhat better , which is not liable to these exceptions . 4. beasts do not deliberate , but work out of instinct of nature ; all of one kind the same way ; ( wherein they may be somewhat perfected , but not changed ) without any general end or intention of their living or acting ; tho they have some little particular ends of some of their actions . but deliberation is a considerate weighing of all reasons pro & con , such an end , and the means to obtain it . i. e. how a man shall employ those powers and faculties , which god hath given him , either by nature or his own acquisition , to that purpose , for which god hath given them . for there is one certain end , which all men may , and ought to propose as most agreeable and proper for their nature and condition . 5. this intention , which will sustain a man in all estates and conditions , which will have an influence upon his whole life and actions , which is a rock , whereon he may safely build in all conditions and accidents , is : to do as much good as he can , both to himself , and others . which the holy scripture calls glorifying god ( a phrase demonstrating the reason why this is the universall end of our nature ) because that god created us all ; and gave us our being and all that we have ; and this not for our own sakes , for no rational and intelligent workman doth so , but for his own sake : who is glorified when his works answer his intention . he being also the universal good of all creatures , what ever good we do , is a corresponding to , and as it were an assisting , him ; a propagation of his interest , and consequently a fulfilling of that end for which he made us . 6. this is performed severall waies , as 1. by serving him in his own house , being members of his family , i. e. officers in his church , or ecclesiastical persons , whether active or contemplative . 2. by serving him in the common-wealth , in actions of charity : and that , either as magistrates , or private persons . in both which good is to be done by example , advice , counsel , commanding , governing , rewarding , punishing , liberality , assistance of the weak and poor against oppression , &c. in all which the magistrate hath greater opportunity and obligation to do good , then private persons . many of these good actions also cannot be performed without wealth and reputation ; and riches , if with due moderation and justice , to this purpose desired and employed , are very good . for , these being the measure of all things in the commerce and conversation of mankinde , t is impossible for him that deals amongst men , to be without them , and for him who is in an active life , and to do good , to be without a considerable proportion of them . and his reputation ( i do not say popularity , but the good opinion of wise and virtuous persons ) every one is bound to preserve , and to provide thimgs honest in the sight of men also . so much pleasure also is to be allowed as is necessary to keep up the body in health and cheerful vigor ; which the wise creator also hath appointed , in that he hath joyned pleasure to natural actions . 7. in chusing a calling therefore ( the fitnes whereof is only in order to our glorifying god , i. e. our own salvation ) consider 1. the advantages or disadvantages to our end , or its contrary . 2. the temtations we are likely to undergo and meet with . 3. what strength , assistance , or hopes we have to overcome them . but because it is not possible to judg of these but by experience , which the deliberant is supposed not to have , but in some lesser measure ; it is therefore necessary for him , to ask advice first of god , then of wise , upright , and experienced persons . and 1. those who have an excellent faculty , or genius , to one thing above others , seem to be by god called to that . 2. those , who are by their parents , or own choice , educated in one thing particularly , and find it agreeable to them , may safely acquiesce , and be persuaded , that calling is from god ; as may also those , who have as it were an hereditary calling , being born to riches , and honors , may safely acquiesce in it , i say , provided they can overcome those temtations of offending god , which do usually accompany it . as all callings have some , and some very many more , and greater than others . 3. those , who upon any rational grounds embrace such a calling , wherein they are perswaded they can serve god , and live charitably , and do good to their neighbors , may safely conclude that they are called by the ordinary providence of god ; who is also the giver of reason to assist and govern us in those things , which fall under its cognisance . 4. some , also , god almighty calleth extraordinarily by his prophets , ministers , or internal inspirations , exciting to somewhat extraordinary , either in spiritual , or secular emploiments . concerning whom we can give no rules . 5. many men are not capable to chuse for themselves , being of weak judgments , unexperienced , biassed with some vice or irregularity : these are to submit to the counsel of their friends ; and the most disinteressed , and nearest a kin , are the likeliest to give best counsel . 6. it is in vain for him to ask advice that is not indifferent to all , or most of them ; at least so much as to be without prejudice , or to refuse any proposed , and not to love or hate any so much , but to be ready to change his passions upon the information of better judgments . unindifferent are those who are preingaged . as for married persons , it is in vain to consult about single life . for then , they can only deliberate how to glorify god in a married estate . and if an estate be ill chosen , but irremediably , accuse not god almighty for the ill choice , but seek to amend it by more virtuous and pious living . 8. going to chuse , therefore , place your self as much as is possible in equilibrio ; and resolve to chuse the best as near as your own discretion ( the assistance of gods spirit implored ) and the advice of friends , shall suggest unto you , the best , i say not simply , but the best for you ; considering your parts , inclinations , bodily health , and strength , exterior advantages , and the like . and 1. consider that , tho no man is obliged under guilt of sin to undertake the absolutely best calling or estate ; and that god almighty hath not so made man for eternals , that he hath no care for temporals ; yet in prudence , and if he have a design of attaining christian perfection , he ought to make choice of that which he conceives the better . 2. that as every man is to give an account of the calling wherein he is , and not of another : so a man is rewarded that lives and doth better in a less perfect state , then he that doth less well in a more perfect ; yet a more perfect state is to be preferr'd , which affords more advantages of doing well , or better . 3. that tho there is no lawful estate , wherein heroical virtues may not be exercised ; yet these are much more easily and frequently practised in some then others . 4. that since contraries are so mingled in all our affairs ; that nothing is so good , that it hath not some inconveniences joined with it ; nor any so probable as that somewhat may not be said to the contrary ; you are not to defer your resolution , till all difficulties be cleared , and you be able to answer all things to the contrary ; but it sufficeth to embrace that which is most probable . 5. that , if your election be thus made , i. e. with indifferency , unpassionatenes , and sincerity , seek not to change , but settle your self quietly in it : and make account that whatever you chuse , you will sometime or other repent of it , i. e. when you find the unexpected inconveniences and hardships of your own , and the seeming ease and conveniences of another . the sincerity of your choice needs not be doubted of , if you chuse purely for the love of god ; if you would have advised your friend to the same course of life ; and if you would be content , when god shall call you , to be found so doing . 9. an old man in vitis p. p. being demanded of one , what he should do , answered ; our works are not all of the same sort . abraham was hospitable , god was with him . david was humble , god was with him , &c. therefore , what you find your soul inclined unto , so as it be according to godlines , that do . it is true that one calling hath more opportunities of glorifying god , and of glorifying him more , i. e. with nobler and sublimer actions . all men are not alike capable of those heights ; and by him , who after due consideration , probably conjectures that he shall do very well in an active , and but meanly in a contemplative , life , here the active doubtless is to be preferred . 10. if you have made choice of an estate less advantageous , which you may change , be sure to advise well before you do so ; for many times wearines & inconstancy advise a quitting of that , wherein it is really better for you to continue . 11. tho there be no state , but may be more or less dangerous , or convenient for one then another ; as where god gives greater strength and plentifuller grace there is less danger from temtations ; yet those states seem to be in themselves best , which are not subject to so many temtations ; which have the fewer avocaments from religion ; which have more incentives to , and occasions for , piety ; more good examples , more leisure for devotion , more severity towards our selves , more , and more heroical acts of virtues , which approach nearest to the life of our lord , and which shew most gratitude towards almighty god. 12. tho god supplieth grace sufficient to every one for his estate , and he that fails of his duty doth it by his own default ; yet he , who casts himself into temtations , cannot promise himself to be assisted by god. s. paul adviseth younger women i. e. such as will put themselves in frequent dangers or temtations of not living continently , rather to marry . temtations are from company , health , bodily strength , wealth , bad inclinations , as to ambition , covetousnes , opiniatrety , desire of liberty ; opportunity of time , place , &c. 13. from the consideration of which , and such like , these rules may be taken notice of , a good natur'd facil man is not fit for such an emploiment , wherein he must necessarily converse frequently with evil persons . a melancholic person is not fit to undertake a profession of much study or solitarines . a timorous spirit is not fit for magistracy . a covetous person is not to be a merchant , or banquier . a man of bodily strength and choler will not be a good officer in war. the sleepy and drowsy are best employed in a calling , wherein is much bodily activeness . a rash man not to be entrusted with a great affair , especially in war. 14. let no man easily perswade himself ; that , what ever his calling be , his thoughts will be different from the rest of mankind , that is in that calling ; for all men are alike ; have the same principles of thinking and acting , and the same way of deducing from , and acting by , them . particularly let no man think ; that magistracy will change him , to the better especially : look at his actions and conversation in his private life ; such will he be also in his authority . and therefore let him not upon such confidences hastily take upon him a calling , in which he sees in general great inconveniencies or dangers , to the preserving of his virtue , or innocence . 15. if you be consulted concerning a person , either very inconstant , passionate , or vitions , give not your advice ; it is in vain : for such will do only what shall please themselves . never advise any one to a calling , which is much against his will , or inclination . of education . part ii. chap. i. of civility . in this second part , are thrown together a miscellany of observations concerning several , the most usual occurrences in active life . such as enter not into any art or science , but are the result of experience in the conversation and affairs of this world. i begin with civility , as being the first to be learned and practised ; and tho many rules of it seem plain and obvious , such as are fit to be insinuated into the practise of children ; yet are they not to be neglected , but to be neal'd into youth , that they may not through defect of them , miscarry in their age , as many great persons have done , who trusting to their justice and severe virtue , have bin ruin'd for neglect of compliance and civility . for tho serpents are greater poysons and presenter death , yet more men are destroied by their irregularity in eating and drinking . and small wounds , if many , are mortal . to be couragious , bountiful , and just are indeed much greater and nobler then to be of an agreeable conversation : yet is this as useful , for it is in continual practise , the other rarely and upon occasion : besides other virtues have need of somewhat to maintain and exercise them . justice will have power , liberality , wealth , &c. but this is set up with no other stock then a few pleasant looks , good words , and not-evil actions . all men are in some sort disparata ; and even these , who are under the relations of superiority and inferioty , yet , those obligations being satisfied , as to all other matters , account themselves as equals . and tho laws punish not the resty and froward , yet are they chastised by the loss of that good-will and freindlines which good-behaviour gains ; most men having greater aversenes to the incompliant then the vitious . wherefore it is necessary for every one , that would bring his purposes to effect , ( which cannot be done without making use of other mens abilities ; and the greater the design , the more instruments are needful ; and those instruments also not inanimate or necessitable , but spontaneous and free ) to master the wills and powers of those he makes use of ; to make them , i say , to work cheerfully and readily for him ; which is by civility to let or insinuate himself into their good liking , and voluntary assistance . for he who cares not to live void of offence towards others , renders himself offensive and odious unto others ; consequently they comply not with him ; they act for him , if at all , by force either of reward or punishment , and therefore no more , nor otherwise , then they are constrained . thus , for want of civil address , many men of parts and virtue become useless in their generation ; but others by their surly and uncompliant humor , grow distastful in conversation , fall into contemt , whence follow affronts and quarrels . some also are forc'd upon low and mean company , and thereby bring a dishonor , not upon their persons only , but their family and parents ( who are look'd upon , as not willing or able to give them decent education ) and their country also , if they happen amongst strangers , who are ready to censure hardly of that nation , whose gentry are so little civiliz'd . 2. again , where there is much company , as in cities , &c. there is also great variety of humors and dispositions ; and a greater care of wary conversation ; as also where are persons of greater and more piercing spirits , or curiouser observers , as in courts , or amongst forreigners , who take particular notice of many things which continual practise makes us pass over . he who thinks to live contentedly or peaceably in these places without mortifying his own humor , and deposing his natural inclinations , is of a shallow capacity , or an evil nature . i. e. he is either of a savage , fierce , insolent disposition ; or of a stupid slothfulnes . both of them fitter company for beasts then men , and for deserts then cities . 3. wherefore , as justice bridleth our coveteousnes , and constancy our natural timorousnes , so doth civility our haughtines and presumtion : and as a good christian , for the glory of god , mortifies all his own passions and humors , and puts on those , which are for his purpose , and according to his intention : such i mean , as religion and reason suggest : and as a good courtier , for his interest complies with every one ; alwaies gay , cheerful and complaisant , without any humor of his own , only borrowing that of the company . so in like maner , every civil person doth the same , so far at least as to avoid all offending those with whom he converseth . 4. for civility consists in these things , 1. in not expressing by actions , or speeches any injury , disesteem , offence , or undervaluing of any other . 2. in being ready to do all good offices and ordinary kindness for another . and 3ly in receiving no injuries or offences from others . i. e. in not resenting every word or action , which may ( perhaps rationally ) be interpreted to be disesteem or undervaluing . indeed our reputation , which is onely pretended in this case , ( were it really in danger ) yet is not of such consequence many times , as peace and quietness ; but we are ordinarily unjust and partial judges of our own concerns , never looking upon our selves but with love and value . but however our patience is certainly a rewardable virtue ( but whether the correction of a misdoer will reuscire well , is a difficult question ) and is that so much recommended by our lord , of forgiving trespasers against us . 5. civility is not , therefore , punctuality of behaviour : i mean that which consists in certain modish and particular ceremonies and fashions , in clothes , gesture , mine , speech , or the like ; is not using such discourses , words , phrases , studies , opinions , games , &c. as are in fashion in the court ; with gallants , ladies , &c. this is a constrain'd formality , not civility ; a complying with the times , not with persons ; and varieth with the age or season , frequently according to the fancy of mechanic persons , in their several professions : whereas the rules of civility , founded upon prudence and charity , are to perpetuity unchangeable . i speak not here of such ceremonies as are by duty required towards our superiors , either in gesture , speech , or other address . those are not in our disposing to omit or alter ; custom our great master hath imposed them , and that rationally , for the ease of the magistrate , and to make his commands current , and we ought to obey without dispute or pleading . nor of such as are used generally in conversation , whereof also i advise every one to be rather liberal and give some of his own , then retrench any of what is due . but of such as by particular persons ( who either would seem modish and perfectly civil , or would hide their poverty of understanding and discretion under the vail and varnish of mode ) studied and affected . whereby themselves think to insinuate into the favor of those with whom they converse ; but those imagine themselves esteemed as weak and easy , that are to be moved with such trifles ; and ( as some women ) are thought to be taken with rubans and fancies more then real decency . 6. compliments also are another thing , serve to a contrary end , and proceed from a different cause . civility from sincerity and virtue ; these from duplicity , and deceit . that makes friends , these unmake and hinder them ; that distinguisheth one man from another , these involve all in an equal adulation . they consist in praising immoderately , and pretending greater love and friendship then either is deserved by , or intended to , him , to whom they are offered . he that useth them , beleiveth not himself , nor would have his auditor believe his expressions ; but i know not what greatness of affection : he is alwaies offering and promising , never performing ; asking pardon where there is no offence or necessity , but when it is commanded by god and reason , he will dye rather then demand it . these are imaginary services ; notional , impertinent , humiliations ; a solemn non-sense ; an abusing of language , and putting together many good words to signify nothing . the use of this traiterous discourse ( if any be ) is to hide a mans-self ( as juglers and mountebanks ) in a cloud of good words , that the auditor may not discover more of him then himself pleaseth . or as trades-men keep you still in talk , lest you should too narrowly examine the wares they would put upon you . officious lies they are , licensed by custom , and like the unproportionable garments , are faults of the age . neither is flattery ; encouragement to , or accompanying , in vice , or error ; consenting to any thing prejudicial to a third person ; a permitting to offend , or actually sinning , or the like ; any part of civility . for this consists not but with severe justice , real charity , and solid discretion . 7. and therefore it , as all other virtues , requires an early initiation , and continual practise to arrive at a perfect habit of it . it concerns also parents and educators to see that the educated converse as much as may be , with his equals or superiors ; not with servants or mean persons , lest he put on their manners , and playing rex amongst them , he become apt to undervalue all others , and so become insolent . it behoves them also to give him no evil example by themselves , or others ; but propose such precedents , as they desire the young man should copy . in france , fathers are wont to carry their children , when youths , with them to visit persons of quality , to shew them how such demean themselves , and to procure them a convenient boldnes . mothers also in italy teach their little children pieces of dialogues or plaies by heart ; which they render and recite in their presence , and are taught by them graceful address in saluting , speaking , &c. they also send their children frequently in errands , and visits to their kindred or neighbors ; teaching them what to say , what titles to give , what answers to make to the demands most likely to be asked , somewhat also to furnish discourse , &c. 8. the young man himself also , ought , as he grows in age , to observe the actions of others , especially of his equals , and of such as are most reputed for civility ; and to note what becomes or misbecomes them . also , what is practised by most , by persons of higher quality and by persons of maturity and judgement . he must also watch over himself severely , and once a day , at least , call himself to acount of his speeches and actions . and also procure some friend to observe , advise , and admonish him of what is well , what ill , what might be better , done , or omitted . lastly observe such rules as these that follow , some of which are framed for youth , others for such as are growing up , or arrived to some discretion . 1. do nothing which may justly scandalize virtuous persons ; chiefly by any neglect of religion , as by undecent behavior in gods house , as seeking your ease , abandoning your self to laziness and lolling , gazing about you , frequent changing postures , covering your face or head . regulate therefore your self by the example of the best and most devout in the place you live . use not commonly or unnecessarily the name of god , or of the devil ; not passages of holy scripture ; not mocking or profaning holy persons , things or actions : not only because these things are sinful , but undecent also ; and practised only by persons of ill behavior , or mean condition . 2. do nothing that may offend anothers sense or imagination . to strike or pinch a man , is a clowns salutation . no carion , or excrement , is to be shewed to your companion , for you know not how squeamish he is . approach not your mouth so near in discoursing , as to offend or bedew any one with your breath , for all mens breaths are offensive . be not nasty in your clothes , or about your body , in much sweating ( except in time of war or action ) belching , biting , or cutting your nails , rubbing your teeth , picking your nose , or ears , handling any parts of your body which are not usually uncovered , nor those more then needs . sing not to your self , nor drum with your feet or fingers in company , as melancholic men do . grind not , nor gnash your teeth , nor scrape or make any sound to offend or interrupt others , not so much as lowd speaking , except where necessity . spit , sneez , cough , &c. from the company , and not loud , for decencies sake . 3. let your look be pleasant , composed , modest , confident . frowning is apprehended to be a sign of a cruel disposition , as is noted of caracalla . when you discourse with any person , gaze not upon him , as if you were taking his picture . nor fix your eyes constantly on any one object ; for that betokens impudency , or at best , amazedness , or contemplation , as staring doth folly . wandring and inconstant looks express madness , or unsetled thoughts ; winking ( if not a natural infirmity ) is the action of light-headed persons , as winking with one eye ( like shooters ) is of maliciousness and evil nature . a sharp and fierce look , is as one that is angry . to bite your lip is used in threatening ; to thrust out the tongue , is scurrilous . to sink the head into the shoulders , is laziness ; the head erect and backward , is interpreted pride and arrogance , as letting it fall on either side , hypocrisy . to go with folded arms , is sloth or melancholy ; and in this , it is a natural suggestion to keep the breast warm , and defend it from hypochondriac pain ; to set them a kembow is arrogance , and to hang them down , folly and lazines : to keep your hands in your pockets , or covered with your cloak , is a neglect of the company . a slow pace is proper to delicate and effeminate persons , an hasty one to mad men ; strutting is affectation , wadling is for the slothful and lazy , and in measure to dancers . speak not through the nose , nor with any affected or unhansom gesture , wrying the mouth , swelling the cheeks , lisping , &c. if you have not a pleasing pronunciation , recompense it with good matter ; and when speaking , cough not , nor use any interruption , for so do lyers when they invent what to say . a little laughter is permitted , moderate smiling commended . 4. there is a certain mine and motion of the body , and its parts , both in acting and speaking , which is very graceful and pleasing . greg. nazianz. foretold what a one julian ( afterwards called the apostate ) would prove , when he saw his hasty , discomposed , and unseemly gestures . s. ambrose discarded a clerk , because of an undecent motion of his head , which he said went like a flail . on the contrary cn. pompeius , saith tully , ad omnia summa natus habebat in voce splendorem , & in motu summam dignitatem . this consists ; 1. in the proportion and harmony betwixt every mans person and condition ; as for a young man to be active and sprightly , not mimical and restless : a grave man slow and deliberate , not dull and sluggish . 2. in confidence , opposed to sheepish bashfulnes ; when one knows not how to look , speak , or move , sor fear of doing amiss ; but alwaies blusheth , and is not able to support an harsh word , a chiding , an angry look , without being altered . 3. in avoiding all affectation and singularity ; for whatever is according to nature is best , and what contrary to it , alwaies distastful , and betraies vanity and indiscretion , that knows not to imitate the best . nothing is graceful but what is our own . and therefore every one strives to work easily and freely , and with a seeming negligence , for such seems to proceed either from nature , or an habit . but constrainedness undervalueth an action ; as doth also seeming to do all with design and study . yet , affected negligence is worst of all . 5. in eating , at meals , the company is offended , if you eat with hands dirty , or unwashed after you have made water , or done any offensive action . if you hover over the plate or table , as an hawk over her prey ; if you handle others meat , be delicate , or take the best , or most , or formost , to your self . as the indian , that seeing at the other end a dish that pleased him , leaped upon the table to fetch it . if you feed with both hands for fear of loosing time , or keep your knife alwaies in your hand , or with the point upward : if you dip your fingers , or any thing you have tasted , in the sawce , or make a noise in eating ; cut or put into your mouth great morsels , or lick your fingers , or not wipe your mouth or spoon after eating . it is against health to swallow your meat unchewed , or greedily , or much , or much variety , or delicacies : and against civility to eat after others , to throw your bones or offal upon the floor , to gnaw your bones , to handle dogs , &c. at the table , to observe what and how others eat , to dispraise or praise immoderately the meat , or smell to it ; for if you suspect it let it alone , lest you offend others . present not to others what your self have tasted . drink not , nor talk with your mouth full , or unwiped , or glass full ; nor put the cup too far into your mouth as children do ; nor drink greedily , or so long that you are forced ( as horses ) to breath in your draught ; nor blow into any ones cup , or upon his victuals , tosts , &c. talk not at table any ungrateful or impertinent discourse , nor be angry with your servants , nor do any thing which may interrupt the cheerfulnes of the company . it is questioned whether it be civil to talk much at meals , because that hindreth the intention of the table , and it is not easy to avoid all offensivenes , especially in discouse about divinity ; the frequentest table-talk in england . in england , strangers tax us for drinking before we eat , against health ; drinking many in the same cup ; and many times the snuffs left by the former ; for eating much , much flesh , sitting long at meals ; not using forks but fingers , and the like . 6. in visitings is much more ceremony and civility observed in some places then others . the italians , and of them the romans , and neapolitans are most punctual . the greatest cause hereof is the avoiding of misinterpretations , and quarrelling . this hath begotten an art of ceremoniousnes , so full of subtilties and punctilios , that it is an emploiment to learn them . and therefore , tho in this country of great freedom and little jealousy , where persons of quality are neither so apt to give , or take , offence , they are unnecessary , or also unfitting ; yet it may be fitting to know how to entertain a stranger ; or how we are entertained by him , or by any other that expecteth or practiseth this accuratenes of ceremony . i have therefore set down the cheifest of their rules , for the most part out of the book called il maestro di camera , which is on purpose to instruct in those observances . women are not usually visited in the morning ; nor ambassadors , or persons of business , on the hour or day of their dispatch or emploiment . nor persons in the beginning of deep mourning ; and if visited , it is not expected they should use the accustomed ceremonies . nor sick persons till they can sit up in their beds , and put on their upper garments . women also have alwaies the upper hand , even in their own houses ; and are intreated not to stir out of the chamber of entertainment . it is better to give too much honor to any person then too little ; therefore better to carry himself as inferior to his equals , and equal to such as are not much inferiors . inferiors also , if of parts , are to be better treated , for parts are equal to honors or wealth . the more familiarly , the more honorably are inferiors , or equals treated , ( but superiors the less ) as to your table , to your bed-chamber , or closet , to your self in bed , dressing , or retired . neerest the wall in england and france ( i suppose because the cleanest ) is the honorabler place ; in italy the right hand , if two ; the middle place , if three , walk together ; because easiliest heard of both . to make signs to one to be covered , is superiority ; so is to turn the back first at parting , to accompany the departed but a little way ; whereas your equall you wait upon to the utmost door or gate , the superior to his coach or horse . the visiter ends the visit , but not in the midst of a discourse ; nor is he to stay so long as the visited seems glad to receive him ; but if he see his company much desired , he may come the oftner . visits of congratulation and condoleance the sooner the better . the uppermost place of a table ought not to turn its back upon the greatest part of the room , nor to the door where the meat comes in ; it should also have the window before , or at least on one side of , it . in making visits few things are observed ; but in receiving visits many : as , entertaining a superior or equal , he ought to be so clothed as to go abroad ; and drawing near to hasten his pace as if he would have gone further to receive him ; to meet a superior also at the bottom of the stairs , to accompany him to his coach. it being a general rule to accompany the departer one degree further then where you receive him . equals ( tho best received as you desire to be received by them ) are commonly received at the top of the stairs ; and the gentlemen meet them at the bottom . it is alwaies observed that the visiteds gentlemen attend one degree at least further then the patron . inferiors are received according to their qualities , some in the anti-camera , some three , some two , or one chamber off , or at the chamberdoor , or half the chamber of entertainment . only it is better to use too much , then to little , courtesy . with strangers , extraordinary civility and freedom may be used ; because they come but seldom , stay not long , and have no emulation with persons of your own country . an eminent person not knowing how to entertain a stranger , feigned indisposition , and received him in bed . if two send messages to have audience of compliment at the same time ; to the latter the patron commonly answers , that a b. is lord of himself and time , but that at the same time he expects such a one . if any one come to visit , whilst his superior is entertaining , ordinarily he is conducted to another room , where he is entertained by the gentlemen ; or if of lower rank , he staies in the anti-camera . if an equal come to visit , whilst an equall is in the room , the patron asks leave of the present , and leaving a gentleman or two to keep him company goes to receive the new comer . to persons of quality , audience is given with the portiere ( or hanging that covereth the door on the outside ) down ; public audience with it open ; yet if then a person of quality come , it is also let down . likewise at their entrance and departure the whole door must be opened ( all their doors being made double : ) it being an action of great superiority to give but half a door . seats also ought to be set ready before the visitants enter ; and chairs with arms are more honourable then those with backs only : and these then stools . the visitants or principal seat is to be set in such manner as it may look full upon the door of entrance , and the greatest part of the room ; the patrons with the back towards the door . if many visitants equal , their seats are to be set one besides another , or ordered along the wall which hath the foresaid conditions . if two , their seats are to be set so as to have the door on their shoulders , and that on the right hand of the door is the better place . the m. de c. may deliver a message of compliment of a meaner person then the visitant : but he must be more careful if a message of business , except from an equal , or that it require hast . but all messages from the prince or superior are instantly admitted , and no message must be whispered to the patron in company with equals , but spoken aloud . if there be many visitants , and one depart before the rest , the patron leaveth the rest and accompanieth the departer . and if whilst he is conducting an equal , another equal enters ; he entertains the new comer a while with the departer ; then recommending him to some of his gentlemen to conduct him to the place of entertainment , he accompanieth the departer , and then hasts to the other . when visitants are ready to depart , the patron maketh a noise with his foot or chair , that the attendant may understand to lift up the portiere ; but he ought not to command him , or to do any thing which may shew superiority in his own house . but if there be need of any thing , to ask leave of the visitant to call for it . but visited by inferiors , he may call or do what he pleaseth . if the visitants stay till it be dark , the m. di c. causeth to be lighted and set up in the footmens station , a torch of white wax ; and in the other chambers , each two candles of white wax ; and in the entertaining room two or more , as shall be necessary , which are to be brought in by the gentlemen ; also two or more in the anti-camera must stand ready to be lighted , to be born by the gentlemen before the visitant when he departeth ; who yet are not to turn their backs absolutely upon him . at the hall door must be ready torches to be carried in like manner before him by the footmen , or pages if there be any ; four at least for an equal , six for a superior , &c. a man meeting his equal , or not much inferior , makes his coach stop ; the worthiest stops last , and departs first . a man in coach meeting his equal on foot , lights out of his coach , and when they part he walks on foot a while after ; and then remounts . for an inferior , he alights not , except he have business with him . a governor of a place , through which his equal is to pass , sends to invite him before he enter his jurisdiction ; and if his invitation is accepted , he sends to meet him 9. or 10. miles , some of his gentlemen in coach ; and so others as he draweth nearer ; when near , the governor goes to receive him in person ; or if he please to honor him , under pretence of taking the air , he may go abroad that way he comes , and so receive him as he pleaseth . 7. do nothing in a company where you design to shew civility , that resembles superiority , nor usurp upon their rights , nor do any thing whereby any of them may think you do not love , prize , or respect them . as do not your own busines , command or chide your servants ; assume not all the talke to , or of , your self , family , wife , &c. nor tell your dreams , when perhaps your best actions when waking are not worth the reciting ; censure not nor contradict the rest ; but cede to the major part . desire not the highest place , nor be troublesom with impertinent debasing your self by refusing to go first , &c. throwing the arms like a fencer , and spending time in being intreated to do what you desire . some are dainty and nice , that take exceptions if not saluted , &c. in due order , mode , &c. hence they become jealous , think themselves affronted , &c. those mens conversation is a slavery ; to be with them is to be in little-ease , and a man had as good handle venice-glasses . let them , i beseech you , enjoy themselves by themselves , their conversation is a rope of sand , and no cement of love and kindnes can ty you to them . 8. the beginning and end of conversation with every one , is salutation : nor must you break company , tho with intention to return speedily , except you first ask their leave . the inferior salutes first out of duty ; and so doth the visiter . modesty is more graceful then boldnes , boldnes then bashfulnes , bashfulnes then impudence . country people know not how to look , but think they do best when most extravagant . endeavor not to partake of other mens secrets , i. e. either letters , books , papers , discourses , &c. if any thing be given to another to read , take it not out of his hand , nor be hasty to see any curiosity the first ; nor be curious to know what any one is doing or studying , or with whom . whisper not with any in company , for the rest suppose you talk of them ; but if you have any private busines , take him aside after you have asked leave , and when none is discoursing : and when you discourse privately , eye no man of the company . when you walk to and again , turn your face towards your superior ; and if you meet a superior in a narrow way , stop , and press to make him more room , for it is an action of respect . beware of sullennes , melancholic , furious , silence ; as if you observed and censured what every one spoke or did . tho silence in a studious person may be tolerated . and if all the company laugh , do not you act the grave , nor be like a pump to yeild only what is forced from you . yet to be complaisant is not to eccho to what every one saith , or do whatever any other would have you ; to make up a number , and be a cypher in conversation . to comply with all is worse then with none , as much as contemt is below hatred . pride , insolence , statelines , imperiousnes , angrines , are not signs or qualifications of a gentleman , but the scandals of conversation , and proceed from a spirit of presumtion and want of breeding , which conceives it self to be above , better , wiser , then others ; and that he alone ought to be the rule , to which others ought to conform : that all others are wandring stars , himself only in the ecliptic . the greatest magnetismes in the world are civility , conforming himself to the innocent humors , and infirmities , sometimes , of others ; readines to do courtesies for all , speaking well of all behind their backs . and 2ly affability , which is not only to be used in common and unconcerning speech , but upon all occasions . a man may deny a request , chide , reprehend , command , &c. affably , with good words ; nor is there any thing so harsh which may not be inoffensively represented . consider , that the meanest person is able to do you both good and harm . esteem the faults you commit against others to be great ; those of others against you to be small . answer no man till he hath spoken , for those who are impatient to hear , are rash to censure : nor turn your back upon , nor correct , the speaker : depart not before he hath done , prevent him not by helping him out with what he seems to have forgot . tell not what comes into your fancy in the midst of anothers discourse , nor seem to know what he would say ; if you think fitting to interpose , do it not without asking leave ; else you hinder the discourse to be understood , and make what is said to be misinterpreted ; whence many unnecessary arguings , and confused tattles before the matter can be cleared . say not , i knew this before , but accept what is said as new , and in good part . be not magisterial in your dictates ; nor contend pertinaciously in ordinary discourse for your opinion , nor for a truth of small consequence . declare your reasons ; if they be not accepted , let them alone ; assure your self that you are not obliged to convert the whole world. it is also an uncivil importunity to clash with every thing we dislike , or to confute every thing we think is false : to formalize upon all the foolery and non-sense we hear . let us not contrast with the whole world , as if we were , universal reformers . in a controversy say not all you can , but what is necessary . also if what you report is not beleived , do not swear it , nor use any imprecations upon your self , nor lay wagers , nor take your self engaged to defend it , or that he , who beleives you not , affronts you . so neither repeat the same things frequently over ; if the company harken not to you , let them chuse ; suppose it your own fault , who speak not what deserves their attention . if they understand you not , blame your self who either speak not clearly , or accommodate not your self to your auditory . after a man hath told a story in your presence , ask not , what 's the matter ; for that shews that you contemned the speaker , and minded not what was spoken ; besides you make him your inferior , to tell a tale as often as you are pleased to ask it . he that speaketh much , cannot speak all well . but indeed it is the dwarf-tree that bears the first fruit , and the emtiest that makes the most sound . besides it is an injury to the rest of the company , who expect to be heard , every one in his turn . yet better to speak much then nothing at all , except it be apprehended to be discretion . if you live in a place where the language is spoken in an evil dialect , do not affect to speak either purely , or badly , but as the best of that dialect speak . and avoid all big and hard words ; remember how the lyon crushed the frog , whom he saw so contemtible , after he had made so great a noise . all obscenity , whether in matter or words , proceeds from , and creates , evil manners ; and renders a gentleman contemtible . but amongst clowns he is most accepted , i. e. is the greatest clown , that useth it most . the pains we take to be pleasing ought to be spent only upon things honorable and of good fame . the reason why some words are immodest , others signifying the same thing , not , is : because these represent the displeasing object at a distance , through another light , and covered with another notion ; so that the offensivenes is not that which at first appears to the imagination ; ( so toads and vipers cause not that effect in us when seen a far off . ) it appears sometimes under a metaphor , or some other translatitious expression ; which is a corrective to the harshnes and unpleasingnes of the other . the same cautions prescribed in speaking , or greater , are to be observed in writing ; the neglect of their pens hath ruined very many ; and particularly the great master of civility , the author of galateo . for going to present to the pope a petition , by mistake he delivered a copy of licentious verses writ by himself : whereby he lost the popes favor , his own reputation , and all hopes of further advancement . chap. ii. of prudence . 1. the prudence here spoken of , is not that wisdom of the philosophers ; which , that we may live happily , would never have us experience sorrow , or trouble ; would reduce us to speculation , abstinence from emploiment , and a life abstracted from common conversation . that teacheth to menage action , public affairs and negotiation with others ; this shews how to escape inconveniences , and sufferings , by withdrawing from busines , and living with , and to , our selves only ; which that teacheth to avoid by discreetly governing , and regulating our actions . the philosopher perswades us to chuse the perfectest , i. e. the most quiet , innocent , retired , manner of life ; this prudence to live most perfectly , i. e. with the least inconvenience , or evil consequents , which may disturb our happines , in a common or active life . the one adviseth temperance by abstaining from all banquets , feasts , &c. this shews how to be abstemious , tho you come to them . the one tells us that the way to avoid danger , v. g. is never to go to sea ; this , since we are embarked , would have us govern our selves , and steer our course in the best manner . whether of these is better , i now dispute not ; but supposing a man to have already made choice of an active calling , then prudence is of great force ; to foresee all consequents , and avoid the bad ; to act effectually , and the shortest way ; to chuse the best means ; to menage crosses and hardships ; and to be content with what success god shall give . 2. signs of a wise man are these ; he rather hears then talks ; beleives not easily : judgeth seldom , and then not without great examination ; deliberates as long as his matter permits , and when resolved , is constant , and changeth not without solid reason ; therefore having deliberated , fears not to repent . he speaketh well of all ; defendeth the fame of the absent ; courteous , not flattering ; readier to give then ask or receive ; smiles rather then laughs ; is moderately grave ; honoreth his superiors ; attributeth the glory of good actions to his companions , rather then himself ; observes his friends , but doth no unworthy action for their sake ; is ready to assist and pleasure all , even the unknown ; yet without offending others ; considereth both events , that whatever happens , he may be like himself , neither exalted nor dejected ; avoids anxiety , melancholy , and morosenes ; what he doth , tho necessitated , yet doth it not as unwillingly , but makes a virtue of necessity ; is even in his carriage , true in his words , the same in shew and reality , and beleives so of others when he hath no reason to the contrary ; he admires none , derides none , envies none , and despiseth none , not the most miserable : he delights in the conversation of wise and virtuous persons ; profereth not his counsel , especially when he understands not well ; is content with his condition : nor doth any thing through contention , emulation , or revenge , but strives to render good alwaies even for evil . he laboureth to know so much , as to be able to depend upon his own judgment , tho he do it not . abi tu & fac suniliter . 3. a fool talks much , and little to purpose ; is angry without cause ; trusts any one ; is restless and still changing place , troubleth himself with what doth not concern him ; the more fool he is the more he understands other mens busines , his own the less , and therefore is alwaies ready to reprehend and advise , seldom to obey ; he discerns not when flattered ; but sensible enough to fancy himself abus'd . he desires without choice and discretion , and therefore is quickly weary of what he enjoies ; he resolves without advice , and therefore suddainly changeth , and that without reason . he is apt to refuse what he cannot avoid , desire what he cannot obtain , and repent what he cannot amend ; he laments the past , is exalted with the present , and negligent of the future . the first degree of folly is to think himself wise , the second to proclaim it ; and therefore he hath an answer ready to every question , and is never better by either counsel or affliction . as amongst wise men he is wisest that thinks he knows least , so amongst fools he is the greatest that thinks he knows most . 4. prudence depends upon experience ; without which no man , of ever so great capacity , can any more arrive to be a wise man , then a fruit to maturity , without time . and experience is either of other men , which we see , read , or hear , or of our own affairs . this is the harsher mistress ; and happy is he that can learn of the other , and arrive to perfection , tho in his old age . hence it is , that most men understand that only wherein they are most practised ; as many know what is to be done , but neither how to go about it themselves , nor to direct others ; such have much study , little experience . many can advise well , but themselves cannot act . many can menage a busines if not opposed ; and many better if opposed : as many are not able to beat or chaffer , tho they know the prices ; and many ignorant of the prices , yet bargain cunningly . for the rules of busines are the same , tho the subjects are divers ; conversing much makes a man bold and confident ; and engaging in busines fits for more busines ; and therefore it is no wonder that many citizens ( merchants especially ) prove wise-men , ( and in the late wars also excellent soldiers ) because much practised to treating , and negotiation . the like is also of lawyers . but many of both these professions , thereby accustomed to value small gains , contract such a narrownes of spirit , and tincture of interest , that it scarce ever leaves them . nor do i perceive lawyers fitter for state emploiment then merchants ; they having both particular trades , and differing , as to public government , no otherwise then an east india , or an hamborough , merchant , in reference to traffick . for tho the professing of law may seem to intitle to somewhat more knowledge in governing ( of which laws are the rule ) yet in effect it doth not ; because their practise and study is about just and unjust ; about meum and tuum ; the petit iuterests and controversies of particular persons ; not the government of a prince over his people ; or his negotiations with his neighbors ; which depend upon different principles , seldom considered by those who deale between private persons . besides that the tying of princes to the formalities of courts , tediousness of processes ; and casting the laws of government into the mold of the laws of private interest , must needs be great impediments unto it . 5. this prudence , you see is quite different from cunning , the advantage of fools , and wicked men , who mistake them for the same . for the prudent mans aime is to secure himself , and interest , ( the wisedom of the serpent recommended to us by our saviour ; ) to be in such a condition in all estates , as to be able justly , honourably , and openly , to make use of all opportunities , and occasions for his own advantage , toward the obtaining of the great end of his creation . cunning measures justice by escaping punishment , right by law , and wisedom by success , reputation by wealth or power , and the satisfaction of others by his own interest . a prudent man deals so sincerely , that he fears not the examination of his actions or purposes ; and is not afraid to have witnesses , if it were possible , of his thoughts . the crafty builds his house under ground , celat , tacet , dissimulat , insidiatur , praeripit hostium consilia , and in order to his own advantage he looks upon all other men as enemies . and to these purposes , he useth many artifices ; as taking advantage of the person , if in necessity , intangled in vice , fear of punishment , or discovery ; if in danger , humor , passion , any weakness or ignorance : he also watcheth the time , if in mirth , drinking , sorrow ; if inadvertent , if easy ; he makes use also of his authority , reputation , and superiority , to impose upon inferiors . he pretends great kindness and affection in general expressions ; or particular ambiguous ones ; or such as he will not be obliged by ; for he purposeth nothing ; nor hath he , or ever intends to have , any friend . but his great engine is a smooth tongue , and a competent stock of wit. 6. persons passionate , fanciful , intemperate , are wont to apprehend things strongly ; and so apprehended to beleive , and affirm to others , and act accordingly thenselves : and if such men be of reputation or power , they often do much harm . very wise men also are oftentimes too resolute , and obstinate in their opinions ; for being used to thinking , they apprehend much of their object , i. e. in a short time they overlook the reasons , circumstances , probabilities , collect consequences , &c. which actions familiarize the object to the faculty , and this renders the reasons of the contrary side , less probable . even as our conversation with a man breeds some degree of kindness and friendship to him , tho the man himself be not worth our acquaintance . wherefore every prudent man ought to be jealous and fearful of himself , lest he run away too hastily with a likelyhood instead of truth ; and abound too much in his own sense . 7. all estates are equall , i. e. men may be happy in every state . for security is equal to splendor ; health to pleasure , &c. every state also hath its enemies , for deus posuit duo & duo , unum contra unum . a rich man because rich ; the poor man hath as poor neighbours , or rich ones that gape after that small which he enjoyeth : beware therefore how you offend any man , for the offended joins against you ; and be sure you hate no man , tho you think him an evill or unjust person . nor envy any one above you ; you have enemies enough by your own state , make no more ; but rather , procure as many friends as you can to uphold and strengthen you . every man hath also an enemy within himself ; he that is not choleric is covetous , is facil , i mean by nature , for if he hath subdued these natural desires , 't is otherwise . nor can a choleric man say ; i am to be pardoned ; 't is natural to me ; such a one is not so . for that such a one hath also his infirmity , his inclination , which perhaps is harder to conquer then yours . besides what is according to nature , is seldome perceived by us ; a choleric man perceives not when he is angry , at least thinks it no great fault . therefore it is necessary to have an adviser . 8. all men , therefore are evil judges of themselves , and think they do well many times when they sin , and commit small errors when they are guilty of crimes . it is also in our life , as in arts and sciences ; the greater differences are easily discerned , but of the smaller moments onely the wise and skilful in the art can judge . many vices also , tho contrary , yet are like to virtues , the confines of both are the same ; and the exact limits and boundaries difficultly fixed ; as of pride and greatness of spirit ; religion and superstition ; quickness and rashness ; cheerfulness and mirth ; so of ambition and sufficiency ; government and tyranny ; liberty and licentiousness ; subjection and servitude ; covetousness and frugality ; and so of the rest . and yet prudence chiefly consists in this very exactness of judgement ; to discern the one from the other ; and give to every cause his proper actions and effects . it is therefore necessary for every one , that desires to be a wise man , to observe his own actions , and the original of them , his thoughts and intentions , with great care and circumspection ; else he shall never arrive in any tolerable manner to the knowledge of what he doth well or ill . and lest all this diligence should be insufficient , as the partiality to himself will certainly render it ; it is very requisite for him to chuse a friend , or monitor , who may with all freedom advertise him of his failings , and advise him remedies . such a one , i mean , as is a discreet and virtuous person ; but especially , one that thrusts not himself upon the acquaintance of great persons ; nor upon emploiments scandalous for opportunities of injustice ; that bridleth his tongue , and wit ; that can converse with himself , and attends upon his own affaires whatever they be . insinuare your self into a confidence with him ; and desire him to observe your conversation , and seriously and friendly admonish you of what he thinks amiss ; and let not his modesty rest till he condescend to you : for do not imagine that you live one day without faults or that those faults are undiscovered . most men see that in another , which they do not in themselves . and he is happy , who in the whole space of his life can attain to a reasonable freedom from sins ; and that with the help of old age also , that great dompter and mortifier of our lusts and passions . if he inform you , whether true or false , take it not patiently , but thankfully ; for the advantage is the same ( which is , to break the inordinate affection you bear towards your self , ) and be sure to amend : thus you both get a friend , and perfect your self in wisedom and virtue . when you consider , that you must give account of your actions to your vigilant reprover ; that other men see the same imperfections in you as he doth ; and that 't is impossible for a great man to enjoy the advantage of friendship , except he first disrobe himself of those qualities , which render him subject to flattery , i. e. except he first cease to flatter himself . a good confessor in religion will supply much of such a monitors work ; tho the one doth it judicially , the other only in familiar conversation . and how much more worthy is such a one of entertainment , then those , who come to your table to make sawces , eat your meat , censure their neighbors , flatter , and deride , you ? 9. if a friend tell you of a fault , imagine alwaies ( which is most true ) that he telleth you not the whole : for he desires your amendment , but is loath to offend you . and nunquam sine querelâ aegra tanguntur . 10. there is little or no difference betwixt not deliberating and deliberating in passion ; except that this is the worse , as engaging more , and more irrevocably in error . for he that being out of the way , is resolved to go on , straies the further . 11. the fore-game , a wiseman plaies , is to foresee and avoid ; but the aftergame is to carry himself with courage and indifferency . and therefore cato falling into a calamity , not by his own fault , should not have rid himself of it by a greater wickednes ; but by his constancy and generosity have shewed to the world , what a wise man should do in such a case . 12. all mens apprehensions naturally are alike : what one sees red , another sees not green ; and aloes is not better to one , and sweet to another ; and their first thoughts upon them are the same . and that one man is more learned , is not because he knows otherwise then another ; but it is because he knows more consequences , and more propositions by his greater industry and experience . the conceptions according to truth are alike and the same , but false are infinite ; wherefore if you find one man single in his judgment , be wary of him ; he either knows more then all others , or there is some ill principle in him . 13. no evil man but hath irregular passions ; which passions are offensive to evil persons , more then to good ; ( for good men are humble , complaisant , &c. ) therefore one evil man agrees not with , nor loves to deal with , another . 14. much of the trouble of this world proceeds from certain irregular humors and desires , which many men indiscreetly espouse ; and because they are innocent , they think them also prudent and rational . if other men endeavor to repress them as inconvenient , &c. 't is ill taken , and with trouble , and disquiet ; being these are not unlike to such as have antipathy to certain meats that exposeth them to needless passions , and impertinent affliction . 15. wisedom is made to rule , and yet magistrates generally are readier to make use of their power then wisdom ; of their will then reason . because it is easier , shorter , and complies more with the humor of mankind . yet the subjects prefer , and often expect , the other . 16. a great general where ever he travelled , went continually considering the situation of the country ; and casting with himself , what was to be done , if leading an army he should be assaulted there by an enemy . by which means he was alwaies provided against surprises . the same care doth every wise man take by pondering all the cases of danger and difficulty which may or are likely to occur in his emploiment . 17. every man hath a tender place ; which when touched by the hand of god , afflicts him , and he complains . and those , who are most engaged in the world , have more tendernesses , as riches , family , reputation , bodily infirmities , &c. wherefore a wise man provides before hand a stock of patience ; and fortifies the dangers by good considerations , and by taking off his affections and passions from them . 18. the things of this world seem greater at distance ; the things of the other world greater near hand . because those are fully known ; and comprehended alwaies with passions of love , fear , &c. for they enter in by the senses ; which , being natural , and not free , agents , work ad ultimum virium , and entertain their object as much as they can . besides , the objects are themselves clothed with many circumstances , pomps , and shews ; which make them seem great and taking : and without these they would be naked , and nothing . but spiritual things move only the soul and spirit ; which receives not without arguing and disputing , i. e. without something of truth , and rejecting appearances . wherefore a wise man is wary of the things of this world , and admits them not confidently . 19. creaturae dei in odium factae sunt , & in tentationem animae hominum , & in muscipulam pedibus insipientium . for that which is the occasion to wise and virtuous men of obtaining and doing good , is by their ignorance turned by fools to their disadvantage . indeed all things , even wise counsel , are by fools made either instruments or testimonies of their folly . chap. iii. of conversation and discourse . 1. conversation casual with many , voluntary with few , of busines to be denied to none . have many acquaintance , one friend , and no enemy . some keep company to spend their time , and saunter away their age ; such care not much with whom they converse ; nor is their company either grateful , or beneficial . others for pleasure and divertisement , to laugh and make themselves merry , and so pass their time . others for interest ; and that either honestly , or deceitfully , as by gaming , debauching , hectoring , overreaching , flattering , &c. 2. great care is to be taken in all conversation , for we must do as the ancients feigned of their lamiae , that within dores wore their eyes in their girdles but going abroad put them in their heads ; but still greater care is requisite in choice of such companions , with whom a man is to converse much , or a long time , or to trust with busines of consequence . as the italians say ; measure it a hundred times , before you cut it once ; at first standing upon your guard , till you discover their inclinations . and first , avoid , as much as you can , the company of all vitious persons whatsoever ; for no vice is alone , and all are infectious . of swearers , prophane , and blasphemers ; lest almighty god lay to your charge the neglect of his interest , and honor , in your presence uncontrolledly affronted ; whilst you are ready to resent and vindicate every small offence done to your self . of hectors , and those brutish persons ; who either for gain , or satisfaction of their bestial arrogance , care not whom they debauch or affront . insolent children of hell , ruiners of so many persons and families . of scoffers ; who put their own faults in the back end of the wallet , but discover all they know of others . with such no peace is durable . of a person scandalous either for profession , or manners ; for you run his hazzard , and espouse his disreputation . never expect any assistance or consolation in your necessities from drinking companions . 2. avoid also consorting with those who are much superior , or much inserior , to you : inferior , not only in degree and external quality , but especially in parts . tanti eris aliis , quanti tibi fueris . your own thoughts and designs will be such as your companions are ; and low fortunes breed many times degenerous purposes . he that makes himself an asse , 't is fitting others should ride him . and it is a very mean ambition to be the best of his company . with open , upright , plain dispositions as also with the cheerful and facetious , there is no difficulty in conversation ; except where they meddle too boldly with other mens lives ; but theirs is satyre , not calumny . with resty , froward , ill natur'd humors , who are hard to please , and think it grandezza to be harsh and parsimonious of good words , and supercilious towards their equals , few converse who intend not to gain by them . from all good natur'd persons , women , and drink , keep your secrets . and with such as are wholly bent upon their own interest , discours not upon what concerns their interest . 3. they who pretend to cunning observe , and make much of a rule , which i think it is not amiss to know , to beware of , and fortify against , but not to practise , it ; which is , to observe every mans imperfection , ( for few there are but have such a one ) and accordingly to apply themselves . as for example 1. with such as are swelled with conceit of their nobility or wealth , if they have busines , they give them respect enough ; if they have not , yet they pay them with their own coin ; no matter if they deceive themselves with the opinion that they are honored according to their merit or desire . 2. all humorous persons are weak , and conscious to themselves , that they stray out of the plain way of the reason of mankind ; for it is discretion and judgment that corrects out irregular fancies , and ( where virtue or vice intervene not ) conforms us to the common customs . wherefore he , that will take the pains to comply with , and seem to justify , their folly , rules them . 3. such as having imposed upon themselves certain laws of ceremonies , &c. would also oblige others to the same ; ( which proceeds many times from melancholy and not pride ) their weakness is manifest . 4. with morose persons , they deal freely , openly , and familiarly ; that they may think they see through their designs , and so they are stricken in the right vein . 5. those who are curious to pry into other mens matters , are commonly malicious ; no friendship with them , as neither with a proud , nor any angry , person . 6. with such as are in disgrace with superiors ; they converse not much , and are wary how they offer them help , &c. for they fasten as men drowning upon any shew of assistance . 7. with such as are in grace with the prince , they keep good correspondence , and seek their favor ; and tho mean persons , yet they despise them not , for they are chosen by his judgment . but they do as they , who in a dark night follow him that hath a torch , tho a rogue , or a beggar . 4. give no man just cause of offence ; nor resent too vively injuries towards your self . but if after your care to avoid quarrelling , you happen upon such brutes , as either to try your mettal , or out of a bestial love of injuriousnes , ( for such hectors this age hath brought forth in greater plenty , then any other i ever read of ) the best way is to resent it briskly ; and threaten seriously , at least ; if you do not chastize , the insolency , that makes injuring a profession . chuse therefore the conversation rather of ancient men , for their testimony is of greater force ; of such persons as are famed for virtue and wisdom ; ( for something is alwaies to be learned by them ) and such there are many , but they offer not themselves , but expect to be sought out , and admit not every application without choice . so much for conversation , it follows of discourse . men are commonly judged by their discourse , and therefore it is necessary for a wise man to regulate that , almost in the first place . discourse is either concerning . 1. raillery and mirth . 2. other mens lives and actions . 3. occasional , as history , news , &c. 4. erudition and edification ; or 5. business and interest of self or friends . 1. those , who take pleasure in exposing others to contemt and derision , either by imitating their actions , or imperfections , or by jeering and mocking them , avoid , as you would the heels of an horse , that kicks every one he can reach : if you cannot , take the part of the abused ; blame the action , spare the person ; or if the person be known , excuse the action ; if neither can be done , praise the person for some other good action or quality ; so have you an antidote against the poyson . indeed there is no greater enemy to peace and charity then the railleur . for , as ordinarily it is the sooty oven that mocks the black chimney ; so one jeer seldome goes forth , but it returns with its equal ; and they together beget a quarrel . besides , to abuse inferiors argues a mean and contemtible spirit ; superiors , is dangerous ; and a word often provokes them more then an action . to abuse a friend is to lose him ; a stranger , to lose your self in his and the worlds esteem . those mocks are most resented which touch a mans reputation , chiefly that of wit or discretion ; for of that even fools are chary ; and every one rather confesseth his forgetfulness , then ignorance . next those which are for particular actions , rather then in general , for they seem to have more of truth , these of wit ; which are of some secret imperfection ; which are of that wherein a man prides himself . since francis i. time ( who giving charles v. the lie , and challenging him to a duel , was refused ) the lye hath been counted a great affront ; and many exaggerations are made of that abuse . but had not that king ( perhaps in justification of his own rashness ) said , that he was not a gentleman that would take the lye ; i do not beleive that would have deserved a severer chastisement then other imputations ; i speak in conversation , for laws take no more notice of that then others . yet it seems , to condemn all raillery is to tether the wits ; and therefore if preserved in a mediocrity , it might be allowed . for it makes men stand better upon their guard , when they know that they are likely to hear again of their actions ; besides it inureth them to bear harsh words , and bridle their passions . but to railly hansomely is very difficult , for good jests are to bite like lambs , not like dogs , tickle , not wound . and therefore 't is requisite to have a third person of discretion , to stroak over the severer nips , and throw dust upon them , when being heated they begin to sting one another . also with small miscarriages and misfortunes , and such as happen without the parties fault , &c. you may be the bolder ; and with such as bring no shame with them , and such wherein many are concerned . the jeerer also must be content to tast of his own broth ; and the expert in this trade are wont to do ; as he , who having in his youth taken great liberty to railly upon married persons , in his declining age took a wife , where any one might have had her for his mony ; and the first entertainment of his friends was the discourse of his own marriage , to prevent all that could be said . in sum , jeers are only then good , when ex tempore ; when they seem to proceed from wit , not anger or malice ; when they are intended for mirth and pastime not calumny ; when you are pleasant with his error or mistake , not his shame ; and seldom please at second hand . but because these intentions are difficultly known ; because many persons are very captious and hasty ; and because at best it argues not a solid , and universal wit , but a peculiar dexterity and promtitude , which is frequently accompanied with want of good invention as well as judgment ; a discreet person will not much engage himself in it , nor render himself a fool to make others laugh ; but after he hath tried 3 or 4 times and finds not himself fit for it , let him never endeavor it more . 2. a kin to the railleurs are the drolls , who turn all to ridiculousnes . their censure see in sen. ep . 29. marcellinum nondum despero ; etiamnum servari potest , sed si cito porrigatur illi manus . est quidem periculum ne porrigentem trahat . magna in illo ingenii vis , sed tendentis in pravum . faciet ; quod solet ; advocabit illas facetias , quae risum evocare lugentibus possunt , & in se primum , deinde in nos jocabitur , &c. christians have greater arguments against this drollery ; that it grieves gods holy spirit , and is contrary to that seriousnes and consideration requisite to religion . that there is nothing so sacred or prudent , which by the petulancy of wit may not be made ridiculous , consequently contemtible , fit to be neglected and abolished . virgil we have seen publicly , and even the holy writings we heard to have been , travesty , by those who spare neither their souls nor reputation , to prove themselves buffoons ; and shew their abilities and ingenuity in folly . and this indeed is the great engine charged against heaven , the only and trusty weapon wherewith dirty potsheards ( disciples of julian the apostate , porphirius , epicurus , and the rest of that brutish heard ) bark and grin against a deity . when all true reason , and sober consideration as well as the other creatures justify their maker , yea when even the dogs revenged him upon lucian the great professor of scurrility and scoffing as well as epicurism and irreligion . but besides this disposition proceeds from a laschety and levity unbefitting any person of quality and emploiment ; and increaseth the same inclinations both in the droller and the auditors . for as a wit used to versifying is ready to put all its thoughts into rime ; or a mathematician is presently reducing all his fancies to somewhat in those sciences ; every one casting his thoughts into that mold whereunto they are accustomed : so do drolls reject all serious notions , and accept and fix upon the light and emty . and therefore we see that when such persons aim at any thing grave and serious , it misbecometh them , as done out of order and season . thus doth mirth pleasingly by little and little steal away the judgment , rendring it vain , studious of , and delighting in , that which wise men avoid , laughter . and these men , whilst they think to fool others , become themselves really , what others are in their imagination . 3. in discourse concerning other persons ( familiar amongst women ) back-biting , and calumny is most frequent : because all men had rather hear evil of another then good . perhaps thinking thereby to justify their own faultiness ; at best indulging their self-love , which is grounded upon a too high estimation of themselves , and too low of others . this evil speaking is very frequently used by many , who pretend to extraordinary godliness ; whose bitings are also more dangerous , and venemous with those persons , who mistake their formality for seriousnes , and their gravity , for reality , in religion . but even in ordinary conversation men are wont also to defame their neighbours open-fac'd , without any ceremony , design , or remorse . from both these sorts of people , especially the former , turn away , as much as you can ; but be sure to be none of them ; nor partake with them in their calumniations . consider what you say of others , others say of you . before you calumniate , think , am not i the same ? or as bad ? take heed of doing that , which may hurt , but cannot do good ; for 't is madness to make enemies without cause ; and it is better to suppress , then vent and satisfy , a piece of wit or a foolish passion . the great rule is , nothing but truth before the face , and nothing but good behind the back . beware also of censuring nations , conditions , or states of men , as well as particular persons ; for there is no nation or condition , wherein are not many good ; and none so good , wherein are not many bad . 't is also a great honor and wisdom to pass by the back-bitings of others against your self . charles the 7th of france demanded of one , much emploied by him , and on whom he had bestowed many favors , what thing in the world could alienate his mind from , and bring him in dislike with , his prince ? the gentleman answer'd , an affront . this person seems to have bin very sensible indeed , but whether his discretion had merited the favor of his prince i much doubt . certainly the behavior of antigonus was much more generous ; who , when one told him , that such a one affronted him , answered ; it may be so , but i will not be affronted . augustus advised tiberius not to be offended with peoples speaking ill of them ; it sufficeth , saith he , that we can secure our selves from their doing us harm . when one said , he was a tyrant ; he answered , were i so , he durst not have said it . to one calling him dwarf , well , said he , then i will get higher shoes . p. bernard , when one bid him get out like a dirty priest , replied , you are mistaken , i came in a coach. and truly since all these evil tongues are conquered by silence , one would think the victory easy ; did not experience shew us , that the great remedy against bursting is giving vent . there is no reason that the effect , which may proceed from divers causes , should be attributed to one . v. g. an action of seeming disrespect may either come from an intention to affront , from negligence , from having some other busines in his thoughts , &c. interpret not therefore such actions as affronts ; and the rather , because it is our duty to take every thing by the best handle . 4. the most innocent , grateful , and universal discourse , is telling stories ; and modern rather then ancient . some are so well stocked with this trade as to be able to answer any question , or parallel any case by a story ; which is ( if well done ) a very great perfection of eloquence and judgment . and in telling stories avoid too often said he , and said i , hear you me , mark me , &c. be perfect also , that you need not recant , stammer , or repeat things said before ; be not tedious in impertinent circumstances , nor make your own glory the chiefest concern . tell no lye in your discourse ; especially not gasconades , and improbable rhodomontades , wherein some , out of weaknes and lowness of spirit and parts , take as much pleasure as others in drinking when not thirsty , and think they then overwit the company . be not hyperbolical and extravagant , especially in praising and dispraising ; for the wit takes away the credit ; whereas the end of speech was first to make us understood , then beleived . and if you be convinced of an error , for truths sake acknowledg it , and change your opinion ; for this ingenuity is greater , because rarer . and remember , that one chance falling out , as the astrologues prognosticate , gets them reputation ; and their thousand lyes are not taken notice of ; but to a wise man one lye doth more disgrace , then thousand truths can recover . when news comes from an uncertain author , tho probable and expected , yet suspend your beleif ; because men easily report what they desire or expect ; but rather give heed to certain extravagant and unexpected relations , as unlikelier to be invented . and when you tell news , engage not for the truth of it . 5. in your discourse rational or of erudition , skip not from one subject to another ; as do fanatics , and other ignorant sciolists , who are never at ease till they have vented all they think themselves to know above other men . neither maintain an argument with ignorant , nor contradictive persons ; nor think that you are bound to convert or instruct the whole world ; least of all with vain drolls , who make your seriousnes their sport . be content to satisfy with reason , not ( especially your own ) authority ( a refuge many fly unto when worsted , if they know there is no examining books ) such as are capable and disposed . in reasoning , the most excellent way , wherein the best able is certain to carry the cause , and which will bring the controversy to a speedy determination , is by asking questions , and proceeding still upon the adversaries concessions ▪ which he cannot without shame retract ; ( by syllogisms is more pedantic . ) this is plato's manner of discoursing . pedantry is a vice in all professions , it self no profession . for a school-master is not therefore a pedant ; but he only who importunately , impertinently , and with great formality , shews his learning in scraps of latin and greek ; or troubles himself with knowledg of little use or value ; or values himself above his deserts , because of something he knows ( as he conceives ) more then ordinary ; or despiseth others not skilled in his impertinencies ; or censures all authors and persons confidently without reason . and whoever doth thus , be he divine , lawyer , statesman , doctor , or professor , he is a pedant . do not in ordinary company treat of matters too subtil and curious , nor too vile and mean ; nor of things unseasonable , as of religion in mixed , or young company , or at table ; but in all discourse have an intention to better your self and others . which that you may do , contrive , ( as much as you can ) before hand of what to discourse ; and lay your scene , which afterwards you may menage as you please . a man may judiciously discourse , when either he knows the subject very well ; or when desirous to learn ( a submission and ingenuity very grateful in company ) or when necessitated to discourse , and then he must do it discreetly and doubtingly , unless he very well know his auditory . cautious also must he be who discourseth of that he understands amongst persons of that profession ; an affectation that more scholars then wisemen are guilty of ; i mean to discourse with every man in his own faculty ; except it be by asking questions , and seeming to learn. you may freely and safely discourse of matters of philosophy , mathematics , travels , government of forreign countries , histories of times past or present of other places , husbandry , and the like , which subjects concern no mans reputation , and therefore none much care what part you take . discourse , tho amongst learned men , laies no grounds of science , but supposeth them , and therefore study is necessary ; without which who so adventures amongst scholars , is like a lady , that hath excellent medicines , but neither knows whereof they are made , nor how to apply them effectually . have a care also that your income exceed your expences , i. e. that you hear and read more then you speak : for he that spends out of the stock of wit and memory is quickly bankerupted ; but knowledg and learning continually improve by discourse . cunning discoursers to avoid baffling are wont at first to lay down a proposition easily defensible , to which they may retreat in case of necessity ; but defend the other out works also as long as they can . mens wits and apprehensions are infinitely various ; nor is there any opinion so extravagant , which hath not some followers and maintainers , who fit their hypotheses to it . wherefore do not censure any thing on a suddain as ridiculous , for tho it please not you , it may another , as wise . every man makes himself the measure of all others for truth and falshood , wisdom and folly . learning and ignorance , and the like . and who is able to denudate himself of this false opinion , or prejudice at least to truth ? but from hence it proceeds that we esteem him knowing that knows more or as much , and him ignorant , that knows less , then our selves . him also virtuous that is according to our sentiment and degree . also that all men are more ready to blame anothers errors , then praise his virtues . and that a man knowing what another doth not , and being ignorant of what another knows , yet knows not his own ignorance ; but consequently values himself and despiseth the other . to man alone ( not beasts nor angels ) hath nature given a nauseousnes of the present . the best things in the world if not accompanied with variety , become distastful . and nothing sooner then discourse : which is so much carefullier to be menaged , as the eare is sooner cloy'd then the eie . prudent eies are kept open by reason , ordinary persons by wit. old men commonly discourse of grave and edifying subjects , divinity , government , history , &c. young men rather of pleasant ; hunting , fashions , travels , wonders , &c. every man chuseth to discourse of that he best understands and loves . chap. iv. concerning business . a doctor being intreated by his nephew to give some rules for guiding and securing himself in negotiation , and contracts ; after long study told him , he could give him but one ; which was , alwaies to have to do with virtuous persons . but for many reasons this rule , tho a perfect one , is hard to be practised ; and therefore i beseech you be content with such imperfect ones , as my reading or experience can furnish . if any one tell you , that it is to no purpose to think long upon any matter ; that they are only wise men who can dispatch business ex tempore ; that consulting is but a dull formality ; and that a man sees as far into a thing at first , as by much consideration ; say boldly that man is a fool : the more you think , the more and clearer you shall understand . therefore men of most leisure do business the best ; and those who have much business must have much pardon . therefore men used to business do it better ; because they have thought of it before , either in the same , or a like , case . a prudent man doth no business rashly , i. e. without reason and advice ; and he adviseth also as long as he can ; and that first with his own thoughts : which being not sufficient , he takes in also the assistance of other mens counsel ; and heareth others , tho he follow perhaps his own . most men advise for their own interest , and therefore happy is he who hath a friend . to order your thoughts well in deliberation , endeavor to put your business into an history , considering what is to be done or said first , what afterwards . for the hindrance of prudent resolutions is the confusion and disorder of thoughts ; which by this method is cleared : by it also you shall quickly discover where the difficulty is , and know when you have done . it is also very convenient to write down your reasons pro & con in deliberation ; for the mind by this means , is freed both from the confusion , and burden of those arguments . give not your advice or opinion before asked ; for that is to upbraid the others ignorance : nor attribute ill success to the neglect of your councel ; nor be angry if your advice be not followed . neither accustom your self to find fault with others actions , except vitious ; for you are not bound to weed other mens gardens . be not too eager in counselling others ; for the evil success ( which happens frequently to good advice ) will be laid to your charge , and seldom shall you be thanked for the good . it happeneth frequently to men that are wise by experience , and not learning , that they cannot give a reason of their opinion and advise , tho it be really the best : ( as a meer mechanicall workman knows there is a fault in the work , ( tho he cannot tell punctually what it is . ) despise not such mens opinions for their want of discourse , in deliberations where there is reason on both sides and that a man hath resolved one way , he commonly thinks that he hath chosen the worse , because then he onely considers the reasons of the contrary part ; which represented by themselves ( the other after resolution being no more considered ) seem greater and of more consequence then they are . there is one great perfection in doing business , which is , that tho you set your mind and thoughts upon business , yet do not engage your affections , at least deeply , in it . for thus shall you both have your understanding clear at all times ; and not be disturbed if you miscarry ; which you must make account will often happen unto you . besides precipitiousness , impatience , or not staying to take the opportunity , and time your business , is frequently the ruine of many noble designs ; and all passion whatsoever deteriorates your negotiation ; if your reason will not bring you to this indifferency , experience will. a l'adventure tout vient à point à qui peut attendre . in treating about business you understand , you have an advantage to propose first ; in what you understand not , 't is best to receive propositions . and if you have a doubtful cause , an inconstant adversary , or find him disposed to comply with your desire , defer not to dispatch . in business ( except buying and selling ) you shall find very few persons speak to the purpose ; therefore let every man talk his fill : rather then interrupt , provoke him to speak ; for he will blurt out many things to your advantage : some out of ignorance and inexperience ; others on purpose standing on circumstances and things of small consequence . women commonly ( as weakest ) are most extravagant ; and at an end , or the midst , of their story must drop a tear ; for being themselves compassionate , they think others are so too ; and that is their interest . the difficulty of dispatch is not from the business it self , wherein a man may easily see what is necessary , or fittest to be done : but it is in perswading your interest ; in communicating so much and no more then concerns you ; using such reasons only , as are proper for your matter ; in applying them to every ones understanding , inclination , and at a fit time ; and in taking off the opposition of adversaries . for there is no interest that hath not its contrary , and sometimes also so forcible a one , as is to be conquered onely with mony ; which is a sword that cuts even a gordian knot . all things concernning the menagery of affaires are reduced to these heads . 1. the ground or occasion . 2. the end to be brought about . 3. the reasons whereupon the affair is grounded . 4. the difficulties likely to be encountred 5. the answers which may be made to the reasons . 6. and the replies to them . 7. the advantage of the affaire to the other party . 8. examples of like cases . but alwaies be sure to remove the principal obstacle . some men are apt to beleive what they hope for , or desire ; others are never secure , till they see and enjoy . and this doubtless is the better ; because it encreaseth diligence , good success , and less affliction . wherefore of future things , imagine and provide for the worst ; tho of actions dubious of other persons you conceive the best . fear is a necessary passion , and hath a great share in all our affairs . the great and general defect being negligence , laschety , and love of ease ; fear discuseth these . he that is in continual apprehension of evil watcheth to avoid , prepareth to rencounter , and is cautious not to give admittance to , danger ; but endeavors to secure his condition , and remove further from evil . in things of the other world men are more apt to hope , because they have not so clear an apprehension , nor so firm a beleif , or not so frequent consideration concerning them ; but in matters of this world more apt to fear ; for all mens hopes frequently fail , their fears seldom . besides the loss of what we enjoy goes nearer and is more sensible to us , then the future good may advantage ; wherefore in treating with most men you know the best topic. and seldom is it seen but that fear also gets the better of love , and therefore good magistrates trust not only to love , but will in some degree be feared also . secrecy and reservednes is of infinite use ; for , besides that such are not easily prevented and interrupted , men are still commenting and in suspense about every motion of theirs ; which gets great reputation . besides suddain things do more amaze , and confound , then things foreseen or expected . but you need not put your self to the trouble of secrecy , where you fear no opposition . many time ; also your secrecy is to be concealed ; nor is an inquirer into the business you would hide rudely to be denied ( for that many times breeds jealousies , &c. ) but by prudent and courteous dissimulation to be fenced withal , and his thoughts dextrously avoided rather then forcibly returned upon him . he that is a good practitioner in this trade becomes often-times master of his thoughts that came to sist him . beware of trusting to your fortune ; for most men are fortunate for a time , and in some things only : nor is he fortunate , who hath a good occasion offered to him , for it is prudence to take hold of , and use , it ; but he that hath it presented twice . think not such as these to be good consequences . he is a good man , therefore doth nothing ill : he is a bad man , therefore doth nothing well . he is a wise man , therefore doth nothing foolishly , &c. consider this well and stand upon your guard . for every one hath errors , from whence sometimes greater , other times lesser , mischeifs arise : happy are they , whose errors happen to be in small matters , and which come betimes , and are remediable . he that doubts not , knows either all things , or nothing . and he that imagines never to commit an error , his next pretence must be to divinity . the things of this world never stand in one stay , but are alwaies moving their own way ; and if we perceive not their alteration , it is because our age is shorter then theirs . this observation is of importance to many purposes , v. g. virtue and vice , wisdom and folly , are but good and bad , prosperous and adverse , in the seed . when we read in histories the great changes of government , we much wonder at them , and are apt to pitty the sufferers . but providence hath so ordered , that great alterations ordinarily happen by little and little ; so that both reason and nature either accomodate to them , or have time to escape , and provide other waies . he that entreth into danger without considering it , is a beast ; he only is valiant , who knowing the danger , embraceth it cheerfully , whether out of necessity or honor . yea , tho he knows and supposeth that all dangers have not their effects ; but that some are prevented by industry , some by courage and prudence , and some fortune and the course of things ( gods providence ) casts of . dealing with merchants and men of busines and virtue cut of ceremonies ; and declare the busines at length rather then too-short ; for this is apt to raise mistakes ; besides a man is not alwaies in disposition or ability to fathom the depth of an affair with a short cord . when you have extorted from a person what he obstinately denied , you need not doubt , but at the same time also to obtain another he would not willingly grant . for when a man is forced , as it were , to let go his hold of what he most firmly grasped , he unbends his hand , and abandons whatever it contained . commota semel & excussa mens [ à stabilitate suâ ] ei servit à quo impellitur . thus the parliament proposed to the king , together with the bill of attainder of the earl of strafford ( which he was formerly resolved not to grant ) a bill for perpetuating the parliament , which , tho of far greater consequence , he scrupled not . deser , as long as you can , the doing of a thing against your mind , rather then give a positive denial ; for accidents many times divert the design , and deliver you from that strait , wherein a refusal may deeplier engage you . never dispatch an evil and difficult busines so absolutely , but that ( if possible ) you leave place to undertake and introduce it again . time and opportunity alter many things , and make that pass smoothly which formerly would have bin refused , had not your dexterity left open the door for a new treaty . all men naturally avoid persons inquisitive into other mens affairs ; for such commonly are lavish of their intelligence , and thereby breed quarrels and spread animosities : besides that themselves are apt to envy and malign others , that being the concern which breeds their inquisitivenes . the reason , why things conform not to the general desire and expectation of the world , is , because they who give beginning and ending to busines are but few , and many are those who desire and expect . he is often to blame , who neglects a present good for fear of a future evil , except it be nigh at hand , and in a manner certain . so is he who strives to avoid all difficulties ; for more things affright , then hurt , us . and there are many changes in this world. di cosa nasce cosa . and in judgments of the future we see wise men frequently mistaken . poor , meanpeople , and wranglers , &c. conclude not any treaty , nor offer all they mean to give , till they be forced , i. e. till they see the treaty ready to break up ; and they think that they get a considerable advantage by such restines , and importunity ; as indeed they do , if they deal with ingenuous persons . so petty tradesmen love to call their customers back . since grateful and virtuous persons are so rare , value the service of such as are joined with you in the same interest or danger ; and you may more reasonably expect to be assisted by him , that hopes to get by you , then by him , who hath already received favors from you . and remember that a crown in your purse doth you more honor then ten spent . when in consultations there are contrariety of opinions , seldom is the best chosen ; and the more persons argue , the further they are from agreeing ; the love of their own opinion insinuating it self by little and little with their reason . wherefore , sometimes the most importunate prevails , sometimes he that finds out a medium ; not that this expedient is alwaies the best ; but that persons in heat of dispute , cannot easily pass over , or fully consent , to a contrary . thrust not your self to be moderator or umpire in controversies , till required ; and then 't is better to exaggerate the mischeifs of disagreement , then benefits of concord ; for fear is stronger then love . many are wont alwaies to take the adversaries part . but it is a very hard thing to reconcile men at first , their passions being high , and animosities great . but after they are reasonably wearied with law , or other inconveniences , 't is not difficult to find out a medium , which may save both their honors ; which is that both commonly desire . a worthy gentleman being to reconcile two persons , first made them swear both to stand to his determination ; and 2ly that neither of them should reveal upon what terms they were reconciled . every man is more apt to love , cherish , and trust in him , on whom he hath already bestowed most courtesies ; esteeming him as his creature ; [ this is the cause of the great love of parents toward their children : ] and he , that loveth , and doth favors , obligeth , and submitteth himself to the receiver ; so that for fear of losing what he hath already bestowed , he must bestow more . wherefore if you seek the favor of a great person , accept courtesies from him , and not from others . he that would perswade great men , let him first begin with the weakest ; by probable arguments , good words , and humble carriage he shall obtain their friendship ; and by their authority ( tho but fools ) draw in the wiser . mean wits alwaies distrust subtil arguments , and logical heads : and great men , for the most part , are of an inartificial understanding , and therefore by seemingly naked truth , and plainness , are brought to your opinion . in great councils and meetings there are alwaies some leading men , whom if you gain , your business is done . amongst multitudes , one adversary can do more harm , then many friends can do good . there are some who are children even in mature age ; and of them a man must not say , they are 40. years old , therefore they will do as men of 40. years old . but concerning those and all such heteroclites , look at their present customs , and menagery of their private affairs . for if you see an aged man vehement , suddain in his resolutions , following the impetus of his passions ; hold that man for a child ; not moved with reason , unconstant ; to day resolving without consideration , and in the same manner reversing it to morrow . nothing is well done , or said , in passion ; tho there may be just cause of being passionate ; but less or more all passion according to the degree of it hinders reason and deliberation . but beware instead of passion you fall not into slyness and cunning : for these two , passion and cunning , do many times shoulder out one another ; and generally people without passion are look'd upon as sly and crafty : which of the two is worse , there being more of the voluntary in it . it is good therefore sometimes to seem passionate , if you be not so . in all treating with other persons try first what may be done by fair means , good words , hopes of gratitude , &c. before you come to power or passion . and let power either of your self or the law be the last . when you consult with a friend about any business , be not hasty to receive a present answer ; but give him time to consider ; for the common and first conceptions of all men are much what the same : at least his extempore is not equal to your premeditated . physicians and lawyers answer out of their trade , and , as they pretend , by certain rules and cases very like , if not the same , with yours ; but it seldom falls out , that the same case in dispatch of business falls out twice ; or if it do , yet it is clothed with such various and differing circumstances ( according to which a wise man frames his opinion ) that it is very difficult to give judgement . the manner is when you propose a thing which you are afraid ; will hardly be accepted , or granted ; propose it by parcels ; that one piece be digested , before the other be swallowed . it is better to be near to , and serve , a prodigal , then a thrifty and parsimonious , prince ; tho for the publick this is more advantagious . for the prodigal is forced to use divers oppressions , &c. and more suffer by his profuseness then are benefited by it ; and they commonly are most benefited by it , who least deserve it . it seems that princes are more free , and masters of their own will , then other men ; but it is contrary in such as govern prudently : for they are necessitated to act with infinite cautiousness and consideration ; frequently to court even mean persons ; and swallow many a bitter pill at their hands . wherefore pardon your prince if he do not all things exactly , according to the precise rule of wisedom . he , that having bin the means to advance another to high degree , thinks to govern him , cancels his own courtesy . if you find that any one hath spoken ill of you to your patron , take no notice of it ; nor be eager to vindicate your self ; but continue your emploiment without complaining ; and your innocency will both appear , and prevail at last . great enterprises are not to be relinquished , because we cannot reconcile all difficulties ; for were all things easy , they were not great ; and could all objections , i. e. difficulties be solved , little were left to your courage or discretion . some things gods providence , and the course of things render easy ; and others are difficult only , because we see not through them at present . the more you come into favor , the less admit cabals and juntos , to avoid suspition . nor converse much with the ordinary servants ; for so they will respect you the more . yet , lest you be hated , be courteous in your salutes , discourses , offers of service , but especially in giving them reasons in your discourse : for then they think you do not despise them . but if they hate you for any good service done to your patron , sell it him dear ; that he may be obliged to protect you . no patron really loves a servant wiser then himself , let him pretend what he pleaseth ; and therefore if you be a person of understanding , covet not to be too near him , as of his bed-chamber , &c. for patrons are not pleased that such persons should pry too nearly into their actions and inclinations . wise men , when they have auy way come in competition with their prince , have alwaies ceded . yet it is better to be feared and hated , then despised . wherefore chuse rather to be a severe searcher into , and censurer of , actions ; then to be undervalued for taking no notice of them . if spies abound in a court , discourse in generals ; and give them no cause to think themselves discovered by you . neutrality makes the slowest , but surest , progress : for the neuter is connived at through the others mutuall envying . a weak patron is easily gained , but no considerable advantage of honor , or profit , can be got by him ; a wise master is jealous , easily lost , and then never recovered . if your master have any near kindred , keep fair with all , for they will certainly prevail ; and stick to the best beloved . if you light upon a master that is inquisitive after your words and actions , know , that he intends to keep you under . pray to god not to light upon a cunning master ; for either you shall be ruin'd by him ; or at best tired with standing upon your guard . in this case make shew not to perceive his subtilty , but to admire his ingenuity . sic ars deluditur arte . if your patron , by discourse , or actions , endeavors to conceal any of his vices ; be sure he holds that dear , is deeply engaged in it , and would enjoy it without a rival . to avoid envy , affect not expence and ostentation ; but mind reality . for be sure that way , accounted so honourable , leads streight to destruction . chap. v. of servants . since slavery was banished christendom , a servant is no other , then one hired to such emploiment ; and under such terms , as if well observed , the difference is not great between the condition of the master and the servant . for none can compel another to serve him against his will ; nor can i contract with him for his service , but at the same time he will bargain with me for his salary . i take him under my roof , i make provision for his sustenance , i defend him from his enemies ; as well as from hunger , cold , and diseases . and what doth he for this ? he serveth me ? no , he serveth himself . the same labor , he would undergo in his own house to maintain himself , and perhaps with great anxiety , he doth in mine with pleasure . so that now service is nothing but a compact betwixt the rich and the poor , for their mutual advantage . and to demand or imagine , that a servant should quit his own interest , profit and advantage , to procure his masters , is a folly no considering man will be guilty of . therefore let the master command according to reason and sweetness ; not so imperiously , or with such opprobrious language as may justly discontent or chase away a servant . if he obey with cheerfulness , and affection , he may at length perhaps make his masters interest his own . if you pay him not his wages , he will pay himself . in controversies , let the master sometimes cede to his servant , to keep his mettal in breath ; and not too severe , if the faults be small , or committed for want of judgment , or through a little itch of liberty . let the master be sometimes blind , and the servant deaf . but faults of malice , or impiety are not to be pardoned . the first such fault is the servants ; the second divided between master and servant ; the third , wholly the masters . correct him not before strangers , but if correction amend him not , rid your hands of him ; both for his sake , your own , and the scandal of others . rich men are inclined to pride , and contemt of others ; for having wealth , which commands all things in the great market of this world , they are apt to become insolent , petulant , impatient of disobedience , denial , reproof , or advice . and because ostentation of happiness is one part of it ; therefore are rich men vain glorious , desirous to be observed , and to live splendidly . and men newly enriched , and without their own industry more vain then they , who are born so , or have by industry acquired great estates . men in power also are more honorable , gallant , generous , and less vain then the rich . also because great estates are commonly acquired with little , and small ones not without great , labor ; therefore are rich men apt to exalt themselves as either above others , in parts , or the favor of god , both which are very great and dangerous errors , but difficultly to be eradicated . let them not , therefore , mistake morosity for grandeur , and passion for greatness . it is better to subdue your servants reason , as well as his strength and diligence . and those , who betake themselves to the rich , are to comport with their follies , impertinencies , and contumelies ; and to conceale them . it is better they should love their masters , but by no means hate them ; or speak evil of them behind their backs . not dispute their masters judgment ; not vy wit , taunt or rally , with them ; not use familiarity without leave ; but to put on patience , when they put on a livery . to admonish and reprehend is not an action of an inferior ; and an affectionate disrespect obligeth not so much by its sincerity , as it provokes by its ill example ; wherefore when you advise your superior , do it so , as it may be accepted . and let not the master refuse to hear the advice of his servant , tho he follow it not . no man ever miscaried through excess of respect ; or was disgraced for retaining a constant and proportionate sense of his patrons grandeur . yet patrons love not sullen , melancholic , austere , grave , or silent , servants . a master ought not to divertise himself with his inferiors , nor make his servants privy to his infirmities and failures ; but if he do , the servant must not presume , nor heighten himself for it . but let him be secret , and faithful to him . let the servant also know , that it is harder to menage well his masters affairs then his own ; let him therefore be more careful . for he hath more temtations to negligence and dishonesty . besides his masters business is not alwaies to be menaged the best way ; but that he likes best . put your servants to emploiments proper for their condition , years , capacities , &c. but never upon unnecessary trouble ; for that is to abuse , not use , a servant , and will cause them to hate you . those servants justly expect to be rewarded extraordinarily , whose industry and diligence seem to merit it . ( for gratitude being the least of virtues , ingratitude is the most infamous of vices ; especially in a great person : ) and this rewarding is so to be done , as the other servants do not resent it . that therefore is best done after some signal service . but beware of equalling all your servants in your gifts , or rewards : for the discreeter and superior hold it an affront to be equalled with the rest ; and the inferior made proud : but none more obliged then they , who catch mony thrown about in a solemnity , to render thanks to the donor . some there are , who defer their rewards till some festival , as christmas , or easter : but then the day is thanked , not the giver ; and after you are accustomed to it , 't is expected as due , and part of wages , not kindness and bounty . it is better to be somewhat sparing then liberal to a good servant ; for as he grows full , he inclines either to be idle , or to leave you . and his murmuring you may govern by a seasonable reward . it seldom happens that a reconciliation of master and servant is sincere ; therefore return not to a service , whence you have been ejected . in places which concern mony , employ not your kindred ; nor use them as your servants ; for they will presume upon their condition , and you cannot with reputation break with them . and truly , if you be a single person , i cannot forbear to recommend to you a saying of a great prelate ; that a courtier at rome ought to have 1000. ducats rent , 2000. in his purse , and be 1000. miles from his kindred . chap. vi. of giving , receiving , and promising . it is uncivil and unfitting for a man to oblige another to keep a promise disadvantagious to him ; or one made in mirth , passion , hast , unadvisedly , in civility , or compliment , or one obsolete ; as also not to admit of a reasonable excuse for the failure of a promise . it becometh every man to promise nothing but what he intends to perform : yet many , tho justly denied , are much displeased ; for all men govern not themselves by reason . insomuch that if a person desire to engage your indeavors in his business , if you shew him the difficulties , tho you promise your assistance , he commonly takes it for a denial , or a sign that you intend not seriously to befriend him . for these and such like reasons , the fashion now-adaies is , to give good hopes to all suiters , and to promise very freely and largely . and they find thereby great advantage ( as they think ) for carrying on business . the performance is sometimes hindred by unexpected casualities ; sometimes a good and plausible excuse goes a great way ; sometimes the party suffers himself to be wheedled with good words . yet 't is so ignoble and dishonorable a thing for a man to be worse then his word , that it never ought to be done . but this may he do ; he may entertain all suiters with general or conditional promises , and fair words : and tho all men ought to look at effects , and not words ; yet have good words a wonderful power ( take heed of being fool'd by them ) i suppose because every one values himself , and his merits , at more then he is worth ; and he is offended when that price is not set upon him , as himself thinks to deserve . at court they are wont to promise and offer service largely , especially to those , who are not likely to make use of them ; but towards ordinary conversants they are more wary , because better known . grant a courtesy ( if you intend it ) without much asking , for that doubles it . to keep long in suspense is churlish , and by long expectation the passion to the favor dies , and the courtesy is not esteemed , nor thanks heartily given for it . monsignior pamfilio ( afterwards innocent x. ) in his nunciature in france , and ever after was called monsignior-non-si-puo . from his frequent use of that answer to suitors . do your favors cheerfully , not as if they slipt through your fingers , or were stollen or wrested from you . and do them readily , for the intreater submits himself to the intreated ; his modesty therefore must be considered . non è cosa piu cara , che quella , che con priegh ▪ si compra . do them also without considering whether they be lost , or likely to be recompensed ; for a magnanimous and generous person looks not to receive as much again ; for that is the courtesy of tradesmen . be not as the barbarous king of madagascar that demanded more for the cowes he gave , then his subjects for those they sold ; for he said , that his good will and kindness was to be recompensed . and if you deny , do it with good words ; as if you were sorry you could not pleasure him . be not niggardly of that which costs you nothing ; as counsel , countenance , and the like . but beware of being security ; rather offer to lend mony of your own upon others bond . and by no means sell your ceremonies , nor pay your creditors , friends , and servants with good words , looks , and smoak . after a courtesy done , if you upbraid it , you lose it ; one principal end of giving being to oblige the receiver to your self and interest . neither too much undervalue , nor extol your gift ; but rather diminish , and excuse , when you give : seeming pleas'd so small a matter stood in such stead , and was so well placed , and accepted ; that you shall be ready to do greater service upon occasion ; but when you receive a favor , rather augment it . he is not ungrateful , who cannot , but who will not , repay ; will not through malignity and evil disposition . wherefore a generous spirit is satisfied , when the receiver declares his acceptance of the courtesy , and acknowledgeth the favor and honor ; for that shews he hath a good mind to be grateful ; if he were able . after a courtesy received , be not in hast to return another ; for that shews you are not willing to be beholden , nor return a much greater , for that seems to reproach the smalness of the received . those who willingly alwaies receive and never give , or those who would alwaies give and never receive , ( of which melancholic generous humor some few there are ) are not much esteemed in conversation . towards other mens servants the custom of the country is to be followed . in many places the master takes it ill if his servant be considerably rewarded for what himself gives . but it is not so with us ; where to lodg at a friends house is dearer , besides the inconvenience , then at a common inne ; and where what a friend sends , is perhaps a present , but not a gift ; when the receiver paies double , the value to the messenger , and an acknowledgment to the sender . however in all places in entertainment , great care is taken the servants be pleased , for the tongues of idle persons are loos-hung . if you desire a courtesy from one beholding to you , 't is ingenuous not to put him in mind of it ; least he think you tax him of ingratitude . a favor done to a man sinking , or in any danger , is alwaies very obliging ; both because it testifies sincerity without expectation of a return , and a good opinion of the receiver ; to whom the giver needs not to be favorable . most men do more for interest either of gain , or friends , then reason . more for favor , then obligation . but mony , if well and discreetly applyed , seldom fails of its effect . a man apt to promise is as apt to forget it . chap. vii . of prudence in acquiring emploiment , and preferment . 1. presupposing , that a person , out of a good and sincere intention to serve his prince and country , desires to employ himself , or be employed , in such a condition ; it is necessary , first , that he avoid such hinderan ces which are contrary to , and destructive of , his design . 2ly that he use proper means to the compassing it . 2. hindrances are , 1. pride , which renders him intolerable to him that should raise him ; and tho to avoid this , such men as are most insolent toward their inferiors , are most supple ( even to baseness ) towards their superiors , yet is it very difficult to conceale this vice from any considering person ; even because one of these actions betrayeth the other , both proceeding from the same lowness and vileness of spirit . where it is , it renders its owner impatient of advice , admonition ▪ contradiction , even in his own affairs ; by which he becomes a prey to flatterers , despised of all good men , odious to all upon whose dues and interests he usurps , and unfit to be employed . 2. anger , for what prince desires to be served by , or chuse instruments out of , bedlam ? and if prudence consist in much deliberation ; precipitiousness , the daughter of anger , is incompatible with it . if it be said that angry men are good natur'd ; yet what discreet person will suffer such , and so many , impertinencies , to enjoy now and then a little good nature , i. e. so many storms to have sometimes fair weather ? who will be content to stay for a little reason , till the choler be scum'd , and the boiling ceased ? two to one in all things against the angry man , was a saying of cardinal mazarine . 3. so following good companions or intemperance , and lewd women , discover secrets , render a man contemtible , and unuseful ; for besides that strong drinks and tobacco fill the head with imaginations , hot headedness , jealousies , &c. when a man should hast to his emploiment , he must go to sleep , or to his mistress . 4. he that is by nature lazy and slothfull ought not to intermeddle with public affairs ; for tho in quiet and dull times he may serve well enough to pursue formalities ; yet when any activeness , he fills up the room of a better person . 5. covetousness is not so detrimental , as liberality and bounty discreetly placed , are advantagious . but 6. there is nothing worse then an unbridled toung . 3. he that would serve god as well as his king , and save his soul as well as make his fortune , must beware of such temtations as are most frequent in that sort of life . such are ambition , i. e. desiring advancement for an evill end , or more then he deserves , or at unseasonable times , or too eagerly , or for his own private advantage , and not to serve the public . envy at others preserment ; with all the consequents of it , hatred , detraction , faction , partiality and the like . adulation or complacency with the prince , or other great person in vitious , or unfitting , courses . and the like . 4. it is impossible to be preferr'd if not known , and so known as approved also : and no man can reasonably be offended for being passed by , and neglected , if he use not rational means to make himself accepted . such means are of many sorts . as 1. by merit ; and that either by ordinary , or extraordinary , good service . 2. by friends , being introduced or recommended by such as are in favor and reputation with the prince . 3. by fear and terror , being so considerable as that the prince is glad for his own security to employ him . 4. by flattery and evil insinuations into the princes affections . 5. he that hath no other introduction must shew himself diligently ; that the prince ( who observeth more then he seemeth to do ) may take notice of him ; besides , there falls out frequent occasions of employing him , that is present ; and a constant attendance , tho voluntary , is a kind of service . and , he that loseth a beginning tho not so considerable , loseth an introduction to greater matters . 6. there are few of whose merits the prince can be a just and accurate judg ; because he is not witness to all the circumstances , &c. of their actions . besides to know a man , requires much familiarity with , and observation of , him . but such precise knowledg is not requisite ; and a prince may , with but a reasonable observation , discern a wise man from a fool , and a virtuous man from one inclined to those vices , which render him unfit for service . but if a prince be forc'd to see only with others eyes , and hear with others ears , he had need to be very wary ; for those are very seldom indifferent toward the person recommended ; inform more frequently for their own interest , then the princes . wherefore a wise man beleives little , but keeps himself in suspense till the truth be manifest . he that is chosen by the judgment of his prince , and not by the recommendation of others , hath a great advantage ; for if he prove well , the prince is inwardly proud of his choice ; and will certainly employ him further ; for he looks upon him as his creature . wise and subtil princes seldom prize or advance a man wiser then themselves , except in some case of great necessity . they are also commonly very wary of employing such as are recommended by public fame ; except it be in smaller matters . consider therefore , what emploiment you conceive most suitable to your genius and condition , v. g. whether war or peace ; sea or land-service ; action or advice ; governing ; or finances , and providing mony or necessaries . and endeavor to render your self very able in that ; tho it is fitting also you should not neglect other matters . also disrobe your self ( as much as you can ) of all particular interest ; and at least prefer in your designs the advantage of your prince and the public . a small emploiment in youth , or betimes , is much more to be valued then a great one in old age ; for di cosa nasce cosa . one business twists in another . and suffer not your self ( as much as is possible ) to be out of possession of doing somewhat . if you be , yet by continual presentation of your self , let it be known that you stay there ready to be hired . it is good sometimes to sue for an emploiment , tho you be sure to miss it . for by that means , you shew your self to imagine that you have some pretences to be considered . and your superior , having once denied you , will be more ready to pleasure you another time , for fear of discontenting you ; especially if you be a man of parts . but by no means put in for every thing , for that discovers your ambition ; and a conceit of your self , that you are fit for every thing . you cannot be master of what emploiment you please ; but your commendation must be , well to perform that you are actually possess'd of . in a comedy , he that acts a slave well , deserves as much as he that personates a king. 't is a comfortable hearing , friend come up higher . neither refuse or contemn any reward or gratuity , how small soever , your prince bestows upon you . design not upon what is not in your power . and remember that being to deal with other persons , you must drive the nail which way it will go . therefore be as indifferent as is possible . your future gains also not being in your power , spend not upon the hopes of them : and remember , that expectation is alwaies greater then the reality . 7. he is happy that hath an opportunity given him to shew signally his prudence and loyalty . sejanus , by one action , i know not whether generous or fortunate , of saving tiberius's life with the hazzard of his own , obtained that reputation , that he governed the whole empire ; and had almost settled it upon himself ; through the great confidence tiberius , otherwise a very jealous prince , had in him . but these cases fall out seldom , and by the immediate providence ( as i may say ) of almighty god , if you chance to do any great action , be sure to give the glory of it to the prince ; as indeed he , in some sort , deserves it : for you follow his commands , or instructions . besides the means , and opportunity of all such are his only ; and it was performed under his authority . seem not to be willing to draw all businesses to your self ; nor keep too great grandeur in house , followers , &c. for that gives ombrage to the prince ; as great titles are offensive to the fellow-subjects . extraordinary service , if many ingaged in it , is counted a piece of duty , and seldom rewarded . either because the prince , pretending that he cannot gratify all , to avoid murmuring and emulation , will reward none . or because those about him , if many others be to be considered , are likely to find the less share for themselves . it was a saying of antigonus ; first get power then good will. power is ability of parts , wealth , friends , emploiment ; then good will and reputation by courtesy , civility , and other acts of prudent conversation ; as also by drawing others by your interest . for you may then engage many unto you , and spread your roots and fibres a great way : especially if by the reputation of justice and bounty , you have procured you a veneration amongst virtuous persons . for by this they are assured , that they may securely lean upon you , and run your hazzards . and it is more desirable to be loved then honored : this indeed is more splendid , but that is more safe ; this is greater , that better ; this is in the imagination , that in the heart , of others ; from that proceeds peace with others , tranquillity in his condition , and a complacency in his own mind . yet is love harder to obtain , requires a greater time , the acquiring of it is subject to many difficulties , which honor is not ; and therefore make much of honor ; which also carrieth a tincture of affection with it . only remember what a great general said . i desire to honor my life not by other mens opinions , but my own actions . 8. because more men are drawn , then heaved , up . and that amongst ingenious persons there is alwaies emulation , and amongst rivals ( and for all preferments such there are ) envyings also ; which are great rubs ; and difficultly surmounted or removed ; endeavor to make a friend ; who may give an antidote against their poyson ; and by lending his hand raise you in spight of all the weight and pressures they can hang upon you . friends are not easily made , and still more difficulty amongst great persons ; both because they have fewer equals , and amongst such equals emulation is frequenter then friendship ; yet are they not so rare , but they may be procur'd . for long , especially youthful , acquaintance ; kindred and relation ; sympathy in affections ; partaking in a common danger ; or such like , do reconcile friendship , but not frequently : nor are these means in every mans power , they are obligations by which providence only tyes men together . but there are others also which are more ordinary ; for you insinuate your self into the affection even of a great person , if you can shew him , that you are able to strengthen , assist , and confirm him , in his estate ; and be able by your parts , or other way , to recompense the favors you expect from him . but mony discreetly applied is a plaister that unites and soders all affections : nor is there any heart , as well as not any castle , that can resist its battery , if rightly placed . to desire wealth for its own sake , is low , sordid , and proper only for them , who make the obtaining it their profession : but to desire it moderately , in order to do more good , is unblamable . even reputation it self is acquired , and sustained by discreetly keeping and spending ; so that it also is in a manner subservient to wealth . we seldom see that wealth increaseth in a family for three generations together : perhaps because that he , who comes into a plentiful fortune , having no occasion to employ his parts and industry , grows lazy , and negligent , or at best betakes himself to some other affairs ; or perhaps , because men not knowing the difficulty in obtaining it value it not much ; but rather look after the splendor of the world , whereunto rich men commonly engage and enter their children ; and for that reason live at the height of the reputation of their estate . the prudence to obtain wealth is generally conceived to be cutting off superfluous or unnecessary expences : but that is not all ; for there is also required good menagery , or making your penny go further then another mans . but in this , caution must be used , for many have bin ruined by buying good pennyworths . in making friends by mony prudence also is required , lest you lose that also . for it is best used upon an exigent ; occasionally rather then frequently ; and actually rather then constantly ; like a wedg , not like a saw . many can hurt who cannot profit . and the ill tongue of an inferior many times harms more then that of an equal ; for it is easilier beleived , because less suspected . therefore endeavor to keep a fair reputation with all persons ; with superiors humble and compliant , not low and flattering ; with equals grave , not morose ; with inferiors courteous and fair-spoken , not sullen or imperious . considering , that no man is willing to own him , that is out of fashion , as i may say , out of the good opinion of the world. it was more dangerous to offend sejanus then tiberius . for all men raised from low condition are more jealous of affronts and contemts ; which a natural and generous superior is not : who interprets nothing to be contemt but what is meerly so , or done on purpose to affront ; and nothing to be so , but what cannot well be construed otherwise . to such therefore , as sejanus , you must carry your self so , as not to be hated by him ; for you will find it hard to please both the patron and him . besides you know not how long he will last ; and it goes hard with a man of understanding and spirit , that his good must depend upon two , and his ill upon one . if you cannot be reconciled to a favorite , be sure to tell your patron that he is your enemy ; so his ill offices cannot hurt you . it is unpardonable folly to quarrel with them , who are much your superiors ; for the thred breaks where it is weakest . if you be so ill satisfied of any person , that you think not fit to pardon or bear with him any longer , yet let him not know so much ; for the time may come when you shall have need of him . and if you resolve to chastise him , discover it not , lest you be prevented . but this is not to be used but in extremity , and towards persons incorrigible . for , according to the rules of our most holy faith , 't is infinitely better not to revenge at all , but to pass by offences ; then which no man can shew greater wisedome . and this is not very difficult if you stifle quarrels in the beginning . but there are some so wicked dispositions , that nothing works upon them but fear ; and he that lets them go unpunished , encourageth them in their evil courses . whether you expect emploiment and preferment , or chuse a private life , if you have any thing to lose , endeavovr to be in reputation with your prince and superior : and trust not to your innocency , or wary living . for besides , that he cannot want an occasion some time or other to punish you , you know not what may happen , wherein you shall stand in need of him . much less presume , that your manners are undiscovered , or to commit any fault upon hopes of secrecy ; for a good judge will so entangle and hamper you , that you cannot escape . and if you be once suspected , more suspicions will be continually suggested against you . and even to have much suspicion and little proof makes against you , for it is a sign that you are more dangerous . no man can stand alwaies upon his guard , but sometimes he will faile and mistake ; happy he whose errors are in small matters , that he need not great applications and much endeavor to get himself off the shallow . nor can a man on a suddain foresee the depth of a question , or the consequences of an action . therefore when you doubt , or see not clearly , be wary , and take time . many times small mistakes produce great evil effects ; and great mistakes sometimes none at all ; wherefore contemn no danger , how little soever it seem to threaten . be vigilant ; cavendi nulla est dimittenda occasio . it is much better to do so , then be beholding to your friend to fetch you off ; for that is accounted equal to , if not greater then , a considerable benefit . give not much heed to those , who would perswade you to quit your emploiment ; or pretend themselves to be weary of business ; have they not a mind to succede you ? or are they not like the fox , that having lost his own tail , would perswade all the rest to cut off theirs ? 9. 't is not an unusual way to obtain preferment to shew a mans-self so considerable as to fright his prince into compliance . in reason this should be an ill means , but experience shewes , that under lasch superiors , or such as are under-hatches , it many times thrives well enough . upon the same grounds proceed also those , who endeavor to make themselves necessary to their prince ; and so rivet themselves into his business , that they cannot be drawn out without tearing the piece . but of such the prince is alwaies jealous ; and will at some time or other emancipate himself . he therefore that takes this course walkes upon a precipice , and the further he goes the greater is his ruine likely to be . the count of s. paul took his measures upon these grounds in lewis x i. time . but he had to do with a prince of extraordinary parts . the people ( upon whose recommendation many persons think to raise themselves ) guide not themselves by reason , but chance ; therefore he is not wise that strives to make himself their favorite , or forceth himself to gain their affection . for they will never do the like for him again , nor forgo the least of their profit for his greatest benefit . on the contrary , the nature of the people and of all mean persons , is , alwaies to value themselves , as if all men were obliged to augment and better their degree : 't is best therefore to deny them at first , when their desires are modest . for if you once grant , you must never after refuse , lest your former courtesy be lost ; and to think to satisfy them is to give drink to an hydropic . yet , if occasion offer it self to be favoured by them ; or if your virtue and good actions have procured their favor , neglect it not . for a general plausibility may stand you in great stead ; besides that , it may be very advantagious by your good menagement to your prince . popularity is one of the lowest and meanest sorts of ambition ; a refuge commonly of those who envy such as have prevented them in the lawful acquiring advancement by the favor of their superiors . and the thoughts of the people being meaner and lower then theirs , they are forced to do and say many things contrary to their own judgments and inclinations . besides the people , being necessitous , measure all things by advantage , so that their favor is chargeable , and seldom any other then breath and air , except religion be in the case . if you arrive to any power , be very wary how you tamper to change governments ( which is usually the refuge of necessitous persons . ) for not being able to perform it your self , you must of necessity trust your cause and person to many foolish and open persons . yet nothing more frequently ruins such designs then too much caution for security . for that requires longer time ; and employs more persons about the principal business ; and is subject to many more accidents . in court have many acquaintances , but make a friend for advice and consultation out of court , and one that is not likely to have any interest in your patron . 10. the service of a prince is procuring that his will and intentions be fulfilled : for no man esteems that ( be it never so good ) that is not according to his own desires . such therefore as his desires are , such must they be whom he employs : for they are looked upon as only the instruments for his compassing and bringing about his purposes . wherefore they , who seem most zealous to perform the princes will in all things , without deliberation , or interposing their own judgement concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of them , seem to be in the plainest road to preferment . yet divers of the wisest princes have made even that , the criterion to exclude men from their favour ; and retain such , as upon tryal were found constantly virtuous . princes usually more esteem one that is phil-alexandros , then one that is philo-basileus , that is , more one , that loves his person , then his state and condition , then his nation , then the public ; tho this is indeed the more honorable , and the other more easily counterfeited . but in reality princes have very few , if any , friends to their persons ; for they have no equals , nor familiars ▪ for indeed few wise men will expose themselves to so much hazzard , nor set themselves as pales against the wind , but for their own advantage . besides they know that if any difficulty happen , it is reasonable they should be deserted . wherefore they ought to make much of those , who are truly philo-basiless , for there are too few of them , who are sincerely even so affected . it is an action of very great prudence to carry even between adulation and sowreness . neither to be as the cook , that aimes onely at pleasure ; nor as the physician , who intends only health ; but to mingle and ajust them together . whilst we retain justice and friendship , not to scandalize prudence and interest is a difficult matter . yet not impossible , for m. lepidus kept to the end his authority with tiberius , a very jealous prince , as tacitus observes . flattery and obsequiousnes is a more quick and ready way to advancement , then either durable or laudable . for when discovered to be such , it is contemtible , and afterwards odious . it is but lead that bends and plies every way ; nor is he a man either of virtue or courage , that can condescend to make himself universal minister to any one . consequently he is neither faithful in his emploiment , when he eyes a greater reward ; nor constant to him , when he spies danger . of flatterers there are two sorts 1. bouffons , whose cheif insinuation is to eat and be clothed . who like the ape , finding himself neither fit to carry burdens as the asse , nor to keep the house , as the dog , betakes himself to make sport . these are easily discovered , and their worst is not very dangerous . 2. the other sort are more subtil , gentile , and mischievous ; whose designs are to intrigue themselves into business ; to make fortunes , and get estates , or perhaps honors , by universal compliance . these , by observing the actions and discourses of their pretended patron , discover his inclination , as hunters do the haunts of wild beasts , that they may easilier intrap them . it is their interest he should be vitious , careless , irregular , and extravagant ; for by that means , they can more easily withdraw him from all virtuous persons , and ingross him to themselves : who have no other way to ingratiate themselves , but their ready compliance with all his desires . this they endeavor should pass for affection to his person ; and they represent all other advisers , either as contemners of him ; or at best as morose and of evil humor . therefore they pretend to idolize him ; to observe his counsels and commands as oracles ; not to converse with those he suspects ; to inveigh against his enemies ; to make him the head of their own counsels ; and themselves to be even in their particular affairs ruled by him ; to take great content in serving him ; to praise him immoderately before those who will be sure to inform him of it ; to exaggerate every small favor received from him ; and to dissemble the injuries . they also are careful to new-name all his vices . covetousnes they call providence ; jealousy , circumspection ; prodigality is generousness , &c. then they compare him with others either of a contrary vice , if the man be hated ; or of the same , if in any reputation . they feign also in themselves the same inclinations , sympathy , sentiments with their patron . and often undervalue themselves in respect of him . they are also apt to praise him for what he hath not done , or extravagantly for what he hath done , glosing and varnishing all miscarriages , &c. and few there are who are not taken even with this one bait . for who is he that values not himself above his deserts , and thinks not all is his due which is given ? in reality , the refusing or accepting of praise rationally and discreetly , is as great a trial of a wise man , as the cupel is of silver . no master esteems a servant , of whom he hath no need ; and that either for his abilities ( of which few masters can judg ) or because he knows his secrets ; this then being the easilier and securer , is that way , which flatterers , and all those who endeavor to make themselves great by unlawful means , chuse to walk in . and of all secrets , they most desire to be privy to his vices , for by that means he becomes obnoxious to them . in doing ill offices these flatterers observe , 1. to do them seldom . 2. to tolerate , if not confirm , the praises of him they design upon ; lest they be suspected to have done it out of malice . 3. to pretend no small or inconsiderable occasion , nor their own concerns , but a public one only , and in defence of their superiors . 4. to dispose their words so , as they may seem casual and unpremeditated . artis est celare artem ; they endeavor therefore by all means to be accounted sincere and upright persons ; for they see that the fame of being crafty and subtil ( which is the great skill they really pretend to ) much retards , and impedes their businesses . in general conversation therefore none more open and free ; none seeming by their discourse more noble and generous . but their confidence is in simulation and duplicity ; which , because of other mens evil dealing , they pretend is necessary . they often pretend , and endeavor , to be in esteem with the clergy ; especially those who make shew of greatest severity , and holines . and of so great force is the shew of religion , that even an hypocrite is feared and reverenced . hereby also they have considerable advantages ; that they can decry all vices , even those themselves are guilty of ; and can safely asperse those whom they hate or fear ; and unhappy are they , that fall into their hands . 11. princes , when they have denied a favor , to one that importunately sues for it , are apt to suspect that such a one hates them for the denial : and therefore afterward look not well upon that person . wherefore be not too earnest in your requests . and if your misfortune be to be denied , be sure not to shew such resentment , as he may suspect you intend him any harm . rather seem to be content with any slender shew of reason he gives you ; so you may obtain , if not this , yet some other favor . but if you perceive his mind to be alienated from you , retire betimes ; for a man falling is by every one thrust downwards . besides all the miscarriages and errors will be surely laid upon your shouldiers , notwithstanding all your innocency . do violence to your self rather then not conceal or dissemble the injuries done you by your prince or patron . for should you declare your self unsatisfied , so far would he be from compassionating , or making amends , to , you ; that upon the least occasion he will hate you . finis . errata . pag. 35. l. 27. first care . p. 57. l. 3. preternatural . p. 80. l. ult . eradication . p. 117. l. 29. in matter . p. 136. l. 19. governed learning . p. 179. l. ult . dele actions . p. 264. l. 6. his thrusts .