FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES[1]When the greater part of this volume was already written, Mr. Parker published his sketch of the history of Classical Education (Essays on a Liberal Education, edited by Farrar). He seems to me to have been very successful in bringing out the most important features of his subject, but his essay necessarily shows marks of over-compression. Two volumes have also lately appeared onChristian Schools and Scholars(Longmans, 1867). Here we have a good deal of information which we want, and also, it seems to me, a good deal which we do not want. The work characteristically opens with a 10th century description of the personal appearance of St. Mark when he landed at Alexandria. The author treats only of the times which preceded the Council of Trent. A very interesting account of early English education has been given by Mr. Furnivall, in the 2nd and 3rd numbers of theQuarterly Journal of Education(1867). [I did not then know of Dr. Barnard’s works.][2]This article is omitted in the last edition.[3]The rest of this chapter was published in the September, 1880 number ofEducation. Boston, U.S.A.[4]On the nature of literature see Cardinal Newman’s “Lectures on the Nature of a University. University Subjects. II. Literature.”[5]I see Carlyle has used a similar metaphor in the same connexion: “Consider the old schoolmen and their pilgrimage towards Truth! the faithfullest endeavour, incessant unwearied motion; often great natural vigour, only no progress; nothing but antic feats of one limb poised against the other; there they balanced, somerseted, and made postures; at best gyrated swiftly with some pleasure like spinning dervishes and ended where they began.”—Characteristics, Misc., vol. iii, 5.[6]This illustration was suggested by a similar one in Prof. J. R. Seeley’s essay “On the teaching of English” in hisLectures and Essays, 1870.[7]Miss J. D. Potter, in “Journal of Education.” London, June, 1879[8]See Erasmus’sCiceronianus, or account of it, in Henry Barnard’sGerman Teachers.[9]“On Abuse of Human Learning,” by Samuel Butler.[10]Multum ilium profecisse arbitror, qui ante sextum decimum ætatis annum facultatem duarum linguarum mediocrem assecutus est. (Quoted by Parker.)[11]R. Mulcaster’sPositions, 1581, p. 30. I have reprinted this book (Longmans, 1888, price 10s.).[12]Sturm’s school “had an European reputation: there were Poles and Portuguese, Spaniards, Danes, Italians, French and English. But besides this, it was the model and mother school of a numerous progeny. Sturm himself organized schools for several towns which applied to him. His disciples became organizers, rectors, and professors. In short, if Melanchthon was the instructor, Sturm was the schoolmaster of Germany. Together with his method, his school-books were spread broadcast over the land. Both were adopted by Ascham in England, and by Buchanan in Scotland. Sturm himself was a great man at the imperial court. No diplomatist passed through Strasburg without stopping to converse with him. He drew a pension from the King of Denmark, another from the King of France, a third from the Queen of England, collected political information for Cardinal Granvella, and was ennobled by Charles V. He helped to negotiate peace between France and England, and was appointed to confer with a commission of Cardinals on reunion of the Church. In short, Sturm knew what he was about as well as most men of his time. Yet few will be disposed to accept his theory of education, even for the sixteenth century, as the best. Wherein then lay the mistake?... Sturm asserted that the proper end of school education is eloquence, or in modern phrase, a masterly command of language, and that the knowledge of things mainly belongs to a later stage ... Sturm assumed that Latin is the language in which eloquence is to be acquired.”This is from Mr. Charles Stuart Parker’s excellent account of Sturm inEssays on a Liberal Education, edited by Farrar, Essay I.,On History of Classical Education, p. 39.I find from Herbart (Päd. Schriften, O. Wilmann’s edition, vol. ij, 229 ff; Beyer’s edition, ij, 321) that the historian, F. H. Ch. Schwarz, took a very favourable view of Sturm’s work; and both he and Karl Schmidt give Sturm credit for introducing the two ways of studying an author that may be carried on at the same time—1st,statarisch,i.e., reading a small quantity accurately, and 2nd,cursorisch,i.e., getting over the ground. These two kinds, of reading were made much of by J. M. Gesner (1691-1761). Ernst Laas has writtenDie Pädagogik J. Sturmswhich no doubt does him justice, but I have not seen the book.[13]Why did Bacon, who spoke slightingly of Sturm (see Parker, inEssays on Lib. Ed.), rate the Jesuits so highly? “Consule scholas Jesuitarum: nihil enim quod in usum venit his melius,”De Aug., lib. iv, cap. iv. See, too, a longer passage in first book ofDe Aug.(about end of first 1/4), “Quæ nobilissima pars priscæ disciplinæ revocata est aliquatenus, quasi postliminio, in Jesuitarum collegiis; quorum cum intueor industriam solertiamque tam in doctrina excolenda quam in moribus informandis, illud occurrit Agesilai de Pharnabazo, ‘Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses.’”[14](1) Joseph Anton Schmid’s “Niedere Schulen der Jesuiten:” Regensburg, 1852. (2) Article by Wagenmann in K. A. Schmid’s “Encyclopädie des Erziehungs-und Unterrichtswesens.” (3) “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Soc. Jesu.” The first edition of this work, published at Rome in 1585, was suppressed as heretical, because it contemplated the possibility of differing from St. Thomas Aquinas. The book is now very scarce. There is a copy in the British Museum. On comparing it with the folio edition (“Constitutiones,” &c., published at Prag in 1632), I find many omissions in the latter, some of which are curious,e.g., under “De Matrimonio:”—“Matremne an uxorem occidere sit gravius, non est hujus loci.” (4) “Parænesis ad Magistros Scholarum Inferiorum Soc. Jesu, scripta a P. Francisco Sacchino, ex eâdem Societate.” (5) “Juvencius de Ratione Discendi et Docendi.” Crétineau-Joly’s “Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus” (Paris, 1844), I have not made much use of. Sacchini and Jouvency were both historians of the Order. The former died in 1625, the latter in 1719. There is a good sketch of the Jesuit schools, by Andrewes, in Barnard’sAmerican Journal of Education, vol. xiv, 1864, reprinted in the best book I know of in English on the History of Education, Barnard’sGerman Teachers.[15]“L’exécution des décrets de 1880 a eu pour résultat la fermeture de leurs collèges. Mais malgré leur dispersion apparente ils sont encore plus puissants qu’on ne le croit, et ce serait une erreur de penser que le dernier mot est dit avec eux.”—Compayré, in Buisson, ij, p. 1420.[16]According to the article in K. A. Schmid’s “Encyclopädie,” the usual course was this—the two years’ novitiate was over by the time the youth was between fifteen and seventeen. He then entered a Jesuit college as Scholasticus. Here he learnt literature and rhetoric for two years, and then philosophy (with mathematics) for three more. He then entered on his Regency,i.e., he went over the same ground as ateacher, for from four to six years. Then followed a period of theological study, ending with a year of trial, called theTertiorat. The candidate was now admitted to Priest’s Orders, and took the vows either asprofessus quatuor votorum, professed father of four vows, or as acoadjutor. If he was then sent back to teach, he gave only the higher instruction. Thefourthvow placed him at the disposal of the Pope.[17]Karl Schmidt (Gesch. d. Päd., iij. 199, 200), says that however much teachers were wanted, a two years’ course of preparation was considered indispensable. When the Novitiate was over the candidate became a “Junior” (Gallicè“Juveniste”). He then continued his studiesin literis humanioribus, preparatory to teaching. When in the “Juvenat” or “Juniorate” he had rubbed up his classics and mathematics, he entered the “Seminary,” and two or three times a week he expounded to a class the matter of the previous lecture, and answered questions, &c. For this information I am indebted to the courtesy of Father Eyre (S. J.), of Stonyhurst.[18]So says Andrewes (American Journal of Education), but other authorities put the age of entrance as high as fourteen. Thestudia superiorawere begun before twenty-four.[19]“Non gratia nobilium officiat culturæ vulgarium: cum sint natales omnium pares in Adam et hæreditates quoque pares in Christo.”[20]Even junior masters were not to be much addicted to their own language. “Illud cavendum imprimis juniori magistro ne vernaculis nimium libris indulgeat, præsertim poetis, in quibus maximam temporis ac fortasse morum jacturam faceret.”—Jouvency.[21]“Multum proderit si magister non tumultuario ac subito dicat, sed quæ domi cogitate scripserit.—It will be a great gain if the master does not speak in a hurry and without forethought, but is ready with what he has thought out and written out in his own room.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid. And Sacchini says: “Ante omnia, quæ quisque docturus est, egregie calleat. Tum enim bene docet, et facile docet, et libenter docet; bene, quia sine errore; facile, quia sine labore; libenter, quia ex pleno.... Memoriæ minimum fidat: instauret eam refricetque iterata lectione antequam quicquam doceat, etiamsi idem sæpe docuerit. Occurret non raro quod addat vel commodius proponat.—Before all things let everyone be thoroughly skilled in what he is going to teach; for then he teaches well, he teaches easily, he teaches readily: well, because he makes no mistakes; easily, because he has no need to exert himself; readily, because, like wealthy men he cares not how he gives.... Let him be very distrustful of his memory; let him renew his remembrance and rub it up by repeated reading before he teaches anything, though he may have often taught it before. Something will now and then occur to him which he may add, or put more neatly.”[22]In a school (not belonging to the Jesuits) where this plan was adopted, the boys, by an ingenious contrivance, managed to make it work very smoothly. The boy who was “hearing” the lessons held the book upside down in such a way that the othersreadinstead of repeating by heart. The masters finally interfered with this arrangement.[23]Since the above was written, an account of these concertations has appeared in the Rev. G. R. Kingdon’s evidence before the Schools Commission, 1867 (vol. v, Answers 12, 228 ff.) Mr. Kingdon, the Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst, mentions that the side which wins in most concertations gets an extra half-holiday.[24]“The grinding over and over of a subject after pupils have attained a fair knowledge of it, is nothing less than stultifying—killing out curiosity and the desire of knowledge, and begetting mechanical habits.”—Supt. J. Hancock, Dayton, Ohio. Every teacher of experience knows how true this is.[25]“Stude potius ut pauciora clare distincteque percipiant, quam obscure atque confuse pluribus imbuantur.—Care rather for their seeing a few things vividly and definitely, than that they should get filled with hazy and confusing notions of many things.” (There are few more valuable precepts for the teacher than this.)[26]Sacchini writes in a very high tone on this subject. The following passage is striking: “Gravitatem sui muneris summasque opportunitates assidue animo verset (magister).... ‘Puerilis institutio mundi renovatio est;’ hæc gymnasia Dei castra sunt, hic bonorum omnium semina latent. Video solum fundamentumque republicæ quod multi non videant interpositu terræ.—Let the mind of the master dwell upon the responsibilities of his office and its immense opportunities.... The education of the young is the renovation of the world. These schools are the camp of God: in them lie the seeds of all that is good. There I see the foundation and ground-work of the commonwealth, which many fail to see from its being underground.” Perhaps he had read of Trotzendorf’s address to a school, “Hail reverend divines, learned doctors, worshipful magistrates, &c.”[27]“Circa illorum valetudinem peculiari cura animadvertat (Rector) ut et in laboribus mentis modum servent, et in iis quæ ad corpus pertinent, religiosa commoditate tractentur, ut diutius in studiis perseverare tam in litteris addiscendis quam in eisdem exercendis ad Dei gloriam possint.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid.See alsoinfrap. 62.[28]The following, from theRatio Studd., sounds Jesuitical: “Nec publicé puniant flagitia quædam secretiora sed privatim; aut si publicé,alias obtendant causas, et satis est eos qui plectuntur conscios esse causarum.”[29]As the Public Schools Commission pointed out, the Head Master often thinks of nothing but the attainment of University honours,even when the great majority of his pupils are not going to the University.[30]The advantages of learning by heart are twofold, says Sacchini: “Primum memoriam ipsam perficiunt, quod est in totam ætatem ad universa negotia inæstimabile commodum. Deinde suppellectilem inde pulcherrimam congregant verborum ac rerum: quæ item, quamdiu vivant, usui futura sit: cum quæ ætate illa insederint indelebilia soleant permanere. Magnam itaque, ubi adoleverint, gratiam Praeceptori habebunt, cui memoriæ debebunt profectum, magnamque lætitiam capient invenientes quodammodo domi thesaurum quem, in ætate cæteroqui parum fructuosa, prope non sentientes parârint. Enim vero quam sæpe viros graves atque præstantes magnoque jam natu videre et audire est, dum in docta ac nobili corona jucundissime quædam promunt ex iis quæ pueri condiderunt?—First, they strengthen the memory itself and so gain an inestimable advantage in affairs of every kind throughout life. Then they get together by this means the fairest furniture for the mind, both of thoughts and words, a stock that will be of use to them as long as they live, since that which settles in the mind in youth mostly stays there. And when the lads have grown up they will feel gratitude to the master to whom they are indebted for their good memory; and they will take delight in finding within them a treasure which at a time of life otherwise unfruitful they have been preparing almost without knowing it. How often we see and hear eminent men far advanced in life, when in learned and noble company, take a special delight in quoting what they stored up as boys!” The master, he says, must point out to his pupils the advantages we derive from memory; that we only know and possess that which we retain, that this cannot be taken from us, but is with us always and is always ready for use, a living library, which may be studied even in the dark. Boys should therefore be encouraged to run over in their minds, or to say aloud, what they have learnt, as often as opportunity offers, as when they are walking or are by themselves: “Ita numquam in otio futuros otiosos; ita minus fore solos cum soli erunt, consuetudine fruentes sapientum.... Denique curandum erit ut selecta quædam ediscant quæ deinde in quovis studiorum genere ac vita fere omni usui sint futura.—So they will never be without employment when unemployed, never less alone than when alone, for then they profit by intercourse with the wise.... To sum up, take care that they thoroughly commit to memory choice selections which will for ever after be of use to them in every kind of study, and nearly every pursuit in life.”—(Cap. viij.) This is interesting and well put, but we see one or two points in which we have now made an advance. Learning by heart will give none of the advantages mentioned unless the boys understand the pieces and delight in them. Learning by heart strengthens, no doubt, a faculty, but nothing large enough to be called “the memory.” And the Renascence must indeed have blinded the eyes of the man to whom childhood and youth seemed an “ætas parum fructuosa”! Similarly, Sturm speaks of the small fry “qui in extremis latent classibus.” (Quoted by Parker.) But when Pestalozzi and Froebel came these lay hid no longer.[31]Ranke, speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says: “It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than with others in two years. Even Protestants called back their children from distant schools, and put them under the care of the Jesuits.”—Hist. of Popes, book v, p. 138. Kelly’s Trans.In France, the University in vain procured anarrêtforbidding the Parisians to send away their sons to the Jesuit colleges: “Jesuit schools enjoyed the confidence of the public in a degree which placed them beyond competition.” (Pattison’sCasaubon, p. 182.)Pattison remarks elsewhere that such was the common notion of the Jesuits’ course of instruction that their controversialists could treat anyone, even a Casaubon, who had not gone through it, as an uneducated person.[32]“Sapientum hoc omnium seu veterum seu recentum constans judicium est, institutionem puerilem tum fore optimam cum jucundissima fuerit, inde enim et ludum vocari. Meretur ætatis teneritas ut ne oneretur: meretur innocentia ut ei parcatur ... Quæ libentibus auribus instillantur, ad ea velut occurrit animus, avide suscipit, studiose recondit, fideliter servat.”[33]“Conciliabit facilè studiis quos primùm sibi conciliârit. Det itaque omnem operam illorum erga se observantionem ut sapienter colligat et continenter enutriat. Ostendat, sibi res eorum curæ esse non solum quæ ad animum sed etiam quæ ad alia pertinent. Gaudeat cum gaudentibus, nec dedignetur flere cum flentibus. Instar Apostoli inter parvulos parvulus fiat quo magnos in Christo et magnum in eis Christum efficiat ... Seriam comitatem et paternam gravitatem cum materna benignitate permisceat.” Unfortunately, the Jesuits’ kind manner loses its value from being due not so much to kind feeling as to some ulterior object, or to a rule of the Order. I think it is Jouvency who recommends that when a boy is absent from sickness or other sufficient reason, the master should send daily to inquire after him,because the parents will be pleased by such attention. When the motive of the inquiry is suspected, the parents will be pleased no longer.[34]“Errorem existimo statim initio spinosiores quasdam grammaticæ difficultates inculcare ... cum enim planioribus insueverint difficiliora paulatim usus explanabit. Quin et capacior subinde mens ac firmius cum ætate judicium, quod alio monstrante perægre unquam percepisset per sese non raro intelliget. Exempla quoque talium rerum dum praelegitur autor facilius in orationis contextu agnoscentur et penetrabunt in animos quam si solitaria et abscissa proponantur. Quamobrem faciendum erit ut quoties occurrunt diligenter enucleentur.”[35]See,e.g., marvellous instances of their self-devotion in that most interesting book, Francis Parkman’sJesuits in N. America(Boston, Little & Co., 10th edition, 1876).[36]I have referred to Francis Parkman, who has chronicled the marvellous self-devotion and heroism of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada. Such a witness may be trusted when he says: “The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his Order as for his faith; and oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of conversion with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardships, and martyrdom. Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here lies one of the causes among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in the annals of the Order.”—The Discovery of the Great West, by F. Parkman, London, 1869, p. 28.[37]In a letter dated from Stonyhurst, 22nd April, 1880.[38]The best account I have seen of life in a Jesuit school is inErinnerungen eines chemaligen Jesuitenzöglings(Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1862). The writer (Köhler?) says that he has become an evangelical clergyman, but there is no hostile feeling shown to his old instructors, and the narrative bears the strongest internal evidence of accuracy. Some of the Jesuit devices mentioned are very ingenious. All house masters who have adopted the cubicle arrangement of dormitories know how difficult it is to keep the boys in their own cubicles. The Jesuits have the cubicles barred across at the top, and the locks on the doors are so constructed that though they can be opened from the insidethey cannot be shut again. The Fathers at Freiburg (in Breisgau) opened a “tuck-shop” for the boys, and gave “week’s-pay” in counters which passed at their own shop and nowhere else. The author speaks warmly of the kindness of the Fathers and of their care for health and recreation. But their ways were inscrutable and every boy felt himself in the hands of ahumanprovidence. As the boys go out for a walk, one of them is detained by the porter, who says “the Rector wants to speak to you.” On their way back the boys meet a diligence in which sits their late comrade waving adieus.He has been expelled.Another book which throws much light on Jesuit pedagogy is by a Jesuit—La Discipline, par le R. P. Emmanuel Barbier (Paris, V. Palmé, 2nd edition, 1888). I will give a specimen in a loose translation, as it may interest the reader to see how carefully the Jesuits have studied the master’s difficulties. “The master in charge of the boys, especially in play-time, in his first intercourse with them, has no greater snare in his way than taking his power for granted, and trusting to the strength of his will and his knowledge of the world, especially as he is at first lulled into security by the deferential manner of his pupils.“That master who goes off with such ease from the very first, to whom the carrying out of all the rules seems the simplest thing in the world, who in the very first hour he is with them has already made himself liked, almost popular, with his pupils, who shows no more anxiety about his work than he must show to keep his character for good sense, that master is indeed to be pitied; he is most likely a lost man. He will soon have to choose one of two things, either to shut his eyes and put up with all the irregularities he thought he had done away with, or to break with a past that he would wish forgotten, and engage in open conflict with the boys who are inclined to set him at defiance. These cases are we trust rare. But many believe with a kind of rash ignorance and in spite of the warnings of experience that the good feelings of their pupils will work together to maintain their authority. They have been told that this authority should be mild and endeared by acts of kindness. So they set about crowning the edifice without making sure of the foundations; and taking the title of authority for its possession they spend all their efforts in lightening a yoke of which no one really bears the weight.“In point of fact the first steps often determine the whole course. For this reason you will attach extreme importance to what I am now going to advise:“The chief characteristic in your conduct towards the boys during the first few weeks should bean extreme reserve. However far you go in this, you can hardly overdo it. So your first attitude is clearly defined.“You have everything to observe, the individual character of each boy and the general tendencies and feelings of the whole body. But be sure of one thing, viz., thatyouare observed also, and a careful study is made both of your strong points and of your weak. Your way of speaking and of giving orders, the tone of your voice, your gestures, disclose your character, your tastes, your failings, to a hundred boys on the alert to pounce upon them. One is summed up long before one has the least notion of it. Try then to remain impenetrable. You should never give up your reserve till you are master of the situation.“For the rest, let there be no affectation about you. Don’t attempt to put on a severe manner; answer politely and simply your pupils’ questions, but let it be in few words, andavoid conversation. All depends on that. Let there be no chatting with them in these early days. You cannot be too cautious in this respect. Boys have such a polite, such a taking way with them in drawing out information about your impressions, your tastes, your antecedents; don’t attempt the diplomate; don’t match your skill against theirs. You cannot chat without coming out of your shell, so to speak. Instead of this, you must puzzle them by your reserve, and drive them to this admission: ‘We don’t know what to make of our new master.’“Do I advise you then to be on the defensive throughout the whole year and like a stranger among your pupils? No! a thousand times, No! It is just to make their relations with you simple, confiding, I might say cordial, without the least danger to your authority, that I endeavour to raise this authority at first beyond the reach of assault.”—La Discipline, chap, v, pp. 31 ff.In this book we see the best side of the Jesuits. They believe in their “mission,” and this belief throws light on many things. Those who hate the Jesuits have often extolled the wisdom of Montaigne, when he says: “We have not to train up a soul, nor yet a body, but a man; and we cannot divide him.” Can they see no wisdom inthis? “Let your mind be filled with the thought that both soul and body have been created by the Hand of God: we must account to Him for these two parts of our being; and we are not required to weaken one of them out of love for the Creator. We should love the body in the same degree that He could love it.” This is what Loyola wrote in 1548 to Francis Borgia (Compayré,Doctrines, &c., vol. j, 179). But if we wish to see the other side of the Jesuit character, we have only to look at the Jesuit as a controversialist. We sometimes see children hiding things and then having a pretence hunt for them. The Jesuits are no children, but in arguing they pretend to be searching for conclusions which are settled before arguments are thought of. See,e.g., the attack on the Port Royalists inLes Jésuites Instituteurs, par le P. Ch. Daniel, 1880, in which the Jesuit sets himself to maintain this thesis: “D’une source aussi profondément infectée du poison de l’hérésie, il ne pouvait sortir rien d’absolument bon” (p. 123). One good point he certainly makes, and in my judgment one only, in comparing the Port Royalist schools with the schools of Jesuits. Methods which answer with very small numbers may not do with large numbers: “You might as well try to extend your gardening operations to agriculture” (p. 102).[39]I am sorry to use a German word, but educational matters have been so little considered among us that we have no English vocabulary for them. The want of a word forRealienwas felt over 200 years ago. “Repositories forvisiblesshall be prepared by which from beholding the things gentlewomen may learn the names, natures, values, and use of herbs, shrubs, trees, mineral-juices (sic), metals, and stones.” (Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen.London, 1672.)[40]See the very interestingEssay on Montaigneby Dean R. W. Church.[41]Perhaps the saying of Montaigne’s which is most frequently quoted is the paradoxSavoir par cœur n’est pas savoir: (“to know by heart is not toknow.”) But these words are often misunderstood. The meaning, as I take it, is this: When a thought has entered into the mind it shakes off the words by which it was conveyed thither. Therefore so long as the words are indispensable the thought is not known. Knowing and knowing by heart are not necessarily opposed, but they are different things; and as the mind most easily runs along sequences of words a knowledge of the words often conceals ignorance or neglect of the thought. I once asked a boy if he thought of the meaning when he repeated Latin poetry and I got the instructive answer: “Sometimes,when I am not sure of the words.” But there are cases in which we naturally connect a particular form of words with thoughts that have become part of our minds. We then know, and know by heart also.[42]Lord Armstrong has perhaps never read Montaigne’sEssay on Pedantry; certainly, he has not borrowed from it; and yet much that he says in discussing “The Cry for Useless Knowledge” (Nineteenth Century Magazine, November, 1888), is just what Montaigne said more than three centuries ago. “The aphorism that knowledge is power is so constantly used by educational enthusiasts that it may almost be regarded as the motto of the party. But the first essential of a motto is that it be true, and it is certainly not true that knowledge is the same as power, seeing that it is only an aid to power. The power of a surgeon to amputate a limb no more lies in his knowledge than in his knife. In fact, the knife has the better claim to potency of the two, for a man may hack off a limb with his knife alone, but not with his knowledge alone. Knowledge is not even an aid to power in all cases, seeing that useless knowledge, which is no uncommon article in our popular schools, has no relation to power. The true source of power is the originative action of the mind which we see exhibited in the daily incidents of life, as well as in matters of great importance.... A man’s success in life depends incomparably more upon his capacities for useful action than upon his acquirements in knowledge, and the education of the young should therefore be directed to the development of faculties and valuable qualities rather than to the acquisition of knowledge.... Men of capacity and possessing qualities for useful action are at a premium all over the world, while men of mere education are at a deplorable discount.” (p. 664).“There is a great tendency in the scholastic world to underrate the value and potency of self-education, which commences on leaving school and endures all through life.” (p. 667).“I deprecate plunging into doubtful and costly schemes of instruction, led on by theignis fatuusthat ‘knowledge is a power.’ For where natural capacity is wasted in attaining knowledge, it would be truer to say that knowledge is weakness.” (p. 668).[43]In another matter, also, we find that the masters of these schools subsequently departed widely from the intention of the great men who fostered the revival of learning. Wolsey writes: “Imprimis hoc unum admonendum censuerimus, ut neque plagis severioribus neque vultuosis minis, aut ulla tyrannidis specie, tenera pubes afficiatur: hac enim injuria ingenii alacritas aut extingui aut magna ex parte obtundi solet.” Again he says: “In ipsis studiis sic voluptas est intermiscenda ut puer ludum potius discendi quam laborem existimet.” He adds: “Cavendum erit ne immodica contentione ingenia discentium obruantur aut lectione prolonga defatigentur; utraque enim juxta offenditur.”[44]Professor Arber is one of the very few editors who give accurate and sufficient bibliographical information about the books they edit. All students of our old literature are under deep obligations to him.[45]Mayor’s is beautifully printed and costs 1s.(London, Bell and Sons.)[46]“Utile imprimis ut multi præcipiunt, vel ex Græco in Latinum vel ex Latino vertere in Græcum; quo genere exercitationis proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, vis explicandi, præterea imitatione optimorum similia inveniendi facultas paratur: simul quæ legentem fefellissent transferentem fugere non possunt. Intelligentia ex hoc et judicium acquiritur.”—Epp.vii. 9, § 2. So the passage stands in Pliny. Ascham quotes “etex Græco in Latinumetex Latino vertere in Græcum.” with other variations.[47]Teaching of Languages in Schools, by W. H. Widgery, p. 6.[48]Much information about our early books, with quotations from some of them, will be found in Henry Barnard’sEnglish Pedagogy, 1st and 2nd series. Some notice of rare books is given inSchools, School-books, and Schoolmasters, by W. Carew Hazlitt (London, Jarvis, 1888), but in this work there are strange omissions.[49]The paging is that of the reprint. It differs slightly from that of first edition.[50]Mulcaster goes on to talk about the brain, &c. Of course he does not anticipate the discoveries of science, but his language is very different from what we should expect from a writer in the pre-scientific age,e.g., “To serve the turn of these two, bothsenseandmotion, Nature hath planted in our body abrain, the prince of all our parts, which by spreading sinews of all sorts throughout all our parts doth work all those effects which eithersenseis seen in ormotionperceived by.” (El., p. 32.) But much as he thinks of the body Mulcaster is no materialist. “Last of all our soul hath in it an imperial prerogative of understanding beyond sense, of judging by reason, of directing by both, for duty towards God, for society towards men, for conquest in affections, for purchase in knowledge, and such other things, whereby it furnisheth out all manner of uses in this our mortal life, and bewrayeth in itself a more excellent being than to continue still in this roaming pilgrimage.” (p. 33.) The grand thing, he says, is to bring all these abilities to perfection “which so heavenly a benefit is begun by education, confirmed by use, perfected with continuance which crowneth the whole work.” (p. 34.) “Nature makes the boy toward; nurture sees him forward.” (p. 35.) The neglect of the material world which has been for ages the source of mischief of all kinds in the schoolroom, and which has not yet entirely passed away, would have been impossible if Mulcaster’s elementary course had been adopted. “Is the body made by Nature nimble to run, to ride, to swim, to fence, to do anything else which beareth praise in that kind for either profit or pleasure? And doth not the Elementary help them all forward by precept and train? The hand, the ear, the eye be the greatest instruments whereby the receiving and delivery of our learning is chiefly executed, and doth not this Elementary instruct the hand to write, to draw, to play; the eye to read by letters, to discern by line, to judge by both; the ear to call for voice and sound with proportion for pleasure, with reason for wit? Generally whatsoever gift Nature hath bestowed upon the body, to be brought forth or bettered by the mean of train for any profitable use in our whole life, doth not this Elementary both find it and foresee it?” (El., p. 35). “The hand, the ear, the eye, be the greatest instruments,” said the Elizabethan schoolmaster. So says the Victorian reformer.[51]I wish some good author would write a book onUnpopular Truths, and show how, on some subjects, wise men go on saying the same thing in all ages and nobody listens to them. Plato said “In every work the beginning is the most important part, especially in dealing with anything young and tender.” (Rep., bk. ii, 377; Davies and Vaughan, p. 65.) And the complaints about “bad grounding” prove our common neglect of what Mulcaster urged three centuries ago: “For theElementariebecause good scholars will not abase themselves to it, it is left to the meanest, and therefore to the worst. For that the first grounding would be handled by the best, and his reward would be greatest, because both his pains and his judgment should be with the greatest. And it would easily allure sufficient men to come down so low, if they might perceive that reward would rise up. No man of judgment will contrary this point, neither can any ignorant be blamed for the contrary: the one seeth the thing to be but low in order, the other knoweth the ground to be great in laying, not only for the matter which the child doth learn: which is very small in show though great for process: but also for the manner of handling his wit, to hearten him for afterward, which is of great moment. The first master can deal but with a few, the next with more, and so still upward as reason groweth on and receives without forcing. It is the foundation well and soundly laid, which makes all the upper building muster, with countenance and continuance. If I were to strike the stroke, as I am but to give counsel, the first pains truly taken should in good truth be most liberally recompensed; and less allowed still upward, as the pains diminish and the ease increaseth. Whereat no master hath cause to repine, so he may have his children well grounded in theElementarie. Whose imperfection at this day doth marvellously trouble both masters and scholars, so that we can hardly do any good, nay, scantly tell how to place the too too raw boys in any certain form, with hope to go forward orderly, the ground-work of their entry being so rotten underneath.” (PP., pp. 233, 4.)[52]Quaint as we find Mulcaster in his mode of expression, the thing expressed is sometimes rather what we should expect from Herbert Spencer than from a schoolmaster of the Renascence. I have met with nothing more modern in thought than the following: “In time all learning may be brought into one tongue, and that natural to the inhabitant: so that schooling for tongues may prove needless, as once they were not needed; but it can never fall out that arts and sciences in their right nature shall be but most necessary for any commonwealth that is not given over unto too too much barbarousness.” (PP., 240.)

[1]When the greater part of this volume was already written, Mr. Parker published his sketch of the history of Classical Education (Essays on a Liberal Education, edited by Farrar). He seems to me to have been very successful in bringing out the most important features of his subject, but his essay necessarily shows marks of over-compression. Two volumes have also lately appeared onChristian Schools and Scholars(Longmans, 1867). Here we have a good deal of information which we want, and also, it seems to me, a good deal which we do not want. The work characteristically opens with a 10th century description of the personal appearance of St. Mark when he landed at Alexandria. The author treats only of the times which preceded the Council of Trent. A very interesting account of early English education has been given by Mr. Furnivall, in the 2nd and 3rd numbers of theQuarterly Journal of Education(1867). [I did not then know of Dr. Barnard’s works.]

[2]This article is omitted in the last edition.

[3]The rest of this chapter was published in the September, 1880 number ofEducation. Boston, U.S.A.

[4]On the nature of literature see Cardinal Newman’s “Lectures on the Nature of a University. University Subjects. II. Literature.”

[5]I see Carlyle has used a similar metaphor in the same connexion: “Consider the old schoolmen and their pilgrimage towards Truth! the faithfullest endeavour, incessant unwearied motion; often great natural vigour, only no progress; nothing but antic feats of one limb poised against the other; there they balanced, somerseted, and made postures; at best gyrated swiftly with some pleasure like spinning dervishes and ended where they began.”—Characteristics, Misc., vol. iii, 5.

[6]This illustration was suggested by a similar one in Prof. J. R. Seeley’s essay “On the teaching of English” in hisLectures and Essays, 1870.

[7]Miss J. D. Potter, in “Journal of Education.” London, June, 1879

[8]See Erasmus’sCiceronianus, or account of it, in Henry Barnard’sGerman Teachers.

[9]“On Abuse of Human Learning,” by Samuel Butler.

[10]Multum ilium profecisse arbitror, qui ante sextum decimum ætatis annum facultatem duarum linguarum mediocrem assecutus est. (Quoted by Parker.)

[11]R. Mulcaster’sPositions, 1581, p. 30. I have reprinted this book (Longmans, 1888, price 10s.).

[12]Sturm’s school “had an European reputation: there were Poles and Portuguese, Spaniards, Danes, Italians, French and English. But besides this, it was the model and mother school of a numerous progeny. Sturm himself organized schools for several towns which applied to him. His disciples became organizers, rectors, and professors. In short, if Melanchthon was the instructor, Sturm was the schoolmaster of Germany. Together with his method, his school-books were spread broadcast over the land. Both were adopted by Ascham in England, and by Buchanan in Scotland. Sturm himself was a great man at the imperial court. No diplomatist passed through Strasburg without stopping to converse with him. He drew a pension from the King of Denmark, another from the King of France, a third from the Queen of England, collected political information for Cardinal Granvella, and was ennobled by Charles V. He helped to negotiate peace between France and England, and was appointed to confer with a commission of Cardinals on reunion of the Church. In short, Sturm knew what he was about as well as most men of his time. Yet few will be disposed to accept his theory of education, even for the sixteenth century, as the best. Wherein then lay the mistake?... Sturm asserted that the proper end of school education is eloquence, or in modern phrase, a masterly command of language, and that the knowledge of things mainly belongs to a later stage ... Sturm assumed that Latin is the language in which eloquence is to be acquired.”This is from Mr. Charles Stuart Parker’s excellent account of Sturm inEssays on a Liberal Education, edited by Farrar, Essay I.,On History of Classical Education, p. 39.I find from Herbart (Päd. Schriften, O. Wilmann’s edition, vol. ij, 229 ff; Beyer’s edition, ij, 321) that the historian, F. H. Ch. Schwarz, took a very favourable view of Sturm’s work; and both he and Karl Schmidt give Sturm credit for introducing the two ways of studying an author that may be carried on at the same time—1st,statarisch,i.e., reading a small quantity accurately, and 2nd,cursorisch,i.e., getting over the ground. These two kinds, of reading were made much of by J. M. Gesner (1691-1761). Ernst Laas has writtenDie Pädagogik J. Sturmswhich no doubt does him justice, but I have not seen the book.

This is from Mr. Charles Stuart Parker’s excellent account of Sturm inEssays on a Liberal Education, edited by Farrar, Essay I.,On History of Classical Education, p. 39.

I find from Herbart (Päd. Schriften, O. Wilmann’s edition, vol. ij, 229 ff; Beyer’s edition, ij, 321) that the historian, F. H. Ch. Schwarz, took a very favourable view of Sturm’s work; and both he and Karl Schmidt give Sturm credit for introducing the two ways of studying an author that may be carried on at the same time—1st,statarisch,i.e., reading a small quantity accurately, and 2nd,cursorisch,i.e., getting over the ground. These two kinds, of reading were made much of by J. M. Gesner (1691-1761). Ernst Laas has writtenDie Pädagogik J. Sturmswhich no doubt does him justice, but I have not seen the book.

[13]Why did Bacon, who spoke slightingly of Sturm (see Parker, inEssays on Lib. Ed.), rate the Jesuits so highly? “Consule scholas Jesuitarum: nihil enim quod in usum venit his melius,”De Aug., lib. iv, cap. iv. See, too, a longer passage in first book ofDe Aug.(about end of first 1/4), “Quæ nobilissima pars priscæ disciplinæ revocata est aliquatenus, quasi postliminio, in Jesuitarum collegiis; quorum cum intueor industriam solertiamque tam in doctrina excolenda quam in moribus informandis, illud occurrit Agesilai de Pharnabazo, ‘Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses.’”

[14](1) Joseph Anton Schmid’s “Niedere Schulen der Jesuiten:” Regensburg, 1852. (2) Article by Wagenmann in K. A. Schmid’s “Encyclopädie des Erziehungs-und Unterrichtswesens.” (3) “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Soc. Jesu.” The first edition of this work, published at Rome in 1585, was suppressed as heretical, because it contemplated the possibility of differing from St. Thomas Aquinas. The book is now very scarce. There is a copy in the British Museum. On comparing it with the folio edition (“Constitutiones,” &c., published at Prag in 1632), I find many omissions in the latter, some of which are curious,e.g., under “De Matrimonio:”—“Matremne an uxorem occidere sit gravius, non est hujus loci.” (4) “Parænesis ad Magistros Scholarum Inferiorum Soc. Jesu, scripta a P. Francisco Sacchino, ex eâdem Societate.” (5) “Juvencius de Ratione Discendi et Docendi.” Crétineau-Joly’s “Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus” (Paris, 1844), I have not made much use of. Sacchini and Jouvency were both historians of the Order. The former died in 1625, the latter in 1719. There is a good sketch of the Jesuit schools, by Andrewes, in Barnard’sAmerican Journal of Education, vol. xiv, 1864, reprinted in the best book I know of in English on the History of Education, Barnard’sGerman Teachers.

[15]“L’exécution des décrets de 1880 a eu pour résultat la fermeture de leurs collèges. Mais malgré leur dispersion apparente ils sont encore plus puissants qu’on ne le croit, et ce serait une erreur de penser que le dernier mot est dit avec eux.”—Compayré, in Buisson, ij, p. 1420.

[16]According to the article in K. A. Schmid’s “Encyclopädie,” the usual course was this—the two years’ novitiate was over by the time the youth was between fifteen and seventeen. He then entered a Jesuit college as Scholasticus. Here he learnt literature and rhetoric for two years, and then philosophy (with mathematics) for three more. He then entered on his Regency,i.e., he went over the same ground as ateacher, for from four to six years. Then followed a period of theological study, ending with a year of trial, called theTertiorat. The candidate was now admitted to Priest’s Orders, and took the vows either asprofessus quatuor votorum, professed father of four vows, or as acoadjutor. If he was then sent back to teach, he gave only the higher instruction. Thefourthvow placed him at the disposal of the Pope.

[17]Karl Schmidt (Gesch. d. Päd., iij. 199, 200), says that however much teachers were wanted, a two years’ course of preparation was considered indispensable. When the Novitiate was over the candidate became a “Junior” (Gallicè“Juveniste”). He then continued his studiesin literis humanioribus, preparatory to teaching. When in the “Juvenat” or “Juniorate” he had rubbed up his classics and mathematics, he entered the “Seminary,” and two or three times a week he expounded to a class the matter of the previous lecture, and answered questions, &c. For this information I am indebted to the courtesy of Father Eyre (S. J.), of Stonyhurst.

[18]So says Andrewes (American Journal of Education), but other authorities put the age of entrance as high as fourteen. Thestudia superiorawere begun before twenty-four.

[19]“Non gratia nobilium officiat culturæ vulgarium: cum sint natales omnium pares in Adam et hæreditates quoque pares in Christo.”

[20]Even junior masters were not to be much addicted to their own language. “Illud cavendum imprimis juniori magistro ne vernaculis nimium libris indulgeat, præsertim poetis, in quibus maximam temporis ac fortasse morum jacturam faceret.”—Jouvency.

[21]“Multum proderit si magister non tumultuario ac subito dicat, sed quæ domi cogitate scripserit.—It will be a great gain if the master does not speak in a hurry and without forethought, but is ready with what he has thought out and written out in his own room.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid. And Sacchini says: “Ante omnia, quæ quisque docturus est, egregie calleat. Tum enim bene docet, et facile docet, et libenter docet; bene, quia sine errore; facile, quia sine labore; libenter, quia ex pleno.... Memoriæ minimum fidat: instauret eam refricetque iterata lectione antequam quicquam doceat, etiamsi idem sæpe docuerit. Occurret non raro quod addat vel commodius proponat.—Before all things let everyone be thoroughly skilled in what he is going to teach; for then he teaches well, he teaches easily, he teaches readily: well, because he makes no mistakes; easily, because he has no need to exert himself; readily, because, like wealthy men he cares not how he gives.... Let him be very distrustful of his memory; let him renew his remembrance and rub it up by repeated reading before he teaches anything, though he may have often taught it before. Something will now and then occur to him which he may add, or put more neatly.”

[22]In a school (not belonging to the Jesuits) where this plan was adopted, the boys, by an ingenious contrivance, managed to make it work very smoothly. The boy who was “hearing” the lessons held the book upside down in such a way that the othersreadinstead of repeating by heart. The masters finally interfered with this arrangement.

[23]Since the above was written, an account of these concertations has appeared in the Rev. G. R. Kingdon’s evidence before the Schools Commission, 1867 (vol. v, Answers 12, 228 ff.) Mr. Kingdon, the Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst, mentions that the side which wins in most concertations gets an extra half-holiday.

[24]“The grinding over and over of a subject after pupils have attained a fair knowledge of it, is nothing less than stultifying—killing out curiosity and the desire of knowledge, and begetting mechanical habits.”—Supt. J. Hancock, Dayton, Ohio. Every teacher of experience knows how true this is.

[25]“Stude potius ut pauciora clare distincteque percipiant, quam obscure atque confuse pluribus imbuantur.—Care rather for their seeing a few things vividly and definitely, than that they should get filled with hazy and confusing notions of many things.” (There are few more valuable precepts for the teacher than this.)

[26]Sacchini writes in a very high tone on this subject. The following passage is striking: “Gravitatem sui muneris summasque opportunitates assidue animo verset (magister).... ‘Puerilis institutio mundi renovatio est;’ hæc gymnasia Dei castra sunt, hic bonorum omnium semina latent. Video solum fundamentumque republicæ quod multi non videant interpositu terræ.—Let the mind of the master dwell upon the responsibilities of his office and its immense opportunities.... The education of the young is the renovation of the world. These schools are the camp of God: in them lie the seeds of all that is good. There I see the foundation and ground-work of the commonwealth, which many fail to see from its being underground.” Perhaps he had read of Trotzendorf’s address to a school, “Hail reverend divines, learned doctors, worshipful magistrates, &c.”

[27]“Circa illorum valetudinem peculiari cura animadvertat (Rector) ut et in laboribus mentis modum servent, et in iis quæ ad corpus pertinent, religiosa commoditate tractentur, ut diutius in studiis perseverare tam in litteris addiscendis quam in eisdem exercendis ad Dei gloriam possint.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid.See alsoinfrap. 62.

[28]The following, from theRatio Studd., sounds Jesuitical: “Nec publicé puniant flagitia quædam secretiora sed privatim; aut si publicé,alias obtendant causas, et satis est eos qui plectuntur conscios esse causarum.”

[29]As the Public Schools Commission pointed out, the Head Master often thinks of nothing but the attainment of University honours,even when the great majority of his pupils are not going to the University.

[30]The advantages of learning by heart are twofold, says Sacchini: “Primum memoriam ipsam perficiunt, quod est in totam ætatem ad universa negotia inæstimabile commodum. Deinde suppellectilem inde pulcherrimam congregant verborum ac rerum: quæ item, quamdiu vivant, usui futura sit: cum quæ ætate illa insederint indelebilia soleant permanere. Magnam itaque, ubi adoleverint, gratiam Praeceptori habebunt, cui memoriæ debebunt profectum, magnamque lætitiam capient invenientes quodammodo domi thesaurum quem, in ætate cæteroqui parum fructuosa, prope non sentientes parârint. Enim vero quam sæpe viros graves atque præstantes magnoque jam natu videre et audire est, dum in docta ac nobili corona jucundissime quædam promunt ex iis quæ pueri condiderunt?—First, they strengthen the memory itself and so gain an inestimable advantage in affairs of every kind throughout life. Then they get together by this means the fairest furniture for the mind, both of thoughts and words, a stock that will be of use to them as long as they live, since that which settles in the mind in youth mostly stays there. And when the lads have grown up they will feel gratitude to the master to whom they are indebted for their good memory; and they will take delight in finding within them a treasure which at a time of life otherwise unfruitful they have been preparing almost without knowing it. How often we see and hear eminent men far advanced in life, when in learned and noble company, take a special delight in quoting what they stored up as boys!” The master, he says, must point out to his pupils the advantages we derive from memory; that we only know and possess that which we retain, that this cannot be taken from us, but is with us always and is always ready for use, a living library, which may be studied even in the dark. Boys should therefore be encouraged to run over in their minds, or to say aloud, what they have learnt, as often as opportunity offers, as when they are walking or are by themselves: “Ita numquam in otio futuros otiosos; ita minus fore solos cum soli erunt, consuetudine fruentes sapientum.... Denique curandum erit ut selecta quædam ediscant quæ deinde in quovis studiorum genere ac vita fere omni usui sint futura.—So they will never be without employment when unemployed, never less alone than when alone, for then they profit by intercourse with the wise.... To sum up, take care that they thoroughly commit to memory choice selections which will for ever after be of use to them in every kind of study, and nearly every pursuit in life.”—(Cap. viij.) This is interesting and well put, but we see one or two points in which we have now made an advance. Learning by heart will give none of the advantages mentioned unless the boys understand the pieces and delight in them. Learning by heart strengthens, no doubt, a faculty, but nothing large enough to be called “the memory.” And the Renascence must indeed have blinded the eyes of the man to whom childhood and youth seemed an “ætas parum fructuosa”! Similarly, Sturm speaks of the small fry “qui in extremis latent classibus.” (Quoted by Parker.) But when Pestalozzi and Froebel came these lay hid no longer.

[31]Ranke, speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says: “It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than with others in two years. Even Protestants called back their children from distant schools, and put them under the care of the Jesuits.”—Hist. of Popes, book v, p. 138. Kelly’s Trans.In France, the University in vain procured anarrêtforbidding the Parisians to send away their sons to the Jesuit colleges: “Jesuit schools enjoyed the confidence of the public in a degree which placed them beyond competition.” (Pattison’sCasaubon, p. 182.)Pattison remarks elsewhere that such was the common notion of the Jesuits’ course of instruction that their controversialists could treat anyone, even a Casaubon, who had not gone through it, as an uneducated person.

In France, the University in vain procured anarrêtforbidding the Parisians to send away their sons to the Jesuit colleges: “Jesuit schools enjoyed the confidence of the public in a degree which placed them beyond competition.” (Pattison’sCasaubon, p. 182.)

Pattison remarks elsewhere that such was the common notion of the Jesuits’ course of instruction that their controversialists could treat anyone, even a Casaubon, who had not gone through it, as an uneducated person.

[32]“Sapientum hoc omnium seu veterum seu recentum constans judicium est, institutionem puerilem tum fore optimam cum jucundissima fuerit, inde enim et ludum vocari. Meretur ætatis teneritas ut ne oneretur: meretur innocentia ut ei parcatur ... Quæ libentibus auribus instillantur, ad ea velut occurrit animus, avide suscipit, studiose recondit, fideliter servat.”

[33]“Conciliabit facilè studiis quos primùm sibi conciliârit. Det itaque omnem operam illorum erga se observantionem ut sapienter colligat et continenter enutriat. Ostendat, sibi res eorum curæ esse non solum quæ ad animum sed etiam quæ ad alia pertinent. Gaudeat cum gaudentibus, nec dedignetur flere cum flentibus. Instar Apostoli inter parvulos parvulus fiat quo magnos in Christo et magnum in eis Christum efficiat ... Seriam comitatem et paternam gravitatem cum materna benignitate permisceat.” Unfortunately, the Jesuits’ kind manner loses its value from being due not so much to kind feeling as to some ulterior object, or to a rule of the Order. I think it is Jouvency who recommends that when a boy is absent from sickness or other sufficient reason, the master should send daily to inquire after him,because the parents will be pleased by such attention. When the motive of the inquiry is suspected, the parents will be pleased no longer.

[34]“Errorem existimo statim initio spinosiores quasdam grammaticæ difficultates inculcare ... cum enim planioribus insueverint difficiliora paulatim usus explanabit. Quin et capacior subinde mens ac firmius cum ætate judicium, quod alio monstrante perægre unquam percepisset per sese non raro intelliget. Exempla quoque talium rerum dum praelegitur autor facilius in orationis contextu agnoscentur et penetrabunt in animos quam si solitaria et abscissa proponantur. Quamobrem faciendum erit ut quoties occurrunt diligenter enucleentur.”

[35]See,e.g., marvellous instances of their self-devotion in that most interesting book, Francis Parkman’sJesuits in N. America(Boston, Little & Co., 10th edition, 1876).

[36]I have referred to Francis Parkman, who has chronicled the marvellous self-devotion and heroism of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada. Such a witness may be trusted when he says: “The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his Order as for his faith; and oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of conversion with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardships, and martyrdom. Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here lies one of the causes among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in the annals of the Order.”—The Discovery of the Great West, by F. Parkman, London, 1869, p. 28.

[37]In a letter dated from Stonyhurst, 22nd April, 1880.

[38]The best account I have seen of life in a Jesuit school is inErinnerungen eines chemaligen Jesuitenzöglings(Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1862). The writer (Köhler?) says that he has become an evangelical clergyman, but there is no hostile feeling shown to his old instructors, and the narrative bears the strongest internal evidence of accuracy. Some of the Jesuit devices mentioned are very ingenious. All house masters who have adopted the cubicle arrangement of dormitories know how difficult it is to keep the boys in their own cubicles. The Jesuits have the cubicles barred across at the top, and the locks on the doors are so constructed that though they can be opened from the insidethey cannot be shut again. The Fathers at Freiburg (in Breisgau) opened a “tuck-shop” for the boys, and gave “week’s-pay” in counters which passed at their own shop and nowhere else. The author speaks warmly of the kindness of the Fathers and of their care for health and recreation. But their ways were inscrutable and every boy felt himself in the hands of ahumanprovidence. As the boys go out for a walk, one of them is detained by the porter, who says “the Rector wants to speak to you.” On their way back the boys meet a diligence in which sits their late comrade waving adieus.He has been expelled.Another book which throws much light on Jesuit pedagogy is by a Jesuit—La Discipline, par le R. P. Emmanuel Barbier (Paris, V. Palmé, 2nd edition, 1888). I will give a specimen in a loose translation, as it may interest the reader to see how carefully the Jesuits have studied the master’s difficulties. “The master in charge of the boys, especially in play-time, in his first intercourse with them, has no greater snare in his way than taking his power for granted, and trusting to the strength of his will and his knowledge of the world, especially as he is at first lulled into security by the deferential manner of his pupils.“That master who goes off with such ease from the very first, to whom the carrying out of all the rules seems the simplest thing in the world, who in the very first hour he is with them has already made himself liked, almost popular, with his pupils, who shows no more anxiety about his work than he must show to keep his character for good sense, that master is indeed to be pitied; he is most likely a lost man. He will soon have to choose one of two things, either to shut his eyes and put up with all the irregularities he thought he had done away with, or to break with a past that he would wish forgotten, and engage in open conflict with the boys who are inclined to set him at defiance. These cases are we trust rare. But many believe with a kind of rash ignorance and in spite of the warnings of experience that the good feelings of their pupils will work together to maintain their authority. They have been told that this authority should be mild and endeared by acts of kindness. So they set about crowning the edifice without making sure of the foundations; and taking the title of authority for its possession they spend all their efforts in lightening a yoke of which no one really bears the weight.“In point of fact the first steps often determine the whole course. For this reason you will attach extreme importance to what I am now going to advise:“The chief characteristic in your conduct towards the boys during the first few weeks should bean extreme reserve. However far you go in this, you can hardly overdo it. So your first attitude is clearly defined.“You have everything to observe, the individual character of each boy and the general tendencies and feelings of the whole body. But be sure of one thing, viz., thatyouare observed also, and a careful study is made both of your strong points and of your weak. Your way of speaking and of giving orders, the tone of your voice, your gestures, disclose your character, your tastes, your failings, to a hundred boys on the alert to pounce upon them. One is summed up long before one has the least notion of it. Try then to remain impenetrable. You should never give up your reserve till you are master of the situation.“For the rest, let there be no affectation about you. Don’t attempt to put on a severe manner; answer politely and simply your pupils’ questions, but let it be in few words, andavoid conversation. All depends on that. Let there be no chatting with them in these early days. You cannot be too cautious in this respect. Boys have such a polite, such a taking way with them in drawing out information about your impressions, your tastes, your antecedents; don’t attempt the diplomate; don’t match your skill against theirs. You cannot chat without coming out of your shell, so to speak. Instead of this, you must puzzle them by your reserve, and drive them to this admission: ‘We don’t know what to make of our new master.’“Do I advise you then to be on the defensive throughout the whole year and like a stranger among your pupils? No! a thousand times, No! It is just to make their relations with you simple, confiding, I might say cordial, without the least danger to your authority, that I endeavour to raise this authority at first beyond the reach of assault.”—La Discipline, chap, v, pp. 31 ff.In this book we see the best side of the Jesuits. They believe in their “mission,” and this belief throws light on many things. Those who hate the Jesuits have often extolled the wisdom of Montaigne, when he says: “We have not to train up a soul, nor yet a body, but a man; and we cannot divide him.” Can they see no wisdom inthis? “Let your mind be filled with the thought that both soul and body have been created by the Hand of God: we must account to Him for these two parts of our being; and we are not required to weaken one of them out of love for the Creator. We should love the body in the same degree that He could love it.” This is what Loyola wrote in 1548 to Francis Borgia (Compayré,Doctrines, &c., vol. j, 179). But if we wish to see the other side of the Jesuit character, we have only to look at the Jesuit as a controversialist. We sometimes see children hiding things and then having a pretence hunt for them. The Jesuits are no children, but in arguing they pretend to be searching for conclusions which are settled before arguments are thought of. See,e.g., the attack on the Port Royalists inLes Jésuites Instituteurs, par le P. Ch. Daniel, 1880, in which the Jesuit sets himself to maintain this thesis: “D’une source aussi profondément infectée du poison de l’hérésie, il ne pouvait sortir rien d’absolument bon” (p. 123). One good point he certainly makes, and in my judgment one only, in comparing the Port Royalist schools with the schools of Jesuits. Methods which answer with very small numbers may not do with large numbers: “You might as well try to extend your gardening operations to agriculture” (p. 102).

Another book which throws much light on Jesuit pedagogy is by a Jesuit—La Discipline, par le R. P. Emmanuel Barbier (Paris, V. Palmé, 2nd edition, 1888). I will give a specimen in a loose translation, as it may interest the reader to see how carefully the Jesuits have studied the master’s difficulties. “The master in charge of the boys, especially in play-time, in his first intercourse with them, has no greater snare in his way than taking his power for granted, and trusting to the strength of his will and his knowledge of the world, especially as he is at first lulled into security by the deferential manner of his pupils.

“That master who goes off with such ease from the very first, to whom the carrying out of all the rules seems the simplest thing in the world, who in the very first hour he is with them has already made himself liked, almost popular, with his pupils, who shows no more anxiety about his work than he must show to keep his character for good sense, that master is indeed to be pitied; he is most likely a lost man. He will soon have to choose one of two things, either to shut his eyes and put up with all the irregularities he thought he had done away with, or to break with a past that he would wish forgotten, and engage in open conflict with the boys who are inclined to set him at defiance. These cases are we trust rare. But many believe with a kind of rash ignorance and in spite of the warnings of experience that the good feelings of their pupils will work together to maintain their authority. They have been told that this authority should be mild and endeared by acts of kindness. So they set about crowning the edifice without making sure of the foundations; and taking the title of authority for its possession they spend all their efforts in lightening a yoke of which no one really bears the weight.

“In point of fact the first steps often determine the whole course. For this reason you will attach extreme importance to what I am now going to advise:

“The chief characteristic in your conduct towards the boys during the first few weeks should bean extreme reserve. However far you go in this, you can hardly overdo it. So your first attitude is clearly defined.

“You have everything to observe, the individual character of each boy and the general tendencies and feelings of the whole body. But be sure of one thing, viz., thatyouare observed also, and a careful study is made both of your strong points and of your weak. Your way of speaking and of giving orders, the tone of your voice, your gestures, disclose your character, your tastes, your failings, to a hundred boys on the alert to pounce upon them. One is summed up long before one has the least notion of it. Try then to remain impenetrable. You should never give up your reserve till you are master of the situation.

“For the rest, let there be no affectation about you. Don’t attempt to put on a severe manner; answer politely and simply your pupils’ questions, but let it be in few words, andavoid conversation. All depends on that. Let there be no chatting with them in these early days. You cannot be too cautious in this respect. Boys have such a polite, such a taking way with them in drawing out information about your impressions, your tastes, your antecedents; don’t attempt the diplomate; don’t match your skill against theirs. You cannot chat without coming out of your shell, so to speak. Instead of this, you must puzzle them by your reserve, and drive them to this admission: ‘We don’t know what to make of our new master.’

“Do I advise you then to be on the defensive throughout the whole year and like a stranger among your pupils? No! a thousand times, No! It is just to make their relations with you simple, confiding, I might say cordial, without the least danger to your authority, that I endeavour to raise this authority at first beyond the reach of assault.”—La Discipline, chap, v, pp. 31 ff.

In this book we see the best side of the Jesuits. They believe in their “mission,” and this belief throws light on many things. Those who hate the Jesuits have often extolled the wisdom of Montaigne, when he says: “We have not to train up a soul, nor yet a body, but a man; and we cannot divide him.” Can they see no wisdom inthis? “Let your mind be filled with the thought that both soul and body have been created by the Hand of God: we must account to Him for these two parts of our being; and we are not required to weaken one of them out of love for the Creator. We should love the body in the same degree that He could love it.” This is what Loyola wrote in 1548 to Francis Borgia (Compayré,Doctrines, &c., vol. j, 179). But if we wish to see the other side of the Jesuit character, we have only to look at the Jesuit as a controversialist. We sometimes see children hiding things and then having a pretence hunt for them. The Jesuits are no children, but in arguing they pretend to be searching for conclusions which are settled before arguments are thought of. See,e.g., the attack on the Port Royalists inLes Jésuites Instituteurs, par le P. Ch. Daniel, 1880, in which the Jesuit sets himself to maintain this thesis: “D’une source aussi profondément infectée du poison de l’hérésie, il ne pouvait sortir rien d’absolument bon” (p. 123). One good point he certainly makes, and in my judgment one only, in comparing the Port Royalist schools with the schools of Jesuits. Methods which answer with very small numbers may not do with large numbers: “You might as well try to extend your gardening operations to agriculture” (p. 102).

[39]I am sorry to use a German word, but educational matters have been so little considered among us that we have no English vocabulary for them. The want of a word forRealienwas felt over 200 years ago. “Repositories forvisiblesshall be prepared by which from beholding the things gentlewomen may learn the names, natures, values, and use of herbs, shrubs, trees, mineral-juices (sic), metals, and stones.” (Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen.London, 1672.)

[40]See the very interestingEssay on Montaigneby Dean R. W. Church.

[41]Perhaps the saying of Montaigne’s which is most frequently quoted is the paradoxSavoir par cœur n’est pas savoir: (“to know by heart is not toknow.”) But these words are often misunderstood. The meaning, as I take it, is this: When a thought has entered into the mind it shakes off the words by which it was conveyed thither. Therefore so long as the words are indispensable the thought is not known. Knowing and knowing by heart are not necessarily opposed, but they are different things; and as the mind most easily runs along sequences of words a knowledge of the words often conceals ignorance or neglect of the thought. I once asked a boy if he thought of the meaning when he repeated Latin poetry and I got the instructive answer: “Sometimes,when I am not sure of the words.” But there are cases in which we naturally connect a particular form of words with thoughts that have become part of our minds. We then know, and know by heart also.

[42]Lord Armstrong has perhaps never read Montaigne’sEssay on Pedantry; certainly, he has not borrowed from it; and yet much that he says in discussing “The Cry for Useless Knowledge” (Nineteenth Century Magazine, November, 1888), is just what Montaigne said more than three centuries ago. “The aphorism that knowledge is power is so constantly used by educational enthusiasts that it may almost be regarded as the motto of the party. But the first essential of a motto is that it be true, and it is certainly not true that knowledge is the same as power, seeing that it is only an aid to power. The power of a surgeon to amputate a limb no more lies in his knowledge than in his knife. In fact, the knife has the better claim to potency of the two, for a man may hack off a limb with his knife alone, but not with his knowledge alone. Knowledge is not even an aid to power in all cases, seeing that useless knowledge, which is no uncommon article in our popular schools, has no relation to power. The true source of power is the originative action of the mind which we see exhibited in the daily incidents of life, as well as in matters of great importance.... A man’s success in life depends incomparably more upon his capacities for useful action than upon his acquirements in knowledge, and the education of the young should therefore be directed to the development of faculties and valuable qualities rather than to the acquisition of knowledge.... Men of capacity and possessing qualities for useful action are at a premium all over the world, while men of mere education are at a deplorable discount.” (p. 664).“There is a great tendency in the scholastic world to underrate the value and potency of self-education, which commences on leaving school and endures all through life.” (p. 667).“I deprecate plunging into doubtful and costly schemes of instruction, led on by theignis fatuusthat ‘knowledge is a power.’ For where natural capacity is wasted in attaining knowledge, it would be truer to say that knowledge is weakness.” (p. 668).

“There is a great tendency in the scholastic world to underrate the value and potency of self-education, which commences on leaving school and endures all through life.” (p. 667).

“I deprecate plunging into doubtful and costly schemes of instruction, led on by theignis fatuusthat ‘knowledge is a power.’ For where natural capacity is wasted in attaining knowledge, it would be truer to say that knowledge is weakness.” (p. 668).

[43]In another matter, also, we find that the masters of these schools subsequently departed widely from the intention of the great men who fostered the revival of learning. Wolsey writes: “Imprimis hoc unum admonendum censuerimus, ut neque plagis severioribus neque vultuosis minis, aut ulla tyrannidis specie, tenera pubes afficiatur: hac enim injuria ingenii alacritas aut extingui aut magna ex parte obtundi solet.” Again he says: “In ipsis studiis sic voluptas est intermiscenda ut puer ludum potius discendi quam laborem existimet.” He adds: “Cavendum erit ne immodica contentione ingenia discentium obruantur aut lectione prolonga defatigentur; utraque enim juxta offenditur.”

[44]Professor Arber is one of the very few editors who give accurate and sufficient bibliographical information about the books they edit. All students of our old literature are under deep obligations to him.

[45]Mayor’s is beautifully printed and costs 1s.(London, Bell and Sons.)

[46]“Utile imprimis ut multi præcipiunt, vel ex Græco in Latinum vel ex Latino vertere in Græcum; quo genere exercitationis proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, vis explicandi, præterea imitatione optimorum similia inveniendi facultas paratur: simul quæ legentem fefellissent transferentem fugere non possunt. Intelligentia ex hoc et judicium acquiritur.”—Epp.vii. 9, § 2. So the passage stands in Pliny. Ascham quotes “etex Græco in Latinumetex Latino vertere in Græcum.” with other variations.

[47]Teaching of Languages in Schools, by W. H. Widgery, p. 6.

[48]Much information about our early books, with quotations from some of them, will be found in Henry Barnard’sEnglish Pedagogy, 1st and 2nd series. Some notice of rare books is given inSchools, School-books, and Schoolmasters, by W. Carew Hazlitt (London, Jarvis, 1888), but in this work there are strange omissions.

[49]The paging is that of the reprint. It differs slightly from that of first edition.

[50]Mulcaster goes on to talk about the brain, &c. Of course he does not anticipate the discoveries of science, but his language is very different from what we should expect from a writer in the pre-scientific age,e.g., “To serve the turn of these two, bothsenseandmotion, Nature hath planted in our body abrain, the prince of all our parts, which by spreading sinews of all sorts throughout all our parts doth work all those effects which eithersenseis seen in ormotionperceived by.” (El., p. 32.) But much as he thinks of the body Mulcaster is no materialist. “Last of all our soul hath in it an imperial prerogative of understanding beyond sense, of judging by reason, of directing by both, for duty towards God, for society towards men, for conquest in affections, for purchase in knowledge, and such other things, whereby it furnisheth out all manner of uses in this our mortal life, and bewrayeth in itself a more excellent being than to continue still in this roaming pilgrimage.” (p. 33.) The grand thing, he says, is to bring all these abilities to perfection “which so heavenly a benefit is begun by education, confirmed by use, perfected with continuance which crowneth the whole work.” (p. 34.) “Nature makes the boy toward; nurture sees him forward.” (p. 35.) The neglect of the material world which has been for ages the source of mischief of all kinds in the schoolroom, and which has not yet entirely passed away, would have been impossible if Mulcaster’s elementary course had been adopted. “Is the body made by Nature nimble to run, to ride, to swim, to fence, to do anything else which beareth praise in that kind for either profit or pleasure? And doth not the Elementary help them all forward by precept and train? The hand, the ear, the eye be the greatest instruments whereby the receiving and delivery of our learning is chiefly executed, and doth not this Elementary instruct the hand to write, to draw, to play; the eye to read by letters, to discern by line, to judge by both; the ear to call for voice and sound with proportion for pleasure, with reason for wit? Generally whatsoever gift Nature hath bestowed upon the body, to be brought forth or bettered by the mean of train for any profitable use in our whole life, doth not this Elementary both find it and foresee it?” (El., p. 35). “The hand, the ear, the eye, be the greatest instruments,” said the Elizabethan schoolmaster. So says the Victorian reformer.

[51]I wish some good author would write a book onUnpopular Truths, and show how, on some subjects, wise men go on saying the same thing in all ages and nobody listens to them. Plato said “In every work the beginning is the most important part, especially in dealing with anything young and tender.” (Rep., bk. ii, 377; Davies and Vaughan, p. 65.) And the complaints about “bad grounding” prove our common neglect of what Mulcaster urged three centuries ago: “For theElementariebecause good scholars will not abase themselves to it, it is left to the meanest, and therefore to the worst. For that the first grounding would be handled by the best, and his reward would be greatest, because both his pains and his judgment should be with the greatest. And it would easily allure sufficient men to come down so low, if they might perceive that reward would rise up. No man of judgment will contrary this point, neither can any ignorant be blamed for the contrary: the one seeth the thing to be but low in order, the other knoweth the ground to be great in laying, not only for the matter which the child doth learn: which is very small in show though great for process: but also for the manner of handling his wit, to hearten him for afterward, which is of great moment. The first master can deal but with a few, the next with more, and so still upward as reason groweth on and receives without forcing. It is the foundation well and soundly laid, which makes all the upper building muster, with countenance and continuance. If I were to strike the stroke, as I am but to give counsel, the first pains truly taken should in good truth be most liberally recompensed; and less allowed still upward, as the pains diminish and the ease increaseth. Whereat no master hath cause to repine, so he may have his children well grounded in theElementarie. Whose imperfection at this day doth marvellously trouble both masters and scholars, so that we can hardly do any good, nay, scantly tell how to place the too too raw boys in any certain form, with hope to go forward orderly, the ground-work of their entry being so rotten underneath.” (PP., pp. 233, 4.)

[52]Quaint as we find Mulcaster in his mode of expression, the thing expressed is sometimes rather what we should expect from Herbert Spencer than from a schoolmaster of the Renascence. I have met with nothing more modern in thought than the following: “In time all learning may be brought into one tongue, and that natural to the inhabitant: so that schooling for tongues may prove needless, as once they were not needed; but it can never fall out that arts and sciences in their right nature shall be but most necessary for any commonwealth that is not given over unto too too much barbarousness.” (PP., 240.)

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