applyed by proprietie in matter first offered them to learne by considerate ascent in order encreasing by degrees by wary handling of them to draw them onward with courage We finde also in them as a quickenes to take so a fastnesse to retaine therfore their memorie would streight waye be furnished with the verie best seeing it is a treasurie exercised with the most seeing it is of receite neuer suffered to be idle seeing it spoiles so soone For in defaulte of the better the worse will take chaire and bid it selfe welcome and if idlenesse enter it will exclude all earnest and call in her kinsfolkes toyes and triffles easie for remembraunce heauy for repentaunce We finde in them further an ability to discern what is good and what is ill which ought foorthwith to be made acquainted with the best by obedience and order and dissuaded from the worse by misliking and frowne These three thinges witte to take memorie to kepe discretion to dscern and moe if ye seeke though but braunches to these which I chuse for my purpose shall ye finde pearing out of the litle young soules when you may see what is in them and not they themselues Whose abilitie to encrease in time and infirmitie to crawle at that time is commended to them which first begot them or best can frame them Now these naturall towardnesses being once espied in what degree they rise bycause there is ods in children by nature as in parentes by purchace they must be followed with diligence encreased by order encouraged by comfort till they come to their proofe Which proofe trauell in time will perfourme hast knittes vp to soone and vnperfit flownesse to late and to weake But for the best waie of their good speede that witte maie conceiue and learne well memorie retaine and hold fast discretion chuse and discerne best the cheife and chariest point is so to plie them all as they may proceede voluntarily and not with violence that will may be a good boye ready to do well and lothe to do ill neuer fearing the rod which he will not deserue For wheresoeuer will in effecting doth ioyne with abilitie to conceiue and memorie to retaine there industrie will finde frute yea in the frowne of fortune By discretion to cause them take to that which is best to forsake that which is worst in common dealinges is common to all men that haue interest in childrē parentes by nature maisters by charge neighbours of curtesie all men of all humanitie whom either priuate care by custome or publike cure by commaundement of magistrate and lawe doth compell in conscience to helpe their well doing and to fray them from ill wheresoeuer they meete them or when so euer they see them do that which is naught And therfore that duetie to helpe them in this kinde for their manners is incident to maisters but among others though somwhat more then some others as to whom it is most seemely bycause of their authoritie and most proper bycause of their charge whom knowledge best enfourmeth to embrew them with the best and power best assisteth to cause them embrace the best euen perforce at the first till acquaintaunce in time breede liking of it selfe But this mannering of them is not for teachers alone because they communicate therin as I haue said already both with naturall parentes to whom that point appertaineth nearest as of most authoritie with them and with all honest persons which seing a child doing euill are bid in conscience to terrifie and check him as the quality of the childes offence and the circūstāce of their owne person doth seeme best to require Wherfore reseruing for the teacher so much as is for his office to enstruct the child what is best for him in matter of manners and to see to it so much as in him lyeth to set good orders in his gouernment to see them alwaye well and one waye still executed and perfourmed I referre the rest to those whom either any vertuous consideration of them selues or any particular duetie enioyned by lawe doth charge with the rest either by priuate discipline at home or by publicke ordinaunce abroade to see youth well brought vp that waye to learne to discern that which is well from ill good from bad religious from prophane honest from dishonest commendable from blameworthy seemely from vnseemely that they may honour God serue their countrey comfort their freindes and aide one an other as good countreymen are bound to do But how to handle their conceit in taking and their memorie in holding bycause that appertaineth to teachers wholly for all that the parentes and freindes wilbe medlers somtime to further their young impes I will deale in that and shew wherin children ought to be trained till they be found fit for Grammer wherin neuerthelesse both the matters which they learne and the manners which they are made to serue for ground to vertue and encrease of discretion As I might verie well be esteemed inconsiderate if I should force any farre fet diuises into these my principles which neither my countrey knew nor her custome cared for so dealing but with those and resting content with those which my countrey hath seuered to her priuate vse and her custome is acquainted with of long continuaunce I maye hope for consent where my countrey commendeth and looke for successe where custome leades my hand and feare no note of noueltie where nothing is but auncient Amongst these my countreys most familiar principles reading offereth her selfe first in the entrie chosen vpon good ground continued vpon great proofe enrowled among the best and the verie formost of the best by her owne effectes as verie many so verie profitable For whether you marke the nature of the thing while it is in getting or the goodnesse therof when it is gotten it must needs be the first and the most frutefull principle in training of the minde For the letter is the first and simplest impression in the trade of teaching and nothing before it The knitting and iointing wherof groweth on verie infinitely as it appeareth most plainely by daily spelling and continuall reading till partely by vse and partely by argument the child get the habit and cunning to read well which being once goten what a cluster of commodities doth it bring with all what so euer any other for either profit or pleasure of force or freewill hath published to the world by penne or printe for any ende or to any vse it is by reading all made to serue vs in religion to loue and feare God in lawe to obey and please men in skill to entertaine knowledge in will to expell ignorance to do all in all as hauing by it all helpes to do all thinges well Wherfore I make reading my first and fairest principle of all other as being simply the first in substaunce and leaning to none but leading all other and growing after so great as it raungeth ouer all being somwhat without other
will examine euerie of them somwhat nearer as inducers to the truth ear I deale with the traine For the first If I should seeme to enforce any noueltie I might seeme ridiculous and neuer se that thing take place which I tender so much but considering the custome of my countrie hath deliuered me of that care which hath made the maidens traine her owne approued trauell what absurditie am I in to say that is true which my countrie dare auow and daily doth trie I set not yong maidens to publike grammer scholes a thing not vsed in my countrie I send them not to the vniuersities hauing no president thereof in my countrie I allow them learning with distinction in degrees with difference of their calling with respect to their endes wherefore they learne wherein my countrie confirmeth my opinion We see yong maidens be taught to read and write and can do both with praise we heare them sing and playe and both passing well we know that they learne the best and finest of our learned languages to the admiration of all men For the daiely spoken toungues and of best reputation in our time who so shall denie that they may not compare euen with our kinde in the best degree they will claime no other combate then to talke with him in that verie tongue who shall seeke to taint them for it These things our country doth stand to these qualities their parentes procure them as either oportunitie of circunstance will serue or their owne power wil extend vnto or their daughters towardnesse doth offer hope to be preferred by for singularitie of endowment either in mariage or some other meane Nay do we not see in our country some of that sex so excellently well trained and so rarely qualified either for the toungues themselues or for the matter in the toungues as they may be opposed by way of comparison if not preferred as beyond comparison euen to the best Romaine or Greekish paragōnes be they neuer so much praised to the Germaine or French gentlewymen by late writers so wel liked to the Italian ladies who dare write themselues and deserue fame for so doing whose excellencie is so geason as they be rather wonders to gaze at then presidentes to follow And is that to be called in question which we both dayly see in many and wonder at in some I dare be bould therefore to admit yong maidens to learne seeing my countrie giues me leaue and her custome standes for me For the second point The duetie which we owe them doth straitly commaund vs to see them well brought vp For what be young maidens in respect of our sex Are they not the seminary of our succession the naturall frye from whence we are to chuse our naturall next and most necessarie freindes The very selfe same creatures which were made for our comfort the onely good to garnish our alonenesse the nearest companions in our weale or wo the peculiar and priuiest partakers in all our fortunes borne for vs to life bound to vs till death And can we in conscience but carefully thinke of them which are so many wayes linked vnto vs Is it either nothing or but some small thing to haue our childrens mothers well furnished in minde well strengthened in bodie which desire by them to maintaine our succession or is it not their good to be so well garnished which good being defeated in them by our indiligence of whom they are to haue it doth it not charge vs with breache of duetie bycause they haue it not They are committed commended vnto vs as pupilles vnto tutours as bodies vnto heades nay as bodies vnto soules so that if we tender not their education duetifully they maye vrge that against vs if at any time either by their owne right or by our default they winne the vpper roome and make vs stand bare head or be bolder with vs to They that write of the vse of our bodies do greatly blame such parentes as suffer not their children to vse the left hand as well as the right bycause therby they weaken their strength and the vse of their limmes and can we be without blame who seeke not to strengthen that which was once taken from vs and yet taryeth with vs as a part of vs still knowing it to be the weaker Or is there any better meane to strengthen their minde then that knowledge of God of religion of ciuil of domesticall dueties which we haue by our traine and ought not to denie them being comprised in bookes and is to be compassed in youth That some exercise of bodie ought to be vsed some ordinarie stirring ought to be enioyned some prouision for priuate and peculiar trainers ought to be made not onely the ladies of Lacedaemon will sweare but all the world will sooth if they do but wey that it is to much to weaken our owne selues by not strengthning their side That cunning poet for iudgement in matter and great philosopher for secrecie in nature our well knowen Virgill saw in a goodly horse that was offered vnto Augustus Caesar an infirmitie vnperceaued by either looker on or any of his stable which came as he said by some weaknes in the damme and was confessed to be true Galene the whole familie of Physicians ripping vp our infirmities which be not to be auoided placeth the seminarie and originall engraffed in nature as our greatest and nearest foes And therfore to be preuented by the parentes thorough considerate traine the best and fairest meane to better weake nature so that of duety they are to be cared for And what care in duetie is greater then this in traine Their naturall towardnesse which was my third reason doth most manifestly call vpon vs to see them well brought vp If nature haue giuen them abilities to proue excellent in their kinde and yet thereby in no point to let their most laudable dueties in mariage and matche but rather to bewtifie them with most singular ornamentes are not we to be cōdemned of extreme vnnaturallnes if we gay not that by discipline which is giuen them by nature That naturally they are so richely endowed all Philosophie is full no Diuinitie denyes Plato and his Academikes say that all vertues be indifferent nay all one in man and woman sauing that they be more strong and more durable in men weaker and more variable in wymen Xeno his Stoikes though they esteeme the ods betwene man and woman naturally to be as great as the difference betwene an heauenly and an earthly creature which Plato did not making them both of one mould yet they graunt them equalitie and samenesse in vertue though they deliuer the strength and constancie ouer vnto men as properly belonging vnto that side Aristotle and his Peripatetikes confessing them both to be of one kinde though to different vses in nature according to those differences in condition appointeth them differences in vertue and yet wherin they agree
not the state of the realme do this by authoritie which gaue authoritie to founders to do the other with reseruation of prerogatiue to alter vpon cause or is not this question as worthy the debating to mend the vniuersities and to plant sownd learning as to deuise the taking away landes from colleges put the studentes to pension bycause they cannot vse them without iarring among themselues Were there any way better to cut away all the misliking wherewith the vniuersities be now charged and to bring in a new face of thinges both rarer and fayrer In the first erection of schooles and colleges priuat zeale enflamed good founders in altering to the better publicke consideration may cause a commoner good and yet keepe the good founders meaning who would very gladly embrace any auauncement to the better in any their buildinges The nature of time is vpon sting of necessitie to enfourme what were best and the dutie of pollicie is aduisedly to consider how to bring that about which time doth aduertise And if time do his dutie to tell can pollicie auoide blame in sparing to trie And why should not publike consideration be as carefull to thinke of altering to fortifie the state now as priuate zeale was hoat then to strengthen that which was then in liking But I will open these foure interrogations better that the considerations which leade me may winne others vnto me or at the least let them fee that it is no meere noueltie which moueth me thus farre Touching the diuision of colleges by professions and faculties I alleege no president from other nations though I could do diuerse begining euen at Lycaeum Stoa Academia themselues and so downeward and in other nations east and southeast ascending vpwarde where studentes cloystured them selues together as their choice in learning lay but priuate examples in their applying to our country may be controuled by generall exception If there were one college where nothing should be professed but languages onely as there be some people which will proceede no further to serue the realme abroad and studies in the vniuersitie in that point excellently and absolutelie were it not conuenient nay were it not most profitable That being the ende of their profession and nothing dealt withall there but that would not sufficiencie be discried by witnes of a number and would not dayly conference and continuall applying in the same thing procure sufficiencie Wheras now euery one dealing with euery thing confusedly none can assuredly say thus much can such a one do in any one thing but either vpon coniecture which oftentimes deceiueth euen him that affirmes or else vpon curtesie which as oft beguiles euen him that beleueth These reasons hold not in this point for toungues onely but in all other distributions where the like matter and the like men be likewise to be matched For where all exercises all conferences all both priuate and publike colloquies be of the same argument bycause the soile bringeth foorth no other stuffe there must needes follow great perfection When toungues learning be so seuered it will soone appeare what ods there is betwene one that can but speake and him that can do more whereas now some few finish wordes will beare away the glorie from knowledge without consideration that the gate is without the towne as dismantling bewraies though it be the entrie into it If an other colledge were for the Mathematicall sciences I dare say it were good I will not say it were best for that some good wittes and in some thinges not vnseene not knowing the force of these faculties bycause they neuer thought them worthey their studie as being without preferment and within contempt do vse to abase them and to mocke at mathematicall heades bycause in deede the studie thereof requireth attentiuenes and such a minde as will not be soone caried to any publike shew before his full ripenes but will rest in solitarie contēplation till he finde himselfe flidge Now this their meditation if they be studentes in deede or the shadow of meditation if they be but counterfettes do these men plaie with all mocke such mathematicall heades to solace themselues with Wherein they haue some reason to mocke at mathematicall heades as they do tearme them though they should haue greater reason why to cherish and make much of the matheticall sciences if they will not discredit Socrates his authoritie and wisedome in Plato which in the same booke auaunceth these sciences aboue the moone whence some learned men fetch his opinion and force his iudgement as the wisest maister against such as allow of correction inschooles which they would seeme to banishe till their owne rod beat them The very end of that booke is the course that is to be kept in learning in the perfitest kinde which beginneth at the mathematikes and it dealeth more with the necessitie of them then with the whole argument besides as it is no noueltie to heare that Plato esteemed of them who forbad any to enter his Academie which was not a Geometrician whereunder he contained the other but specially her sister Arithmetike For the men which professe these sciences and giue cause to their discountenaunce they be either meere ignorant and maintaine their credit with the vse of some tearmes propositions particularities which be in ordinarie courses that way and neuer came nigh the kernell or hauing some knowledge in them in deeede rather employe their time and knowledge aboute the degenerate and sophisticall partes of them applyed by vaine heades to meere collusions though they promise great consequences then to the true vse and auauncement of art Howbeit in the meane time though the one disgrace them with contempt and the other make them contemptible by both their leaues I do thinke thus of them but what a poore thing is my thought yet some thing it is where it shalbe beleeued In time all learning may be brought into one toungue that naturall to the inhabitant so that schooling for toūgues may proue nedeles as once they were not needed but it can neuer fall out that artes and sciences in their right nature shalbe but most necessarie for any common weale that is not giuen ouer vnto to to much barbarousnes We do attribute to much to toungues which do minde them more then we do matter chiefly in a monarchie and esteeme it more honorable to speake finely then to reason wisely where wordes be but praised for the time and wisedom winnes at length For while the Athenian and Romaine popular gouernementes did yeald so much vnto eloquence as one mans perswasion might make the whole assembly to sway with him it was no meruell if the thing were in price which commaunded if wordes were of weight which did rauish if force of sentence were in credit which ruled the fantsie and bridled the hearer Then was the toungue imperiall bycause it dealt with the people now must it obey bycause it deales with a
the iniuries and wronges therof That olde age grow not on to fast circunspectnes in diet consideration in clothes diligence in well doing wil easely prouide both for the minde not to enfect first it selfe and then the bodie and for the bodie not to enforce the minde by too impotent desires That waste weare not meat takes in chardge to supplie that is drye and decayeth drinke promiseth to restore moysture when it doth diminishe the breath it selfe and arteriall pulse looke to heating and cooling And Physick in generall professing foresight to preuent euills and offering redresse when they haue done harme so not incurable doth direct both those and all other meanes Now in all these helpes and most beneficiall aides of our afflicted nature which deuiseth all meanes to saue her selfe harmelesse and deliteth therin when she is discharged of infirmities to much stuffes and stiffles to litle straites and pines both vndoe the naturall To much meat cloyes to litle faintes both perishe the principall To much liquour drownes to litle dryes both corrupt the carcasse Heat burnes cold chilles in excesse both to much in defect both to litle and both causes to decaie Mediocritie preserueth not onely in these but in whatsoeuer els But now what place hath exercise here to helpe nature by motion in all these her workinges and wayes for health to encrease and encourage the naturall heat that it maye digest quickly and expell strongly to fashion and frame all the partes of the bodie to their naturall and best hauiour to helpe to rid needelesse and superfluous humours reffuse and reiected excrementes which nature leaues for naught when she hath sufficiently fed and wisheth rather they were seene abrode then felt within And be not these great benefites to defend the body by defeating diseases to stay the minde by strengthening of her meane to assist nature being both daily and daungerously assailed both within and without to helpe life to continue long to force death to kepe farre a loufe Now as all constitutions be not of one and the same mould and as all partes be not moued alike with any one thing so the exercises must alter and be appropriate to each that both the constitution may be continued in her best kinde and all the partes preserued to their best vse which exercises being compared among themselues one to an other be more or lesse but being applyed to the partie kepe alwayes in a meane when they meane to do good Concerning students for whose health my care is greatest the lesse they eate the lesse they neede to voide and therfore small diet in them best preuenteth all superfluities which they cannot auoide if their diet be great and their exercise small Their exercise must also be very moderate and not alter to much for feare of to great distemperature in that which must continue moderate and with all it should be ordinarie that the habit may be holesome and sudden chaunge giue no cause of greater inconuenience Wherfore to auoide distemperature the enemie to health and so consequently to life and to maintaine the naturall constitution so as it may serue to the best wherin her duetie lyeth and liue to the longest that in nature it can besides the diet which must be small as nature is a pickler and requires hut small pittaunce besides clothing which should be thin euen from the first swadling to harden and thick the flesh I do take this traine by exercise which I wishe to be ioyned with learning to be a marueilous furtherer But for diet to auoide inward daungers and clothing to auert outward iniuries and all such preuentions as are not proper to teachers though in communitie more proper then to any common man I set them ouer to parentes and other well willers which will see to them that they faile not in those thinges and if they do will fly to Physicians by their helpe to salue that which themselues may forsee For exercises I will deale which to commend more then they will commend them selues when I shall shew both what they be and the particular profites of euery one of them which I chuse from the rest were me thinke verie needlesse and cheifly to me which seeme sufficiently to praise them in that I do place them among principles of prerogatiue But as in the soule I did picke out certaine pointes whervnto I applyed the training principles so likewise in the bodie may I not also seuer some certaine partes whervnto my preceptes must principally be conformed that shall not neede For as in the soule the frute of traine doth better and make complete euen that which I tuched not and so consequētly the whole soule so in the bodie those exercises which seeme to be appointed for some speciall partes bycause they stirre those partes most do qualifie the whole bodie and make it most actiue Wherefore as there I did promise not to anatomise the soule as neither dealing with Diuines nor Philosophers so do I not here make profession to shew the anatomie of the bodie as medling neither with Physicians nor Surgeans otherwise then any of them foure can helpe me in exercise To the which effect and ende I will onely cull out from whence I can such speciall notes as both Philosophers and Phisicians do know to be most true and both the learned and vnlearned will confesse to be for them and such also as the training maisters may easely both helpe and encrease in their owne triall For both reason and rule do alwaye commaunde that the maister be by when exercise is vsed thorough whose ouerlooking the circunstance is kept which helpeth to health and the contrarie shunned which in exercise doth harme In the elder yeares reason at the elbow must serue the student as in these younger the maisters presence helpes to direct the child But to ioyne close with our traine What partes be they in our bodie vpon whom exercise is to shew this great effecte or what be the powers therof which must still be stirred so to stay and establish the perpetuitie of health not in themselues alone but in the whole bodie by them Where ioyntes be to bend where stringes to tye where synewes to stirre where streatchers to straine there must needes be motion or els stifnesse will follow and vnweildynesse withall where there be conduites to conuey the blood which warmeth canales to carie the spirite which quickneth pipes to bestow the aire which cooleth passage to dismisse execrements which easeth there must needes be spreding to kepe the currant large and eche waie open for feare of obstructions and sudden fainting Where to much must needes marre there must be forcing out where to litle must nedes lame there must be letting in where thickning threates harme there thinning fines the substance where thinning is to much there thickning must do much and to knit vp all in short all those offices whervnto our bodie serueth naturally either for inward bestowing of nurriture and maintenaunce
to vnhappinesse and needeth no beating for not being nought And therfore we must content our selues with that which we haue and in our countrey which is not so absolute in our children which be no Socraticall saintes in our learning which will not proue voluntarie if the child playe voluntarie we must vse correctiò awe though more in some then some bycause in illnesse there be steps as in excellencie oddes Wherof there is no better argument then that which this verie place offereth not for the soldiars saying which so commēdeth awe bycause his authoritie is to campishe though he that brought him in and platted the best prince were himselfe no foole but for mine owne collection For if one neede not to beat children to haue them do ill whervnto they are prone we must needes then beat ' them for not doing wel where nature is corrupt Onelesse we meete with one that will runne as swift vphill against nature to do that which is good as we all runne downe bancke with the swinge of nature to do that which is ill Which when I finde I will honour him as I do none though I do oft beare with some in whome there appeareth but some shew of such a one If vnder doing well ye comprehend not learning ye must needes comprise vertue and make her meane violence against all both heauenly Diuinitie and earthly Philosophie with whom all vertues be voluntarie when reason is in ruffe but not in children euen for compassing of the best effectes whom custome and traine must now and then force foreward to be ready for reason when she maketh her entrie which requireth some yeares For howsoeuer religion wisedome duetie and reasonable consideration do worke in riper age sure if awe be absent in the younger yeares it will not be well And who can tell what euen he that vnder lawe is most obsequious and ciuill would of him selfe proue if lawe which emportes awe would leaue him at libertie Chapter 15. Of holding the breath THough all men can tell what a singular benefit breathing is whervnder the vse of our life is comprehended yet they can best tell which haue it most at commaundement For as they liue with others in societie of common dealinges so they can execute any thing by the bodie farre better then others whether it be politike in the towne or warlike in the fielde And all exercises haue this ende most peculiar and proper by helping the naturall heat to digest the good nurriture and to auoide the offall thorough out the whole bodie Which what is it els but to set the breathing at most libertie being best discharged of impediment let And as the libertie of breathing maketh the soldiar to abide in fight long the runner to continue his race long the daunser to endure his labour long and so forth in the rest which must either haue breath at their will or els shrinke in the midest so the restraint and binding of the breath euen where it is most at will for else it could not abide the restraint hath his commoditie by waye of exercise to assist our health Now in breathing there be three thinges to be considered the taking in the letting out and the holding in of the breath wherof euerie one hath his priuate office to great effect in the vpholding of health and maintaining of life For when we take in our breath by the working of the lungues thorough such passages as be appointed for the vse of breathing we conueigh and fetch in aire into the roomy and large places of the bulke to coole the harte and fine the spirites When we let out our breath by those same passages by which we tooke it in we discharge the hart of a certaine smoky substance engendred in it which is conueyed thence thorough the same hollow and roomie places of the bulke When we hold and kepe in our breath which is of iudgement not of such neede as the other two and done vpon cause to helpe nature therby we must neither fetch aire inward nor sende those smokie excrementes outwarde bycause the belly and breast muscles and such fleshy partes as be about the ribbes being violently and vehemently strained stretched do for the time as it were mure vp and stop the passage This keeping in of the breath by reason of the straine offered to those partes and heating of the bowells is therfore heeld for one of the vehement exercises as it is also a postparatiue called before apotherapeutike bycause after maine stirringes it helpeth to expell those residences which lynger within the bodie as being lothe to depart and furthereth those that are in good waye and make hast to be gone They that vsed this exercise by waye of traine to health did it in two sortes for either they strayted onely those muskles which appertaine to the breast and bulke and let those be at libertie which belong to the midrife and belly that the excrementes might haue the readier waye downward being once forced on or they strayned both all the partes and all their muscles at one time that the bowelles also which are beneth the midrife might enioye the benefit of the exercise and be as ready to discharge as the other to driue downe But for the better and more daungerlesse performing therof they were wont to swadle the chest the ribbes and the belly Bycause the holding of ones breath vnaduisedly with to much strayning causeth ruptures and diuers other infirmities in the interiour vesselles of the bodie Their meaning was hereby sometime to strengthen the inward and naturall heat being encreased by exercise sometime to helpe the breathing partes sometime to discharge the breast and bellie of needlesse burden For the breath being so violently strayted when it findeth issue forceth his owne passage and caryeth with him some finish and thinne excrement either driuing it before if it lye in his waye or drawing it with him if he catch it by the waye Being of it selfe such a strainer and expeller it is good for to open the pipes to fine the skinne to driue out moysture from vnder the skinne to warme to strengthen to scoure the spirituall and breathing partes to make the places of receit more roomy to encrease strength in labour to helpe the eare in listening to remoue coldnes or inflations from the entrailles to stay the hikup and the cowgh which commeth of some cold distemperature in the windepipes to remedie the colick the weaknesse of stomacke the want or difficultie of breath So that all those ought to esteeme of it which haue their breathing and spirituall partes either cold or weake or cloyed with excrementes or whose bodies can either with much adoe or with none at all expell and ridde superfluous humours or that be cumbred with much gaping yawning with resolution or weaknesse of the toungue or any vocalle instrument If it were to be perceiued by no waye els verie children let vs see that holding of
it was in a small riuer and reskue at hand Scoena the centurion scaped he was neare both shippe and shoar Nay Caesar himselfe saued him selfe from drowning and helde his lettres vp drie in the one hand A signe of courage and cunning as that man had enough but his shippes were at hand and it is not writen that either he swamme alone or any long waye But of all daungers to drowne there is least in the sea where the swimming is best for the salt water as it is thicker then the fresh so it beareth vp the bodie better that it may fleet with lesse labour The swimming in salt water is very good to remoue the headache to open the stuffed nosethrilles and therby to helpe the smelling It is a good remedie for dropsies scabbes and scurfes small pockes leprosies falling awaye of either legge or any other parte for such as prosper not so as they would though they eate as they wishe for ill stomackes liuers miltes and corrupt constitutions Yet all swimming must needes be ill for the head considering the continuall exhalation which ascendeth still from the water into the head Swimming in hoat waters softeneth that which is hardened warmeth that which is cooled nimbleth the iointes which are benummed thinneth the skinne which is thickned and yet it troubleth the head weakneth the bodie disperseth humours but dissolueth them not Swimming in cold water doth strengthen the naturall heat bycause it beates it in it maketh verie good and quick digestion it breaketh superfluous humours it warmeth the inward partes yet long tarying in it hurtes the sineues and takes awaye the hearing Thus much concerning swimming which can neither do children harme in learning if the maister be wise nor the common weale but good being once learned if either priuate daunger or publike attempt do bid them auenture For he that oweth a life to his countrey if he die on lande he doeth his duetie and if he drowne in water his duetie is not drowned Chapter 24. Of Riding IF any wilbe so wilfull as to denie Riding to be an exercise and that a great one and fittest also for greatest personages set him either vpon a trotting iade to iounse him thoroughly or vpon a lame hakney to make him exercise his feete when his courser failes him In all times in all countries among all degrees of people it hath euer bene taken for a great a worthy and a gentlemanly exercise Though Aristophanes his testimonie were naught against honest Socrates yet it is good to proue that riding was a gentlemanly traine euen among the principles of education in Athens And Virgile in the legacie sent to Latinus describeth the same traine in the Romain children which sayeth he exercised themselues on horsebacke before the towne And Horace accuseth the young gentleman in his time as not able to hange on a horse But to deale with stories either Greeke or Latin for the Romain or other nations exercise in riding in a matter of such store were more then needeles The Romains had their whole citie diuided into partialities by reason of the foure factions of those exercising horsemē Who of the foure colours which they vsed Russet White Greene and Blew were named Russati Albati Prasini Veneti For the warres how great a traine riding is I would no countrey had tried nor had cause to complaine nor the subdued people to be sorofull though the conquerour do vant himselfe of his valiantnesse on horsebacke For health it must needes be of some great moment or els why do the Physicians seeme to make so much of it They saye that generally it encreaseth naturall heat and that it purgeth superfluities as that to the contrarie it is naught for any sicke bodie or that hath taken Physicke hard before or that is troubled with infection or inflammation of the kidneies They vse to deuide it into fiue kindes Slow quicke trotting ambling and posting Of Slow riding they write that it wearieth the grines very sore that it hurteth the buttokes and legges by hanging downe to long and that yet it heateth not much that it hindreth getting of children and breadeth aches and lamenesse Of quicke riding they saye that of all exercises it shaketh the bodie most and that yet it is good for the head ache comming of a cold cause for the falling euill for deafnesse for the stomack for yeaxing or hikup for clearing and quickning the instrumentes of sense for dropsies for thickning of thinne shankes which was found true in Germanicus Caesar nephew to Tiberius the Emperour which so helped his spindle shankes Againe quick riding is naught for the bulke for a weake bladder which must forebeare all exercises when it hath any exulceration for the Ischiatica bycause the hippes are to much heated and weakned by the vehementnesse of the motion Whervpon the humours which are styrred rest there and either breede new or augment olde aches Of trotting it is said euen as we see that it shaketh the bodie to violently that it causeth encreaseth marueilous aches that it offendes the head the necke the shoulders the hippes disquieteth all the entrailes beyond all measure And though it may somewhat helpe the digestion of meate and raw humours loose the belly prouoke vrine driue the stone or grauell from the kidneyes downward yet it is better forborne for greater euilles then borne with for some sorie small good Ambling as it exerciseth least so it anoyeth least and yet loseth it the bellie As for posting though it come last in reading it will be first in riding though for making such hast it harme eche part of the bodie specially the bulke the lungues the bowells generally the kidneyes as what doth it not allway anoy and oftimes either breake or put out of ioynt by falles or straines It warmes paires the body to sore therfore abateth grossenes though a grosse man be ill either to ride post himselfe or for a iade to beare It infecteth the head it dulleth the senses especially the sight euen til it make his eyes that posteth to run with water not to remember the death of his friendes but to thinke how sore his saddle shakes him and the ayer bites him Chapter 25. Of Hunting HVnting is a copious argument for a poeticall humour to discours of whether in verse with Homer or in prose with Heliodorus Dian would be alleged as so auoyding Cupide Hippolytus would be vsed in commendation of continence and what would not poëtrie bring in to auaunce it whose musicke being solitarie and woddishe must needes be nay is very well acquainted with the chace If poets should faint the Persians would fight both for riding and hunting so that if patrocinie were in question we neede not to enquire they would offer them selues from all countries and of all languages But we need not either for praise or for profe to vse forraine aduocats For hunting hath alway caried a great credit both for exercising the bodie
his opinion to the parent his dutie is discharged and that which I require is orderly performed For if the parent shew himselfe vnwilling to be directed that way which the maister shall allow vpon great ground and be blynded by affection measuring his childes wit to learning by his doing of some errand or by telling of some tale or by marking of some pretie toy as such argumentes there be vsed which yet be no argumentes of a towarde learner but of a no foolish obseruer in this case though the maister to his owne gaine draw on vnder his hand a desparate wit the fault is his that would not see if he that saw did honestly tell it Whereby it still proueth true that parētes maisters should be familiarly lynked in amitie and contynual conference for their common care and that the one should haue a good affiance of iudgement in the thing and of goodwill towards himselfe reposed in the other Which will proue so when the maister is chosen with iudgement and continued with conference and not bycause my neighbours children go to schole with you you shall haue myne to A common commendation among common coursiters which post about still to suruey all scholes and neuer staie in one and reape as much learning as the rowling stone doth gather mosse But concerning scholes and such particularities as belong thereunto I will then deale when I shall take in hand the peculiar argumentes of schooles and schooling both for the elementarie and the gramarian Wherein we are no lesse troubled with number and confusion in our petie kingdomes then the verie common weale is molested with the same in greater yeares and larger scope But bycause it were not orderly delt to rip the faultes and not to heale them I will post all these points ouer to their owne treatises in my particuler discourses hereafter where I will presently helpe whatsoeuer I shall blame The other meanes wherby choice lesseneth number be admissions into colleges prefermentes to degrees aduauncement vnto liuings wherein the common weale receiueth the greater blow the nearer these thinges be to publike execution and therefore the playner dealing to preuent mischiefe before it infect is the more praiseworthy As concerning colleges I do not thinke the liuinges in them to be peculiar or of purposement to the poorer sort onely whose want that small helpe could neuer suffice though there be some prerogatiue reserued vnto them in consideration of some great towardnes which might otherwise be trod down and that way is held vp but that they be simply preferments for learning and auauncementes to vertue as wel in the wealthy for reward of well doing as in the poorer for necessarie support And therefore as I giue admission scope to chuse of both the sortes so I do restraine it to honest and ciuill towardnes For if fauour and friendship not for these furnitures but for priuate respectes carie away elections though with some enterlarding of towardnes and learning and some few to giue countenaunce to some equitie of choice and theerby to maintaine the credit of such places surely the scholers and heades which deuised the sleight and conceiued they were not seene shall repent without recouerie and finde themselues bound and their colleges bowelled when they shal fele themselues ouerruled by their owne deuise bycause such as come in so will communicate the like with others and neuer care for the common which were helpt by the priuate For where fauour bringes in almost in despite of order there must fauour be returned with meruelous disorder and yet I do not mislike fauour which helpeth desert which otherwise might be foiled if fauour friended not But when the ground wherupon fauour buildes is not so commendable founders be discouraged common prouision supplanted learning set ouer to loytering brauerie made enheritour to bookes Stirringe wittes haue their will for the time and repentance at leasure The fault hereof commeth from scholers themselues which first make way to sinister meanes and afterward blame the verie meane which they vsed themselues For finding some ease at first in working their owne will either more cunningly to hide some indirect dealing or more subtilly to supplant some contrary faction or in deede desiring rather by commaundement to force and so to seeme somebodie then of dutie to entreat and so seeme abiect to honestie they stumble at the last vpon the blocke of bondage being bridled of their owne will euen when they are in ruffe by the selfe same meanes which brought them vnto it and thought so to staule them as themselues would commaund where they caused the speed These fellowes be like to Horaces horse which to ouercome the stag vsed man for his meane once and his maister alway neither refusing the saddle on his ridg to be rid on nether the bit in his mouth to be bridled by A braue victory so dearely bought to the victours bondage and perpetuall slauerie Whereas if learning and those conditions which I did lymit to a ciuill wit in this state were the end in elections the vnfit should be set ouer to some other course in conuenient time the fittest should be chosen the founders mynde fulfilled some periurie for non perfourmaunce of statutes auoided new patrones procured religion auaunced good studentes encouraged and fauour vpon extreame and importunate sute disfranchised which neuer will oppose it selfe to so honest considerations so constantly kept neither euer doth intrude without some such sollicitours as should be sorie for it and vse no meane to haue it which oftimes vse this meane to do il by warrant as if they were forced to that which in deede they ment before sought fauour but for a shadow to hide their deuise Now if you that are to chuse yeeld so much to your selues and your owne conceit to bring your deuises to passe though ye wring by the waie and your state in the ende why should you not in good truth relent and giue place your selues being in places to your betters and bidders which gaiue you the roome and yet would haue left all to you if you would haue left any place to reason or haue bene led by right as ye leaned all to the wronge you had your will by them and why not they haue theirs of you requitall among equalles is of common curtesie recompence in inequalities is enforced of necessitie If any metall be to massie and way downe the ballance or if any metallish meane where money will scale do enter that fort where is small resistance that is solde which ought not the enheritaunce of vertue that is bought which should not the liuelihood of learning that is betrayed which neither should for feare nor ought for freindship the treasure of the state and prouision of the coūtrey And if there be neede which enforceth such dealing yet deale where it is due and let neede be remedyed with her owne prouision not by vnhonest intrusion I do not blame any one bycause
seeke and saue it if a teacher deale thus earnestly as me thinke I do now he may deserue pardon as I hope I shall haue considering his end to him selfe ward is delite to his charge is their profit to his countrie is soūd stuffe sent from him And can he be but grieued to see the effect so disorderly defeated wherunto with infinite toile with incōparable care with incredible paines he did so orderly proceed I take it very tollerable for any that hath charge of nūber multitude to be carefull for their good not only in priuate gouernmēt but also in publike protectiō so farre as either the honestie of the cause or the dutie to magistrate will maintaine his attēpt As truely in learning learned executiōs me thinke it concerneth all men to be very carefull bycause the thing tucheth themselues so neare in age and theirs so much in youth For the third part which consisteth in auauncement to liuinges as it is commonly handled by the highest in state and eldest in yeares which haue best skill to iudge least neede to be misled so it needes least precept bycause the misse there is mostwhat without amendes being made by great warrant and the hitting right is the blessed fortune of ech kinde of state when value is in place whence there is no appeale but pleasure in the perfit pitie in imperfection the common good eitheir caried to ruine by intrusion of insufficiencie or strongly supported by sufficient staie Repulse here is a miserable stripp that insufficiencie should be fuffered to growe vp so high and not be hewed downe before And some great iniurie is offered to the bestowers of prefermentes that they are made obiectes to the dāger of insufficiēt boldnes which ought to be cut of by sufficiēt modestie who pretēdeth the claime to be her owne of dutie and to whom the patrones would rediliest yeild if they could discerne were not abused by the worthy themselues which lend the vnworthy the worth of their countenance to deceiue the disposers and to beguile their owne selues But blind bayard if he haue any burdē that is worth the taking downe bestowing somwhere else wilbe farre bolder thē a better horse so farre from shame as he will not shrinke to offer himselfe to the richest sadle being in deede no better then a blinde iade and seeking to occupie the stawle where Bucephalus the braue horse of duety ought to stand And in this case of preferrement store is lightely the greatest enemie to the best choice bycause in number no condition wilbe offered which will not be admitted though some do refuse The preuenting of all or most of these inconueniences I do take to be in the right sorting of wittes at the first when learning shall be left to them alone whom nature doth allow by euident signes and such sent awaye to some other trades as are made to that ende Wherby the sorters are to haue thankes in the ende of both the parties which finding themselues fitted in the best kinde of their naturall calling must of necessitie honour them which vsed such foresight in their first bestowing Thus much haue I marked in clipping of of that multitude which oppresseth learning with too too many as too too many wheresoeuer they be ouercharge the soile in all professions For the matter wheron to liue iustly and truly being within compasse and the men which must liue vpon it being still without ende must not desire of maintenaunce specially if it be ioyned with a porte wring a number to the wall to get wheron to liue I neede pinch no particular where the generall is so sore gauled Marke but those professions and occupations which be most cloyed vp with number whether they be bookish or not and waye the poorer sort wheron at the last the pinching doth light though it passe many handes before if to great a multitude making to great a state do not proue a shrew then am I deceyued so that it were good there were stripping vsed and that be time in yonger yeares For youth being let go forward vpon hope chekt with dispaire while it rometh without purueyaunce makes marueilous a doe before it will die And if no miserable shift will serue at home verie defection to the foe and common enemie will send them abrode to seeke for that which in such a case they are sure to finde Wherefore as countenaunce in the ouerflowing number which findeth place in a state doth infect extremely by seeking out vnlawfull and corrosiue maintenaunce so roming in the vnbestowed offaull which findes no place in a state doth festure fellonly by seeking to shake it with most rebellious enterprises Chapter 38. That young maidens are to be set to learning which is proued by the custome of our countrey by our duetie towardes them by their naturall abilities and by the worthy effectes of such as haue bene well trained The ende whervnto their educatiō serueth which is the cause why how much they learne Which of them are to learne when they are to begin to learne What and how much they may learne Of whom and where they ought to be taught WHen I did appoint the persons which were to receiue the benefit of education I did not exclude young maidens and therefore seing I made them one braunche of my diuision I must of force say somwhat more of them A thing perhaps which some will thinke might wel enough haue bene past ouer with silence as not belonging to my purpose which professe the education of boyes and the generall traine in that kinde But seeing I begin so low as the first Elementarie wherin we see that young maidens be ordinarily trained how could I seeme not to see them being so apparently taught And to proue that they are to be trained I finde foure speciall reasons wherof any one much more all may perswade any their most aduersarie much more me which am for them with toothe and naile The first is the manner and custome of my countrey which allowing them to learne wil be lothe to be contraried by any of her countreymen The second is the duetie which we owe vnto them whereby we are charged in conscience not to leaue them lame in that which is for them The third is their owne towardnesse which God by nature would neuer haue giuen them to remaine idle or to small purpose The fourth is the excellent effectes in that sex when they haue had the helpe of good bringing vp which commendeth the cause of such excellencie and wisheth vs to cherishe that tree whose frute is both so pleasaunt in taste and so profitable in triall What can be said more our countrey doth allow it our duetie doth enforce it their aptnesse calls for it their excellencie commandes it and dare priuate conceit once seeme to withstand where so great and so rare circunstances do so earnestly commende But for the better vnderstanding of these foure reasons I
alloateth them the same When they haue concluded thus of their naturall abilities and so absolutely entitled them vnto all vertues they rest not there but proceede on further to their education in this sorte That as naturally euery one hath some good assigned him whervnto he is to aspire and not to cease vntill he haue obtained it onlesse he will by his owne negligence reiect that benefit which the munificence of nature hath liberally bestowed on him so there is a certaine meane wherby to winne that perfitly which nature of her selfe doth wish vs franckly This meane they call education whereby the naturall inclinations be gently caryed on if they will curteously follow or otherwise be hastened if they must needes be forced vntill they ariue at that same best which nature bendeth vnto with full saile in those fairer which follow the traine willingly in those meaner which must be bet vnto it And yet euen there where it is sorest laboured it worketh some effecte vnworthy of repentaunce and is better forced on in youth then forgon in age rather in children with feare then not in men with greife Now as the inclinations be common to both the kindes so they deuide the meane of education indifferently betwene both Which being thus as both the truth tells the ignorant and reading shewes the learned we do wel then perceaue by naturall men and Philosophicall reasons that young maidens deserue the traine bycause they haue that treasure which belongeth vnto it bestowed on them by nature to be bettered in them by nurture Neither doth religion contrarie religious nature For the Lorde of nature which created that motion to continue the consequence of all liuing creatures by succession to the like by education to the best appointing either kinde the limittes of their duetie and requiring of either the perfourmaunce therof alloweth all such ordinarie and orderly meanes as by his direction in his word may bring them both from his appointment to their perfourmance from the first starting place to the outmost gole that is vnto that good which he hath assigned them by such wayes as he hath willed them so that both by nature the most obedient seruant and by the Lorde of nature our most bountifull God we haue it in commandement not onely to traine vp our owne sex but also our female seeing he hath to require an account for naturall talentes of both the parties vs for directing them them for perfourmance of our direction The excellent effectes of those women which haue bene verie well trained do well declare that they deserue the best training which reason was my last in order but not my least in force to proue their more then common excellencie This is a point of such galancie if my purpose were to praise thē as it is but to giue precept how to make them praiseworthie as I might soner weary my selfe with reckening vp of writers and calling worthy wymen to be witnesses in their owne cause then worthely to expresse their weight and worth bycause I beleeue that to be most true which is cronicled of them I will not medle with any moe writers to whom wymen are most bound for best speaking of them and most spreading of their vertues then with one onely man a single witnes in person but aboue all singularitie in profe the learned and honest Plutarch whose name emporteth a princis treasure whose writings witnes an vnwearied trauel whose plaine truth was neuer tainted Would he so learned so honest so true so sterne haue become such a trumpet for their fame to triumph by so haue gratified that sex whom he stood not in awe of so haue beutified their doings whom he might not haue medled with so haue auaunced their honour to hasard his owne sex by setting them so hie if he had not resolutely knowne the truth of his subiect he durst be so bould with his owne Emperour the good Traian to fore his scholer in his epistle to him before his booke of gouerning the comon weale as to say call his booke to witnes thereof that if he went to gouerne and ouerthrew the state he did it not by the authoritie of Plutarch as disauowing his scholer if he departed from his lessons And would that courage haue bene forced to frame a false argument or is so great a truth not to haue so great a credit howsouer some of the lighter heades haue lewdly belyed them or vainly accused them yet the verie best and grauest writers thinke worthely of them and make report of them with honour Ariosto and Boccacio will beloth to be tearmed light being so great doctours in their diuinitie yet they be somwhat ouer heauie to wymen without any great weight as in generall the Italian writers be which in the middest of their louing leuities still glaunce at their lightnes and that so beyound all manhoode as they feele their owne fault and dispaire of reconcilement though they crie still for pardon As those men know well which will rather meruell that I haue red those bookes then mistrust my report which they know to be true In all good and generally authorised histories and in many particuler discourses it is most euident that not onely priuate and particular wymen being very well trained but also great princesses gallant troupes of the same sex haue shewed fourth in them selues meruelous effectes of vertue valure And good reason why For where naturally they haue to shew if educatiō procure shew is it a thing to be wondered at Or is their singularitie lesse in nature bycause wymen be lesse accustomed to shew it and not so commonly employed as we men be Yet whensoeuer they be by their dealinges they shew vs that they haue no dead flesh nor any base mettle Well I will knit vp this conclusion and burne day light no longer to proue that carefully which all men may see clearely and ther aduersaries grieue at bycause it confutes their follie which vpon some priuate errour of their owne to seeme fautles in wordes where they be faithles in deedes blame silly wymen as being the onely cause why they went awrie That yong maidens can learne nature doth giue them and that they haue learned our experience doth teach vs with what care to themselues them selues can best witnes with what comfort to vs what forraine example can more assure the world then our diamond at home our most deare soueraine lady princesse by nature a womā by vertue a worthy not one of the nyne but the tenth aboue the nyne to persit in her person that absolute number which is no fitter to comprehend all absolutnes in Arithmetike then she is knowne to containe al perfectiōs in nature all degrees in valure to become a president to those nyne worthy men as Apollo is accounted to the nyne famouse wymen she to vertues and vertuous men he to muses and learned wymen thereby to proue Plutarches conclusion true that oppositions of vertues
where the promises from heauen the princes vpon earth the perpetuall prayer neuerdying prayse of the profited people will remember requiâ—e that honorable labour so honestly employed that fortunate reuenew so blessedly bestowed not for priuate pleasure but for common profit Albeit there is one note here necessarily to be obserued in yong gentlemen that it were a great deale better that they had no learning at all and knew their owne ignorance then any litle smattering vnperfit in his kinde and fleeting in their heades For their knowne ignorance doth but harme them selues where other that be cunning may supply their rowmes but their vnripe learning though pretie in the degree and very like to haue proued good if it had taryed the pulling and hung the full haruest doth keepe such a rumbling in their heades as it will not suffer them to rest such a wonder it is to see the quickesiluer For the greatnes of their place emboldeneth the rash vnripenes of their studie in what degree so euer it be whether not in digesting that which they haue read or in not reading sufficiently or in chusing of absurdities to seeme to be able to defende where their state makes them spared and meaner mens regard doth procure them reuerence though their rashnes be seene or in not resting vpon any one thing but desultorie ouer all A matter that may seeme to be somewhat in scholes euen amongest good scholers and very much in that state where least learning is coÌ„monly best liked though best learning be most aduauÌ„ced when it ioynes with birth in sowndnes and admiration As the contrary troubleth all the world with most peruerse opinions beginning at the insufficient though stout gentlemaÌ„ so marching forward still among such as make more account of the person whence the ground comes then of the reason which the thing carieth Wherefore to conclude I wish yong gentlemen to be better then the commoÌ„ in the best kinde of learning as their meane to come to it is euery way better I wish them in exercise and the frutes thereof to be their defendours bycause they are able to beare out the charge wherevnder the common of necessitie must shrinke That both those wayes they may helpe their countrie in all needes and themselues to all honour The prince and soueraigne being the tippe of nobilitie and growing in person most priuate for traine though in office most publike for rule doth claime of me that priuate note which I promised before The greatest prince in that he is a childe is as other children be for soule sometimes fine sometimes grosse for body sometimes strong sometimes weake of mould sometime faire sometime meane so that for the time to beginne to learne and the matter which to learne and all other circumstances wherein he communicateth with his subiectes he is no lesse subiect then his subiectes be For exercise to health the same to honour much aboue as he is best able to beare it where coast is the burden and honour the ease We must take him as God sendes him bycause we cannot chuse as we could wish as he must make the best of his people though his people be not the best Our dutie is to obey him and to pray for him his care willbe to rule ouer vs and to prouide for vs the most in safetie the least in perill Which seeing we finde it proue true in the female why should we mistrust to find it in the male If the prince his naturall constitution be but feeble and weake yet good traine as it helpeth forwardnes so it strengthneth infirmitie and is some restraint euen to the worst giuen if it be well applyed and against the libertie of high calling oppose the infamie of ill doing Which made euen Nero stay the fiue first yeares of his gouernment and to seeme incomparable good When the yong princes elementarie is past and greater reading comes on such matter must be pikt as may plant humililie in such height and sufficiencie in such neede that curtesie be the meane to winne as abilitie to wonder Continuall dealing with forraine Embassadoures conferring at home with his owne counsellours require both tongues to speake with and stuffe to speake of And wheras he gouerneth his state by his two armes the Ecclesiasticke to keepe and cleare religion which is the maine piller to voluntarie obedience and the Politike to preserue and maintaine the ciuill gouernment which doth bridle will and enforceth contentment if he lacke knowledge to handle both his armes or want good aduice to assist them in their dealing is he not more then lame doth not the helpe hereof consist in learning Martiall skill is needfull But it would be to defend bycause a sturring Prince still redye to assaile is a plague to his people and a punishment to him selfe and in his most gaine doth but get that which either he or his must one daye loose againe if the losse rest there and pull not more with it But religious skill is farre more massiue bycause religion as it is most necessarie for all so to a Prince it is more then most of all who fearing no man as aboue mans reache and commanding ouer all as vnder his commission if he feare not God his verie next both auditour and iudge in whose hand is his hart and what a feare must men be in for feare of most ill when the Prince feares not him who can do him most good Almighty God be thanked who hath at this daye lent vs such a Princesse as in deede feareth him that we neede not feare her which deseruing to be loued desires not to be feared I wish this education to be liked of the Prince to pull the people onward by example that they like of though they cannot aspire to as I pray God long preserue her whose good education doth teach vs what education can do wherby neither this lande shal euer repent that education of it selfe did so much good in her and I haue good cause to reioice that this may labour concerning education comes abroad in her time Chapter 40. Of the generall place and time of education Publike places Elementarie Grammaticall Collegiate Of bourding of childreÌ„ abroad from their parentes houses and whether that be best The vse and commoditie of a large and well situate training place Obseruations to be kept in the generall time THese two circunstances for the generall place and the generall time concerne both the exercise of the bodie and the training of the minde iointly bycause they both are to be put in execution in the same place at the same time though not at the same howres For the particular times and places I will deale in myne other treatises where I will accomodate the particular circumstance to the particular argument Priuate places where euery parent hath his children taught within his doares haue but small interest in this place bycause such a parent as he may take or leaue of
as they will sooner gather a number of illes at once to corrupt then pare any one ill by litle and litle with minde to amend Concerning discretion there is a circunstance to be obserued in thinges which is committed alwaye to the executours person and hath respect to his iudgement which I call no change bycause in the first setting downe that was also setled as a most certaine point to rule accidētarie vncertainties which be no changes bycause they were foreseene Such a supplie hath iustice in positiue lawes by equitie in consideration as a good chauncellour to soften to hard constructions That is one reason why the monarchie is helde for the best kinde of gouernment bycause the rigour and seueritie of lawe is qualified by the princesse mercie without breche of lawe which left that prerogatiue to the princesse person The cōspiracie which Brutus his owne children made against their father for the returne of Tarquinius euen that cruell Prince leanes vpon this ground as Dionysius of Halicarnassus Liuie and others do note So that discretion to alter vpon cause in some vncertaine circunstance nay to alter circunstance vpon some certaine cause is no enemie to certaintie When thinges are growen to extremities then change proues needefull to reduce againe to the principle For at the first planting euery thing is either perfitest as in the matter of creation or the best ground for perfitnesse to build on as in truth of religion though posteritie for a time vpon cause maye encrease but to much putting to burdeneth to much in the ende procures most violent shaking of both in religious and politike vsurpations But this argument is to high for a schoole position wherefore I will knit vp in few wordes that as conference is most needefull so certaintie is most sure and constancie the best keeper that it is no change which discretion vseth in doing but her duetie but that altereth the maine Which in matters engraffed in generall conceites would worke alteration by slow degrees if foresight might rule but in extremities of palpable abuse it hurleth downe headlong yea though he smart for the time whom the change doth most helpe But in our schoole pointes the case falleth lighter where whatsoeuer matter shalbe offered to the first education conference will helpe it certaintie will staye it constancie will assure it Thus much concerning the generall positions wherin if I haue either not handled or not sufficiently handled any particular point it is reserued to the particular treatise hereafter where it will be bestowed a great deale better considering the present execution must follow the particular Chapter 45. The peroration wherin the summe of the whole kooke is recapitulated and proofes vsed that this enterprise was first to be begon by Positions and that these be the most proper to this purpose A request concerning the well taking of that which is so well ment THvs bold haue I bene with you my good and curteous countriemen and troubled your time with a number of wordes of what force I know not to what ende I know For my ende is to shew mine opinion how the great varietie in teaching which is now generally vsed maye be reduced to some vniformnesse and the cause why I haue vsed so long a preface as this whole booke is for that such as deale in the like argumēts do likewise determine before what they thinke concerning such generall accidentes which are to be rid out of the waye at once and not alwaye to be left running about to trouble the house when more important matters shall come to handling Wherin I haue vttered my conceit liking well of that which we haue though oftimes I wishe for that which we haue not as much better in mine opinion then that which we haue and so much the rather to be wished bycause the way to winne it is of it selfe so plaine ready I haue vttered my sentence for these pointes thus wherin if my cunning haue deceiued me my good will must warrant me and I haue vttered it in plaine wordes which kinde of vtterance in this teaching kinde as it is best to be vnderstood so it letteth euery one see that if I haue missed they may wel moane me which meaning all so much good haue vnhappily missed in so good a purpose Vpon the stearnesse of resolute and reasonable perswasions I might haue set downe my Positions aphorismelike and left both the commenting and the commending of them to triall and time but neither deserue I so much credit as that my bare word may stand for a warrant neither thought I it good with precisenesse to aliene where I might winne with discourse Whervpon I haue writen in euery one of those argumentes enough I thinke for any reader whom reason will content to much I feare for so euident a matter as these Positions be not affailable I suppose by any substantiall contradiction For I haue grounded them vpon reading and some reasonable experience I haue applied them to the vse and custome of my countrey no where enforcing her to any forreine or straunge deuise Moreouer I haue conferred them with common sense wherein lōg teaching hath not left me quite senselesse And besides these some reason doth lead me very probable to my selfe in mine owne collection what to others I know not to whom I haue deliuered it but I must rest vpon their iudgemēt Hereof I am certaine that my countrey is already very well acquainted with them bycause I did but marke where vpon particular neede she her selfe hath made her owne choice and by embrasing much to satisfie her owne vse hath recommended the residue vnto my care to be brought by direction vnder some fourme of statarie discipline Now then can I but thinke that my countreymen will ioyne with me in consent with whom my countrey doth communicate such fauour Seeing her fauour is for their furtheraunce and my labour is to bring them to that which she doth most allow And what conclusion haue I set downe wherin they maye not very well agree with me either for the first impression which set me on worke or for the proofe which confirmeth the impression My first meaning was to procure a generall good so farre as my abilitie would reach I do not saye that such a conceit deserueth no discourtesie for the very motion how soeuer the effect do aunswere in rate but this I may well thinke that my countreymen ought of common courtesie to countenaunce an affection so well qualified till the euent either shrine it with praise or shoulder it with repulse I do not herein take vpon me dictatorlike to pronounce peremptorily but in waye of counsell as one of that robe to shew that which long teaching hath taught me to saye by reading somwhat and obseruing more And I must pray my good countrymen so to construe my meaning for being these many yeares by some my freindes prouoked to publish something and neuer hitherto daring to venture vpon the