it proves necessary and useful to all sorts of persons Breeding and Discipline saith Plato when they are good make parts to be good and if they were good before they become better thereby From the School of good Breeding will come good Christians loyal Subjects obedient Children faithful Servants in one word persons good in every relation On the contrary what often causes Impiety Atheism Blasphemy Disobedience Rebellion c. but the want of care of Youth which once being fallen into a debauched course of life care neither for God nor men Hence do arise Disorders in Families troubles and civil Wars in States for often God punishes men for neglecting though but in part this duty as in the case of Ely's Children by a special Judgment of God his whole Family was destroyed because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not if therefore every Parent would take care of his Family every Magistrate of the Town he is in of every Province and so of every Kingdom the world would go better than it doth and Youth would not generally prove so unruly thus evil would be cut off by the root and thereby much mischief prevented The nature of Youth for the most part is like Wax by the fire and what Aristotle saith of the mind that it is a smooth table upon which any thing can be written may be applyed to the present subject 't is like the materia prima of Philosophers apt to receive any form though I confess evil rather than good by reason of the depravation of humane nature therefore the whole care pains and industry of Parents is required To this purpose one speaking of the Nightingale saith that it sings before the young ones to teach them and he adds It hath been observed that with much attention they hearken to it and then repeat it one after another Farther saith he It hath also been taken notice that it doth interrupt their singing to correct them when they sing amiss in order to perfect them in the quality wherein that Bird doth excel What a precedent is this for Parents The Manners of a man usually are suitable to his Breeding which teaches to speak and to do well Breeding frameth the manners of men and every one knoweth what he hath learned therefore a good custom must remove that which a bad one hath introduced Indeed it hath great influences upon the temper not only to perfect it when it is good but also to alter it when it is otherwise rooting out what is amiss in it Let Nature be what it will it may be changed by Education for Invidus iracundus iners vinosus amator Nemo adeo ferus est qui non mitescere possit Si modo culturae patientem praebeat aurem This was well known to the Law-giver of the Lacedemonians who to recommend his Laws to his Citizens and to withdraw them from the corruption and effeminate pleasures they were in at that time took care to breed up two whelps the one a Greyhound the other a currish breed the former he kept at home and fed him with good meat but the last he often carried into the Field to hunting one day he brought forth both before the people and set down good victuals of one side and let out a Hare on the other whereupon the Dogs did run each after his usual meat the Greyhound after victuals the other after the Hare then he said to the people do you see what a difference diversity of Breeding hath set between the two whelps and how it hath had over them a greater power than nature We also see that young Children who by reason of the innocency of their age are not capable to dissemble love their Nurses more than their Mothers so that Breeding makes on them a greater impression than Generation according to the opinion of Euripides Alexander the Great being asked one day whom he loved best his Father Philip or Aristotle My preceptor said he Ille enim ut essem hic ut praeclare institutus essem author fuit Commonly Education is a rule to a man as long as he liveth The Disciples of that great Philosopher when they were arguing upon a point used often to say The Master said so St. Paul sends some to their rudiments and former instructions and in another place he saith But you have not so learned Christ. That which he saith upon the account of Religion may be applied to the purpose of Education how men though come to age ought to remember lessons given them in their Youth and bring them to practise The advice of a Roman Poet is very good Te ipsum Concute num tibi quae vitiorum inseverit olim Natura aut etiam consuetudo mala namque Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris If it be necessary at last to come to this trial and examen of himself there must be a necessity first to receive instructions about it which are part of and depend upon Breeding And because 't is not enough to convince men of the necessity of this except some ways be shewed how to bring it about hereupon I confess my heart begins to fail me specially when I consider how many thousands in the world have a riper judgment and greater experience than I and therefore am unwilling to give my advice about it For I know how different the ways and how contrary man's opinions are about it yet being so far engaged in it I must go through but submit to the censure of ingenious readers I could wish in the first place to see the care of Parents extended upon Children immediately after they are born and if it were convenient the Mother to suckle them for Children are by half more obliged to Mothers who take these pains than to those who do not it being known that a Nurse is a second Mother I say this not only because it is possible for them to be changed by those Nurses when they are born to great Estates and have others put in their room but also because all have not that care and true tenderness of Mothers who have carried them nine months in their Womb However in case they are resolved to save themselves this trouble they must be careful in the choice of a Nurse seeing a Child for the most part retains much of her humour and temper communicated through the Blood out of which is formed the Milk which is the food and is turned into the very substance of the Child the spirits also being therein conveyed therefore I would choose a healthful jovial and vertuous woman all which are necessary qualifications for a Nurse for as we use to say such the Father such the Son such the Mother such the Daughter Though this be not universally true yet the reason why it should be so being better than why it should not be the like we may affirm of the Nurse and the Child This
else is fit for their age and capacity but Parents must be able either by themselves or others to know not only the capacity but also the temper of the Tutor or School-master for Scholars have much of the nature of Preceptors and this I may give for a true observation of mine which I do not pretend to be of an universal truth upon several persons the reason is clear for the fear which the one strikes into the others makes these last study the temper of the former to conform themâ—elves to it so that if those prove melancholick or cholerick these out of fear or complacency will imitate them thereby to become the more acceptable And indeed how can a young man apt to receive impressions not fall into the temper of a man whom he is constantly with and whom he looks upon as given him to shew good examples as well as to give good precepts besides that his temper and actions do creep and insensibly or unawares insinuate into the young man The way of some first to have a Tutor at home then send them to a Free School so to the University when they are fit for it is often attended with success but as 't is usual almost in every thing to meet with letts and hinderances in this it falls out so sometimes for at home often the fondness of a Mother will spoil all accusing the Tutor one time of too much severity another of neglect and another time for giving too hard tasks so that a young Boy who is not willing to be tied to his Book perceiving this abuses it and then there is no dealing with him Farther in some Schools except one hath a great care of him he will neglect his Book and fall into a disorderly course of life often running too and fro which some Masters will wink at for their interest to perpetuate them in the School As for the Universities there is often so much corruption by reason of the great concourse of Scholars who debauch one another one alone being sufficient to corrupt many that instead of learning they sometimes forget and when they should improve themselves in Vertue Arts and Sciences they abjure all good manners and become proficient only in Vices Yet for all this my intent is not to speak against the use of those things because they are abused only I desire the abuses so to be taken away as to be reformed for I am not so singular and unreasonable as to condemn things setled by the advice of good and judicious men by experience found to be useful and necessary only I point at some inconveniences which sometimes happen in 't to the end they may be avoided And seeing the best things are liable to be corrupted I will never think the worse of Schools and Universities such corruptions creeping in through the fault of some persons and times Contrariwise I consider them as Seminaries of Learning than the which as yet the wit and prudence of men could find no better therefore mending what I said to be amiss a Tutor is very necessary in a house for being under the eyes of Parents he will the better mind his Duty and his Advices and Precepts being strengthened with the authority and presence of Parents will have greater influences upon the Scholar In Free Schools there will sometimes be an emulation who shall learn best when they who perform their Duty receive praises and encouragements and the University breeding will be very beneficial when the good Orders of every Colledge shall be put in execution for indeed Universities are the center and spring of Learning One thing more I add in relation to Schools that when there happens to be an unruly and uncorrigible young man 't will be the credit and interest of the Master to dismiss him for fear he should spoil the whole School for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump Some Masters have a pernicious method which is also too common to affect being formidable to Scholars Obedience I know to be the ground which whole Education is to be builded upon but I think a voluntary obedience when it can be had is much better than a forced one Fair means ought to be tried before one makes use of severity and rigour but there are those who would have Scholars to quake in their presence and to fall upon their knees and as it were adore them Whosoever it is that teaches us any thing we ought to honour and respect him upon that account yet I cannot approve to see extorted such respects and in such a degree as are not due This indeed is a very bad precedent to young men for when things which they ought not are exacted they are put in the way and authorised to deny those which are due I say therefore that too great and unseasonable severity produces often sad effects they would fright young men into learning instead of inticing them to it this is the way to make them hate and abhor all manner of erudition The first rudiments of Learning are crabby and bitter enough in themselves without any farther mixture of gall and wormwood The will of men will be perswaded but not forced 't is as of the string of a Watch if it be wound higher than it should be it will break Learning must be represented to them as a pleasure and advantage and not as a wrack or a torture Difficulties ought to be cleared and levelled and as much as is possible they should be led to it by a smooth way yet for all this I know Muses do not sit upon a level ground but upon a high hill so that none can go up without some difficulty but withal I say they ought to be led up not through the steepest or thorniest but the easiest way which will prove more pleasant and beneficial to both Tutor and Pupil When there is a bad step or any crabby pass the young man should be cheared up and encouraged and not run him out of breath I do not deny but that 't is sometimes necessary to chastise them specially some whose temper requires it but I would have it done with moderation and only when it is fit and necessary yet avoiding injurious and unbecoming expressions and giving those blows whereof the marks do remain so long after not correcting them ad libitum or out of a fancy but when there is a just cause and that as Fathers not like Tyrants or Hangmen Here I cannot forbear inveighing against those Schoolmen who have corrupted Sciences specially Philosophy and Divinity which they have stript of their natural habit and cloathed with a strange dress under several barbarous names and notions to make a monopoly of it to themselves many things in both Philosophy and Divinity were clear and intelligible but now they have drawn a curtain about and darkened it with phantastical terms and expressions which signifie nothing but what they have been pleased to allow this is the cause of
Tongues and Exercises provided in relation to these last their bodies be able to bear the hardship of it which to know must be left to the prudence of the Governor there being some Exercises harder than others so Parents must judg of the fittest time for them to begin their journey whether they be young enough yet not too young out of the strength or weakness of their Complexion only more care must be taken of them upon the Journey when they are of a feeble Constitution Some are sit to Travel at 13 or 14 others at 15 16 and 17. but when they are passed 20 some who are of no good nature will grow strong and stiff reject instruction and think themselves wiâ—er than their Teachers of these we may say what St. Iames speaks of the tongue Every kind of birds of beasts and of serpents can be and hath been tamed but theâ—e can no man tame so unruly they are Indeed when Governors light upon wild and loose humors they are to be pitied it is a burden as heavy as any they can lie under and a task as hard as any they can undertake which it were well for them to be discharged of When things succeed well God receives the glory of it young Gentlemen the profit and advantage their Relations content and satisfaction and the Governor gets credit by it See how many ways good is hindered by the unruly and untoward carriage of such Certainly when a man is able well to govern Youth he will be fit for other things and those not inconsiderable But in few words in a Gentleman under my conduct I could desire to be first a disposition in him to that I would put him upon few succeed in what they are not fit for nor capable of Secondly an inclination 't is not enough to be able to do a thing yet have no mind to it Thirdly an application without which none of the former can come to any good and all these ought to have a good direction or else they prove useless and can hardly do or come to any good I wish every young Gentleman that travels abroad to know that his Parents have not rashly given them their Governors 't is well known what a strict perquisition they make about them for the most part and except they be satisfied concerning them by men of probity and known integrity they will not employ them for as they love their Children as they look upon a Son to be the Heir of their Estate the hopes and staff of their Family whose Person Education and Affairs they wholly commit to him certainly men who have but common sence and reason will not do it without good grounds seeing upon the Breeding of that Son often depend the prosperity or destruction of a Family This being granted why are young men so wanting in their respect and duty to Parents as to slight the choice which they made and do as good as accuse them of want of Prudence Knowledge and Judgment by disapproving and as much as in them lies condemning that election after this rate they will be accounted wise and their Fathers must be fools But besides this they must not be ignorant how Parents have invested Governors with their power and authority not to destruction but to edification which Parents at their departure have or ought to have made an open declaration of charging them to take their advice in every thing and to do nothing without it seeing they are wholly committed to his care which he is obliged to perform for conscience sake and for his own credit and interest being to answer for miscarriages happening through his fault wherein if he doth well he shall receive praise or on the contrary shame So that after this a young man can do nothing against his Governor but it will reflect upon his Parents whom he represents who will have all the reason in the world to be offended thereat for contempt of their persons and authority for indeed abroad to him he is instead of a Father a Gentleman being considered as one under age wherefore many people will be loth to trust him though he be known to be a person of Quality and of a good Estate and in case they do without the Governors consent this can be forced by no law beyond Seas to pay his debts if the young men be out of the way Let them also consider that they and their Tutors are so nearly related to one another that all their concerns they make their own and share with them in the praise or the blame the satisfaction or diâ—pleasure â— However I must say this let discouragements be what they will till Parents who weekly or at least as often as conveniently can be ought to receive from the Governor an exact account and information of what falls out have taken order about things he ought to mind his work nevertheless and steer the Ship for all the Storm Diâ—ficulties must not discourage him too much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Difficilia quae pulchra nulla sine pulvere palma time is a great Physician and many a foul morning hath been followed with a fair afternoon Co'l tempo é la paglia se maturono le nespoli say the Italians Now I must pass to some preparatory dispositions which a Gentleman must use in order to his Travels First he would do well to get something of the Language of the Country he is next to go to as an introduction to it though it were only to understand something of it and be able to ask for necessary things this can rid him of the surprizal others are subject to who coming into a Foreign Country and understanding not one word of the Tongue look as if they were fallen â—rom the Clouds hereby their Journey is most pleasant to them and they are sooner disposed to receive the benefit of it so they ought to have something of the French before they go out of England of Italian before they leave France and of the German before they stir out of Italy and so of the rest They must also take a Progress into the Country to see what Curiosities and remarkable things are in 't to be able to give an account thereof to those who will ask about it for it is very ordinary to some of those in whose Country one Travels to put several questions concerning it and then indeed it is a shame not to be able to satisfie them in several things they ask To have the curiosity of seeing other Countries and yet neglect to know his own is a strange sort of curiosity as if a Master of a Family did not care to be acquainted with what passes in his Family and yet were very inquisitive to know what is done in his neighbours house to be ignorant of his own affairs and yet be well informed of those of other men is to invert the order of things and put last that which should be first let a