must be kept That the maister learne himselfe and teach his scholer a faire letter and a fast for plainesse and speede That the matter of his example be pithie and proper to enrich the memorie with profitable prouision and that the learning to write be not left of vntill it be verie perfit bycause writing being ones perfectly goten doth make a wonderful riddance in the rest of our learning For the master may be bould to charge his child with writing of his geare when he findes him able to dispatch that with ease what so euer is enioyned him Neither shall that child euer complaine of difficultie after which can read and write perfectly before For first he hath purchased those two excellent faire winges which will cause him towre vp to the top of all learning as Plato in the like case of knowledge termeth Arithmetick and Geometrie his two wings wherwith to flie vp to heauen from whence he doth fetch the true direction of his imprisoned ignorant Secondly he hath declared eare he came to that cunning that his wit would serue him to proceede on further as his winges will helpe him to flie on faster For in deede during the time of writing and reading his witte will bewraie it selfe whether it may venture further vpon greater learning or were best to stay at some smaller skil vpon defect in nature But if the child can not do that redily which he hath rather looked on then learned before he remoue from his Elementarie while his maister conceiues quickly and he perceiues slowly there is verie much matter offered vnto passion wheron to worke Which commonly brusteth out into much beating to the dulling of the childe discouraging of the maister and bycause of the to timely onset to litle is done in to long a time and the schoole is made a torture which as it bringes forth delite in the ende when learning is helde fast so should it passe on verie pleasantly by the waye while it is in learning And generally this I do thinke of perfiting and making vp as children go on seing the argument it selfe doth draw my penne so forcibly forward that it must needes be most perfectly good For what if oportunitie either to go any further at all or at least to go so on as their freindes did set them in be suddenly cut of either by losse of freindes or lacke in freindes or some other misfortune were it not good that they had so much perfectly as they are practised in which being vnperfectly had will either stand them in very small steede or in none at all To write and read wel which may be iointly gotten is a prety stocke for a poore boye to begin the world with all The same reasons which moued me to haue the child read English before Latin do moue me also to wishe him to write English before Latin as a thing of more hardnesse and redier in vse to aunswere all occasions Thus farre I do thinke that all my countreymen will ioyne with me and allow their children the vse of their letter and penne For those that can write and read may not gainsaie least I aske of them why they learned themselues If they that cannot do mislike that they haue not I will aske of them why they wishe so oft for them Some controuersie before the thing be consideratly thought on but none after may arise about this next which is to draw with penne or pencill a cosen germain to faire writing and of the selfe same charge For penne and penknife incke paper compasse ruler a deske a dustboxe will set them both vp and in these young yeares while the finger is flexible and the hand fit for frame it will be fashioned easely And commonly they that haue any naturall towardnesse to write well haue aknacke of drawing to and declare some euident conceit in nature bending that waye And as iudgement by vnderstanding is a rule to the minde to discern what is honest seemly sutable in matters of the minde and such argumentes as fall within compasse of generall reason exempt from sense so this qualitie by drawing with penne or pencill is an assured rule for the sense to iudge by of the proportion and seemelines of all aspectable thinges As he that knoweth best how to kepe that himselfe which is comely in fashion can also best iudge when comelinesse of fashion is kept by any other And why is it not good to haue euery parte of the body and euery power of the soule to be fined to his best And seing that must be looked vnto long afore which must serue vs best alwaye after why ought we not to ground that thoroughly in youth which must requite vs againe with grace in our age If I or any else should seeme to contemne that principle which brought forth Apelles and that so knowen a crew of excellent painters so many in number so marueilous in cunning so many statuaries so many architectes nay whose vse all modelling all mathematikes all manuaries do finde and confesse to be to so notorious and so needefull both I and that any else might well be supposed to see very litle not seing the vse of that which is laboured for sight and most delitefull to see Neither is the deuise mine as if it were repentance hath repulse For what so euer I do allow in others which for the deuise do deserue wel I deserued not ill in mine opinion if I were my selfe the first deuiser therof That great philosopher Aristotle in the eight booke and third chapter of his Politikes and not there onely as not he alone ioyneth writing and reading which he compriseth vnder this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with drawing by penne or pencill which I translate his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the two of one parentage and petigree as thinges peculiarly chosen to bring vp youth both for quantitie in profit and for qualitie in vse There he sayeth that as writing and reading do minister much helpe to trafficque to householdrie to learning and all publicke dealinges so drawing by penne or pencill is verie requisite to make a man able to iudge what that is which he byeth of artificers and craftes men for substaunce forme and fashion durable and handsome or no and such other necessarie seruices besides the delitefull and pleasant For the setting of colours I do not much stand in howbeit if any dexterity that waye do draw the child on it is an honest mans liuing and I dare not condemne that famous fellowship which is so renowned for handling the pencill A large field is here offered to praise the praiseworthy and to paint them out well which painted all thinges so well as the world still wondereth at the hearing of their workes But the praise of painting is no part of my purpose at this time but the appointing of it among the training principles being so aunciently allowed so necessarie in so many thinges so
thinges will follow thee more swifte to the good then the other to the bad being capable of both as thinges of vse be and yet bending to the better Mans faulte makes the thing seeme filthie Applie thou it to the best the choice is before thee It is the ill in thee which seemeth to corrupte the good in the thing which good though it be defaced by thy ill yet shineth it so cleare as it bewraieth the naturall beautie euen thorough the cloude of thy greatest disgracing Musick will not harme thee if thy behauiour be good and thy conceit honest it will not miscary thee if thy eares can carie it and sorte it as it should be Appoint thou it well it will serue thee to good purpose if either thy manners be naught or thy iudgement corrupt it is not Musick alone which thou doest abuse neither cannest thou auoide that blame which is in thy person by casting it on Musick which thou hast abused and not she thee And why should those people which can vse it rightly forgoe their owne good or haue it with embasing to pleasure some peuishe which will not yet be pleased or seeke to heale sores which will festure still and neuer skinne though ye plaster them daily to your owne displeasure But am I not to tedious This therfore shall suffise now that children are to be trained vp in the Elementarie schoole for the helping forward of the abilities of the minde in these fower things as commaunded vs by choice and commended by custome Reading to receiue that which is bequeathed vs by other and to serue our memorie with that which is best for vs. VVriting to do the like thereby for others which other haue done for vs by writing those thinges which we daily vse but most of al to do most for our selues Drawing to be a directour to sense a delite to sight and an ornament to his obiectes Musick by the instrument besides the skill which must still encrease in forme of exercise to get the vse of our small ioyntes before they be knitte to haue them the nimbler and to put Musicianes in minde that they be no brawlers least by some swash of a sword they chaunce to lease a iointe an irrecouerable iewell vnaduisedly cast away Musick by the voice besides her cunning also by the waye of Phisick to sprede the voice instrumentes within the bodie while they be yet but young As both the kindes of Musick for much profit more pleasure which is not voide of profit in her continuing kinde All foure for such vses as be infinite in number as they know best which haue most knowledge the parentes must learne to lead their children to them and the children must beleue to winne their parentes choice which may be in all if they themselues liste if they liste not in no more then they like their restraining conceite neither bridling nor abbridging any other mans entent which seeketh after more And though all young ones be not thus farre trained yet we may perceiue that all these be vsed in particular proofes and not to be refused in generall trade where all turnes be serued by setting foorh of all thinges that be generally in vse though not generally vsed Thus much of these thinges at this time which I do meane by Gods grace to handle in their owne Elementarie as precisely and yet as properly as euer I can Chapter 6. Of exercises and training the body How necessarie a thing exercise is What health is and how it is maintained what sicknesse is how it commeth and how it is preuented What a parte exercise playeth in the maintenaunce of health Of the student and his health That all exercises though they stirre some one parte most yet helpe the whole bodie THe soule and bodie being coparteners in good and ill in sweete and sowre in mirth and mourning hauing generally a common sympathie a mutuall feeling in all passions how can they be or rather why should they be seuered in traine the one made stronge and well qualified the other left feeble and a praye to infirmitie will ye haue the minde to obtaine those thinges which be most proper vnto her and most profitable vnto you when they be obtained Then must ye also haue a speciall care that the bodie be well appointed for feare it shrink while ye be either in course to get them or in case to vse them For as the powers of the soule come to no proofe or to verie small if they be not fostered by their naturall traine but wither and dye like corne not reaped but suffered to rotte by negligence of the owner or by contention in chalenge euen so nay much more the bodie being of it selfe lumpishe and earthy must needes either dye in drowsinesse or liue in loosenesse if it be not stirred and trained diligently to the best And though the soule as the fountaine of life and the quickner of the body may will beare it out for some while thorough valiauntnesse of courage yet weaknesse will not be alwayes dissembled but in the ende will and must bewraie her owne want euen then perauenture when it were most pittie Many notable personages for stomacke and courage many excellent men for learning and skill in most and best professions haue then left their liues thorough the plaine weaknesse of their contemned bodies when they put their countries in most apparent and gladsome hope of rare and excellent effectes the one of valiantnesse and manhood the other of knowledge and skill Seing therfore there is a good in them both which by diligent endeuour may be auaunced to that for which it was ordained and by negligent ouersight doeth either decaye quite or prouâ—s not so well as otherwayes it might I maye not slightly passe ouer the bodies good being both so neare and so necessarie a neighbour vnto the soule considering I haue bestowed so much paines already and must bestow much more in the seruice of the soule nay rather considering I deale with the bodie but once and that onely here wheras I entreat of the soule and the furniture therof in what so euer I shall medle with in my whole course hereafter If common sense did not teach vs the necessitie of this point and extreme feeblenes did not force men to confesse how great feates they could do and how actiue they would proue if their weake limmes and failing ioyntes would aunswere the lusty courage and braue swinge of their fierie and fresh spirites I would take paines to perswade them by argumentes both of proofe in experience and of reason in nature that as it is easie so it were needefull to helpe the body by some traine not left at randon to libertie but brought in to forme of ordinarie discipline generally in all men bycause all men neede helpe for necessarie health and ready execution of their naturall actions but particularly for those men whose life is in leasure whose braynes be most busied
the parties which are to be exercised and what they are to obserue nowe must I saye somwhat of him and to him which is to direct the exercise and how he may procure sufficient knowledge wherby to do it exceeding well And yet the trainers person is but a parcell of that person whom I do charge with the whole For I do assigne both the framing of the minde and the training of the bodie to one mans charge whose sufficiencie may verie well satisfie both being so neare companions in linke and not to be vncoupled in learning The causes why I medle in this place with the training maister or rather the training parte of the common maister be these first I did promise in my methode of exercises so to do secondly the late discours of exercise will somwhat lighten this matter and whatsoeuer shall be said here may easely be reuiued there where I deale with the generall maister Beside this exercise being so great a braunche of education as the sole traine of the whole bodie maye well commaunde such a particular labour though in deede I seuer not the persons where I ioine the properties For in appointing seuerall executions where the knowledge is vnited and the successe followeth by the continuall comparing of the partes how they both maye or how they both do best proceede in their best way how can that man iudge wel of the soule whose trauell consisteth in the bodie alone or how shall he perceiue what is the bodies best which hauing the soule onely committed to his care posteth ouer the bodie as to an other mans reckening In these cases both fantsie workes affection and affection ouerweyneth either best liking where it fantsieth most or most following where it affecteth best as it doth appeare in Diuines who punish the bodie to haue the soule better and in Physicians who looke a side at the soule bycause the bodie is there best Where by the way I obserue the different effectes which these two subiectes being seuered in charge do offer vnto their professours For the health of the soule is the Diuines best both for his honest delite that it doth so well and for his best ease that himselfe faires so well For an honest vertuous godly and well disposed soule doth highly esteeme and honorably thinke of the professour of diuinitie and teacher of his religion bycause vertuous dealinges godly meditations heauently thoughtes which the one importeth be the others portion and the best food to a well affected minde Whervpon in such a healthy disposition of a well both informed and reformed soule the Diuine can neither lacke honor for his person nor substance for his purse Now to the contrarie the health of the bodie which is the Physicians subiect is generally his worst though it be the ende of his profession which though he be glad of his owne good nature as he is a man or of his good conscience as he is a Christian that the bodie doth wel yet his chymny doth not smoke where no pacient smartes For the healthfull bodie commonly careth not for the Physician it is neede that makes him sought And as the Philosopher sayeth if all men were freindes then iustice should not neede bycause no wrong would be offered so if all bodies were whole that no distemperature enforced or if the Diuine were well and duetifully heard that no intemperance distempered Physick should haue small place Now the contrary dealinges bycause the diuine is not heard and distemperature not auoided do enforce Physick for the healing parte of it as the mother of the professours gaine where as the preseruing part neither will be kept by the one neither enricheth the other In these two professions we do generally see what the seuering of such neare neighbours doth bring to passe like two tenantes in one house belonging to seuerall lordes And yet the affections of the one so tuch the other as they cause sometimes both the Diuine to thinke of the body for the better support of the soule and the Physician to thinke of the soule to helpe him in his cure with comfort and courage The seuering of those two sometime shew vs verie pitifull conclusions when the Diuine diliuers the desperate sicke soule ouer to the secular magistrate and a forcible death by waye of punishement and the Physician deliuereth the desperate sicke bodie to the Diuines care and a forced ende by extremitie of disease I dare not saye that these professions might ioyne in one person and yet Galene examining the force which a good or ill soule hath to imprint the like affections in the bodie would not haue the Physiciā to tarie for the Phylosopher but to play the parte himselfe Where to much distraction is and subalterne professions be made seuerall heads there the professions make the most of their subiectes the subiectes receiue least good though they parte from most And seuerall professing makes the seuerall trades to swell beyond proportion euerie one seeking to make the most of his owne nay rather vanting his owne as simply the highest though it creepe very low And therefore in this my traine I couch both the partes vnder one maisters care For while the bodie is committed to one and the soule commended to an other it falleth out most times that the poore bodie is miserably neglected while nothing is cared for but onely the soule as it proueth true in very zealous Diuines and that the soule it selfe is but sillyly looked to while the bodie is in price and to much borne with as is generally seene and that in this conflicte the diligent scholer in great strength of soule beares most what about him but a feeble weake and a sickish bodie Wherefore to haue the care equally distributed which is due to both the partes I make him but one which dealeth with both For I finde no such difficultie but that either for the cunning he may compasse it or for the trauell he maye beare it hauing all circunstances free by succession in houres Moreouer as the temperature of the soule smelleth of the temperature of the bodie so the soule being well affected will draw on the bodie to her bent For will a modest and a moderate soule but cause the body obey the rule of her temperance or if the soule it selfe be reclaymed from follie doth it not constraine the bodie forth with to follow So that it were to much to sunder them in charge whose dispositions be so ioyned and the skill of such facilitie as may easely be attained and so much the sooner bycause it is the preseruing parte which requireth most care in the partie and but small in the trainer as the healinge part of Physicke requireth most cunning in the professour and some obedience in the patient I do make great account of the parties skill that is to execute matters which besides diligence require skill for if he be skilfull himselfe it almost needes not to giue precept If he be not
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
pallida iuris Omine spem laedit deteriore suam Sed sine sole nequit viui prodire necesse est Curaque quod peperit publica iura vocant Fortunae credenda salus quam prouida virtus Quam patris aeterni dextera magna regit Sic sua Neptuno committit vela furenti Spem solam in medijs docta phaselus aquis Sed mihi spes maior cui res cum gēte Deorum Quae certo dubijs numine rebus adest Perge igitur sortique tuae te crede parentis Tessera parue liber prima future tui Et quia quà perges hominum liberrima de te Iudicia in medijs experiere vijs Quidnam quisque notet quidnam desideret in te Quo possim in reliquis cautior esse refer Interea veniam supplex vtrique precare Nam meus error erat qui tuus error erit Qui neutrius erit cum quis sit sensero quippe Nullum in correcto crimine crimen erit Ergo tuae partes quae sint errata referre Emendare mei cura laboris erit Namque rei nouitas nulli tentata priorum Hac ipsa qua tu progrediere via Vtrique errores multos lapsusque minatur Quos cum resciero num superesse sinam Cui tam chara mei lectoris amica voluntas Vt deleta illi displicitura velim R. M. THE ARGVMEMTES HANDLED IN EVERY PARTICVLAR TITLE Cap. 1. THe entrie to the Positions conteining the occasiō of this present discourse and the causes why it was penned in English Cap. 2. Wherfore these Positions serue what they be and how nrcessarie it was to begin at them Cap. 3. Of what force circunstance is in matters of action and how warily authorities be to be vsed where the contemplatiue reason receiues the check of the actiue circunstance if they be not well applyed Of the alledging of authours Cap. 4. What time were best for the childe to begin to learne What matters some of the best writers handle eare they determine this question Of lettes and libertie whervnto the parentes are subiect in setting their children to schoole Of the difference of wittes and bodies in children That exercise must be ioyned with the booke as the schooling of the bodie Cap. 5. What thinges they be wherein children are to be trained eare they passe to the Grammar That parentes and maisters ought to examine the naturall abilities in children whereby they become either fit or vnfit to this or that kinde of life The three naturall powers in children Witte to conceiue by Memorie to retaine by Discretion to discerne by That the training vp to good manners and nurture doth not belong to the teacher alone though most to him next after the parent whose charge that is most bycause his commaundement is greatest ouer his owne childe and beyond appeale Of Reading Writing Drawing Musicke by voice and instrument and that they be the principall principles to traine vp the minde in A generall aunswere to all obiections which arise against any or all of these Cap. 6. Of exercises and training the body How necessarie a thing exercise is What health is and how it is maintained what sicknesse is how it commeth and how it is preuented What a parte exercise playeth in the maintenaunce of health Of the student and his health That all exercises though they stirre some one parte most yet helpe the whole bodie Cap. 7. The braunching order and methode kept in this discourse of exercises Cap. 8. Of exercise in generall and what it is And that it is Athleticall for games Martiall for the fielde Physicall for health preparatiue before postparatiue after the standing exercise some within dores for foule whether some without for faire Cap. 9. Of the particular exercises Why I do appoint so manie and how to iudge of them or to deuise the like Cap. 10. Of lowd speaking How necessarie and how proper an exercise it is for a scholer Cap. 11. Of lowd singing and in what degree it commeth to be one of the exercises Cap. 12. Of lowde and soft reading Cap. 13. Of much talking and silence Cap. 14. Of laughing and weeping And whether children be to be forced toward vertue and learning Cap. 15. Of holding the breath Cap. 16. Of daunsing why it is blamed and how deliuered from blame Cap. 17. Of wrastling Cap. 18. Of fensing or the vse of the weapon Cap. 19. Of the Top and scourge Cap. 20. Of walking Cap. 21. Of running Cap. 22. Of leaping Cap. 23. Of swimming Cap. 24. Of riding Cap. 25. Of hunting Cap. 26. Of shooting Cap. 27. Of the ball Cap. 28. Of the circumstances which are to be considered in exercise Cap. 29. The nature and qualitie of the exercise Cap. 30. Of the bodies which are to be exercised Cap. 31. Of the exercising places Cap. 32. Of the exercising time Cap. 33. Of the quantitie that is to be kept in exercise Cap. 34. Of the manner of exercising Cap. 35. An aduertisement to the training master Why both the teaching of the minde and the training of the bodie be assigned to the same master The inconueniences which ensue where the bodie and the soule be made particular subiectes to seuerall professions That who so will execute any thing well must of force be fully resolued in the excellencie of his owne subiect Out of what kinde of writers the exercising maister maie store himselfe with cunning That the first groundes would be laide by the cunningest workeman That priuate discretion in any executour is of more efficacie then his skill Cap. 36. That both yong boyes and yong maidens are to be put to learne Whether all boyes be to be set to schoole That to many learned be burdenous to few to bare wittes well sorted ciuill missorted seditious That all may learne to write and reade without daunger The good of choice the ill of confusiō The childrē which are set to learne hauing either rich or poore freindes what order choice is to be vsed in admitting either of them to learne Of the time to chuse Cap. 37. The meanes to restraine the ouerflowing multitude of scholers The cause why euery one desireth to haue his childe learned and yet must yeilde ouer his owne desire to the disposition of his countrie That necessitie and choice be the best restrainers That necessitie restraineth by lacke and law Why it may be admitted that all may learne to writ and reade that can but no further What is to be thought of the speaking and vnderstanding of latine and in what degree of learning that is That considering our time and the state of religion in our time law must needes helpe this restraint with the aunswere to such obiections as are made to the contrarie That in choice of wittes which must deale with learning that wit is fittest for our state which aunswereth best the monarchie and how such a wit is to be knowne That choice is to helpe in schooling in admission into colledges in proceding to degrees in
ordinarie so where it lighteth it giues vs the gaze and bides all beginninges but that which is to soone bycause God hath prouided that strength in nature wherby he entendes no exception in nurture for that which is in nature Such spirites there be and such bodies they haue if they will and may so keepe them with orderly regard which is extreme hard vnto them For that oftimes they will not do so but distemper their bodies with disordinate doinges when pleasures haue possessed them and rashenesse is their ruler Oftimes they maie not thorough varietie and weight of important affaires which commaundeth them too farre in some kinde of calling But where so euer they light or what so euer waye they take they shewe what they be and alwaye proue either the verie best or the most beastly For there can scantly be any meane in those constitutions which are so notably framed and so rarely endued And therefore those parentes which haue such children must take great heede of them as the tippes of euill if they chuse that waye or the toppes of good if they minde that is best For the middle and most moderate wittes which commonly supplie eche corner in eche countrey and serue most assaies some ordinary meane will serue to order them but where extraordinarie pointes begin to appeare there common order is not commonly enough This is my opinion concerning the time when the child shall begin to learne which I do restraine to the strength of witte and hardnes of body the one for to receiue learning the other not to refuse labour and therfore I conclude thus that the parent himselfe ought in reason to be more then halfe a iudge of the entrie to schooling as being best acquainted with the particular circunstance of his owne child Yet I do not allow him to be an absolute iudge without some counsell vnlesse he be a very rare father and well able to be both a rule to himselfe and a paterne to others Bycause most where men be most blinded where they should see best I meane in their owne such a tyrant is affectioÌ„ when she hath wonne the field vnder the conducte of nature and so imperious is nature when she is disposed to make affection her deputie But now for so much as in setting our child to schoole we consider the strength of his bodie no lesse then we do the quicknesse of his witte it should seeme that our traine ought to be double and to be applyed to both the partes that the body may aswell be preserued in his best as the minde instructed in that which is his best that the one may still be able to aunswere the other well in all their common executions As for the training vp of the minde the waye is well beaten bycause it is generally entreated on in euery booke and beareth the honour and title of learning But for the bettering of the body is there not any meane to maintaine it in health and cheifly in the student whose trade treads it downe Yes surely A very naturall and a healthfull course there is to be kept in exercise wherby all the naturall functions of the body be excellently furthered and the body made fit for all his best functions And therfore parentes and maisters ought to take such a waie euen from the beginning as the childes diet neither stuffe the bodye nor choke the conceit which it lightly doeth when it is to much crammed That his garmentes which oftimes burden the bodie with weight sometimes weaken it with warmth neither faint it with heat nor freese it with cold That the exercise of the body still accompanie and assist the exercise of the minde to make a dry strong hard and therfore a long lasting body and by the fauour therof to haue an actiue sharp wise and therwith all a well learned soule If long life be the childes blessing for honoring his parentes why should not the parentes then which looke for that honour all that in them lyeth forsee in youth that their children may haue some hope of that benefit to ensue in their age which cannot take effect vnlesse the thing be begon in their youth Which if it be not by times looked vnto they afterwardes become vncapable of long life and so not to â—nioye the reward of their honour for any thing that their parentes helpe to it though God will be true and perfourme that he promiseth how so euer men hault in doing of their duetie And yet tempting is pernicious where the meane to hit right is laid so manifest and the childes honour to his parentes beginnes at obedience in his infancie which they ought to reward with good qualities for honour and may worke them like waxe bycause they do obey This negligence of the parentes for not doing that which in power they might and in duetie they ought giues contempt in the children some colour of iustice to make their requitall with dishonour in their age were it not that the Christian religion doth forbid reuenge which in presidentes of prophanisme we finde allowed where both curtesie to such parentes as failed in education of their children is countercharged by lawe and dissolute parentes by entreating ill are well entertained of their neglected children the vnfortunate childreÌ„ much moaned for their chaunce that they came to so ill an ende and the vndiscrete parentes more rated for their charge which they looked so ill to wherby themselues did seeme to haue forced such an ende The minde wilbe stirring bycause it stirres the body and some good meane will make it to furnish very well so the choice be well made wherin the order well laid wherby and both well kept wherwith it shalbe thought best trained The body which lodgeth a restlesse minde by his owne reste is betrayed to the commoÌ„ murtherers of a multitude of scholers which be vnholesome and superfluous humors needelesse and noysom excrementes ill to feele within good to send abroad Neither is it enough to saye that children wilbe stirring alwaie of themselues and that therefore they neede not any so great a care for exercising their bodies For if by causing them learne so and sitting still in schooles we did not force them from their ingenerate heat and naturall stirring to an vnnaturall stilnesse then their owne stirring without restraint might seeme to serue their tourne without more adoe But stilnesse more then ordinarie must haue stirring more then ordinarie and the still breding of ill humours which stuffe vp the body for want of stirring must he so handled as it want no stilling to send them away Wherfore as stilnesse hath her direction by order in schooles so must stirring be directed by well appointed exercise And as quiet sitting helpes ill humors to breede and burden the bodie so must much stirring make a waie to discharge the one and to disburden the other Both which helpes as I most earnestly require at the parent and maisters hand so I meane my selfe to
handle them both to the helping of both In the meane while for the entring time thus much The witte must be first wayed how it can conceiue and then the bodie considered how it can beare labour and the consorte of their strength aduisedly maintained They haue both their peculiar functions which by mediocrities are cherished by extremities perished hast doing most harme euen to the most and lingring not but some sometimes to the best And yet haste is most harmefull where so euer it setts foote as we that teache alwaie finde and they that learne sometimes feele For the poore children when they perceiue their owne weaknesse whereof most commonly they maye thanke haste they both faint and feare and very hardly get forward and we that teach do meet with to much toile whē poore young babes be committed to our charge before they be ripe Whom if we beat we do the children wrong in those tender yeares to plant any hatred when loue should take roote learning grow by liking And yet oftimes seueritie is to sowre while the maister beateth the parentes folly and the childes infirmitie with his owne furie All which extremities some litle discretion would easely remoue by conference before to forecast what would follow and by following good counsell when it is giuen before Which will then proue so when the parent will do nothing in placing or displacing of his childe without former aduise and communicating with the maister and the maister likewise without respecting his owne gaine will plainely and simply shew the parent or freind what vpon good consideration he thinketh to be best Wherein there wilbe no error if the parent be wise and the maister be honest Chapter 5. What thinges they be wherin children are to be trained eare they passe to the Grammar That parentes and maisters ought to examine the naturall abilities in their children wherby they become either fit or vnfit to this or that kinde of life The three naturall powers in children Witte to conceiue by Memorie to retaine by Discretion to discerne by That the training vp to good manners and nurture doth not belong to the teacher alone though most to him next after the parent whose charge that is most bycause his commaundement is greatest ouer his owne child and beyond appeale Of Reading Writing Drawing Musick by voice and instrument and that they be the principall principles to traine vp the minde in A generall aunswere to all obiections which arise against any or all of these NOw that I haue shewed mine opinion concerning the time when it were best to set the child to schoole the next two questions seeme to be what he shall learne and how he shalbe exercised when he is at schoole For seeing he is compound of a soule and a bodie the soule to conceiue and comprehend what is best for it selfe and the bodie to The bodie to waite and attend the commaundement and necessities of the soule he must be so trained as neither for qualifying of the minde nor for enabling of the bodie there be any such defecte as iust blame therfore may be laide vpon them which in nature be most willing and in reason thought most skilfull to preuente such defaultes For there be both in the body and the soule of man certaine ingenerate abilities which the wisedom of parentes and reason of teachers perceiuing in their infancie and by good direction auancing them further during those young yeares cause them proue in their ripenesse very good and profitable both to the parties which haue them and to their countries which vse them Which naturall abilities if they be not perceiued by whom they should do condemne all such either of ignoraunce if they could not iudge or of negligence if they would not seeke what were in children by nature emplanted for nurture to enlarge And if they be perceiued and either missorted in place or ill applyed in choice as in difference of iudgementes there be many thinges practised which were better vnproued to the losse of good time let of better stuffe they do bewray that such teachers and trainers be they parentes be they maisters either haue no sound skill if it come of infirmitie or but raw heades if it spring of fansie If they know the inclination and do not further it rightely it is impietie to the youth more then sacrilege to the state which by their fault be not suffered to enioy those excellent benefits which the most munificent God by his no niggardishe nature prouided for them both If they found them and followed them but not so fully as they were to receiue if for want wherwith it deserues pardon if for want of will exceeding blame and cryeth for correction of the state by them hindred and small thankes of the parties no more furthered Wherfore as good parentes and maisters ought to finde out by those naturall principles whervnto the younglings may best be framed so ought they to follow it vntil it be complete and not to staie without cause beyond staie before it come to ripenesse which ripenesse while they be in learning must be measured by their ablenes to receiue that which must follow their forebuilding but when they are thought sufficiently well learned and to meddle with the state then their ripenesse is to be measured by vse to themselues and seruice to their countrey in peace as best and most naturall in warre as worse and most vnnaturall and yet the ordinarie ende of a disordered peace For when the thinges which be learned do cleaue so fast in memorie as neither discontinuaunce can deface them nor forgetfulnesse abolishe them then is abilitie vpon ascent and when ascent is in the highest and the countrey commaundes seruice then studie must be left and the countrey must be serued Seeing therfore in appointing the matter wherin this traine must be employed there is regard to be had first to the soule as in nature more absolute and in value more precious and then to the bodie as the instrument and meane wherby the soule sheweth what is best to be done in necessity of fine force in choice of best shew I will remitte the bodie to his owne roome which is peculiarly in exercises sauing where I cannot meane the soule without mention of the bodie and in this place I wil entreat of the soule alone how it must be qualified And yet meane I not to make any anatomie or resolution of the soule his partes properties a discourse not belonging to this so low a purpose but onely to pick out some natural inclinatiōs in the soule which as they seeme to craue helpe of education and nurture so by education and nurture they do proue very profitable both in priuate and publicke To the which effect in the litle young soules first we finde a capacity to perceiue that which is taught them and to imitate the foregoer That witte to learne as it is led and to follow as it is foregone would be well
great a ground to so gallant a misterie as that profession is wherof Apelles was and last of all so neare a cosen to the fairest writing whose cradlefellow it is Musicke maketh vp the summe and is deuided into two partes the voice and the instrument wherof the voice resembleth reading as yealding that to the eare which it seeth with the eye the instrument writing by counterfeting the voice both the two in this age best to be begon while both the voice and the iointe be pliable to the traine The voice craueth lesse cost to execute her part being content with so much onely as writing and drawing did prouide for their furniture when they began their houshold The instrumente seemeth to be more costly and claimes both more care in keping and more charge in compassing For the pleasauntnesse of Musick there is no man that doth doubt bycause it seemeth in some degree to be a medicine from heauen against our sorowes vpon earth Some men thinke it to be too too sweete and that it may be either quite forborne or not so much followed For mine owne parte I dare not dispraise it which hath so great defendours and deserueth so well and I must needes allow it which place it among those that I do esteeme the cheife principles for training vp of youth not of mine owne head alone but by the aduise of all antiquitie all learned philosophie all skilfull training which make Musick still one of the principles when they handle the question what thinges be best to bring youth first vp in If I had sought occasion of raunging discours which I still auoide but where the opening of some point doth lighten the thing and may delite the reader whom flatte and stearne setting downe by waye of aphorisme would soone weary though many not of the meanest would allow of that kinde exceeding well I might haue found out many digressiōs long agoe or if I had taken holde of that which hath bene offered I haue mette with many such since I began first to write but of all in all sortes I do not finde any wherin speeche might so spreede all the sailes which she hath and the penne might vse all the pencilling which she can as in painting out the praise and ornamentes of Musick The matter is so ample the ground so large the reasons so many which sound to her renowne the thing it selfe so auncient and so honorable so generall and so priuate so in Churches and so without so in all ages and in all places both highely preferred and richely rewarded the princesse of delites and the delite of princes such a pacifier in passion such a maistres to the minde so excellent in so many so esteemed by so many as euen multitude makes me wonder and with all to staie my hand for feare that I shall not easely get thence if I enter once in I will not therfore digresse bycause there is better stuffe in place and more fit for my purpose then the praise of Musick is The Philosophers and Physicians do allow the straining and recoylong of the voice in children yea though they crie and baule beside their singing and showting by the waie of exercise to stretche and kepe open the hollow passages and inward pipes of the tender bulke whereby Musick will proue a double principle both for the soule by the name of learning and for the body by the waye of exercise as hereafter shall appeare But for the whole matter of Musick this shalbe enough for me to say at this time that our countrey doth allow it that it is verie comfortable to the wearyed minde a preparatiue to perswasion that he must needes haue a head out of proportion which cannot perceiue or doth not delite in the proportions of number which speake him so faire that it is best learned in childehood when it can do least harme and may best be had that if the constitution of man both for bodie and soule had not some naturall and nighe affinitie with the concordances of Musick the force of the one would not so soone stirre vp the cosen motion in the other It is wonderfull that is writen and strange that we see what is wrought therby in nature of Phisick for the remedying of some desperate diseases And yet there groweth some miscōtentemēt with it though it be neuer so good and that not only in personages of whom I make small account but in some verie good honest and well disposed natures though to stearnly bent which neuerthelesse for al their stearnnes wil resigne ouer their sentēce alter their opiniō sometimes of thēselues vpō deeper meditatiō what the thing in it selfe is sometime by inducemēt whē they fal in with other which are better resolued but most cheifly thē whē Musick it selfe consideratly applyed hath for a while obtained the fauorable vse of their listning eares The sciēce it selfe hath naturally a verie forcible strength to trie and to tuche the inclination of the minde to this or that affection thorough the propertie of number wheron it consisteth which made the Pythagorian and not him alone to plat the soule out so much vpon number It is also very pleasant for the harmonie and concent wherby the hearer discouers his disposition and lettes pleasure playe vpon the bitte and dalye with the bridle as delite will not be drowned nor driuen to hidebare For which cause Musick moueth great misliking to some men that waye as to great a prouoker to vaine delites still laying baite to draw on pleasure still opening the minde to the entrie of lightnesse And in matters of religion also to some it seemes offensiue bycause it carieth awaye the eare with the sweetnesse of the melodie and bewitcheth the minde with a Syrenes sounde pulling it from that delite wherin of duetie it ought to dwell vnto harmonicall fantasies and withdrawing it from the best meditations and most vertuous thoughtes to forreine conceites and wandring deuises For one aunswere to all if abuse of a thing which may be well vsed and had her first being to be well vsed be a sufficient condemnation to the thing that is abused let glotonie forbid meat distempering drinke pride apparell heresie religion adulterie mariage and why not what not Nay which of all our principles shall stand if the persons blame shal blemish the thing We read foolish bookes wherat to laugh nay wherein we learne that which we might ought forbeare we write strange thinges to serue our owne fansie if we sway but a litle to any lewde folly we paint and draw pictures not to be set in Churches but such as priuate houses hide with curtaines not to saue the colours but to couer their owners whose lightnesse is discouered by such lasciuious obiectes Shall reading therfore be reft from religion shall priuate and publike affaires lease the benefit of writing shall sense forgoe his forsight and the beautifier of his obiect Change thou thy direction the
and their wittes most wearied in which kinde studentes be no one small part but the greatest of all which so vse their mindes as if they cared not for their bodies and yet so neede their bodies as without the strength and soundnesse wherof they be good for nothing but to moane themselues and to make other maruell why they take no more heede how to do that long which they do so well being a thing within compasse of their owne care and knowledge For who is so grosse as he will denie that exercise doth good and that so great as is without comparison seing olde Asclepiades is by Galene confuted and stawled for an asse as Erasistratus also his dissembling freind or who is so sore tied either to studie or to stocks as he cannot stirre himselfe if he will or ought not if he may But the matter being confessed euen by the most idle and vnweildy to be healthfull and good I shall neede no more reason to procure assent and allowaunce for exercise My whole trauell therfore must be to finde out and set foorth what shalbe requisite to the perfourmaunce of this point concerning the traine and exercising of the body that it may proue healthy liue long and be ready to assist all the actions of the minde Wherein therfore consisteth the health of the bodie and how is it to be maintained vntill such time as nature shall dismantle and pull it downe her selfe To aunswere this question and withall to declare how great an officer to health exercise is I will first shew wherin health doth consiste and how diseases do come then how health is maintained and disease auoided Last of all how great a parte is appointed for exercise to plaie in the perfourmaunce therof bycause I saye and not I alone but Galen also that great Physician neither Galen onely though sufficient alone but all that euer liued were cheife of that liuerie that who so can applie the minde well with learning and the bodie with exercise shall make both a wise minde and a healthfull bodie in their best kinde Wherefore seing I haue set downe wherein the traine of the minde doth consist so much as the Elementarie course doth admit and must perfourme and so farre as these my Positions require at this time whose profession is not to tary though it tuche them I wil now handle that other part of exercise wherwith the bodie is either to be kept in health or to be helpt to health and that not onely in the Elementarie to whom this treatise should seeme to aunswere but also in the generall student during his whole life which must alwaye rule himselfe by those circunstances which direct the application of exercise according to time age c. and shalbe handled herafter There be in the bodie of man the force of foure elementes fire and aire water and earth and the pith of their primitiue principall qualities heat and couldnesse moysture and drynesse which the Physicians call the similarie partes of the similitude and likenesse that they haue not the one to the other but the partes of eche to their owne whole bycause euerie least part or degree of these great ones beare the name of the whole as euerie part or parcell of fier is called fier no lesse then the whole fier of water water of aier aier of earth earth and euerie degree of heat is heat of cold is cold of moysture is moysture of drynesse is drynesse though greater and smaller lesse and more be epithetes vnto them as either their quantitie or qualitie doth sprede or close There be also in the same bodie certaine instrumentall partes compounded and consisting in substance of the similarie which the bodie doth vse in the executing of the naturall functions and workinges therof Now when these similarie partes be so tempered and disposed as no one doth excede any other in proportion to ouerrule but all be as one in consent to preserue and the instrumentall partes also be so correspondent one to an other in composition and greatnesse in number and measure as nature thorough the temperature of the first may absolutely vse the perfectnesse of the last to execute and perfourme without let or stoppe what appertaineth to the maintenaunce of her selfe it is called health and the contrarie disease both in the whole bodie and in euery part therof In the whole bodie by distemperature of the whole in some part by composition out of place and disioynted by greatnes being to bigge or to small by measure being misshapen and fashionles by number being to many and needlesse or to few and failing This health whether it be in the middle degre wherin all executions be complete without any sensible let and no infirmitie appeareth that the bodie feeles with any plaine offence Or if it be in the perfectest degree which is so seldom as neuer any saw bycause of great frailty and britlenesse in our nature it neuer continueth in one estate but altereth still and runnes to ruyne without both speedy and daily nay without hourely reparation The causes which alter and chaunge it so be somtime from within the bodie and were borne with it sometime from without and yet not without daunger From within the verie propertie and pithe of our originall substance and matter whence we grew altereth vs first which as it beginneth and groweth in moysture so it endeth and stayeth in drynesse and in the ende decayeth the bodie with to much drynesse which extreame though naturall withering we call olde age which though it come by course and commaundement of nature yet beareth it the name and title of disease bycause it decayeth the bodie and deliuereth it to death From within also the continuall rebating and falling awaye of somwhat from the bodie occasioneth much chaunge nay that is most cause of greatest chaunge and killeth incontinent by meere defect if it be not supplyed To these two causes of inward alteration there aunswere two other forreine causes both vnholesome and perillous the aire which enuironneth vs and violence which is offered vs. The former of the two decaing our health with to much heat cold drynesse and moysture of it selfe or by noysomnesse of the soile and corruption in circunstance The second by strong hand brusing or breaking wounding or wiping awaie of some one part of the bodie or els killing the whole consort of the bodie with the soule and taking away life from it These foure ouerthrowes of our bodies and health olde age waste aire and violence finde by helpe of nature and arte certaine oppositions which either diuert them quite if they maye be auoided or kepe them of longer if they maye be differred or mittigate their malice when it is perceiued For forreine violence foresight will looke to where casualtie commaundes not and cannot be foreseene For infection by the aire that it do not corrupte and marre so much as it would wisedome will prouide and defende the bodie from
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
of life or for outward motion and executions of vse must be chearished and nusled so as that they do by nature well and truely they may do by traine both long and strongly I shall not neede to name the partes all in one ruk as of set purpose which be knowen by their effectes and the exercises also themselues will shew for whom they serue But for example first in the partes let vs see whether we can discern them by their working and properties that therby the exercise may be pickte which is most proper to helpe such effectes Who doth not streight waye conceiue that the lunges or lightes be ment when he heareth of an inward part which prouideth winde for the harte to allay his heat and to minister some clammy matter vnto it whence he may take aire most fit for his functions and not at the sudden be forced to vse any forreine Or who doth not by and by see that the harte is implyed when he heareth of an other inward part which is the spring and fountaine of the vitall spirite and facultie the seat and sender out of naturall heat the occasion and cause of the arteriall pulse which by one arterie and way receiueth cooling from the lunges by an other sendeth the vitall spirite the hote and hurling blood thorough out the whole bodie Or who is so grosse as not to gesse at the liuer when he heareth of an other inward part which is the cheife instrument of nurriture the workhouse of thicke grosse blood that feedeth the life and soule when it desireth meat and drinke and what is els necessarie which conueieth blood thorough the veines to nurrish all partes of the bodie with the naturall spirit in it if there be any verie darke and heauie Nay hath he any braine which seeth not the braine plainly laid before him when he heareth a part of mans bodie named which breedeth a sowlish and life spirite as most pure so most precious and rather a qualitie then a bodie and vseth it partly to further the working of that princely and principall part of mans soule wherby he vnderstandeth and reasoneth partly to helpe the instrumētes of sense and motion by meane of the sineues neuer suffering them to lacke spirite which is the cheife and capitall cause why these instrumentes do their dueties well And so forth in all the partes aswell without as within sight whose properties when one heareth and finding that they be helped by such a motion he can forthwith say that such an exercise is good for such a part Now againe for exercises Who hearing that moderate running doth warme the whole body strengthneth the naturall motions prouoketh appetite helpeth against distilling of humours and catarres and driueth them some other waie Or that daunsing beside the warmth driueth awaye numnesse certaine palsies comforteth the stomacke being cumbred with weaknes of digestiō confluence of raw humours strengtheneth weake hippes fainting legges freatishing feete Or that ryding also is healthfull for the hippes and stomacke that it cleareth the instrumentes of all the senses that it thickneth thinne shankes that it slayeth loose bellies Or that loud speaking streatcheth the bulke exerciseth the vocalle instrumentes practiseth the lungues openeth the bodie and all the passages therof Or that loud reading scoureth all the veines stirreth the spirites thorought out all the entraulles encreaseth heat suttileth the blood openeth the arteries suffereth not superfluous humours to grow grosse and thicke who say I hearing but of these alone in taste for all or of all together by these alone doth not both see the partes which are preserued the exercise which preserueth and the matter wherin Wherfore seing exercise is such a thing that so much enableth the bodie whom the soule hath for companion in all exploites a comfort being lightsome a care being lothesom a courage being healthy a clog being heauie I will bycause I must if I meane to do well plat forth the whole place of exercising the bodie at ones for all ages Chapter 7. The braunching order and methode kept in this discours of exercises BYcause the speciall marke wherat I shoote is to bring the minde forward to his best by those meanes which I take to be best wherin I must of force continue verie long as in my principall and cheife subiecte and in no place sauing this entreat of the bodie but onely how to apply that to it which I pitche downe here I thinke it good therefore in this place to perfit and handle at full the whole title of exercises with all the circunstances belonging thervnto so sufficiently and fully as my simple skill can aspire vnto as the present occasion of a position or passage vseth to require leauing that which I do not medle with to those that shall professe the thing ether for their owne or for their childrens health wherin I will kepe this methode and manner of proceeding First I wil note somewhat generally concerning all exercises Secondly I will chuse out some especiall exercises which vpon good consideration I do take to be most proper and propitious to schooles and scholers Thirdly I will applye the circunstances required in exercise to euerie of them so neare as I can that there be no error committed in the executing For the better the thing is if it hit right the more dangerous it proueth if it misse of that right Last of all I will shew the training maister how to furnish himselfe thoroughly in this professed exercising bycause he must both applie the minde with learning and the bodie with mouing at diuerse times refreshing himselfe with varietie and chaunge But in handling of these foure pointes I meane to rippe vp no idle question I terme that idle where health is the ende and the question no helpe to it but cause to discours and delaye of precept Such questions be these who first found out the arte of exercise called Gymnastice or whether it belong to the Physician or no being a preseruatiue to health or who first deuised the particular exercises or who were most famous for the executing therof and a number of such like discoursory argumentes which learned men hauing leasure at will as a schoolemaister hath not and willing to wade farre as my selfe could wish haue mined out of the bowelles of antiquitie and entraules of authoritie sometimes sadly and saing in deede much vpon euident and apparent testimonies sometimes simply and surmising but some such thing by very light and slight coniectures oftimes supported by bare guesse at some silly word or some more naked warrant Wherfore to the matter Chapter 8. Of exercise in generall and what it is And that it is Athleticall for games Martiall for the fielde Physicall for health praeparatiue before postparatiue after the stāding exercise some within daores for soule whether some without for faire ALL exercises were first deuised and so in deede serued either for games and pastime for warre and seruice or for suretie
the more light some they be the more they weepe if it be not in ieast so much the worse in very good earnest For I can hardly beleue that much laughter can auoide a foole if it be not for exercise which is also somwhat rare or that but a foole can weepe for exercise which deserues the bat to make him weepe in earnest But for laughing in the nature of an exercise and that healthful can there be any better argumēt to proue that it warmeth then the rednesse of the face and flush of highe colour when one laugheth from the hart and smiles not from the teethe or that it stirreth the hart and the adiacent partes then the tickling and panting of those partes themselues which both beare witnesse that there is some quicke heat that so moueth the blood Therfore it must needs be good for them to vse laughing which haue cold heades and cold chestes which are troubled with melancholie which are light headed by reason of some cold distemperature of the braine which thorough sadnesse and sorrow are subiecte to agues which haue new dined or supped which are troubled with the head ache for that a cold distemperature being the occasiō of the infirmitie laughing must needes helpe them which moueth much aire in the breast and sendeth the warmer spirites outward This kinde of helpe wil be of much more efficacie if the parties which desire it can suffer themselues to be tickled vnder the armepittes for in those partes there is great store of small veines and litle arteries which being tickled so become warme themselues and from thence disperse heat thorough out the whole bodie But as moderate laughing is holesome maketh no too great chaunge so to much is daungerous and altereth to sore For besides the immoderate powring and pressing out of the spirites besides to much mouing and heating it oftimes causeth extreame resolution and faintnesse bycause the vitall strength and naturall heat driue to much outward Whervpon they that laugh do sweat so sore and haue so great a colour by the ascending of the blood And as the naturall heat and fire it selfe do still couet vpward as to their naturall place so must it needes be that the lower roomes lie open and emptie in their absence wherby whether soeuer motion be marred the naturall heat dyeth and the vitall force faileth Besides this no man wil denie but that this kinde of laughing doth both much offende the head and the bulke as oftimes therewith both the papbones be loosed and the backe it selfe perished Nay what say ye to them that haue dyed laughing where gladnesse of the minde to much enforcing the bodie hath bereft it of life For weeping in the nature of an exercise there is not much to be said but that it is accompanied with crying sobbing groning and teares wherby the head and other partes are rid of some needlesse humour though the disquieting do much more harme then the purging can do good and the humour were a great deale better auoided some other waye Wherof some children seeme to be exceeding full when feare of beating makes them straine their pipes Aristotle must beare both most blame for this exercise if it displease any and most praise if it profit any who in the last chapter of the seuenth booke of his politikes writeth thus of it and for it That they do not well which take order that children straine not themselues with crying and weeping bycause that is a meane to their growing in the nature of an exercise And that as holding the breath doth make one stronger to labour so crying and weeping in children do worke the same or the like effectes And yet me thinke it should be no exercise by the verie definition For if it were vehement yet is it not voluntarie and though it did alter the breath yet it bettereth not the bodie howsoeuer it serue the soule But seeing the gymnastikes haue it let vs lend it them for their pleasure though we like it not for our owne It is generally banished by all Physicians as being the mother to manie infirmities both in the eyes and other partes neither if it could be auoided in schooles were it worthy the looking on being the heauy signe of torture and trouble And though it somtime ease the greiued minde to shedde a few teares as some for extreme anguish cannot let fall one yet children would be lesse greiued if they might shedde none as some hold it a signe of a verie shrewd boye when he deserues stripes not to shew one trikle Some Physicians thinke by waye of a conserue to the minde that it ought to be vsed in schooles sometimes though not voluntarie yet in forme of an exercise to warme shrewd boyes and to expell the contagious humours of negligence and wantonnesse the two springes of many streaming euilles as playing would be daily at some certaine houres then to vse these exercises when bookes be out of season The greatest patron of weeping that I finde leauing Heraclitus to his contemplation of miseries is a soure centurion in Xenophon which sat at the table with Cyrus in his pauilion He commendeth weeping wherto he had no great deuotion to discountenaunce laughing which he saw allowed and his reason is bycause awe feare correction punishements which commonly haue weeping either companion or consequent be vsed in pollicy to kepe good orders in state and good manners in stay wheras laughing is neuer but vpō some foolish ground And yet both laughing for exercise may be for a good obiecte and occasion to make laughter may well deserue praise when the minde being wearied either about great affaires that are alreadie past or about preuenting of some anguish which is to ensue doth call laughing to helpe to ease the one and to auert the other And this kinde of weeping which the soldiar settes out so concerneth no exercise though it commonly follow all vnpleasaunt exercises where the partie had rather be idle with pleasure then so occupyed to his paine but it tendeth to the impression or continuing of vertue in the minde which should be so much the worse bycause that waye it seemeth vnwilling where feare is the forcer and not free will Which free will is the principall standard to know vertue by which is voluntary and not violent as it is not the beast meane to bring boyes neither to learning nor to vertue Socrates in Plato thinketh that an absolute witte in the best sorted kinde and aboue all common sorte for ciuill societie ought not to be forced as in deede what needes he being such a paragon and that free will in such a one so sifted is the right receit of voluntarie traine But we neither haue such common weales as Socrates sets forth nor such people to plant in them as Socrates had which he made with a wishe nor any but subiecte to great infirmities though some more some lesse by corruption in nature which runneth headlong
feare of no small inconuenience Their limit therfore must be to stirre but not to change breath to warme but not to heat to labour but not to be wearie yet as their health growes their exercise may encrease For the kinde of life Such as liue moderately and with great continencie though they be not full of superfluities and therfore neede not exercise much yet they must not abandon it quite least their bodies for want therof becomming vnweildie lease both the benefit of naturall heat and good constitution and auoid not such residence as of force breedes in them and in the ende will cause some sicknes crepe on which comes without warning bycause Iupiter as both Hesiode sayeth and Plutarch subscribeth hath cut her toungue out least she tell when she comes for that he would haue her come stealing eare she be perceiued as Galene also maketh the litle vnperceiued or for the smallnesse contemned to be mother to all illes both of bodie and soule Incontinence breedes much matter for exercise and therefore requireth much cheifly to procure sound sleepe the captaine cause of good digestion Such as haue not vsed exercises before and be nouices in the trade must first be purged then by meane and moderate ascents day by day be well applyed till they come to that degree wherein those are which haue bene acquainted therewith before But in all those degrees and mediocrities immoderate exercise must alway be eschewed as a very capitall enemie to health causing children not to prosper nor grow lustie men to fall into vnequall distemperatures and oftimes agues oldmen to become dry and ouerwearied To conclude who is it to whom it doth not some harme and from whom it keepeth not some great good These be the tokens whereby immoderate exercises be discerned if ye feele your ioyntes to be very hoat if you perceiue your body to be dry and vnequall if in your trauell you feele some pricking in your flesh as if it were of some angrie push if after sweating your colour become pale if you finde your selfe faint and wearie more then ordinary which wearines fayntnesse and pricking occupy the credit of a great circumstance in physicke of Galene and greeke physicianes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the latines and our Linacer lassitudines and come vpon dissolution and thinning of grosse humours being to many at that time to cleare the body of and pricking as they passe like some angrie bile within the body whereby the body is both forced to make an end of exercise withall is verie wearysome and stif oftymes after Chapter 34. Of the maner of exercising GAlene in the second booke of his preseruatiue to health knitteth vp three great thinges in verie few wordes that who so can handle the exercises in due maner with the apotherapeutike or gouerning the body after exercise and his frictions to rubbe it and chafe it as it should be is an absolute trayner in his kinde Wherein we may see the vse of chafing and rubbing the body both to be verie auncient and very healthfull to warme the outward partes to open the passages for superfluitie and to make one actiue and chearie to deale with any thing afterward It hath his place euery day at tymes euery yeare in seasons altering vpon circumstance but still both needefull and healthfull and clearith where it chafeth For the apotherapeutike much hath bene saide already wherefore this place must serue peculiarly for the maner of exercising They of old time to whom these rules were first giuen hauing all thinges at their will and sparing for no cost neither straited for want of time which they disposed as they listed and to whom the traine bycause of their libertie leasure was properly bequeathed did vse many circumstances both ear they entred into their exercise and when they were in it and also after that they had ended it ear they went to meat Which their curious course I will briefly runne through onely to let them see it which can do no more but see it bycause the circumstances of our time will skant suffer any to assay it After that they felt their former meat fully digested and had at leysure performed what belonged to the purging of their bodies they disrobed themselues and were chafed with a gentle kinde of rubber till that the freshnes of their colour and agilytie of their ioyntes seemed to call for exercise Then were they oynted with sweete oyle so neatly with such cunning as it might sooke into their bodies and search euerie ioynt That being done if they ment to wrastle they threw dust vpon the oyntment if not they went to the exercise which they had most fansie vnto which being ended they rested a while then with certaine scrapers called Strigiles they had all their filth scrapte of their bodies afterward they were chafed and rubbed againe then oynted also againe either in the Sunne or by the fire Then to the bath last of all apparelling themselues they fell to their meat And this was not one or two nor men of might alone but euery one and of euery sort nay shall I say it euen of euery sex A long and a laboriouse trauell an argument of much ease and to much adoe in that which should be more common But in these our dayes considering we neither haue such places wherin nor the persons by whose helpe nor the leasure by whose sufferance we maye entend so delicate a tendring of our selues and yet for all that may not neglect so great a misterie for our owne health as exercise is though we cannot reatch to the olde which perhaps we neede not smaller prouision and simpler fourniture will serue our turne and worke the same effectes nay may fortune better by helpe of some circunstance peculiar to our selues Therefore for our maner and order of exercise these few and easie considerations may seeme to be sufficient To cleare our bodies from superfluities echewaye to combe our heades to wash our handes and face to apparell our selues for the purpose to begin our exercise first slowly and so grow on quicker to rebate softly and by gentle degrees to change our sweatie clothes to walke a litle after last of all our bodies being setled to go to our meate This is that which I promised to note concerning the six circunstances of exercise Chapter 35. An aduertisement to the training maister Why both the teaching of the minde and the training of the bodie be assigned to the same maister The inconueniences which ensue where the bodie and soule be made particular subiectes to seuerall professions That who so will execute any thing well must of force be fully resolued of the excellency of his owne subiect Out of what kinde of writers the exercising maister may store himselfe with cunning That the first groundes would be laid by the cunningest workeman That priuate discretion in any executor is of more efficacie then his skill I Haue already spoken of
it altogither bootes not If he be skillfull he will execute well bycause he can helpe the thing which he must execute if particuler occurrence pray aide at the sudden if he want skill he will lightly mangle that which is wel set downe if he be a medler Wherefore seing I wish the executors cunning and yet must be content to take him as I finde him I will do my best both to instruct infirmitie and to content cunning I must therefore haue him to thinke that there be two properties which he must take to be of most efficacie to make a cunning executor The one is to be rauished with the excellencie worthynes of the thing which he is to execute The other is if he may very easily attaine vnto some singuler knowledge in so noble a subiect which both concur in this present execution For graunting the soule simply the preheminēce both in substance of being and in traine to be bettered can there be any other single subiect which I say in respect of a communitie directed by diuine and humaine law that is compound and the principall subiect of any mans dealing can there be any single subiect I say of greater nobilitie and more worthy to be in loue with either by the partie that is to finde it or by him that is to frame it then healthfullnes of body which so toucheth the soule as it shakes it withall if it selfe be not sownd What a treasure health is they that haue it do finde though they feele it not till it faile when want bewrayes what a iewell they haue lost and their cost discouers how they mynde the recouerie The ende of our being here is to serue God and our country in obedience to persons and perfourmance of duties If that may be done with health of bodie it is effectuall pithie if not thē with sorow we must shift the soner let other succede with no more assurance of life then we had made vs without this healthful misterie in perpetuall change to let the world see that multitude doth supply with number the defect of a great deale better but to sone decaying paucity To liue and that long of whom is it not longed for as Gods blessing if he know God as the benefit of nature if he be but a naturall man The state of our bodie when we are in good health so liuely and lusty so comfortable and cleare so quicke and chearie in part and in hole doth it not paint vs and point vs the valew of so preciouse a iewell as health is to be esteemed The pitifull grones the lamentable shrikes the lothsome lookes the image of death nay of a pyning death yea in hope of recouery the rufull heauines the wringing handes the wayling friendes all blacke before blacke when health is in despaire do they not crie and tell vs what a goodly thing health is themselues being so griefly So many monuments left by learned men so much sumptuousnes of the mightiest princes so many inuentions of the noblest wittes bestowed vpō exercises to maintaine this diamōd are they not sufficient to enflame the executour being a partaker him selfe a distributer to others that the subiect wherein he dealeth is both massie most worth and most meruelous let him thinke it to be so bycause he seeth it is so and vpon that presumption proceede to his so healthfull and so honorable an execution In whom his owne iudgement is of speciall force to further his good speede For being well resolued in the excellencie of his owne subiect he will both himselfe execute the better and perswade other sooner to embrace that with zeale which he professeth with iudgement If you will haue me weepe for you saith the Poet then weepe you first he shall hardly perswade an other to like of that which is his owne choice who shall himselfe not seeme to set by it where himselfe hath set his choise The knowledge wherewith and how to deale therein is so much the easier bycause it is so generall and so many wayes to be wonne I will not seeme to raise vp the memorie which can neuer dye giuen to this traine by all both old and new histories which prayse those vertues and valiances which they found but had neuer had matter to praise nor vertues to finde if exercises had not made the personages praiseworthy whereby they did such thinges and of so great admiration as had bene vnpossible to any not so trained as they were What Philosopher describeth the fairest forme of the worthiest common weale either by patterne of one person as allowing that state best where one styrres all or by some greater multitude as preferring that gouernment where many make much stirre but he doth alwaye when he dealeth with the youth and first trayning of that state not onely make mention but a most speciall matter of exercise for health Who is it in any language that handleth the Paedagogicall argument how to bring vp youth but he is arrested there where exercise is enfraunchised As for the Physicians it is a principall parcell of their fairest patrimonie bycause it is naturally subiect and so learnedly proued to be by Galene in his booke intitled Thrasybulus to that parte of their profession which seeketh to preserue health and not to tarie till it come to ruine with their gaine to repare it though it still remaine ruinous and rotten which is so repared Therefore whensoeuer the maintenance of health is the inscription of the booke this title of exercise hath some euidence to shew Further in the discours of Exercises we finde ech◠where the names of diet of waking of sleeping of mouing of resting of distemperature of temperature of humours of elementes of places of times of partes of the bodie of the vses therof of frictions and chafings of lassitude and wearinesse and a number such which when the training maister meeteth with among the Physicians or naturall Philosophers what els say they vnto him but that where ye finde vs before the dore ye may be bold to come in As for naturall Philosophy the ground mistresse to Physik it must needes be the foundacion to this whole traine Hence the causes befet which proue eche thing either good or bad either noysome or needefull to health All naturall problemataries dipnosophistes symposiakes antiquaries warmaisters and such as deale with any particular occurence of exercise if ye appose them well you shall finde them yours freindes This terme Gymnastico which emplyeth in name and professeth in deede the arte of exercise is the verie seat wheron the trainer must builde And therefore all either whole bookes or particular discourses in any writer by the waie concerning this argument do will him to rest there In which kinde for the professed argument of the whole booke I know not any comparable to Hieronymus Mercurialis a verie learned Italian Physician now in our time which hath taken great paines to sift out of all writers what
whether shee build vpon fantsie and desire which is a maniheaded neede euen before neede and most what without neede or vpon meere lacke and want in deede which though it haue but one head yet that one is exceeding strong importunate and furiouse And shee hath at hand to salue her mischiefes a ready and an ordinarie excuse wherewith she will seeme to craue pardon for all that is done by needy men as there vnto enforced by her ineuitable violence A violent remeady which doth not heale infections but will alleage cause where to haue mischiefes excused and fore giuen Wherfore if these mens misdemeanour come of their owne ill which prouision cannot preuent bycause in best prouision ill will be ill so farre as it dare shew where wealth workes wantonnes it deserues correction and punishment If it come of necessitie for want of foresight in publike gouernment to helpe the common from common blame and to prouide for the priuate it would be amended and not suffered to runne till the harme being receiued and felt cause the question be moued whether such a mischiefe proceede from priuate insolence or publike negligence For as the priuate is to pay if it do not performe when the publike hath prouided so the publike must pardon if for insufficient foresight the priuate proue dissolute and lend the state a blow But for my number I neede not to dwell any longer in to many for troubling all with to many wordes seeing all wise men see and all learned men say that it is most necessary to disburden a common weale of vnnecessary number multitude in generall which in some countries they compassed by brothelry and common stewes to let the yong spring in some by exposition and spoile of enfantes both contrary to nature and contermaunded by religion but according to their pollicie and commaunded by their countries In particuler disposing of them that liued they cast their account as the proportion of their states did suffer so did they allote them with choice and constrained them to obey If such regard for multitude be to be had in any one braunche of the common weale it is most needefull in schollers For they professe learning that is to say the soule of a state and it is to perilous to haue the soule of a state to be troubled with their soules that is necessary learning with vnnecessary learners or the publike body with their priuate which is the common wealth with their priuate want For in all proportion to much is to bad and to much out of all proportion and to haue to much euen of the soule is not the soundest where her offices be appointed and lymited in certaine Superfluitie and residence bring sickenes to the body and must not to much then infect the soule sore being in a simpathie with the body Scholers by reason of their conceit which learning inflameth as no meane authority saith become to imperiall to rest vpon a litle and by their kinde of life which is all way idle they proue to disdainefull to deale with labour vnlesse neede make them trot or the Turkish captiuitie catch them the greatest foe that can fall vpon idle people where labour is looked for and they not vsed to it Contentment in aspiring which is hard to such wittes and patience in paines which they neuer learned be the two cognisances whereby to discerne a ciuill wit and fit to enioye the benefit of his coūtrie Now of all ouerflush in number is not that most dangerous which in conceit is loftie and in life loytering as the vnbestowed scoller by profession is To few be to bare and naked bycause necessities must be supplyed and that by the fittest For whereas the defect of the fit enforceth supplement of the lookers on though not the most likely but whosoeuer they be without further respect then that they stand by bycause neede bides no choyce where there is no pluralitie and yet biddes pluralitie make choyce there the vnsufficient seruice of necessarie seruices breedes much miscontentment and more shaking to any state And that chiefly in such pointes as the state embraseth and the feeble minister doth nothing but deface So that the defeat of the generall purpose must be most imputed to the bare defect of insufficient persons For as to many bringes surfettes so to few breedes consumptions Wittes well sorted be most ciuill This I say bycause to ato auoyd excessiue number choice is one principall helpe for in admitting to vses onely such as be fit and seeme to be made for them pares of the vnfit and lesseneth the number which yet would be lookt vnto euen at the verie first For euen he that is thought most vnfit and is so in deede yet will grieue at repulse vnles ye repell him by preuention ear he come to the sense and iudgement to discerne what a heauie thing a flat repulse is Which miscontentment if it range in a number cannot be without daunger to the common body As to the contrarie such wittes as be placed where the place needes them more then they the place do performe with sufficiencie and proceede with contentment of the state that enstawled them The chiefe signes of ciuilitie be quietnesse concord agrement fellowship and friendship which likenesse doth lincke vnliknesse vndoeth fitnesse maketh fast vnfitnesse doth loose proprietie beares vp improprietie pulleth downe right matching makes mismatching marres How then can ciuill societie be preserued where wittes of vnfit humours for seruice are in places of seruice by appointment either vnaduisedly made or aduisedly marred Is there any picture so ill fauoured being compound of incompatible natures as an execution is being committed to a contrarie constitution If fire be to enflame and cause thinges burne where water should coole and be meane to quench is the place not in danger If that wit fall to preach which were fitter for the plough and he to clime a pulpit which is made to scale a walle is not a good carter ill lost and a good souldier ill placed If he will needes lawe it which careth for no lawe and professe iustice that professeth no right hath not right an ill caruer and iustice a worse maister If he will deale with physicke whose braines can not beare the infinite circumstances which belong thereunto whether to maintaine health or to restore it doth he any thing else but seeke to hasten death for helping the disease to make way to murther in steede of amendement to be a butchars prentice for a maister in physike And so is it in all kindes of life in all trades of liuing where fitnes and right placing of wittes doth worke agreement and ease vnfitnes and misplacing haue the contrary companions disagreement and disease Againe wittes misplaced most vnquiet and seditious as any thinge else strayned against nature light thinges prease vpward and will ye force Fire downe Heauie thinges beare downeward and will ye haue Leade to leape vp An imperiall
then to boyes in that time For in proces of time if they be of worth themselues they may so matche as the parent may take more pleasure in his sonnes by law thē in his heires by nature They are to be the principall pillers in the vpholding of housholdes and so they are likely to proue if they proue well in training The dearest comfort that man can haue if they encline to good the nearest corrosiue if they tread awry And therfore charilie to be cared for bearing a iewell of such worth in a vessel of such weaknesse Thus much for there persons whom I turne ouer to the parentes abilitie for charge to their owne capacitie for conceit in eche degree some from the lowest in menaltie to the highest in mistriship The time hath tied it selfe to strength in both partes for the bodie to trauell for the soule to conceiue The exercises pray in no case to be forgot as a preseruatiue to the body and a conserue for the soule For the matter what they shall learne thus I thinke following the custome of my countrie which in that that is vsuall doth lead me on boldly and in that also which is most rare doth shew me my path to be already troden So that I shall not neede to erre if I marke but my guide wel Where rare excellencies in some wymen do but shew vs some one or two parentes good successe in their daughters learning there is neither president to be fetcht nor precept to be framed For preceptes be to conduct the common but these singularities be aboue the cōmon presidentes be for hope those pictures passe beyond al hope And yet they serue for profe to proceede by in way of argument that wymen can learne if they will and may learne what they list when they bend their wittes to it To learne to read is very common where conuenientnes doth serue writing is not refused where oportunitie will yeild it Reading if for nothing else it were as for many thinges else it is is verie needefull for religion to read that which they must know and ought to performe if they haue not whom to heare in that matter which they read or if their memorie be not stedfast by reading to reuiue it If they heare first and after read of the selfe same argument reading confirmes their memorie Here I may not omit many and great contentmentes many and sound comfortes many and manifoulde delites which those wymen that haue skill and time to reade without hindering their houswifery do continually receiue by reading of some comfortable and wise discourses penned either in forme of historie or for direction to liue by As for writing though it be discommended for some priuate cariages wherein we men also no lesse then wymen beare oftentimes blame if that were a sufficient exception why we should not learne to write it hath his commoditie where it filleth in match and helpes to enrich the goodmans mercerie Many good occasions are oftentimes offered where it were better for them to haue the vse of their pen for the good that comes by it then to wish they had it when the default is felt and for feare of euill which cannot be auoided in some to auert that good which may be commodious to many Musicke is much vsed where it is to be had to the parentes delite while the daughters be yong more then to their owne which commonly proueth true when the yong wenches become yong wiues For then lightly forgetting Musicke when they learne to be mothers they giue it in manifest euidence that in their learning of it they did more seeke to please their parentes then to pleasure them selues But howsoeuer it is seeing the thing is not reiected if with the learning of it once it may be retained still as by order it may it is ill let go which is got with great paines and bought with some cost The learninge to sing and plaie by the booke a matter soone had when Musike is first minded which still preserue the cunning though discontinuance disturbe And seeing it is but litle which they learne and the time as litle wherein they learne bycause they haste still on toward husbandes it were expedient that they learned perfitly and that with the losse of their pennie they lost not their pennieworth also besides the losse of their time which is the greatest losse of all I medle not with nedles nor yet with houswiferie though I thinke it and know it to be a principall commendation in a woman to be able to gouerne and direct her houshold to looke to her house and familie to prouide and keepe necessaries though the goodman pay to know the force of her kitchin for sicknes and health in her selfe and her charge bycause I deale onely with such thinges as be incident to their learning Which seeing the custome of my country doth permit I may not mislike nay I may wish it with warrant the thing being good and well beseeming their sex This is the most so farre as I remember which they commonly vse in youth and participate with vs in If any parent do priuately traine vp his children of either sex in any other priuate santsie of his owne I cannot commend it bycause I do not know it and if it fortune to die within his priuate walles I cannot giue it life by publike rehearsall The common and most knowne is that which I haue saide The next pointe how much is a question of more enquirie and therefore requireth aduised handling To appoint besides these thinges which are already spoken of how much further any maide maye proceede in matter of learning and traine is a matter of some moment and concerneth no meane ones And yet some petie lowlinges do sometimes seeke to resemble where they haue small reason and will needes seeme like where their petieship cannot light vsing shew for a shadow where they haue no fitter shift And therfore in so doing they passe beyond the boundes both of their birth and their best beseeming Which then discouereth a verie meere follie when a meane parent traineth vp his daughter hie in those properties which I shall streight waye speake of and she matcheth lowe but within her owne compasse For in such a case those ouerraught qualities for the toyousnesse therof being misplaced in her do cause the young woman rather to be toyed withall as by them giuing signe of some idle conceit otherwise then to be thought verie well of as one wisely brought vp There is a comlynesse in eche kinde and a decentnesse in degree which is best obserued when eche one prouides according to his power without ouerreaching If some odde property do worke preferrement beyond proportion it commonly stayes there and who so shootes at the like in hope to hit may sooner misse bycause the wayes to misse be so many and to hit is but one and wounders which be but onse seene be no examples to
ascent hath his praise though the prerogatiue be his that mounteth highest And therefore my plat is to satisfie those which will medle with the most and yet so left at libertie as it may serue euen thē which seeke but for the least For the choice of wittes and restraint of number not to pesture learning with to great a multitude no wisedome will blame me For the helpe and health of body that the doinges of the soule may be both strong and long to ioine ordinarie exercise in forme of traine who so shall mislike I will match him with melancholie with fleame with reumes with catarres all needelesse residences to see how they will musle him The limitation of certaineties in maisters for their securitie and parentes for their assurance if it be well wayed is worth the wishing For the places and personall circumstances who so will cauill neither deserues such a place to be trained in nor such a maister to be trained by nor such parentes to prouide him such a traine For the good bringing vp of yong gentlemen he that taketh no care is more then a foole considering their place and seruice in our countrie and so of all the rest But did any man thinke that I would not mention my dealing in trayning vp of yong maidens whether that be to be admitted in such sort as I haue appointed it That is such a bulwarke for me as who so shall seeme to pinch me for dealing liberally with them had neede to arme himselfe against them For they will translate the crime and becomming parties themselues discharge me from daunger for vsing them so curteously Is that point in suspition of any noueltie or fantasticallnes to haue wymen learned Then is nature fantasticall for giuing them abilitie to learne custome for putting them to it pollicie for placing them where to vse it in all ages in all degrees in all countries both at home and abroad Innouation it is not for I reade it I see it I finde it it is not my deuise I put the case that it were one of my wishes that wymen might learne if they did not Assuredly the proufe that we see the profit that we feele the comfort that we haue the care that we haue not the happines we enjoy the mishap we auoide the religion we liue by like the superstition we fly from and hate the clemencie we finde the cruelitie we feare by the meere benefit of our learned princesse whom God hath so rarely endewed and endowed giue me leaue to wish that sexe most successe in learning and her maiesties person all successe in liuing all the residew all the best and her highnes alone all aboue the best as wish can aspire where nothing else can come In generall I do not remember any thing that I haue dealt in but it may be very well digested by any stomake if it be not to farre distempered My wishes perhaps may seeme sometimes to be nouelties Nouelties perhappes as all amendementes be to the thing that needeth redresse but not fantasticall as hauing their seat in the cloudes If no man did euer wish then were I alone If my wish were vnpossible though it made shew of very great profit impossibilitie in deede would desire profit in wish to be content with repulse but where the thing is both profitable and possible to why should not profitable possibilitie haue rowme if wishing may procure it I wish commodious situation and rowmh in places for learning and exercise Our countrie hath it not echwhere nay scant any where as yet Euen by wishing that it had I graūt that it hath not but I would not haue wished it if the meane had bene hard and the motion naturally goeth before the effect I wish that the colledges in the vniuersities were deuided by professions I wish graue and learned readers I wish repetition to the same readers yea euen for the best graduate that is yet an hearer I wish neither heresie nor harme ne yet any thing but that may very well be wrought and deserues endlesse wishing till it be brought to an ende I wish restraint to stop ouerflush such other things whereto I dare stand assuredly beleeue that I wish my countrie very great good as I hope many wilbe partakers with me in wish to be partakers of the good But some wil say what neede you to medle with so much or so high matters your selfe creeping so low Syr I did professe in the beginning vnder ech title to deale in the generall argument for all my professing the elementarie example And by the way I do thinke that I may deserue some more equitie in construction bycause I do entend to my great paines to helpe my wish forward and to trauell for the helping and healthing of all studentes Wherfore I conclude thus that seeing my dealing in those positions was occasioned of so good a ground and hath so passed through them as I hope it may abide the tuch I must craue of my good and curteouse countriemen to laie vp allouance in hope and misliking in pardon till the euent dischardge both and make me bound to all and some benefited by me FINIS To the curteous reader It is no new thing to heare of errours in printing be the print neuer so good Wherefore for distinctions either misplaced or quite left out such other faultes as will not clearelie lame the sense I must desire my good reader to helpe me and the print either with his pen or with acknowledging the sense without the pen. But bycause these few ouersightes do seeme to alter my meaning and to maime the argument I haue therefore noted them my selfe to haue them the better obserued Facie 9. force her to it for to that 51. suppected in some copies for supported 94. brought foorth by word for that byword 101. and lear-countrieman for learned 127. where one stirres all for steares all 162. chiefly to the colledge for that colledge 192. what vertue is primate for priuate 221. in marg Ad 1. Necocleon for Ad Nicoclem 222. whether not in digesting for in not 227. the parents heauenly eye for homely in some copies 229. some great number for some good 230. the fifthe title of the first booke for fifth booke 236. to strike the stocke for the stroke 256. helpe of the wealthie patrones the out 258. and gaue ignorance the raigne for giue 275. without which any opinion for an The occasion of this discourse Why it is penned in English The positions 1. Topic. de 4. instrumētis Dial. For alledging of Authours The auncient antecedents Lettes Libertie Variety of wittes Exercises The rule of discretion Reading The reading of English first Writing 7. De Rep Writing the English hand first Drawing Musick Miscontentmēt Aunswere ◠De sani tuen What is health and sickenesse Exercise He can tel what the parte is The diuision of exercises Athleticall Martiall Physicall What is exercise 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 〈◊〉