§§ 147–177. Learning: Reading, Writing and Languages

§ 147. You will wonder, perhaps, that I put Learning last, especially if I tell you I think it the least Part. This may seem strange in the Mouth of a bookish Man; and this making usually the chief, if not only bustle and stir about Children, this being almost that alone which is thought on, when People talk of Education, makes it the greater Paradox. When I consider, what ado is made about a little Latin and Greek, how many Years are spent in it, and what a Noise and Business it makes to no Purpose, I can hardly forbear thinking that the Parents of Children still live in fear of the School-master’s Rod, which they look on as the only Instrument of Education; as a Language or two to be its whole Business. How else is it possible that a Child should be chain’d to the Oar seven, eight, or ten of the best Years of his Life, to get a Language or two, which, I think, might be had at a great deal cheaper rate of Pains and Time, and be learn’d almost in playing?

Forgive me therefore if I say, I cannot with Patience think, that a young Gentleman should be put into the Herd, and be driven with a Whip and Scourge, as if he were to run the Gantlet through the several Classes, ad capiendum ingenii cultum. What then? say you, would you not have him write and read? Shall he be more ignorant than the Clerk of our Parish, who takes Hopkins and Sternhold for the best Poets in the World, whom yet he makes worse than they are by his ill Reading? Not so, not so fast, I beseech you. Reading and Writing and Learning I allow to be necessary, but yet not the chief Business. I imagine you would think him a very foolish Fellow, that should not value a virtuous or a wise Man infinitely before a great Scholar. Not but that I think Learning a great Help to both in well-dispos’d Minds; but yet it must be confess’d also, that in others not so dispos’d, it helps them only to be the more foolish, or worse Men. I say this, that when you consider of the Breeding of your Son, and are looking out for a School-Master or a Tutor, you would not have (as is usual) Latin and Logick only in your Thoughts. Learning must be had, but in the second Place, as subservient only to greater Qualities. Seek out somebody that may know how discreetly to frame his Manners: Place him in Hands where you may, as much as possible, secure his Innocence, cherish and nurse up the good, and gently correct and weed out any bad Inclinations, and settle in him good Habits. This is the main Point, and this being provided for, Learning may be had into the Bargain, and that, as I think, at a very easy rate, by Methods that may be thought on.

§ 148. When he can talk, ’tis time he should begin to learn to read. But as to this, give me leave here to inculcate again, what is very apt to be forgotten, viz. That great care is to be taken, that it be never made as a Business to him, nor he look on it as a Task. We naturally, as I said, even from our Cradles, love Liberty, and have therefore an Aversion to many things for no other Reason but because they are enjoin’d us. I have always had a Fancy that Learning might be made a Play and Recreation to Children; and that they might be brought to desire to be taught, if it were proposed to them as a thing of Honour, Credit, Delight, and Recreation, or as a Reward for doing something else; and if they were never chid or corrected for the neglect of it. That which confirms me in this Opinion, is, that amongst the Portuguese, ’tis so much a Fashion and Emulation amongst their Children, to learn to read and write, that they cannot hinder them from it: They will learn it one from another, and are as intent on it, as if it were forbidden them. I remember that being at a Friend’s House, whose younger Son, a Child in Coats, was not easily brought to his Book (being taught to read at home by his Mother) I advised to try another Way, than requiring it of him as his Duty; we therefore, in a Discourse on purpose amongst our selves, in his Hearing, but without taking any notice of him, declared, That it was the Privilege and Advantage of Heirs and elder Brothers, to be Scholars; that this made them fine Gentlemen, and beloved by every Body: And that for younger Brothers, ’twas a Favour to admit them to Breeding; to be taught to read and write, was more than came to their share; they might be ignorant Bumpkins and Clowns, if they pleased. This so wrought upon the Child, that afterwards he desired to be taught; would come himself to his Mother to learn, and would not let his Maid be quiet till she heard him his Lesson. I doubt not but some Way like this might be taken with other Children; and when their Tempers are found, some Thoughts be instill’d into them, that might set them upon desiring of Learning themselves, and make them seek it as another sort of Play or Recreation. But then, as I said before, it must never be imposed as a Task, nor made a Trouble to them. There may be Dice and Play-things, with the Letters on them to teach Children the Alphabet by playing; and twenty other Ways may be found, suitable to their particular Tempers, to make this kind of Learning a Sport to them.

§ 149. Thus Children may be cozen’d into a Knowledge of the Letters; be taught to read, without perceiving it to be any thing but a Sport, and play themselves into that which others are whipp’d for. Children should not have any thing like Work, or serious, laid on them; neither their Minds, nor Bodies will bear it. It injures their Healths; and their being forced and tied down to their Books in an Age at enmity with all such Restraint, has, I doubt not, been the Reason, why a great many have hated Books and Learning all their Lives after. ’Tis like a Surfeit, that leaves an Aversion behind not to be removed.

§ 150. I have therefore thought, that if Play-things were fitted to this Purpose, as they are usually to none, Contrivances might be made to teach Children to read, whilst they thought they were only playing. For Example, what if an Ivory-Ball were made like that of the Royal-oak Lottery, with thirty two Sides, or one rather of twenty four or twenty five Sides; and upon several of those Sides pasted on an A, upon several others B, on others C, and on others D? I would have you begin with but these four Letters, or perhaps only two at first; and when he is perfect in them, then add another; and so on till each Side having one Letter, there be on it the whole Alphabet. This I would have others play with before him, it being as good a sort of Play to lay a Stake who shall first throw an A or B, as who upon Dice shall throw Six or Seven. This being a Play amongst you, tempt him not to it, lest you make it Business; for I would not have him understand ’tis any thing but a Play of older People, and I doubt not but he will take to it of himself. And that he may have the more Reason to think it is a Play, that he is sometimes in favour admitted to, when the Play is done the Ball should be laid up safe out of his Reach, that so it may not, by his having it in his keeping at any time, grow stale to him.

§ 151. To keep up his Eagerness to it, let him think it a Game belonging to those above him: And when, by this Means, he knows the Letters, by changing them into Syllables, he may learn to read, without knowing how he did so, and never have any Chiding or Trouble about it, nor fall out with Books because of the hard Usage and Vexation they have caus’d him. Children, if you observe them, take abundance of Pains to learn several Games, which, if they should be enjoined them, they would abhor as a Task and Business. I know a Person of great Quality, (more yet to be honoured for his Learning and Virtue than for his Rank and high Place) who by pasting on the six Vowels (for in our Language Y is one) on the six Sides of a Die, and the remaining eighteen Consonants on the Sides of three other Dice, has made this a Play for his Children, that he shall win who, at one Cast, throws most Words on these four Dice; whereby his eldest Son, yet in Coats, has play’d himself into spelling, with great Eagerness, and without once having been chid for it or forced to it.

§ 152. I have seen little Girls exercise whole Hours together and take abundance of Pains to be expert at Dibstones as they call it. Whilst I have been looking on, I have thought it wanted only some good Contrivance to make them employ all that Industry about something that might be more useful to them; and methinks ’tis only the Fault and Negligence of elder People that it is not so. Children are much less apt to be idle than Men; and Men are to be blamed if some Part of that busy Humour be not turned to useful Things; which might be made usually as delightful to them as those they are employed in, if Men would be but half so forward to lead the Way, as these little Apes would be to follow. I imagine some wise Portuguese heretofore began this Fashion amongst the Children of his Country, where I have been told, as I said, it is impossible to hinder the Children from learning to read and write: And in some Parts of France they teach one another to sing and dance from the Cradle.

§ 153. The Letters pasted upon the Sides of the Dice, or Polygon, were best to be of the Size of those of the Folio Bible, to begin with, and none of them Capital Letters; when once he can read what is printed in such Letters, he will not long be ignorant of the great ones: And in the Beginning he should not be perplexed with Variety. With this Die also, you might have a Play just like the Royal Oak, which would be another Variety, and play for Cherries or Apples, &c.

§ 154. Besides these, twenty other Plays might be invented depending on Letters, which those who like this Way, may easily contrive and get made to this Use if they will. But the four Dice above-mention’d I think so easy and useful, that it will be hard to find any better, and there will be scarce need of any other.

§ 155. Thus much for learning to read, which let him never be driven to, nor chid for; cheat him into it if you can, but make it not a Business for him. ’Tis better it be a Year later before he can read, than that he should this Way get an Aversion to Learning. If you have any Contests with him, let it be in Matters of Moment, of Truth, and good Nature; but lay no Task on him about ABC. Use your Skill to make his Will supple and pliant to Reason: Teach him to love Credit and Commendation; to abhor being thought ill or meanly of, especially by You and his Mother, and then the rest will come all easily. But I think if you will do that, you must not shackle and tie him up with Rules about indifferent Matters, nor rebuke him for every little Fault, or perhaps some that to others would seem great ones; but of this I have said enough already.

§ 156. When by these gentle Ways he begins to read, some easy pleasant Book, suited to his Capacity, should be put into his Hands, wherein the Entertainment that he finds might draw him on, and reward his Pains in Reading, and yet not such as should fill his Head with perfectly useless Trumpery, or lay the Principles of Vice and Folly. To this Purpose, I think Æsop’s Fables the best, which being Stories apt to delight and entertain a Child, may yet afford useful Reflections to a grown Man; and if his Memory retain them all his Life after, he will not repent to find them there, amongst his manly Thoughts and serious Business. If his Æsop has Pictures in it, it will entertain him much the better, and encourage him to read, when it carries the Increase of Knowledge with it: For such visible Objects Children hear talked of in vain and without any Satisfaction whilst they have no Ideas of them; those Ideas being not to be had from Sounds, but from the Things themselves or their Pictures. And therefore I think as soon as he begins to spell, as many Pictures of Animals should be got him as can be found, with the printed Names to them, which at the same Time will invite him to read, and afford him Matter of Enquiry and Knowledge. Reynard the Fox is another Book I think may be made use of to the same Purpose. And if those about him will talk to him often about the Stories he has read, and hear him tell them, it will, besides other Advantages, add Encouragement and Delight to his Reading, when he finds there is some Use and Pleasure in it. These Baits seem wholly neglected in the ordinary Method; and ’tis usually long before Learners find any Use or Pleasure in reading, which may tempt them to it, and so take Books only for fashionable Amusements, or impertinent Troubles, good for nothing.

§ 157. The Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds, and Ten Commandments, ’tis necessary he should learn perfectly by heart; but, I think, not by reading them himself in his Primer, but by somebody’s repeating them to him, even before he can read. But learning by heart, and learning to read, should not I think be mix’d, and so one made to clog the other. But his learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.

What other Books there are in English of the Kind of those above-mentioned, fit to engage the Liking of Children, and tempt them to read, I do not know: But am apt to think, that Children being generally delivered over to the Method of Schools, where the Fear of the Rod is to inforce, and not any Pleasure of the Employment to invite them to learn, this Sort of useful Books, amongst the Number of silly ones that are of all Sorts, have yet had the Fate to be neglected; and nothing that I know has been considered of this Kind out of the ordinary Road of the Horn-book, Primer, Psalter, Testament, and Bible.

§ 158. As for the Bible, which Children are usually employ’d in to exercise and improve their Talent in reading, I think the promiscuous reading of it through by Chapters as they lie in Order, is so far from being of any Advantage to Children, either for the perfecting their Reading, or principling their Religion, that perhaps a worse could not be found. For what Pleasure or Encouragement can it be to a Child to exercise himself in reading those Parts of a Book where he understands nothing? And how little are the Law of Moses, the Song of Solomon, the Prophecies in the Old, and the Epistles and Apocalypse in the New Testament, suited to a Child’s Capacity? And though the History of the Evangelists and the Acts have something easier, yet, taken all together, it is very disproportional to the Understanding of Childhood. I grant that the Principles of Religion are to be drawn from thence, and in the Words of the Scripture; yet none should be propos’d to a Child, but such as are suited to a Child’s Capacity and Notions. But ’tis far from this to read through the whole Bible, and that for reading’s sake. And what an odd jumble of Thoughts must a Child have in his Head, if he have any at all, such as he should have concerning Religion, who in his tender Age reads all the Parts of the Bible indifferently as the Word of God without any other Distinction! I am apt to think, that this in some Men has been the very Reason why they never had clear and distinct Thoughts of it all their Lifetime.

§ 159. And now I am by chance fallen on this Subject, give me leave to say, that there are some Parts of the Scripture which may be proper to be put into the Hands of a Child to engage him to read; such as are the Story of Joseph and his Brethren, of David and Goliah, of David and Jonathan, &c. and others that he should be made to read for his Instruction, as that, What you would have others do unto you, do you the same unto them; and such other easy and plain moral Rules, which being fitly chosen, might often be made use of, both for Reading and Instruction together; and so often read till they are throughly fixed in the Memory; and then afterwards, as he grows ripe for them, may in their Turns on fit Occasions be inculcated as the standing and sacred Rules of his Life and Actions. But the Reading of the whole Scripture indifferently, is what I think very inconvenient for Children, till after having been made acquainted with the plainest fundamental Parts of it, they have got some kind of general View of what they ought principally to believe and practise; which yet, I think, they ought to receive in the very Words of the Scripture, and not in such as Men prepossess’d by Systems and Analogies are apt in this Case to make use of and force upon them. Dr. Worthington, to avoid this, has made a Catechism, which has all its Answers in the precise Words of the Scripture; a Thing of good Example, and such a sound Form of Words as no Christian can except against as not fit for his Child to learn. Of this, as soon as he can say the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, the ten Commandments, by Heart, it may be fit for him to learn a Question every Day, or every Week, as his Understanding is able to receive and his Memory to retain them. And when he has this Catechism perfectly by Heart, so as readily and roundly to answer to any Question in the whole Book, it may be convenient to lodge in his Mind the remaining moral Rules scatter’d up and down in the Bible, as the best Exercise of his Memory, and that which may be always a Rule to him, ready at Hand, in the whole Conduct of his Life.

§ 160. When he can read English well, it will be seasonable to enter him in Writing: And here the first Thing should be taught him is to hold his Pen right; and this he should be perfect in before he should be suffered to put it to Paper: For not only Children but any body else that would do any Thing well, should never be put upon too much of it at once, or be set to perfect themselves in two Parts of an Action at the same Time, if they can possibly be separated. I think the Italian Way of holding the Pen between the Thumb and the Fore-finger alone, may be best; but in this you may consult some good Writing-master, or any other Person who writes well and quick. When he has learn’d to hold his Pen right, in the next Place he should learn how to lay his Paper, and place his Arm and Body to it. These Practices being got over, the Way to teach him to write without much Trouble, is to get a Plate graved with the Characters of such a Hand as you like best: But you must remember to have them a pretty deal bigger than he should ordinarily write; for every one naturally comes by Degrees to write a less Hand than he at first was taught, but never a bigger. Such a Plate being graved, let several Sheets of good Writing-paper be printed off with red Ink, which he has nothing to do but go over with a good Pen fill’d with black Ink, which will quickly bring his Hand to the Formation of those Characters, being at first shewed where to begin, and how to form every Letter. And when he can do that well, he must then exercise on fair Paper; and so may easily be brought to write the Hand you desire.

§ 161. When he can write well and quick, I think it may be convenient not only to continue the Exercise of his Hand in Writing, but also to improve the Use of it farther in Drawing; a Thing very useful to a Gentleman in several Occasions; but especially if he travel, as that which helps a Man often to express, in a few Lines well put together, what a whole Sheet of Paper in Writing would not be able to represent and make intelligible. How many Buildings may a Man see, how many Machines and Habits meet with, the Ideas whereof would be easily retain’d and communicated by a little Skill in Drawing; which being committed to Words, are in danger to be lost, or at best but ill retained in the most exact Descriptions? I do not mean that I would have your Son a perfect Painter; to be that to any tolerable Degree, will require more Time than a young Gentleman can spare from his other Improvements of greater Moment. But so much Insight into Perspective and Skill in Drawing, as will enable him to represent tolerably on Paper any thing he sees, except Faces, may, I think, be got in a little Time, especially if he have a Genius to it; but where that is wanting, unless it be in the things absolutely necessary, it is better to let him pass them by quietly, than to vex him about them to no Purpose: And therefore in this, as in all other things not absolutely necessary, the Rule holds, Nil invita Minerva.

¶ 1. Short-hand, an Art, as I have been told, known only in England, may perhaps be thought worth the learning, both for Dispatch in what Men write for their own Memory, and Concealment of what they would not have lie open to every Eye. For he that has once learn’d any Sort of Character, may easily vary it to his own private Use or Fancy, and with more Contraction suit it to the Business he would employ it in. Mr. Rich’s, the best contriv’d of any I have seen, may, as I think, by one who knows and considers Grammar well, be made much easier and shorter. But for the learning this compendious Way of Writing, there will be no need hastily to look out a Master; it will be early enough when any convenient Opportunity offers itself at any Time, after his Hand is well settled in fair and quick Writing. For Boys have but little use of Short-hand, and should by no means practise it till they write perfectly well, and have throughly fixed the Habit of doing so.

§ 162. As soon as he can speak English, ’tis time for him to learn some other Language. This no body doubts of, when French is propos’d. And the Reason is, because People are accustomed to the right Way of teaching that Language, which is by talking it into Children in constant Conversation, and not by grammatical Rules. The Latin Tongue would easily be taught the same Way, if his Tutor, being constantly with him, would talk nothing else to him, and make him answer still in the same Language. But because French is a living Language, and to be used more in speaking, that should be first learned, that the yet pliant Organs of Speech might be accustomed to a due Formation of those Sounds, and he get the Habit of pronouncing French well, which is the harder to be done the longer it is delay’d.

§ 163. When he can speak and read French well, which in this Method is usually in a Year or two, he should proceed to Latin, which ’tis a wonder Parents, when they have had the Experiment in French, should not think ought to be learned the same way, by talking and reading. Only Care is to be taken whilst he is learning these foreign Languages, by speaking and reading nothing else with his Tutor, that he do not forget to read English, which may be preserved by his Mother or some body else hearing him read some chosen Parts of the Scripture or other English Book every Day.

§ 164. Latin I look upon as absolutely necessary to a Gentleman; and indeed Custom, which prevails over every thing, has made it so much a Part of Education, that even those Children are whipp’d to it, and made spend many Hours of their precious Time uneasily in Latin, who, after they are once gone from School, are never to have more to do with it as long as they live. Can there be any thing more ridiculous, than that a Father should waste his own Money and his Son’s Time in setting him to learn the Roman Language, when at the same Time he designs him for a Trade, wherein he having no use of Latin, fails not to forget that little which he brought from School, and which ’tis ten to one he abhors for the ill Usage it procured him? Could it be believed, unless we had every where amongst us Examples of it, that a Child should be forced to learn the Rudiments of a Language which he is never to use in the Course of Life that he is designed to, and neglect all the while the writing a good Hand and casting Accounts, which are of great Advantage in all Conditions of Life, and to most Trades indispensably necessary? But though these Qualifications, requisite to Trade and Commerce and the Business of the World, are seldom or never to be had at Grammar-Schools, yet thither not only Gentlemen send their younger Sons, intended for Trades, but even Tradesmen and Farmers fail not to send their Children, though they have neither Intention nor Ability to make them Scholars. If you ask them why they do this, they think it as strange a Question as if you should ask them, Why they go to Church. Custom serves for Reason, and has, to those who take it for Reason, so consecrated this Method, that it is almost religiously observed by them, and they stick to it, as if their Children had scarce an orthodox Education unless they learned Lilly’s Grammar.

§ 165. But how necessary soever Latin be to some, and is thought to be to others to whom it is of no manner of Use and Service; yet the ordinary Way of learning it in a Grammar-School is that which having had Thoughts about I cannot be forward to encourage. The Reasons against it are so evident and cogent, that they have prevailed with some intelligent Persons to quit the ordinary Road, not without Success, though the Method made use of was not exactly what I imagine the easiest, and in short is this. To trouble the Child with no Grammar at all, but to have Latin, as English has been, without the Perplexity of Rules, talked into him; for if you will consider it, Latin is no more unknown to a Child, when he comes into the World, than English: And yet he learns English without Master, Rule, or Grammar; and so might he Latin too, as Tully did, if he had some body always to talk to him in this Language. And when we so often see a French Woman teach an English Girl to speak and read French perfectly in a Year or two, without any Rule of Grammar, or any thing else but prattling to her, I cannot but wonder how Gentlemen have overseen this Way for their Sons, and thought them more dull or incapable than their Daughters.

§ 166. If therefore a Man could be got, who himself speaking good Latin, would always be about your Son, talk constantly to him, and suffer him to speak or read nothing else, this would be the true and genuine Way, and that which I would propose, not only as the easiest and best, wherein a Child might, without Pains or Chiding, get a Language, which others are wont to be whipt for at School six or seven Years together: But also as that, wherein at the same Time he might have his Mind and Manners formed, and he be instructed to boot in several Sciences, such as are a good Part of Geography, Astronomy, Chronology, Anatomy, besides some Parts of History, and all other Parts of Knowledge of Things that fall under the Senses and require little more than Memory. For there, if we would take the true Way, our Knowledge should begin, and in those Things be laid the Foundation; and not in the abstract Notions of Logick and Metaphysicks, which are fitter to amuse than inform the Understanding in its first setting out towards Knowledge. When young Men have had their Heads employ’d a while in those abstract Speculations without finding the Success and Improvement, or that Use of them, which they expected, they are apt to have mean Thoughts either of Learning or themselves; they are tempted to quit their Studies, and throw away their Books as containing nothing but hard Words and empty Sounds; or else, to conclude, that if there be any real Knowledge in them, they themselves have not Understandings capable of it. That this is so, perhaps I could assure you upon my own Experience. Amongst other Things to be learned by a young Gentleman in this Method, whilst others of his Age are wholly taken up with Latin and Languages, I may also set down Geometry for one; having known a young Gentleman, bred something after this Way, able to demonstrate several Propositions in Euclid before he was thirteen.

§ 167. But if such a Man cannot be got, who speaks good Latin, and being able to instruct your Son in all these Parts of Knowledge, will undertake it by this Method; the next best is to have him taught as near this Way as may be, which is by taking some easy and pleasant Book, such as Æsop’s Fables, and writing the English Translation (made as literal as it can be) in one Line, and the Latin Words which answer each of them, just over it in another. These let him read every Day over and over again, till he perfectly understands the Latin; and then go on to another Fable, till he be also perfect in that, not omitting what he is already perfect in, but sometimes reviewing that, to keep it in his Memory. And when he comes to write, let these be set him for Copies, which with the Exercise of his Hand will also advance him to Latin. This being a more imperfect Way than by talking Latin unto him; the Formation of the Verbs first, and afterwards the Declensions of the Nouns and Pronouns perfectly learned by Heart, may facilitate his Acquaintance with the Genius and Manner of the Latin Tongue, which varies the Signification of Verbs and Nouns, not as the Modern Languages do by Particles prefix’d, but by changing the last Syllables. More than this of Grammar, I think he need not have, till he can read himself Sanctii Minerva, with Scioppius and Perizonius’s Notes.

In teaching of Children, this too, I think, is to be observed, that in most Cases where they stick, they are not to be farther puzzled by putting them upon finding it out themselves; as by asking such Questions as these, (viz.) Which is the Nominative Case, in the Sentence they are to construe; or demanding what aufero signifies, to lead them to the Knowledge what abstulere signifies, &c. when they cannot readily tell. This wastes Time only in disturbing them; for whilst they are learning, and apply themselves with Attention, they are to be kept in good Humour, and every Thing made easy to them, and as pleasant as possible. Therefore whereever they are at a Stand, and are willing to go forwards, help them presently over the Difficulty, without any Rebuke or Chiding, remembring, that where harsher Ways are taken, they are the Effect only of Pride and Peevishness in the Teacher, who expects Children should instantly be Masters of as much as he knows; whereas he should rather consider, that his Business is to settle in them Habits, not angrily to inculcate Rules, which serve for little in the Conduct of our Lives; at least are of no use to Children, who forget them as soon as given. In Sciences where their Reason is to be exercised, I will not deny but this Method may sometimes be varied, and Difficulties proposed on purpose to excite Industry, and accustom the Mind to employ its own Strength and Sagacity in Reasoning. But yet, I guess, this is not to be done to Children, whilst very young, nor at their Entrance upon any Sort of Knowledge: Then every Thing of itself is difficult, and the great Use and Skill of a Teacher is to make all as easy as he can: But particularly in learning of Languages there is least Occasion for posing of Children. For Languages being to be learned by Rote, Custom and Memory, are then spoken in greatest Perfection, when all Rules of Grammar are utterly forgotten. I grant the Grammar of a Language is sometimes very carefully to be studied, but it is not to be studied but by a grown Man, when he applies himself to the understanding of any Language critically, which is seldom the Business of any but professed Scholars. This I think will be agreed to, that if a Gentleman be to study any Language, it ought to be that of his own Country, that he may understand the Language which he has constant Use of, with the utmost Accuracy.

There is yet a further Reason, why Masters and Teachers should raise no Difficulties to their Scholars; but on the contrary should smooth their Way, and readily help them forwards, where they find them stop. Children’s Minds are narrow and weak, and usually susceptible but of one Thought at once. Whatever is in a Child’s Head, fills it for the time, especially if set on with any Passion. It should therefore be the Skill and Art of the Teacher to clear their Heads of all other Thoughts whilst they are learning of any Thing, the better to make room for what he would instill into them, that it may be received with Attention and Application, without which it leaves no Impression. The natural Temper of Children disposes their Minds to wander. Novelty alone takes them; whatever that presents, they are presently eager to have a Taste of, and are as soon satiated with it. They quickly grow weary of the same thing, and so have almost their whole Delight in Change and Variety. It is a Contradiction to the natural State of Childhood for them to fix their fleeting Thoughts. Whether this be owing to the Temper of their Brains, or the Quickness or Instability of their animal Spirits, over which the Mind has not yet got a full Command; this is visible, that it is a Pain to Children to keep their Thoughts steady to any thing. A lasting continued Attention is one of the hardest Tasks can be imposed on them; and therefore, he that requires their Application, should endeavour to make what he proposes as grateful and agreeable as possible; at least he ought to take care not to join any displeasing or frightful Idea with it. If they come not to their Books with some Kind of Liking and Relish, ’tis no wonder their Thoughts should be perpetually shifting from what disgusts them; and seek better Entertainment in more pleasing Objects, after which they will unavoidably be gadding. ’Tis, I know, the usual Method of Tutors, to endeavour to procure Attention in their Scholars, and to fix their Minds to the Business in Hand, by Rebukes and Corrections, if they find them ever so little wandering. But such Treatment is sure to produce the quite contrary Effect. Passionate Words or Blows from the Tutor fill the Child’s Mind with Terror and Affrightment, which immediately takes it wholly up, and leaves no Room for other Impressions. I believe there is no body that reads this, but may recollect what Disorder hasty or imperious Words from his Parents or Teachers have caused in his Thoughts; how for the Time it has turned his Brains, so that he scarce knew what was said by or to him. He presently lost the Sight of what he was upon, his Mind was filled with Disorder and Confusion, and in that State was no longer capable of Attention to any thing else. ’Tis true, Parents and Governors ought to settle and establish their Authority by an Awe over the Minds of those under their Tuition; and to rule them by that: But when they have got an Ascendant over them, they should use it with great Moderation, and not make themselves such Scare-crows that their Scholars should always tremble in their Sight. Such an Austerity may make their Government easy to themselves, but of very little use to their Pupils. ’Tis impossible Children should learn any thing whilst their Thoughts are possessed and disturbed with any Passion, especially Fear, which makes the strongest Impression on their yet tender and weak Spirits. Keep the Mind in an easy calm Temper, when you would have it receive your Instructions or any Increase of Knowledge. ’Tis as impossible to draw fair and regular Characters on a trembling Mind as on a shaking Paper.

The great Skill of a Teacher is to get and keep the Attention of his Scholar; whilst he has that, he is sure to advance as fast as the Learner’s Abilities will carry him; and without that, all his Bustle and Pother will be to little or no Purpose. To attain this, he should make the Child comprehend (as much as may be) the Usefulness of what he teaches him, and let him see, by what he has learnt, that he can do something which he could not do before; something, which gives him some Power and real Advantage above others who are ignorant of it. To this he should add Sweetness in all his Instructions, and by a certain Tenderness in his whole Carriage, make the Child sensible that he loves him and designs nothing but his Good, the only way to beget Love in the Child, which will make him hearken to his Lessons, and relish what he teaches him.

Nothing but Obstinacy should meet with any Imperiousness or rough Usage. All other Faults should be corrected with a gentle Hand; and kind engaging Words will work better and more effectually upon a willing Mind, and even prevent a good deal of that Perverseness which rough and imperious Usage often produces in well disposed and generous Minds. ’Tis true, Obstinacy and wilful Neglects must be mastered, even though it cost Blows to do it: But I am apt to think Perverseness in the Pupils is often the Effect of Frowardness in the Tutor; and that most Children would seldom have deserved Blows, if needless and misapplied Roughness had not taught them Ill-nature, and given them an Aversion for their Teacher and all that comes from him.

Inadvertency, Forgetfulness, Unsteadiness, and Wandring of Thought, are the natural Faults of Childhood; and therefore, where they are not observed to be wilful, are to be mention’d softly, and gain’d upon by Time. If every Slip of this kind produces Anger and Rating, the Occasions of Rebuke and Corrections will return so often, that the Tutor will be a constant Terror and Uneasiness to his Pupils. Which one thing is enough to hinder their profiting by his Lessons, and to defeat all his Methods of Instruction.

Let the Awe he has got upon their Minds be so tempered with the constant Marks of Tenderness and Good-will, that Affection may spur them to their Duty, and make them find a Pleasure in complying with his Dictates. This will bring them with Satisfaction to their Tutor; make them hearken to him, as to one who is their Friend, that cherishes them, and takes Pains for their Good: This will keep their Thoughts easy and free whilst they are with him, the only Temper wherein the Mind is capable of receiving new Informations, and of admitting into it self those Impressions, which, if not taken and retained, all that they and their Teachers do together is lost Labour; there is much Uneasiness and little Learning.

§ 168. When by this Way of interlining Latin and English one with another, he has got a moderate Knowledge of the Latin Tongue, he may then be advanced a little farther to the reading of some other easy Latin-Book, such as Justin or Eutropius; and to make the Reading and Understanding of it the less tedious and difficult to him, let him help himself if he please with the English Translation. Nor let the Objection that he will then know it only by rote, fright any one. This, when well consider’d, is not of any Moment against, but plainly for this Way of learning a Language. For Languages are only to be learned by rote; and a Man who does not speak English or Latin perfectly by rote, so that having thought of the thing he would speak of, his Tongue of Course, without Thought of Rule or Grammar, falls into the proper Expression and Idiom of that Language, does not speak it well, nor is Master of it. And I would fain have any one name to me that Tongue, that any one can learn, or speak as he should do, by the Rules of Grammar. Languages were made not by Rules or Art, but by Accident, and the common Use of the People. And he that will speak them well, has no other Rule but that; nor any thing to trust to, but his Memory, and the Habit of speaking after the Fashion learned from those, that are allowed to speak properly, which in other Words is only to speak by rote.

It will possibly be asked here, is Grammar then of no Use? and have those who have taken so much Pains in reducing several Languages to Rules and Observations; who have writ so much about Declensions and Conjugations, about Concords and Syntaxis, lost their Labour, and been learned to no purpose? I say not so; Grammar has its Place too. But this I think I may say, There is more stir a great deal made with it than there needs, and those are tormented about it, to whom it does not at all belong; I mean Children, at the Age wherein they are usually perplexed with it in Grammar-Schools.

There is nothing more evident, than that Languages learnt by rote serve well enough for the common Affairs of Life and ordinary Commerce. Nay, Persons of Quality of the softer Sex, and such of them as have spent their Time in well-bred Company, shew us, that this plain natural Way, without the least Study or Knowledge of Grammar, can carry them to a great Degree of Elegancy and Politeness in their Language: And there are Ladies who, without knowing what Tenses and Participles, Adverbs and Prepositions are, speak as properly and as correctly (they might take it for an ill Compliment if I said as any Country School-Master) as most Gentlemen who have been bred up in the ordinary Methods of Grammar-Schools. Grammar therefore we see may be spared in some Cases. The Question then will be, To whom should it be taught, and when? To this I answer;

1. Men learn Languages for the ordinary Intercourse of Society and Communication of Thoughts in common Life, without any farther Design in the Use of them. And for this Purpose, the original Way of learning a Language by Conversation not only serves well enough, but is to be preferred as the most expedite, proper and natural. Therefore, to this Use of Language one may answer, That Grammar is not necessary. This so many of my Readers must be forced to allow, as understand what I here say, and who conversing with others, understand them without having ever been taught the Grammar of the English Tongue. Which I suppose is the Case of incomparably the greatest Part of English Men, of whom I have never yet known any one who learned his Mother-Tongue by Rules.

2. Others there are, the greatest part of whose Business in this World is to be done with their Tongues and with their Pens; and to these it is convenient, if not necessary, that they should speak properly and correctly, whereby they may let their Thoughts into other Men’s Minds the more easily, and with the greater Impression. Upon this account it is, that any sort of Speaking, so as will make him be understood, is not thought enough for a Gentleman. He ought to study Grammar amongst the other Helps of speaking well, but it must be the Grammar of his own Tongue, of the Language he uses, that he may understand his own Country Speech nicely, and speak it properly, without shocking the Ears of those it is addressed to, with Solecisms and offensive Irregularities. And to this Purpose Grammar is necessary; but it is the Grammar only of their own proper Tongues, and to those only who would take Pains in cultivating their Language, and in perfecting their Stiles. Whether all Gentlemen should not do this, I leave to be considered, since the want of Propriety and grammatical Exactness is thought very misbecoming one of that Rank, and usually draws on one guilty of such Faults the Censure of having had a lower Breeding and worse Company than suits with his Quality. If this be so, (as I suppose it is) it will be Matter of Wonder why young Gentlemen are forced to learn the Grammars of foreign and dead Languages, and are never once told of the Grammar of their own Tongues: They do not so much as know there is any such thing, much less is it made their Business to be instructed in it. Nor is their own Language ever proposed to them as worthy their Care and cultivating, though they have daily Use of it, and are not seldom, in the future Course of their Lives, judg’d of by their handsome or awkward way of expressing themselves in it. Whereas the Languages whose Grammars they have been so much employed in, are such as probably they shall scarce ever speak or write; or if, upon Occasion, this should happen, they should be excused for the Mistakes and Faults they make in it. Would not a Chinese who took notice of this way of Breeding, be apt to imagine that all our young Gentlemen were designed to be Teachers and Professors of the dead Languages of foreign Countries, and not to be Men of Business in their own?

3. There is a third Sort of Men, who apply themselves to two or three foreign, dead, and (which amongst us are called the) learned Languages, make them their Study, and pique themselves upon their Skill in them. No doubt, those who propose to themselves the learning of any Language with this View, and would be critically exact in it, ought carefully to study the Grammar of it. I would not be mistaken here, as if this were to undervalue Greek and Latin. I grant these are Languages of great Use and Excellency, and a Man can have no place among the Learned in this Part of the World, who is a Stranger to them. But the Knowledge a Gentleman would ordinarily draw for his Use out of the Roman and Greek Writers, I think he may attain without studying the Grammars of those Tongues, and by bare reading, may come to understand them sufficiently for all his Purposes. How much farther he shall at any time be concerned to look into the Grammar and critical Niceties of either of these Tongues, he himself will be able to determine when he comes to propose to himself the Study of any thing that shall require it. Which brings me to the other Part of the Enquiry, viz.

To which, upon the premised Grounds, the Answer is obvious, viz.

That if Grammar ought to be taught at any time, it must be to one that can speak the Language already; how else can he be taught the Grammar of it? This at least is evident from the Practice of the wise and learned Nations amongst the Antients. They made it a Part of Education to cultivate their own, not foreign Tongues. The Greeks counted all other Nations barbarous, and had a Contempt for their Languages. And tho’ the Greek Learning grew in Credit amongst the Romans, towards the End of their Commonwealth, yet it was the Roman Tongue that was made the Study of their Youth: Their own Language they were to make use of, and therefore it was their own Language they were instructed and exercised in.

But, more particularly to determine the proper Season for Grammar, I do not see how it can reasonably be made any one’s Study, but as an Introduction to Rhetorick; when it is thought Time to put any one upon the Care of polishing his Tongue, and of speaking better than the Illiterate, then is the Time for him to be instructed in the Rules of Grammar, and not before. For Grammar being to teach Men not to speak, but to speak correctly and according to the exact Rules of the Tongue, which is one Part of Elegancy, there is little Use of the one to him that has no Need of the other; where Rhetorick is not necessary, Grammar may be spared. I know not why any one should waste his Time, and beat his Head about the Latin Grammar, who does not intend to be a Critick, or make Speeches and write Dispatches in it. When any one finds in himself a Necessity or Disposition to study any foreign Language to the bottom, and to be nicely exact in the Knowledge of it, it will be time enough to take a grammatical Survey of it. If his use of it be only to understand some Books writ in it, without a critical Knowledge of the Tongue itself, reading alone, as I have said, will attain this End, without charging the Mind with the multiplied Rules and Intricacies of Grammar.

§ 169. For the Exercise of his Writing, let him sometimes translate Latin into English: But the learning of Latin being nothing but the learning of Words, a very unpleasant Business both to young and old, join as much other real Knowledge with it as you can, beginning still with that which lies most obvious to the Senses; such as is the Knowledge of Minerals, Plants and Animals, and particularly Timber and Fruit-Trees, their Parts, and Ways of Propagation, wherein a great deal may be taught a Child which will not be useless to the Man: But more especially Geography, Astronomy, and Anatomy. But whatever you are teaching him, have a care still that you do not clog him with too much at once; or make any thing his Business but downright Virtue, or reprove him for any thing but Vice, or some apparent Tendency to it.

§ 170. But if after all his Fate be to go to School to get the Latin Tongue, ’twill be in vain to talk to you concerning the Method I think best to be observ’d in Schools; you must submit to that you find there, not expect to have it changed for your Son; but yet by all Means obtain, if you can, that he be not employed in making Latin Themes and Declamations, and least of all, Verses of any Kind. You may insist on it, if it will do any good, that you have no Design to make him either a Latin Orator or Poet, but barely would have him understand perfectly a Latin Author; and that you observe, those who teach any of the modern Languages, and that with Success, never amuse their Scholars to make Speeches or Verses either in French or Italian, their Business being Language barely, and not Invention.

§ 171. But to tell you a little more fully why I would not have him exercised in making of Themes and Verses. 1. As to Themes, they have, I confess, the Pretence of something useful, which is to teach People to speak handsomly and well on any Subject; which, if it could be attained this way, I own would be a great Advantage, there being nothing more becoming a Gentleman, nor more useful in all the Occurrences of Life, than to be able, on any Occasion, to speak well and to the Purpose. But this I say, that the making of Themes, as is usual at Schools, helps not one Jot towards it: For do but consider what it is, in making a Theme, that a young Lad is employed about; it is to make a Speech on some Latin Saying; as Omnia vincit amor; or Non licet in Bello bis peccare, &c. And here the poor Lad, who wants Knowledge of those Things he is to speak of, which is to be had only from Time and Observation, must set his Invention on the Rack, to say something where he knows nothing; which is a sort of Egyptian Tyranny, to bid them make Bricks who have not yet any of the Materials. And therefore it is usual in such Cases for the poor Children to go to those of higher Forms with this Petition, Pray give me a little Sense; which, whether it be more reasonable or more ridiculous, is not easy to determine. Before a Man can be in any Capacity to speak on any Subject, ’tis necessary he be acquainted with it; or else it is as foolish to set him to discourse of it, as to set a blind Man to talk of Colours, or a deaf Man of Musick. And would you not think him a little crack’d, who would require another to make an Argument on a moot Point, who understands nothing of our Laws? And what, I pray, do School-Boys understand concerning those Matters which are used to be proposed to them in their Themes as Subjects to discourse on, to whet and exercise their Fancies?

§ 172. In the next Place, consider the Language that their Themes are made in: ’Tis Latin, a Language foreign in their Country, and long since dead every where: A Language which your Son, ’tis a thousand to one, shall never have an Occasion once to make a Speech in as long as he lives after he comes to be a Man; and a Language wherein the Manner of expressing one’s self is so far different from ours, that to be perfect in that would very little improve the Purity and Facility of his English Stile. Besides that, there is now so little Room or Use for set Speeches in our own Language in any Part of our English Business, that I can see no Pretence for this Sort of Exercise in our Schools, unless it can be supposed, that the making of set Latin Speeches should be the Way to teach Men to speak well in English extempore. The Way to that, I should think rather to be this: That there should be propos’d to young Gentlemen rational and useful Questions, suited to their Age and Capacities, and on Subjects not wholly unknown to them nor out of their Way: Such as these, when they are ripe for Exercises of this Nature, they should extempore, or after a little Meditation upon the Spot, speak to, without penning of any thing: For I ask, if we will examine the Effects of this Way of learning to speak well, who speak best in any Business, when Occasion calls them to it upon any Debate, either those who have accustomed themselves to compose and write down beforehand what they would say; or those, who thinking only of the Matter, to understand that as well as they can, use themselves only to speak extempore? And he that shall judge by this, will be little apt to think, that the accustoming him to studied Speeches and set Compositions, is the Way to fit a young Gentleman for Business.

§ 173. But perhaps we shall be told, ’tis to improve and perfect them in the Latin Tongue. ’Tis true, that is their proper Business at School; but the making of Themes is not the Way to it: That perplexes their Brains about Invention of things to be said, not about the Signification of Words to be learn’d; and when they are making a Theme, ’tis Thoughts they search and sweat for, and not Language. But the Learning and Mastery of a Tongue being uneasy and unpleasant enough in itself, should not be cumbred with any other Difficulties, as is done in this way of proceeding. In fine, if Boys’ Invention be to be quicken’d by such Exercise, let them make Themes in English, where they have Facility and a Command of Words, and will better see what kind of Thoughts they have, when put into their own Language. And if the Latin Tongue be to be learned, let it be done the easiest Way, without toiling and disgusting the Mind by so uneasy an Employment as that of making Speeches joined to it.

§ 174. If these may be any Reasons against Children’s making Latin Themes at School, I have much more to say, and of more Weight, against their making Verses; Verses of any Sort: For if he has no Genius to Poetry, ’tis the most unreasonable thing in the World to torment a Child and waste his Time about that which can never succeed; and if he have a poetick Vein, ’tis to me the strangest thing in the World that the Father should desire or suffer it to be cherished or improved. Methinks the Parents should labour to have it stifled and suppressed as much as may be; and I know not what Reason a Father can have to wish his Son a Poet, who does not desire to have him bid Defiance to all other Callings and Business; which is not yet the worst of the Case; for if he proves a successful Rhymer, and gets once the Reputation of a Wit, I desire it may be considered what Company and Places he is like to spend his Time in, nay, and Estate too: For it is very seldom seen, that any one discovers Mines of Gold or Silver in Parnassus. ’Tis a pleasant Air, but a barren Soil; and there are very few Instances of those who have added to their Patrimony by any thing they have reaped from thence. Poetry and Gaming, which usually go together, are alike in this too, that they seldom bring any Advantage but to those who have nothing else to live on. Men of Estates almost constantly go away Losers; and ’tis well if they escape at a cheaper rate than their whole Estates, or the greatest Part of them. If therefore you would not have your Son the Fiddle to every jovial Company, without whom the Sparks could not relish their Wine nor know how to pass an Afternoon idly; if you would not have him to waste his Time and Estate to divert others, and contemn the dirty Acres left him by his Ancestors, I do not think you will much care he should be a Poet, or that his School-master should enter him in versifying. But yet, if any one will think Poetry a desirable Quality in his Son, and that the Study of it would raise his Fancy and Parts, he must needs yet confess, that to that End reading the excellent Greek and Roman Poets is of more Use than making bad Verses of his own, in a Language that is not his own. And he whose Design it is to excel in English Poetry, would not, I guess, think the Way to it were to make his first Essays in Latin Verses.

§ 175. Another thing very ordinary in the vulgar Method of Grammar-Schools there is, of which I see no Use at all, unless it be to baulk young Lads in the Way to learning Languages, which, in my Opinion, should be made as easy and pleasant as may be; and that which was painful in it, as much as possible quite removed. That which I mean, and here complain of, is, their being forced to learn by heart, great Parcels of the Authors which are taught them; wherein I can discover no Advantage at all, especially to the Business they are upon. Languages are to be learned only by Reading and Talking, and not by Scraps of Authors got by heart; which when a Man’s Head is stuffed with, he has got the just Furniture of a Pedant, and ’tis the ready Way to make him one; than which there is nothing less becoming a Gentleman. For what can be more ridiculous, than to mix the rich and handsome Thoughts and Sayings of others with a deal of poor Stuff of his own; which is thereby the more exposed, and has no other Grace in it, nor will otherwise recommend the Speaker, than a thread-bare Russet Coat would, that was set off with large Patches of Scarlet and glittering Brocade. Indeed, where a Passage comes in the way, whose Matter is worth Remembrance, and the Expression of it very close and excellent, (as there are many such in the antient Authors) it may not be amiss to lodge it in the Mind of young Scholars, and with such admirable Strokes of those great Masters sometimes exercise the Memories of School-Boys. But their learning of their Lessons by Heart, as they happen to fall out in their Books, without Choice or Distinction, I know not what it serves for, but to mispend their Time and Pains, and give them a Disgust and Aversion to their Books, wherein they find nothing but useless Trouble.

§ 176. I hear it is said, That Children should be employ’d in getting things by heart, to exercise and improve their Memories. I could wish this were said with as much Authority of Reason, as it is with Forwardness of Assurance, and that this Practice were established upon good Observation more than old Custom: For it is evident, that Strength of Memory is owing to an happy Constitution, and not to any habitual Improvement got by Exercise. ’Tis true, what the Mind is intent upon, and, for fear of letting it slip, often imprints afresh on itself by frequent Reflection, that it is apt to retain, but still according to its own natural Strength of Retention. An Impression made on Bees-wax or Lead, will not last so long as on Brass or Steel. Indeed, if it be renew’d often, it may last the longer; but every new reflecting on it is a new Impression; and ’tis from thence one is to reckon, if one would know how long the Mind retains it. But the learning Pages of Latin by Heart, no more fits the Memory for Retention of any thing else, than the graving of one Sentence in Lead makes it the more capable of retaining firmly any other Characters. If such a sort of Exercise of the Memory were able to give it Strength, and improve our Parts, Players of all other People must needs have the best Memories and be the best Company. But whether the Scraps they have got into their Heads this way, make them remember other things the better; and whether their Parts be improved proportionably to the Pains they have taken in getting by heart others’ Sayings, Experience will shew. Memory is so necessary to all Parts and Conditions of Life, and so little is to be done without it, that we are not to fear it should grow dull and useless for want of Exercise, if Exercise would make it grow stronger. But I fear this Faculty of the Mind is not capable of much Help and Amendment in general by any Exercise or Endeavour of ours, at least not by that used upon this Pretence in Grammar-Schools. And if Xerxes was able to call every common Soldier by Name in his Army that consisted of no less than an hundred thousand Men, I think it may be guessed, he got not this wonderful Ability by learning his Lessons by heart when he was a Boy. This Method of exercising and improving the Memory by toilsome Repetitions without Book of what they read, is, I think, little used in the Education of Princes, which if it had that Advantage is talked of, should be as little neglected in them as in the meanest School-Boys: Princes having as much need of good Memories as any Men living, and have generally an equal Share in this Faculty with other Men; though it has never been taken care of this Way. What the Mind is intent upon and careful of, that it remembers best, and for the Reason above-mentioned: To which, if Method and Order be joined, all is done, I think, that can be, for the Help of a weak Memory; and he that will take any other Way to do it, especially that of charging it with a Train of other Peoples’ Words, which he that learns cares not for, will, I guess, scarce find the Profit answer half the Time and Pains employ’d in it.

I do not mean hereby, that there should be no Exercise given to Children’s Memories. I think their Memories should be employ’d, but not in learning by rote whole Pages out of Books, which, the Lesson being once said, and that Task over, are delivered up again to Oblivion and neglected for ever. This mends neither the Memory nor the Mind. What they should learn by heart out of Authors, I have above mentioned: And such wise and useful Sentences being once given in charge to their Memories, they should never be suffer’d to forget again, but be often called to account for them; whereby, besides the Use those Sayings may be to them in their future Life, as so many good Rules and Observations, they will be taught to reflect often, and bethink themselves what they have to remember, which is the only way to make the Memory quick and useful. The Custom of frequent Reflection will keep their Minds from running adrift, and call their Thoughts home from useless unattentive Roving: And therefore I think it may do well, to give them something every Day to remember, but something still, that is in itself worth the remembring, and what you would never have out of Mind, whenever you call, or they themselves search for it. This will oblige them often to turn their Thoughts inwards, than which you cannot wish them a better intellectual habit.

§ 177. But under whose Care soever a Child is put to be taught during the tender and flexible Years of his Life, this is certain, it should be one who thinks Latin and Language the least Part of Education; one who knowing how much Virtue and a well-temper’d Soul is to be preferred to any sort of Learning or Language, makes it his chief Business to form the Mind of his Scholars, and give that a right Disposition; which if once got, though all the rest should be neglected, would in due Time produce all the rest; and which, if it be not got and settled so as to keep out ill and vicious Habits, Languages and Sciences and all the other Accomplishments of Education, will be to no Purpose but to make the worse or more dangerous Man. And indeed whatever Stir there is made about getting of Latin as the great and difficult Business, his Mother may teach it him herself, if she will but spend two or three Hours in a Day with him, and make him read the Evangelists in Latin to her: For she need but buy a Latin Testament, and having got some body to mark the last Syllable but one where it is long in Words above two Syllables, (which is enough to regulate her Pronunciation, and Accenting the Words) read daily in the Gospels, and then let her avoid understanding them in Latin if she can. And when she understands the Evangelists in Latin, let her, in the same Manner read Æsop’s Fables, and so proceed on to Eutropius, Justin, and other such Books. I do not mention this, as an Imagination of what I fancy may do, but as of a thing I have known done, and the Latin Tongue with Ease got this way.

But, to return to what I was saying: He that takes on him the Charge of bringing up young Men, especially young Gentlemen, should have something more in him than Latin, more than even a Knowledge in the Liberal Sciences: He should be a Person of eminent Virtue and Prudence, and with good Sense, have good Humour, and the Skill to carry himself with Gravity, Ease and Kindness, in a constant Conversation with his Pupils. But of this I have spoken at large in another Place.