CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032003984 ..„_ ^Corneri University Ubrary arW38226 German educational reformers: ,. 3 1924 032 003 984 olin,anx PAPERS iroik THE TEACHER ^txmia €ktati(ntal *|ltfarmm. MEMOIRS OP EMINENT TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS GERMANY; CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION FROM THE FOURTEENTH TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. |.^<;s^*^ : REFtniLISHED FROM THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. Edited bt HENRY BARNARD, LL.D. FOR SALE BT J. B. LIPPINCOTT & €0., Philadelphia. F. C. BROWNELL, New York. TICKNOR & FIELD, Boston. Knteked, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, BY HENRY BARNAED, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. ^ Mxkud^ PREFACE. The following pages, — devoted to the biographies, and pedagogical labors of eminent teachers and educators in Germany, with historical summaries of the progress of educational development in EuropOj from the fourteenth to the nine- teenth century — embrace the entire contents of the first two volumes of Prof. Karl Von Raumer's "Eislory of Pedagogy, ^^ except the chapters devoted to Pesta- lozzi. For these chapters we have substituted an able, but briefer article by Dr. Diestef weg, on the Life and Influence of the great Swiss educator on the popular schools of Germany, and we may add, of the world. The elaborate and valuable memoir of Pestalozzi — the great central figure in the history of modem popular education, is omitted here, because that memoir, with other matter cognate and illustrative of Pestalozzi, and his educational labors, has been issued by the present editor, in a separate publication, entitled "Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism, or the Life, Educational Principles, and Methods of John Henry Pestalozzi, with Biographical Sketches of several of his Assist- ants and Disciples." Of this volume Prof Raumer writes from Erlangen in April, 1860: "In your Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism, you have collected with the greatest diligence all that relates to Pestalozzi and his school. I can hardly understand how you could have made such collection in America, or out of it either, even by the aid of well informed correspondents. I know how great is the difficulty of collecting authorities, by my own experience during the com- position of my History of Pedagogy, where I had to obtain them with much pains from German libraries and even from France."' We have retained the chapters on Bacon, Locke, Montaigne, and Rousseau, although the former belong to English, and the latter to French Pedagogy, be- cause the pedagogical views of these writers have greatly influenced the direc- tion and methods of German education, and because the German author claims that his work exhibits the progress of educational development in Europe generally. In a few instances the biographies have been abridged to suit the convenience of the American editor in their original appearance in the "American Journal of EducaiioTi," for which they were specially translated, without any thought of their separate publication as a reproduction of the German work in an English dress. The translations from page 9 to 330, were made by Mr. Lucius W. Fitch, of of New Haven, and those which follow by Frederick B. Perkiks, of Hartford. HENRY BARNARD, Editor of American Journal of Education. Hartford, Cokn., June, 1863. KARL VON RAUMER, Karl vow Raumeb, whose "History of Pedagogy from the Re- vival of Classical Learning to our own Times," is a valuable contri- bution to tiie Science and Art of Education, as well as a most re- liable and comprehensive record of the' progress of pedagogical de- velopnlent in Europe, as afifected by the practice, or publications of eminent teachers and educators, particularly in Germany, was born in Worlitz, in the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, on the 9th of April, 1783. Until his fourteenth year, he was under private tuition at home, when he was placed in the Joachimsthall Gymnasium at Ber- lin, to which institution his elder brother* had already been sent. From this Gymnasium where he had the instruction of Meierotto, he went in 1801, to the university at Gottingen, to study law and read with Buttman ; to Halle in 1803, to attend the lectures of Wolf and Steffens; in 1805 to the Mining Academy to devote himself to mineralogy under Werner; and in 1808, after a geological explora- tion of the mountain chains of Germany and France, to Paris to continue his geological studies^ While at Paris, he changed some- what, his plans of life, which he thus describes in one of his pub- lished lectures on education. , "At Paris my views and intentions in regard to the future occupation of my life underwent a great change, which was brought about by two different causes. For one thing, I had learnt by my own experience how little a single individual is able to accomplish for the science of mineralogy, even if he goes to work with the best will and the most toilsome industry; that it required, much more, the united, inteUigent and persevering labors of many, in order to pass from a mere belief in the laws of mineralogy to an actual perception of their operation in mpuntain chains. I thus became convinced that we ought not to work for science as individuals, but that we should, after passing through our own apprenticeship, instruct others and train them for the pursuit of science. How much more useful is it, thought I, to produce one new workman than one • Fredgrich von Kaumer, author of History of Hohenstaufen, Privy Counselor, and Professor at Berlin, was born in 1781. Rudolph von Rauiubk, author of the " Essay on Instruction in German," in the fourth edition of the History of Pedagogy, and Professor of the Oerman Language and Literature iu Erlangen, is a son of Karl, and was born in 1S15. The late Minister of Public Instruction in Prussia, was a cousin of Prof. Karl von Raumer. 10 RADMEK'S HISTORY OP PEDAGOGK S. single new work, seeing that the former can execute many works, and even train other workmen. This conviction caused me to turn my attention to the question of education. But a second cause operated in a still higher degree to produce the same result. The sad time that had passed since 1806 had affected me with horror and dismay; it had made me wish to shun the society of my fellow-men, and had quite disposed me to give myself up to the most solitaij re- searches among the mountains. This disposition was strengthened at Pans, m the midst of the haughty despisers of our German fatherland. But it was here, too, where hope first dawned within me, where a solitary light beamed toward me through the darkness of night I read Pestalozzi, and what Fichte says, in his 'Addresses to the German Nation,' about Pestalozzi and education. The thought, that a new and better Germany must rise from the ruins of the old one, that youthful blossoms must spring from the mouldering soil, took strong hold of me. In this manner, there awoke within me a determination to visit Pesta- lozzi at Yverdun. Kchte's Addresses had great influence on me. Surrounded by Frenchmen, the brave man pointed out to his Berlin hearers in what way they might cast off the French yoke, and renew and strengthen their nationality. He promised deliverance especially through a national education of the Germans, which he indicated as the commencement of an entire reformation of the human race, by which the spirit should gain a complete ascendency over ..he flesh. To the question, to which of the existing institutions of the actual world he would annex the duty of carrying out the new education, Fichte an- swered, ' To the course of instruction which has been invented and tirought forward Ijy Henry Pestalozzi, and which is now being successfully carried out under his direction.' He then gives an account of Pestalozzi, and compares him with Luther, es- pecially in regard to his love for the poor and destitute.' His immediate object, says Fichte, was to help these by means of education, but he had produced something higher than a scheme of popular education, — ^he had produced a plan Df national education which should embrace all classes of socieity. Further on he expresses himself in his peculiar manner on the subject of Pestalozzfs method, which he criticises. He takes exception to Pestalozzi's view of language, namely, ' as a means of raismg mankind from dim perceptions to clear ideas,' and to the Book for Mothers. On the other hand, he strongly recommends the development of bodily skill and dexterity proposed by Pesta- lozzi, for this, among other reasons, that it would make the whole nation fit for military service, and thus remove the necessity for a standing army. Like Pes- talozzi, he attaches a high value to the skill necessary for gaining a livelihood, as a condition of an honorable political existence. He especially insists that it is the duty of the State to charge itself with edu- cation. He spoke in the year 1808, in the capital of Prussia^ which had been deeply humiliated by the unhappy war of the preceding years, and in the most hopeless period of Germany's history. 'Would that the state,' he said to a Prussian audience, among whom were several high officers of state, ' would look its present peculiar condition steadily in the face,, and acknowledge to itself what that condition really is; would that it could clearly perceive that there remains for it no other sphere in which it can act and resolve as an independent State, except the education of the risuag generation ; that, unless it is absolutely determined to do nothing, this is now all it can do ; but that the merit of doing this would be conceded to it undiminished and unenvied. That we are no longer able to offer an active resistance, was before -presupposed as obvious, and as acknowledged by every one. How then can we defend our -continued existence, obtained by submission, against the re- proach of cowardice and an unworthy love of life ? In no other way than by resolving not to live for ourselves, and by acting up to this resolution; hj raising up a worthy posterity, and by preserving our own existence solely in order that we may accomplish this object. If we had not this first object of life, what else were there for us to do? Our constitutions will be made for us the alliances which we are to form, and the direction in which our miKtary re- sources shall be applied, wiU be indicated to us, a statute-book will be lent to as, even the administration of justice will sometimes be taken out of (mr hands- we shall be relieved of all these cares for the next years to come. Education BAUMER'S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGICS. 11 alone has not been thought of; if we are seeking for an occupation, let us seize this I We may expect that in this occupation we shall be left undisturbed. I hope, (perhaps I deceive myself but as I have only this hope still to live for, I can not cease to hope,) that I convince some Germans, and that I shall bring them to see that it is education alone which can save us from all the evils by which we are oppressed. I count especially on this, as a favorable circumstance, that our need will have rendered us more disposed to attentive observation and serious reflection than we were in the day of our prosperity. Foreign lands have other consolations and other remedies ; it is not to be expected that they would pay any attention, or give any credit to this idea, should it ever reach them; I will much rather hope that it will be a rich source of amusement to the readers of their journals, if they ever learn that any one promises himself so great things from education.' It may easily be imagined how deep an impression such words made on me, as I read them in Paris, the imperial seat of tyranny, at a time when I was in a state of profound melancholy, caused by the ignominious slavery of my poor beloved country. There also I was absorbed in the perusal of Pestalozzi'a work, 'How Gertrude teaches her children.' The passages of deep pathos in the book took powerful hold of my mind, the new and great ideas excited strong hopes in me; at that time I was carried away on the wings of those hopes over Pestalozzi's errors and failures, and I had not the experience which would have enabled me to detect these easily, and to examine them critically. About the same time I read the ' Report to the Parents on the state of the Pestalozzian Institution;' it removed every doubt in my mind as to the possi- bility of seeing my boldest hopes realized. Hereupon, I immediately resolved to go to Tverdun, which appeared to me a green oasis, full of fresh and living springs, in the midst of the great desert of my native land, on which rested the curse of Napoleon." At an age when most men, of his acknowledged ability and schol- arship, are only thinking of securing a civil employment, which shall bring "both riches and honor. Von Raumer hastened to Pestalozzi at Yverden, where be devoted the months from October 1809, to May 1810, to a thorough study of the principles and methods of elemen- tary instruction, as illustrated by the great Swiss educator. After returning from Switzerland, he was first appointed, in 1810, to an ofiice in the higher grades of the mining department ; and in the autumn of 1811, to the professorship of mineralogy in the Uni- versity of Breslau, and at the same time, to the oflBce of Mining Counselor in the higher mining board there. In the latter year he married the daughter of Chapel-master Reichardt, with whom, in 1861, he celebrated the anniversary of his golden wedding. In 1819, he was transferred to Halle, and in 1823, taking a dismissal from the Prussian public service, he went to Nuremberg, where he was at the head of an educational institution until the year 1827. In that year he became professor of Natural History and Mineralogy, at the University of Erlangen. In addition to his regular duties, both at Halle, and at Erlangen, Prof. Raumer delivered courses of lectures 6n Pedagogy, which he afterwards published in four parts, the first of which, was issued 1843. " This work has grown out of a series of lectures, upon the history of education 12 RAUMER'S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGICS. which I delivered, in 1S22, at l^aile, and several years later, from 1838 to 1843, at Erlangen. . The reader may inquire, how it was that my attention was directed to this subject ? If he should, it will perhaps be sufficient to say in reply, tliat during tlie thirty-one years of my professorship, I have not merely interested myself in Jhe science to which my time was devoted, but also in its eorresponding art, and Shis the more, because much of the instruction which I gave was additional to lay regular lectures, and imparted in the way of dialogue. This method stimur. .ated my own thoughts too, to that, degree, that I was induced as early, as the year 1819 to publish many didactical essays, and subsequently, a manual for in- Btruction in Natural History. But were I called upon for a more particular ex- planation, it would bp necessary for me to relate the many experiences of my somewhat eventful Kfe, both from my passive years of training and instruction, and from my active years of educating and instructing others. This, howev;er, is a theme, to which I can not do justice within the brief compass of a prelace; if hereafter an opportunity shall offer, I may treat it in another place. And yet after all, the book itself must bear testimony to the fitness of, the author for his taslf. Of what avail is it to me, to say that I have been taught by Meierotto, Buttman, Frederick Augustus, Wol^ Steifens, Werner, Pestalozzi, and other distinguished men? When I have said aU this, have I done any more than to show that the author of this book has had the very best oppor- tunity to loam what is just and true ? My book begins with, the revival of classical learning. And Germany I aave had preeminently in view. Why, by way of introduction, I have given a Drief history of the growth of learning in Italy from Dante to the age of Leo X., the reader will ascertain from the book itself. He will be convinced, if not at the outset, yet as ha reads further, that this introduction is absolutely necessary to a correct understanding of German didactics. A history of didactics must present the various standards of mental culture, which a nation proposes to itself during its successive eras of intellectual devel- opment, and then the modes of instruction which are adopted in each era, in order to real^e its peculiar standard in the rising generation. In distinguished men that standard of culture manifests itself to us in person, so to speak, and lienee they exert a controlling influence upon didactics, tljough they may not themselves be teachers. 'A lofty example stirs up a spirit of emulation, and discloses deeper principles' to giiide the judgment' ■ But their action upon the intellectuad culture of then- countrymen has a re- doubled power, when at the same time they labor directly at the work of teach- ings as both Luther and Melanethon did for years. This consideration has induced me to select my characters for this history among distinguished teachers, those who were held in the highest respect by thek contemporaries, and whose example was a pattern for multitudes. Such an one was John Sturm at Stras- burg, a rector, who with steady gaze pursued a definite educational aun, organ- izing his gymnasium with the utmost skiU and discernment, and carrying out what he had conceived to be the true method, with the most scrupulous care. An accurate sketch of .the educational efficiency of this pattern rector, based tipon original authorities, in ray opinion conveys far more insight and instruction than I bould hope to afford, were I to entangle myself amid fi^gmentary sketches of numberless ordinary schools, framed- upon Sturm's plaji. Thus much in explanation of the fact that this history ha^ taken thfe form of a series of biographies. And in view of the surprising differences among the characters treated of, it can not appear singular, if my sketches should be widely different in their form, There was one thought, which I will own occasioned me abundant perplexi- ty during my labors. If I was about to describe a man, who, I had reason to suppose, was more or less unknown to most of my readers, I went about the task with a hght heart, and depicted his life and labors in their fuU proportions, communicating every thmg Vhich coyld, by any possibility, render his image clearer and more lifelike to the reader. But how different the case, when the educational efficiency of Luther is to be set forth. 'My readers,' I say to my- self, 'have long been acquamted with the man, and they wM not thank me for the information that he was bom at Eisleben, on the 10th of November, 1483 ; IIS if they had not known this from then- youth up.' I am, therefore, compelled RAUMEK'S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGICS. ] 3 to omit all auch particulars, and to confine myself exclusively to his educational efficiency. And yet this did not stand alone ; but was for the most part united, vrith its entire influence, both to the church and the state. As with Luther, so also was it with Melancthon and others. Considerate readers will, hence, pardon me, I hope, when, in cases of this kind, they are not fully satisfied with my sketches. In another respect, too, I ought perhaps to solicit pardon, though I am reluct- ant to do so. We demand of ^jstorians an objectiye portraiture, especially such as shall reveal none of the personal sympathies or antipathies of the writer. Now it is proper to Insist upon that truth and justice which will recognize the good quaUties of an enemy, and acknowledge the faults of a &iend. But free from likes and dislikes I neither am, nor do I desire to be, but, according to the dictates of my conscience and the best of my knowledge, I will signify my ab- horrence of evil and my delight in good, nor will I ever put bitter for sweet or sweet for bitter. It may be, too, that a strict objectivity requires the historian never to come forward himself upon the stage, and never to express his own opinion in respect to the facts which he is called upon to chronicle. Herein he is not allowed so much freedom of action as the dramatist, who, by means either of the prologue and epilogue, or of the chorus between each of the acts, comes forward and converses with the puHic upon the merits of his play. Such an ob- jectivity, Ukewiae, I can not boast myself of; for I record my own sentiments freely where I deem it necessaj-y. And surely will not the objectivity of history gaii) more by an unrestricted personal interview with the historian, at proper intervals, than by compelling him to a perpetual masquerade behind the facts and the nar- rative ? Certainly it will, for in that case the reader discovers the character of the writer in his opinions, and knows what he himself is to expect from the nar- ration. He likewise observes with the more readiness, where the writer, though conscientiously aiming at truth and impartiality, nevertheless betrays symptoms of human infirmity and party zeal. From a. church historian, for instance, ^ho should express his puritanical views without reserve, no intelligent reader would expect an impartial estimate of the middle ages. Another motive also urges me to a free expression of my opinions, and that is, in order thereby to allure my readers to that close familiarity with many im- portant educational subjects which the bare recital of facts seldonf creates. I^ in this history, the ideal and the methods of such different teachers are depicted, these diverse views can not but have the effect, especially those practically en- gaged in training the young, to induce a comparison of their own aims and pro- cedure therewith. Sentiments that harmonize with our own give us joy, and inspire us with tlie pleasant consciousness that our course is the right one ; differing or opposing opinions lead us to scrutinize our own course, even as were it another's; and from such scrutiny there results either perseverance baaed upon deeper conviction, or a change of course. I am happy to acknftwl- edge, that this practical aim has been my chief motive in undertaking the present work, and has been uppermost in ray thoughts during its prosecution. As far as possible, I have depended on contemporaneous sources, and in part from exceedingly rare works, and such, as, for aught that I know to the contrary, in the present age, have fallen into almost total "oblivion. And, for this reason, I was tlie more influenced to render a service to the reader, by bringing widely to his view the men and the manners of earlier centuries, through the medium of contemporaneous and characteristic quotations." We append the Contents of the three volumes of Eaumer's great work, from the edition of 1847, and also the preface and contents of the fourth volume, which appeared in 1854. Since the puhlication of the fourth volume, a new edition of the entire wort has heen issued in four large octavo volumes, for a copy of which, we are under ohlisrations to the author. In the third volume there are numerous additional paragraphs, and several important chapters, viz., a section of ten pages on " the Church and School," a chapter, (III) on "Schools of Science and Art," another, (IV) of nearly ninety pages on the " Education of Girls," and an essay on " Instruction in Ger- man," of eighty pages, hy his son, Prof. Rudolph von Eaumer. 14 KAUMEli'S HISTORY OF PEDAGOGICS. Geschichte deb Padagogik vom wiederaufbliihen klassiaohor studien big unsere zeit. [Eistory of Pedagogics, or of (he Science cund Ari of Education, from the revival of dassicai sivdies fiwn to owr time.] By Karl von Baumer. 3 vols. Stuttgard, 2d edition, 1847. VoLnHE I. Preface. 1. Middle Ages. 2. Italy, from birfh of Dante to death of Petrarca and Boccaccio. 1. Dante. 2. Boccaccio. 3. Petrarca. Review of the period. 3. Development of classical studies in Italy, from death of Petrarca and Boccaccio until Leo X. 1. John of Ravenna and Emanuel Chrysoloras. 2. The educators, Guarino and Vittorino de Feltre. 3. Collection of MSS. Cosmo de Medici. Nicho- las V. First printing. 4. Platonic Academy. Greek philologists. 5. Italians, Phila jelphus. Foggius. Laurentius. 6. Loreuzo de Medici. Ficinus. Argyropulus Landinus. Politianus. Picus de Mirandola. 4. Leo X. and his time ; its lights and shadows. 5. Retrospect of Italy. Transition to Germany. 6. Germans and Dutch, from Gerhardus Magnus to Luther, 1340-1483. 1. The Hieronymians. 2. John Wessel. 3. Rudolf Agricola. 4. Alexander Flegius. 5, 6. Rudolf von Lange and Herman von den Busch. 7. Erasmus. 8. School at Schlett- etadt. Ludwig Dringenberg. Wimpheling. Crato. Lapidus. Platter. 9. John Reuchlin. 10. Retrospect. Reformation. Jesuits. Realism. "From Luther to the death of Bacon, 1483-1626. 1. Luther. 2. Melancthon. 3. Valentin Friedland. Trotzendorf. 4. Michael Neander. 5. John Sturm. 6. Wur- temberg. 7. Saxony. 8. Jesuits. 9. Universities. 10. Verbal Realism. 11. Fran- cis Bacon. 12. Montaigne. Appendix. — I. Thomas Platter. II. Melancthon'a Latin grammar. III. John Sturm. VOLOMB IL New ideas and methods of education. Struggle, mutual influence, and gradual con- nectifti and exchange between the old and the new. From Bacon^s death to tliat of Pestalozzi. 1. The Renovators. 2. Wolfgang Ratich. 3. The Thirty Years' War. 4. Comenius. 5. The Century after the Thirty Years' War. 6. Locke. 7. A. H. Franke. 8. Real Schools. 9. Reformatory Philologists. 3. M. Gesner. J. A. Ernesti. 10. J. J. Rousseau. 11. Philanthropists. 12. Ha- mann. 13. Herder. 14. F. A. Wolf 15. Pestalozzi. Appendix. — 1. Wolfgang Ratich and his literature. II. Pedagogical works of Come- nius. III. Inlcriorof the Philanlhropinum. IV. Pestalozzi and his literature. V. Pes- lalozzi's Evening Hour of a Hermit. VI. Pestalozzi on Niederer and Schmid. VII. Strangers who remained some time at Pestalozzi's institution. VIII. Rousseau and Pestalozzi. VOLDME III. Early childhood. Schools for small children. School and home. Educational in- stitutions. Tutors in families. Instruction. 1. Religion. 2 Latin. Preface. I. History of Latin in Christian times. Speaking Latin. Writing Latin. II. Methods of reading Latin. 1. These methods changed within the last three centuries. 2. Adversaries of the old grammatical method. 3. New methods. A. Learning Latin' like the mother tongue. B. Latin and real instruction in connection! Comenius. C. Combination of A and B. D, Ratich and similar teachers, a. Ratich. b. Locke, c. Hamilton, d. Jacotot. e. Ruthardt. f. Meierotto. g. Jacobs. Con- cluding remarks. Aphorisms on the teaching of history. Geography, Natural history and philosophy. Preface.' J. Difficulties. 2. Objections against this instruction in gymnasia answered. 3. Grades of natural knowledge. 4. Begin- nings. 5. Science and art. 6. Mathematical instruction and elementary instruction in the knowledge of nature. 7. Instruction in mineralogy. 8. Characteristics of scholars. 9. Instruction in botany. 10. Unavoidable inconsistency. 11. "Mysteri ously clear," {Goethe.) 12. Law and liberty. Concluding remarks. Geometry. Arithmetic. Physical training. 1. Hygiene. 2. Hardening the body to toil and want 3 Gymnastics. 4. Cultivation of tl^ senses. Concluding observations. Appendix. — I. Ruthardt's new jLoci Memoriales. 11. Teachers of mineralogy. TII Use of counters in the elementary instruction in arithmetic. IV. Exn'anation i>f the common abbreviated counting with cyphers. The entire Contents of this work, including the fourth volume, and the addi- tions referred to on the preceding page, have been translated expressly for, and Dublished in the "American Jov/mai of Edtication." RAUMER'S HISTORY OP PEDAGOGICS. jg Since the foregoing sketch of Prof. Raumer's own educational life and labors was published, we have received a fourth and concluding volume of his "History, tfcc," entitled '■^The German Universities^'' in which he introduces his own experience as a student and professor, to give personal interest to the narrative. We copy the Dedication and Preface, and give the Contents of the American edition, as translated originally for the "American Journal of Hdwation.'^ TO THB STUDENTS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT, WHO HAVE BBEN UT COMPANIONS FROM 1811 TO 1854, I DEDIOATB THIS BOOE, m TRUE AND HEARTFELT LOVE. XABL voir BAUUSB. PREFACE. The reader here receives the conclusion of my work. It is a, contribution to the histoiy of the Universities. When I commenced it, I hoped confidently to be able to make it greater ; but in proportion as I gained an insight into the difficulty of the enterprise of writing a complete histoiy of the German Universities, my courage failed. Many of the difBoulties which the his- torian of the German people has to overcome, are here ti^o found in the way, and in much increased dimensions. If all the German universities poBsessed the same features, if the character- istics of one of them — important modifications excepted— would stand for all, then the task of their historian would, apparently, be quite simple. But how different, and how radically different, are the universities from each other 1 Even the multiplicity of the German nationalities, governments, and sects had much to do in distinguishing them. To compare, for instance, the universities of GSttingen and Jena, as they were at the begiiming of the present oenttuy ; what a contrast appears between them 1 And how much greater is the difference between these two Protestant universities and the Catholic one of Vienna I Further than this, each single university undergoes such changes in the course of time, that it appears, as it were, dSferent from itself. To instance the Um- versity of Heidelberg : Catholic in the beginning, it became Lutheran in 1556, Eeformed in 1560, Lutheran in 1576, Eeformed again in 1583 ; afterward came under the management of the Jesuits ; and, at the destruction of their order, returned to Protestantism. . To these difficulties, in the way of the historian of all the German universities, is added this one : that the most important sources of information fail him ; as we have, namely, but few competent histories of single universities — such, for ex- ample, as Kliipfel's valuable "MM.ory of the University of TiMngen." These considerations will sufficiently excuse me for publishing only contribu- tions to a histoiy of the German universities, which will sooner or later appear. What I have added under the name of "Academical Treatises," is also a con- tribution to history ; for the reason that these treatises will, of necessity, not be worthless for some future historian of the present condition of our universities. In conclusion, I desire gratefully to acknowledge the goodness of Chief Librae rian Hoeck, for books furnished me from the Gottingen library. Mr. Stenglein, librarian at Bamberg, also most willingly fumi»iied me with books from it. The use of the Eoyal library at Berlin was also afforded me, with distinguished friendliness and kindness ; for which I would once more most heartily thank Privy Councilor and Chief Librarian Pertz, and Librarians Dr. Pinder and Dr. rriedlander. EBLAiTQmr, Uh April, 1854. Kael voh Eaumse. 16 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. The Geruan Universities, Being the fourth volume of the History of Sdttcation, "By Karl von Eaumer. Re-published from the '■^JmerU can Journal of Education,^ edited by Henry Barnard, LL.D, New York: F, C.; Brownell, 250 pages. Price $1,50. CONTENTS. PAf». IjfTRODUOVrOM..., .' •' • • • ' • 2 1. Tub German Umvebsitibs. From, the Germnn of Kail von Raumer...... 9 ^ I. Historical • ® 1, Introduction. Universities of^Salerno, Bologna, and Paris........ 9 S. List of German Universities, with date of their foundation 10 3. Thei£>qrm^ Ujaiveraities inthe Fourteentji and Fifteenth centuries II A. dhdrters, or Letteiv of Foundation II B. ThU'Pbi>e.and«the>Universiti£s 12 O. The Ernppror and the Universities 16 D. Oi^ani^atipn of the earliest 'German Universities 17 a. The Four Nations. Four Faculties. Rector. Chancellor. Endowments. 18 b. The Four Faculties 30 1. Faculty of Arts .' .' 20 3. Faculty of Theology , 31 3. Faculty of Canon and Civil Law. 34 4. Faculty of Medicine S6 c. Customs and Discipline ^ 27 I. Uniyer^ity of Witteoherg and its relations to the earlier Universities. . . .' 30 5. History of the Customs of the UnLver«ities in the Seventeenth Century 37 A The- peposition 42 . B, pennalism .......-..'. 52 6. History of the Universities in thei Eighteenth Century 52 A. Nationalism. JiIatiQnal Societies. .^ % B. Students* orders .' , , i 56 7. History of th^UniversitJes ini^e NJneteeiitih Opntnry 56 Introduction ; the author's academical experience, j.. 59 A. Entrance at ilalle, 1799 j a preliminary view ,>, ...i 59 B. Glitlingen; -Easier 1801 to Easter 2803 .,..,.. 59 C. Halle ;, Easter 1803 to Sept. Iti05 68 D. Br^lau; 18iqtol817 , 76 ' a. Establishment of the JiBnaBurachenschoft, July 18, 1816. - Wartburs Festi- val. Oct. 18,1817... r 80 b. Establishment of the general Burschenschofl, in 1818 , 91 E. Breslau, 1817 to 1819 92 a. Sand 102 b. The consequences of;Sand'B crime. Investijations. ^xptikin^ up of the societies. Destruction of the Bursohenschaft 134 F. Jmie, 1819 to 1833 ."!".!!!!.! 1:16 Conclusion , ] 53 n. Appendix !!"!!!!!!!!!!]! 155 I. Bull of Pius 11., orenting University of Ingqldsjtadt..., .,,.! 157 II, List of Lectures jn the Faculty, of A|^ in 1366. !!..!!!.'!!!! 159 HI. Bursaries ....,,„ !!!!!!!!!!!".!!!! 160 iV. Tlie '* Cornraent •* of the National Societies. , ".'.'l!!!!!"!!!!!!! 161 V- Statutes !!!!!!!"!!!!!!!!* ics A. Constitution of the general German Burschenschah ....!!!!!!!!!!!'!!! 165 B. The Jena Bucscbienscliaft. ' ikq VI. The Wartburg Letters.. !.!!'.'.*.!'!".!!!!". iS VII. Bahrdt with the iron forehead !!!!!!'. "* ]86 VIU. SubHtonce of .Tqbiogen.^^tatutea fpr organiBing a JStudepts' committee! \'.'.\\ \ 187 IX. Extract from an AacUess of Prof. Heyder, at Jena, in 16P7 !!.'!!!. 188 X. Synonyms ot'^Beamua ".... '. ^ , WW. 191 XI. Meyfait's "j^reeimts" or Student Life in the Sixteenth Ceritury!im! J91 XII. Grant of Piiyjleges by Leopold L to the University of |laije !!'.!!!"!!!!!!! 192 Xni. Works referred to. 353 XIV. The Universities in the summer of 1853 '.'.!'.. «*.!!! " ]98 PI. Academical Treatises !!!!!!!"!!! 201 J. Lecture system. Dialogic ipstruction ] ,!!' 201 2. Examinations , !.".!*"! 006 3. Obligatory Jfiotures. ODtional attendiince. Lyceuips. Reiatro"nVoKthe"nhili>l Bophical faculty and their lectures, to those of the professional atudies 213 4.,Per»Qnal relations of the professors and ^tjidents.. ooa / , 5.1S[nall and large universities. Academies !',!!!!'!"" wfi 6.TJiMversily instruction in elementary natural history ' a^ 7. Student soogB.....^ \\\'\ *'* Sje Conpiwion .....r. '"' ^ Tiwxx., 255 INTRODUCTION. HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY., [Translated, for tbe American Journal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] , I. TBE MIDDLE AGES. The 14tli century ushered in a new era, the era of the restoration of the Greek and Ropian classics. Classical learning became the goal of every desire ; and this new ideal; pursued as it was with un- remitting ardor, gave birth to new modes of teaching and of training. Far different had been the ideal of the Middle Ages, and their character had been marked with striking peculiarities. But the Mid- dle Ages had now passed away. Nevertheless their influence contin- ued to be felt, eved down to the time of the Reformation ; for not until then did the new ideal obtain full and undisputed sway over the human mind. Meanwhile the defenders of classical learning rejected with contempt every thing that savored of the past, and with them originated the so long received opinion of the darkness and barbarism of the Middle Ages. For it is only within our own times that champions have arisen to assert the claims of mediaeval learning also. The first question that here suggests itself is : what standard ought we to adopt in judging of a period in which human efforts ancUaohievements presented so many remarkable contrasts — grandeur and littleness, strength and weakness, depth and insipidit}', beauty and repulsive- ness, being mutually opposed to each other on every hand ? But when we have fixed upon a correct standard, we are to apply it correctly and conscientiously ; nor regard with a partial eye the bright side alone of our favorite epoch, and refuse to see any but the dark side of the period to which we are adverse. Now Latinity constituted the chief standard by which the earlier moderns measured all attainments in learning. By as much as the Middle Ages were removed from the style of Cicero, by so much were they destitute (so thought these moderns) of all true learning, and given over to barbarism. Baronius applied to the period from the 10th to the 12lh century, the epithets, iron, Maden, and dark. Com- pilations were made of the wretched Latin* of those centuries : es- ' Take, for instance, the etymology oi Presbtfter : " homo qui praiberet suis iter ; " or guch a blunder as the following; " Baptizo te in nomine patria, filia et spiritus sanctus." In the " Epistles of Obscure Men," this sort of Latinity is held up to ridicule. B 18 HISTORY OF KDUCATION IN ITALY. pecially was ridicule aimed at the anti-classical terminology of the schoolmen, and boys even who had been moderately drilled ia Latin writing were thought far superior to those mediasval barbarians. But this narrow-minded pedantry early met with a severe rebuke from Erasmus, in his spirited treatise against the imitation of Cicero. " It is astonishing," he says, '' with what arrogance they look down upon what they style the barbarism of Thomas Aquinas, Scotus, Durandus, and the like; and yet, if we scan the merits of these authors critically, although they laid claim neither to eloquence nor to Ciceronianism, we shall nevertheless see that in both they far outstrip their detractors, this blustering crew, who all the while deem them- selves not Ciceronians alone but veritable Ciceros." The unbiased intellect of Erasmus perceived that Ciceronianism consisted not in the imitation of words and periods alone, but chiefly in thoughts ad- equately expressed. Without defending the style of the scholastics in other respects, he yet ranked their awkward, and uncouth, but pointed, expressions far before all the smooth but meaningless phrases of the Ciceronians. At the commencement of the last century, Leyser defended the Middle Ages against this charge of barbarism, adducing as his chief argument the old Latin lyrics of the church. From him too we learn that the stigma of barbarism was attached to all that was not graceful. But it was reserved for our own day- to accord full and complete justice to the Middle Ages, since they are now no longer measured by the pedantic standard of the schools, but all their aims and achievements have been explored and appropriaitely rated by men of superior intellect — ^by Goethe, Tieck, A. W. and F. Schlegel, J. and W. Grimm, the brothers Boisseree, Schlosser, and others. Says Schlosser, " We have been too apt to conceive of the intellect- ual life of the Middle Ages as sluggish and well-nigh dead, because the scholars of that period were not chiefly busied with the writers of ancient Greece and Rome." But this fact is sufiBciently accounted for by the scarcity of manuscripts at that period. Even the far-famed Paris Library contained, at the beginning of the 14th century, but four old authors — Cicei'o, Ovid, Lucan, and Boethius. If others were cited in the writings of the Middle Ages, it was not ". often from first sources, but chiefly from Augustin's " City of God " and from Isidore of Spaijj. In this dearth of Latin classics, it was no wonder if men gradually lost the pure style of the Gold and Silver Ages, and framed their Latin for themselves. And yet in such Latin were composed those immortal lyrics of the church, the " Dies tree " and the "Media vita." A single hymn such as these outweighs all the ( HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. jg servile imitations of Horace and other poets, that the later philologists expended so much pains upon. In the epoch under consideration no one had yet ventured to dis- sent from the doctrines of the church. There were two men, whose dicta formed the highest human authority ; and as they differed wide- ly from each other, so different was their influence. These men were Aristotle and Augustin ; the first however was not read in the orig- inal. Nevertheless in one respect they occupied common ground, viz., that hoth of them furthered the scholastics in their speculations upon church doctrines. In these, Anselm of Canterbury, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and other dogmatics, proceeded from knowl- edge and understanding ; mystics, Hke Bernard and Bonaventura, from emotion and faith ; while in Hugo and Richard St. Victor, both elements, the dogmatical, and the mystical, were united. And lastly, sceptics, like Abelard and Duns Scotus, started with doubt and denial. But all these aimed to leave the authority of the church intact, for they directed their speculations into lines parallel with the teachings of the church and never ventured to touch or run athwart those teachings.* The later philologists were never weary in their attacks upon the scholastics. " But the philosophical queries of scholasticism appeared ridiculous and absurd," says Schlosser, " only because none of them were cited except the most trivial and childish." In any case it was unfair to overlook the great difference which subsisted between the men who bore the general name of scholastics, and/to pass the same condemnation upon deep thinkers like Anselm, Hugo St. Victor, and Bonaventura as upon the later sophistical word-monger^ Yet the repulsive, odious, and even boorish air of these latter formed a species of justification for the hostility that -the philologists manifested toward them.f But the holy ire of the re- formers, as they saw the word of God in manifold ways utterly set aside by the arrogant human traditions of the scholastics — this needs no justification. In the schools of the Middle Ages the seven ' We find in Cicero a similar distinction, when, in the " Nalura Deorum," he spealcs of the different modes in which the same person, now in the cliaracter of au tmgUT, and now in that of a philosopher, views and pronounces judgment upon the same fact. t The following extract from W^alter St. Victor, cited by Schlosser, will serve to show that the sophists of the Middle Ages bore a striking resemblance to the ^ame class in modern times. "The logicians," he says, "spin nets of all manner of ratiocinations, and surround themselves with the thorn-hedge of syllogisms. Propositions and facts are alike forever indeterminate with them, one and the same thing being now true and now false and again neither true nor false. For a thousand refined distinctions lead them at one time to deny, at another to assert, the same thing. If you allow yourself to be guided by theja, you are speedily involved in a whirl of. questions and counter-questions, so that you will no longer know whether God is God or not God, whether Christ is man or not man, or whether there be in existence any thing or nothing, nothing or not nothing, a Christ or no Christ ; and so it is to the end of the chapter. 20 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. liberal arts were taught. The trivium comprehended grammar, rhetoric, and logic ; the guadrivium, which came subsequent in the course, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Logic was fore- most, while grammar stood in the background. Further on, we shall see how after the lapse of -time this order was inverted, when the philologists gained the upper hand. In the 13th century, Henry d'Andely wrote a satirical poem, the subject of which was "The bat- tle of the seven arts." Grammar had its camp in Orleans, while logic intrenched itself at Paris ; grammar, in whose ranks were enrolled the ancient poets, was nevertheless finally defeated by the other arts. The chief seat of the mathematics in the Middle Ages was among the Arabians. Gerbert, afterward Pope Sylvester IL, who became distinguished as a mathematician above all his cotemporaries, learned of them ; Campanus Novara, with the English Benedictine monk, Athelard, translated in the 12th century Euclid from the Arabic; and Jordanus Nemoratius wrote an arithmetic in ten books. Ijn the 13th century, Alphonso X. employed Arabians to construct astronomical tables {the tabulce Alphonsince,) and the Emperor Fred- erick II. set on foot a version of the Almagest. John de Sacrobusto wrote a little astronomical text-book, which continued to be used in schools down to the 16th century, and was thought worthy to be republished in 1531, under the auspices of Melancthon, who wrote a preface to it.* Natural history in the Middle Ages was exceedingly barren. With extraordinary credulity, the most incredible things were received as true ; and mankind, led astray by accounts of unreal monsters and marvels, had no eye for the unfeigned marvels of God in .the creation. One man there was, however, who stood apart, and, as a natural phil- ,osopher and mathematician, was greatly in advance of his age. This was the gifted Franciscan monk, Roger Bacon of Ilchester, in Som- ersetshire, England, (1214 — 1294.) Among other inventions, that of the telescope, if not in its perfection, lay in the clearest outlines in his mind ;f and he appears also to have known of gunpowder^ His • He was commonly called Holywood, from the place of his birth in the county of York, England. He died in Paris in I2C6. His text-iooli above referred to is entitled " Libetttis de Sphara." Melancthon says of it : " This little book has received the approbation of all the learned now for many generations." It is simple and clear, and as a text-book, aside from its advocacy of the Ptoleipaic system, it snrpasses many astronomical compendiums of modern times. He wrote also an " Ecclesiastical Calendar," "i?e Compute Ecclesiastico " and an *' Algorithm." tin his" Opus Jlfo/wff " he says, " There are still greater results dependent on "broken vision " or reftangibility ; for the Sanons above laid down clearly prove that large objects may be made to appear small, and distant objects near, and the reverse. We can so shape transparent substances, and so arrange them with respect to our sight and objects, that rays can be broken and bent as we please, so that objects may be seen far oflT or near, under what- ever angle we please, and thus from an incredible distance we may read the smallest letter.-' HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 21 j«st views of 'nature, and of the true method of investigatipg nature, entitled him to the praise of being a forerunner of his great fellow- countryman and namesake, Lord Bacon. ■ Had no other production of the Middle Ages come down to us than that great poem, the Lay of the Nibelungen, it alone would have sufficed us in proof of the superior character of our early Ger- man poesy ; and no one, who has seen either the Cologne cathedral, or the minsters of Strasburg or Freiburg, can hesitate for a moment to admit the sublimity of mediaeval architecture. Yet time was, and that not very long ago, when these greatest works of art that the world has ever seen passed for unsightly monstrosities. After all that he had r^ad and heard, Goethe feared, he tells us, lest he should find the Strasburg cathedral a '' shapeless excresence, bristling with deformity." " But," he goes on to say, " what an unexpected feeling overpowered me, as I stood beforfe it ! My soul was filled with one entire and grand impression, which, because it was made up of a thousand harmonizing unities, I could indeed feel and enjoy, but by no means understand and explain. And how often did I come back, to taste again the celestial joy, and again to commune with the mighty spirits of our elder brothers, manifested to me in their works." The Germanic and Roman races were distinguished in the Middle Ages, notwithstanding all national diversities, for their common Eu- ropean character ; "they formed as it were one general politico-ec- clesiastical state." The authority of the church was the main bond which united them, nor should we overlook in this connection the important fact that pope, emperor, and kings invariably made use of the Latin language in all their communications, whether religious or secular, ijloreover all the clergy spoke and wrote in Latin, and Latin was every where employed in divine service. German priests could minister to churches in England, FrancCj etc., and English priests tp German churches. Alcuin was Bishop of Tours, Boniface Archbishop of Mentz, and Albertus' Magnus taught at Paris. But in succeeding centuries the distinctive features of these various nations became more prominent, while their common European character was proportionably effaced, as the bonds which united them were gradually rent asunder. With these brief outlines of the learning of the Middle Ages, we shall now be prepared to trace the steps by which, from the 14th century onward, this learning was supplanted by another type, viz., the classical. For the introduction of this, the Italians were the first to pave the way, and they gave themselves with ardor to the study and imitation of the ancients. Their enthusiasm afterward infected No. 18.— [Vol. VI., No. 3.]— 27. 22 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. the Germans, and these also, like the Italians, though with other mo- tives and under other conditions, adopted classical culture as their ideal. But the ideal of attainment of any people shapes and controls the whole course of education among theln. To this principle is to be ascribed the great influence which the Italians directly exerted upon German education, and the history of this education would be accordingly incomplete did it not recognize this influence. Hence it becomes necessary for us to take a survey of the intellectual devel- opment of Italy during the period from the 14th to the 16th century. There were three Italians who were foremost in striking out new paths ; Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch — of whom we will now speak. II. DANTE A(ID BOCCAtCIO. Dante Allighieri, who sprang fi-om an illustrious line of ances- tors, was born at Florence, on the 27th of May, 1265, became fath- erless at the early age of five years. His teacher was Brunetto Latini, secretary of the Republic of Florence, and author of an encyclopedia, which treated not only of the philosophical sciences, but of geogra- phy, astronomy, history, and natural history : it contained also re- markable traditions, and stories of ghosts and demons, and accounts of strange freaks of nature. With such a teacher, Dante might well have laid the foundation of that universal learning for which he after- ward became so distinguished. It was in his ninth year (1274,) that he saw for the first tfme Beatrice Portinari, a little girl of the same age as himself, and daugh- ter of an influential citizen of Florence. That passing glance, he tells us, enkindled within him the power of love ; though he rarely met her again. She died in early womanhood,in the year 1290. Dante's love for Beatrice was no earthly passion, but a love .which. one might cherish for a saint in glory : this his poems abundantly show. The contest between the Ghibellines, the partisans of the en^eror, and the Guelphs, who sided with the pope, in Dante's time was rag- ing at its hight. Florence was under the dominion of the Guelphs, but they were here divided into two opposing factions, the Blacks and the Whites ; to the latter of these Dante belonged. He played an important part in the city of his birth ; was present in many cam- paigns, and was often chosen to fill the post of ambassador ; in his 35th year he was elected to one of the twelve influential priorships. When the faction of the Whites incurred the suspicicm of having made overtures to the Ghibellines, Dante was dispatched to Eome, to ingratiate them into favor with Pope Boniface VIII.* While there, he probably heard that Charles Valois, with the aid of the Blacks, • He ancepted this embassy reluctantly, yet proudly, Baying, " If I go, who will be left be- hind, and if I stay, who is there to go t " . HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 23 had seized upon the government of Florence, and that he himself "to- gether with his party had been banished from the city. He continued in exile for nineteen years, until his death, " and felt the bitterness of eating the bread and salt of strangers, and crossing a threshold not. his own." Once only did he entertain the hope of re-entering his native city ; it was in the year 1310, when the Emperor Henry VH. came into Italy. In a letter, bearing date April 16, 1311, Dante implored the emperor to take possession of Florence. He accordingly directed his, march thither, and on the 12th of September, 1312, pitched his camp before the city, but was forced, on the 31st of October, to depart without success ; and in August, 1313, he died, not without suspicion of poison. But Dante had in this step taken decided ground in favor of the emperor and the Ghibellines and against Florence, and there now remained for him no further hopes either of reconciliation or of return. In the closing years of his life, 1319 — 1321, and after his long and weary wanderings, he at length found with Guido di Polenta, at Kpenna, a friendly reception and patronage. Here he died, on the 14th of September, 1321, at the age of 56. His corpse, decorated with the insignia of a poet, was borne to the Church of the Fran- ciscans and there interred. The following epitaph was afterward carved upon the tablet that marks his I'esting-place : — " Jura monarchise, superos, phlegetonta, lacuBque Lustranclo cecini voluerunt fata quousque ; Sed quia pars cessit melioribus hospita oastris Auctoremque suum petiit felicior astris, Hio olaudor Dantes patriis extorris ab oris. Quern genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris."* Of all the works of Dante the " Divina Commedia " is by far the greatest. As the mighty Strasburg cathedral looks out upon us in its enduring majesty from the far period of the Middle Ages, so like- wise does this powerful poem. In it are' embodied all the elements of that period ; "its Paganism and Christianity, its imperiality and hierarchy, its sciences and its artg, all are mirrored in the " Divina Commedia.''' From the blackness of hell, where God's justice is terri- * The above may be versified thus ; — The rights of kings— the Paradise of God, Dim chaos, and that awful stygiaa flood, I've seen and sung, while so the Fates decreed : But when injustice forced my soul to bleed, She spurned the earth, and starward sped her flight, To seek her Author 'mid unchanging light. So Dante's exiled form lies moldering here in foreign earth, But time will ne'er remove the stain from Florence, city of his birth. [Tnmtlalor.] 24 mSTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. bly displayed, the poet comes up again into the light of the snn and ascends the mount of purgatory, which is fabled to lie at the anti- podes of Jerusalem; and from the summit of this mount, he soars up amid the heavenly spheres of Paradise. This poem combines a rare speculative philosophy with the most exquisite sense of beauty. With a wondrous range and power of fancy, it portrays the torments of hell, the joys of Paradise,''spirits of darkness, angels of light, the holy anger and implacable wrath of the Judge, and a love full of tenderness and irradiated by celestial glory. But not only does this work of Dante's reflect the elements of the Middle Ages, we detect here and thei-e foreshadowings also of the cbming centuries. He commenced the " Commedia " in Latin ; soon however he turned to the Italian in preference. He loved his Italy, and he longed to see her dismembered territories, kept apart as they had been by their fourteen different dialects, united once more by a common lan- guage in one common nationality. Already had tRe first steps to this consummation been taken, especially by the polished court of Frederick II. of Sicily, of the family of the Hohenstaufen. But it it was none other than Dante who first created the " Vulgare illus- tre," or pure vernacular, and who presented a living exemplar in his great pfcem of a loftier dialect that was to supersede all others and yet to be common to the whole of Italy. It was at a subsequent period that he composed his admirable little work entitled " De vul- gari eloquio," in which we have his views upon language. He here distinguishes between the "vulgaris locutio^' and the ^^ grammatica elocutio," or the language of the people and that of the grammarians. The one is that vernacular which we learn from the mouths of our nurses by imitation alone, not by rule ; the other is a lafiguage at second hand {elocutio secundaria,) not found in every nation, and, where found, thoroughly mastered only by a very few individuals, and after long years of study. " The vernacular," Dante continues, " has the decided advantage over the grammatical that it was the earliest language of men, is coextensive with the various tribes that people the earth, and comes, as we say, by nature, while the grammatical is based wholly upon art." Having laid down this general distinction between the two forms of language, he pronounces the Italian of his own day in all its dialeets a vernacular, vulgaris locutio, and the Latin, an educated tongue, grammatica elocutio. These various dialects now come under his consideration : some he rejects altogether, for their utter coarse- ness and rusticity ; in each of the remainder he finds beauties pecul- iarly its own. The higher or pure vernacular was to be eclectic, at- HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 23 tracting to itself all these diverse and separate graces, but carefully repelling every thing of a harsh and discordant nature. It Vfas sheer arrogance in the Tuscans to impose their dialect upon Italy as in itself such a pure vernacular. Thus did Dante draw a sharp dividing line between the Latin and the Italian ; placing the Latin among those learned arid dead lan- guages that were no longer capable either of life or of growth. Nor did he merely enunciate, as a philological ideal, this plan of a language to be common to the whole of Italy, a fair and noble blossom to unfold from the union of her separate dialects, but he embodied this ideal in its full splendor in the " Divina Commedia." Thus he bequeathed to the great intellects of coming time the rich legacy pf a perfected native tongije. As this distinction between Latin and Italian became generally received, there appears to have arisen a new mode of reading and of enjoying the classics, and their value as works of art, which had been wholly lost sight of in the Middle Ages, was again felt and ac- knowledged. Dante placed the highest estimate upon Virgil ; this poet is his guide through hell and purgatory. That he was thor- oughly acquainted with the ^neid, numerous passages conclusively show. He had also read Horace and Statius, but Greek he never learned. And as he longed to see Italy one and undivided, so he advocated for her a purely tem{^oral government, a Roman imperialty. In his three books on monarchy, he defended the claims of the emperor against the popes in so plain-spoken a manner, that at Rome his treatise was shortly after condemned to the flames. On the contrary he attacked the temporal sovereignty of the pope : " sword and crosier befit not the same hand ; for the pope should guide men to the rewards of heaven, while the emperor is to lead them toward earthly felicity." The more earnestly he labored for the unity of the church, the more implacable was his hatred of corrupt popes. Pope Anastasius he placed in hell among the heretics, Nicholas III. and Boniface VIII. with the Simonists. He was unsparing in his denunciations of the avarice of these popes. And it was only his reverential regard for the keys of St. Peter that withheld him from applying to them severer language than this : — " Trampling the good, and raising up the bad — Tour avarice o'erwhelms the woyld in woe. To you St. John referred, ye shepherds vile, < When she, who sits on many waters, had Been seen with kings her person to defile." 26 HISTORY OP EDUCATION IN ITALY. And in the 2lth canto of the " Paradise " St. Peter is represented as saying of Boniface : — " He who on earth, my place, My place usurps, my place, which in the eyes Of God's own Son is vacant, hath long space Rendered my burial-ground a sink abhorred Of blood and filth, which to the inveterate foe, Who fell from heaven, doth high delight afford."* And in a third passage a lost spirit is made to curse Boniface VIII., heeause this pope had lulled him into security by an indulgence, which he found when too late was powerless to rescue him fi'ora the clutches of the devil. But despite this sweeping denunciation of god- less popes, he was not wanting in a due regard for the dignity of the vicegerent of Christ, for we find him hurling anathemas without stint against Philip the Fair, for injuries done to this same Boniface VIII. BOCCACCIO. Hardly was Dante in his grave, when the Florentines entreated for permission to remove his remains, but Guido di Polenta turned a deaf ear to their suit, and to this day the bones of Dante rest in Ravenna, where in life the tired wanderer found his last refuge and repose. Within a little more than fifty years after his death, or in 1373, Florence founded a special chair for the interpretation of the " Divina Commedia" and called Boccaccio to occupy it. Giovanni Boccaccio was born at Florence, in the year 1313, eight years prior to the death of Dante. Destined by his father for the mercantile profession, he was placed with a merchant, with whom he remained •from his 10th to his 16th year. After the conviction had been forced upon the father that he had mistaken the bent of his son's genius, he altered his plan, and put him to the study of the canon law, " with which," the son informs us, " I wearied myself for six long years, but all to no purpose." In his 25th year, Boccaccio visited the tomb of Virgil, near Naples, and there he conceived the resolution to devote himself to the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. In Naples too it was, " on the anniversary of that day," we quote his own words, " on which men celebrate the glorious return of the son of Jupiter from the despoiled realms of Pluto," that is on the Saturday before Easter, in the year 1341, and in the Church of St. Lorenzo, that he first saw his beloved. But how different the love of Boccaccio from the pure and lofty idolatry "bf Dante ! / The energies of Boccaccio were directed both to the study of the • The two quotations from the " Divina Commedia " made above, are from Wright's trans- lation, published in Bohn's Standard Library. HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 27 ancient classics and to the elevation of Italian prose. He collected orig- inal manuscripts of the classics, had copies made, and wrote a Genealogy of the Gods. In one respect he surpassed Dante, and, as we shall see hereafter, even Petrareh ; namely, in the acquisition of Greek. This he learned from Leontius Pilatus, whom in the year 1360 he brought to Florence. This Leontius professed to be a Thessalian, but was in reality a native of Calabria. Boccaccio read Homer -with him, and was afterward the means of his giving public lectures upon this poet. The Latin poems of Boccaccio were held in very high esteem by his cotemporaries, his eclogues being ranked higher even than those of Virgil. But these Latin poems are forgotten, while on the contrary one of his Italian works, the " Decameron,'^ after passing through ninety- seven editions, is yet at the present day being continually reprinted. This work has exercised and still is exercising a vast influence for the elevation and purity of Italian prose. Of its origin we have the fol- lowing account. In the year 1348 Florence was visited by that frightful pestilence the plague. After describing its ravages, Boccac- cio goes on to relate how, to escape from it, seven ladies and three young men withdrew to a country seat, and there during the space of ten days improvised or recited stories, to the number of ten each day. Preceding novels had been extremely simple. They were sketched with a few bold and prominent touches ; but these of Boccaccio, on the contrary, are rich in musical words and graceful in incident, and reproduce the refined conversational style of a highly polished society. Many of these novels are familiar under different forms to many per- sons who perhaps are not aware that they originated with Boccaccio. Of this class is the story, in Lessing's " Nathan the Wise,'" of the " Three Rings." We find here the most unsparing attacks upon the hierarchy and the monks. Instance the story of Abraham, the Paris Jew. A Christian urges him to be baptized ; but first, to assure himself, he takes a journey to Rome, the center of Christendom. There he finds all the clergy, from the highest to the lowest, wallowing in the most abandoned impiety, avarice, sensuality, gluttony, and unnatural lusts, and carrying on a most shameless traffic in spiritual things, etc. On his return to Paris he tells his Christian friend how he found at Rome neither holiness nor devotion, but rather the very opposite of these. "In short," said he to the Christian, "your shepherd and all his flock appear to think of nothing else than how they may annihilate the Christian religion, and drive it from the world ; since however their efforts do not succeed, but this religion emerges all the more radiant 28 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. and glorious, it is doubtless upheld and directed by the Holy Spirit. And for this reason I will permit myself to be baptized." Many among these novels are prurient and obscene, and in their composition the inventor did not trouble himself even for a f5g-leaf to hide their shame. It indicates an extreme corruption of morals that he put such words in the mouths of Florentine ladies, and we should judge his fiction a slander, if we had not Dante's express assurance, that at that period even sermons were preached from the pulpit against the immodesty of the Florentine women. About the year 1360, Boccaccio was warned by a dying monk to give up his studies and to prepare himself for death. Seized with terror, he wrote to Petrarch for direction. Petrarch consoled him by. casting suspicion upon the prophecy, and- continued with a defense of legitimate studies. " I well know,'' he wrote, " that one can be a holy man without learning, but I also know that learning is no hindrance to holiness, as many would have us believe. We should be cautious how we compare an ignorant devotion with an enlightened piety." That Boccaccio did not give up his studies, we have unmistakable testimony ; for it was in the year 13V3, or 13 years after this proph- ecy, that his work on the Genealogy of the Gods first made its ap- pearance. He died in the year 1375, aged 62 years. — His writings he bequeathed to the pious care of Martin, an Augus- tati monk in Florence, with the injunction to him to pray for his soul. To a monastery of another fraternity he left a collection of relics that he had been at great pains to bring together. Air this proves that in his later years he underwent deep contrition for the unblushing friv- olity of 'tis youth. In a letter he laments that " no one will urge his youth as an> apology for the transgressions of his pen." And he adjures fathers not to place the "Decameron" in the hands of their children. What an important part this book played two hundred years later, in Italian literature, we shall see in the course of this history. 1 PETRARCH. Petrarch was born at Arezzo, Aug. 1, 1304. He says of himself: " In exile was I conceived and in exile born." His father, a notary at Florence, adhered, as did Dante, to' the faction of the Whites and was likewise driven from the city in the year 1302, not long after Dante's banishment. He went thence to Arezzo, where Petrarch first saw thelight on the first of August, 1304. The child was not yet a year old when his mother remove^ with him to Ancisa, and in his seventh year his parents located themselves in Pisa. Well wrapped up and intrusted to the care of a sturdy horseman, the lad narrowly escaped drowning as the horse made a false step in the ford of the Arno. In Pisa HISTORY OP EDBCATION IN ITALY. 29 he wasplaoed under the instruction of Barlaam. In his eighth year he journejed with his parents to Avignon, where the pope had tempo- rarily fixed his See. At Carpentras, not far from Avignon, he studied, for four years, grammar, rhetoric, and logic. In his 15th year his father sent him to Montpelier, and four years after to Bologna, to pros- ecute the study of the law. It was with great reluctance that he ac- ceded to his father's wishes in this respect, and we find him reading Cicero and Virgil in preference to Justinian. When his father heard of his course, he went forthwith to Bologna, upbraided his son for thus misspending his time, and threw his manuscripts into the fire. He was only induced, by his son's promise of reformation, made on bended knees, to spare Cicero and Virgil. Nevertheless, on the death of his father in 1326, Petrarch bade adieu both to Bologna and to his studies, returned to Avignon, and entered the service of the church. In his-2'7th year, on Good Friday, 1327, and at church, he caught his first glimpse of Laura de Noves, who was espoused to Hugo di Sade. From that- moment to her death she was the object of his pure, idealized love ; and this love he has embalmed forever in can- zonets and sonnets written in his native Italian. Then it w^that he retired to the shades of Vaucluse, in the neighborhood of Avignon, a spot which his poems have rendered sacred to this day. Here he began, in 1339, the composition of a great Latin epic, that he called "Africa." His hero was the hero of Livy, Scipio Africanus the elder. This poem, he fondly dreamed, was to bear his name down to poster- ity. But five hundred years have come and gone, and "his Italian poems have lost none of their original freshness ; but who ever reads, nay, we may ask who ever hears of, that Latin epic ? Time, the unerring judge, has glorified those, and drawn an impenetrable veil over this. But Petrarch's cotemporaries thought difierently : their opinion agreed with his own. On one and the same day he received two in- vitations, one from the chancellor of the University of Paris, the other from the senate of Rome ; each ofiering him the honor of a public coronation. He decided in favor of Rome, but went beforehand to the court of that " great philosopher and king," Robert of Naples. Having presented to Robert a copy of his epic, the monarch urgently solicited hiiu to accept the laurel then ; but his love for Rome did not permit him to embrace the prtjffer. Robert accordingly dismissed him with a retinue of envoys, and with letters to the Roman senate. It was on Easter Sunday, the 8th of April, 1341, that the poet was crowned at the capitol. Early in the morning the shrill sound of trumpets gave notice of the approaching festivities, and the streets were soon full of thronging multitudes, eager to witness the unwonted 30 . HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. spectacle. And first a high mass was performed at the altar of St. Peters by the vice-legate, the Bishop of Terracina. Then ;^welve young men in scarlet robes escorted the poet to the capitol, chanting verses before him. After them came Petrarch himself, sumptuously arrayed in; violet-colored vestments, the gift of the king of Naples, and attended by six of the most distinguished citizens of Rome, clad in green, and having their brows wreathed with chaplets of flowers. After proceeding thus for a short distance, he mounted a lofty chariot, upon which were represented symbols of the art of poetry, and whose throne was supported by a lion, an elephant, a griffin, and a panther. Around the throne stood a group of personages in the character of Gre- cian deities, and upon it on either hand of Petrarch were statues of the Graces, of Bacchus, and of Patience. It was drawn by four horses, and preceded by a maiden, singing. After it came Envy, attended by satyrs, fauns, aiid nymphs, dancing. When Petrarch had thus arrived at the capitol, he solicited the laurel in a Latin speech, whose theme he had selected from Virgil. Then, amid the threefold accla- mation, " Long live the Roman people ! " " Long live the senate ! " " God guard our liberties ! " he kneeled before the Senator Orlo, Count of Anguillara, who placed a laurel crown upon his brows, with these words pronounced in a loud voice : " This crown is the reward of merit." The count then declared Petrarch to be a great poet and historian, and, by virtue of the authority of Robert, king of Naples, of the senate, and of the people of Rome, he accorded to him full privilege, " as well in this all -consecrated city as in every land^in Christendom, to teach in public, to hold disputations, to comment upon old books, to compose new, arid to produce poems, which by the grace of God might endure to the end of time ; " and this per- mission was confirmed to him by a written decree. Petrarch then recited a sonnet in honor of the heroes of Rome, and all the people clapped their hands, and shouted with a voice of thunder, " The cap- itol forever ! long'live the poet ! " His friends wept tears of joy, and Stephen Colonna spoke publicly in his praise. The same escort then conducted him to the Church of St. Peter • here he scattered amongst the people four hundred gulden, furnished him for this purpose by the family of Colonna. Count Ano-uillara presented him with a ruby valued at five hundred ducats,' the Roman people five hundred ducats more, together with all the paraphernalia used in the coronation. He then bowed in prayer before the altar and dedicated to the apostle his threefold crown (of ivy, laurel and myrtle,) to be suspended from the dome. At last the procession returned to the palace of the Colonnas, where the festival was closed with a sumptuous supper and ball. HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 31 An honor suet as this coronation had been conceded to.no one within the memory of man. Nor could it well be said of any one, in any former age, that during his lifetime he had enjoyed so much reputation in such a wide circle, and had been so highly honored both by kings, emperors, and people, as had Petrarch. Hence in his old age he became surfeited with renown. Petrarch, in common with many of his countrymen, cherished the memory of the ancient glories of Rome, and longed* to see those glories restored. For the power of the hierarchy, that, under Gregory VII., Innocent III., and others, had made the nations of Christian Europe mere dependencies of Rome, had since the division of the church greatly declined. Every movement that tended to the restoration of Rome, was hailed by Petrarch with delight. Hence, when Rienzi, in the year 1346, during the Pontificate of Clement VI., attempted the sublime scheme of reinaugurating the Roman Republic, Petrarch wrote enthusiastic letters to the Romans, in which he compared Rienzi to the elder Brutus. But this man, who, in the delirium of his pride, had sum- moned emperors and kings before his throne, and who had arrogated to himself the possession of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, was in the following year driven from'the city. Petrarch then turned his eyes upon Charles IV., and invited him as the descendant of Charles the Great to come to Italy and recon- struct the Roman Empire, He came finally in 1354, but played a cowardly part at Milan and at Rome, and made all haste back again to Germany. At this Petrarch was incensed, and wrote him a letter full of bitter reproaches. " Thou," he said, " thou, lord of the Ro- man Empire ! Thou hast no aspirations which reach beyond Bo- hemia. When had thy grandfather or thy father acted thus ignobly ? But virtue, I perceive, is no inheritance." The retreat of Charles he stigmatized as " inglorious, not to say infamous." But he used still stronger language of the hierarchy. The Papal See, at Avignon, he called the second Babylon ; and he laid bare its corruptions both in prose and in verse. " Here thou mayest behold a people," thus he wrote to a friend, " that is not only at variance with Christ, but that arrays jtself against his cause whilp marching under his banner ; a people that serves Satan, and thirstmg for the blood of Christ, taunts him with the words, ' Our lips are our own : who is Lord over us ? ' They are a froward, godless, smooth-tongued, and avaricious generation, and, like Judas, they betray their master. They have the name of Christ in their mouths by day and by night, but yet they are ever ready to sell him for silver." In another let- ter he says, " In this stronghold of avarice, nothing is deemed iniqui- 32 HISTORY OP EDrCATION IN ITALY. tous, pisovided only that the pay is secure. The hope of life everlast- ing, and all the terrors of the second death, have become to them as a fable ; the resurrection of the flesh, the end of the world, and the coming of Christ in judgment, they look ^upon as the devices of a juggler. Truth they call folly, moderation weakness, and modesty a disgrace. In fine, a life of open sin they make their highest -wisdom and their truest liberty ; the more scandalous the conduct the more worthy they*think it, and the greater the crime the greater the glory." In still another place he says, " Shall I choose Babylon (Avignon) for my residence, -where I shall be compelled to see the ^ood abused and the vile exalted, eagles creep and asses soar aloft, where wolves roam at large but lambs are led to the slaughter, where Christ is persecuted and Anti-Christ is Lord, while Beelzebub sits in the seat of judgment ? " Such is the picture which he gives of the pope and the' clergy, not upon hearsay evidence, but as he himself had seen them ; and of the sardinals he relates deeds that are absolutely too shameless to repeat. Petrarch's attainments belonged wholly to a subsequent age ; he was the precursor of 'the philological poets. Hence it was that he apparently had no sympathy with Dante, that gigantic spirit of the Middle Ages, prophetic not of one age alone but of all coming time. Cicero was his delight, even froin boyhood. " At an age," he writes, " when I could not understand him in any degree, I was at- tracted to him purely by the sweetness and the rhythmic flow of his words." So likewise was he enthusiastic jn his love for Virgil. And the study of the law tended in his opinion to diminish this enthusi- asm. " Nothing," he writes to Thomas of Messina, " nothing suc- ceeds that is undertaken against nature. She has formed me for solitude and not for the forum. I do not venture to say that I acted with a wise forecast, but only that I happened upon the right course, when I threw off the fetters of Bologna." Petrarch had a most ardent desire to learn the Greek. His earlier teacher, Bavlaam, a Calabrian of the Order of St. Basil, first met him at Avignon, in 1342. "With glowing hopes and eager desire," he writes, " did I apply myself to the Greek ; but the complete foreign- ness of the language, and the sudden decease of my teacher, put an end to my project." Nicholas Sigeros subsequently sent him a Homer from Constantinople. He acknowledged the gift in these terms : " You have sent me a great, a priceless treasure ; I only wish that you yourself had come with it ; then could I learn this difficult lan- guage under yoilr direction, and so enjoy your gift. But, alas ! what shall 1 do ? For you live in a distant land, and Barlaam has been snatched from me by death. To me Homer is dumb, or, much more, HISTORY OP EDUCATION IN ITALY. 33 I am deaf for him. Yet I delight myself in gazing on hiir, and often do I embrace him, and exclaim with a sigh, ' thou great man, how joyfully would I listen to' thy numbers, but my ears are sealed, the one by death, the other by long distance.' " Petrarch added, notwithstanding, the request to Sigeros to send him a Hesiod and a Euripides. His enthusiasm for the Koman classics was that of an Italian who honored in them the genius of his ancestors, and who longed for the restoration of the olden power and glory of Rome. He must have had, moreover, as his poems show, a most delicate' ear for the sweetness of the language. The charming periods of Cicero, and the stately hexameters of Virgil, exercised a magical influence upon him. His absorbing devotion to the ancient classics, his dail}' and constant communion with them, and withal his endeavoi-s to im- itate them, are every where evidenced ; in his letters especially. So much the more must we honor him, in that he was not warped from Christianity by his attachment to the ancients. "It is permitted to us," he writes to John Colonna, " to admire and to esteem the philos- ophers, provided that they do not turn us aside from truth, nor blind our eyes to the chief end of our existence. Should any of them tempt us to this, even were it Plato, Aristotle, Varro, or Cicero, then must he with an unyielding steadfastness be despised and trodden under foot. No acuteness of argumentation, no seducing array of words, no authority of great names, should be allowed to have any weight with us. For they were but men, their learning was no deeper than human penetration and experience could go ; and, though their elo- quence was surpassing, and their intellectual gifts of the highest order, yet we should compassionate them, because they lacked that good which is unspeakable and above all price. Inasmuch as they trusted to their own strength, and turned away from the true light, they have stumbled and fallen, after the manner of the blind. We may admire their talents, but at the same time we should not forget to give the glory to Him who bestowed those talents upon them. "We may feel compassion for the errors of these men, but we should not forget to be grateful for our lot, and to acknowledge that we have been more highly favored than our ancestors, and that, without any merit of our own, but purely through the grace of Him who conceals his myster- ies from the wise but reveals them unto babes. Let us .so philosophize as to abide by the true wisdom. But the true wisdom of God is in Christ. To philosophize then in the true spirit, we must love and honor Christ first of all. Let us be Christians, first and foremost. Let us so read philosophy, poetry, and history, that Christ's gospel shall ever sound in the ears of our heart, that gospel through which alone we can become sufiBciently learned and blessed, but without 34 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. which our highest accomplishments will but render ns more ignorant and wretched. Upon the gospel alone, as upon the only immovable basis of all true knowledge, can human diligence build with safety." But clearly as Petrarch beheld the relation which the classics sus- tained to the gospel, and just as was the opinion which he pronounced upon them, yet he was equally free from the narrow-mindedness of those who foolishly deem themselves the more acceptable to God the more they clip the wings of their own spirits. "You tell me," Pe- trarch wrote to James Colonna, " that I only feign a love for Augns- tin and his works, while in truth I can not divorce myself from the poets and philosophers. But why should I tear myself away from those studies in which Augustin himself took so much delight? Had it not been so with him, he had never put together those sub- lime books ' of the City of God ' — to say nothing of his other works — with so much cement borrowed from the poets and philosophers, nor adorned them with so many colors drawn from the orators and his- torians. And he himself moreover freely testifies that he found much of the Christian element in the works of the Platonists, and that the Hortensius of Cicero made a wonderful change in his views, so that he was diverted thereby from vain expectations, and the profitless controversies of sects, and attracted to the unmingled study of truth. Thus was this great teacher of the church not ashamed to put him- self under the guidance of Cicero, although Cicero's ideal was in the main so widely difierent from his. And why should he have been ashamed ? We ought not to refuse the aid of any leader, who points to us the way of the soul's safety. I do not deny that much is to be found in the classics that we ought to avoid ; so too in Christian writers there are often many things which will mislead an incautious reader. Yea, Augustin himself has given us a laborious work, in which, with his own hand, he has rooted out the tares from the rich- wheat-field of his writings. In short, the books are very few that we can read without danger, unless the light of divine truth shall shine into our minds, and discover to us what to choose and what to shun. And if we have this light to guide us, we shall walk every where in a sure place." But the men of that day did not all share Petrarch's opinions. He lamented, as Augustin had done before him, " that so many, in their enthusiasm for study, neglected to strive after holiness, and thought ninre highly of eloquence and renown than of a blameless life and of virtue. Poets were more willing to be faulty in their conduct than in their verse ; historians cared more to trace the annals of the world than to render an account of their own short lives ; and orators shrank with far more disgust from deformity in style than from HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 35 crooked dealings with their fellow-men. Theologians had degenerated into logicians, nay, into sophists ; they did not seek to love, only \o know God, nor this except for appearance' sake and to deceive others, while in secret they cherished their unholy passions." The preceding paragraph discloses Petrarch's aversion to the logi- cians, that is, the scholastics. In two letters to Thomas of Messina he holds up to ridicule an old, contentious logician, depicts his bloodless, lanthorn-jawed visage, his sunken eyes, his ragged attire, and his rough, austere manner. Accusations and slanders form the staple of his dis- course. With hoarse yelping he has given utterance to the dictum that Petrarch's art, i. e., the art of poetry, was the least useful of all the arts. Petrarch admits, in' passing, that it ministers to the desire for delight and for beauty, not to mere utility. But the logician argues, that, if the poetic art is the least useful, it is therefore the least elevated. According to such an irrational conclusion, the barest hand- icraft is to be held in the highest honor. " Out upon this new and barbarous doctrine," Petrarch continues, " a doctrine unknown ewn to Aristotle, whose name they sully by the imputation." The hatred of the scholastics toward Petrarch was subsequently displayed in the most violent manner. At Venice they sat in judg- ment upon him, and decreed that he was devoid of learning ; upon which he wrote the. treatise " On his own ignorance and that of others.'^ In another quarter he was cried down as a disciple of the " black art," because he read Virgil so constantly, a poet regarded in the Mid- dle Ages as a sorcerer, and also because he wrote poems himself. The chief and most rancorous enemy of the poets at that period was Solipodio, a Dominican and a Grand Inquisitor. In his youth, Petrarch was accounted beautiful : in a letter to his brother be alludes jocosely to their mutual pride of personal appear- ance. "Yet would that I could say with truth," he writes, "that I had ever remained entirely free from the dominion of pleasure ! But I thank God that, while I was yet in the flower of youth. He rescued me from this debasing and detested yoke." He owed his safety to his pure, poetical love for Laura, who remained to the end true to her marriage-vow. In the year 1348, that terrible pestilence, the Black Plague, raged throughout Asia and Europe, from China to Iceland. During that period, Petrarch wrote to his brother as follows : — " My brother, ah ! my dearest brother, what shall I tell you ? Where shall I begin, or what shall I speak of firet ? All is anguish and terror. Oh ! my brother, would that I had never been born, or at least that I had not lived to witness these horrore ! " " Was it ever heard, does history any where show the record, of houses emptied, and cities depopulated, of / 36 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY fields piled with the dead, in short, of the whole globe being changed into a waste, howling wilderness? Ask the historians, they are dumb ; ask the physicians, they are struck with amazement ; ask the philosophers, they shrug their shoulders, draw down their eyebrows, and, with their finger on their mouth, they bid you be silent. Will posterity credit this, when we ourselves, who are eye-witnesses, can scarce believe it ? " In a tone of despairing sadness Jie mourns over the loss of numbers of his friends. In these dark days his thoughts were continually with his absent Laura. On the'^th of April, he tells us, she appeared to him in a morning-dream, fair as an angel. " Dost thou not know me ? " she said, " I am she who led thee aside from the beaten paths of worldhness, when first thy young heart inclined itself to me." To his question whether she yet lived, she replied : " 1 am living, but thou art dead, and so thou wilt remain, until thou hast left the earth behind thee. Thou wilt never find true happiness, so long as thou courtest the favor, or art awed by the displeasure, of the poJ)ulace. Thou wouldst rejoice at my death rather than mourn over it, couldst thou realize but a tithe of the bliss which is now my portion." On the 19th of May, next following, Petrarch received the news that Laura had died upon that dream-night, the 6th of April ; it was on the 6th of April, twenty-one years before, that he had first seen her. At such a trying period, and with such experiences, it is not to be wondered at that Petrarch, as he advanced in years, became mel- ancholy and austere, withdrawing himself more and more from the vanities of the world. He had from the first, however, cherished an especial reverence and love for the austere Augustin above all the church fathers ; the " Confessions " chiefly had exercised a marked influence upon him. This book he had with him as he once ascended to the summit of the lofty Veutoux, and from thence enjoyed the glorious prospect over the Alps of Dauphiny, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Cevennes — while the Khone flowed at his feet. He there opened the boot, and the first passage upon which his eye alighted was the fol- lowing : " Men go on long journeys to admire lofty mountains and mighty oceans, but meanwhile they forget themselves." This thought made a profound impression upon him, and was the occasion of his afterward writing the " Conversations with Augustin.''^ In his last years he resided at Arqua, in the neighborhood of Padua. - On the 18th of July, 13'74, he was found dead, his head resting upon a book. Sixteen doctors bore his coffin to the grave; nobles, clergy, and multitudes of the common people joined in the funeral-procession. The following epitaph, •which he had himself composed, is upon his tombstone ■; — HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALT. 37 " Frigida Francisoi tegit hie lapis ossa Petrarchss ; — Suscipe Virgo parens animam ; Sate Virgine paroe, Fessa^ae jam terris Coeli requiesoat in arce."* In his will he bequeathed, amongst other things, money to Boccaccio to buy himself a -winter-robe to wear whilst studying at night. His choice library he had before his death given to the Venetians, and it formed the nucleus of the afterward so celebrated Library of St. Mark. He had spent an extraordinary amount of labor in collecting manuscripts, and many he had copied with his own hand, while others he had employed his scholar, John of Kavenna, subsequently renowned as a teacher, to copy. III. RETROSPECT. DANTE, BOCCACCIO, AND PETRARCH. Looking back for a moment at these three men, let us ask ourselves what they had in common, and wherein they differed from one an- other. All three, sons of Florentine citizens, they first fashioned a common national and written language for the whole of Italy. This they did, not so much by means of convincing philological demon- strations, based upon established principles, as by recognizing and authenticating the language, in the works of their genius. " Poets and authors, in the lofty moods of their inspiration, feel the invisible sway of the untiringly creative spirit of language."f All three of them moreover paved the way for the study of the classics, and in them first we behold an awakening feeling of classical beauty, and an enthusiastic love for the ancients ; nevertheless Dante and Petrarch were familiar with Roman writers only, though Boccac- cio read the Greek also. This enthusiastic love for the classics was destined sooner or later to come into conflict with the Christian faith. In Dante- however this faith ruled in a sublime and undisputed tranquillity.. Petrarch's passion for the classics was likewise uncon- ditionally subordinate to the doctrines of the church. And it is only later, and chiefly among the Italians, that we find the Pagan element frequently victorious over the Christian. Side by side with this conflict we behold an extremely singular intermingling of Pagan and Christian words, metaphors, and senti- ments. Thus we find in Dante the following : — " Forgive, O highest Jove, enthroned in light, Thou who on earth wast crucified for mortals." • The above epitaph,~a compact rhyming triplet, in dactylic hexameter, 1 have reproduced in trochaic heptameter, as follows, viz :— " Cold the bones of Francis Petrarch here beneath this marble lie : Take his soul, O Virgin parent ; Virgin's son in grace draw nigh From the weary earth to bear it to thy peaceful courts on high." [Translator.i t Jacob Grimm, iu the preface to his German Grammar. No. 18.— [Vol. VI., No. 3.]— 28. 38 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. We have seen that Boccaccio calls Christ " the son of Jupiter, who ravished the realms of Pluto." It was of a piece too with this mode of representation that, at the coronation of Petrarch, satyrs, fauns, and nymphs were made to dance before the poet, when he was about to offer his prayers at the altar of St. Peter, and to devote his (^rown as a sacrifice to the apostle. This Christian-Pagan intermixture was carried by the later Italians into the grossest caricature. The medi'seval method of writing Latin, and heedlessly corrupting it without any knowledge of the Koman writers of the golden age, now began to die out ; the classics were sought for and read, and all possible efforts were made to imitate them. Although these three men thus prepared the way for the Italian writer whether of prose or verse to express his thoughts in his own livitig vernacular, yet more than a century passed before any new works meriting attention were composed in the Italian language. On the contrary, so absorbing was the enthusiasm for the classics during the 15th century, that the Italian scholars of that period treated their native tongue with contempt. In the Latin Dialogues of Leonardo Aretino we find that well-known statesman and scholar, Nicole Nicoli, speaking in the following manner of Dante : — " I can not conceive how any one can place this man, who wrote such poor Latin, among poets and scholars, or, as some do, prefer him even to Virgil : he ought rather, I think, to be classed with belt-makers and bakers, and people of that kidney." Even up to the time of Lorenzo di Medici, Florentine fathers and teachers forbade their boys to read books written in Italian, which language they contemptuously styled a vulgar tongue. But when, toward the close of the 15th and in the 16th centuries, the vernacular was again brought into repute throSgh the efforts of master writers both of prose and poetry, then the Academy delta Crusca constituted itself a supreme tribunal to decide between good and bad Italian. By it, Petrarch's poems, and of Boccaccio's prose the "Decameron,^' were pronounced the highest authority in Italian, in the same manner as Cicero was in Latin. Men had indeed been so long accustomed to imitation, that they did not even deem it possible to be original. That Dante, the inimitable, must necessarily have been neglected by the Academy, is hence quite natural. It is worthy of remark that both Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, were unanimous in condemning the gross corruption of the clergy. They did not even spare the pope ; -Dante's sharp rebuke of indulgences was em- inently a prelude to the contests of the Reformation. In the succeed- ing centuries, the advancement and upbuilding of classical culture — ■. HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 39 in Germany especially — was most closely leagued with the cause of reformation in the church ; so closely in fact, that Erasmus, for exam- ple, was often unable to determine precisely what he was advocating, whether the claims of sound learning'or of ecclesiastical purity. Dante's powerful imagination and raost delicate appreciation of beauty were made tributary to an intellect flashing with the keenest subtleties of scholasticisrrt. Petrarch, on the other hand, belonged rather to the coming time, as his antipathy to the repulsive and de- generate logic of most of the schoolmen indicates. They too on their part regarded his poetry as altogether useless, and solemnly stigmatized the poet as an unenlightened dunce. It was a Grand Inquisitor, and a Dominican, who in that age testified the greatest degree of hatred toward all the poets. "What an apt introduction is this to the battles which, in the 15th and the 16th centuries, raged between the well-meaning, though often superficial, champions of an- tiquity and the last representatives of an unlearned and misshapen scholasticism, with the Dominicans at their head 1 With these preliminary hints, we resume our history, in the course of which it will become more and more apparent that the influence of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio upon the learning of Germany, if not direct, was nevertheless immense. IV. GROWTH OF CLASBICAL LEARNING IN ITALY, FROM THE DEATH OF PETRARCH AND BOCCACCIO TO THE AGE OF LEO Jl. 1. Jolm of Ravenna and Emanuel Chrysoloras, Three sons of Florentine citizens, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccac- cio, had thus laid the foundation of a new style of culture. Within a century and a half after the death of the latter, the passion for clas- sical studies ran high. Florence fostered these studies above all other cities, and chiefly through the influence of Cosmo and Lorenzo di Medici. Next to Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Ferrara were conspicuous ; in fact no city of note in Italy remained entirely aloof; all desired to see one or another philologist, if only for a time, as a teacher within their walls. Hence the most distinguished men were constantly called from one city to another. Among the earliest teachers there were two who formed many illustrious scholars. One of these was John Malpaghino, commonly called, after the place of his birth, John of Ravenna. He was born in 1352. He spent several years with Petrarch, who treated him with the fondness of a father, and gave him instruction. Having superior talents, and a wonderful memory, he made rapid progress. Nevertheless he left Petrarch sud- denly, from a disgust for transcribing, joined to a desire to see the world. Some time after, he taught at JPadua, and was there distin- guished as well for his blameless life as for his learning. In the year 40 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ITALY. 1397 he was appointed by the city of Florence to a professorship of the Eoman language and eloquence. In the year 1412 be obtained the further honor of lecturiSgupon and explaining the "Bivina Corn- media " of Dante, upon feast-days in the cathedral. He died some- where between 1412 and 1420. As John promoted the study of the Koman classics, so did Eman- uel Chrysoloras the like for the Greek. At first a teacher in Constan- tinople, he was, after the year 1391, sent by the Emperor John Palaeologus repeatedly into the West, to secure help against the in- roads of the Turks. In the year 1396 he was invited, upon a salary of 100 gulden, to Florence to teach Greek literature. He was the first native Greek who taught in Italy. " For 100 years," thus wrote his scholar, Leonardo Aretino, " no Italian has known any thing of Greek literature, and yet we acknowledge that all our learning is derived from the Greeks." Afterward Chrysoloras taught in Favia, Venice, etc. He was sent in 1415, by Pope John XXIIL, to the Council of Constance, in which city he died. - John of Ravenna and Chrysoloras were succeeded by a host of ^eachers, both of Latin and Greek ; for the new style of culture de- manded a knowledge of both these languages. Latin was the chief language in vogue among the higher orders in. Italy ; for it had been the language of their great Roman forefathers, and they were there- fore too proud of it to regard it as dead. Greek too had been taught by Chrysoloras as his own living, native tongue, not as a dead book- language ; and as he had done, so did other Greeks, who afterward came to Italy. 2. The Teachers Guarino and Vittorino di Feltre, Of the many philologists who now came into notice, I will, agreeably to the plan that I have marked out for myself, give a sketch of two who became eminent both as public instructors and as private tutors, viz., Guarino and Vittorino di -Feltre. Guarino was born in 1310, at Ferrara, and as early as 1388 he betook himself to Constantinople to ChTysoloras. On his return home, he taught in Verona, Padua, and Bolognaj in Ferrara superintended the education of Prince Lionello, translated Strabo and other classics, gave comments on Cicero, Persius, Juvenal, Martial, Aristotle, povrioTtiptiiy," the place of cares. /conduct a school 1 What time would be left me for study ; what repose, for invention and production ? Where should I find one or two hours daily for the interpretation of an author 1 The boys would claim the larger portion of my time, besides wearing my patience to that degree,*that whatever leisure time I could, secure would be required, not for study, but rather to catch my breath and to compose my thoughts. Tou say "that with a less rigid discharge of my duties, I might lead a more agreeable life." I might indeed ; but, were I neglectful, which of my colleagues would be assiduous, which of them would not rather, after my example, take his ease ? I think, that a wise man should first carefully consider, whether he should undertake a thing or no ; but when once he does undertake it, then he ought to exfert every effort to perform it conscientiously. You say, that I can devote one or two hours a day to lecturing on some classical author before the nobility ; but I would have no leisure for this, since the freshest and best part of every day must be given to the boys, even to weariness. And such lectures meet with discouragements and drawbacks, as I know from experi- ence. In the first glow of zeal many take hold of them ; later, when the zeal is cold, some plead off on the pretext of business, others from the re-action of en- thusiasm become disgusted, and others again are led to stay away, if for no other reason, because their neighbors do. One finds it too much trouble, another, too great an expense. So it comes about, that of a large audience, scarce four or five shall remain with you through the course. It might appear, that a man who had not the smallest inclination to teach either old or young, would not deserve mention in a history of education. But it would be appearance merely. For if Agricola took no pleasure in teaching, himself, yet the prosperity tof schools was a matter of deep interest to him. This is evident from parts of this very letter to Barbirianus. He begs him, to persuade the Antwerpers to subject the man, with whom they purposed to intrust the schools, to a conscientious examination beforehand. They should not select a theologian, neither any one of those hair splitting doctors, who imagine that they are confpetent to speak upon any subject what- ever, while they know notlnng, in the first place, of the very art of speaking itself. Such people are as much out of their element in schools, as, according to the Greek proverb, a dog would be in a bath. Much rather ought they to choose a man after the style of Phoenix, the preceptor of Achilles, who should be able both to teach, to speak and to act ; if they could find such an one, they should make sure of him at any price.- For their decision was no unim- portant matter, since the destiny of their children depended on it. It was no small thing that they were about to do ; for it pertained to their children, for whose future wel&re they themselves in other respects were now toiling and struggling. Then- utmost care should be bestowed on that tender age, which, even with the best talents, takes the stamp of good or evU indifferently, accord- ing to the influence brought to bear upon it. In a subsequent letter to Barbirianus, Agricola praises the friendly reception that ^alberg had given him. Biit on the other hand he RUDOLF AGRICOLA. ijij writes to his brother of his complete unhappiness in the midst of all the prosperity that he enjoyed at Heidelberg. It is hard for me, in advancing age, to leam to serve. And though no ser- vice is required of me, yet I know not whether I am not more greatly burdened, in feeling constrained to impose those duties on myself which others have re- leased me from. Thus freedom itself exacts a heavy service of me. His love of freedom dissuaded him from wedlock ; or, as he wrote to Reuchlin, it was a shri'pking from care, and a dislike to be tied down' to an establishment. , Of great importance to us are Agricola's letters to his friend, Al- exander Hegius, the fanSous Rector of Deventer, of whom also we are soon to speak. One of these letters dates from Worms, whither Agricola had gone in the retinue of the Bishop Dalberg. He commences by commend- ing Hegius ; for, as he perceives by his writing, he has improved in his Latinity, (politiorem te, limatioremgue fieri.) He showed his let- ter to Dalberg, who joined with himself in wishing Germany joy of such a teacher, exclaiming, " Made virtute, sic itur ad astra." Far- ther on, he laments that studying with the bishop, and public lectures, consume too much of his time. His pupils, with the best inclination, shewed scarce any capacity for study : they were mostly masters, or " Scholastici ariium" so called, who squandered all their time upon the sophistical nonsense of the schools, (cavillationes,) and hence found no room for attention to classical studies. " For this reason,"* he adds, " I have undertaken the Hebrew, which is a new and a very difficult labor to me, and which (I could scarce have believed it) gives me much more trouble than did Greek, earlier in life. Yet I am determined to persevere. 1 have assigned the study of the Holy Scriptures to my later years, provided that my life is spared." In a previous letter to Hegius, in 1480, he accuses himself for in- termitting his studies, and mentions, as the chief cause of his neglect, the fact, that he has no one in Groningen, with whom he can labor in common. Among other matters, he answers some philological questions, which Hegius had submitted to him. He defines the words, mimus, histrio, persona, scurra, parasiius, nebulo, nepos, ves- per, aurora, tignum, trabs, asser, contignatio. He expresses a doubt whether honum sero is as good Latin as bonum mane. "As it regards the derivation and formation of new words after- the analogies of the language," he says, "I should hardly venture to form a word for which I could not shew classical authority ; yet I might haply have said, ^Socratitas,^ 'Flatonitas,^ and ' entitas,'' although our Laurentius Valla disapproves of such words." Farther on Agricola explains * For lack of encouragement. 78 RUDOLF AGEICOLA. iioi'jtijo'lf, marks tne precise difference between v SiaksxTixri and TO, diaXexrma,, and suggests a correction in what Hegius has written, viz., that ho should use ^ intra,'' or 'post quantum tempo- rii instead of ' guanio tempore. The above will serve to characterize the condition of philological science at that time, and to indicate its gradual advance. In the same letter he writes to Hegius ; that he will send his brother to him to school, provided private instruction in the elements can be given to him out of school hours. " I am very desirous," he writes, "that- my brother should learn- the ele- ments as speedily as possible. For I thintf that boys only lose time when they remain too long at these ; and that, in the way that these are ordinarily taught, the scholar is filled with disgust for learning, and with ' barbarism'' at the same time, so that later in his career he learns what is better and more important not only more slowly, but with greater trouble.'' In the year 1484, Agricola wrote a long letter to Barbirianus on the method of studying (deformando studio.) The question arises, what we shall study, and then, in what method ? Deter- mined either by taste or inclination, or by circumstances, some choose civil law, others canon law, others again medicine. But the most direct their attention to the verbose but unfruitful 'arts,' so called, and waste away their time in frivo- lous and out of the way discussions, — in riddles, which, in all these many cen- turies have found no ffidipus to solve them ; nor will they ever. Still he ad- vises Barbirianus to apply .himself to philosophy, though to a philosophy widely different from the scholastic; that, namely, which inculcates just modes of thought, and teaches how to express with propriety that which has been first rightly apprehended. PhUosophy is divided into moral and natural. The first is^ to be drawn, not merely from Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca, but likewise from the facts and ex- amples of history. Thence, we come to the Holy Scriptures, after whose di- vine, unerring precepts we are to pattern our lives. For all other writers have not clearly perceived the true aim of life, and hence their doctrines are not free from error. Researches into the natural world are not of such importance as ethical in- quiries, and are to be viewed only as a means of culture." Agricola recommends the study .of geography, of the botany of Thoophrastus, the zoology of Aristotle, and likewise advises attention to medicine, architecture and painting. Both moral and natural science are to be drawn from the classics, with the view of acquiring at the same tim'e the art of rhetoric and expression. He should also translate the classics with as much ex- actness as may be, into the vernacular; for through such exercise in translating, the Latin words will soon spontaneously occur at the same time with the thought. Whatever he designed to write in Latin, he must first think out with thoroughness and care in the vernacular ; for any errors of expression are less liable to pass unobserved, if in the mother tongue. Before he proceeds to the ornaments of rhetoric, he should learn to write with purity and correctness. "Who- RUDOLF AGRICOLA. tjg ever would study to advantage, must observe tliree things: first, to apprehend aright; then, to hold the matters so apprehended fast in the memory ; and lastly, to cultivate the faculty of producing something ones' self. As regards apprehending aright the sense of what is read, he ad- vises to apply the understanding closely to the subject in hand with reference both to the scope of the whole and the meaning of the parts ; yet not with such rigor as to puzzle ourselves over an obscure passage, not passing on until we have mastered that. But we ought rathei' to read farther, trusting that afterwards, through the explana- tions of a friend or otherwise, the difficulty will be cleared up. One day teaches another. He then gives directions for strengthening the memory. '"We must, with unpreoccupied, attentive spirit, grasp the object, and again from time to time call it up before the mind.' Then follow rules for composition. "If we create nothing," says Agrioola, "all our learning remains dead within us, and wUl not be like the living seed, which, when cast into the ground, springs up and bears rich fruit. But there are two things indispensable to us : one, that we should not merely store up that which we have learned, in our memory, but should rather always have it at hand, and bo able to bring it forth ; tlien, in addition to what we have derived from others, we should invent some- thing ourselves. It will materially aid us in invention, if we arrange n set of general notions, capita, under which we may sketch what we already know ; some such heads for instance, as virtue, vice, life, death, etc. Then it will prove a great help, should we analyze every thought thoroughly and contemplate it under many different lights." This point he had discused more at length in his six books, " de inventione dialectica." " Whoever conforms to both the above pre- cepts, wUl at last attain to the readiness of the Greek sophists, who could speak at will, and without preparation, upon any theme that should be given to them." After this methodology, Agrioola comes in the same letter to his Hebrew studies. "Think of my presumption, or rather of my folly; I have decided to learn ITe- brew, as if I had not already wasted time and trouble enough hitherto on my Greek. I have huntf d up a teacher, a Jew, who was some years since convert- ed, and who, previously, on account of his learning and knowledge of the doc- trines of the Jew.=!, had been chosen as their champion, when they contended for their faith with Christians. The bishop has, for my sake, taken this man . into his house, and is providing for his maintenance. I will try what I can do ; I hope to bring something to pass ; and perhaps I shall succeed, because I hope."* He translated the Psalms. Melancthon, in his preface to AgTJcola's ' dialectics,' relates what Pallas, professor of theology at Heidelberg, and Reuchlin, related to him from their personal acquaintance with Agricola. Said Pallas ; " at Heidelberg, as earlier at Louvain, he led an exemplary life. From his extensive learning, Agricola has often thrown a definite iight * Erhard has given a short extract from this work, in his history of the revival of Class- ical Learning. Melancthon in his preface to Agricola'a dialectics, says ; " There are no mod- ern works on the Topics and on tlie use of Logic, so good and so rich as thei'e books of Ru- dolf." Agricola himself is very pointed in his condemnation of the scholastic logic. No. 12.— [Vol. IV., No. 3.]— 46. , 80 RUDOLF AGRICOLA. upon subjects under dispute, not alone in the department of pbiloso- phy, but in law and theology ; and has displayed herein no conten- tious and dogmatical spirit, but friendliness and a spirit of peace. For the elector Philip, who always took delight in listening to him, Agri- Cola wrote a compend of history!'' In the year 1485, Dalberg was sent by the Elector just named, to Rome to present his congratulations to Pope Innocent VIII, on his coronation, and Agricola accopipanied him on this journey.* Re- turning to Heidelberg, he was attacked by a fever. But before the physician arrived, he had tranquilly breathed his last. He died on the 28th Oct. 1485, aged only forty-two years. Erasmus testifies of him as follows : Agricola has surpassed ia culture everyone on this side the Alps. There was no scientific attainment in which he did not compete with the greatest maa- ters. Among the Grecians, he was a pattern Greek, (graedsaimus,) smottg the latins, a pattern I^atinigt | as a poet, he was a second Maro, aa an orator, he re- called Politian's grace, but he excelled him in majesty. Also when he spoke extempore, his speech was so pure and unadulterated, that you would have deemed yourself listening, not to a Friealander, but to a Roman. To his per- fect eloquence he united an equal degree of learning ; all the mysteries of phi- losophy he had fiiUy investigated. Nor was there any part of music, which he did not fully understand. In the last years of his life he applied himself with his whole soul to the study of Hebrew and the Holy Scriptures. He thought little of fame.f Agricola broke a path for classical philology in Germany. Saxo,in his eulogy on Agricola, says : At an epoch when the most corrupt Latin prevailed in Germany, together with that uncertainty that no one knew what good Latin was, and when admi- ration was lavished on insipidity, it was Agricola, and he alone, who first with ear and mind detected oUr blunders, and reached out after better forms of speech. Yet he did not undervalue the mother tongue, but regarded it as nat- ural to every one, as the native vehicle of thought. Thence, as we have seen, he gave his' counsel that whatever we would write in Latin, we should first compose in the vernacular, transferring it into Latin afterwards. He himself wrote songs in the mother tongue, and sang them to the guitar. He under- stood both French and Italian. Wessel appears to have had much influence upon Agricola. It was "Wessel, as we have seen, who directed his attention when at Paris to the study of Hebrew; and they both subsequently enjoyed much mutual intercourse in the monastery of Edouard. "There," Goswin von Halen tells us, " he listened, when a boy, to the conversations of Agricob, and • Dalberg's speech is given in Agricola's works, as the production of the latter. It was de- livered on the 6th of July, 14813. ' I think,' so the speech reads, ' that grace of oratory and excellence and splendor of diction are not much to be expected from a German, nor indeed ought they to be.' t That this panegyric might not be accounted partial, Cis- Alpine, or patriotic merely, Erasmus quotes the well-known epitaph, which Hermolaus Barbarus wrote. " The envious fatesiiave enclosed within this marble tomb, Rudolf Agricola, the hope and the glory of FrieslanjJ, While he lived, Germany, without doubt, deserved all the renown that eithei Latium or Greece ever obtained." Invjda clauserunt hoc marmore fata Rudolphum Agricolam, Frisii spemque decusque soli, Scilicet hoc vivo meruit Germania laudis, Quidquid habet Latium, GriBcia quidquid habet. ALEXANDER HEOICS. 81 Wesael, when they bewailed the obacuration of the church, the desecration of the mass, and the abuses of ceUbaoy ; also when they spoke of the apostle Paul's doctrine of "justification by faith without the deeds of the law." Such conversations, — the earnestness with which Agricoln, in his 41st year, applied himself to the study of the Hebrew, — his expressed determination to devote his old age to the study of the Holy Scrip- tures ;* all this indicates that he was not merely, through his classical learning, a forerunner of the da*n of classical cultura in Germany, but that he also, in this holy earnestness in the study of the sacred ■writings, heralded the coming Reformation. At his death Luther was two years old.f ALEXANDER KEGIDS. Alexander Hegiub, so beloved and honored by his contempora- ries, was born in 1420, or, according to some, in 1433, at Heek, in Westphalia. He was frequently, as we have seen, in the society of Wessel, Agricola, and others in the monastery of Edouard ; and from letters of the latter, we may perceive how the modest Hegius suffered himself to learn from Agricola, his junior. Boitzbach, one of his later scholars, informs us, that he died in advanced age at Deventcr in, 1498, and was buried on the day of St. John the Evangelist, (Dec. 27,) in the Church of St. Lebuin. There too, sleeps Florentius Radewin. At first Hegius was gymnasiarchj in Wessel, then in Emmerich, but later and for a much longer period at Deventer. Agricola writes to him at the opening of the school at Deventer, wishing him all manner of success, and the more cordially as the place had been recently decimated by a frightful pestilence. Since he remained at the head of this school for thirty yeare, and until his death, as we gather from three several authorities, he must have entered upon his office in the year 1468. Erasmus entered the school in 14Y6, in his ninth year. The character, attainments, and educational significance of Hegius, we are compelled to derive in part from a few of his posthumous writings, and in part from cursory expressions of others, chiefly his contemporaries and scholars. Those writings,§ consisting almost en- tirely of dialogues, were not given to the public until 1503, five years after his death. These dialogues are in the form of short and clear •** Statui enim senectutis requiem (si modo ea me manetj) in sacrarum literarum perquisi- tione coi^ocare."— Agricola to Reuchlin, t The fullest edition of Agricola's works is, "Stidolpht Agricolae Lucubratimes aliquot leclu diffnissimae in hunc usque diem nusquam prius editae, caeteraque ejusdem viri plane divi- ni omnia quae extare creduntur opuscula — per Alardum Amsletredamum. Cobmiae apud Gymnicum, 1539. 2 vols. 4 to." t Principal, head-master — of a gymnasium. § " Alexandri Hegii artium magistri, Gymnasiarchae quondam DaventrienaiB, phUoeophi, presbyteri, utriusque lingfiae docti, Dialogi." At the end of the book the printer's name ia 82 ALEXANDER HEGIUS. question and answer.* He treats abundantly of geometry and astrono- my ; refers to Euclid, gives geometrical definitions and formulas for 'obtaining the contents of figures. He gives frequent definitions of Greek words. In the ' Farrago,' we find numerous philological re- marks. The Greek language he can not commend too highly. ' Who- ever desires to understand grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, history, the Holy Scriptures, etc.,' so he tol(^his scholars, 'must learn Greek. For to the Greeks we are indebted for every thing.' In a letter to John Wessel, he tells him that he has paid a visit to the library found- ed by Cardinal Nicholas Cusanus, in Cuss on the Moselle, the native place of the latter, and likewise what books he brought away with him. He sent Wessel the homilies of Chrysostom. " I found," he writes, " many Hebrew books, which were entirely new to me. I have brought away St; Basil on the Creation and his homilies on the Psalms ; the Epistles of St. Paul, and the Acts of the Apostles ; the Lives of some of the Greeks and Eomans by Plutarch, as likewise his Symposium; some treatises upon grammar, and mathematics; some poems of deep significance upon the Christian religion, which, if I mistake not, were composed by Gregory Nazianzen ; and also a few speeches and prayers. If you can now spare, without inconvenience to yourself your copy of the Greek gospels, I beg you to lend them to me for a while.'' At the conclusion he writes ; " you wish to have 3 more particular description of my method of instruction. I have followed your counsel. All learning is futile which is acquired at the expense of piety. Dated at Deventer." In the light of all that we have now cited, and of the letters of Agricola to Hegius also, — Hegius appears to have been a man, who was animated ~bj an enthusiastic love for classical studies, and who yet, with the humility of the true scholar, suflFered himself to learn, even in his age, from Agricola. In his dialogues we detect the prac- ticed and clear headed logician. He gives much attention therein to mathematics and natural philosophy. And with a iFar higher degree of learning than .was common in the times in which he lived, he nev- ertheless ranked all knowledge, without exception, below godliness. His estimable character, by which he was especially fitted for the given as follows : " Impreaaum Dtwentriaepernie Richardum jPqfret, 1503." The subjects of the Dialogues are : (1.) descientiu et eoquod acitur. (2.) Detribua animae genejibus. (3.) De incarnatimia myaterio, (4.) Dialogua physicua. (B.) jDe aensu et aenaili. (6.) Da arte et inertia. (7.) De Rhetorica. (8.) Ve moribua. (9.) Farrago cui addita Inmctira in modos aignificandi. Two letters are given after the Dialogues, thus completing the work. . • We give an example. Q. What is the difference between iinowledge and opinion ? A. Knowledge is assent unalloyed by fear. For he who knows does not fear that he may be de- ceived. Opinion, on the contrary, is astent mingled with fear. He who opines or thinks fears that he may be in the wrong. Q. What is error t A. Defiection of the intellect from the truth, or of the will from righteousness. ALEXANDER HEGIUS. 83 post of rector, elicited a deserved tribute of praise from many quar- ters. " Westphalia," says Erasmus, " has given us Alexander Hegius, a learned, saintly, and eloquent man; though,from his contempt for fame, he has produced nothing great." " Hegius," he says elsewhere, " was quite similar in character to Agricola ; he was a man of guile- less life and singular lemming,, one in whom even Momus could have discovered but a single fault ; f amely, that he undervalued fame be- yond what was reasonable, and troubled himself but very little for the opinions of posterity. If he wrote any thing, he did it more in sport, as it were, than with a sober purpose ; yet his writings are of that sort, that in the judgment of scholars, they are deserving of immor- tality." Murmellius tells us that Hegius was as learned in Greek as in Latin. But Hegius' name has come down to the present day, not so much through his works, which are scarcely known to us, as through his distinguished pupils. I will mention a few of the more famous of these. Erasmus. In his ninth year, in 1476, he entered the school of Hegius. Hermann Bosch, who was born in 1468, was placed under He- gius when quite young, since he learned the first rudiments of gram- mar in the Deventer school. Of him and Erasmus likewise we shall say more, farther on. John Murmellius, of Eoermond ; first a soldier, then a scholar of Hegius. Driven from Cologne in 1498, because he made war upon the barbarous Latin of the Colognese, he betook himself for aid and counsel to his teacher, who sent him to Rudolf Lange, at Muns- ter, where he taught for fourteen years: in 1514 he was appointed over a school in Alcmaar. Impoverished by a fire, he returned to Deventer, where he died in 1517. He wrote much; both for the promotion of classical learning, and the overthrow of " barbarism." John Caesarius, of Juliers. Driven away by the Colognese in 1504, because he attacked their old school books, then sent by He- gius to Lange at Munster, where he became teacher of Greek. He was induced later_by the solicitations of Count Nuenaar, to return to Cologne. There he died in 1561, at the age of ninety years. He edited, among other works, Pliny's natural history. Conrad Coclbnius, born in 1486, at Paderborn, became a Pro- fessor at Louvain, and was the teacher of John Sturm. Erasmus commends him as a distinguished philologist. Joseph Horlenius, rector of a school in Herford, was the teacher of Peter Mosellanus. Timann Camknkr, rector in Munster, from 1500 to 1530. 84 RUDOLF LANGE. The characteristic, which wa# common to all the above-named Bcholars of Hegius, as well as to the most renowned pupils of these scholars, was a passionate love of classical culture, which did not shrink even from martyrdom. Only two of those, who came forth from the school at Deventer, bore no traces of the general stamp. These were Pope Adrian VI., who was there when a boy ; and Ortuin Gratius, whom the " Epistolae ohscurorum virorum " erected into a very unenviable notoriety. I RUDOLF LANGE AND HERMANN BUBCH. Agricola and Hegius had many friends, who labored with zeal for the spread of classical study. Among these Rudolp Lange has been already mentioned. He was born about the year 1439. at Munster. Sent by his uncle to the school at Deventer, he afterward went to the university of Erfurt, where he was made master of philosophy ; then he journeyed to Italy, where he enjoyed the teachings of Philelphus, Theodore Gaza and others. Keturning to Munster, he devoted his life to the cause of school education. Sent by the college in that place, in the year 1480, to Pope Sixtus IV., he delivered in his presence an admirable Latin speech, and was heartily recommended by him and Lorenzo de Medici to the bishop of Munster. Thereby he acquired so much consequence that he was emboldened to oppose the Colognese Academy, when it maintained an adherence to the old school-books, the Doctrinal of Alexander* and the like. Lange appealed to the arbitration of the Italian scholars. After these had decided in his favor, the school at Munster was completely re-arranged after his directions ; and at his instance, Camener and Murmellius, scholars of Hegius, were appointed teachers therein. The teachers took counsel with Lan§e upon the authors to be read in the school, and they made a diligent use of Lange's library, which was very rich in both Greek and Latin classics. Lange was a poet likewise. There is an epic from his pen, upon the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus ; a second, upon the siege of Nyon on tbe Rhine ; and a third, in' honor of the Apostle Paul. ' Hegius. sung of Lange's poetical talents ;f ' Alexander de villa Dei, a Minorite of Dole, a grammarian and a poet, who lived at the beginning of the 13th century, composed a doctrinal for hoys, (doctrinale puerorum^^ or a Latin grammar in verae. He was the author, l;kewise, of a poetical summary of the subjects of all the chapters of both the Old and New Testament, t The epigram of Hegius upon Lange reads as follows : "Nil est guodjieri negueat,jamfeTTepoetaa Barbarie in media, Westphalia ora potest, Langius hanc decorat, majorum sanguine clarus Monasteriaciy lausque decusque soli Primus Melpomenen qui rura in WestphaUi duxit Cum caneret laudea maanme Paule tuuai" HERMANN BUSCH. 85 and Agricola reposed the highest confidence in his philological researches. Luther's Theses appeared when Lange was well advanced in years, and as he read them, he said, " the time is at hand, when the darkness shall be removed from church and from school, when purity shall return to the churches, and a pure Latinity to the schools." This latter expression is significant of the ideal of the more earnest German scholars of that day. After an extremely active ahd devoted life, Lange died in 1619, two years subsequent to the dawn of the Reformation, in his eightieth year. He was- provost of Munster at his death. His nephew, whose troubled life extended far into the epoch of the Eeformation, was the before-m entioned Hermann Busoh, who was born in 1468, of a noble family of Westphalia. Sent by Lange to the school of Hegius at Deventer, he was there noticed by Agricola, who said to him, " you have a poetical head ; you are destined to be a poet." From Deventer, Busch went to Heidelberg, there attended the lectures of Agricola, and, on his advice, studied Cicero with great diligence. Then he visited Tubingen, where he formed a friendship with Simler, who was afterward Melanc- thon's teacher. In the year 1480 he accompanied Lange to Italy ; in 1486 he took a second journey thither, when he made the ac- quaintance of Picus, Politian and other Italian scholars. On his return to Germany, he fell into a strife at Cologne with the notorious Hochstraten, and was compelled to leave th% city. And from this time he traveled during many years through Germany, England and France, giving his time principally to the universities, and delivering longer or shorter courses of lectures upon the classics ft various places ; among others, at Hamm, Munster, Osnabruck, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck and Wismar. His lectures at Grlpswald, (about 1505,) the reformer Bugtinhagen attended, while a student there. At Rostock he attacked a certain Heverling, who read lectures in German, upon Juvenal. This one took his revenge by putting in train a series of machinations, which resulted in Busch's expulsion from the place; Busch in his turn retorted by a collection of epigrams, in which among other things he reproached Heverling with reading lectures in the vulgar tongue,* * Here is a specimen : " Quidquid Beverlingus legit auditoribusj iUud Yutgari lingua^ Teutonicaque docet. Ergo ad Heverlingum perget^ melwre reUcto, Discere gut sordeS) barbariemque veUt" 86 BEBJVIANN BUSCH. namely the German; a censure, by the way, which was but too characteristic. At Erfurt, Busch eflfected a formal banishment of the mediaeval school books; in Leipzic in 1506 Heltand Spalatin were among his auditors. Magdeburg denied him admittance; and on his second establishment in Leipzic, in 1510, he was expelled by Duke George. After much journeying to and fro, he came a second time to Cologne, and was a second time driven from thence, at the instigation chiefly of Ortuin Gratins, because he wrote against that old gram- matical text-book, the Doctrinal. Hereupon he became rector of a school in Wesel, where he gave to the world a defense of the recently revived classical studies against the boorish attacks of the monks.* When the Reformation began, Busch read with avidity the writings' of Luther and Melancthon, and in 152.2 resigned his oflBce at Wesel, and went to Wittenberg, and there applied himself with ardor to the study of the Bible and the Fathers. At the recommendation of the reformers, he was invited by Philip of Hesse to Marburg, to take the historical professorehip. Here he read lectures on Livy and Augustine; in 1529 he wrote upon the authority, of- the Bible. At the Marburg Eucharist controversy, which he attended, he declared for Luther and against Zwingle. About the time when the Anabaptist disturbances began at Mnnster, Busch retired from Marburg to Dulmen, where he had a small estate, left him by his mother. Invited to Munster by the magistracy, he went thither on the Yth of August, 1533, to hold a disputation in German with the Anabaptists, — the notorious Bothman especially. Busch endeavored to prove the validity of infant baptism by an aj(()eal to the Scriptures; but Eothman only retorted with in- solent scorn. After a long dispute Busch was seized with a sudden indisposition, which compelled him to leave the hall, and on the way the fanatical populace jeered at him, as one whom God wSS punishing for his blasphemy. Troubled in mind, he returned to Dulmen, and soon after died of grief, in 1534, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. Busch was a man of eminent talents. Erasmus thus describes him : "He would have been a successful poet; in his prose he shewed himself a man of strong intellect, extensive reading, keen judgment, and no little energy; his style was more after the pattern of ■ Quintilian, than that of Cicero." A travehng teacher and apostle of classical culture, he endured much persecution for the cause. • The treatise was entitled Vallum Kumanilatia. The Dominicans of Cologne in their sermons called poets " knaves," orators " swine," and their works " the husks of the devil." ERASMUS AND HIS EDUCATIONAL VIEWS. Dksidkrius Erasmus, a Latinized Greek rendering of his Dutch name, Gerardus Gerardi, was horn at Rottendam, on the 28th of Octoher, 1467. At the age of four years he was put to school at Terqau or Utrecht, where hy his own account, he made httle pro- gress. In his ninth year he joined the school of the Hieronymians, at Daventer, where the better teaching of Alexander Hegius and John Swinthein, rapidly developed his genius, so that Rudolph Agricola, during an examination of the themes of the boys, was surprised and delighted with the originality and style of that of Erasmus, and en- couraged him by his timely praise and exhortation to continued dili- gence. The great scholar in his letters often speaks of the value of this timely recognition of his school-boy proficiency. On the other hand, his spirits were much broken by a severe and undeserved chastisement, against which, in teachers, he often inveighs as the cause of more dullness than it cured. While on a visit to the monastery of Steyne, in his seventeenth year, he encountered an old schoolmate, a certain Cornelius, who persuaded him to take the dress of a novice and make the religious profession of the Augustinian friars. Here he became intimate with William Hermann, of Gouda, a young man of like disposition, studious habits and classical attainments. They read together the best Roman authors, and devoted much time to Latin composition, in which Erasmus acquired great facility and fehoity of expression. In 1495, Hermann de Bergis, with whom Erasmus resided two years, Bishop of Cambray, and by whom he was ordained priest on the 25th of February, 1493, sent him to Paris to continue his theo- logical studies. Here he resided in the college of Montague, and eked out the irregular and slender remittances of his patron Bishop, by teaching. Among his pupils was an English nobleman. Lord Mountjoy, who made him an annual allowance, and was ever after a Steady friend and benefactor. At Paris, he entered on the mastery of the Greek language with a true scholarly enthusiasm. 88 ERASMUS. A portion of 1497, was spent as private tutor in the family of the Marchioness of Vere, in Burgundy, and in 1498, he visited England on the invitation of his pupil. Lord Mountjoy. Here he made the acquaintance of Grocyn, Pace, Lenacre, Sir Thomas More, Colet, and Lily. With the two last, on a ^uhsequent visit, he helped to estahKsh St. Paul's School in London, and.organize its course of in- struction. He was also at Oxford, and taught Greek in the TJniver- sity. On his return to France, he puhlished his treatise "iPe Copia Verborum et Berum," and " de Conscribendis Epistolis." But his '^Adacfia," or explanation of Greek and Latin proverbs, published in 1500, gave him an European reputation. In 1503, his " Manual of a Christian Soldier," and translations into Latin of parts of Eurip- ides, Plutarch, and other Greek authors appeared. In 1506, !^rasmus visited Italy, and was complimented at Bologna, with the doctorate of divinity. At Venice, he superintended the printing of his "Adages," at the celebrated press of Aldo, in whose house he lodged. At Eome, he was received in the most flattering manner by scholars and clergy, and great inducements were held out to him to take up his I'esidence there. But the solicitations of Mountjoy, and the new friends he had made on his former visit, in- duced him to leave Italy for England, where he spent several years. During this visit he printed his "JEncomium Morice," or "Praise of Folly," which was composed in the house of Sir Thomas More. In 1514, he was made by Charles, Archduke of Austria, after- wards Emperor Charles "V, one of his counselors, with a good stipend, and for several years led an itinerating life, residing for brief periods at Louvain, Antwerp, and Basil. While at Basil he printed (1516,) the works of St. Jerome, at the press of Froben, and editions •of Terence, Suetonius, Plautus, Cicero, Seneca, with a translation of the Greek Grammar of Gaza, and various smaller works, which were great helps to the sttidy of the literature of Greece and Rome. In 1517, first appeared his edition of the Greek Testament with a Latin translation, and notes grammatical and explanatory, and was received- with great favor. This publication places him among the greatest benefactors to biblical literature. From Pope Leo X., to whom the work was dedicated, he received a flattering letter. He was offered a professorship at Louvain, aifd Ingoldstadt, was flooded with letters from cardinals, bishops, and scholars ; and crowned heads solicited the honor of his residence at their courts. But he prized his liberty, even with poverty,- to a residence in college, or at court with constantly recurring duties even with wealth. " Courts are splendid misery, and as for wealth and honors, I want them not." ERASMUS. gg About tMs period he became involved in the religious reformatory discussions of the day — but without gaining special favor with either party. In 1522, the first edition of his "Familiar Colloquies" was issued, by which he has become more widely known to succeeding generations than by all his other publications. He printed his "Irenceus" in 1526, his "Chrysostom" in 1526, and his "Augustin" in 1528. His " Ciceronians," and treatise "On the right Pronuncia- tion of the Latin and Greek Languages" appeared about the same time. Erasmus died on the 12th of July, 1536, at Basle. EDUCATIONAL VIEWS. " The Ciceronian " of Erasmus merits special attention in a history of education, since it advocates in a clear and pointed manner that ideal of culture which began to prevail in the time of Erasmus. This ideal, it is true, concerned itself rather with methods of culture than with culture itself, and rather with forms of instruction than with the knowledge to be imparted. But any regular and distinct path to knowledge will finally bring us to our goal, although through by-places it may be, and by long and needless windings. In the dedication of the " Ciceronian," Erasmus briefly unfolds to Blattenius his design. "A school has arisen," says he, " self-styled ' Ciceronian,' that in its insufferable arrogance rejects all writings which do not wear the features of Cicero ; that deters youth from the perusal of other authors, and inculcates upon them a superstitious imitation of Cicero alone, while, at the same time, it does not itself display one particle of Cicero's spirit." He then intimates his belief that a sinister design lurks behind these teachings of the Ciceronians, viz. : to convert Christians into Pagans. In this connection, he alludes to certain German youths, who, on returning from Italy, and from Rome in particular, bad proved to have become strongly tinctured with Paganism ; and he closes by indicating his purpose to show the true way in which Cicero should be imitated, so that his surpassing eloquence may be engrafted on the spirit of Christian piety. The speakers in the dialogue are Bulephorus, (in whom we recognize Erasmus himself,) and Hypologu^, his fellow-partizan. Both unite in the endeavor to reclaim Nosoponus, an ultra-Ciceronian, from his misdirected studies, and they are at last successful. Nosoponus begins with the emphatic declaration, that he abominates whatever is un-Ciceronian, and that he indulges no higher wish than to be himself called a Ciceronian by the Italians ; but he laments that as yet of all the Cis-Alpines, Longolius alone enjoys that honor. Then he goes on to narrate the manner in which he is prosecuting his purpose. 90 ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. For seven years he has read Cicero alone, — not a single other author, — with the view to purge himself thoroughly of every un- Ciceronian phrase. And he has stored nearly the whole of Cicero in his memory. Now he intends to spend another seven years upon the imitation of his model. All the words used by Cicero he has arranged alphabetically in a huge lexicon ; all his phrases, in another ; and, in a third,- all the feet which commence and tei-minate his periods. In addition to these labors, he has prepared comparative tables of all those words which Cicero has used in two or more different senses in different passages. He is not content with a reference to the paradigms of the grammars, but perplexes himself over Cicero's use of amo, amas, amat, instead of amamus, amatis, amant, of amabam, instead of amabamus ; or, in compound words, with his use of one form instead of another, as pefspicio instead of dtspido. Nosoponus overrides all grammatical rules, ignores every other author received as classical, and attaches no weight even tb analogy. He thinks that a genuine Ciceronian should never employ even the most insignificant particle, unless he can show his master's authority for it. He then goes on to describe, without appearing to realize its absurdity in the least, the plan which he himself pursues in writing Latin. If, for instance, he wishes to pen a note to Titius, on the occasion of returning a borrowed book, perhaps, he first rummages all the letters of Cicero, together with each of those special lexicons, that he himself has compiled with so much labor, and selects appropriate words, phrases, etc. Six whole nights he is thus accustomed to spend in composing an epistle of only as many sentences ; then he revises it ten times ; then lays it aside for a future perusal. And, after all these repeated revisions, possibly not a single word of the original draft will remain. Bulephorvs thereupon suggests, that haply thus the letter might be delayed so long that it would be of no use. "No matter for that!" says Nosoponus, "provided that it is only Ciceronian at last." "But," rejoins Bufephorus, "how is it in speaking Latin, where such delay is impracticable?" "In such case," JVosoponus replies, "I avoid speaking, if possible ; or, for ordinary purposes, I make use of Dutch or French ; when, however, I must use Latin, I resort to my memory, in which I have carefully stored up for such emergencies a fiill stock of Ciceronian phrases upon various subjects." After Nosoponus has thus unfolded the full extent of his folly, .Bm^^Aoj-ms begins the attack; gently at first, but soon he exerts more vigorous efforts, and steadily progresses to the overpowering complete- ness of the argument. " Quintilian," says he, "recommends the ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. gi perusal, not of one author alone, but of many. Only he singles out Cicero, as the mos#worthy of attention." " For this very reason," rejoins JVosoponus, " Quintilian could not have been a Ciceronian." "But," Bulephorus asks, "when subjects are to be treated which do not occur in Cicero, what are we to do 2 To seek the Elysian fields, and consult with the orator himself in person ?" To this JVosoponus responds : " I would discard all subjects that do not admit of being discussed in Cicero's recorded words." Bulephorus now proceeds to criticise the aim of the Ciceronians ; which is, to assimilate themselves as far as. possible to Cicero. "Apart from the fact," says he, " that many of the writings of this exemplar have perished, those which are extant, through the care- lessness of copyists, abound in errors and interpolations. Here then, to what perils do the Ciceronians expose themselves 1 Time would fail us to reckon up the number of pseudo-Ciceronianisms, which they have thus received and lauded as the genuine words of their master. But, again, in Cicero himself, some grammatical blunders have been detected ; and also, verses, which he has translated from the Greek, are not always faithful to the original. Yet all these defects likewise have been praised and copied by these worshipers of his. But their imitation is mainly of the most superficial nature. Particles, special phrases, modes of ending sentences, and the like, — to such things- they pay exclusive attention, applying them in a quite arbitrary manner, and often inappropriately. Because their master has so frequently commenced his periods with etsi, quanquam, quum, etc., they conclude that they themselves will be perfect Ciceros, if they only commence their sentences in like manner. Such men would accredit the 'Books to Herennius' to Cicero, for the sole reason that they commence with etsi. And again, since Cicero did not date his letters, they likewise must needs omit the year of our Lord in their correspondence ; nor do they affix titles to their works, for they find none in Cicero. Those Christian greetings, with which we comjnence our letters, such as 'Gratia, pax, et misericordia a Deo Patre et Domino Jesu Christo,' the Ciceronian holds in derision, as similar phrases at their close ; and yet they are far more appropriate to the Christian character than ' Salutem dicit,' or. ' Bene vale.' Cicero, it is^true, made no use of them ; but this is not to be wondered at, for he knew nothing of the things signified by them. And in fact, how many thousand subjects are there, upon which we have frequent occasion to speak, that Cicero possibly never even dreamed of! "And he himself, I doubt not, were he now living, would implore these narrow-minded imitators to spare his good name. A lifeless 92 ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. imitation is cold and passionless ; and by no mere affectation can we ever hope to appropriate the higher excel lencieO)f the orator whom we have taken for our pattern." We look in vain among these Ciceronians for Cicero's happy invention, his clear arrangement, the skill with which he treats his subject, his power over the passions, and his large experience; for, instead of a just and appreciative reproduction of his spirit, they present us only with a ghastly and hollow mask of his form." " Every age," continues Bulephorus, " has its special characteristics, and on this account demaijds its particular style of eloquence. Cicero's speeches would not have suited the sterner times of Ennius, and Cato the censor, to say nothing of the present day. Since the age of Cicero every thing has changed, — religion, government, authority, manners and laws. Should it be required of us at the present day to speak and write as Cicero spoke and wrote, we must have consuls, tribunes, praetors and ediles again ; in short, the insti- tutions of ancient Rome must all be restored. Whoever, therefore, desires to conform to the present age, and to adapt himself to the circumstances in which he is placed, (and without /Such desire and aim it is impossible for any one ever to become an orator,) must differ widely from Cicero. Of what service can Cicero's style of eloquence prove to the Christian orator, addressing Christian men and women upon repentance, prayer, or alms-giving, — subjects in regard to which Cicero was entirely uninformed?" To illustrate this point, Bulephorus, (speaking for Erasmus,) brings up the case of a Cicero- nian, whom, on a certain Easter-Eve, he had heard preach before Pope Julius II. "The sermon," said he, "consisted mainly of a pan^yric upon the Pope, whom the orator called ' Jupiter Optimus Maximus,' in the plenitude of his power wielding the forked thunder- bolt, and guiding the universe, by his nod. Then he spoke of the Decii, and of Q. Curtius, who, for their country's sake, had sacrificed themselves to the Bii Manes, and of Iphigenia, Cecrops and others, to whom their country was dearer even than life. To such persons the ancients erected statues in commemoration of their deeds; but Christ, in return for all the goed- which he accomplished among the Jews, was crucified. Iniphort," said Bulephorus, " the Roman spoke so like a Roman, that the speech contained no mention of Christ's death at all. And yet the Ciceronians at Rome pronounced his sermon a marvelous effort, worthy of a Roman, and worthy even of Cicero himself. Had a school-boy addressed his mates in such a speech, it might have passed muster as a tolerably good thesis ; but what had it to do with such a day, with such an audience, and with ERASMns ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. 93 such an occasion ? Surely these men, who have Cicero ever in their mouths, only slander his fair fame. And," he continues, "it is aston- ishing with what arrogance they loot down upon what they style the barbarism of Thomas Aquinus, Scotus, Durandus and others ; and yet, if we scan the merits of these authors critically, although they laid no claim either to eloquence, or yet to Ciceronianism, we shall perceive that in both these respects they far outstrip their detractors, this blustering crew, who all the while deem themselves not merely Cioeronians, but veritable Ciceros." As JVomponus appears astonished at this emphatic declaration, Bulephorus proceeds to explain more minutely, in what an orator should resemble Cicero. " He should speak upon every subject in that clear and perfect manner that only a thorough knowledge of the subject can give, and he ought moreover always to speak from the heart. Hence, it follows that the Christian orator must understand the mysteries of the Christian religion, and must study the sacred writings with no less diligence than did Cicero the works of philoso- phers, po.ets, jurists and historians. Through his intimacy with these it was," continues Bulephorus, " that Cicero became so great. But if we, who claim to be called spiritual teachers, are familiar neither with the law nor the prophets, neither with sacred history nor exegesis, and what is more, if we despise and abominate them all, what title have we or can we have to the name of genuine Ciceroni- ans ? Must not every one of our addresses bear the Christian stamp, if we would pass not only for good orators, but even for good men ? And, how is this possible, if we use only those words and phrases which we can find in Cicero ? Are we to substitute the language of Cicero for that of the church ? Instead of God the Father, are we to say ' Jupiter Optimus Maximus ?' instead of Jesus Christ, Apollo ? and, instead of Mary, Diana ? Are we to say sacred republic instead of church, and Christian persuasion instead of Christian faith'? Shall we style the Pope, Flamen Dialis, the priest of Jupiter, and call the prophecies oracles of the gods ? Be it so then, and let us see whither it will lead us. Take, for instance, the following brief summation of our faith : — ' Jesus Christ, the Word and the Son of the Eternal Father, according to prophecy, cafae into the world, and, having become a man, voluntarily surrendered himself to death, and so redeemed' his church, and delivered us from the penalty of the law, and reconciled us to God, in order that, justified by grace through faith, and freed from the bondage of sin, we might be received into his church, and persevering in its communion, might, after this life, be admitted into the kingdom of heaven.' And how would a Ciceronian 94 ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. express it? Somewhat in this manner^ viz.: 'The interpreter, and son of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, our saviour and our sovereign, according to the responses of the oracles, came down to the earth from Olympus, and, having assumed the human shftpe, of his ovfu free will sacrificed himself for the safety of the republic to the Dii Manes, and so restored to it its lost liberty, and, having turned aside from us the angry thunder-bolts of Jupiter,, won for us his favor, in order that, through our acknowledgement of his bounty, having recovered our innocence, and having been released from the servitude of flattery, we might be made citizens of his republic, aid having sustained our parts with honor, might, when the fates should summon us away from this life, enjoy supreme felicity in the friendship of the immortal gods.' " J}^osoponiis now asks Bulephorus whether he would commend the style of Thomas Aquinus and Scotus ; to which he replies : " If you will admit that he who conforms his language to his subject is to be admired, then I prefer the manner in which Thomas and Scoftis handle sacred things far before that of the Ciceronians. Yet there is a medium between Scotus and these apes of Cicero. Latin words not to be found in Cicero are not on that account to be rejected ; words relating to agriculture we can adopt from Cato and Varro ; words relating to the church, from Tertullian and Augustine. Every art, science, or institution has, too, its peculiar technical terms; gramma- rians, for instance, use gerund and supine ; mathematicians, fraction and Squation ; the church, arMn and apostle, etc. Were Cicero now living, and were he a Christian, he certainly would not affect indif- ference to the language of the church ; he would say ' faith in Christ,' ' the Comforter,' etc. And why then should we not cite the authority of Holy Writ, as Cicero quotes from Ennius and others ? Is Solomon inferior to Plato ? are the psalms of less account than Pindar ? or does Holy Writ any where rank below the writings of uninspired men I Certainly not. How comes it then, that Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, sounds more agreeable to our ears than Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles?" Hypologus imputes this state of things to the extensive use which is made of the classics in education, through which the language in yhich they are written, becoming familiar to us, captivates our imaginations in a degree disproportionate to its true merits ; while, on the other hand, the language of the Bible receiving but little attention, appears not only unattractive in our eyes, but even barbarous. To this Bulephorus adds : Our heathenish proclivities, {nostra paganitas,) pervert bo|;h our taste and our under- standing. . We are Christians only in name ; we confess Jesus with ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. gg onr mouths, but Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Romulus are in our hearts. Were it not so, what name could sound sweeter in our ears than the name of Jesus ? Should we extirpate these pagan notions of ours, as we ought to do, then a far different style of oratory would prevail. Yet even now, no one will acknowledge himself to be a pagan, although so many glory in being called Ciceronians. At this point, the conversation is directed to the inquiry, " How far is Cicero to be. imitated ?" " It is foolish," says Bulephorus, " to endeavor to write another man's sentiments, to labor that our works should be the echo, for instance, of Cicero's thoughts. Thou must properly digest all thy manifold reading, not merely storing it in thy memory or in an index, but by reflection assimilating it to thy soul. So thy spirit, nourished by all kinds of spiritual food, shall pour forth an eloquence all its own, and there shall be no savor therein of this or that flower, leaf, or herb, but it shall partake throughout of the very essence and bent of thine own spirit ; and thus the reader will not find thy writings to be fragments from Cicero, cunningly joined together, but the reflection of a mind filled with all knowledge. The bees," he added, " gather their honey, not from a single flower alone, but with marvellous diligence they visit every flower and shrub ; and even then they have not gathered pure honey, but they so prepare and refine it afterward in their stomachs, that we can perceive neither the taste nor the odor of any of the various flowers from which it comes." Bulephorus now asks further : " On what occasion can we make use of this Ciceronian eloquence ? Is it in the court- room ? There, causes are handled by attorneys and advocates, people who are any thing but Ciceronians. As little can we use it in the senate-chamber, where French is employed, or else German. Can we then -use it in preaching ? But the hearers do not understand Latin ; hence it is not adapted to the pulpit. Where then shall we use this species of eloquence ? At best, in embassies to Rome, to deliver, according to custom, an elaborate but useless harangue, which often has need to be interpreted for the benefit of those to whom it is addressed. All important business is there, as well as elsewhere, transacted either by writing, or orally, through the medium of the French language. What purpose, then, can this accomplishment of the Ciceronian subserve ? That of writing letters to the learned ? But no one of these insists that Latin sTiould be altogether Ciceronian, with the exception of four Italians, who boast themselves, of late, to have become perfect copyists of Cicero." And now Bulephorus calls over, one by one, the names of a number 96 ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. • of Latin authors, both ancient and modern, and asks Nosoponus, at the mention of the successive names, whether he considers this or that man a Ciceroijian ; but none of them all is acknowledged by him. " Pliny, the younger," says he, " is so little of a Ciceronian, that we have forbidden our youths to peruse any of his letters, lest they should become Plinians, instead of Ciceroni ans. Among the moderns like- wise, we reckon none as Oiceronians, neither Valla, nor Politian, nor Budseus ; Peter Mosellanus, however, would undoubtedly have gained this distinction, had he not died too soon." " How is it with Erasmus ?" asks Bulephorus. " Him," replies Nosoponus, " I do not even style a writer, much less a Ciceronian. A polygraphist truly he is, w^io blots much paper with his ink. He hurries through with every thing ; ' he will write you a whole volume, stans pede in una ; he can never prevail upon himself even to look over what he has once written ; and, besides being no Ciceronian, he employs theological and even vulgar expressions." In like manner he disposes of Agri- cola, Hegius, Bu^ch, Wimpheling, Eeuchlin, Melancthon, Hutten, Pirkheimer, and others. At last BulepJiorus exclaims ; " So many lands have you diligently searched thrOugh, and there is no Ciceronian anywhere to be found!'' "ZorayoZias alone," rejoins Nosoponus, " forms an exception : although he is a Brabanter, and was educated at Paris, yet he has been recommended by the Italians as a pure Ciceronian." " Longolius" says Bulephorus, "paid for his renown with his life ; and the speeches, which he made in Rome, had, it is true, an air of elaborate refinement about them, but they were based Vpon an artificial reproduction of a long vanished age, and not upon the living relations of the present time. Such speeches are forced and unnatural, and weary the listener ; they are in no wise" fitted for any thing but the declamations of school-boys." Thereupon, Bulephorus again defines a genuine imitation, as opposed to servile copying. " The one," says he, " consists in a living, spiritual assimilation of the classics, while the other calls out merely the external adornments of words and phrases. The writer, or the ora- tor, ]Bvho would not deceive us by acting out of character, must not attempt to personate another individual's mind. The language of the Christian, at least, should not be perverted, nor his character disgraced by such a preposterous imitation of Cicero." In such an independent manner, unmoved and unbiased by the false notions of his contempo- raries, did Erasmus render his verdict against their misuse of Cicero ; a verdict which applies with eqiial propriety in the case of all the classics. How justly, too, does he express himself upon the only true method of studying authors, that method which exerts so immediate ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. 917 and S(y marked an influence upon our own productive faculties. "While thus the reader grows spiritually, his own creative powers are strengthened and matured." In the like fearless and perspicuous manner, did Erasmus give his opinion upon the necessity of practical knowledge in order to a correct interpretation of the classical authors. We will single out a passage on this point from his " Dialogue on Pronunciation." The speakers are the Lion and the Bear. " Bear:— Do you style that man a grammarian, who, when he is addressed in Latin, is able to reply without making any blunder ? Idon. — In our day, such a person is commonly esteemed a grammarian. Bear. — But Quintilian requires of the grammarian, facility in ex- plaining the poets, acquaintance with history, knowledge of antiquity, etc. Should he possess no thorough knowledge of these things, yet he must not be entirely unfamiliar with them, if he wishes to be deemed capable of instructing youth. Because the grammarian is expected to comment on the " Arma virumque," we must not on that account expect him to be a Pyrrhus, or a Hannibal ; nor, because he is to in- terpret Virgil's Georgics, should we require him to be an experienced agriculturist. If again he is to expatiate upon the voyage of ./Eneas, we ought not to demand that he be a thorough-bred sea-captain ; nor that he be an Apicius, when he is about to treat of a passage upon cookery. But, on the other hand, what dependence is to be placed upon the grammarian, who is entirely ignorant both of the construction and the use of fire-arms and tools, or who knows nothing even of the disposition and organization of an army ? Could he learn these things by experience, it would profit him not a little, but, where this is out of the question, he should inform himself from books, or from conversation with men, who have been personally connected with such matters, or, so far as may be necessary, from accurate drawings. And the same method is applicable to every other art to which he may havfe occasion to refer. Lion. — Such grammarians, as you have described, there may have been formerly, but they are now out of fashion. Bear. — ^That is very true ; and hence our children, after they have grown old almost, under the present race of teachers, return to their homes, without being able to call a single tree, fish, or plant, by its right name." Similar demands, like-wise, Erasmus urged in his essay, " On the correct method of pursuing study." In this, he inculcates upon teachers the necessity of attending to many branches of science,' such No. 12.— [Vol. IV., No. 3.-47. ^ 98 ERASMDS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. < as geography, natural history, etc. " It is incredible," says he, " how profoundly ignorant in respect to such matters the generality of teach- ers are at the present day." Yet Erasmus himself regarded the natu- ral sciences merely as indispensable means to a correct interpretation of the classics, nor did he appear to have had the remotest idea of their importance in themselves. How far in advance of him, in this respect, was Luther, whose keen-sighted intellect, in spite of the be- numbing influence of school and cloister, remained ever vigorous and active ! " We are now," said Luther on a certain occasion, "in the morning-dawn of a better life ; for we are beginning again to re- cover that knowledge of the creation, which we lost through Adam's fall. By God's gracei we are beginning to recognize, even in the structure of the humblest floweret, his wondrous glory, his goodness, and his omnipotence. In the creation we can appreciate in some measure the power of Him, who spake and it was done, who com- manded and it stood fast. Consider the peach-stone : although it is very hard, yet, in its due season, it is burst asunder by the force of the very tender germ, which is inclosed within the shell. But all this, Erasmus passes by, not regarding it for a moment ; and views this new knowledge of the creature, only as cows look upon a new gate." His treatise upon " Study," by reason of its succinctness, gives us no exhaustive methodology, but only single rules for the direction of , teachers. Some of these rules are worthy of careful attention ; es- pecially those relating to the improvement of the scholar's style. For this end, Erasmus commends, above all other means, frequent exercise in translating from Greek into Latin ; as this not only assists in the understanding Greet authors, but also gives an insight into the peculiarities of both languages. This counsel applies with equal force in our day to translating froni foreign languages into our mother- tongue. Then too, while any particular author is being read, the teacher should comment and explain only so far as may be necessary to a thorough understanding of the sense ; but he must scrupulously refrain from an ostentatious and inappropriate display of his own erudition at every passage. Erasmus was moreover directly instrumental in promoting a knowl- edge of the Greek language, through his translation of the Greek grammar of Theodore Gaza. But no one of all his works has played so important a part in the school-world, as the Dialogues, (Colloquia.) The first edition of these, Erasmus Iiimself was dissatisfied with : the second, published in the year 1522, he dedicated to the son of Frobenius, then but six years of age, as also the third, published in 1524. In the dedication to the ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. nq last, he says, " the book was so much liked, met with such a rapid sale, and was so generally used by youth, that he was induced at once to prepare another and an enlarged edition. Many have become such superior Latinists, and likewise so much better, (Latiniores et meliores,) by the use of this book, that he, (the boy,) would not be put to the blush in their society." But this book, designed to make boys both better and better Latinists, was condemned by the Sorbonne, prohibited in France, burned in Spain, and at Rome interdicted to all Christendom. And whoever peruses these dialogues, will not be at all astonished at this. For they abound in most insidious attacks and sharp satires upon monks, cloister-life, fasts, pilgrimages, and other matters pertain- ing to the church. And this fact is enough of itself to have occa- sioned the condemnation of the book, without any reference to the many frivolous and improper expressions which it contains. We are astonished that such a book should ever have been intro- duced into so great a number of schools as it was. What have boys to do with those satires? Reformation is the work of mature men alone. What have boys to do with conversations upon so many sub- jects, of which they know absolutely nothing ? with conversations where teachers are made sport of, where two women discuss the respective merits of their husbands, where a lover is urging his suit with a maiden, or, above all, with a conversation like the " Colloquium adolescentis et scorti ?'' This latter reminds us of Schiller's distich, entitled "Artifice:" TVould you at once delight both the men of the world and the godly, Paint for us pleasure, but paint ye the devil therewith. Erasmus here depicts the vilest of pleasures, but adds his censure for edification. And such a book this learned theologian gravely recommends to a boy of eight years of age, as one whose perusal will make him better, though at the same time as one which will perfect him in Latin ; and to this end it is admirably adapted. For the various personages of Erasmus here express themselves with astonishing facility upon subjects, which we would scarcely have believed capable of being handled in the Latin tongue, such as horse-dealing, the chase, taverns, and the like. Teachers, who were wont to give the plays of Terence to their scholars to commit to memory and to act, took no offense at the natiu'e of these Dialogues, so long as they secured what they consid- ered the highest aim of all culture, viz.: a readiness in speaking and > in writing Latin. Terence is not responsible for the misuse that was made 6f him 100 ERASMUS ON CLASSICAL EDUCATION. after the lapse of fifteen hundred years: but Erasmus, the theo- logian, is responsible for Ms frivolous book, nay doubly so, inasmuch as he designed it for youth, even though they should become therel^ Latinists of the first eminence. In Luther's Table-talk, there are some expressions in regard to these Dialogues, which teachers would do well to lay to heart. " Erasmus," says he, " lurks behinds the fence, does nothing openly, and never comes boldly into our presence, — and for this reason are his books very pernicious. When I die, I will forbid my children to read his Dialogues ; for in them he utters and teaches many a wicked senti- ment by the mouths of his fictitious characters, with the deliberate design to injure the church and the Christian faith. Erasmus is a crafty knave ; that, one sees in all his books, but especially in his Dialogues, in which he is particular to say ; ' I myself speak not here, but my personages.' To Luoian I give some praise, for he comes out boldly, and indulges in open mockery ; but Erasmus sophisticates eveiy thing which is from God, and every thing holy, and does it all in the name of holiness ; for this reason he is much more mischievous and corrupting than Lucian." • The Dialogues at least, can not but have an injurious efiect upon the moral sentiments of youth. Cold, unloving satire, frivolity and shuffling, act as poison upon the simplicity and artlessness of the young. Erasmus is wonderfhlly clear and eloquent, when he treats of any thing purely scientific ; but he was not the man to write books of instruction, to address children from a fatherly heart, and to care for the good of their souls. The unhappy man had no father's house,' no country, and no church ; in short, he had no object to which he could devote his powers in self- sacrifice ; therefore did he become selfish, timid, and double-minded, for love was a stranger to his breast. We do not wonder then that he dissolved all connection with the upright, outspoken Luther, that true-hearted and affectionate pastor of his beloved Germans. THE SCHLETTSTABT SCHOOL, AND JOHN REUCHLIN. .Traiulated for the American Journal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] Louis Dringenberg. Wimpheling. Craio. Sapidui. Platter. We have confined ourselves thus far to the labors of North Germans and Netherlanders for the restoration of classical learning, and for the cause of popular education. Some of the men above-noticed led, as we have seen, a migratory life as it were : Wessel, Agricola and Erasmus, all lived a longer or a shorter time in South-Germany and Switzerland, and exerted an in- fluence upon learning there. Three places in the south became by this means centers of intellectual light, namely, Schlettstadt, Heidel- berg and Tubingen. We will now consider what took place at Schlettstadt; Heidelberg and Tubingen shall receive due attention when we come to Melancthon. Schlettstadt, a small imperial town of Lower Alsace, grown wealthy on its lucrative wine traffic, determined, about the middle of the 15th century, to found a school, i^nd for that purpose invited the West- phalian, Louis Dringenberg, to become its first rector. He took his name from Dringenberg, his native place, a small town six miles to the east of Paderborn ; he was educated at the school of the Hierony- mians at Deventer. Of his method of instruction we only know this, namely, that h^ gave his pupils a religious training, and that, with regard to the mediaeval school books, the Doctrinal, especially, though he did not venture to throw them aside, he nevertheless aimed to make them as harmless as possible. But if the tree may be known by its fruits, then the many distinguished men, who were sent forth from Dringenberg's school, are our best witnesses that his method was a good one. — He died in 1490, after having been at the head of the school for forty years. Among his pupils the name of Jacob Wimpheling has become the most familiar to us. He was born at Schlettstadt in 1450, and died there in 1528. At the close of his school-education, he studied at Freyburg, Basle and Erfurt. He took his master's degree at Heidelberg in 1479, was created dean of the philosophical faculty there, and during the years 1481 and 1482 he was Rector of the university. Afterward he became a preacher at Spires, where he No. 13.— [TOL. v., No. 1.]— 5. 102 THE SCHLETTSTADT SCHOOL. lived some-what longer than at Heidelberg ; then he went again to Heidelberg, where he read lectures upon St. Jerome, and also directed the studies of many young men, Count Wolfgang Lowenstein among the rest. To the latter he dedicated his educational treatise, entitled "Adoleseentia,^' in which he gave prominence to moral precepts, illustrating and enforcing them by quotations both from the Bible and the classics. A second work, the Isidoneus, {s'laiSos, introduction,) is devoted on the other hand mainly to his method of conducting the study of the liberal arts in general, but with a special application to the classics : his ^'JElegantiae majores " and "Megantiarum medulla " are school books. His epitome of German history was likewise designed for a manual of instruction. One of Wimpheling's pupils, the distinguished James Sturm, we shall meet with again. For him it was that Wimpheling composed the essay "JDe integritate" containing rules for study and for the conduct of life, and enjoining upon him, above all things, a dili- gent perusal of the Bible. Some expressions in this essay, reflecting upon the monks, drew from the Augustinians demonstrations of hostility toward the author, to which, however, Pope Julius H. put an end. Of Wimpheling's efficiency at Strasburg we shall speak in another plac^^* Strongly as he inveighed against the cori-uptions of the church, yet he did not go over to the side of the Reformation. This violent movement and schism in the church, coming as it did in his old age, accordingly occasioned him much anxiety and care.f He retired to Schlettstadt to the house of his sister, Magdalena, wliere he died in his seventy-eighth year. A second scholar of Dringenberg's was George Simler, afterward Melancthon's teacher, both at Pforzheim and Tubingen ; a third, Eitelwolf Stein, is known to us by his ^otive friendship for Hutten. Driagenljerg's successor in the rectorate was Crato, (or Craft HofmaMj) who may lay claim to Beatus Rhenanus as one of his seholars. The real name of Rhenanus was Bild. He was born at S6hlettstadt in 1485, and died at Strasburg in 154T. He labored much in t^je field of German history, wrote annotations on Tacitus,- .edited Vellius 'Paitereulus, Procopius, etc. ■Rhenanus continued at the Schettstadt gymnasium under the rec- torate of Crato's sueceseor Gebwiler, and with him John Sapidus, -•■•Under "John'Sturm-." t "In addition-to.olhw«al^jnitiesi insure *hem we5,lth and splendor, honor and pleasure. Thus Luther censures a rough, passionate severity in parents, as well as a spirit of indulgence ; and wisely commends to them to inspire their children with a dread, rather of God's displeasure than of human penalties, to chasten them betimes, etc. Of the like import are his reflections when commenting on 1 John, 2: 14. There is that in the nature of young children, which exults, when the reins of discipline are slackened. Nor is the case otherwise with youth, and if they are held in, even with so firm a hand that they can not break away, nevertheless they will murmur. The right of fathers over their children is derived fi'om God; he is, in ti;uth, the Father of all, "of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." — Bph. 3: 15. Wherefore, the authority of earthly fathers over their children should not be exercised in a hard and unfriendly manner. He who gov- erns in anger only adds fuel to the fire. And, if fathers and masters on earth do not acknowledge God, he so orders it that both children and servants shall dis- appoint their hopes. Experience, too, shows us abundantly, that far more can be accomplished by love, than by slavish fear and constraint. But it is the duty of children to learn the fear of God first of all; then, to love those who labor for their improvement. The fear of God should never depart from them ; for, if they put it away, they become totally unfit to serve God or man. Correction, too, which includes botl^ reproof and chastisement, saves the soul of the child from the endless punishment of hell. Let not the father spare the rod, but let him remember that the work of training up children is 'an honor which comes from God; yea, if they turn out weU, let him give God the glory. Whoso does not know to do this, hatej his children and his household, and walks in darkness. For parents, who love their children blindly, and leave them to their own courses, do no better in the end than if they had hated them. And the ruin of children almost invariably lies at the door of parents, and it commonly ensues from one of these two causes ; namely, either from undue lenity and foolish fondness, or from unbending severity, and an irritable spirit. Both these extremes are attended with great hazard, and both should be shunned alike. Against indulging children Luther likewise inveighs, in a sermon on the married state. There is no greater obstacle in the way of Christianity than neglect in the training of the young. If we would re-instate Christlauity in its former glory, we must improve and elevate the children, as it was done in the days of old. But, alas I parents are blinded by the delusiveness of natural affection, so that they have come to regard the bodies of their children more than their souls. On this point hear the words of the wise man ; Prov. 13 : 24. — " He that spareth the rod, hateth his son; but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes.'* Again, 22 : 15. — " Foolishness is bound in the heart of a cluld ; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." Again, Prov. 23 : 14. — " Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul fixjm heU." " Wherefore it is the chief duty of the father of a family, to bestow more, greater, and more constant Bare upon the soul of his child than upon his body ; for, this is his own flesh, but the soul is a precious immortal jewel, which God has intrusted to his keeping, and which he must not suffer either the world, the flesh or the devil to steal or to destroy. And a strict account of his charge will be required of him at death and the judgment. For whence, think you, shall come the 136 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. terrible wailing^ and anguish of those, who shall there cry out, ' Blessed are the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck?' — Luke 23 : 29. Doubtless, from the bitter tKou'ght that they have not brought their children back to God, from whom they had only received them in trust.'' III. MONKISH TRAINING OF THE YOUNO. Luther disapproves of isolating children from the world, after the usage of the monks. " Solomon," says he, " was a right royal school- master. He does not forbid children, from mingling with the world, or from enjoying themselves, as the monks do their scholars ; for they will thus become mere clods and blockheads, as Anselm likewise per- ceived. Said this one ; ' a young man, thus liedged about, and cut off from society, is like a young tree, whosfe nature it is to grow and bear fruit, planted in a stnaU and narrow pot.' For the monks have imprisoned the youth whom they have had in charge, as men put birds in dark cages, so that they could neither see rior converse with anyone. But it is dangerous for youth to be thus alone, thus de- barred from social intercourse. Wherefore, we ought to permit young people to see, and hear, and know what is taking place around them in the world, yet so that you hold them under ' disSipline, and teach them self-respect. Your monkish strictness is never productive of ' any good fruit. It is an excellent thing for a yourig'man to be fre- quently in the society of others ; yet he must be honorably trained to adhere to the principfles of integrity, and to virtue, and to shun the contamination of vice. This monkish tyranny is moreover an absolute injury to the young ; for they stand in quite as' much need of pleas- ure and recreation as of eating and drinking ; their health, too, will be firmer and the more vigorous by the means." IV. OFFENSE GIVEN TO CHILDREN. In Luther's expositibn of the sixth commandnient, 'he pointedly condemns the offense which is given to the young by the use of foul language. " It is a great sin to use such infarnous language in the presence of innocent boys and girls. Those who do it are guilty of all the sins which their inconsiderate words beget; For the tender and inexperienced minds of children are very quick to receive an im- pression from such words ; and, what is far Worse, this filthy language clings to their memory, and long aWdes with them, even as a stain on a fine white cloth is much harder to efikee than if it came on one that is rough and course. This the pagans, too, learned fro'm experience : Horace, for example, who says that a new vase lofig retains the odor of that substance that happened first to have been put into it ! ' Quo semel est imbuta recme servabit oddrem Testa diu.' LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 13^ And Juvenal, ' you should pay the utmost regard to your boy ; and, if you meditate any thing base, think not that his age is too tender to remain unsullied.' 'Maxima debeter puero reverentia, si quid Turpe paras, hujus tu ne contemseris annos.' " We will now inquire more particularly what these people do, who thus offend children ? Since it is a good thing to pay regard to their tender years, and to keep them in the observance of propriety and decorum, (for it is an acceptable sacrifice to God, to seek the welfare of souls,) we should, therefore, with all diligence, watch over young boys and girls, and prevent them either from seeing or hearing any thing infamous ; for their evil tendencies are strong enough by nature. If you seet to quench fire, not with water, but by adding fuel to it, what good do you think you will do ? But, alas ! how many wicked people there are, who make themselves the tools of the devil, and destroy innocent Souls with their poisonous and corrupt language. The devil is truly called a destroyer of souls, but he does not do his work, unless with the help <>f the infamous tongues of such as are on his side, and take pattern by his example. "Can a child roet out of his soul the vile word, that has once passed in at his ear ? The seed is Sown, and it germinates in his heart, even against his will. And it branches out into strange and peculiar fan- cies, which he dares not utter, and can not rid himself of. But, woe to thee ! whoever thou art, who hast conveyed into an artless mind, that had otherwise been free from the guile, such troubles, perils and poison! Thou hast not, indeed, marred the body; but, as much as in thee lay, thou hast disfigured that much nobler part, the soul. Thou hast poured, through the ear of a fellow-being, a deadly bane into his life-blood ; yea, thou hast slain his soul. Such people are of the race of Herod, who slew the innocents in Bethlehem. You would not suflfer your own children to be murdered before your eyes ; — why then will you destroy souls that are not yours, but God's. St. Louis, king of France, said that his mother would rather have seen her children die by violence than commit a deadly sin. And what a terrible con- demnation does our Lord pronounce upon such corruption of child- ren. ' But whoever shall ofifend one of these little ones, which be-' lieve in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth, of the sea.' Matt., 18:6. See what care Christ bestows on innocent little child- ren, in that he aflSxes a new and peculiar penalty upon the sin of those who offend and injure them ; a penalty that is denounced upon no other sin. By this he would doubtless indicate, that such persons 138 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. shall und'ergo an aggravated punishment in the world of woe. And hear him further, in the Ylh verse, ' Woe unto the world, because of offenses ! for it must needs be that offenses come ; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh 1' And, in the 10th, ' Take heed) that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.' "If any one should be .disposed to judge these persons mildly, and say their words may raise a blush, but they themselves are clean, as Ovid falsely alledgea of himself, , My manners dift'er widely from ray verse ; The muse may dally, — I am none the worse. let him hear what Christ says, and keep silence, ' Out of- the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' ' A tree is known by its fruits.' " And hence it is, too, that the Christian faith is at so low an ebb, because the children have been led out of the way ; and, if the Chris- tian church is again to rise from the dust, we must begin with a care- ful instruction of the young." V. DEGENERATE CHILDREN. When, despite the conscientious efforts of parents and teachere, children turn out ill, Luther casts a consoling view upon the case. " What is greater and more glorious than this your labor, ye faithful taskmasters ? You are, in all truthfulness, to instruct, to teach, to chasten and admonish the youth committed to your care, in the hope that some will keep in the way of wisdom, though some too may turn aside. For whoever will do any good, must bear in mind, that this effort may prove all in vain, and his benevolence be thrown away ; for there are always many who scorn and reject good counsel, and but few who follow it. We should be satisfied, if our good deeds are not wholly fruitless ; and if, among ten lepers, one returns and gives thanks, it is well. — ^Luke, 1'7 : 1*7. So, if among ten scholars, there is but one who bends to discipline and learns with zeal, it is well ; for our kindness is not wholly lost ; and Christ himself bids us, after the example of his Heavenly Father, do good to the thankful and the unthankful alike. " Therefore, stand in your lot, and labor with all diligence ; and, if God does not crown you with success, yet ascribe to him glory and dominion in the highest, and faint not, neither be impatient. Think what an admirable example Solomon has set us ; for Solomon him- self, or any other king, may train up his son from infancy in the best, most pains- taking, and most godly manner, thinking and hoping, LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 139 he shall succeed, and may fail, notwithstanding all. Have you a pious son ; — then say, ' thanks be to God, who has made him and given him to me ;' — but, if your son has grown up to evil courses, you can but say, — ' such is this poor human life ; I have toiled to train up my son ari^t ; but it was not the Lord's will he should prosper ; yet blessed be the name of the Lord.' " Nor must parents ever cease to seek their children's good, however degenerate and ungrateful they may be." VI. ALLOWBD DISOBEDIENCE. But should parents, in the training of their children, trangress God's commandments, then, Luther thinks, they can not justly claim their obedience. If parents act with such thoughtless folly, as to bring up their children to worldly pleasure and dissipation, then the children may cease to obey them. For we see by the first three commandments that God will be honored before earthly parents. By bringing them up to the world, I mean, pointing them to nothing higher than pleasure, honor and wordly good. VII. SCHOOLS. The establishment of institutions of learning by magistrates, as a means of providing a constant succession of well-educated and able men for the church, the school and the government, and a defense of study, especially the study of the languages, and the founding of libraries, are treated of in '■^ Dr. Martin Lmther's Address to the Councilmen of all the towns of Germany, calling upon them to establish and sustain Christian schools. A. D., 1524." To the Mayors and Councilmen of all the towns of Germany : — Grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved rulers, wise and sagacious men, ye all do know that I have been under ban and outlawry for well nigh three years ; and I surely would keep silence now, if I feared the commandments of men more than I fear God ; for which cause also, many in this our German land, both high and low, are even now denouncing my words and deeds, and shedding much blood over them. But, for aU this, I can not refrain from speaking ; for God has opened my mouth, and commanded me to speak, yea, to cry aloud, and to spare not, while at the same time he has ever been giv- ing strength and increase to my cause, and that too without any device or act of mine ; for the more " they rage and set themselves, the more he laughs and has them in derision." — ind Psalm. And by this one thing alone, whosoever is not hardened in unbelief may see that this cause is of God. For this is ever the way with God's word and work here on the earth ; they manifest the greatest power precisely when men are the most eager to overthrow and destroy them. Therefore, I will speak, and, as Isaiah saith, "I will not hold my peace, till the righteousness of Christ go forth as brightness, and his salvation as a lamp that hnrneth." And I beseech you all, my beloved rulers and friends, receive this my writing and exhortation with joy, and lay it to heart. For whatever I am in my- self, yet in this matter I can say of a truth, with a pure conscience in the sifjht of God, that I have not sought mine own good, (which I could the more easily have secured by silence ;) but, out of a true heart, I speak to you and to the whole of Germany, even as God has ordained me to do, whether ye hear, or whether ye forbear. And I would have you freely, cheerfully and in a spirit of love, give me your attention ; since, doubtless, if ye obey me hei'ein, ye obey not me, but Christ, and whoever does not follow my precepts, despises Christ, and not me. \ 140 . LIJTHEE'S VIEWS OF EDlfCATION AND SCHOOLS. Wherefore I beseech you all, beloved rulers and friends, for the sake of God and of poor neglected youth; do not count this a small matter, as some do, who, in their blindness, overlook the wiles of the a'dversary. For it is a great and solemn duty that is laid upon us, a duty of immense moment to Christ and to the world, to give aid and ^onijsel to the young. And in so doing we likewise promote our own best interests. .And remember, that the silent, hidden and malicious assaults of the devil can be withstood only by manly Christian effort. Beloved rulers, if we find it necessary to expend such large sums, as we do yearly, upon artiileiy, roads, bridges, dykes, and a thousand other things of the sort, in order that a city may be assured of continued order, peace, and tranquillity, ought we not to expend on the poor suffering youth therein, at least enough to provide them with a schoolmaster or two 1 God the Almighty, has, in very deed, visited us Ger- mans with the small rain of his grace, and vouchsafed to us a right golden har- vest. For we have novy among ns many excellent and learned young men, richly furnished with knowledge, both of the languages and of the avts, who could do great good, if we would only set them to the task of teaching our little folks. I)o we not see before our very eyes, that a boy may now be so thoroughly drilled in three years, that, at fifteen or eighteen, he shall know more than hitherto all the high schools and cloisters put together have ever been able to impart 2 Yea, what other thing have the high schools and cloisters ever achieved, but to make asses and blockheads ? Twenty, forty years would they teach you, and after all you. would know nothing of L^tin, or of German either ; and then, too, there is their shameful profligacy, by which how many ingenuous youths have been led astray ! But, now that God has so richly favored us, in giving us such a number of per- sons competent to teach these young folks, and to mould their powers in the best manner, truly it behooves us not to throw his grace to the wind, and not to suffer him to knock at our door in vain. He is even now waiting for admittance ; good betide us if we open to him, happy the man who responds to his greeting. If we slight him until he shall have passed by, who may prevail with him to return ? Let us bethink ourselves of our former sorrow, and of the darkness wherein once we groped. I do not suppose that Germany has ever heard so much of God's word as now ; certainly we may search our history in vain for the like state of things. If we let all this slip away, without gratitude and praise, it is to be feared that worse calamities and a deeper darkness will come upon us. My dear Ger- man brothers, buy, while the market is at your door ; gather in, while the sun shines, and the weather is fair ; apply the word and the gr#ce of God to your hearts, while they are here. For this you should always bear in mind, that God's word and grace are a passing shower, that goes, — never to return. And do not, my German brothers, indulge in the delusive dream that it will abide with you forever. For an ungrateful and a scornful spirit will drive it away. Where- fore, lay hold of it, and keep it, ye, who may ; idle hands reap never a harvest. God's command, so often communicated through Moses, to the effect that parents should teach their children, is thus taken up and enforced in the 78th Psalm, 3rd verse, et geq,, " which our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, showing to the generations to come the praise of the Lord." And the 5th commandment God deemed of such vast importance, that the punishment of death was decreed upon stubborn and disobedient children. And why is it, that we, the elder, are spared to the world, except to train up and instruct the young ? It is impossible that the gay little folks sliould guide and teach themselves ; and accordingly God has committed to us, who are old* and experienced, the knowl- edge which is needful for them, and he will require of us a strict account of what we have done with it. Listen to Moses, in Deuteronomy, 32 : 7. — " Ask thy father, and he will show thee ; thine elders, and they will tell thee." But with us, to our sin and our shame be it spoken, it has come to this, that we must drive and be driven, before we can bring up our children aright, and seek their good ; and yet, nature itself would seem to prompt us what to do, and manifold exam- ples among pagan nations, to incite us to do it. There is not a brute ahimal that does not direct and instruct its young to act as befits its nature ; unless we except the ostrich, of which God saith, in Job, 39 : 14, 16 ; " which leaveth her eggs in the earth," " she is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers." And what would it profit us, if we were faithful in the discharge of every oflier duty, and should become well-nigh perfect, if, vrithal, we failed to do IDTHKR'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 141 precisely the thing for which our lives are lengthened out, namely, to cherish and watoh over the young ? I truly think that, of outward sins, there is none, for which the world is so culpable, and for which it merits such severe condemnation, ae this which we are guilty of with regard to our children, in not giving them a right training. Woe to the world, ever and forever ! Children are daily born, and are suffered to grow up among us, and there is, alas t no one to take the poor young people to himself, and show them the way in which they should go ; but we all leave them to go whither they will. But, you say, " all this is addressed to parents ; what have cotincilmen and magistrates to do with it !" This is very true, I grant you ; but how if parents should not do it, — vfhat then ? Who, I ask, will ? Shall it be left undone, and the children be neglected ? Will magis- trates and councilmen then plead that they have nothing to do in the matter 1 There are many reasons why parents do not deal as they should by their children. • And, first, there are some who are not so pious and well-meaning as to do this, even when they have the ability ; but, like the ostrich, which leaveth her eggs in the dust, and is hardened against her young ones, so they bring children Into being, and there is an end of their care. But these children are to live among us, and to be of us in one common city. And how can you reconcile it with reason, and especially with Christian love, to permit them to grow up uncared for and untaught, to poison and to blast the morals of other children, so that at last these too will become utterly corrupt ; as it happened to Sodom, Gomorrah, Gaba and many other cities/ And again, the majority of parents are, alas! entirely unfit to educate their children, knowing neither what to teach them, nor how to teach it. For they have learned nothing the^mpelves, save how to provide for the body ; and they must look to a special class, set apart for 4^he purpose, to take their children and bring them up in the right way. In the third place, tliere are quite a number of parents who, though both willing and capable, yet, by reason of their business or the situation of their families, have neither the time nor the place, convenient; so that necessity compels them to get teachers for their children. And each would be glad to have one entirely to himself. This, however, is out of the question, for it would be too great a burden for men of ordinary means to bear j and thus, many a fine boy would be neglected, because of poverty. Add, that so many parents die, and leave orphans behind them ; and what care guardians commonly give to them, if observation did not teacl;i us, yet we could judge from what God calls himself, in Psalm 68 : 6, "a father of the father- less," — which is as much as to say that they are forsaken by all others. Tliere are some, again, who have no chil'^ren themselves, and who, on this account, take no interest at all in the welfare of the young. In view of all this, it becomes councilmen and magistrates to watch over youth with unremitting care and diligence. For since their city, in all its interests, life, honor, and possessions, is committed to their faithful keeping, they do not deal justly by their trust, before God and the world, unless they strive to their utmost, night and day, to promote the city's increase and prosperity. Now, a city's in- crease consists not alone in heaping up great treasures, in building solid walls or stately houses, or in multiplying artillery aud munitions of war ; nay, where there is great store of this, and yet fools with it, it is all the worse, and all the greater loss for the city. But this is the best and the richest increase, prosperity and strength of a city, that it shall contain a great number of polished, learned, intelligent, honorable, and well-bred citizens ; who, when they have become all this, may then get wealth and put it to a good use. Since, then, a city must have citizens, and on all accounts its saddest lack and destitution were a lack of citizens, we are not to wait until they are grown up. We can neither hew them out of stones, nor carve them out of wood ; for God does not work miracles, so long as the ordinary gifts of his bounty are able to subserve the use of man. Hence, we must use the appointed means, and, with cost and care, rear up and mould our citizens. Whose feult is it, that now in every cite there is such a dearth of intel- ligent and capable men, but that of the magistrailre, who have left the young to grow up like the trees of the forest, and have not given a thought to their instruc- tion and training 1 Tou see hOw wild the trees grow ; they are only good for fences or for fire-wood, and are by no means fit for the use of the builder. Tet, we must have governments here upon the earth. And how wild and senselesB 142 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCnOOLS. is the hope, if clods and addle-brains rnle us, that somehow they will get wis- dom, and all will go well with us. Rather let us elect so many swine or wolves for rulers, and place them over such as know not what it is to be ruled by men. And besides, it is brutish recklessness, to act merely for the present time, and to say, " as for us, we will rule now ; but, we care not how it shall be with those who come after us." Such men as these, who use their power only for their own individual honor and profit, ought not to rule over men, but over dogs or swine. For even when we exert our utmost diligence to train shrewd, learned, and competent men for rulers, we do not find -it a very easy matter to reach our aim. What then can we expect, when we do absolutely nothing? " This may be so," you reply ; " but, though we ought to have schools, and must have them, still what will it profit us to have Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and your other liberal arts taught in them ? Will not German suffice to teach us all of the Bible and the Word of God that is essential to salvation?" Alas, I fear me, that we Germans must ever be and continue to be mere brutes and wild beasts, as our neighbors with such good reason style us. I wonder that you do not say, " what have we to do with silks, wine, spices, and other pro- ductions of foreign lands ; inasmuch as we have wine, corn, wool, flax, wood, and stone here in Germany, not only to supply our wants, but enough and in variety enough to minister either to comfort, dignity or luxury V And yet, these languages and these arts, which do us no harm, but ai-e agreeable and useful alike, sources both of honor and profit, throwing light upon the Scriptures, and imparting sound wisdom to rulers, these we despise ; while the productions of other lands, which do us no good whatever, we fret and worry ourselves after to that degree that even success ofttimes proves no better to us than failure. Of a truth, we are rightly called German fools and beasts ! Surely, were there no other good to be got from the languages, the bare thought that they are a noble and a glorious gift from God, wherewith he has visited and enriched us, almost beyond all other nations, th;s thought, I say, ought to be a powerful motive, yea, an allurement to cultivate them. The cases are rare, indeed, where the devil has suffered the languages to be in repute in the universities and the cloisters ; nay, these have almost always raised a hue and cry against them in the past ages, as likewise they do now. For the prince of darkness is shrewd enough to know that, where the languages flourish, there his power will soon be so rent and torn that he can not readily repair it. But now, since he can not keep them from expanding into a vigorous growth, and from bearing fruit, he is at work, devising how he may render them dwarfed and sickly, if so be that they may decay and die of themselves. If an unwelcome guest comes to his house, he sets before him so meagre an entertainment, that he is forced to shorten his visit. Few of us, my good friends, perceive this craft and snare of the devil. Wherefore, my beloved countrymen, let us open our eyes, and, thanking God for this precious jewel, let us keep fast hold of it, lest it be filched away from us, and the devil see his malicious purposes accomplished ; for, though the gospel came in former times as now, day by day, it comes to us, by the Holy Spirit alone, yet we can not deny that at the fii-st it was received through the languages, that its blessings are now spread abroad by their means, and by their means tSat it is to be kept in the world. For when God, by the apostles, sent the gospel to men, he sent the gift of tongues with it; and, before that time, he had used the Roman power as an instrument to diffuse the Latin and Greek languages far and wide over the whole world, in order that the gospel might spread rapidly through all the nations. And, in the same manner, he has worked at the present day. No man understood the reason why God caused the languages again to put on bloom and vigor, until now, at last, we see that it was for the sake of the gospel, which ho purposed to bring to light and thereby make manifest, and overthrow the king- dom of Anti-Christ. For that cause it was that he gave Greece into the hands of the Turks, in order that the Ga'eeks, hunted out of their own laud and scat- tered over the face of the earth ,Thight carry with them out amongst the nations the knowledge of the Greek language, and thereby cause a beginning to be made of learning the other languages also. Now, since the gospel is so dear to us, let us hold fast to the languages. Nor should it be in vain to us that God has caused his Scriptures to be written in two languages only,— the Old Testament in the LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 143 Hebvew, and the New Testament in the Greek. These languages God has not despised, but has chosen them for his word, to the exclusion of all others ; and we too ought therefore to honor them above all others. And St. Paul glories in this, as a special honor and advantage of the Hebrew, namely, that God's word was written therein. " What advantage then hath the Jew ? Much every way i chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God." — Romans, 3: 1,2. King David, too, bestows a like praise upon it, in Psalm, 147 : 19. — "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation," " nor to any nation revealed his judgments ;" as though he would say, " God hath, in this, consecrated and set apart the He- brew tongue." And St. Paul, in Romans, 1 : 2, calls the Scriptures holy ; doubtless, because the Holy Word of God is contained therein. In like manner, also, may the Greek be called a sacred language, in that it was chosen before all other languages as that one in which the New Testament should be written, and out of which it should flow, as out of a fountain, into other languages by the means of translations, thus consecrating these too. And let us bethink our- selves, that haply we may not bo able to retain the gospel without the knowledge of the languages in which it was written. For they are the scabbard, in which this sword of the spirit is sheathed ; they are the casket, in which this jewel is enshrined ; the vessel, in which this drink is kept ; the room, where this meat is stored. And, as we are taught in the gospel itself, they are the baskets, in which were gathered thfs bread, these fishes, and these fragments. Yea, should wo overlook all this, and (which God forbid ! ) let go our hold on the languages, then wo would not only lose the gospel, but would finally fall away to that degree, that we should be able neither to speak nor to write either German or Latin. . And in this, let us take a lesson and a warning by the sad example of the universi- ties and cloisters, where they have not only let the gospel slip away from their grasp, but have also either lost or corrupted both Latin and German, so that the creatures have become but little better than brute beasts, knowing neither how to read nor write, and, more than thi?, have well-nigh lost even their native intellect too. For this reason, the apostles themselves felt constrained to eneloso and bind up, as it were, the New Testament in the Greek language ; without doubt, to preserve it for us safe and intact, as in a holy ark. For they saw all that, which was to come to pass, and which even now has been fulfilled ; name- ly, if it were committed to tradition alone, that, amid many a wild, disorderly, and tumultuous clash and commingling of opinions, Christianity would become ob- scured ; which event it would lie impossible to guard against, and equally impos- sible to preserve the plain and simple truth, unless the New Testament were made sure and immutable by writing and by language. Hence, we may conclude that, where the languages do not abide, there, in the end, the gospel must perish. That this is true, is manifest, moreover', from history ; fur soon after the apos- tles' time, when the gift of tongues ceased, the knowledge of the gospel, faith in Christ, and the whole system of Christianity, fell away more and more ; and later, since the time that the languages went into disrepute, there has very little transpired in Christendom that has been worthy of note ; but a vast number of frightful enormities have, on the other hand, been engendered, in consequence of ignorance of the languages. And now, that the languages have again dawned upon us, they have brought such light with them, and they have accomplished such mighty results, that all the world is lost in amazement, and is forced to confess that we have the gospel in as great purity almost as did the apostles ; nay, that it has come again in its pristine purity, and is, beyond all comparison, purer than it was in the time of St. Jerome or St. Augustine. And, in fine, the Holy Spirit undei-stands this matter : he does not employ any light or need- less means for his- work ; and he has deemed the languages of such importance, that he has often brought them with him from heaven. Which fact alone ought to be a sufficient inducement to us to cultivate them with diligence and to pay them due honor ; and not, by any means, to despise them, now that he is again breathing into them the breath of life throughout the world. " But," you will say, " many of the Fathers have died without the languages, and they nevertheless have been saved." Veiy true. But what do you say to this, that they so often missed wide of the true sense of the Scriptures 1 How often is St. Augustine at fault in his commentaries on the Psalter, and elsewhere ; and 144 LCTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. Hilary, too ; yea, and all who, without the aid of the languages, have undertaken to expound the Soriptures ? And, though they perhaps may have spoken the right thing, yet have they not betrayed an uncertjiinty, whether the passage in hand would bear the oonstiuolion that they have put'npon it? But, if we thus, with our own doubtful avgumeuts and our stambling references, approaph to the de- fense of the ftiith, will not Christians be contemned and derided by such of their antagonists as are w^ell-versed in the languages 1 ' And will not these become more stubborn in their unbelief, inasmuch as they will have good reason to con- olpde our faith a delusion ? To what is it owing, that religion is now so generally scandalized? To the fact alone, th»t we are ignorant of the languages; and there is no help for it, but to learn them. Was not St. Jerome constrained to translate the Psalms ^new from the Hebrew, solely because when there eame_up any controversy with the Jews, they silenced their opponents with th? sneering remark, that the passage cited did not read thus and so in the Hebrew. Now, all the expositions of the ancient fathers, who treated the Soriptures without the aid of the languages, (though perhaps they advocated no unsound doctrines,) are nevertheless quite.often based upon doubtful, Inaccurate or inappropriate render- ings. A.nd they gi-oped about, like a blind man at a wall, quite often failing alto- gether of the right text, and stupidly overlooking it in their enthflsiasm, so that even St. Augustine himself was obliged to confess, in his treatise on the Christian doctrines, that a Christian teacher, who woujd interpret the Scriptures, must understand not only Latin and Greek, but Hebrew likewise ; " for otherwisej it is impossible but that he will stumble on all hands." And truly, there is need of labor enough, even when we do know the languages. T'or this reason, it is one thing with the unlettered preacher of the faith, and qnite another with the inter- preter of the Scriptures, or the prophet, as St. Paul calls the latter. The unlet- tered preacher has at his command such a number of clear and intelligible texts and paragraphs in the vernacular, that he can understand Christ and his doctrine, ■ lead a holy life himself, and preach all this to others ; but, to set forth the sense of the Soriptures, to put one's self in the van, and to do battle against heretics and errorists, this can never come about, except with the help of the languages. And, accordingly, we must ever, in the Christian church, have such prophets, who shall study and expound the Bcriptures, and, besides, shall be stalwart champions of the faith ; for all which, a holy life andsound precepts are not enough. Hence, the languages are of the first necessity to a pure Christianity, as they are the source of the power that resides in prophets or commentators ; although, wa ought not to require every Christian or preacher to b« such a prophet, as also St. Paul admits, in 1st Cor., 12 : 8, 9, and Eph., 4:11. We thus see how it is that, since the apostles' time, the Scriptures have re- mained so obscure ; forj nowhere have any sure and reliable commentaries been written upon them. Even the holy fathers, as we said before, have often fallen into error, and, because they were ignorant of the languages, they very seldom agree, but one says one thing, and another another. St. Bernard was a man of great genius ; so much so, that I would place him above all the eminent doctrin- ists, both ancient and modern. But yet, how often does he play upon the lan- guage of the Scriptures, (albeit in a spiritual sense,) thus turning it aside from its true meaning. Hence, the sophists averred that the Scriptures were obscure, and that the word of our God was couched in perplexing and contradictory terms. But they did not see that all that was wanted, was a knowledge of the languages in which it was recorded. For nothing is more plain-spoken than God's word, when we have become thorough masters of its language. A Turk might well seem obscure to me, because I do not understand his speech, when a Turkish child of seven shall easily discern his meaning. Hence, it is a rash undertaking, to attempt to learn the Soriptures through the expositions of the Fathers, and through reading their numerous treatises and glosses. For this purpose you ought to go direct to the language yourself. For the beloved Fathers, because they were without the languages, have at times descanted at great length upon a single verse, and yet cast such a feeble ghmmer of light upon it, that their intei-pretation was, at last, but half right, and half wrong. And yet you will persist in painfully running after them, when , with the languages, you might be yourself in a position rather to lead than to follow. For, as the light of the sun dispels the shadows of the night, so do the languages render LUTHER'S VIEWS OP EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 145 useless all the glosses of the Fathers. Since now, it becomes Christians to re- gard the Scriptures as the one only book, which is all their own, and since it is a sin and a shame for us not to be familiar with our own book, and with the lan- guage and the word of our God ; — so it is a still greater sin and shame, for us not to learn the languages, especially now that God is bringing to us and freely ofFering us learned men, and suitable books, and every thing which we need for this purpose, and is, so to speak, urging us to the task, so desirous is he to have his book open to us. O, how joyful would those beloved Fathers have been, if they could have come to the knowledge of the Scriptures, and have learned the languages so easily as we now may do it ! How great was their labor, how constant their diligence in picking up but a few of the crumbs, while we may secure half, yea, even the whole of tlie loaf, with scarce any trouble at all. And how does their diligence put our inactivity to the blush? Yea, how severely will God punish this our apathy and neglect! Again, in order to follow Paul's precept, in 1 Cor., 14 : 29, to the effect that we must judge of every doctrine of Christianity, we must, of necessity, first learn the languages. For it may chance that the teacher or preacher ^hall go through with the whole of the Bible, ex- plaining it as seemeth to him good, whether that be right or wrong, and none of his hearers can dispute him, if none of them is competent to judge of his truth or error. But, to judge, we must know the languages, else we shall have nothing to guide us. Hence, though the faith of the gospel may be set forth in a certain measure by the unlettered preacher j yet such preaching is weak at the best, and we soon become wearied and discouraged, and we faintfor lack of nu- trimeht. But, where the languages are well understood, there all is freshness and strength, the Scriptures are thoroughly winnowed, and faith is renewed day by day. Nor should we suffer ourselves to be led astray, because some magnily the spirit, while they despise the letter. So, too, some, like the Waldensian breth- ren, deem the languages of no account whatever. But, my good friends, the spirit is here, — the spirit is there. I too have been in the spirit ; and, I too have seen spirits, (if I may glory of myself.) And my spirit has proved some things, while your spirit has been quietly sitting in a corner, and doing little more than making a vain-glorious boast of its existence. I know, as well as another, that it is the spirit alone which does almost every thing. Had I passed my days in obscu- rity, and had I received no md from the languages toward a sure and exact un- derstanding of the Scriptures, I might yet have led a holy life, and in my retire- ment have preached sound doctrine ; but then I should have left the pope and the sophists, together with the whole body of Anti-Christ, just where I found them. The devil does not regard my spirit of near so much account as my thoughts, and my Writings upon the Scriptures. For my spirit takes nothing from him, save myself alone ; but the Holy Scriptures, and the sayings therein contained, make the world too narrow for him, and sti'ip him of his power. Therefore, I can not accord my praise at all to my Waldensian brothers, for the low esteem in which they hold the languages. For, though their precepts square with the truth, yet they can not but fail often of the right text, and they must necessarily ever be unprepared and unequipped for the defense of the faith, and the uproot- ing of false doctrines. And for this reason are they so obscure ; and their speech is so warped from the standard of the Scriptures, that I greatly fear they are not or else will not abide in a pure faith. For'it is very dangerous to spe^ of the things of God otherwise, or in other words, than God himself employs. In a word, it may be that they have the witness of a holy life and sound doctrine among themselves ; but, while they remain without the languages, they will fail precisely where others have failed, namely, in not searching the Scriptures with thoroughness and care, in order thereby to render themselves useful to others. But, since they now have the opportunity to do this, and yet will not do it, let them consider liow they will answer for themselves before God. Thus far I have spoken of the usefulness and the necessity of the languages in their bearing on spiritual concerns and on the welfare of the soul. Now let us look to the body and ask, were there no soul, no heaven, nor hell, and were temporal affairs to be administered solely with a view to this world, whether, these would not stand In need of good schools and learned teachers much more even than do our spiritual interests ? Nor hitherto have the sophists interested them- selves in this matter at all, but have adapted their schools to the spu-itual order 146 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDtjCAllON AND SCHOOLS. alone; so that it was oonnted a reproach to a learned inan, if he was married j and such an one was told, " you are of the world, for you have severed yourself from our order entirely ;" as if the spiritual order alone were pleasing in the sight of God, while the temporal, (as they style it,) was given over to the devil and Anti-Christ. It is needless for me here to argue, that all temporal government is of Divine origin and authority ; for on this point I have spoken elsewhere, and that so fully, that no one, I hope, will venture to deny it ; but, the question now is, how to provide able and competent men to govern us. And in this the heathen might justly put us to shame and confusion of face ; for they, the Greeks and Romans especially, gave diligent heed to the teaching and training of boys and girls, to fit them for all the various stations of temporal trust and authority, and yet they were entirely ignorant whether this was pleasing in the sight of God or not; so that I blush for our Christians, when I think of it, and for our Germans, above all, who are clowns ; yea, brute beasts, one, might call them. For Uiey say, " of what use are schools, unless you intend to enter the service of the church ?" But surely we know, or ought to know, how necessary, how proper, and how pleasing in tlie sight of God it is, for a prince, a lord, a magistrate, or any one in authority, to excel in learning and in wisdom, so that ke may discharge the duties of his office in a Christian manner. If now, as for argument's sake I have supposed, there were no soul, and if we had no need at all of schools or of the languages for the sake of the Scriptures, or of God, yet it would be a suffi- cient reason for establishing in every place the very best of schools, both for boys and girls, that the world, merely to maintain its outward prosperity, has need of shrewd and accomplished men and women. Men to pilot state and people safely, and to good issues ; women to train up well and to confirm in good coui'ses both children and servants. Now, such men must first be boys, and such women, girls. Hence, it is our duty to give a right training and suitable instruc- tion to these boys and girls. " Tes," you will say, " but every one can do this for himself, and can teach his sons and daughters, and bring them up under a good discipline." I answer, verily we see but too well, what sort of teaching and discipline this is. For where it is carried to the farthest extent, and turns out well besides, it does not go any further than this, to impart an easy air, and respectful carriage ; otherwise, the children appear to no more advantage than so many machines, who do not know how to converse well upon a variety of topics, and who are the very farthest from being able to give aid and counsel to others. But, if they were taught and trained in schools or elsewhere, where the masters and mistresses were learned and discreet, and could instruct them in the lan- guages, arts, and histories, they would thus become familiar with the great deeds and the famous sayings of all times ; would see how it fared with such a city, kingdom, province, man, or woman, and would bring before their eyes, as it were in a mirror, the whole world from the beginning, with all its character and life, its plans and achievements, its successes and failures : by all this they Would shape their sentiments, and to all this conform the course of their life in the fear of God. From the same histories, too, they would gain wit and wisdom, and learn what to pursue and what to avoid in life, and so, by and by, be able to counsel or to govern others. But, the instruction which is imparted at home, without such schools, will make us wise only through our own experience. And before we get wisdom thus, we shall be an hundred times dead, and shall have passed our lives in folly ; for, to perfect our experience, we need a long series of years. Since, then, young people are always full of frolic and life, and always seeking something to do, and finding their pleasure in action ; and since you can not curb their spirits, nor would it be a good thing even if you could ; why should we not establish such schools^ and unfold before them such arts ? For now, by God's grace, matters have taken such a turn, that children are enabled to learn by means of pleasure, and, in sport, as it were, every thing, whether it be lan- guages, arts, or histories. And our schools are no longer hells an^ purgatories, as they once were, wh^re a boy was forever tormented with their cases and their tenses, and where he learned nothing, absolutely nothing, by reason of ceaseless flogging, trembling, woe and anguish. If,now, we take so much time and trouble to teach children to play at cards, to sing and to dance, why shall we not also spend time enough to teach reading and the other arts, while they have youth and leisure, and while they show both an aptness and a fondness for such things 1 LUTHER'S VIEWS OP EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 147 As for myself, if I had children and were able, I would teach them not only the languages and history, but singing likewise ; and with music I would combine a full course of mathematics. For what would it all require but a mere child's play, as the Greeks brought up their children of old ? And what a wonderful people they were, and how well-fitted for all manner of occupations. And alas ! how often do I lament my own case, in that I read so few of the poets and historians when I was young, and that there was no one to direct me to them. But, in their place, I was compelled to flounder in all manner of vain philoso- phies and scholastic trash, true Serbonian bogs of the devil, and with much cost and care, and vast detriment besides, so that I have had enough to do ever since, in undoing the harm they did me. But, you say, " we can not bring all our children up to be students ; we can not spare them ; we need them at home to work for us." I answer, " I do not ask for the establishment of such schools, as we have had hitherto, where our young men have spent twenty or thirty years over Donatus or Alexander, and yet have not learned any thing at all. We have now another world, and things are done after a different pattern. And I ask no more than this, namely, that boys shall attend upon such schools as I have in view, an hour or two a day, and none the less ; spend the rest of their time at home, or in learning some trade, or doing whatever else you will ; thus both these matters will be cared for together, while they are young and opportunities are favorable. For else, they would haply spend tenfold this time in gunning and ball-playing. So, too, your little girls may easily find time enough to go to school an hour a day, and yet do all their household duties; for they now devote more than that to over-much play, dancing, and sleep. It is very plain that all we need, is a cordial and earnest determination to train up our youth aright, and by this means furnish the world with wise and efficient men. For the devil is better pleased with coarse blockheads and with folks who are useful to nobody^ because where such characters abound, then tilings do not go on prosperously here on the earth. Now, as for the most promising children, those who we may hope will become fitted for the position of teachers, either male or female, or of preachers, or whom we shall look to to fill other offices in the world and in the church ; these wo should leave more and longer at schools, or perhaps keep them there altogether : as we read concerning the blessed martyrs, who educated St. Agnes, Agatha, Lucia, and the like. For this purpose, too, were cloisters and monasteries fii-st founded ; but now, they have been turned aside to subserve other and most un- holy uses. And perhaps it must needs have been so ; for the shorn flock are well-nigh fleeced altogether : they have become for the" most part wholly unfit either to teach or to guide, for they know nothing except how to pamper their bodies ; and this is no wonder, for no one thing besides have they ever learned. But, verily, we must have men of another sort ; men who shall dispense to us God's word and his ordinances, and who shall watch for the souls of the peo- ple. Such men, however, it will be in vain for us to look for, if we suffer our present schools to decay, without establishing other and Chriatian schools in their place. And though the schools, as hitherto kept, may be still in existence, yet they can only furnish us with blind guides, perverse and corrupt in all their ways. Hence, there is great need, not for the sake of the young alone, but also for the welfare and the stability of all our institutions, temporal and spiritual alike, that we should begin at once, and in good earnest, to attend to this matter. For, if we delay too long, we may haply find no place for effort, however much we shall desire it, and our most poignant regrets will then be unavailing forever. Con- sider, for example, the great diligence that King Solomon exercised in this mat- ter, and the interest that he shewed in the young, in that, amid all his royal occu- pations, he found tinie to compose a book for (heir special instruction, viz : the Book of Proverbs. Consider Christ himself: how he called little children to him ; with what care he commended them to us, telling us withal that angels wait upon them.— Matt. 18 : 2. And in this, he shews us how great a service it is to bring them up well, and, on the other hand, that he is ever, exceedingly angry when we offend or pervert them. Wherefore, dearly beloved rulers, bend yourselves to the work which God so strictly enjoins upon you, which your ofiice involves, which our youth stand 148 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. so much in need of, and which neither the world nor the spirit can afford to do without. We have lain, alas ! too long in the darkness of corruption and death ; too long have we been German beasts. Let us now act as becomes reasonable beings, so that God may mark our gratitude for the good things he has given UB, and that other lands may see that we, too, are men ; nay, more, that we are men who can either learn somewhat from them, or impart somewhat to them : so, through us, the world shall be made better. I have done my part ; and with longing have I desired to bring aid and counsel to this German land. That some, who ought to know better, detest me for it, and throw ray faithful counsel to the wind, — all this I must let pass. I well know that others might have done better than I ; but, since these have remained silent, I have spoken\)ut, as well as it lay in me to do. Poorly though it has been said, it were better thus, than had I held my peace. And 1 am in hopes that God will awaken some of you, so that my true admonitions shall not be spilt upon the ground ; and that, taking no thought of him who speaks, you may be moved, by the things spoken of, to bestir yourselves. Finally, it is well for all those who eagerly desire to see such schools and studies established and sustained over Germany, to bear in mind the importance of sparing neither trouble nor expense, to the end that good libraries may be founded, espe- cially in the large cities ; since in them both means and opportunities are greater than elsewhere. For if the gospel, together with all the arts and sciences, are to be perpetuated, they must be enclosed and bound up in books and writings. And the prophets and apostles themselves, as I said before, did this very thing. And this was not only that those who rninister to us both in temporal and in spiritual things might have wherewithal to read and to study ; but also that good books themselves should be preserved and not be lost, so that we might have that knowledge of the languages, which now, by God's grace, we possess. We see, too, the importance that St. Paul attaches to this matter, where he commands Timothy, (1st. Ep. 4: 13,) "to give attendance to reading;" and also where he bids him, (2nd Ep. 4:13,) bring with him when he came the parchments that he left atTroas. Tea, all nations eminent in history have paid attention to this matter; the Israelites more than all. Moses, who made their first record, commanded the book of the law to be preserved in the ark of God, and committed it to the keeping of the Le- vites. And , whoever desired it, oould there have a copy made for himself; Moses, also, laid his prophetic injunction on the king that was to come, to obtain such copy fi'om the Levites. Thus we see xjlearly that God ordained the Levitical priest- hood, that they might, in connection with their other duties, keep and guard the books of the law. Afterward, the collection was enriched and rendered more complete by Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and other kings and proph- ets. Hence, arose the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, which would never have been brought together or preserved, had not God so solemnly and repeatedly commanded it to be done. With this example in view, the monaste- ries and cloisters in former times founded libraries, albeit they contained but few good books. And what a pity it was, that more pains had not been taken to collect good books, and form good libraries, at the proper time, when good books and able men were in abundance ; but, alas, we know too well that, in the gradual lapse of time, all the arts and the languages went to decay, and, instead of books having the ring of the true metal, the devil brought in upon us a Hood of un- couth, useless, and pernicious monkish legends ; the " Florista," " Grieeista," " Labyrinthus," " Dormi Secure," and the like ; by the means of which the Latin tongue has become corrupt, and there are nowhere^ any good schools, doctrines, or systems of study remaining. But now, in these latter times, as it has been told us, and as we ourselves may see, there have arisen men who have re- stored, though as yet in a very imperfect manner, the languages and arts ; having picked them out of a few pieces and fragments of old books, that had long been given over to the dust and worms ; nor have they yet ceased from their labors, but are renewing thsm daily. So we search for gold or jewels amid the ashes of some ruined city. In this matter it would be right, and God would justly punish our ingratitude, in not acknowledging his bounty, and taking means in time, and whil6 we oaii,'to keep good books and learned men among us, (but letting them pass by, as though they did not concern us ;) it would be right, I say, if he should suffer all this to leave ui, and instead of the Holy Scriptures and good books, should bring us Aristotle back again, together with other pernicious books, which LUTHER'S VIEWS OP EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. I49 serve only to lead us ever further away from the Bible, that so we might be deliv- ered over again to the monks, those minions of the devil, and to the vain mum- meries of the scholastics. Was it not a burning shame that formerly a boy must needs study twenty years or longer, only to learn a jargon of bad Latin, and then to turn priest and say mass ? And he, who finally arrived at this pinnacle of his hopes, was accounted happy ; and happy was the mother who had borne such a son. But, for all this, he remained a poor illiterate man all his days, and was neither good to cluck nor to lay eggs. Such are the teachers and guides that we have had to put up with, who knew nothing themselves, and accordingly were unable to teach any thing that was either good or true. Tea ! they did not even know how to learn, any more than they did how to teach. And, why was this so ? It was because there were no other books accessible, save the barbar- ous productions of the monks and sophists. Of course, in such a state of things, we could not look for any thing else than scholars and teachers as barbarous as the books which taught them. A jackdaw hatches never a dove ; neither will a fool make a wise man. Such is the reward of our ingratitude, in not using dili- gence in the establishment of libraries, and in leaving good books to perish, while we have cherished and preserved useless ones. But, my advice is, that you do not carry home all sorts of books, without distinction, thinking of numbers only. I would have a choice exercised in this matter, so that we should not heap to- gether the commentaries of all the jurists, the writings of all the theologians, the researches of all the philosophers, nor the sermons of all the monks. Nay, I , would banish all such muck and mire, and provide me a library that should con- tain sterling books, — books commended to me by learned men. In the first place, the Holy Scriptures should be there, both in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and German ; also in all other languages in which they might be contained. Next, I would have those books which are useful in learning the languages ; as, for instance, the poets and orators, and that without inquiring whether they are Pagan or Christian, Greek or Latin. For, from all such are we to learn gram- mar and style. Next, there should be books pertaining to the hbcral arts ; and likewise treatises on all the other arts, and on the sciences. And lastly, books on jurisprudence and medicine; though here, too, a wary choice is to be exercised. But, foreWiost of all, should be chronicles and histories, in whatever languages we could procure them ; for these are of singular usefulness, to instruct us in the course of the world, and in the art of government ; and, in these, too, we may see the manifestation of God's wonderful works. Oh ! how many a worthy say- ing, how many a noble deed, said and done here in Germany, might we now have had, if they had not, alas ! passed clean out of the memory of man ! And this, for the reason that there was no one to record them ; or, if they were re- corded, that no one has preserved the record. This, too, is the reason that ihey know nothing of us in other lands ; and all the world must iain call us German beasts, who only know how to get substance, and then consume it in gluttony and riotous living. But the Greeks and the Romans, and, for the matter of that, the HelWews, too, have described the events that took place in their midst so minutely and faithfully, that, if but a woman or a child said or did any thing worthy of note, forthwith it was chronicled, so that all the world should read it and knoi^ of it ; and yet, we Germans remain bound up in ourselves, having neither 3" thought nor a wish that looks beyond our own interests. But since, now in these days, God has so graciously come, to our aid with all fullness both of art, learned men and books, it is time that we should reap and gather in of the choicest that we can find, and lay up great store of treasure, ttiat we may have wherewith to maintain ourselves in the future out of these golden years, by reason of having improved the opportunity of this rich harvest. For there is danger that it may finally come to this, (and already things are tend- ing that way,) that, through the agency of the devil, good books, which have been restored to us by the art of printing, shall be submerged under a flood of disso- lute and pernicious works, in which there is neither sense nor reason ; a flood that shall pour in again, as aforetime, and fill every nook and corner of the land. For the devil is surely plotting to bring back the former state of things, so that men shall again painfully stagger under a load of " eatholicons," " floristas," " modernistas," and all the vile and abominable trash of the monks and sophists ; so we shall again bo ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the ISO LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. Wherefore, I beseecli you, my beloved rulers and friends, let this my faithfulnees and diligence bear fruit in you. And, though there be some who deem me of too little consequence to give heed to my counsel, and despise me as one under the ban of tyrants, yet, I hope that one day they will see that I did not seek my own, but only the welfare and the happiness of the entire German nation. And though I were a fool, and yet should light upon some good path, it would be no disgrace to a wise man to follow me. And though I were a Turli and a heathen, yet, should Christians perceive that what I had said was not to my own profit but to that of others, even thus, they could not justly despise my efforts to serve them. There are times, too, when a fool may give better advice than a whole army of counselors. Moses suffered himself to be taught by Jethro. — Exodus, 18: 17. Now, I commend you all to the grace of God, and I pray him to soften your hearts, so that you may right earnestly espouse the cause of poor, needy, for- saken youth, and through Divine help assisting you, and for the sake of a good and a Christian government here in our Germany, that you may aid and counsel them, in body and in soul, with all fullness and superfluity, to the praise and glory of God the Father, through our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen." Vm. DUTY OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN. In his sermon, " On keeping children at school," Luther says : God has given you children and the means of their support, not that you should idolize them, or lead them into the vanities of the world. But he has laid his most solemn injunctions upon you, to train them up for his service. He speaks in terms of praise of the learned classes, especially the clerical, and presses conviction upon consciences of parents, when, out of avarice, they withhold from study a boy who is strongly bent upon learning. Cheerfully let thy son study, and should he the while even be compelled to earn his bread, yet remember that you are offering to our Lord God a fine little block of marble out of which he can hew for you a master-piece. And do not regard the fact that in thefee days the lust for gain is everywhere throwing learning into contempt; nor say, in your haste, "If my son can write and read German and keep accounts, it is enough ; I will make a merchant of him ;" for they will soon be brought to such a pass, that they would gladly dig ten ells deep in the ground with their fingers, if, by so doing, they could find a learned man ; for a merchant, methinks, would not be a merchant long, should law and theology perish. Of this I am full sure, we theologians and jurists myst remain with you, or the whole world will go to ruin together, and that without remedy. If theologians turn aside, then the word of God will come to naught, and we shall all become heathen, yea, very devils; if jurists turn aside, theh law will fly away, bearing peace with it ; and, amid robbery, murder, outrage, and all manner of violence, we shall sink below the beasts of the forest. But, how much the merchant will make and heap together, when peace shall have fled from the earth, his ledger will tell him better than I ; and how much good his possessions will do him, when preaching shall be no more, this let his conscience declare. Luther did not mean, however, to insist that all boys should go through a complete course of study, as we may perceive ffom the "Letter to the German nobles." He expresses himself in the most decided terms, on the duty of magistrates to compel the attendance of children at school. I hold it to be incumbent on those in authority to command their subjects to keep their children at school ; for it is, beyond doubt, theii duty to insure the permanence of the above-named offices and positions, so that preachers, jurists, curates, scribes, physicians, schoolmasters, and the like, may not &il from, among LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCAnoN AND SCHOOLS. 151 OS j for we can not do without them. If they have the right to command their subjects, the able-bodied among them, in time of war, to handle musket and pike, to mount the walls, or to do whatever else the exigency may require ; with how much the more reason ought they to compel the people to keep their children at school, inasmuch as here upon earth the most terrible of contests, wherein there is never a^ truce, is ever going on, and that with the devil himself, who is lying in wait, by stealth^and unawares, if so be that he may drain city and kingdom, and empty quite out of them all the brave and good, even until he has removed the kernel utterly, and naught shall be left but a mere shell, full of idle mischief- makers, to be mere puppets in his hands to do his pleasure. Then will your city or your country suffer a true famine, and, without the smoke of conflict, will be silently destroyed from within, and that without warning. Even the Turk manages in another way ; for he takes eveiy third child throughout his empire, and trains him to some calling perforce. How much more, then, ought our rul- ers to put at least some children to school; not that I would have a boy taken away from his parents, only that he should be educated, for his own good and the general welfare, to some calling that shall yield him abundant fruits of his industry. Wherefore, let magistrates lay these things to heart, and let them keep a vigilant look-out ; and, wherever they see a promising lad, have him placed at school. \/ - Those fathers, who fearea that learning would be pernicious to their children, Luther pacified by using their own arguments. But, you say, " how if it turn out ill, and my son become a heretic or a vil- lain ? For the proverb says, the scholar's skill turns oft to ill?" Well, and what of it? Venture, nevertheless. Tour diligence and toil will not be thrown away. God will reward you according to your faithfulness, whether your work pros- per or fail. Besides, you must act on uncertainties in respect to any pursuit whatever, that you may train him for. How was it with good Abraham, wlien his son Ishmael disappointed his hopes ? How with Isaac and Esau ? Or with Adam and Cain ? Was Abraham on that account to neglect training Isaac up for the service of God ? Or Isaac, Jacob ? Or Adam, Abel ? IX. THE DIGNITY AND DIFFICULTY OF THE WORK OF TEACHING. In the same sermon, Luther takes especial pains to magnify the office of the school-teacher. Where were your supply of preachera, jurists, and physicians, if the arts of grammar and rhetoric had no existence ? These are the fountain, out of which they all flow. I tell you, in a word, that a diligent, devoted school-teacher, precep- tor, or. any person, no matter what is his title, who faithfully trains and teaches boys, can never receive an adequate reward, and no money is sufficient to pay the debt you owe him ; so, too, said the pagan, Aristotle. Yet we treat them with contempt, as if they were of no account whatever ; and, all the time, we profess to be Christians. For my part, if I were, or were compelled, to leave oflf preaching and to enter some other vocation, I know not an office that would please me better than that of schoolmaster, or teacher^ of boys. For I am con- vinced that, next to preaching, this is the most useful, and greatly the best labor in all the world, and, in fact, I am sometimes in doubt which of the positions is the more honorable. For you can not teach an old dog new tricks, and it is hard to reform old sinners, but this is what by preaching we undertake to do, and our labor is often spent in vain ; but it is easy to bend and to train young trees, though haply in the process some may be broken. My friend, nowhere on earth can you find a higher virtue than is displayed by the stranger, who takes your child- ren and gives them a faithful training, — a labor which parents very seldom per- form, even for their own of&pring. To the like effect, does Luther speak of school-teachers in the Table Talk: I would have no one enter the ministry, who has not first been a schoolmaster. Our young men, now-a-days, do not think so ; they shrink from the toil of teaching, 152 LUTHER'S VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. and rush at once for the sacred office. But, after one has taught school for ten years or thereabouts, he may, with a good conscience, brealc off; for the labor is great, and the reputation small. Still, as much depends in a city on a school- master as on the preacher. And, if I were not a preacher, I know not the posi- tion on earth which I had rather fill. You must not be swayed in this matter by the opinions or the rewards of the world, but consider how God regards the workj and how he will exalt it at the last day. Though Luther thought so very highly of the ofHce of the teacher, yet he remarks, in his commentary on Galatians, that this office is for the most part in ilh-repute with children, and that severe teachers, particulairly when their severity is habitual, are any thing but loved by their pupils. It is impossible that a disciple, or a scholar, can love the teacher who is harsh and severe ; for, how can he prevail on himself to love one who immures him, as it were, in a dungeon ; that is, who constrains him to do that which he will not, and holds him back from doing that which he will ; and who, when he does any thing that has been forbidden him, straightway flogs him, and, not content with this, compels him to kiss the rod too. A most gracious and excellent obedience and affection this in the scholar, that comes from an enforced compliance with the harsh orders of a hateful taskmaster 1 My friend, do you suppose that he obeys with joy and gladness? But, what does he do when the teacher's back is turned ? Does he not snatch up the rod, break it into a thousand pieces, or else throw it into the fire ? And, if he had the power, he would not suffer his teacher to whip him again ; nay, he would turn the tables on him, and not simply take the rod to him, but cudgel him soundly with a club. Nevertheless, the child needs the discipline of the rod ; but it must be tempered with admonition, and directed to his improvement ; for, without this, he will never come to any good, but will be ruined, soul and body. A miserable teacher, indeed, would that man be, who should only know how to beat and torment his scholars, without ever being able to teach them any thing. Such schoolmasters there hav^ been, whose schools were nothing but so many dungeons and hells, and themselves tyrants and gaolers ; where the poor children were beaten beyond endurance and with- out cessation, and applied themselves to their task laboriously and with over-pushed diligence, but yet with very small profit. A well-informed and faithful teacher, on the other hand, mingles gentle- admonition with punishment, and incites his pupils to diligence in their studies, and to a laudable emulation among themselves ; and so they become rooted and grounded in all kinds of desirable knowledge, as well as in the proprieties and the virtues of life, and they now do that spontane- ously and with delight, which formerly, and under the old discipline, they ap- proached with reluctance and dread. X. PLAN I'OR. SCHOOL OK9ANIZATION. Luther writes, in 1524, to Spalatin : I send you my sketch of the school as it should be, that you may lay it before theHeotor; and though Ilio not expect that much heed will be given to it, yet 1 must venture, and leave the issue witli, God. Four years later, (1528,) Melancthon's " Manual of Visitation,'' made its appearance, in which he communicated a full and complete plan for the organization of schools, which had received the sanction of Ihe elector, and which was, undoubtedly, based upon the sketch that Luther had sent to Spalatin.* ^* Luttier"splan, rfbove referred to, I have never seen, nor is it, so far as I am aware, on record. That Melancthon's, however, essentially agrees with it we have abundant cause to conclude. Especially does Ihis appear from a letter that Melancthon wrote to Camerarius on the subject of the Manual. He says in this, "you will see that I have written nothing more than what Luther has propounded passim.'' LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. I53 XI. DNIVEBSITIGS. In the letter to the Christian nobles of the German nation on the elevation of the Christian order, Luther takes occasion to express him- self on German universities as follows. Our nniversities need a good thorougli purging ; I must say it, let wlioever will be offended. For, what are they, save a few recently instituted, but " places of exercise for the chief young men," as the 2nd Book of Maccabees, 4 : 12, hath it ; where a free life is led, after " the glory of the Grecians ;" where the Holy Scriptures and faith in Christ are lightly accounted of; and where that blind pagan, Aristotle, reigns solitary and alone, even to the dethroning of Christ ? Now this is my counsel, that Aristotle's books on physics, metaphysics, the soul, and ethics, which have been ever esteemed his best, should be thrown away, with all the host of those which pretend to treat of natural science, while in reality nothing can be learned from them, of things natural or things spiritual either : add, that what he does advance not a soul has hitherto understood, and yet so many noble intellects have been weighed down and paralyzed under the cost, toil, time and study that they have been forced to devote to him. But I would, nevertheless, be willing to retain his logic, rhetoric and poetics — abridged, I would prefer them, — for they are useful to direct the young to a good stj'le of speaking, either for the bar or the pulpit ; but the commentaries and glosses are useless. Cicero's rhetoric, likewise, may be read, but only the pure and simple text, unencumbered with your unwieldy and interminable commenti- ries. But now, they teach neither how to plead nor how to preach, but all the result they shew is mere wrangling and stupidity. And we ought, moreover, to adopt the languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, the mathematics and history, all which I commend to the more intelligent. But, the claims of these studies will need no urging, as soon as there is a right earnest desire for a reformition. And truly, this is a matter of the utmost consequence. For, here our Christian youth, and. our nobles, in whom rest the hopes of Christianity, are to be taught, and to be fitted for action. And, accordingly, it is my firm belief that a reforma- tion and a renovation of our universities would be a work of greater magnitude than pope or emperor ever undertook, since there is not a more crafty, or a more devilish device on the face of the earth than a university overgrown with the thorns and the briars of godles^ ignorance. XII. THE STUDY OP THE BIBLE. We have given, in the preceding pages, Luther's opinion of many of the university studies. It is not desirable, he says, to read a multi- tude of books ; among such as are read, however, the Holy Scrip- tures demand our chief care. Books should, be fewer, and we must choose out the best. For many books do not impart knowledge, nor much reading either; but, that which is good, if it be read often , no matter how small its compass, that it is which throws light upon the "Word, and inspires piety besides. Tea, even the works of the holy Fathers are to be read only as a means by which we may the better come at the sense of the Word ; but now we read them for themselves and abide in them, without ever coming to the Scriptures ; in this, we are like men who look at the guide- posts, but who never follow the road. The dear Fathers would have their writ- ings lead us into tbe Scriptures ; let us, then, carry out their intention. For the Scriptures, and they alone, are our vineyard, in which we are to exercise ourselves, and to labor. Above all things, let the Scriptures be the chief and the most frequently used reading-book, both in primary and in high schools ; and the very young should be kept ih the gospels. Is it not proper and right that every hunjan being, bj' the time he has reached his tenth year, should be familiar with the holy gospels, in which the very core and marrow of his life is bound ? Even the spinner and the seamstre^ impart the mysteries of their craft to their daughters, while these are yet in girlhood. And, again, when the high schools shall have become grounded 154 LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. in (he Scriptures, we then are not all of us to send our sons tliere, as is the practice now, when numbers alone are regarded, and each will have his boy a doctor; but we ought to admit only those who are best fitted, and who have pre- viously been well trained in the preparatory schools ; to which matter, princes or magistrates ought to pay special attention, not allowing any to be sent to the high schools but the most capable. But, where the Holy Scriptures do not bear sway, there I would counsel none to send his child. For every institution will degener- ate, where God's word is not in daily exorcise ; in proof of this, we need but look at those who have been moulded by, or who are now in the high schools. The high schools ought to send forth men thoroughly versed in the Scriptures, to become bishops and pastors, and to stand in the van, against heretics, the devil, and, ifneed be, the whole world. Bnt,whatdowe findtnem? I greatly fear they are no better than broad gates to hell, wherever they do not busily exercise and practice our youth in the Holy Scriptures. XIII. STUDY OF THE LANGUAGES. In what high esteem Luther held the languages, we have already had occasion to remark. To Hebrew, in particular, he frequently recurs in terras of praise. The Hebrew tongue surpasses all others j it is the richest in words of any, and it is pure; it borrows nothing, but has its own independent hue. The Greek, the Latin, and the Germans all borrow ; they have, moreover, many compound words, whereas the Hebrew has none. From a simple word the Germans make twenty compounds, which all proceed from it, and are pieced together out of it ; as, from laufen, to run, come entlaufen, to run away from ; verlaufen, to run wrong ; umlaufen, to run about ; belaufen, to run to see ; zu- lavfen, to run toward ; ablaufen, to run from a place ; weglaufen, to run from one's duty ; einlaufen,,to run in ; etc. On the contrary, the Hebrew has no com- pound, no patchwork word, but each idea is expressed by a word wholly its own. So, again, the word heart, for instance, has with us quite a generic use. For it means a part of the body, as if we should say, he has no heart ; that is, he is spiritless and cowardly ; or again, my heart tells me that his heart burns within him ; that is, that he is angry. In each of these cases, the Hebrew employs a special and peculiar word. In reference to the manner of learning the languages, Luther lays great stress upon continual practice, though he does not undervalue grammar, by any means. We learn German or other languages much better by word of mouth, at home, in the street, or at the church, than out of books. Letters are dead words ; the utterances of the mouth are living words, which in writing can never stand forth so distinct and so excellent, as the soul and spirit of man bodies them forth through the mouth. Tell me, where wiis there ever a language, which men could learn to speak with correctness and propriety by the rules of grammar ? Is it not true that even those languages, like the Latin and the Greek, which possess the most unerring rules, are much better learned by use and wont, than from these rules ? Is it not then extremely absurd, for one who would learn the sacred tongue, in which divine and spiritual things are discoursed of, to neglect a straightforward and per- tinent search into the subject-matter, and attempt, instead, to pick the language out of grammar alone ? He gives his view of the relation of the things signified to the words which express them, as follows, holding that an understanding of words is only possible where there is an understanding of things first. The art of grammar teaches and shows, what words imply and signilj*; but we must first learn and know what the things are, arid what the matters mean. LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. I55 Hence, must he, who would teach and preach, first know his subject and its bear- ings, before he can spealt of it ; for grammar only teaches the names and forms of the words which we use to set fo?th our subject. . Our knowledge is two-fold ; relating to words on the one hand, and on the other to things. And accordingly, he who does not possess a knowledge of the thing or the subject of which he is to speak, will not find a knowledge of words of any service to him. There is an old proverb, which runs thus ; If you do not know what yon are talking of, you may talk forever, and no man will be the wiser. Many such people there are in our day. For we have many very learned and very eloquent men, who appear exceedingly foolish and ridiculous, because they undertake to speak of that which they have never understood. But, whoever has the matter inivrought into his being, so that he comprehends it fully, is an able teacher, and reaches the heart, whether he be eloquent, and have a ready flow of words, 'or not. So Cato, when he spoke in the council, had more influence than Cicero, albeit, his language was rough and devoid of all polish and elegance ; and, though his speech was not skillfully framed to produce conviction, yet no one ever gave a thought to his manner. Accordingly, the understanding of words, or grammar, is easy, when we well understand the subject ; as Horace also says : that words come of their own ac- cord, when the subject has been duly admitted to the mind, retained there, and fully considered ; but, where the subject is obscurely apprehended, there the utmost knowledge of words will do no good. I have dwelt upon this point so fully for this reason, namely : that you may know, if you shall ever read the Sabbins, what sort of masters you will have ; they may well understand the lan- guage, but the subjects that are conveyed in it they know nothing about, nor can they ever teach them in a true and proper manner. But, through the goodness and the grace of God, we have the knowjedge and the understanding of the matters, of which the Holy Scriptures treat, while they are laft in blindness. Hence, though they know the grammar, yut they have no correct understanding of the Scriptures j but, as Isaiah, (29, 11,) saith : " And the vision is become as the words of a book that is sealed. Who then shall follow them 1" Now let no one think or conclude from all this that I would reject the gram- mar, for this is altogether necessary ; but this much I do say: he who, with the grammar, does not study the contents of the Scriptures also, will never make a good teacher. For, as a certain one has said, " the words of the teacher or preacher should follow the subject, and grow, not in his mouth, but out of his heart." XIV. NATURAL SCIENCE. In commenting on Erasmus' want of appreciation of natural science, Luther remarks : We are now in the morning-dawn of a better life ; for we are beginning again to recover that knpwledge of the creation which we lost through Adam's fall. By God's grace, we are beginning to recognize, even in the structure of the humblest floweret, his wondrous glory, his goodness, and his omnipotence. In the creation we can appreciate in some measure the power of Him, who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast. Consider the peaeh-stone : although it is very hard, yet, in its due season, it is burst asunder by the force of the very tender germ which is inclosed within the shell. But all this Erasmus passes by, not regarding it for a moment ; and views this new knowledge of the creature only as cows look upon a new gate. XV. HISTORY. The importance that Luther attached to history, we have before adverted to ; he has more, to the same purport, in his preface to Galeatti Capella's history of the Duke of Milan. Says the highly-renowned Roman, Varro, (so this preface runs,) the best instruction is that which combines illnsti-ation and example with precept. For^ through these we apprehend the speech or the doctrine more clearly, and also 156 LUTHKR'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. retain it the more readily in our memories ; but, where the disoourse is without illustration, no matter howjust and excellent it may be in itself, yet it does not move the lieart with such power, neither is it so clear, nor so easily remembered. Hence, we may see what a priceless value resides in histories. For all that phi- losophers, sages, and the collective wisdom of humanity can devise or teach, rela- tive to the conduct of life, this, history, with her incidents and examples, enforces, causing it all to pass before our eyes, so to speak, as if we ourselves were ou the spot, beholding those things in action, whose nature wo had heard before in doc- trine or in precept. There we.learn what things those who were pious and wise pursued, what they shunned, and how they lived, and how it fared with them, or how they were rewarded ; and again, how they lived who were wicked and obsti- nate in their ignorance, and what punishments overtook them. And did we but think of it, all laws, arts, good counsels, warnings, threatenings, terrors, — all solace, strength, instruction, foresight, wisdom, prudence, together with every virtue,— flow from records and histories as from a living fountain. ^ For histories are an exhibition, memorial, and monument of the works and the judg- ments of God ; how he upholds and rules the world, and men more than all, causing their plans to prosper or to fail, lifting them on high, or humbling them in the dust, according as their deeds are good or evil. And though there be many who neither know nor regard God, yet even such can not fail to start back before the portraitures of history, and to fear lest the same evils come upon them, too, that overtook this or that person, whose course is graven, as a warning, forever upon the page of history; whereby they will be far more deeply moved, than if you should strive to restrain and curb them with the bare letter of the law, or with mere dry doctrine. So we read, not in the Holy Scriptures alone, but in pagan books too, how the men of old instanced and held up to view the example of their forefathers, in word arid in deed, when they wished to arouse the enthu- siasm of the people, or when on any occasion they would teach and admonish, or warn and deter. Hence, too, historians are the most useful of men, and the best of teachers. Nor can we ever accord too much praise, honor, or gratitude to them ; and it should be' the work of the great ones of the earth, as emperors, kings, and the like, to cause a faithful record to be made of the history of their own times, and to have such records sacredly preserved and set in order in libraries. And', to this end, they should spare no expense, which maybe needful, to educate and maintain those persons whose talents mark them out for this task. But he who would write history, must be a superior man, — ^lion-hearted and fearless in writing truth. For most manage to pass by in silence, or at least to gloss over the vices or the mischances of their times, to please great lords or their own ii-iends ; or they give too high a place to minor, or it may be, insignificant actions ; or else, from an overweening love of country, and a hatred toward foreign nations, they bedizen or befoul histories, according to their own hkes or dislikes. Hence it is, that a suspicious air invests histories, and God's providence is shamefully obscured ; so the Greeks did in their perverseness, so the Pope's flatterers have done heretofore, and are now doing, till it has come to this, at last, that we do not know what to admit or what to reject. Thus the noble, precious, and highest use of history is overlooked, and we have only a vain babble and gossip. And this is because the worthy task of writing annals and records is, open to every one without discrimination ; and they write or slur over, praise or condemn, at their will. How important, then, is it, that this office should be filled by men of eminence, or at least by those who are worthy. For, inasmuch as histories are records of God's work, that is, of his grace and his displeasure, which men should believe with as much reason as if the same stood written in the Bible, surely they ought to be penned with all diligence, truth and fidelity. This, however, will, I fear, never come to pass, unless the enactment which was in force with the Jews shall again bear sway. Meanwhile, we must rest content with our histories as they are, and reflect and j udge for ourselves, as we peruse them, whether the writer has been warped through favor or prejudice, whether he praises at blames either too little or too much, according as the persons or the events that come under his notice, please or displease him ; just as in such a loose government as ours, we must endure to have carriers dilute their foreign wine with water, so that we can not buy the pure growth, but must content ourselves with getting some part pure, LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. / 157 XVI. I.OGIC RHETORIC. Luther has much to say, in the " Table Talk," both on logic and on rhetoric. liOgio is a lofty art ; it speaks direct, whether of wrong or right, as if I should say, "give- me some drink." But rhetoric adds ornament, as thus: "give me of the pleasant juice in the cellar, the curling, sparkling juice, that makes the heart merry." __ Logic tells us how to teach every thing ; still, for all this, though we have learned it so that we. thoroughly understand it, it does not, of itself, give us the ability to teach any thing; for it is only an instrument and a tool, by means of which we may impart, in a correct and methodical manner, that which we already understand and know. For instance, I can not speak of mining or of the duties of the overseer of a mine, because I neither know how to open a mine, nor how to sink a shaft, nor can I tell where the galleries should run ; but, had I searched into this matter, and become familiar with it, I should then be better able to speak on the subject than the surveyor himself. Logic does not furnish the subject of which we are to speak, or the branch that we are to teach ; it only directs us how to teaoh such branch, or to speakofsuchsubject, in a just and appropriate manner, with method, directness, and brevity. Logic is a useful and a necessary art, which we ought with as much reason to study and to learn as we do arithmetic or geometry. And, though there are some heads so sharp by nature, that they can draw conclusions and form judgments, on almost any subject, from the impressions they receive from it, yet this is an uncer- tain and a dangerous gift, unless art come to its aid. For logic gives us a clear, correct, and methodical arrangement, showing us the grounds of our conclusions, and how we may know, to a certainty, from the nature of the subject Itself, what is right or wrong, and what we should judge and decide. Logic teaches, rhetoric moves and persuades ; the latter controls the will, the former the understanding. St. Paul includes them both, in Romans, 19 : 7, 8 : " He that teacheth,-let him wait on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation." The most excellent fruit and use of logic is to define and describe a thing with completeness and brevity, and, in accordance with its nature, neither more nor less than it is. Hence, we should accustom ourselves to use good, pointed, and intel- ligijjle words, words that are in common use, and thereby fitted to call up and set forth the matter, so that men may understand just what it includes. And, if any man has this power, let him give God the glory, for it is a special gift and grace, since crafty writers often disguise their sentiments designedly, with astonishing, far-fetched, or obsolete words ; inventing a new style and mode of speaking, so double-sided, double-tongued, and intertangled, that, when convenient, they can bend their language into whatever meaning they choose, as the heretics do. Eloquence does not consist in a tinseled flourish of gaudy and unfamiliar words, but in that chaste and polished expression, which, like a beautiful painting, shows the subject-matter in a clear, suitable and every way admirable light. Th^ who coin and foist in strange words, must also bring in strange and novel things, as did Sootus, with his " hicoity," "nominality," etc., or the Anabaptists, with their " immersion," " purification," " quietism," etc. Hence, you should beware, above all things, of those who make frequent use of new, unfamiliar and useless words ; for such a mode of speaking is at war with all true eloquence. XVII. MATHEMATICS. Luther was desirous, as we have seen, to have the mathematics introduced into the universities. In astronomy, he took ground against Copernicus. Nevertheless he could not abide astrology, though Melancthon maintained its truth. Among other arguments against it, that of Augustin was his chief stronghold, namely, that Esau and Jacob were both born at the same time, consequently under the same constellation, and were, nevertheless, wholly unlike each other in all respects. 158 LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. XVIi;. PHVSIOAL EXERCISE. Exercise and music both, Luther commends highly ; and he opposed, as we have seen, the moping and joyless tenets of the monkish teachers. It was admirably provided and ordered by the ancients that the people should have honorable and useM modes of exercise to resort to, so that they might not fall into gluttony, lewdness, surfeiting, rioting, and gambling. .Accordingly, I pronounce (n favor of these two exercises and pastimes, namely, musi^, and the knightly sports of fencing, wrestling, etc.; of which, the one drives care and gloonj from the heart, and the other gives a full development to the Jimbs, and maintains the body in health. And another argument for them is this, that they keep men from tippling, lewdness, cards, and dice, which, alas ! are now so common evei-y where, at court and in the town, where we hear nothing but "fair play !" " more wine !" and the like phrases. And then, in their flush, they stake you, perhaps, an hundred gulden or more, at a cast. So it goes, when those other honorable exercises and knightly sports are scorned and neglected. XIX. MUSIC. Music was Luther's joy and delight. Music is one of the feirest and best gifts of God ; and Satan hates it, nor can he bear it, since by its means we exorcise many temptations and wicked thoughts. Music is one of the best of the arts. The notes breathe life into the words. It chases away the spirit of melancholy, as we may see by the case of King Saul. Some of our nobility think that they have done some great thing, when they give three thousand gulden yearly toward music, and yet they will throw away, with- out scruple perhaps, thirty thousand on follies. Kings, princes and lords must maintain music, (foiiit is the duty of great potentates and monarchs to uphold excellent, liberal arts, as well as laws,) inasmuch as the common people and private individuals desire it, and would have it if their means were sufficient. Music is the best solace to a wearied man ; through it, the heart is again quieted, quickened, and refreshed ; as that one says, in Virgil : (. "Ti* calamos infiare leves, ego dicere versus.*' Do you play the air, and I will sing the verse. Music is a half-discipline, and it is a teacher ; it makes men gentler and milder, more mannerly and more rational. And even 'poor violinists or organists do us this service, they show us what a noble and excellent art music is, as we can distinguish white the better if we place black beside it. On the 17th of December, 1538, while Dr. M. Luther was entertaining some musicians at his house( who sang many sweet tunes and lofty cantatas, he ex- Claimed, in his rapture : " If in this life our Lord God has scattered around and heaped upon us such noble gifts, what will it be in that immortal life, where all is perfection and fullness of delight ? But here we have only the beginning, the materia prima, I have always loved music. He who knows this art is in the right frame, and fitted for every good pursuit. We can not do without music in our schools. A schoolmaster must know how to sing, or I would n(A allow him to teach. Nor ought we to ordain young theologians to the sacred office, unless they have first been well-tried and practiced in the art in the school." As they sang a cantata of Senffel'sj Luther was filled with emotion and wonder, praising it highly. He then said : " Such a cantata it is not in my power to compose, even though I should try to ray utmost ; nor, on the other hand, could Senffel expound a psalm as well as I. For the glfte of the Holy Spirit are of divers kinds ; so in one body there are different members. But no one is contented with his own gift, no one rests satisfied with what God has bestowed upon him, for all wish to be, not members merely, but the whole body. Music is a fair, glorious gift of God ; and it lies very near to theology. I would not part with my small faculty of music for vast possessions. We should practice the young continually in this art, for it will make able and polished men of them. Singing is the best art and exercise. It has nothing in common with the LUTHER'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. J 59 world ; it is fer-removed from tlie jflr and wrangling of the conrt and the lawsalt. Singers, too, are never overwhelmed with care, but are joyfiil ; and, with their singing, they drive care out and away." And he said furthpr : " How comes it to pass that, in eamal things, we have so many a fine poem, and so many a sweet song, while, in spiritual things,- all is so cold and listless !" He then recited some German odes, The Tournament, by Bollen, etc. " I hold this to be the reason, as St. Paul has expressed it, in Eomans, 7 : 23 ; ' I see another law warring in ray members,' a law that will not be overcome, and that does not yield up its power so readily as does the law in the soul. If any one despises music, as all the fanatics do, I can not confide in him. For music is a gift and bestowment of God ; it does not proceed from man. And it drives away the devil, and makes men happy : in it, we forget all anger, lasciviousness, pride, and every vice. Ndxt to theology I rank music, and hold it in almost equal honor. For look how David and all holy men have uttered their heavenly meditations in verse, rhyme and song. Quia pads tempore regnai musica." I am convinced that my readers would feel aggrieved, were I to oflfer them an apology for dwelling so long upon Luther. In fact, were any apology in place, it would be for my having omitted so much ; and this I have done because I feared lest I might communi- cate some passages that we were all perfectly well acquainted with. Among such I would place the admirable preface to the little book, — the book which he composed at the same time with the writings above cited, — the shorter catechism. Who will not be delighted to recognize this great man as a reformer of German education also ? His admonitions have reached the hearts of myriads of our countrymen, awakened many sleeping consciences, and strengthened many feeble hands ; his utterances have been to both princes and people as the voice of God. And he has deserved such confidence in the fullest measure, because he also received into his own heart, so abundantly, that faith which worketh by love. What could not such a divinely-governed, and un- tiring love accomplish, seconded as it was by such great gifts ; so cleat an eye, so sound an understanding, such aptness for the languages, such creative skill in speech, such a soaring imagination, and such profound speculation ? Who among all of Luther's contemporaries can compare with him in genuine, comprehensive culture ? Only let as not guage culture with the measuring-rod of the Latinized school pedant, neither with that of the Mephistophelian scoffer ; for we have to do with large spiritual gifts, which were brought into the service of a consecrated, determined, irresistible will, — a will made free by the Son, a will that governed itself, inasmuch as it purposed to serve God, and God's will alone. ' On this head, also compare Luther's letter to Louis SenfTel, musician to the Duke of Bava- ria. BeWette, 4, 180. No. 11.— [Vol. IV., No. 2.]— 29. LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES OF PHILIP MELANCTHON. FROM THE GERMAN OF KAJIL VON RAUMER. I. MELANCTHON'8 CHILDHOOD. Historians called Melancthon the fellow-soldier (*apati''^T»is") of Luther. "God joined together these two instruments of his purpose," said Winshemius, in his Eulogy upon Melancthon, " these two great men, whose dispositions were so admirably blended, that if to Erasmus and others Luther appeared to be too harsh a physician for the disease that had infected the church, Philip, on the contrary, though pursuing the same course without deflection, seemed too tender and mild." In this we may perceive the secret counsels of Him, who calls men by name, while as yet they have not come into being. Both these men were fully sensible that they were, so to speak, the complements one of the other, and that in the labors of their life they could not be separated. Hence the uncontrollable delight of Luther at Melancthon's first entrance into Wittenberg ; hence too his agonizing and answered prayer for the recovery of his fellow-laljprer, when, in 1540, the latter lay dangerously sick at Weimar.* How forlorn too was Melancthon's condition while Luther was on the Wartburg ; how consolatory and cheering must Luther's letters to him from Coburg have been during the Augsburg Diet ; and how unhappy was he in the closing years of his life after the death of Luther ! Philip Melancthon was born the 16th of February, 1497, fourteen years after Luther ; he likewise survived him fourteen years, and they both died at the age of sixty-three. They yet show in Bretten, a small town in the Duchy of Baden, the humble mansion where he first saw the light. His father was a skillful armorer, and a devout and upright man. His maternal grandfather, John Reuther, took charge of the boy, and put him under the instruction of John Hungarus. Of the latter Melancthon wrote : " I had a teacher, who was an excel- lent grammarian, and who kept me constantly at the grammar.f • Melancthon thus writes of his convalescence: "Ego fuisaem txtinctua, nisi advenlu Lutheri ex media morte revocatua essem." 1 "JUe adegit me ad Grammaticam, et ila adegit, ul cmstnustionee facerem : cogebar red- dere regulas constructionis per versus ManUtanV* 162 PHILIP MELANCTHON. Whenever I made a slip, he whipped me, but with mildness and forbearance. Thus he made me a grammarian too. He was a good- hearted man ;• he loved me as a son, I him as a father." His grandfather died in the year 1607, and, eleven days afterward, his father. The latter, on his death-bed, exhorted his son to the fear of God : " I have witnessed many commotions, but there are far greater to come. I pray God that he would guide you safely through them. Fear God and do right.'' Melancthon was now taken, with his brother, into the family of his gipidmother, who was Eeuchlin's sister, and lived in Pforzheim. George Simler, of Wimpfen, whom we have met with as a pupil of Dringenberg's, instructed him there in Greek. Eeuchlin, who was a frequent visitant at his sister's, in Pforzheim, was delighted with the progress of the boy, and gave him books, — among the rest a Greek grammar and a Greek dictionary. He brought him also, for sport's sake, a little red doctor's-cap. And after the fashion, then so preva- lent, he translated his original name, '^Schwarzerd" (black earth,) into the Greek, Melancthon. II. MELANCTHON AT HEIDGLBEKG, After remaining toward two years at Pforzheim, he was sent in 1509, at the age of twelve,* to the university of Heidelberg. This institution, at the close of the 15th century and the commencement of the 16th, was the rallying ground of the most eminent men of Gerrrmny, those especially who were laboring in the cause of a reformation in the church as well as in the schools. The Elector- Palatine /^Philip, who entered upon" his government in 1476, shewed the utmost concern for the prosperity of this university. He confided the execution of his generous plans principally to John Kammerer, of Worms, the Baron of Dalberg, who invited learned men to Heidel- berg, and accorded them his favor and protection. Dalberg was born in 1445, at Oppenheim. He studied at Erfurt, and then went to Italy, where in 1476 he lived in Ferrara with his friend Plenninger, and with Agricola. In 1482 he was appointed by the Elector Philip his chancellor, and shortly afterward obtained the rank of Prince Bishop of Worms. Dalberg, as we have before seen, induced Eudolf Agricola to come to Heidelberg ; he it was too who, when John Eeuchlin suffered persecution in his' own country, threw around him his most cordial protection ; and he moreover secured the ■ In view of Melancthon's extreme yoath, this event would surprise us, did we not consider that at tliat time much was taught in the universities, which at tile present day is assigned to the upper classes in the gymnasia ;. so that then the school-curriculum was completed at the university. PHIMP MKI.ANCTHON. 163 installation of Reuchlin's brother, Dionysius, as professor of the Greek language at the university. About the same time Wimpheling, that ardent scholar of Dringenberg's, taught at Heidelberg. Conrad Celtes too, the first German ' poet who was honored with a crown,* came thither while on his travels through Germany and Italy ; and at his suggestion Dalberg founded the Rhenish literary association.! But, when Melancthon came to Heidelberg, most of these above- named excellent men had, it is true, either removed or died. Agricola died in 1485, Dalberg in 1503, Celtes in 1508, while professor of the art of poetry at Vienna : in 1498 John Reuchlin had returned to Wurtemberg, and Wimpheling too had left Heidelberg nearly at the same time. Melancthon was received into the family of the aged theological professor, Pallas Spangel, who had taught here for thirty-three years ; and he recounted to the young lad many incidents of the past, in which Agricola and others were actors. "At the university," says Melancthon, " nothing was placed before us but their babbling dialectics and meagi-e physics. As I, however, had learned the art of versifying, I applied myself to the poets, and likewise to history and mythology. I read, too, all the moderns of Politian's school whom I could lay hands on ; and this was not without its influence upon my style." In his 14th year, (1511,) the university gave Melancthon the Baccalaureate degree. He then took charge of the studies of two sons of Count Lowenstein, and sketched, for their use probably, the first outlines of a grammar of the Greek language. By reason of his extreme youth, the degree of Master was not con- ferred upon him ; this fact, taken in connection with an attack of fever, determined him in 1512 to leave Heidelberg and go to Tubingen. III. MELANCTHON AT TUBINGEN. At that time the Tubingen university had been in existence for thirty-five years only, since it was founded in 1477 by the excellent Eberhard the Elder, the first Duke of Wurtemberg. The early history of this university reminds one of the Middle Ages ; for nomi- nalism and realism here renewed their old battles, and it often hap- pened that of two students occupying the same room one was a nominalist and the other a realist. Gabriel Biel, who was the last »— - • lie was crowned for his Latin poems upon the Emperor Frederick III. The coronation took place in 1491, at Nuremberg. t Societas Uteraria Rhenana, Dalberg was its president, and it numbered among its mem- bers Pirkheimer, Sebastian Brandt, and many other distinguished men. 164 FmUP MELANCTHON. of the distinguished scholastics, and a nominalist, was a professor here. But it was not long before the elements of the new era began to bestir themselves. Paul Scriptoris, a Franciscan, though he read lectures upon Scotus, nevertheless deviated here and there from the teachings of the church, and Summenhart sought. to base theology upon the Bible. Both of these men had learned Hebrew ; Hilde- brand too, full of pious zeal, taught Hebrew and Greek for the sake exclusively of the <01d and Jfew Testaments, While these men, led by their earnest religious tendencies, were thus advancing in the right direction, there came to Tubingen in 1496 a man who was enthusiastically devoted to the classics. This man was Henry Bebel, professor of poetry and eloquence. Polite litera- ture, {politiores literae,) as it was called, was first represented at the university in him^ for before his coming there had not been even a place assigned to it. He opened a path for classical studies in a bold and fearless manner, doing battle with the monks, who regarded these studies as anti-Christian. Brassicanus, of Constance, co-operated with him also. Among the professors of law were George Simler, already mentioned as Melancthon's teacher, and Naucler, who was the author of a history of the world. John Stoffler, a noteworthy man, became professor of mathematics and astronomy in 1516. When the youthful Melancthon came to Tubingen, he was involved in the struggle between the old and the new eras. Bebel, Brassica- nus, and others, whose courses he attended, were decided Eeuchlin- ists; and to these he united himself, since he was akin, to Eeuchlin in two senses, — as well by mental affinities as by the ties of nature. He now strove with the energy and ardor of youth to compass all branches of knowledge, both by learning and teaching. When, in 1514, in his I7th year, he was made a Master, he lectured on Virgil and Terence. Two years later, in '1516, he published an edition of Terence, in which the verSes were disposed according to the metre.* In the dedication of the same, (to Geraeander,) he commends the poet to youth particularly as a teacher both of morals and of style. At the same time he went eagerly into Greek, read Hesiod with Oecolampadius, and translated much of Plutarch and Lucian, and the whole of Aratus. In 15*18 he brought out his Greek grammar: thus early, in his 21st year, did he give indications that he was marked out to be the "JPraeceptor Germaniae,^' as he was afterward familiarly called. On the death of Bebel, which took place in 1516, • Comoediae P. Termtii metro mimerisgue restitutae. Tub., 1616. It passed through several editioDS. PHILIP MELANCTHON. 165 Melancthon, the mere stripling of nineteen, was invited to fill his chair and teach rhetoric ; whereupon, he read lectures on some works of Cicero and six books of Livy. During this period the logic of Rudolf Agticola made its "Tappeararice, and Melancthon was incited by it to undertake a critical examination into the course of argument in the speeches of Demosthenes and Cicero. He likewise cultivated the acquaintance of Francis Stadian, professor of logic. At the close of his Greek grammar, he announced " that he intended, in conjunction with a number of his friends, Stadian especially, to edit the works of Aristotle." " If Aristotle, even in the original, is somewhat obscure," said Melancthon in one of his orations, " in the Latin versions he has become horribly mutilated and wholly unintelligible." We have seen that the Italians likewise, Politian, for example, went back tp the original text of Aristotle, and were thus enabled to lay the axe at the root of the pseudo-Aristotelism of the scholastics. Heyd, a clear- sighted author, thus justly observes in this connection : " Melancthon and Stadian, in editing and translating Aristotle, sought to bring about a reformation in the sphere of philosophy, similar to that which Luther's translation of the Bible was designed to effect in the sphere of theology. Men had become sick of turbid streams, and longed to quench their thirst at the pure fountains. The Bible truly was a perennial fountain, but a century later Francis Bacon directed inquiry from Aristotle, the teacher of physics back to nature, {(piifig;) the true original and source of physics." Melancthon attended the mathematical lectures of Stoffler for three years, and entertained the highest respect for his character. He dedicated to him an oration, " de artihus liberalibus" that he delivered in 1517, in Tubingen; and it was at StofiBer's request that he translated Aratus. He cultivated the science of law likewise, and it would appear that he gave private instruction in jurisprudence. He also heard medical lectures, and studied Galen quite as much with reference to the matter as to the style. And he was moreover led into close historical researches, by remodeling Naucler's history of the world for a new edition. In theology there was not much to be learned from the professors at Tubingen; and for that reason Melancthon soon applied his own linguistic attainments to Biblical exegesis ; and he was much rejoiced at the appearance of the New Testament of Erasmus. Thus were his studies, yet in his early youth, throughout uni- versal, — ^no branch of knowledge remaining wholly unfamiliar to him ; and by virtue of this universality, for which his remarkable talents fitted him, he won for himself the appellation "Fraeceptor.Germaniae:' 166 PHILIP MELANCTHON. IV. MELANCTHON CALLED TO WITTENBERG. Melanothon had spent six years at Tubingen, when Frederick the Wise, in theyear 1518, applied to Eeuchlin to provide him a teacher of Greek, and one of Hebrew also, for the university of Wittenberg. Eeuchlin, in his reply to the Elector, assured him that Germany, hitherto called, and not without reason, in other countries, " barbarian" and " brutish," needed these studies. For Hebrew he namedi'by way of eminence, Oeoolampadius ; " where baptized Jews are not well- versed in Latin they are not fit persons to teach Hebrew, as their knowledge has been derived more from use than from study." For Greek, Eeuchlin recommended in the most decided terms " Master Philip Schyarzerd," whom "from his youth up he himself had indoctrinated in this language." On the 12th of July, Melancthon wrote an impatient letter tP Eeuchlin, signifying his longing to be delivered from his " house of bondage," where, occupied in unimportant labors with boys, he himself was fast becoming a boy again himself. He was willing to go whither Eeuchlin should send him. Eeuchlin was not long in answering the letter. The Elector had written him to have Melancthon come to Wittenberg. " Not figura- tively," Eeuchlin continued, " but in their literal sense I address you in the words of the command of God to the faithful Abraham : ' Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's liouse, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing.' Thus my spirit prophecies to thee, and I hope that these things will be fulfilled in thee, my Philip, my pupil, and my consolation." To the Elector, Eeuchlin wrote : "Melancthon will come, and he will be an honor to the university. For I know no one among the Germans who excels him, save Erasmus, of Eotterdam, and he is more properly a Hollander. He, (Erasmus,) surpasses all of us in Latin." Melancthon now left Tubingen. Simler, his old teacher, thus spoke of his departure : "As many learned men as the university can boast of, they are nevertheless pone of them learned enough to form a suitable estimate of the learning of him who is about to leave us." From Augsburg and Nuremberg, where Melancthon made friends of Pirkheimer and Scheurl, he went to Leipzic. Here he spent much time in the society of the excellent Peter Mosellanus. On the 2Sth of August, 1518, he entered Wittenberg, there to remain until the close of his life. There, for eight and twenty years, he labored in connection with Luther. And his labors bore fruit in an abundan PHILIP MELANCTHON. 16'7 harvest of blessings ; for the ecclesiastical movement set on foot by these two men in a small German university assumed an ever wider sphere, till at last it encircled the globe, and thus Reuchlin's presentiments were realized. Luther could not find words to depict the joy that he felt at Melancthon's coming. In a letter to Spalatin, he expresses his admiration of the inaugural speech which Melanethon delivered four days after his arrival. He only fears that Melancthon's delicate con- stitution may not bear the North-German climate and mode of life. In another letter of this period, he styles him "profoundly learned, thoroughly grounded in Greek, (Graecanicissimus,) and not unfamiliar with Hebrew." To Reuchlin he writes: "Our Melanethon is a wonderful man ; j'ea, in every quality of mind almost above humanity, and, withal, very confiding and friendly in his demeanor toward me." Thus did Luther, on his fiist acquaintance with Melanethon, recog- nize him as the man who was to prove the complement of his own being, and to make possible the realization of the great purpose of his life. v. MELANCTUON's activity in WITTENBERG. The activity of Melanethon from this time on was extraordinary. What he did directly for the church I omit, as not coming within the scope of this work. The universality displayed in his youthful studies accompanied him throughout the whole of his life, as we see in the wide range of subjects which he taught, or on which he wrote. a. His Lectures. His lectures embraced the most diverse subjects. He read on the exegesis of the New Testament ; a while also on that of the Old, besides dogmatics. At the same time he gave critical interpretations of many of the Greek and Latin classics. To these were added lectures on ethics, logic, and physics. From his writings we may perceive what a union of depth and clearness he displayed in the treatment of his subjects ; and this accounts for the homage and the admiration of his hearers. Their number reached at times as high as two thousand. They were composed of all ranks, and not Germans alone, but also Frenchmen, Englishmen, Poles, Hungarians, Danes, yea, even Italians and .Greeks flocked to h^r him. And what distinguished men too were formed under his teachings ! Among them we may include those highly renowned schoolmasters, Joachim Camerarius, Valentine Trotzendorf, and Michael Neander. All three loved him to their dying day with a depth of devotedness that they could not express ; and his doctrines they held sacred and worthy of lasting remembrance. 168 PHILIP MELANCTHON. b. His Personal Relations to the Students. But that devotedne^s was not merely the fruit of Melancthon's lectures ; it proceeded rather from the affectionate manner that he displayed toward the students individually. "It -was a part,' so Camerarius tells us, " of Melancthon's household arrangements, never to deny himself to any one. Many came to himl for letters of recom- mendation ; many for him to revise their essays. Some sought his counsel in their emharrftssments ; others told him of incidents that had befallen them, either in private or in public, provided they were such as merited his attention; others again brought this or that complaint before him." "I can assure you, of a truth," said Melanc- thon in an academical oration, " that I embrace all the students with the love and the interest of a father, and am deeply affected by every thing that menaces them with danger." c. What he did for the School-System. Another phase of Melancthon's educational activity may be seen in his relation to schools. For he was often and in various ways appealed to for counsel in school matters. Especially noteworthy in this connection is his correspondence with Hieronymus Baumgartner, of Nuremberg. The occasion was as follows ; The Nurembergers had resolved to estabhsh a gymnasium, induced thereto chiefly by the solicitations of the excellent Lazarus Spengler. And Melancthon was formally invited through Baumgartner to become its rector. In his reply to Baumgartner he declines, because in. the first place he can not leave Wittenberg without being ungrateful to the Elector ; and again, he is not adapted by his previous training for such a position. It requires a man who is a practiced rhetorician, and therefore able with a master's hand to mold the young to rhetorical perfection. To this he is in no wise adapted, for his style is bare and dry, with no elegance in it, in facf altogether scant and devoid of sap ; whereas the diction of a teacher of a gymnasium should be rich and full of grace. Keuchlin had sent him, when on the threshold of man- hood, to Saxony, where he first set about a thorough cultivation of many branches, self-impelled and self-directed thereto, for his previous school-education had been but poor. The Nurembergers, as might have been anticipated, did not take Melancthon's estimate of himself in earnest, but, believing it to be the result of an overweening modesty, repeated their invitation through Baumgartner again. Melancthon now replied decidedly that he could not come. But, on his suggestion, Hessus and Camerarius were applied to. Sigismund Gelenius likewise, a learned Bohemian, then living'at Basle, was invited by Melancthon himself to become one of PHILIP MELANCTHON. 169 the teachers. In the letter of invitation Melancthon tells him " that the new institution was designed to furnish a full course of instruction from the elements up to rhetoric. Mathematics too was to receive attention.'' Subsequently Melancthon was urged by the civic authorities of Nuremberg to take part in the inauguration of the gymnasium. (His letter of acceptance was dated on the 10th of March, 1526, and he went to Nuremberg on the 6th of May.) He there delivered a. speech, in which he praised the Nurembergers for the spirit they displayed in providing means of education for the young, and he compared their city to Florence. In the year 1826, on the third centennial anniversary of the opening of the gymnasium, a statue of Melancthon was erected in front of the building. And as by the Nurembergers, so from many other quarters was Melancthon's advice solicited, in the affairs both of schools and uni- versities. But the event of his hfe that was attended with the most libportant consequences upon the school-system was his visitation, in 1527, of churches and schools, undertaken by order of the Elector, John the Constant, and through the influence of Luther. The field assigned him was Thuringia, and, in company with Myconius and Justus Jonas, he traveled over the whole of it; and, in 1528, likewise by order of the Elector, he published his " Report," or " Book of Visitation," a work of great significance alike to church and to schools. Through its means an evangelical church-system was established for the first time independent of the Pope, and asserting its own authority both in the matter of doctrine and of government. Soon other states followed the example of Saxony. From the " Book of Visitation " we extract the following SCHOOL-PLAN.* Preachers also should exhort the people of their charge to send their children to school, so that they may be trained up to teach sound doctrine in the church, and to serve the state in a wise and able manner. Some unagine that it is enough for a teacher to understand German. But this is a misguided fancy. For he, who is to teach others, must have great practice and special aptitude ; to gain this, he must )iave studied much, and from his youth up. For St. Paul tells us, in 1 Tim., 3 : 2, that a bishop must be " apt to teach." And herein he would have us infer that bishops must possess this quality in greater measure than laymen. So also he commends Timothy, (1 Tim., 4 : 6,) in that he has learned from his youth up, having been " nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine." For this is no small art, namely, to teach and direct others in a clear and correct manner, and it is impossible that unlearned men should attain to it. Nor do we need able and skillful persons for the church alone, but for the government of the world too ; and God requir-es it at our hands. Hence parents should plaoe their children at school, in order there to arm and equip them for God's service, so that God can use them for the good of others. But in our day there are many abuses in children's schools. And it is that these abuses may be corrected, and that the young may have good instruction, that we have prepared this plan. In the first place, the teachers must be careful * TliiB plan appears likewise in Luther's works. 1^70 PHILIP MELANCTHON. to teach the children Latin only, not German, nor Greek, nor Hebrew, as some have heretofore done, burdening the poor children with such a mnltipHoity of pursuits, that are not only unproduotive.'but positively injurious. Such school- masters, we plainly see, do ngt think of the improvement of the children at all, but undertake so many languages,solely to increase their own reputation. In the second place, teachers should not burden the children with too many books, but should rather avoid a needless variety. Thirdly, it is indispensable that the children be classified into distinct groups. The First Group.— The first group should consist of those children who are learning to read. With these the following method is to be adopted : Tbey are first to be taught the ohild's-manual, containing the alphabet, the creed, the Lord s prayer, and other prayers. When they have learned this, Donatus and Cato may both be given them; Donatus for a reading-book, and Cato they may explain after the following manner : the schoolmaster must give them the explanation of a verse or two, and then in a few hours call upon them to repeat what he ha| thus said ; and in this way they will learn a great number of Latin words, and lay up a full store of phrases to use in speech. In this they should be exercised until they can read well. Neither do we consider it time lost, if the feebler children, who are not especially quick-witted, should read Cato and Donatus not once only, but a second time. With this they should be taught to write, and be required to shew their writing to the schoolmaster every day. Another mode of enlarging their knowledge of Latin words is to give them every afternoon some words to commit to memory, as has been the custom in schools hitherto. These children must likewise be kept at music, and be made to sing with the others, as we shall show, God willing, further on. The Second Group. — The second group consists of children who have learned to read, and are now ready to go into grammar. With these the following regu- lations should be observed : The first hour after noon every day all the children, large and small, ,shou!d be practiced in music. Then the schoolmaster must interpret to the second group the fables of jEsop. After vespers, he should explain to them the Paedology of Mosellanus ; and, when this is finished, he should select from the Colloquiesof Erasmus some that may conduce to their improvement and discipline. This should be repeated on thefnext evening also. When the children are about to go home for the night, some short sentence may be given them, taken perhaps from a poet, which they are to repeat the next morning, such as "Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur." — A true friend becomes manifest in adversity. Or "Fortuna, quern mmium fovet, stultum facit." — Fortune, if she fondles a man too much, makes him a fool. Or this from Ovid: ^^Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat." — The rabble value friendships by the profit they yield. In the morning the children are again to explain JEsop's fables. With this the teacher should decline some nouns or verbs, many or few, easy or dlfiScuH, according to the progress of the children, and then ask them the rules and the reasons for such inflection. And at the same time when thoy shall have learned the rules of construction, they should be required to construe, (parse,) as it is called ; this is a very useful exercise, and yet there are not many who employ it. After the children have thus learned .^sop, Terence is to be given to them ; and this they must commit to memory, for they will now be older, and able to work harder. Still the master must be cautious, lest he overtask them. Next after Terence, the children may take hold of such of the comedies of Plautus as are harmless in their tendency, as the Aulularia, the Trinummus, the Pseudolus, etc. The hour beforejnid-day must be invariably- and exclusively devoted to instruc- tion in grammar: first etymology, then syntax, and lastly prosody. And when the teacher has gone thus far through with the grammar, he should begin it again, and so on continually, 1;hat the children may understand it to perfection. For if there is negligence here, there is neither certainty nor stability in whatever is learned beside. And the children should learn by heart and repeat all the rules, so that they may be driven and forced, as it were, to learn the grammar well. If such labor is irksome to the schoolmaster, as we often see, then we should dismiss him, and get another in his place, — ^one who will not shrink from the duty of keeping his pupils constantly in the grammar. For no greater injury can befall learning and the arts, than for youth to grow up in ignorance of grammar. PHILIP MELANCTHON. 171 This course should be repeated daily, by the week together ; nor should we by any means give children a different book to study each day. However, one day, for instanoe, Sunday or "Wednesday, should be set apart, in which the children may receive Christian instruction. For some are suffered to learn nothing in the Holy Scriptures ; and some masters there are who teach children nothing but the Scriptures; both of which extremes must be avoided. For it is essential that children be taught the rudiments of the Christian and divine life. So likewise .there are many reasons why, with the Scriptures, other books too should be laid Tbefore them, out of which they may learn to tead. And in this matter we propose the following method: Let the schoolmaster hear the whole group, making them, one after the other, repeat the Lord's prayer, the creed, and the ten commandments. But if the group is too large, it may be divided, so that one week one part may recite, and the remaining part the next. After one recitation, the master should explain in a simple and correct manner the Lord's prayer, after the next the creed, and at another time the ten com- mandments. And he should impress upon the children the essentials, such as the fear of God, faith, and good works. He must not touch upon polemics, nor must he accustom the children to scoff at monks or any other persons, as many unskillful teaohei's use to do. With this the schoolmaster may give the boys some plain psalms to commit to memory, which comprehend the sum and substance of the Christian life, wMch inculcate the fear of the Lord, faith, and good works. As the 112th Psalm, " Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord ;" the 34th, " I will bless the Lord at all times ;" the 128th, " Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways;" the 125th, "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which can not be removed, but abideth forever ;" the 127th, " Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it;" the 133d, " Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !" or other such plain and intelligible psalms, which likewise should be expounded in the briefest and most correct manner possible, so that the children may know, both the substance of what they have learned and where to find it. On this day too the teacher should give a grammatical exposition of Matthew ; and, when he has gone through with it, he should commence it anew. But, when the boys are somewhat more advanced, he may comment upon the two epistles, of Paul to Timothy, or the 1st Epistle of John, or the Proverbs of Solomon. But teachers must not undertake any other books. For it is not profitable to burden the young with deep and difficult books as some do, who, to add to their own reputation, read Isaiah, Paul's Epistle to the Romans, St. John's Gospel, and others of a like nature. ■The Thiro Group. — Now, when these children have been well trained in grammar, those among them who have made the greatest proficiency should be taken out, and formed into the third group. The hour after mid-day they, together with the rest, are to devote to music. After this the teacher is to give an explana- tion of Virgil. When he has finished this, he may talce up Ovid's Metamorphoses, and in the latter part of the afternoon Cicero's " Ofiices," or " Letters to Friends." In the morning Virgil may be reviewed, and the teacher, to keep up practice in the grammar, may call for constructions and inflections, and point out the prominent figures of speech. The hour before mid-day, grammar should still be kept up, that the scholars may be thoroughly versed therein. And when they are perfectly familiar with ety- mology and syntax, then prosody (metrica) should be opened to them, so that they can thereby become accustomed to make verses. For tffis exercise is a very great help toward understanding the writings of others ; and it likewise gives the boys a rich fund of words, and renders them accomplished many ways. In course of time, after they have been sufficiently practiced in the grammar, this same hour is to be given to logic and rhetoric. The boys in the second and third groups are to bs required every week to write compositions, either in the form of letters or of verses. They should also be rigidly confined to Latin conversation, and to this end the teachers themselves must, as far as possible, speak nothing but Latin with the boys ; thus they will acquire the practice by use, and the more rapidly for the incentives held out to them. Thus much for schools. We have here the yet crude beginnings 172 PHILIP MELANCTHON. of a high-school system, without any thorough organization or well- regulated activity. These, it remained for Trotzendorf and Sturm to develop. d. Melancthon's Manuals. His influence upon schools was very widely diffused by means of his manuals, which were universally introduced into use, and were perpetuated through many editions.- He wrote a Greek and a Latin grammar, two manuals of logic, one of rhetoric, one of ethics, and one of physics. These manuals are characterized by great clearness of expression : it was a matter of great moment with Melancthon, by means of concise and clear definitions and a well-ordered arrangement, to make himself as intelligible as possible. Confused sentiments, and obscure language, whose sense we vainly pefplex ourselves to get at, these were Melancthon's abhorrence. The Greek Grammar. — An edition of the year 1542 lies before me.* In the preface Melancthon says : " He has often wished that his little work on Greek grammar had perished, because he wrote it while yet scarcely out of boyhood, for the use of the boys whom he had under his charge. And indeed it would have perished had not the bookseller constrained him to repeat the foolish action, {demu> ineptire,) and to rebuild the old ruins. He has accordingly critically revised the whole, altering it and improving it." The grammar is simple and clear, but it does not include syntax ; it ends with the paradigms of the verbs in fii.f The Latin Grammar. — Melancthon wrote this originally for his pupil, Erasmus Ebner, of Nuremberg. Goldstein, afterward recorder of the town of Halle, issued it, as he tells us himself in the preface, against Melancthon's wish, in 1525. In the edition of 1542 there is a letter of Melancthon to the Frankfort bookseller, Egenolph. " In the first edition of my grammar," he writes, "there were various omissions. These may be supplied; yet there should not be too many rules, lest their number prove discouraging to the learner." He then expresses his confidence that Micyllus, whom he has prevailed upon to prepare, an improved edition, will, in virtue of his learning and good judgment, adopt the right method. Next, he launches into a panegyric of grammar, especially of its usefulness to the theologian. " How important it is," he says, " to the church, that boys be thoroughly disciplined in the languages! Inasmuch as the purity of • Grammatica graeca Ph. Melancthonis jam noviasime recogntta atque myitis in locia lo- cupletala. Francofurti, XLII. t The commentaries on eyntajc he sent in manuscript to Count Nuenar, but they were not printed. PHILIP MBLANCTHON. 1^3 the diyme teachings can not be maintained without learning, and weighty controversies can only be settled by a determination of the meaning of words, and, a wide range of well-chosen expressions is indispensable to a correct construction ; therefore what will a teacher in the church be, if he does not understand grammar, other than a sUent mask, or a shameless bawler ? He who does not understand the mode of speech of God's word can not love it either. Ignoti nulla cupido is a true maxim. But how can he be a good teacher in the church who neither loves the heavenly doctrine, nor yet under- stands it, nor is able to explain it ? Neglect of grammar has recoiled upon our own heads, in that through the means the monks have palmed off upon the church and the schools spurious wares for genu- ine. Hence princes should have a care to maintain learning; we observe, however, that a very few do it. And cities too should strive to uphold and protect these studies, that embellish not only the church but the whole of life." In conclusion he exhorts youth to a diligent study of gramtnar. This letter of Melancthon's is dated in 1540. It was also printed with the edition of the grammar which Camerarius brought out in 1550. To the second part of this grammar, or the syntax, there is prefixed a preface addressed to the son of Justus Jonas. It is written against those who think to become philologists merely through the perusal of the classics, without grammatical studies. Such persons will never be rooted and grounded. Their false view proceeds from a repugnance to the restraint of rules, — a repugnance that by and by will degenerate into a dangerous contempt of all law and order. The following is the history of this edition of Melancthon's grammar : Camerarius requested Melancthon, on behalf of the book- seller, Papst, in Leipzic, that he would authorize the latter to bring out a new edition. Melancthon acceded to the request in the most friendly manner, and signified his approval, in advance, of all the emendations and additions which Cflmerarius should make. In his preface, Camerarius thus speaks of the additions: "They will not merely profit the scholar, but they will likewise assist the teacher." The opinion that Schenk, who lectured on Latin grammar at Leipzic, expressed of this work, will doubtless appear to most of us somewhat exaggerated. " This little book has now attained to that perfection that there appears to be nothing deficient in it, nor can there here- after be any thing added to it ; and accordingly it will ever continue to be, as it now is, the sum of all perfection, neither to be altered nor remodeled." The distinguished Ilefeld rector, Michael Neander, did not assent No. 12.— [Vol. IV., No. 3.]— 48. I'Ti PHILIP MELANCTHON. to this view, as far as it referred to the utility of Camerarius' book as a school-grammar. He published an edition himself, with this title, namely, "The Latin grammar of Ph. Malancthon, delivered with brevity, ease, and clearness, in the compass of a few pages, yet in such a manner as not only to give Melanothon's language, but his method in the smaller grammar and smaller syntax, that first and oldest manual, which is most admirably adapted to the learner, and which more than any other has been used in all our German.schools." He moreover assures us on the title-page that boys can learn everything that is necessary to the understanding of Latin, out of this grammar, in a few months. In the preface, Neander explains the object of his work more distinctly. He says, since he has observed that boys are burdened by a multitude of rules and examples, and since this diffuse- ness is moreover unsuitable to teachers, therefore he has made this abridgment of Melancthon's grammar. It is so concise that the scholar should be required to learn it all thoroughly ; then he can read, compare, and exercise himself in Melancthon's own admirable grammars, both the smaller and the larger ; nay, he may then read and digest the remarks and illustrations which have been incorporated into the larger grammar of Melancthon by a very learned man,* and which swell the book to twice or three .times its original size. Camerarius' edition of Melanothon's grammar contains 607 -pages, Neander's but 130. It is evident that both Camerarius and Micyllus before him neglected Melancthon's warnitig against discouraging the pupil by too great diffuseness. While they designed their grammars not for scholars alone, bi^t also for teachers, as ■ Camerarius claims in so many words in the title of his book, and thus aimed at complete- ness and .perfection, it happened that their labor was lost as far as school-instruction was concerned. Neander's simplification, on the other hand, is sure to meet witli the general approval of school- teachers ; for they must needs feel ever more deeply that there is a heaven-wide difierence between a grammar for beginners and one for learned philologists, — a difference as great as that between the cate- chism and a learned and profound treatise on doctrinal theology. Every intermingling of these distinct and different objects results in hybrid grammars, which are too advanced for the learner and too simple for the teacher. It is evident from Neander's preface that Melancthon's grammar held the chief place in the schools of Germany in the last half of the 16th century. Yet the precise and critical Strobel enumerates, between the years 1625 and 1727, no fewer than fifty-one editions, more or less altered from the original. But ' Camerarius. PHILIP MELANCTHON, 175 notwithstanding, its influence can be traced even to our time. For example, that very useful book, the larger "■ fframmatica Marchica" strikingly coincides with Melancthon's, both in the general arrange- ment and in the treatment of the pai-ts ; and the phraseology of the two is often alike, in definitions, rules of syntax and the like. Again, Otto Schulz, in the preface to his complete Latin grammar, which appeared in 1825, says: "In respect to my method, I have designed to follow as closely as possible the lai'ger Mark grammar, whose main features all teachers concur in approving.'' A history of grammars, from Donatus to Zumpt and Schulz, would be a most interesting book. How characteristic even are the various definitions of the word " grammar," -which have been given in different periods ! Melancthon defines it thus : " Gi-ammar is an exact method of speaking and writing.'' The Mark grammar of 1728, in essential agreement with this definition, says : " Grammar is the art of speaking and writing correctly.*' Otto Schulz, on the other hand, has it thus : " Latin grammar is a guide to the knowledge 'of the Latin tongue ; it shows how the universal laws of language should be applied in the special instance of Latin." Lastly, Kiihner thus defines it : " Grammar is the guide to a correct understanding of a language, through its words and forms of speech." In these definitions we may perceive what progress has been made since 1728, from a practical treatment of the ancient languages, according to the art of speaking and writing, to a theoreti- cal, whose aim is by means of science to attain to a perfect under- standing of the same. But let us return to Melancthon and his manuals. The Manual of Logic. — The first edition of this work appeared in 1520, an enlarged and improved edition in 1527, a third in 1529; this latter is dedicated to William Reiffenstein. The book, Melanc- thon says, is designed to assist in a better understanding of Aristotle. It was followed by a second treatise upon the same subject, the "£rotemata Dialectices" the principal portion of which he composed in the unfortunate year 1547. The dedication, addressed to John, sou of Joachim Camerarius, beare date, September 1st, 1547 ; by the 18lh of October, the same year, three thousand copies were disposed of This dedication touches upon the point above adverted to as having been discussed in the preface to the " Syntax," namely, " Whether logic is indispensable to every one, inasmuch as we find its absence atoned for in many instances by a strong, native common sense ?" The reply is that it is a necessary art, since it teaches men of mod- erate capacities, and is a help to them, while on the other hand the more gifted are controlled by it, and kept within bounds, and are led 116 PHItIP MELANCTHON. to seek after truth and to prize truth alone. ITien he pronounces judgment against those who decry logic. " Even as there are many men of unbridled passions who hate the restraints of moral law, so there are those who can not abide the rules of art. Dialectics, as hitherto taught by the school-men, had, to be sure, fallen into contempt ; however, this was because it was not veritable art, but only the shadow of an art, and entangled men amid endless labyrinthine mazes. But," he continues, "I present here a true, pure and unsophisticated logic, just as we have received it from Aristotle and some of his judicious commentators." He then proceeds to show the necessity of logic in order to a correct statement and determination of the doctrines of the church ; its abuse by heretical teachers ought not to deter us from its right use. He urges those, who have the capacity, to read Aristotle himself, and that in the Greek ; but adds, that it will be of service firet to acquire a knowledge of the elements, in order to underetand him the more readily. Manual of Rhetoric. — The first edition appeared ia 1519, under the title "i)e Shetorica Lihri ires, — Wittenberg, lo. Grunenberg.'' The dedication to Bernard Maurus was written in January, 1519; and treats, among other things, of the relation of rhetoric to logic. The later edition was dedicated in the year 1531 to the brothers Eeiffen- stein. Says Melancthon in this dedication, 'whereas he had been compelled to speak against corrupt logicians, the case was far diflFerent with rhetoric. Upon rhetoric no one had written but eminent men, as for instance Cicero and Quintilian. And his rhetoric was designed to be an elementary guide to the understanding of their writings. In these they (the brothers Reiffenstein) might perceive the length and breadth of the art of eloquence, and not fall into the delusion that many self-conceited blockheads indulge, namely, that those have reached the very pitch and perfection of eloquence who have learned how to indite a letter. But eloquence is rather to be ranked among the highest accomplishments, and involves extensive learning, gi-eat talents, long practice, and a keen judgment. Ehetoric is closely allied to logic, and one can not be comprehended without the other.' Manual of Physics. — I shall speak at greater length of this book, when I come to describe the pre-Baconian realism.* Melancthon's pious and sensible manner of contemplating nature will be clearly set forth, as well from passages in this manual as from his preface to Sacrobusto's work on the Sphere. Manual of Mhics. — As early as the year 1529, he issued his ' Knowledge otlhinge as contra-distinguished from knowledge oiaorda. PHILIP MELANCTHON. 177 commentary on the ethics of Aristotle, and in the year 1538 his "Philosophiae moralis epitome." With these manuals we should rank one upon history, namely, the "Ckronicon" of his pupil Carlo, which Melancthon improved and enlarged in 1532 in the German, and in 1638 rewrote entire and published in Latin. c. Declamationes. Melancthon's tiniversal learning, his eminent skill as a teacher, and his practical exercise in teaching, for well-nigh half a century, lead us to infer the existence of many excellent hints to instructors in his manuals. Nor are we disappointed. We find in these manuals an educational wisdom of enduring value for aU time. Much, it is true, betokens the 1 6th century. In Melancthon, the preceptor of Germany, {Fraeceptor, Germaniae,) both the ideal and the modes of culture that prevailed among his contemporaries, appear as it were personified before our eyes. Not merely in his manuals, however, but in other works of his, the orations especially, there is contained a treasure of educational wisdom. Under the title "Declamationes" we have a collection of Melancthon's academical orations, delivered some by himself and some by others.* In these orations we perceive his love of science, and are made familiar with his views upon mental culture and upon study in general, as well as its single branches. Repeatedly does he express himself on these topics, — above all on the relation of science to the church. 1. His Love of Science. In the year 1535, Melancthon delivered an oration on love of truth. " It is a matter of inexpressible moment," he here says, " that a man from his youth up should cherish a burning hatred toward all sophis- try, especially toward that which wears the garb of wisdom." Among the abettors of this latter species of sophistry, he includes both Stoics and Epicureans, as well as the Anabaptists, who were wholly wrapped in the mists and delusions of this false wisdom ; and adds : — There are otliers who have misapplied their talents, not seeking to bring the truth to light, but only to prove or to disprove in perpetual rotation whatever they have happened to conjecture possible. And this legerdemain they have taken to be the true element of genius. Such men were those universal doubters, the academics and sophists of Plato's time. These undisciplined, lawless spirits were very dangerous ; whatever pleased their fancy, this they never ceased to magnify, but every thing disagreeable to them they rejected as of no account; that which looked plausible they insisted upon as true ; they united things which did not oelong together, and things which were manifestly related to each other they put • Strobel, in the " Literary Miscellany," Naremberj, i781, in speaking of Melancthon's ora- tions, says that the most eminent of Melancthon's colleagues, men like Major, Reinholt, and .Winstiemius, were not ashamed to deliver orations prepared by him. I'JS PHILIP MELANCTHON. asander ; tliey employed clear and well-defined terms to express nothing, and threw around sober realities an air of irony. Against this kind of sophistry all well-meaning persons must wage an implacable warfare. Plato was very earnest to exhort men in their speech to seek not the applause of men but the approbation of God. And accordingly we ought with our whole soul to aim at this one point, namely, to find the truth, and to set it forth with as much simplicity and clearness as possible. Men who, in matters of science, sport with truth, are blind guides likewise where revelation is concerned. Sophistry has by means of its false precepts occasioned religious dissensions and religious wars. The dispositions of men are easily warped, and it needs great wisdom to keep them in the right way ; and Christ calls down the severest judgments upon those by whom ofienses come. Studies. The Old time and the New. Science and the Church. In the oration, which Melancthon delivered in 1518, at his induc- tion into his preceptorial oflBce, he marks the contrast between the old and barbarous studies, that had hitherto been in vogue, and those excellent and new objects of inquiry that were beginning to receive attention. " The advocates of the old method," he says, '' decry the new. ' The study of the restored classical literature,' they say, ' with great labor, yields but small profit. Idle men have betaken them- selves to Greek in order to make a vain boast of their knowledge ; the Hebrew promises but little with the moderns ; all true studies have fallen away, and philosophy is utterly neglected.' " Against such accusers Melancthon entered the lists, first attack- ing with vigor the old methods of study. Those scholastics had planted themselves upon Aristotle, who was hard to understand even for the Greeks, but had become in the scholastic Latin versions abso- lutely unintelligible. Better things fell into disrepute, Greek was forgotten, a jargon of useless learning forced upon the mind, and the classics were thrown aside altogether. He himself had been almost ruined by being six long years under the teachings of the pseudo- Aristotelian sophists, men who bore not the least trace of resemblance to Socrates. For this one had said *' that one thing only did he know, namely, that he knew nothing, while they knew every thing, save this one, namely, that they did not know any thing.'' Then he goes on to indicate briefly what the students at the Wit- tenberg university were expected, after the new method, to take hold of, viz., Aristotle as he is in the original, Quintilian and Pliny, the mathematics., poets, orators, historians, and a sound philosophy. These were studies which the clergy and jurists equally needed ; and the former in addition to Greek should understand Hebrew. For with the downfall of these sjtudies the church had sunk into ruins, Having become marred and disfigured by ordinances of man's device. Of a similar purport is a speech which Melancthon delivered eighteen years later, (in 1536.) In this he commends not merely the study of the languages, but also of philosophy and the other arts, PHILIP MELANCTHON. J^Q since they all serve to enrich, and adorn the church. Ignorance obscures religion, and leads to frightful divisions, and to barbarism, — in short to the entire destruction of all social order. An unenlightened theology is one of the greatest of evils, confounding all doctrines, having no clear conception of vital truths, uniting things that should be divided, and tearing asunder things that are joined together. It is contradictory and inconsistent, and there is neither beginning, progress, nor result in it. Such teachings are prolific of unnumbered errors and endless disagreements, because in the general confusion one and the same thing is understood thus by one man and quite differently by another. And, since every one defends his own view, there arises strife and discord. Meanwhile consciences are racked with doubt, and doubt not resolved ends in disbelief. But an enlight- ened theology should not rest content with grammar and logic; it also has need of physics, moral philosophy, and history, for which latter too a knowledge of the mathematics, for their bearing on chronology, is indispensable. And with great justice does Melancthon remark in this speech : "Learning is at this day of the utmost consequence to the church, because ignorant priests are growing ever bolder and more careless in their office. Learned men, who have accustomed themselves to thorough investigation in every thing they undertake, know but too well how liable they are to fall into error, and thus diligence itself teaches them modesty. vBut what great disasters ever befall the church, from the recklessness of ignorance, this, the present condition of things will teach us." The theme, " Learning is a blessing to the church and ignorance its curse," was frequently taken up by Melancthon. So, in the already cited preface to his Latin Grammar, and again in the introduction to a treatise on the art of poetry, "Cuidam Ubello de arte poeiica.'" " Hand in hand with diligent study," he here says, " we ever find modesty and a prayerful spirit." A disciple of Schwenkfeld had written a book against him and Paul Eber, in which he attacked the liberal arts, and undertook to prove that the church is not built up and established by means of reading, hearing, and reflecting upon the doctrines of the Bible, but that a certain enthusia^ first over- masters the spirit, and reading the Scriptures and meditation comes afterward. " Thus,'' he adds, " these fanatics invert the order indi- cated by Paul, naniely, ' how shall they believe who have not heard V " In the oration entitled "JEncomium eloquentiae," he takes a survey of the studies essential to a complete education. Here he again censures the unintelligible style of Scotus and the school-men. Pious, 180 PHILIP MELANCTHON. he thinks, was but in jest when he took up the gauntlet for them, and maintained the proposition that it irfattered not whether a man spoke with elegance or not, provided only that he expressed his thoughts clearly. The earlier theological bunglers were of a piece, as well in style as in sentiments, — barbarians in both. He then advo- cates the readingV)f the ancient poets, historians, and orators, and at the same time a diligent practice in style, both in prose and poetry. In the close he recurs again to the importance of a knowledge of the languages to the theologian to assist him in understanding the Scriptures. A godless spirit goes hand in hand with ignorance. The classical studies had again dawned upon the world in order that theology, which had become corrupt, might again be purified. The deeper meaning of the word, it is true, is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit ; but we must first come to a knowledge of the Janguage, for it is in this that the divine mysteries are embodied. He then gives an example of the mistakes which continually occur, where the knowledge of language is inadequate to convey the true meaning of the w^rds. One of their masters of arts rendered the words "Melchisedec rex Salem panem et vimim ohtulit" thus : Melchisedec set before (Abraham) salt, bread, and wine ; and he then proceeded at great length to remark upon the nature of salt. From his oration upon the study of Hebrew it would appear that the Wittenberg university ranked the original language of the Old Testament among the chief objects of attention. The opinion of Politian that this was an unpolished language, and that it formed a hindrance both to the study of the classics and the attainment of Latin eloquence, — this opinion was there opposed with the utmost earnestness. In this connection, Melancthon's preface to Terence, written in 1525, is worthy of note., " There is scarcely any book,'' he says, " which is more worthy of daily perusal than this poet. In point of fitness of expression he surpasses perhaps every other author. Chrysostom took such pleasure in Aristophanes that he laid him under his pillow at night ; and without doubt he perused this poet with such assiduity, in order by the means to perfect himself in eloquence. How much more highly," he continues, " is Terence to be esteemed, whose plays are both free from obscenity, and likewise, if I mistake not, models of rhetoric. I therefore advise all teachers urgently to commend this author to the study of youth. For he appears to me to present a theory of human life that far surpasses that set forth in most philosophical works. And no other author teaches a purer diction, none other accustoms boys so well to those forms of speech in which they need to be drilled for future use." PHILIP MELANCTHON. 181 VI. REVIEW OF MELANOTHON'S LIFE FROM 1518 TO 1560. Agreeably to the scope of this work, I have kept in view the edu- cational labors of Melancthon, and have accordingly dwelt but little upon the part he played in the reformation of the church. This too was the less called for, inasmuch as so many histories of the Reforma- tion and recent biographies have rendered us familiar with his efiSciency in this field. Eepeated expressions in his letters prove that he was drawn into the wide arena of the Reformation almost against his will, and, amid the dust of the conflict, that he often yearned to devote himself wholly to philology and philosophy. Even his theo- logical lectures were undertaken contrary to the dictates of his own inclination, and only in compliance with the desire of Luther, "Thou knowest," he wrote to Spalatin, "the circumstance that occasioned me to give a theological course. I first began it in order, as Baccalaureus ad hihlia, to conform to established usage, nor had I then the most distant presentiment of the turn that matters were destined to take. My exegesis was not finished when Dr. Martin went to Worms ; and, so long as he continued absent, it was not possible for me to give up these lectures. Thus it has come to pass that I have dangled from that cliflf for more than two years. I yes- terday finished John's gospel, and this appears to me to be an appropri- ate time to make a change in respect to the lectures. I can not hesi- tate to follow whither thou leadest, even to become a keeper of cattle. Nevertheless, I could wish in this one respect to be free." Note- worthy too is the fact that he did not take the degree of Doctor of Theology, while Luther, in virtue of his theological doctorate, felt constrained in his conscience to go into the lists against emperor and Pope ; nor did Melancthon ever preach, notwithstanding that Luther frequently urged him to do so, — "Jf^olentem trahiint fata ;" and, whether he would or not, he was forced to remain his life long in the field as a soldier of Christ, and ever to fight in the fore-front of the battle, whilehe yearned forever after a life of Hterary retirement and quiet. Luther, so long as he lived, hurried Melancthon along with him ; and, when he died, it was too late for Melancthon to withdraw, for the powerful current and commotion of the reorganizing church was bearing him resistlessly on. Whatsover opinion we may any of us have formed of those doctrinal controversies, yet we can not but feel a deep sympathy for Melancthon when we read of the unhappy feuds in which the excellent man was involved in the closing years of his life, and what rudeness and indignity he suffered at the hands of his adversaries. Let us now turn back again for a few moments to his younger 182 PHILIP MELANCTHON. days. In 1520 he married Catherine, daughter of Herr Krapp, Mayor of Wittenberg. Camerarius said of her: "She was pious, very affectionate toward her husband, careful and diligent in matters pertaining to the household, and kind and benevolent to all." She bore her husband two sons and two daughters. Anna, the eldest of these children, who was her father's idol, was married in'1536 to George Sabinus, a man of learning indeed, but of a restless, ambitious spirit; she died in 154:1 . The second child was a son named Philip, whose talents were quite inferior. He was born in 1525, and died in 1603. At the time of his death he was secretary of the consistory. George, the second son, did not survive quite two years ; Magdalena, the second daughter, was married in 1550 to the physician Casper Peucer, who afterward suffered many years' imprisonment on account of his clandestine adherence to Calvinism. Through her grief at this calamity she died in the year 15'76. Of Melancthon's domestic life, Camerarius, who was an intimate friend of his, tells us much that is worthy of our admiration ; as that he loved his children most dearly, was unstinted in his charity toward the needy, and kindly and cheerful, true and single-minded in his in- tercourse with his friends. Almost too thoughtless with respect to the goods of this life, he amassed nothing to bequeath to his family. We might hence conclude that he was perpetually serene and happy in his disposition ; but his life and many of his letters undeceive us in this respect. He suffered from bodily afflictions ; sleeplessness in his earlier years, and later the sharp pains of the gravel. He was also weighed down by many family troubles ; the death of two of his children, and of his wife, and, in addition to all, the perverse behavior of his son-in-law, Sabinus. Yet all this, as his letters evince, receded into the back-ground, compared with the overshadowing unrest which grew out of his relations to the church. A conscientious man will pass sleepless nights, if his soul is weighed down with anxiety for the welfare of a few children or pupils. Is it then to be wondered at if Melancthon, — with his so tender conscience, at the Diet of Augsburg, for instance, where his words were to decide the temporal and eternal welfare of countless souls among those who were then living, as well as of those who should come after him, — is it to be wondered at if he there was overwhelmed, like Moses and Jeremiah, by the fearful responsibilities which devolved upon him ? To this too was afterward added a deeper sorrow, namely, to be forsaken by his own familiar friends, and to be most bitterly persecuted. We may bfehold depicted before us, as it were, the trials which he was called to endure, if we compare the admirable likeness, engraved PHILIP MELANCTHON. 183 upon copper by Albert Durer, of Melanctlion, the ycTung man of twenty-nine, with that portrait of Melancthon, the gray-haired old man, which Luke Cranach has bequeathed to us. The one is a fair and a very striking head, with a high forehead, and eyes out of which the liveliest expression of kindness and grace beams toward you. But, on the other hand, the countenance of the old man is deeply scored with the furrows of many sorrowful years, toiled through amid heavy trials, and the ceaseless and bitter whirl of controversy. Melancthon was at Heidelberg in ISSY, when Camerarius brought him the news of the death of his wife. Without betraying the least token of sorrow, although every one felt that his heart was sore and sad almost to bursting, he only said, "I shall soon follow her." The depth of his grief may be estimated, however^ from a letter which he wrote two years after the death of his wife, and one year before the final summons came to him also. " Passionate and sor- rowful yearning for a deceased wife is not effaced in the old man as it may be with those who are younger. When day by day I gaze upon my grandchildren, I recall not without a sigh their grandmother, and thus at the sight of the bereaved little ones my sorrow is renewed. She cared for the whole family, she ckerished the infants, she nursed the sick ; by her consoling words she lessened my griefs ; she taught the children to pray. And so it is that I miss her everywhere. I bethink me how almost daily she repeated these words of the psalm, ' Forsake me not in my oH age ;' and thus I also continually pray." • After the departure of his wife Melancthon repeatedly spoke of bis own approaching death. The increasing violence which marked the theological controversies of the day embittered his life more and mo^e. He himself came in danger thereby of banishment. " If they drive me out," 1m wrote to Hardenberg, " I have made up my mind to go to Palestine, and there in the seclusion of the cloister of Hiwonymus, at the call of the Son of God, to record my unclouded testimony to the doctrine, and. dying to commend my soul to God." In a subsequent letter he wrote : " My troubles and sorrows are- waxing greater, but the far journey to the church, ia heaven will soon liberate me from them all." The 19th of April, 1560, was the day of his death. When he was dying he found consolation from passages in the Bible, this especially^ " As many as received him, to these gave he power to become sons of God." Then he repeated in an undertone these words from the last prayer of Christ, " that they may all be one, even as we are one."' Attacked and maligned ia his closing years, and tired of the unhoJy war, the old man felt a longing desire for an assured and peaceful 184 PHILIP MELANCTHON, rest, and for a union with his Lord and Master, whom with truest love he had served all his days. Paul Eber and other godly men kneeled around his death-bed. To Peucer's question " whether he desired any thing," he replied "nothing but heaven ; let me rest and pray. My time has almost come.'' In the evening, before seven o'clock, he passed away to his heavenly rest, on the 21sji of April. He was buried in the Wittenberg castle church, by the side of Luther. JVTb^e.— Melancthon's Latin Grammar,— The indefatigable Strobel, in his " Contributions to Literature, with reference especially to the 16th century," has furnished a chapter on " Me- lancthon's grammatical labors and influence." In this we find a list of the various editions of the Latin grammar. The first, brought out under the auspices of Goldstein, is of the year 1525. The fourth, ac- cording to Strobel, is that of 1529, as follows: " Gram. lat. P. Melancthonis ab authore nuper et aucta et recognita. Norembergae apud I. Felreium, 1529." The following edition, of which I have a copy. Strobel has)iot mentioned: " Gram, lat. P. Mel. ab authore nuper aucta et recognita. Secunda editio. ParislU ex ofiicina Robert! Ste- phani, 1629." On the la£t page it reads : " Excudebat Rob. Stephanus, Par. anno 1529, XVI. Cal. Octobris." This is a reprint of the preceding edition, gave thatthe syntax is omitted, and all German words arc translated into corresponding terms in thfe French. For instance, in the sentence *' Substantivum cui non potest audi Mann, Weib, Ding ut campus," Stepha- nus uses the words " komme, femme, chose. Next in Strobel's enumeration is " Gram. P. Mel., Latina, jam denuo recognita et plerisque in locis locupletata. Nor. ab. I. Petreium, 1542." At the end of this edition, (a copy of which lies before me,) Strobel met with Melaucthon's letter to Egenolpb, as he says, •' for the first time." This letter was afterward repeatedly reprinted in various editions of the grammar, and likewise of the Declamations of Melancthon, and always under the date of 1540. It is some- what singular that the letter of 1540 should not have appeared until 1542, and moreover that it should have appeared first in the editipn of Fetreius, while it is addressed to the bookseller Egenolph, at Frankfort, who himself published under Kis own imprint many editions of Me- lancthoii's grammar. It is altogether probable that the revision of Micyllus first appeared from the press of Egenolph as early as 1540 or 1541, and was afterward reprinted or rather pirated by Petreius. After Micyllus, Camerarius, aided by Bechius and Schengius, undertook the work of editing Melancthon's book. Slrobel gives the edition of 1552 as the first by Camerarius; I have an earlier one, however, of the year 1550, to which I have before adverted ; the preface bears date,— LJpsiae,Xni. Cal- endas Octobris, 1550. In an issue of 1560, \thich lies before me. the same preface is reprinted word for word, though with an addition liaving reference to the chapter on orthography, then first introduced, and the edition is designated as the second, (recens editio.) This^reface dates,— Lipsiae, Id. April,- 1552. While preparing the first edition of my history, 1 had only a copy of Camerarius before me, but none of Micyllus. And the expressions used by Camerarius in reference to his additions and those of his coadjutors led me to infer that the increased size of the grammar was chiefly owing to tbeir labors. For instance, he says, " though Schenglus may appear of his boundless diligence to have elaborated some points, with it may be an excess of care ;" and again, " the grammar in its new form will be of service not merely to scholars, but to teachers likewise ; and it has now reached that degree of perfection that nothing important remains to be added ta it." But the rector Schoenborn, of Breslau, after comparing the grammar of Micyllus with that of Camerarius, remarked, as the result of his comparison, that the latter agreed word for word with the former, save that passages from the old grammarians referred to by Micyllus «r Melancthon were given in full,— quoted for the use of teachers. f have since compared Camerarius' book with the editions of 1542 and 1546 of Micyllus, and have thereby been able to confirm this remark of Schoenborn : but as regards another ©f his observations. I may be permitted to differ f^om him. It is this: "Melancthon, in" the letter to Egenolph, speaks as if the revision of Micyllus were completed. He says, 'I am rejoiced, niy Egenolph. that Micyllus has undertaken (instituisse) this task of emendation, and in view of it I solicit the thanks of the young, both for you and Micyllus.' The high praise which Melancthon in this letter to Egenolph bestows upon the enlargement of the grammar, shews conclusively that he was not dissatisfied with the editor, though he deprecates at the same time any future increase in it." Had Melancthon really the completed grammar of Micyllus before him, and if so, would he have praised the work, but said nothing in commendation of the workman! In that letter he fiayslhathe requestfid Micyllus to undertake the grammar; thnn he continues, "(hough I (myself tiari sutucient time, yet I would prefer the criticism of Micyllus to my own." And further; "I am rejoiced that Micyllus has undertaken this task." Much, he implies, had feeen omitted iu the first edition. "Although," he says, " it is desirable to add much, still a ffirlalniimit should be observed in the selection of examples, lest the young be intimidated by ctK-ir extent. But I intrust this wholematterto the judgment ^nd the faithfulness of Micyllus, iia4 uiay God accept his earnest and devout labors." These (passages appear to me rather to prove that Micyllus was yet engaged upon the grammar, when Melancthon wrote to Egenolph Perhaps he feared lest Micyllus, carried pway by his love of learning, should overstep the limitsof a school-grammar, and accordingly wrote this iletter to serve indirectly as a caution to him. VALENTINE FRIEDLAND TROTZENDORF. [Translated for the American Journal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] Valentine Trotzendorp was the son of a farmer, Bernard Fried- land by name, who lived in the village of Trotzendorf, near Gorlitz. He assumed the surname Trotzendorf, in remembrance of the place of his birth. Born in 1490, he»was seven years younger than Luther, and seven older than Melancthon. The moaks induced his father to send him in 1506 to the school at Gorlitz; but he soon took him away, to help him at Ms work in the field. His mother, yfho greatly desired to see him a priest or a monk, persuaded the village pastor to instruct him in writing and reading. And after two years' time he went back to the Gorlitz school. At his departure, his mother ex- horted him to be true to the duties of the school ; and in after life he considered himself bound by this exhortation, as if it were his mother's vow, to assume the office of teacher. When in 1513 Trotzendorf's father died of the plague, he sold his paternal inheritance and moved to Leipzic, where, during two years he perfected himself in Latin under Peter Mosellanus, and learned Greek from Richard Crocus. In 1516 he became a teacher in the Gorlitz school ; here his fellow teachers as well as the scholars learned from him, and even the Rector took lessons in Greek from him. Luther's appearance induced him, in 1518 to surrender his post as teacher, and to go to Wittenburg, where he remained for five years. Here he took lessons in Hebrew from a converted Jew, naYned Adrian. And he here formed a most intimate acquaintance with Melancthon, for whom throughout his life he continued to testify the greatest respect. In the year 1523, Helmrich, a university friend of Trotzendorf's, was chosen Rector of the Goldberg school, and thi'ough his influence Trotzendorf was invited to become his colleague. And when, in the following year, Helmrich obtained another post, Trotzendorf was made Rector in his stead. Afi'airs of church — the reformatory dis- cussion of Dr. J. Hess at Breslau, in which Trotzendorf took an active part, and Schwenkfeld's evil influence in Liegnitz, against which he made a vigorous defense — would appear at that time to have stood in the way of an active prosecution of his legitimate calling. 186 VALENTINE FRtEDLAND TROTZENDOHP. In the year 1527 he was called to Liegnitz to a Professorship in a new university, which institution was then rather an unformed project than a perfect organization; but he left the place in 1529 and re- turned to Wittenburg. And now in a short time the Goldberg school was completely broken up ; but, at the pressing solicitation of Helmrich, who had risen to be Mayor of Goldberg, Trotzendorf, in 1531, resumed the post of Rector there, which oflSce he filled with honor and dignity for five and twenty years. His school soon acquired an extraordinary renown. Scholars poured in upon him, not merely from Silesia, but from Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Hungary and Poland : to have had him for a teacher, was the best of recom- mendations. * Trotzendorf adopted quite a peculiar organization. His school was divided into six classes, and each class into tribes. The scholars too, he associated in the government with himself, by appointing some to be Oeconomi, others Ephori, and others again. Quaestors. The Oecono- mi were to oversee the household arrangements, as, for example, that all should rise in the morning or retire at night at the set time, that the rooms, clothes, etc., should be kept in good order, etc. It was the duty of the Ephori to see that order was observed at , the table. Finally, each tribe had its Quaestor, and all these Quaestors were made subject to one supreme Quaestor. Those were chosen weekly, this one monthly ; on laying down their oflBce they delivered Latin orations. The Quaestors were expected to secure a punctual attend- ance on lessons, to report the indolent, to give out subjects, for the Latin debates customary during the half-hour after meal time. Trotzendorf moreover established a school magistracy. This con- sisted of a consul chosen monthly by himself, twelve senators and two censors. Had a scholar committed any fault, he was obliged to justify himself before this Senate, and in order to do it the better, he was allowed eight days in which to prepare his plea. At the trial Trot- zendorf presided as perpetual dictator. If the acchsed party cleared himself from the charge, he was acquitted, especially when he de- livered a well framed plea ; but if his speech was good for nothing in point of style, he was condemned even for a trivial misdemeanor. And Trotzendorf repeated the decree of the Senate in such cases with great solemnity, and insisted strongly on its fulfillment. These singular regulations had the good effect of accustoming- the boys early in life to have respect to the civil government. A similar tendency may be observed in the laws which Trotzendorf established in his school. In the introduction to these laws, he says : " Those men will rule conformably to the laws; who, when boys, learn to obey VALENTINE FEIEDLAND TROTZENDORP. jgY the laws." These school-laws are characteristic of the man. He first lays down these five principles : 1. Tros Tyriusque mihi nulla discrimine agetur. Here, where scholars are assembled from all countries, all must be governed equally and alike. 2. Factus tribulus serva legem, was a Lacedaemonian proverb. And here too must those favored by fortune as well as the base-born, so long as they are scWars, conform to the laws. The pupil is no longer the nobleman. 3. According to the degree of their demerit, the scholars are to be punished with the rod, the lyre,* or imprisonment. Those who, either on account of noble descent, or years, shrink from the disgi-ace of these punishments, must either do right and thus not come under sentence, or leave our school, and seek freedom to do as they please elsewhere. Fines are never to be imposed in any case, since they aSect parents rather than children. 4. Every new comer, before being enrolled among the scholars, must first promise to obey the laws of the school. 5. The members of our school must be members likewise of our faith and oiir church. The first chapter of the school-laws treats of piety. "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom '' — this is the opening sentence. A clear knowledge of Christian doctrine is required, together with prayer, church-going, confession, taking the communion, diligence and obe- dience ; while swearing, cursing, foul language, the practice of magic, with every superstition, are forbidden. In regard to instruction, Trotzendorf's school agreed in the main with other schools of that period. It was based upon the customaiy trivium, grammar, logic and rhetoric. In Trotzendorf's German School Regulations of 1548, it is laid down as the aim of his school "to prepare boys to enter upon the study of the higher faculties, as theology, medicine, philosophy, and jurisprudence." To accomplish this aim, "in the first place, grammar, inasmuch as it is the mother and nurse of all other krts, must be pursued with the most thorough-going diligence. There- with should be combined useful readings from good authors, such as Terence or Plautus, and Cicero, the epistles and offices chiefly. Thus boys, being guided into the Latin tongue both by rule and by exam- ple, will learn to speak Latin and to write it with equal propriety. " The lyre, lyra or fidicula, was made of wood in the shajie of a violin, and furnished with etrinss. Triflers were disgraced by being made to stand with this about their neck, and their hands nassed through it and fastened. 188 VALENTINE FRIEDLAND TROTZENDORF. Next Should come reading from the poets, as Virgil, and some books of Ovid, so that the boys may comprehend metre, and leam to con- struct verses." " Every week there should be a common exercise in writing letters in Latin, and every week, likewise, a common theme should be versified by the whole school." The Latin school-code pro-. vides that the scholars, in these exercises, " should use no phrase be- fore ascertaining in what author it occurs, and whether it is sufBoiently elegant and appropriate;" also that "theiu should never use the mother tongue; but with teachers, fellow-scnolars or other learned persons, speak in Latin alone." In a poetical eulogium on the Gold- berg school, cited by Pinzger, we are told that " none were permitted to speak German there, so that the boys came gradually to regard their mother tongue as a foreign language.'' Still stronger expres- sions occur in a eulogium on Trotzendorf : " He had so thoroughly infused the Bbman tongue into all the neighborhood, that it was deemed a disgrace to utter even a word of German ; and, could you have heard the Latin accents that poured from the tongues even of plough-boys and dairy-maids, you would have thought ' surely Gold- berg is within the borders of Latium.' "* To speak and to write Latin was the universal ideal, of that era, and hence, among the authors to be read, Terence and Plautus were deemed the most important. In addition to Latin, Greek grammar and readings from Greek authors were prescribed. Logic and rhet- oric were likewise classed among regular studies, as we learn from the German School Plan above cited. " Trotzendorf exercised his schol- ars in the art of speaking, and that of thinking likewise. Logic was never intermitted by him, and he prepared his scholars for excellence in rhetoric, by a frequent study of the speeches in Livy, and those of Cicero." Music and arithmetic are likewise named in the School Plan, though without being enlarged upon. Lectures were read, on the Sphere of Sacro Bosco, by a " Sphaerista" and on the principles of moral and natural philosophy, by a " Magister." Religious in- struction was given by Trotzendorf himself, with faithfulness and so- lemnity, and he read with his scholars the epistles of Paul, as well as portions of the Old Testament in the original. The instruction of the upper classes he at first took entirely upon himself, nor did he employ assistant teachers until many years had elapsed ; but the lower classes he committed ,to the charge of older scholars. ' Atque ita Romanam linguam transfadit in omnes, Turpe ut haberetur, Teutonioo ore loqni. Audisses famulOB famulasque Latina soimre, Goldbergam in Latio crederes esse eitaoi. VALENTINE FRIEDLAND TROTZENDORF. 189 And here we can not fail to be struck -with the quite peculiar char- acter of Trotzendorf's educational system. Schools, in general, will be found to consist of two sharply defined and distinct bodies, — teach- ers on the one hand, and pupils on the other. The teachers are learned, the pupils ignorant ; the former impart knowledge, the latter receive it ; those dictate and these obey. This sharp division, Trot- zendorf rendered impossible, both in discipline and instruction. In instruction, for while he himself taught the older scholars in the high- er classes, he appointed these same scholars teachers'of the lower classes, that they, too, might learn by teaching. This reminds us of the monitorial system of the present day, and perhaps Trotzendorf, like Lancaster, was Gr^ed to adopt this plan from the impossibility of giving his personal attention to a large number. He found the need of scholars to aid him, both in oversight and instruction, as the resources of the school were too slender to admit of his hiring an ad- equate body of sub-teachers.* But if we look more closely into this plan, it will appear not mere- ly to have been adopted from the necessities of the case, but, at the same time to have been the organic outgrowth of a principle. Trot- zendorf's school appears to have been a republic, where all the schol- ars, noble and obscure, were alike and unconditionally subject to the laws : he himself was Dictator' in perpetuo over this republic. And his authority was rendered secure and universally effective by the fact that he delegated to the scholars themselves, though ever under his supreme direction, a share in the government, and made them more- over responsible for law and order. • He thus rendered impossible that absolute hostility which is so often cherished by a firmly united band of scholars toward a too often divided corps of teachers. The many scholars, who, as teachers, ephori, oeconomi, quaestors, senators, censors and consuls, assisted in the government, formed an intermedi- ate body between the teachers and the scholars, and by their mutual relations to each disarmed that hostility, and paralyzed its power. Whatever judgment we may pass upon Trotzenddrfs regulations, still we are warranted, from what we know of his character, in con- cluding, that he would not permit those regulations to degenerate into a mere rcftnd of lifeless observances. He was a genuine dictator, and, as Melancthon says of him, born to the government of a school, as truly as was the elder Scipio African us to the command of an ♦About the year 1547, at the death of Frederick II., Duke of Liegnitz, there were but six teachers employed, quite an inadequate number for the size of the school. Trotzendorf was wont to say : — " If he should muster all his scholars together, he could present the emperor with quite a respectable army to fight the Turlis." Still, strange to say, we have no more precise information on the subject. 190 VALENTINE FRIEDLAND TROTZENDORF. army. Yea, ibe was more than a dictator, since by the exercise of a Christian faith, and a warm and active love, he secured the affections of his pupils. With his views of study we are not disposed to quarrel, for, though h^ aimed to make Goldberg a second Latium, he did no more than his contemporaries were continually doing around him. Neither do we censure hira for his sentiments respecting physical education, al- though, we can not entirely agree with him therein. It is stated of him that he and pinched by poverty incurred by his generosity to those who fled to him from persecution, he died in 1589, in the eighty-second year of his age, and was buried in the church-yard of St. Gallus, in Strasburg. Sturm was a man of medium size, dark and ruddy complexion, firm features, long beard, clear and well-modulated voice, honorable presence, and a somewhat slow gait. He was amiable and dignified, in conversation earnest and courteous, in action decided and prompt, and industrious both in his public and private relations. He was ever keeping pace with those about him, learning Hebrew, for instance, in his fifty-ninth year, and inspiring his teachers with his own enthusiasm. He enjoyed the respect of the emperors Charles V., Ferdinand I., and Maximilian H., as well as of Queen Elizabeth, of England. His fame as a teacher and educator was European, and his school was a Normal School of classical instruction. His pupils were among the " men of mar'k " throughout Germany. At one time there were two hundred noblemen, twenty-four counts and barons, and three princes under his instruction ; and, besides .organizing directly many classical schools, his pupils rose to be head-masters of many more, and his principles were embodied in the School Code of Wurtemberg in 1559, and in that of Saxony in 1580, and in the educational system of the Jesuits. of elementary .Bchools were Instituted, which were placed under the direction of school in- spectors, of whom the preacher, James Sturm, was one, and through whose influence John Sturm was induced to remove to Strasburg. The gymnasium organized in 1537 was endowed with t'le privileges of a College, in 1567, by Emperor Maximilian 11., and John Sturm was appointed its Rector in perpetuo. STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. 195 STORM S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. Whoever clearly conceives a distinct object of pursuit, and brings perseverance, intelligence and tact to bear upon its attainment, will be sure, at least, to do something worthy of note ; and especially so, when, at the same time, he falls in with the tendency and the senti- ments of the age in which he lives. This is, above all, true of school reformers. If they know not what they would have, if they have no definite aim in view, it is impossible for us to speak with any pro- priety of the methods which they may have taken to reach their aim. Their course is wave,ring and uncertain, and they inspire distrust instead of confidence. But Sturm was no wavering, undecided, pur- poseless man. With firm step he advanced toward the realization of a definitely conceived ideal ; an ideal, too, which, in greater or less distinctness, floated before the "minds of most of his contemporaries, and which was regarded by them as the highest aim of mental cul- ture. Hence, he enjoyed a widely extended and an unquestioning confidence. This, his ideal, Sturm has defined for us in numerous passages ; and it is our firet duty to examine it, if we wish to judge of his method. " The end to be accomplished by teaching," says he, " is three-fold ; embracing piety, knowledge and the art of speaking." In another place, he expresses himself thus ; "A wise and persuasive piety should be the aim of our studies. But, were all pious, then the student should be distinguished from him who is unlettered, by scientific cul- ture and by eloquence, {ratione ei oralione.) Hence, knowledge, and purity and elegance of diction, should become the aim of scholarship, land toward its attainment both teachers and pupils should sedulously bend their every effort." What description of knowledge, and what species of eloquence Sturm had in view, we shall now proceed to inquire. The boy should be sent to school, — so he insists, — ^in his sixth or seventh year. His school education proper should occupy nine years, or_ until he is sixteen; it should then be succeeded by a more inde- pendent style of culture. Lectures should be substituted for recita- tion, and that for five years, or until he is in his twenty-first year. The Gymnasium included nine classes, corresponding with the nine years that the pupil was to spend there. Seven of these years Sturm assigned, to a thorough mastery of pure, idiomatic Latin ; the two that remained were devoted to the acquisition of an elegant style ; and to learn to speak with the utmost readiness and propriety, was the problem of the five collegiate years. During the first seven years 196 STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. of the child's life, he was to be left in the care of his mother. Every year the scholars in the lower classes were to be promoted, each into the next higher class, and premiums were to be awarded to the two best scholars in each class. Thus, Sturm expressed himself, in 1537, in the "Plan," on which he organized his school, in which he gives a full sketch of the course of study to be pursued by each class. And, the arrangement, thus previously indicated, was essentially the same after the lapse of twenty- seven years, save that the Gymnasium then embraced ten classes, instead of nine. This appears from the "Classic Letters" which, in 1565', Sturm wrote to the teachers -of the various classes. Forty years after the foundation of the Gymnasium, in 1578, a general ex- amination took place, the particulars of which were recorded with the faithful minuteness of a protocol. And this, again, as well as the "Classic Letters," harmonizes, in the main, with Sturm's original plan of instruction. And, in all this, the observation forces itself upon us that, as he proposed to himself a well-marked and distinct aim at the outset of his career, so he advanced toward that aim through all those long years with an iron will and a steady step. I will now give Sturm's course of instruction in detail, on the authority chiefly of the report above mentioned of the examination of the school, and of the "Classic Letters." "We will commence, following the order of the "Letters," with the exercises of the tenth or lowest class, and so proceed to the first. Tkmth Class. — To Frisius, the teacher of this class, Sturm writes, "That he is to lay the foundation j to teach the children the form and the correct pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet, and, after that, reading ; which will be belter expedited by learning Latin de- clensions and conjugations than by the use of the catechisrh. The German catechism must be committed to memory, for the Latin would be a mere matter of rote. The love of the children will re- ward lam for his pains ; as he himself (Sturm) can testify from his own grateful recollections of his earliest teachers. At the examination, (in 15?8,) the first scholar in the ninth class put the following ques- tions to the firet scholar in the tenth. Q. Whdt have you learned in the tenth class ? A. Letters, spelling, reading and writing, all tic laradigmi of nouns and verbs, and the German catechiBm likewise. Q. Read me something from the JVeanisci of our Rector. J?. An tu turn ea Lucius socius studivruM meorum, qtd modo a me eforo tliscesscraa ? Q. What is the moaning of aociua ? M, A companion. Q. Decline aoeius, A. SoduSf sodi, secioj etc. Q. What is the meaniog of discsdo ? STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. jgY A. I go away. Q. Conjugate discedo. Jl. Discedo^ diseedere, etc. Q. To what conjugation does discedo belong ? A. That I have not learned. Ninth Class. — ^To Schirner, the teaoter of this class, Sturm writes, " That he is to ground the scholar more thoroughly in declining and conjugating, adding all the anomalous and irregular forms. Then, too, he must see that the scholars learn a great number of Latin words, particularly the appellations of common and familiar objects. Of such words, he must every day give a few to one scholar, a few to another, and so on, to commit to memory ; only taking care not to select words at random, but in their natural groups, as organic sys- tems, each formed upon a distinct and independent idea. Thus, too, each boy, by listening to the words which the others repeat, will him- self the more readily fasten them in his own mind. This method of enriching the memory with words, Sturm says, he should have introduced twenty-seven years before, had it been appre- ciated. How was it that Koman youths, at so early an age, learned to express themselves with ease and propriety! They prattled in Latin on their mother's breast ; the nurses, in whose care they were placed, talked to them in infantile dialect in broken Latin ; and this, as they grew older, was gradually corrected. And then the children were continually learning new words from the household servants, who played with them, not simply to amuse them, but likewise to exercise them in speaking Latin. To this we must add their daily intercourse with their companions, in which the older boys derived an ever increaMng knowledge, both of words and things. All this the youth of the present day lack entirely, as neither parents, domestics, nor comrades speak Latin. " This evil," continues Sturm, " must be removed by the diligent efforts of the teacher, and in the way which I have indicated." In another place he repeats the same complaint. " Cicero," he says, " was but twenty years old when he delivered his speeches in behalf of P. Quintius and Sextius Roscius ; but, in these latter days, where is the man, of fourscore even, who could bequeath to the world such masterpieces of eloquence? And yet, there are books enough, and there is intellect enough. What, then, do we need further^ I reply, the Latin language, and a correct method of teaching. Both these we must have, before we can arrive at the summit of eloquence." In conclusion, Sturm implores Schirner not to undervalue, fof a moment, his labors with the elementary class ; but, to stand up as a champion against those gladiators of barbarism who from indolence have corrupted, or from envy have withstood, the purity 'of the Latin tongue. 198 STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTKUCTION. At the examination, the first in the eighth class asked the first in the ninth, as follows. Q. To what conjugation does diseedo belongt •A. To the third, becauee it malces e short before re in the infinitive. Q. To what class does diseedo belong 1 ■3. It is a neuter verb. Q. What is a neuter verb 1 Ji. A neuter verb is, &c. Q. Decline the imperative of diseedo, A. Diseede, discedito^ etc. Q. What else have you learned in the ninth class ? A. Besides the German catechism, I have committed to memory the Second Onomasticon, and translated the ^eanisei of our Rector into German. Q. Translate the dialogue that has just been rehearsed. A. An tu nan es IjuciuSy Are you not Lucius ; socius studiormn. meorum, my school-fellow ; gui, who ; diseesseras^ went ; a me, from me ; mode, just now ; e foro, at the market place. Q. To which of the parts of speech does mode belong ? A. I do not know ; for the indeclinahles are not taught in my class. Eighth Class. — To Matthias Huebner, teacher of this class, Sturm writes, " That it must be his especial care that the boys forget noth- ing they have learned in the lower classes. And what they have there learned he can best ascertain by consulting their prescribed school-books, which in all the classes are most faithfully conformed to. The boys, who have been promoted from the ninth into the eighth class, must be able to inflect all the nouns and verbs. This they will have learned more by practice than in a scienti6c manner, just as the Eoman and Greek boys were exercised in language before the gram- marians gave them the reasons why they ought to speak as they did. Moreover, the boys in the next lower class had learned by heart many short sayings and sentences ; but, since in these no very wide range of words occurred, they were enjoined to compile dictionaries, and to enter therein all the common and necessary words under distinct heads, such heads for instance as the following, the whole and its parts, friendship and enmity, cause and effect, etc. These dictionaries must now, in the eighth class, be increased and enlarged ; if the boys have before fixed in their minds the definition of epistola, they will now learn what is meant by the phrase epistolam reddere, etc. As tho boys in the lower classes have learned by practice how to decline and conjugate, so now they must be thoroughly grounded in all the eight parts of speech, and each declension and conjugation must be fully and distinctly characterized, and illustrated by examples drawn from that which they have already learned. Besides this, they are to read the select letters of Cicero with con- stant reference to the grammatical construction of the language ; and, in such reading, different letters are to be assigned to the difierent decuriae.* * The classes were subdivided into decuriae^ or tens ; the first in each ten was called the decurion. STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. I99 During the last months of their school-year, the boys of this class are to commence a series of exercises in style, which will take the place of their previous oral practice in the formation of new, or the alteration of given Latin phrases. At the examination, the first scholar in the seventh class put to the first scholar in the eighth class the following questions, beginning as before with the last of the preceding series. Q. Tell me, to which of the parts of speech viodo belongs. ^. It is an adverb of time. Q. What is an adverb 1 Ji. It is an indeclinable part of speech, &c. Q. How many indeclinable parts of speech are there ? A. Four, &c., &c. Q. What else have you learned in your class ? A. Besides a fuller etymology, we have read the first book of the select letters of Cicero, the fourth dialogue in the JVeam^ci, the last part of the Second Onomasticon^ and the German Catecblsm. Q. Kead a letter from Cicero. A, Cicero jUiua Tzrimi 9. P. D. Etsi justa et idcTiea U3U8 ea excusatione intermaaionU^ etc., etc. Q. Translate what you have read. A. Etsi usus 69, although you have offered ; excusatione justa, a just apology, etc. Q. To what part of speech do you refer idoneal A, It is an adjective ; in the ablative case, and singular number. Q. How do you form its comparative T A. By preBxing magis ; magis idoneus, Q. By what rule do we say uti excusatione ? A. Syntax is not taught in my clasp. Seventh Class. — Sturm writes to Lingelsheim, the teacher of this class, " It must be his care that the scholars do not lose any thing of that which they have learned in the three preceding classes ; and then that they should add to what they have already learned ; — in the first place, Latin syntax. This must contain but few rules, must be clear, and set forth by examples, and that chiefly from Cicero. In the daily reading of Cicero's letters, the rules of syntax, through constant use, must be more and more impressed ou the memory. Pliny says that we must read much, but not many things ; in this class, however, many things must be read, in order to arrive at much. Subjects must be assigned to the scholars for their exercises in style ; but, in the treatment of such subjects, conciseness must be aimed at. The teacher should render assistance in this matter, either orally or by writing, (on the blackboard,) constructing sentences beforehand, as music-teachers sing first what they wish their pupils to learn. The subjects are to be drawn from what the scholars have learned in this or the previous classes, so that the exercise in style shall involve a repetition, and thus refresh the memory. And, for such an exercise on Sundays, the German Catechism is to be translated. This transla- tion must 1)6 made in classical Latin, such words alone excepted as 200 STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRUCTION. have been authorized by the church, as Trinitas, sacramentum, hap- tismus, etc. The scholars in this class should, by no means, use any other catechism than that which they have had before in the lower At the examination, the first in the sixth class, asked the first in the seventh : Q. By what rule do we say idfmea uti ezcuaaticTte ? A. Utor, fruor, fungoVf etc. Q. Excusatione idonea ? Jl, Adjectives, pronouns and participles, etc. Q. ExcuBOtione intermissionia 7 A. One substantive governs another, etc. Q. What else do you learn in your class 1 A. We read two dialogues in the J^eanigci of our Rector, the second book of the select letters of Cicero, the " Precepts " of Cato, the catechism, and the ** Sunday Sermons ; " and, in the iirst 'hoolt of music, we learn the scale and intervals. Also, in my class, exercises in style are commenced. Q. Read a sentence from Cato. j9. Visce tUiqvid, nam guum subito fartuna recedit. Ars remanet vitamgue bominis non deserit unguam. Q. Translate this distich. ' A. Disce aliguid, learn something ; nam, for ; cumfortuna recedit, when fortune fails, etc, Q. Disee aliguid ; what is the rule for this construction % A. A verb signifying actively, etc. Q. For cum subito recedit ? A. Adverbs qualify verbs, etc. Q. Read something in Greek. A. I have not read any Greek in my class. Sixth Class. — To Malleolus, the teacher of this class, Sturm writes, " That, from the examination of the scholars of the seventh class for their promotion, he has learned their progress. He is to consider that to keep what has been acquired is no less an art );han the first acquisition of it. The longel" lettere of Cicero may now be translated into German, and in such an order that difierent letters shall be assigned to different decuriae. And, in a similar manner, he is to proceed with poetical selections. The first decurion, for example, may repeat the " Veni redemptor gentium" of Bishop Ambrose ; the second, Martial's epigram, " Vitam quae faciunt heatiorem ; " the third, the ode of Horace, commencing with "Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum" for the teacher to translate and explain. Then each of the three may require a similar translation and explanation of the other scholars. In the writing exercises, pains is to be taken to arrive at a greater elegance of style. Saturdays and Sundays are to be devoted to the translation of the catechism, and to the reading of some letters of Hieronymus. Greek, moreover, is to be commenced in this class. At the examination, the first in the fifth class asked the first in the sixth as follows : Q. Read a fable from the Greek of .^sop. STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRDOTION. 201 A. "EXa0of Kai AJuv. "EXa0of Kvviiyovs tftevyovaa, etc. Q. Decline e\aion is a non sequitur. Q. Then, you have studied sophistics, if I may judge by your rejoinder. A. Yes ; I have learned the rules of that art as they have been delivered to us by our illustrious rector, Dr. Sturm, from the sophistical problems of Aristotle. Hereupon tlie respondent exposed tlie fallacy of the two following sophisms. (I.) He who is well versed in sophistical reasoning seeks to deceive others by his conclusions. You say that^ou are well versed in sophistical reasoning; you, therefore, seek to deceive me. (S.) He who has five fingers on one of his hands, also has three, and two, and has five, likewise. But, he who has three, two, and five, has ten. Whoever, therefore, has five fingers on one of his hands, has ten on the same hand. In rhetoric there was no examination, but the questioning proceeded as follows : Q. What have you learned in your class, of mathematics? A. To that which we learned iu the second class we have added astronomy, and some problems from the first book of Euclid. Q. In what manner do astronomers measure the primary movement (primum motum) of the heavens 1 Q. By means of ten circles ; namely, the horizon, the meridian, the equator, the zodiac, 2 co- lures, 3 tropics, and 3 polar circles. Q. Are these circles visible! A. No ; they, are imaginary, and conceived to result from the movements of certain celestial points and lines. Q. What is the name of the first circle? A. The Greeks called it hptguv^ (horizon,) from fipf^eirJat, to limit; and the Romans, finitor. Q. How is it situated, with respect to the axis of the eorth 1 A. When it passes through the poles it is in a riffht position; hut, when one pole is above it, while the other ia» below it, it is oblique. Whence, the one sphere is called right^ the other oblique.* •As this definition is not sufficiently clear, I will quote the more intelligible words of John 208 SITJRM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. Q. What purpose does the horizon serve 1 A. To divide the celestial sphere into an upper and a lower half, and thereby mark out those periods of its primary motion which determine day and night. When the sun is in the upper hemisphere, it ia day ; when in the lower, night. The stars, at their rising, come up above the horizon ; at their setting, they sink below it. Q. Which is the second circle 1 , A. The meridian. This passes through the zenith and the poles, Q. For what does it serve ? A, For the determination of latitude. The celestial sphere it divides into an eastern and a west- ern half. It likewise halves the arc of day, and the arc of night, so that when the sun crosses this circle in the upper hemisphere, it is niid day ; when it crosses it in the lower, it is midnight. It also divides the day into forenoon and afternoon. Q. Which is the third circle 1 A. The equator ; so called from its equalizing day and night.* It runs from east to west, and is, at all points, equi-distant from the poles. Q. For what does the equator- serve ? A. From it we reckon longitude. The celestral sphere it divides into a northern and a southern half. The primary motion of the heavens it measures off into periods by twenty-four arcs, which, in. the order of their ascension^ mark the course of the twenty-four hours. Q. Which is the fourth circle? A. The zodiac; called by Ptolemy the oblique circle; described by the revolutions of the sun and the other planets. Q. Whence comes the name % A. From the animals which the ancients represented in its belt. Q. What are they? A. Aries, etc. Q. Which of these are opposite, the one to the other 1 A. Aries to Libra, Taurus to Scorpio, Gemini to Sagittarius, Cancer to Capticomuflf Leo to Aquarius, and Virgo to Pisces. Q. To what use is the, zodiac applied? A. We determine both longitude and latitude by it ; and it is the pathway of the planeb, whose revolutions measure times and seasons. The sun travels over its course in a y«ar, which is not far from the space of three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours; and the moon runs completely round it in a month, or twenty-seven days and eight hours, etc. In conclnsion, the examiner spoke as follows : '* Not to detain the audience longer, I feel satisfied that you are familiar with all other things which have been given to your class to study, and I, therefore, willingly accord to you the palm of victory." » The foregoing description will serve to denote the character of the Strasburg Gymnasium. We will now consider the College, with which it was connected. (To be continued.) Sacrobusto, whose treatise "on the Sphere" Sturm employed oa a text-book. *' There are two horizons ; the right and the oblique. Those have a right horizon and a right sphere whose zenith is in the equinoctial ; because their horizon is a circle passing through the poles, cutting the equi- noctial at right spherical angles; whence, their horizon is called r^At, and their sphere r^Ae. Thcae have an oblique horizon with whom the pole is situated above their horizon ; and because their horizon intersects the equinoctial at oblique angles, their horizon is called oblique, and their sphere oblique. * We find this more intelligibly expressed in Sacrobusto, as follows : " It is called the equinoctial because, when the sun crosses it, as it does twice in the year, the days and nights are equal over the whole world ; whence, it is called the equator of the day and the night. II. LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF JOHN STURM. TROU THE GERUAN OF EARL YOK BAUUEB. (Continued from No. 10., page 182.) As EARLY as the year 1537 Sturm, in his treatise "On the correct mode of opening literary institutions" had designated courses of " Public and Free Lectures," -which graduates from the first class of the gymnasium should attend upon during their five collegiate years. He also lays down therein the main branches thus to be taught, which are th*logy, jurisprudence, and medicine. Beside these, he enumer- ates five other departments of learning, (which we now associate in a distinct group, and assign to philosophical faculties,) namely, mathe- matics, history, logic with rhetoric, grammar, and reading of the poets. And he requires a more extended course of private study to be pursued by students at the college than had been provided for at the gymnasium. Lecturers as well as teachers are provided for, likewise, in his plan for a school organization at Lauingen. After he has here character- ized the duties of the various classes, he continues, " In these classes the boys must be kept under the discipline of the rod, nor should they learn according to their own choice, but after the good pleasure of the teacher. But, when they leave the classes, then they go as their inclination prompts them, some to theologians, for the sake of religion, some to naturalists," etc. It appears from the second book of Sturm's "Classic Letters," that even prior to the year 1565 many learned men were giving public lectures in Strasburg, while, at the same time, he was zealously engaged, by means of correspondence with many others, in efibrts to increase the number of lecturers. But, it was not until 1567 that the Emperor Maximilian II. accorded permission to the Strasburgers to found a college, which, long afterward, (in 1621,) was invested by Ferdinand II. with all the rights and privileges of a university. In the year 1569, the Strasburg ms^stracy empowered Sturm to organize the college, whereupon he composed his " Collegiate Letters," which were addressed to the various instructors in the new institution. What was the actual course of instruction therein wiU best appear from the subjoined schedule of lectureg for the summer term of the year 1578, which I quote in the originaMAfekw No. 11.— [Vol. it., No. 2.]— 26. N 210 STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. Designatio Lectionum publicarum pro lioc aestivo Bemesirij in academia Argentoratensi t Anno 1578. J. Stunnius, Rector, docebit dialog. Cic. de Senectute. Metehior Junior, Deciinqs, libros III., Cic. de Orat. et orationem Cic. Philippiciim secundam. Theolooi, — D Marhackius perget in explicatione Psalmorum. D. Joh. Pappus explicabit Danielem prophetam et acta Apoatolonim, M. Jfic. Florvs epist. Pauli ad Gaiatas. £r. Marbachius Lie. perget in lib, Judicum. JuRECONsULTi. — Z>. Lour. Tuppius perget in Fandectis. Z>. Obert. Qiphanius interpret, libb. IV. InsLitutiooem Justin. Z>, Qeorg, Obrechtus perget in lib. II. Codicis. Mkdici et Physici. — D. Mndr. Plancrus leget parvam artem Galeni. Deinde parva naturalia Aristotelis. .£?. Lud. Hawenreuterus perget in compendio Physicee. HisTORlcUa. — D. Mich. Beuterus explic. C. Taciturn. Ethicus. — M. Teoph. Golias perget in libris Etbicis Aristotelis ad Nicomacbum. Org\nicus..^JW. L. Hawenreaterus perget in Analyt. prioribus Aristotelis. Mathematicus. — M, Conr. Dasypadfus docebit sex libros priores Euclidis, item Theorias Soils et Lunae et doctrinam addet Eclipsium. LiNGtiARUM Propessores. — M. Hennlng. Oldendorpius docebit Grammaticam hebraeam Olenardi et adjunget aliquot Psnlmorum Davidis explicationem. M. J. WUvesliomius, graecanicae linguae Professor, interpretabitur ''Epya KoX hl^epM Hesiodi. DispuTATloNES ET DECLAMATioNEa PiTBUCAE. — Slugulls menslbus slngulae attributae sunt disputationes et declamationes, quae publico a Professoribus baberi debent suo ordine, praeter e.\ercitatione3 illas, quae privatim suscipiuntur cum Studiosis et hooorum Candidatis. The Strasburg college created Baccalaureates and Masters of Phi- losophy, as we learn from the lists of Melchiojf Junius, of degrees conferred in the years 1574 and ISYS. ]?ut. Doctorates in theology, law, and medicine, it did not create ; for this only universities could do. If then, as we see, the Strasburg college was neither a gymnasium nor a university, what, in reality, was it ? Manifestly an unfortunate compound of both; a sort of philosophical faculty that laid claim to an isolated, independent existence, almost entirely ignoring the three other faculties. But, a philosophical faculty caii not tljrive unless it is a branch of a full-grown university, and unless, co-existing with the three other faculties, each sufficiently well represented in itself, it receives life from them, and, in turn, imparts it to them. Those faculties, divorced from the philosophical, but too readily degenerate into mere instrumentalities for gaining a livelihood, while the philo- sophical, when standing' alone and paying no attention to the urgent d^ands of life and to the future calling of the student, is devoid both of purpose and aim. Such a dubious position exerts a perni- cious influence on the character of the pupils of the college. School- boys they should not be, students they fain would be ; but, they are neither one thing nor the other. ,Foil philosophical lectures, which tend to refresh, strengthen, arid improve the student in his own special department, appear to the scholars of the college but a mere wearisome continuation of their school studies, that they had hoped were at an end. And if, moreover, the instructors in logic, philology, rhetoric, etc., are altogether of that kind, that their discourses diflFer STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. 211 in no respect from those which their hearers have before listened to in the gymnasium, then truly is such hearing fatiguing, and painful even to the most attentive. Sturm felt a deep interest in his Strasburg college, and used every means in his power to impress upon it the stamp of a university. From many of his " Classic " and " Collegiate '' letters we see how he invited jurists, physicians, etc., to Strasburg, to deliver lectures upon law, medicine, natural philosophy, and other branches of learning. But, it is impossible thus to improvise a uni- versity, by persuading men, who are already filling other and widely diflferent offices it may be, to become professors likewise. For, the appropriate duties of the professor call for the undivided energies of the whole man. That the lectures of theologians, jurists, and physicians in the Strasburg college were entirely unsuited to impart to the youth, within the Quinc[uennium from his sixteenth to his twenty-first year, an ade- quate preparation for his future calling, as Sturm originally designed that it should do, a single glance at the schedule of the college lectures inserted above will abundantly convince us. The theologians, for example, read only upon Old and New Testament exegesis, while one solitary physician confines his labors to the "lesser art of Galen," and "Aristotle's minor philosophy ! " And Sturm himself, with all his partiality for the college, most keenly felt its deficiencies. He laments, among other things, the lack of discipline that prevailed there, as well as the neglect of the prescribed lectures, and the want of respect for the instructors. On this point, his letters to Erythraeus, teacher of rhetoric, is especially noteworthy. He has observed, he writes, that it is a difficult task to deliver lectures in their college upon poets, histo- rians, and orators, and he has also been astonished that such lectures have often been wholly unattended. The reason which he assigns for this state of things is this, " the scholars had already, at the gymna- sium, become familiar with the principal classic poets, historians, and orators, and, accordingly, if, in the college lectures, they heard nothing new, they would either go away altogether, or would else betake themselves to others, whether jurists, physicians, or mathema- ticians, who could teach them something that they did not know before. And these laid before the scholars subjects that possessed the freshness of novelty ; but the teafchers of grammar and rhetoric, on the other hand, only sueh as they had already learned at school ; and, if these teachers could not be persuaded to undertake a better method, then the whole affair would fall through." But, enough of the Strasburg college : it, however, did not remain in its original form ; but, as has been stated, emerged from its chrysa- 212 STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. "We turn now to examine Sturm's educational method critically and to note its operation in the Strasburg gymnasium. His ideal of culture we have already spoken of as embracing the three- fold attainment of piety, knowledge, and eloquence. How clearly he knew what he wished, how clearly he, recognized the means that were best adapted to procure him what he wished, and also with what decision, circumspection, and admirable perseverance he labored to achieve his aim, all this appears from what I have already communicated, both frona his own lips and from the authority of others. There was no discord- ant element in him ; he was a whole man, a man of character, in whom a strong will and a wise activity were united in perfect equi- poise. And, on this account, it is no marvel that, as I have before mentioned, he was appreciated among his contemporaries, and enjoyed their utmost confidence. Even in the year ISTS the Strasburg school numbered many thousand scholars, among whom' were two hundred noblemen, twenty-four counts and barons, and three princes. Not alone from Germany, but also from the remotest countries, from Portugal, and Poland, Denmark, France, and England, youths were sent to Sturm. But his educational efficiency was not limited to the Strasburg gymnasium ; he exerted, far arid wide, by his counsel, his example, and through his pupils, a vast influence, as a second " Pre- ceptor of Germany." He himself organized schools at Lauingen on the Danube, Trasbach on the Moselle, and at Hornbach, in the Bipontinate; his pupil, Schenk, planned the Augsburg, a second pupil, Crusius, the Meminger gymnasium. The school-code of Duke Christopher, of Wirtemberg, of the year 1559, as well as that of the Elector, Augustus I., of Saxony, of the year 1580, would certainly seem to have felt the influence of Sturm's system. The grammar of the lower classes, the logic and the rhetoric of the upper, Cicero in the aspendant, Terence and Plalitus acted by the scholars, the rudiments of astronomy in the highest class, and arithmetic here much neglected, while, in the lower classes, it receives no attention at all, music, decurions for monitors, — all these arrange- ments would appear to have been borrowed from Sturm, and so much the more as they are not to be found, at least, in the' Saxon code of 1538. Even the school regulations of the Jesuits are, as we shall find, in many points of view, quite similar to Sturm's, and he himself was surprised at their correspondence. And, hand in hand with Sturm's method, his school-books also penetrated throughout the whole of Germany. In his letters to the teachers of the Strasburg gymnasium, Sturm appears the experienced teacher and the accomplished rector •, clearly, STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION, 213 and in few words, marking out for all the teachers under him their , own particular and appropriate duties ; and, in his advice, how best to undertake and to discharge those duties, he approves himself the sage and prapticed counselor. For, with the kindest expressions, he cheers and strengthens them in their path of labor, and repeatedly calls their attention to the fact that they all have one common cause, since the teachers of the upper classes can do nothing unless those of the lower classes use care in laying the foundation ; and, on the other hand, that the latter will have been faithful to no purpose if the former are not as conscientious in building upon the foundation when laid. And he most earnestly insists that they must all instruct after one and the same method, and must keep the same end in view, if they would see the work prosper in their hands. Thus he shows himself to be a pattern rector, and the center and heart of the school. Yet, he is never overbearing, but is a dictator who scarce ever appears to command or to censure, content with requesting and encouraging. Moreover, by constant application, he is keeping pace with those about him ; learning Hebrew, for instance, when in his fifty-ninth year. Now, that I have given full credit to the praiseworthy efforts and achievements of Sturm, I must also pay homage to truth, and exhibit the reverse and unfavorable side of his educational activity. I have praised him, in that he clearly conceived his plan, and then, fixing his steady gaze upon the object before him, worked vigorously and skil- fully to accomplish it. ' But, shall I bestow unqualified praise upon Sturm's ideal ? On a nearer view, I can not do it. The Christian element of his educational system alone deserves entire recognition. But, the other tw6 ele- ments, namely, knowledge and eloquence, or rather Sturm's concep- tion of the kind of knowledge and of eloquence to be inculcated at school ; this conception, judged not alone by our present standard, but considered in itself and under any circumstances, is, in many points, deserving of censure. Shall I be asked " How can this be ? To furnish the pupil with a rich store of scientific knowledge, and, at the same time, to cultivate in him that readiness of expression which will enable him to utter, either orally or by writing, whatever thoughts or fancies he may thus have accumulated ; do not these two objects, even at the present day, constitute together the highest aim of edu- cation ? " They do, indeed ; but, let us consider more closely what kind of knowledge and what species of eloquence Sturm had in view, and then we shall be in a better position to see whether we agree with him throughout or not. And, first, as tp the knowledge. The thoroughness with which botS Greek and Latin grammar were taught 214 STURM'S SVSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. in Sturm's school, our teachers now a-days will approve, although it may be that occasionally their standard of thoroughness does not precisely coincide with that of the old rector, which demanded, for instance, that the second aorist should be formed from the imperfect, or that a future form, " (psulu " should be recognized, and the like. But, could they approve of the classics selected, and the order in which they were read at the Strasburg gymnasium ? Hardly ; else it would not be that, in our gymuasiums now, far different classical authors are read ; or, where the same are taken up, that it is in an- other order and another spirit. We can overlook the fact that Cornelius Nepos, who is studied in most schools at the present day, was rejected; but, so was Livy, and so was Tacitus. And, of the most important of the classics, only a small portion was read ; I need only mention Homer. Such fragments surely can never lead to a spiritual appreciation of the genius and the character of authors. But, how all this has become changed in the progress of time, we shall discuss elsewhere. On a first glance, we might be led to believe that Sturm was devoted not merely to the knowledge of words, but to that of things also ; but, if we examine the matter more closely, we shall alter our opinion. In fact, the scholars of the lower classes acquired Latin words for every possible object that was about them in life, whether in the kitchen or cellar, the garden or stable, the school-room or church. And they were thus taught almost according to the manner of 'Comenius in the " Orbis pictus," only that they learned the world in the original instead of in pictures. But, with what view were boys taught these Latin names ? Was it that they might obtain a knowledge of things likewise ? Certainly not. They were only placed thereby in a condition to express themselves in Latin upon common and familiar topics, just as a German who designs to travel in Italy will furnish himself beforehand with a stock of every-day words and phrases. But, some one will say, " Sturm also demands that boys should project a sort of encyclopaedia, in which they should enter the names of various objects under certain pre-arranged heads ; as, for example, under the head of ' birds ' the ostrich and the wry-neck ; or, under the head of 'mammalia,' the lion and the elephant. And, is not this" to be regarded as a knowledge of things ? " I think not. I think that it is at best only a method of fixing names in the mind, which, however^ are the shadows of things to come ; for, it is very unlikely that those boys who placed the ostrich and the wry-neck under the head of " birds " had ever seen either the me or the other. Comenius, STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRUCTION. 215 by moans of his pictorial representations, here affords a far better knowledge of the actual world. If we now compare the course of study in a modern gymnasium with that in Sturm's school, we shall perceive at once that there are many subjects of instruction not provided for in the latter. But, many will say, " This is the advantage of the Sturmian method, that it restricts itself to a very few branches, while we, on the other hand, teach almost every thing. ' The greater surface the less the depth," etc. All such persons I now ask to suspend their judgment until they have accompanied me in a critical survey of Sturm's system of teach- ing. Boys were received into the gymnasium in their sixth year, and yet I find not one word of any special instruction in reading and writing German correctly. I would not ask for that instruction in the German grammar, which is now so popular, but only for an elementary drilUng in German, which is indispensable. When and where they receive this, it certainly does not appear; nor have we any more light on the question whether the older boys wrote German compositions, except what we derive from the fact that they made translations of the Latin classics into German. And, as it was with elementary instruction in German, so, likewise, in his original plan, Sturm has not a syllable of any instruction in arithmetic for the first eight classes. And, when he comes to treat of the upper classes, he dismisses the subject thus briefly: "Arithme- tic must be introduced, Mela examined, Proclus laid before the scholar, and the elements of astrology taught." And yet, in the letters to the teachers of the ten classes, I find not a word said of arithme- tic ; nor, from the two letters to Conrad Dasypodius, is any thing decisive to be gathered on this point. The second of these last mentioned letters, written in the year 1569, thivty-one years after the establishment of the gymnasium, speaks of instruction in mathematics, yet in a way from which we infer that it had not been long introduced. Later, in the course of instruction dating in 1578, as well as by the examination held during the same year, we see that arithmetic was taught in the second class, and a few problems from the first book of Euclid, together with the elements of astronomy, in the highest. Also, in the school-plan projected by Sturm for the gymnasium at Lauingen, mathematics is not placed ariiong the school studies, but rather classed among those branches which are to be learned after- ward, through attendance on college lectures. All things now considered, there appears to have been at least a gross neglect of mathematical instruction. K the scholar has 216 STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. learned in the second class but the rudiments of arithmetic, and in the highest only a few problems in Euclid, how can he comprehend even the few first elements of astronomy, taught also in the same highest class? To judge by the astronomical examination communicated herewith, the knowledge that was imparted of the science would seem to have been alnsost entirely limited to the exhibition and the explanation of an armillary sphere; as the teacher, in the year 1578, made no allusion "to the Copernican system - which had appeared in 1543, but taught the doctrine of the annual revolution of the sun around the earth. On the other hand, as we have seen, Sturm assigns to astrology a place among the subjects of study. Never will our present teachers of elementary schools, to say nothing of gymnasiums, look with favor upon such a neglect of mathe- matics, even though they may advocate the very simplest methods of instruction. And, so much the less, as it is natural to suppose that very many scholars did not take the full course, but only passed through the lowest classes in this Strasburg gymnasium, and, conse- quently, could learn nothing at all of arithmetic. For, as we have before shown, this branch during the first years after the establish- ment of the gymnasium probably received no attention at all, and, when introduced later, was assigned to the second and highest classes only. Likewise, in regard to geography, we have no reason to conclude that it was studied. For the above cited expression of Sturm, " Mela is to be examined," was scarcely called for, if Mela was really read in the gymnasium. But, even Mela, meagre as he is, received no atten- tion there, if we may judge from the schedule and the' examination of 1578. Nor among the college lectures either, was any place assigned to geography. And history, too, was quite as much neglected ; even in the col- lege, Beuter, whose name appears on the catalogue as historical lecturer, confines himself to the interpretation of Tacitus. Of natural history and natural philosophy there was not a single line taught in the gymnasium. Since, then, all instruction in the German language, mathematics, geography, history, natural history, and natural philosophy, was entirely omitted, to which we may add instructirfn in Hebrew, in the modem languages, French especially, and perhaps also in drawing, we must conclude that nearly all the time and energies of the scholar were concentrated upon the acquisition of Greek and Latin. Was now the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans which Sturm's scholars possessed, any the greater, on this account, than that mastered STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRBCTFON. 217 by the scholars of our gymnasium ? or, we should rather inquire, was their readiness, both in speaking and in writing Latin, greater,«and did they apply the whole force that was in them principally to acquire these two facilities ? The reply to the first question should be f^orable to the scholars of the present day : the reply to the second, perhaps, to Sturm's scholars. And truly it would have been a wonder if Sturm's scholars had not learned to speak and write Latin, since he himself looked upon the art of writing and reading in classical Ciceronian Latin as the noblest aim of culture ; and he deemed no sacrifice too dear so that he might reach it. The first sacrifice, (which we have already alluded to,) was an entire neglect of our mother tongue, and even an absolute alienation from it. We have seen from Sturm's letter to Schirner, the teacher of the ninth class, that he considered the Roman children highly privileged, in that, from their infancy up, they spoke Latin themselves and heard nothing but Latin spoken by others ; whereas, with German children, the case was far diSerent. This evil, he said, must be removed by the diligence of the teacher, and through the application of his (Sturm's) system. There was only need of a cor- rect method, (and that because Latin was not our mother tongue,) to insure the production, at the present day, of speeches which should compare favorably with those of Cicero. Every effort must be put forth in order to restore again the long lost skill of the Greeks and Bomans in teaching, haranguing, disputing, and writing. The first point, therefore, upon which Sturm, as well as most of his contempo- raries, both Kterary men and teachers, insisted, t\^s the corapletest removal possible of the German mother tongue, that so the Latin might wholly occupy its place. To teachers and to scholars alike, all conversation in German was forbidden ; and games were only allowed on the condition that Latin alone should be spoken therein. Had the old Romans still ruled over Alsace in Sturm's time, they could have adopted no more efifectual measures to denationalize its inhabitants, to make them forget their country, and to change them wholly into Romans. Sturm indirectly boasts of this exclusion of the German language from his gymnasium. "He has introduced a mine of choice Latin words and of familiar Latin phrases, and has called up Plautus, Terence, and Cicero from the shades, to spe.ak Latin with the boys." Plautus and Terence he here mentions in preference, on account of the representations of their plays by the scholars ; which repre- sentations, as we have seen, he strongly recommended to the teachers aiS STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. of the three upper classes. In tliis connection, his letter to Golius, the teacjjer of the highest class, deserves our special attention. " I could wish," said he, " that the actors of comedy as well as .those of tragedy in your class should all he equal to Eoscius ; and, therefore, far more accomplished than thos(? in the lower classes can be. I desire you never to suffer the week to go by without a performance, so that an assiduous and habitual attendance at the theatre may be encouraged." If we aro to regard this disuse of our mother tongue as one sacri- fice to the ideal, — nay, let me call it the idol rather, — of Latin elo- quence, then surely these theatrical exercises should be considered as a second sacrifice to this ideal. It appears incredible to us that the committing to memory and acting such licentious plays as are those of Terence could have exerted no evil influence upon the morals of the young. And we are equally at a loss to understand, how it was that so pious a man as Sturm did not object 'to the pernicious senti- ments inculcated by Terepce. Could the enthusiastic rector have been blinded by the hope, that his scholars would be moulded, as it were, into expert Latinists by these theatrical performances, and by acting comedy ? If the bare reading of an author, like Terence, is dangerous to the scholar, how much more dangerous is it, when, from the necessities of acting, he is obliged to assume, the characters and imagine himself in the situations of the drama. Sturm's endeavor to make boys adepts in Latin eloquence had, moreover, a very great, and in ray judgment, a very injurious influence upon his manner of reading and of treating the classics. It is true that lie aimed, first of all, as every intelligent school-teacher should do, at a correct understanding of the language of authors ; for he insists that the teacher should dwell upon the grammatical construction of the text long enough to arrive at such understanding. But why is it, — if I may ask so simple a question, — that we trouble ourselves to understand the language of a classical author as thoroughly as we do our own, so that we can read him with as great ease as if he had written in our own tongue ? Doubtless it is, that, having arrived at an appropriate understanding of the language, we. may penetrate thi'ough the language to the sentiment, and so at last may educe the intellectual individuality of the author from his works, and at the same time recognize in, the author the characteristics of the nation, to which he belonged. But such an aim of classical studies is nowhere visible in Sturm's method ; to him, to use a Kantian ex- pression, the Author himself is not an end, only a means to an end ; that is, every author must be used for the cultivation of this deified Eoman eloquence in boys. And how ? Precisely as the peacock was STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRUCTION. 219 used by the jackdaw. They borrow the author's words and phrases, grojup them together, and learn them by heart, perhaps, in order to apply them again in speech or in writing. Borrow, is too feeble an expression ; the jackdaw designed not/merely to borrow the peacock's feathers, but to represent them as his own. The doctrine of imitation as we find it set forth by Sturm and others, is, after all, a mere jack- daw theory. The scholar is taught how, by a slight alteration, to disguise ph»ases from Cicero and others, and then to use them in writing or in speech, exactly as if they were his own production ; so adroitly smuggling them in, as it were, that the reader or hearer may not suspect whence they were taken. "Is the teacher," says Sturm, " to give out themes for composition, — he will draw attention to those points where imitation is desirable, and will show how similarity can be%;oncealed by a superadded variation." "We must, in the first plade, take care, that the similarity shall not 'be manifest ; but its concealment may be accomplished in three ways ; by adding, by taking away, or by alteration." "The objection, perhaps, will be made," says Sturm in another place, " that, if we appropriate entire passages from Cicero, we shall be guilty of plagiarism." This would be so, if we should make ex- tracts from Cicero and call them our own ; but our memory is our own, so is the use to which we put our memory, so is our style, so is the caution and the moderation which we exercise in making use of the classics, and so likewise is our method of imitation, as well as of borrowing, provided that we do borrow. And truly, in such case, we shall borrow of one, who no longer is hero to begrudge it ; of one, who wrote for others, yea, for all time. Thus Sturm justifies this ex- tremely censurable practice, — a practice which, as we have seen, Erasmus had already condemned. Thus his effort to restore Roman eloquence, had a great influence upon the choice of authors to be read in his gymnasium ; for hardly any were introduced but such as were the most faultless models of this eloquence. Cicero was placed at the head. Even the boy of eight read the " select epistles " of Cicero, and there was no class from the eighth up to the highest, in which he was not read. Terence, Sturm commends most highly, next to Cicero. Every Roman author who, measured by the Ciceronian standard, did not vindicate his claim to be considered a pure classic, Sturm appears to have rejected. Livy, as we have before mentioned, was not one of the Strasburg school text-books, probably on account of his provincialism, (Patavinity ;) we are less surprised at the absence of Tacitus, and in short, of every author, who hindered or at least did not further the main object of learning to write and to speak like Cicero. 220 STURM'S SYSTEM OP INSTRUCTION. In the eighth class, in the eight year of the pupil, a beginning was made in exercises in Latin style. Sturm commends them to the teachers in the most urgent manner; but they appear, when closely examined, to have been almost wholly composed of attempts at that spiritless imitation, above alluded to ; the preparation for them con- sisted in singling out and committing to memory, phrases, which they had noted in their lessons, as suitable to be used in Latin discourse or in these exercises. Do I now need to declare emphaticallj^ that those youth, who, in reading the classics, have been engaged merely in a hunt after phrases for future use, or rather misuse, never arrive at a true understanding of these classics, and, what is more, that this meth- od renders such an understanding wholly impossible ? Do I need to observe, that youth thus trained will not learn either to admire or to understand even, very many writers, who, like Tacitus, are essentidHy different from Cicero ? And as little will they attain to an under- standing of the poets, if it is made their chief aim in reading to com- pose Latin verses themselves, and if for this purpose they are instructed to gather poetical flowerets from the jEueid, as they have before culled prose gems from Cicero ; or if, again, with a view to their exercises in prose, they are constantly directed to those peculiarities which the oratorical style, mutatis mutandis, may borroWfrom the poets. I have put the question " shall I bestow unqualified praise on Sturm's ideal ? " and have answered it in the negative. I have now given the reasons for my opinion. I have shown how, in the undi- vided pursuit of Roman eloquence in* speaking and in writing, the German language was not only neglected, but crushed under foot ; how, in order to gain ease and readiness in Latin expression, the most licentious of the plays of Terence were acted by the scholars ; and how, further, since the requisitions of this eloquence absorbed all the energies and all the time of the young, there was no opportunity left for any thorough mathematical training ; neither was any instruction given in geography, history, Hebrew, or the modern languages, and I might add, in natural philosophy and drawing, but for the little atten- tion that was generally paid to these two branches, at that period. And finally I have indicated how it was, that this unlucky reaching out after Roman eloquence was a decided hindrance tc! a correct exegesis and a full appreciation, of the classics. And now the question natur- ally arises in our minds, " if Sturm and so many of his contempora- ries in this chase after Roman eloquence, made great sacrifices, and neglected almost every thing else, — did they see their desires realized in the end 1 " STITRM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. 221 But I have already answered this question to the satisfaction of the intelligent reader, where I spoke of this wretched method of reading the classics, only to cull out phrases and piece them together anew, to be used in exercises in style, in order, haply, to equal the ancients. For all their imitation of classical authors resolved itself at last into a mere paltry connoisseurship ; since they attained, at the furthest, only to a philological pharisaism, which, after a repulsive, pseudo-classic fashion, composed works that disclosed' not a particle of the classi- cal spirit. When we peruse their " Examples of Boman eloquence," we imagine ourselves walking amongst the ghastly spectres of the ancients, and Cicero stalks to and fro before our eyes, an indistinct phantom. Sturm however, As was natural, regarded the fruits of his labors in a far different light. He believed that he really had called the an- cients to life again, and he fancied, that if we but laid the foundations aright, there was no reason why we should not produce Latin works as full of the fire of genius as were the originals. In one place he says : " the Eomans had two advantages over us ; the one con- sisted in learning Latin without going to school, and the other, in fre- quently seeing Latin comedies and tragedies acted, and hearing Latin orators speak. Could we," he continues, " recall these advantages in our schools, ^why could we not then, by persevering diligence, gain that, which they possessed only by accident and habit ; namely, the power of speaking Latin to perfection." In another passage he uses a still stronger expression, where he says, " I hope to see the men of the present age, in their writing, commenting, haranguing and speaking, not merely followers of the old masters, but equal to those who flourished in the noblest age of Athens or of Eome." What pedantic narrow-mindedness, to indulge the delusive notiotf, that an ever so judiciously-managed- Strasburg school could effect the produc- tion of works of genius, equal to those that bloomed amid the splendor of the age of Pericles or the grandeur of Imperial Rome ! This notion of Sturm's, as erroneous as it was presumptuous, if we might not rather call it extravagant, stands in quite a surprising con- trast with the following feeble and spiritless sentiment, which we find in another place. " It is astonishing," he here says, " that while there are in our day many as good intellects as the ancients could boast of, while we possess the same philosophical sources to draw from as did they, while our advantages for the attainment of eloquence and our opportunities for displaying it are no fewer than with them, and while, moreover, all our gifted men have striven to distinguish themselves by eloquence, yet almost all have shrunk back in terror from the course 222 STURM'S SVSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. of traityng that it demands, and so few have accomplished any thing by means of it." " We can not," continues Sturm, " lay the entire blame of this result upon the scholars. Year after year there have been many at the Strasburg Gymnasium, who have united to superior talents a strong desire to excel and great diligence. It has been so likewise at Louvain and at Paris. Now how is it, that among so many thousand, there have been so very few, who have applied the requisite diligence to Latin writing and declamation ? " On a careful consideration, he concludes that the fault lies with the teachers, and with himself, and is partly inherent in the fact, that Latin is not the native tongue of the scholar. If we examine this admission of Sturm carefully, we shall be at no loss to discover where the truth lies. Men of the very highest capaci- ties, he says, were exceedingly desirous to become eloquent, but have been appalled before the style of eloquence taught in his school. Had Latin only been their native tongue, then they would have succeeded. But German was their native tongue, and in this, according to Sturm's own theory, they would have succeeded to perfection. And he asserts this in so many words, but a few lines further back. " Eloquence," he here remarks, " is by no means confined to the Latin tongue. . Can not Italians, Spaniards, French and Germans be eloquent in their own language ? The prose of Boccaccio is a model of purity and elegance to the Italians, and so is the sweet-sounding poetry of Petrarch. Comines charms the French as truly as ever Thucydides did the Greeks. And 'as for Luther," he continues, "has he not stood forth, a perfect master of our language, whether we look to purity of idiom or to opulence of expression ? Princes, counselors, magistrates, em- bassadors, and jurists, all concede to him, the theologian, this praise. Luther truly vindicated a righteous cause, which in itself deserved the victory ; but it was with the sinews of an orator that he wielded the wea,pons of controversy. Had there been no Eeformation, had no sermons of Lufher ever appeared, and had he written nothing at all save his translation of the Bible, this alone would have insured him an immortality of fame. For, if we compare with this German trans- lation either ,the Greek, the Latin, or any other, we shall find them 'all far behind it, both in perspicuity, purity, choice of expression, and resemblance to the Hebrew original. I believe that, as no painter has ever been able to surpass Apelles, so no scholar will ever be able to produce a translation of the Bible that shall excel Luther's." If we were compelled on other grounds to conclude that Sturm had become altogether denationalized, and a Eoman to the core, this STURM'S SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. ^ 223 passage just cited proves to us that it was not altogetier so. But why, in view of his deep and heart-felt recognition of the great German master-piece of Luther, and why especially in view of his acknowledg- ment that Italians, French and Germans, had written classical works, each in their own language, — why, I repeat the question, did he con- tinue, like a second Sisyphus, his fruitless endeavors to metamorphose German into Roman youths, and to impart to them, in defiance of the laws of human nature, another native tongue ? The entire age in which he lived was in fault, not he : it was only at a later period, that the claims of our own country and our own language came to be properly regarded. MICHAEL NEANDER* [Translated for the American Joqrnal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] Michael Neander was the son of a tradesman, of the town of Sorau, Hans Neumann by name, and was born in 1525. His father had destined him for a tradesman also ; and, as the occupation called for long journeys on horseback, he determined to lose no time in malting his son a good horseman. He, therefore, placed him upon h gaunt and restive horse, without a saddle, and bade him ride him to water. On his reaching the pond the horse threw him into it, and he was only saved from drowning by the efforts of some chance by- standers, who lifted him again to his seat. As he rode in at the gate, a stone was thrown at him, which cut his head and covered his face with blood. Thus, wet and bleeding, he returned home. But his father, instead of showing pity for his sufferings, ordered him to mount, upon the spot, a still wilder horse, which he didi.. Bat he was again thrown off and his arm broken. And when bis mother and his , relatives gathered around him in tears, his father upbraided him harshly with these words : "To a cloister with you ; you are of no use to any body.'' Thus was his whole couree of life shaped by this one day of mishaps. The rector, Heinrich Theodore, of Sorau, was his first teacher. In his seventeenth year, in 1542, he went to the University of Witten- berg. "Although at that time I was quite young," says Neander, of himself, " I yet listened attentively for three years to Luther's lec- tures and sermons, and many of his excellent thoughts. I wrote down with care, nor shall I ever forget them so long as my life lasts ; • Sources. 1. " Events in the Life of Michael Neander. A contribution to the religious and social history of the I6th century. By W. Havemann, professor of history at GSltingen." 2. Neander's works, as follows, viz :— (a.) Two Latin Grammars. (6 ) "Z?e rfi poetica Graecorum, Hbri guatuor. E notationibus M. Neandri praeceptoris sui coUecti Opera J. Vollandi." Editio secunda. 1592. (c.) ^'Catechesis M. Lutheri Graeco-LtUina" "Pat- rum Theologorum Graecorum sententiae." "Apocrypha; hoc eat, naTvationes de Chrieto^ e/c, ertra Biblia." Basileae, per Joh. Oporinum. 1563. (rf.) ^'Compendium Dialecticae ac Rheforicae." 1581. (e.) "Orhis Terrae partium succincta expticatio." 1586. (f.^ "Orbis Terrae divieio compendaria, in usum etudiosae juventutis in schola JJ/eldenm." 1586. Nova editio. (§■.) "Compendium Chronicorum, conscripta in schola Hfeldensi." 1586, Havemann cites the following in B.idlt\oa:—(^k.) "Mankind's Mirror." Nuremburg, 1620. (I.) "Theologia megalandri Lutheri." Eisleben, 1587. (A.) "Advice to a good nobleman and friend ; or, how to guide and instruct a boy." Eisleben, 1590. Says Havemann, " this is an incomparable little book." 3. (o.) "Puneral Sermon at the burial of the venerable M. Neander. Delivered by Val- entine Mylius." Leipzig, 1595. (4.) VoUborth's "Panegyric upon M. Neander." 1777. 226 MICHAEL NEANDER. for I often recall them with delight, in sorrow and affliction they are my consolation, and they aid me, moreover, in my labors both with old and young." In the year 154V, when, after the battle of Muhlberg, Neander, in common with all the professors and students at Wittenberg, deserted the place, he obtained, through the recommendation of Melancthon, the post of (colleague) assistant in the school of N'ordhausen. Short- ly after, he was chosen conrector and was employed also as tutor to the children of Herr Schmied, the Mayor. The rector of the school, whose name was Basilius Faber, imposed upon the youthful Neander, then fresh from the conceited air of Wittenberg, and regarding "gram- mar and syntax" as "insignificant trifles," the humiliating task of teaching the older boys the '^Advanced Syntax," {majorem Syntaxin majoribus) a work which he had " never even seen, much less heard of or studied." In the year ll550, Neander was called to tEe rectorship of the cloister-school at Ilfeld, in the Harz. Here, in 1544, Thomas Stange had been chosen abbot of the monastery. But he afterward joined the Protestants, and then, under the patronage of the noble Count of Stolberg, founded the school, to which, at the recommendation of Melancthon and Schmied, he now called Neander. When, in the year 1559, the devout, conscientious abbot lay upon his death-bed, he commended the school most urgently to Count Stolberg's care, and to the faithfulness of its rector, Neander. This dying injunction Neander kept in view even to the close of his own life. The amount of labor that he accomplished would appear well-nigh incredible. When he entered upon his office, he found but twelve scholars in attendance ; nine years later, in 1559, this number had increased to forty. And until within a few days before his death, or during the space of forty-five years, he took the charge of the whole school entirely upon himself, never employing a col- league.* He was, moreover, compelled to defend the very existence of the school itself against many who endeavored to wrest the cloistral domains into their own possession. At the same time he acomplished much literary labor — giving to the press, during his life-time, thirty- nine books, and leaving behind him, in manuscript, fourteen more. Many of his contemporaries, Melancthon in particular, have borne testimony to the excellent results with which his teachings were at- terded. Melancthon deemed the school at Ilfeld, "by reason of the faithful labors of- Neander," to be the best seminary in the country. * '* Tantum praestitit unus yjr, qui wi«i&(77i in administratione scholae ueque ad uitimum ftre Belli! limen cofte^am lialieret." Thus that eminent man, Laurentius Rliodomannus, a pupil of his, and later a professor at Wittenberg, \yriteB of Neander. MICHAEL NEANDER. 227 Said Rhodomannus: "Neander has proved himself an exceedingly skillful and successful teacher. He has carried scholars forward, within the space of three or four years, so far in the languages and the arts, and grounded them so thoroughly in catechetics, that, when he had done with them, they were fitted to enter at once upon important posts, whether in the school or in the church. Especially have they been so thoroughly drilled in the three languages, that they have not inele- gantly imitated the Greek classics.'' Apd the learned Oaselius, a scholar of Nean'der's, in Nordhausen, said : " Neander's boys, on en- tering the university, have at once taken precedence of most others." Of his text-books, so far as I am acquainted with them, I have already, in part, spoken elsewhere. In his grammars, he constantly dwelt more upon the elementary than the abstruse, and placed general principles and rules, that were universally binding, before unimportant particulars and anomalous exceptions. Hence his text-books were brief; but, whatever he undertook, he intended should be fully and entirely comprehended by the learner. His instructor, Melancthon, whom he highly esteemed, undoubtedly urged him to give his attention to the physical sciences. It was said of Neander, that " he was such an adept in medicine and chemistry, that he was enabled, by means of serviceable remedies, to extend a helping hand to his scholars when sick." * His ^^Hand-Book of Natural Philosophy''' was in much repute. His ^'■Oompendium Chronicorum^' gives, in the compass of forty pages, a survey of the history of the world, from Adam to the year 15Y5. The subjects of the various chaptei's are, "Jews," "Egyptians," "Persians," "Greeks,"' and "Romans;" then " The Period of the Mi- gration of Races, ending with Charlemagne," "Mohammed and the Saracens," and " Argonautse, or the Crusades, Tartars, and Turks." And it ends with a glance at the prophecies of Daniel. In geography, he wrote a somewhat extended text-book, called " Orbis ierrae pariium succincla explicatio ; " and a second, much shorter, with the title, "Orbis terrae divisio." The first mentioned compend is a singular book ; now proceeding methodically, and again branching oflF into the strangest of digressions. It begins by giving a list of the various authorities made use of. Then there follows a concise and clear treatise on the mathematics of geography, (in which the sun moves around the earth,) and a history of. the science. Next are described Europe, Asia, Africa, and the oceans ; and lastly the islands, among which America is enumerated. Some of the stories interspersed in this book we have already cited. * A favorite scholar of his, Thahus, afterward a physician at Nordhausen, " gathered 72 species of grasses in the neighborhood of Ilfeld, and carefully pressed and dried them between the leaves of an old and huse monkish missal."— fOrfis explicatio. article. Nordhausen. 1 228 MICHAEL NEANDER. In his description of Goldberg, Neander not only communicates much upon Trotzendorf, but also narrates that unsuccessful, first, and last attempt of his own to learn to ride. Under the article " Sagan," he gives a long story ; how, after a fourteen yeai-s absence from his native land, he returned thither, and how he was every where received like a prince. Every_where they made feasts in his honor, at which, too, vocal and instrumental music were heard, and often the wine flowed till midnight. The like, also, befell him in his native town, where he found Hs aged and honored mother still living ; though, alas 1 his father had died but a short time before. In describing Nordhausen, he takes occasion to speak of a favorite scholar of his, who died there, the physician Thalius, tells of his botanical studies, and of his death, caused by being throjvn from a carriage. Nor does he stop here, but gives a letter of Thalius's, and cites Latin and Greek poems composed upon his death. And still further — he adds a list, many pages long, of the good scholars shaped in Ilfeld, but remarks that nevertheless he had some very bad ones, and gives the history of one of these, who was beheaded. He communicates this, that teachers may learn, from his example, not to be dispirited on account of some untoward ex- periences, but rather to keep up a courageous heart. Thus much in characterization of the larger geography. The lesser, but thirty pages long, is far more concise. Let us now turn back to his life. In the' year 1562, he married Anna Winkler, of Nordhausen, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. The daughter Maria married Valentin Mylius, the pastor at Ilfeld, who in after years pronounced the eulogy upon Neander. In this eulogy we find an exceedingly edifying sketch of the last days of the venerable man. His sickness began a few days previous to Easter, in the year 1565. But, before he took to his bed, he celebrated the Lord's supper at church, after full confession. Upon his death- bed he testified his hearty adhesion to the Lutheran confession of faith. When his pastor read to him from the 73d Psalm, he repeat- ed, with joyful emphasis, the words, " The strength of my heart, and my portion forever," and said, " I will give praise to God forever; for he is the strength of my heart, and I shall not be afraid ; he is my portion and I am his, and all the powers of darkness can not sunder us forever." His last words were, " Ah, how long shall I linger here before I go to that blessed place ? There shall I meet and welcome my dear grand-parents, my parents, and so many dear, pious chris- tians, so many good and glorious friends ; God grant me a speedy- entrance into that happy land ! Amen." Then, after waving a last farewell to all, he fell asleep in the Lord without a groan or a mur- mur. It was four in the afternoon of the 26th of April, 1595, THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS.* [Translated for the Araeiican Journal of Education, from the German of Knrl von Raumer.] In 1491, eight years after Luther, and six before Melancthon, Ig- natius Loyola was born, the founder of that Order whose chief aim was to bring to nought the Reformation, and to reinstate the Popes in their former absolute power. The Jesuits sought^ by means of preaching, the confessional, and the education of youth, to gain pow- er and influence. And how great the influence, how complete the power which they thus obtained ! This aim and method of the Order is universally acknowledged : we find it asserted equally by the Protestant Ranke, in his work, " The Popes of Rome," and by the Popes themselves, as well as by the most distinguished Catholic friends of the Jesuits. In Pope Gangan- elli's Bull, by which the Order was suppressed, it is described as hav- ing been founded for the " conversion of heretics ;" in the Bull of Pius the Seventh, which restored the Order, it is said, that the Jes- uits might, " after their former method, instruct youth in the first principles of the faith, and form them to good manners, might sus- tain the duties of the preacher's oflBce, and be diligent in hearing con- fession ;" and it is especially enjoined upon them, " to devote them- selves, (as formerly,) to the education of Catholic youth, as well as to undertake the control of seminaries and colleges." A Catholic writer of the present day speaks of the calling of the Jesuits in the following extremely candid manner : " that it is to con- tend with heretics, chiefly with the weapons of education and knowl- edge." " The hateful task of checking heresy by means of fire and sword, this the Order leaves to its antagonists, the Dominicans." This same Catholic author thus writes in the year 1833 : "We know both when and how the Order of the Jesuits originated ; we know the genesis of the Society of Jesus. At ,the commencement of the ♦Sources.— 1. Ranke's Popes of Rome. " 2. Spittler on the History and Constitutioa of the Order of the Jesuits. " 3. Pascal's Provincial Letters. " 4. Ratio et institutio studiorum societatis Jesu ; Superiorum permissu : Mo- guntjae, 1600. " 5. Educational System of the Society of Jesus ; Landshut, 1813. " 6. Lang's History of the Jesuits in Bavaria ; Nuremberg, 18T9. The above are some of the principal sources from which Von Raumer drew his views ot the Jesuits. 230 THE JESUITS AND TUEIR SCHOOLS. sixteenth ceutury a storm had gathered against the church of Jesus Christ. A new doctrine was proclaimed, another faith preached ; a deadly heresy had exalted itself. The world was drifting toward the quicksands. And as every heresy contains some element of truth, sufficient to give it a specious appearance, and to insure its reception among men, so in this case we find such an element in the estimation it placed upon the study of the Scriptures, in the absolute homage and unquaHfied respect that it paid to the pure, unaltered word of God, as recorded in Holy "Writ, — in, its faith in the written word alone, which it claimed was given to every man to examine for him- self; and this homage and respect culminated in the complete deifi- cation of the letter. But in whatever spot the earth yields a poison, there an antidote is sure to spring up by its side. So too, if at any time storms overspread the sky, God, in his providence, soon puts an end to their fury. Does any foe to the Bride of Christ, the church of God, declare war against her, then, even in the very fiercest of the onset, when her defeat seems inevitable, God raises up a hero, who goes forth inthe name of the Lord, single handed and alone, and, like a second David, overcomes the champion of error. Such a hero was Ignatius Loyola, who, in the year of grace, 1521, most fortunately for the vporld, lay wounded in the fortress of Pampeluna. The wounds which he had received in his body healed in a miraculous manner the hurt of his soul, and thereby healed the spiritual diseases of the greater portion of mankind. God created this man to be the founder of an Order, which was destined to become a strong wall of defense for his holy church against the new heresy. Examination of the letter of the word, as we said above, — investigation, consequent- ly knowledge, characterized this false doctrine. Hence the Order which was to defend men from its allurements and to confirm them in the old faith, found itself compelled to put on the same armor of knowledge, that it might win the victory. If, with other Orders, con- templation and mortification of the flesh stood foremost in import- ance, while study was a minor concern, with the Jesuits, on the other hand, study and the pursuit of knowledge constituted the chief aim, though prayer, meditation and devotional exercises were not omitted. For they felt that erudition and knowledge must be united with piety. And they turned their attention to those youth, who were eager to run in the ways of knowledge ; to studious youth, to pro- tect them from the pestilent breath of false doctrine, presenting itself in the guise of science. Accordingly schools and the education of the young were their chief care and the main object of their efibrta. And God blessed the Society, so that, in a very short time, it extend- THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 231 ed its operations into all parts of the globe. And it was not long before the fathers of the Society of Jesus took possession of nearly every nation on the earth, as the apostles had done before them ; and wherever they established themselves, they undertook the man- agement of schools, and the direction of sutjh as thirsted for knowl- edge, and their, eflforts were prospered and blessed. God grant that we may soon see such an Order arising in our midst, for we too live in an age full of all manner of heresies !" [We omit in this place, as well as toward the close of the article, several pages of Raumer's chapter on the Jesuits, in which he discus- ses, from the extreme Protestant stand-point, the influence of the con- fessional, and the principles of what he calls "Jesuitical morality." These topics, and especially, when handled in a partisan spirit, are more appropriate to a theological and controversial, than to an educa- tional journal. The past, as well as the present organization of the schools of the Jesuits, — the course of instruction, methods of teaching, and discipline, are worthy of profound study by teachers and educa- tors who would profit by the experience of wise and learned men. Says Bacon ; "As it regards teaching, this is the sum of all direction ; ' take example by the schools of the Jesuits, for better do not exist.' " Ed. Am. Jour, of Ed.J The editor of the " System of Education" has adopted the above words of Bacon for his motto, and has cited, in addition, the following testi- mony from that philosopher. " When I look at the diligence and the activity of the Jesuits, both in imparting knowledge and in moulding the heart, I bethink me of the exclamation of Agesilaus concerning Pharnabazus ; 'since thou art so noble, I would thou wert on our side.' " The editor of the " System" boasts of this passage as a " splendid tribute extorted from an anti-Catholic and a heretic." I will now subjoin a second tribute, likewise from a " heretic,'' viz., John Sturm. " The name, Jesuits," says he, " is new, and of recent origin. They merit higher praise than do any other of the monks, if indeed we may praise monkery at all. For what neither the good and devout Reuchlin, nor the learned and eloquent Erasmus, nor, prior to these, Alexander Hegius and Rudolf Agricola could persuade the schoolmen and the monks to do, namely, that they should, if not dis- posed themselves to cultivate learning, at least train up others to do it ; this the Jesuits have^ without prompting, everywhere undertaken. They give instruction in the languages and in logic, and so far as they can, they impart to their scholars a knowledge of rhetoric. I rejoice at their appearance for two reasons. And first, because they promote our cause, by cultivating the sciences. For I have observed 232 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. what authors they explain and what method they adopt ; it is a method so nearly like ours, that it appears as if they had copied from us. And secondly, they incite us to a greater watchfulness and zeal, lest they show themselves more diligent than we, and lest their schol- ars become more learned and accomplished than ours." If now we compare Sturm's mode of teaching with that of the Jesu- its, we shall find, at the first glance, scarce any difference between them. The internal structure of their institutions, their text-books, general curriculum, and ideSl of culture, all are neai-ly identical, and yet a Jesuit college in respect to its inmost design and aim differed as -^videly from Sturm's college or his gymnasium, as a Jesuit from a Protestant. The " Ratio et institutio, (theory and method,) studiorum societatis Jisu" is the oldest treatise on teaching that the Jesuits possess. It was originally projected in 1588 by six of the fathers, and, after un- dergoing a thorough revision, it was finally published in the year 1599. It appeared under the sanction of the renowned Claudius de Aquaviva, who was general of the Order at that period. This treat- ise has maintained, even to tl\e present day, its original authority, and all subsequent writers have built upon its foundation ; we have an evidence of this fact in a later treatise, written in 1730, which, in its turn, has been, in the main, incorporated into the " Educational System" of the year 1833. So too, the Jesuit General Eoothaan, in the preface to the most recent oflBcial " Course of Instruction," .published in 1832, remarks; "we present herein nothing new, but the old original system, only modified to suit the times." For " this old system has been approved by the fortunate experience of almost two centuries, and it should not be altered, except for weighty rea- sons." Some alterations were made, as we see, in obedience to the demands of the age ; a nice adaptation of fixed principles to the va- riations of circumstance being characteristic of the Order. We turn now to consider the internal structure of a fully organized Jesuitic college. Such an institution embraced two distinct courses of study, each complete in itself. These were known as the higher and the preparatory branches, " studio, superiora " and " studia in- feriora." Each division of the college was under its separate pi'ae- fectjlaut both praefects were alike subject to the rector, who had the general control of the whole establishment. Prepaiiatory or Lower Studies. The lower division, corresponding to the gymnasium, comprised the following five classes, each having its particular name : 1. The lower class in grammar ; or the rudiments. THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 233 2. The middle class in grammar ; or grammar proper. 3. The higher class in grammar ; or syntax. 4. The Humanities. 5. Rhetoric. These names lead us to infer at the outset a general resemblance to the course pursued at Sturm's gymnasium, wher grammar was the beginning, and rhetoric the end and aim of all education, and when the art of speaking Latin was the summit of all culture. Says the composer of " The Educational System of the Jesuits :" " not a mere knowledge of syntax, but a practical mastery of it, in other words, readiness and skill both in speaking and in writing; this is the aim of gi'ammar." Pupils are " to make a living language of the Latin, hence they should be taught on the principle of the maxim ' lege, scribe, loquere^ " " Those alone possess a perfect knowledge of a language, who not only read it, but who can likewise speak it and write it. And the course of study adopted by the Society of Jesus is designed to secure this result. The pupils of the Jesuits are enabled not only to read and write Latin, but really to speak it." As the Jesuits and Sturm appear thus to have coincided in the pursuit of a common aim, it is but natural to suppose that their methods of indoctrinating their scholars with Latinity would have been the same or similar. To say nothing of the study of grammar, we find in both instances an absolute sacrifice of every thing to the single object of storing the mind with a multitude of Latin words and phrases. The " System " recommends the use of books in which such phrases are collected and methodically arranged ; such a book is the " Latin-German Pr'omptuarium of Father Wolfgang Schoensle- der.'' Another, recommended for the three lower classes, is called "Amaltkea ;" it is divided into six parts, each part containing a great variety of idiomatic forms and phrases. Part 6, for example, treats of the arts ; chapter 1, of medicine, 2, of surgery, 3, of arithmetic, 6, of printing, etc. " Through the number and variety of phrases thus rendered familiar to the mind," it is said, " style will assume color, grace anddignity.'' For the sake of a pure Latinity, the Jesuits crushed out the vernacu- lar, precisely as did Trotzendorf and Sturm. " The exercise of speak- ing Latin must be unintermitted and absolute, to the entire exclusion of the vernacular in all matters pertaining to the school." This rule extended even to the lower classes in grammar ; " the lowest, it may be, being on some occasions excepted." In order to encourage ex- cellence in Latin speech, " the teacher should repeatedly appeal to the stately elegance of the language, and on the other hand should con- 23i THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. tinually dwell upon the disgrace whicli is sure to overtake pupils in Latinity if they can not carry on a conversation in Latin." The neg- ligent must be reprimanded, "and those who let fall a word in the vernacular must be compelled to wear some mark of disgrace, and in addition, to suffer a light chastisement, unless they can shift this two- fold burden,' on the same day, upon the shoulders of some fellow- pupil, whom either in school or in the street they shall overhear talk- ing German, or whom they can convict of this offense by at least one credible witness." " This noble emulation should prevail as well among .pupils of the same school as between one school and another.' The noble emulation here insisted on I shall aclvert to again, further on. Of the study of the classics the "Educational System" says: " For us the pagan writers of classical antiquity can have but a sub- ordinate aim, namely, the formation of style. *■ * * By means of the classics we are to become familiar with the language of the Greeks, but especially with that of the Romans, and thus to forVn our style ; further than this we can not go." As the Jesuits thus aiined only at the cultivation of style in reading the classics, they, like Sturm, prized Cicero above all the rest. On this point hear the " Educational System :" " Style should be drawn almost exclusively from Cicero, although the most approved of the historians need not on that account be overlooked." And again ; "Whaf> model is to be imitated and after what pattern we should fashion our style is briefly comprehended in the words of the rule, ' imitate Cicero.' As in the study of theology we follow the divine Thomas (Aquinas,) and in philosophy, Aristotle, so in the humanities Cicero must be regarded as our peculiar and preeminent leader. For he has been crowned with the palm of superior praise by the common consent of the world. But some, misguided by a willful and self-formed taste, have gone astray, preferring a style totally different from that of Cicero ; such an erratic course is quite at variance with the genius of our in- stitutions and hostile to that spirit of prompt obedience" etc. "An abrupt and clipped style was discountenanced by the venerable pre- cepts of those of our forefathers who gave their particular attention to this subject.'' Since Cicero was the highest model for imitation, he was read by all the classes ; the three lower classes especially, were drilled in the " Familiar Letters," as they arc styled in the "System." > Both in conversation and in writing, the scholars are to use no ex- pression "which they can not justify by the authority or example of some approved writer." This precept, taken in connection with the THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 235 foregoing quotations, proves that the pupils of the Jesuits were I'e- quired to reproduce, in speaking and in writing, almost universally, the phraseology of Cicero, carefully culled out and stored in the memory. Latin poems were in like manner pieced together out of lines or ex- pressions taken from Virgil. Latin dramas too were acted, not how- ever, the old plays of Terence and Plautus, but such as were com- posed for the purpose. "For it is not proper in every act to intro- duce demons, heartless knaves, tipplers, gamblers, and profane jesters, nor ought dancing or the shifting shows of gliding specters and ghosts to be often brought upon the stage." "These plays, pure as may be their style, and well adapted as they are to impart finish and grace to the pupil'^ knowledge, nevertheless ought not to receive so much attention in our eagerness for the favor of the people, that we shall meanwhile, neglect the true interests of the school." In one respect the Jesuits appear to have acted with more direct- ness of purpose and practical good sense than did John Sturm, with his like-minded Protestant compeers ; for the former knew why they wished to substitute Latin for the vernacular. The editor of the " Educa- tional System " says to this point ; " The schools of the Jesuits were so conducted throughout, as to bring youth completely under the dominion of the true church. To this end every regulation, from the least to the greatest has been uniformly directed." It was to serve the Eomish hierarchy then, to further its schemes of universal aggrandizement by means of the powerful instrumentality of a com- mon language, extending to all the nations of the world ; it was, I repeat it, to serve this hierarchy, that the Jesuits banished the ver- nacular from their schools to make room for the Latin. With the aid of this language they hoped measuiably to overcome every ob- stacle, that deep-seated national prejudices should oppose to their on- ward career, and to build up a spiritual kingdom whose dominion should embrace the whole world. Already the church had her au- thorizfed Vulgate version of the Scriptures in Latin ; already was her liturgy in Latin, so that in all Catholic churches founded anywhere in the world, the Roman Breviary was read, nor was any departure from its language in any case permitted. The Jesuits taught Greek also. That scholars as well as teachei-s, were at least somewhat accomplished in this branch, is evident from the fact that they gloried in being able not only to speak Greek but to compose Greek poems. Frederick A. Wolf, the most eminent philologist of the present day is, like Luther and Ernesti, decidedly adverse to Greek composition. When, on the occasion of an exam- ination for degrees, a Greek thesis was called for, he said, " among a 236 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. hundred school teachers and school directors selected from the whole of Germany, we shall not find ten who could write such a thesis with even ordinary accuracy." Speaking, again, of a similar occasion, when many of the examiners required skill and elegance in Latin compo- sition of the pupils, he said: "Those who open their mouths the widest in these demands, can not themselves do what they require of others." How eagerly would the editor of the " Educational System " seize upon these admissions of the great Protestant philologist as proof of his own repeated allegations. "It were a difficult task," he says, "to determine the precise position which the study of Latin occupies at the present day. The teachers of the language are themselves with- out a perfect knowledge of it, and how then can they impart what they do not possess ? Verily, the Latin language has suffered a second death among us, and those old worthies, (the Jesuits,) who were gifted with the magical power to raise the dead, have all passed away. Boast not, O short-sighted present age, of thine erudition ; blush rather on account of thy shallowness, and mourn over thy dis- tance and estrangement from the spirit of the classics."" . In another place he says : "Tell me not' that you have mastered the Latin or the Greek languages, when you are unable to speak them. The Jesuits and their pupils were able both to speak these languages and to write them. Many, very many of them wrote hymns and odes, yea, epics in Latin and Greek, as none but a Latin or Gteek poet could have done ; so that their productions, if com- pared with the works of Greek and Roman poets, would not be found wanting. The libraries of the Society of Jesus contain works com- posed by Jesuits, such as speeches, histories, epic poems, (Christiads, for example,) both Latin and Greek, which bear the classical stamp, and whose authors rank, both in range and power of expression and in genuine artistic excellence, with Demosthenes and Cicero, with Thucydides, Livy or Tacitus, with Homer and Virgil." Truly, this advocate of the Jesuits, open his mouth wide as he may, to use Wolf's expression, can give us no stronger proof of his own utter lack of high classical culture, than by thus inviting all the world to seat themselves as disciples at the feet of the Jesuits, while he him- self can not even write good German ! In addition to the languages I find but one other branch of in- struction particularized, and that is given under the name of "erudition.'^ What this comprehended we can only know approximately by a com- parison of various passages in the " System." In one place we are told " that the pupils by diligence in writing will attain to those THE JESUITS AND THEIE SCHOOLS. 237 honorary grades, whose names, to savor of erudition, have been de- rived from the civil or military polities of Greece or Eome." In an- other, it is enjoined, " in the interval between the examination and the distribution of prizes to employ the pupils in agreeable exercises, such as those which pertain to polymath]/ or philology, to arithmetic, to orthography, and to every species of erudition." Or, " at this time some questions in polymath]/ or in the higher erudition should be discussed ; or again an exercise in arithmetic may be taken np, com- bined however, with an explanation of the principles involved in the exercise.'' Further on we find the following : " Erudition is to be gathered by the scholars from the history and the manners of nations, from the opinions of authors, and, in short, from the entire teachings of the school." "At the examinations, the scholars are to be called upon for specimens of the erudition previously laid before them, viz., for fables, historical incidents, antiquities, responses of oracles, sayings of wise men, examples of strategy, famous deeds, inventions of every sort, customs and institutions of various nations, eminent virtues," etc. But the most varied array of topics comprehended in erudition is the following : " in the holidays, attention may be given to some of the less familiar subjects, as hieroglyphics, emblems, with questions bear- ing upon the art of poetry, (taken from the Poetics of Aristotle or of Father Jayi,) relating to the epigram, the epitaph, the ode, elegy, epic poetry, and tragedy; the Roman and Athenian senate, the art of war among the ancients, horticulture, dress, the banquet, the triumph, Sybils and other characters of a similar class : add to these, Pytha- gorean symbols, apothegms, proverbs, and parables, etc.; moreover, in- scriptions on shields, temples, and monuments, gardens, statues and the like ; also fables, Eoman antiquities, remarkable events, oracles, military stratagems, brilliant achievements, descriptions," etc. From the foregoing quotations, we leave the reader to form his own idea of the mature of this erudition. How much the Jesuits left MBtaught, we deem it hardly necessary to mention. Besides Latin, which occupied by far the largest share of the time devoted to study, they imparted a knowledge of Greek and of erudition. They like- wise gave religious instruction, of which we shall speak further on. There was no place given to German, geography, mathematics, miisic, and the like ; the narrowness of their curriculum even surpassed that of Sturm's. But, in this respect, their modern scheme of study, pub- lished in 1832, indicates progress. "The demands of the age," they say, " constrain us, in some points, yet without prejudice to the cause of sound Iqfirning, to depart from the usages of our fathers ; and com- pliance with these demands is not only not "forbidden, but it is rather 238 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. required by the spirit and design of our establishnment, — which is, to promote the greater glory of God." Accordingly natural philosophy, mathematics, and German are now taught by the Jesuits. The Higher Branches. Pupils usually spent one year in each of the four lower classes of the gymnasium, and two years in rhetoric. They then passed to the higher branches, and first of all, to a two or three years' course in philosophy. ' The professor of philosophy adhered, in the main, to Aristotle, so far as he did not clash with the doctrines of the church, " though Averroes, when he came upon any thing good in him, did not praise him for it, but sought to prove that he borrowed it." On the con- trary, " the professor should make honorable mention of our holy Thomas (Aquinas,) should delight to agree with him, and dissent, where necessary, with great reluctance." The first year Aristotle's logic was taugit ; the second, his books " de coelo," the " de genera- tione," and the " Meteorologica ;" the third year, the second book of " de ffeneratione,^' the books ^^ de anima," and the metajihysics. A critical exegesis of the original text was recommended, as well as sys- tematic disputations on particular topics in hand. A special professor of morals lectured upon the " ethics '' of Aristotle. A professor of malhematics explained the elements of Euclid to the class in " physics ;" he touched likewise upon geography, or upon the " sphere," and kindred topics, " which subjects pupils always take hold of with eagerness." At the close of the philosophical course, those whose qualifications were suitable, entered upon the study of theology ; this extended over a period of four years, under the direction of professors of sacred literature, of Hebrew, of scholastic or doctrinal theology, and of casu- istry. The professor of sacred literature was expected to make use of the Vulgate version, only referring in brief, and where indispensable, to the Greek and Hebrew originals ; to cite the Chaldee and other versions, the Septuagint especially, wjiere these establish the Vulgate and the teachings of the church. He was not' to give much attention to the interpretations of the Rabbins, nor to devote much time to chronolo- gy, the geography of Palestine, and similar inquiries of minor im- portance ; unless a passage absolutely demanded an allusion to them. The professor of Hebrew was likewise to hold by the Vulgate ; in teaching, he should begin with the elements, then explain one of the simpler books of the Old Testament; and he should teach .jn such a manner, that, by his assiduity and care, the strange and un(iouth vis- THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 239 age, which the Hebrew presents to some minds, should grow mild and attractive. The professor of scholastic theology based his teachings upon the system of Aquinas, (whom the Jesuits regarded as peculiarly their own teacher,) and he was expected not merely to explain and to commend the doctrines and opinions of Aquinas to his class, but likewise warmly to defend them. In no point was the professor to deviate from the system of doctrine prescribed by the church. It was the duty of the professor of casuistrj'^, fitly to mould the young theologian to the office of pastor and priest. He expounded the nature of the sacraments, and descanted upon the various positions and duties of men. With theology proper, he had little to do. He gave decisions of doubtful questions, resting his decisions upon au- thorities, though not multiplying these unnecessarily. " But, while thus fortifying his own position, he should not neglect to cite those authorities, if any there are, of equal weight, which appear to war- rant an opposite conclusion." Disputations likewise, on cases of conscience were recommended. These theological classes formed the source from whence the Order drew a supply of teachers for the gymnasia. The Society received at the hands of Pope Julius III. the power of confei'ring both Bachelor's and Doctor's degrees upon such as did not take a University course. Having now given an outline view of the entire educational course of the Jesuits, I come to the moral and religious character of their system, to its discipline. "Religion," says the composer of the " Educational System," " is the base and the summit of schools and of all education, their foundation and their capstone, their central principle and their soul ; therefore the religious should be chosen for teachers, and with peculiar propriety too, from that Order, which has always stood foremost in the great work of instructing the young, viz., the Society of Jesus." With this Ordeu " the religious principle was not a mere name assumed for ulterior ends, it was not a falsa banner hoisted for the purpose of de- ception." It '' protected youth from vice, and with a peculiar care strengthened them against every spiritual ailment." " The religious alone can save the schools from perdition ; a religious fraternity alone, an Order, which has received the sanction and consecrating influence of the church of Christ, this alone can avert the overwhelming de structioB that is now settling down upon education and upon schools, sinking them deeper every day, and preparing them ultimately to be- come instrumental in subverting both thrones and governments '' 240 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. The method of heretics in education is represented as directly the reverse of that of the Jesuits, viz., as superficial, utterly godless, sub- versive of morality and the fruitful parent of revolutions. But the moral and religious character of a Jesuitical institution needs a closer examination at our hands. It is repeatedly urged in the "Jesuit System of Education " as a first principle, to instil into the minds of youth a knowledge of the Creator and the Redeemer ; so that at the same time with earthly knowledge, they may acquire habits and sentiments worthy of Christians. " The young are formed to obedience, to love of God and to virtue." "The teacher must set them an example of a religious life, must do Jiothing whereby the pupils will offend, must pray for them." He must '' with great faith and confidence commend them to the most Blessed Virgin and to the Saints of God, chiefly to such as have ever been held as the special and peculiar patrons of studious youth, as St. Joseph, St. Catharine, St. Cassian, St. Nicholas, our holy Father Ignatius, St. Lewis, St, Stanislaus," etc. Great stress is laid upon that humility, " that seeks not the perish- able honors oT this world, but the enduring honor which comes from God." " Every thing bordering on vice or in any manner inconsis- tent with the precepts of Christian morality should be stigmatized as disreputable and mean. Pride, boasting," etc. Obedience was not only drilled into the scholars, but it was required of the teachers too. "Every will," remarks the editor of the "Educational System," "is merged in the will of one superior ; and his will is to be honored and obeyed as the will of Jesus Christ." What kind of obedience was demanded, we saw above in the cur- sory remark, that an un-Ciceronian styl^ was to be shunned as a vio- lation of the grand law of obedience. In short, all were made to feel that a blind and slavish obedience was universally demanded, and that all, teachers as well as scholars, were, so to speak, wheels of one vast machine, whose main spring was the general at Eome. The nature of the prayers enjoined upon the pupils may be in- ferred from what we have already advanced, but to put it beyond all doubt, we will appeal to the record. It is prescribed to the teachers, " to be faithful to the scholars, and to habituate them to the use of certain set forms of prayer to God and to the saints. These they may repeat, now from a book and now from memory, lest by monoto- ny they grow irksome ; or at times they may go. through with them in silence and mentally. They should chiefly make use of the Eosary, Office, and Litany of the Blessed Virgin." " He who has omitted his devotions, must, for a punishment, spend THE JESUITS AND THEIK SCHOOLS. 241 some time in prayer, in the oratory, or if it is a feast day, must at- tend a second mass, or he must go to the first mass or one of the first at early dawn, in the church." If these punishments appeared hard, so the reward, on the other hand, was great, viz., " those who dis- tinguish themselves by superior devotion, shall be publicly rewarded and honored." Truly, with such motives, both of punishment and reward, piety could not well remain stationary ! And if devotion was thus crowned with honors, with public honors, much more so was diligence and other subordinate virtues. " He who possesses the faculty of inspiring a spirit of emulation, finds the duties of his office wonderfully lightened thereby ; in fact an active emulation is almost of itself sufficient to direct the young in the right path. The teacher should, therefore, put a high estimate upon this instrumentality, diligently examining the modes in which it may best be secured and applied." " Regular contests for the supe- riority are of great use in calling out this emulation.'' The " System," makes frequent mention of such contests, and com- municates a method by which they are rendered more advantageous, viz., by assigning to every scholar his special rival, thus dividing the whole school into pairs. The mutual relation of two such rivals is often adverted to and commended for the reason that it gives to each continual opportunities for informing of and triumphing over the other. For example, " those who fill the position of rivals should note any breach of good behavior in each other, and report it for reprimand," etc. Pupils were not expected to confine their attention to their rivals, but to inform of any other of their fellows whenever their own, in- terests should require. An instance in point has been given already ; viz., " where one who had spoken in German instead of Latin, had been sentenced to disgrace and punishment, he was permitted to go free by transferring the penalty to some fellow pupil, whom he hadi heard likewise speaking in the vernacular, either in school or in the street, or whom he at least could convict of so doing, out of the mouth of one credible witness." The natural efiect of sueb an unholy emu- latio^vas to destroy utterly all mutual confidence and: love among scholars. They could not love each other, for their entire feeling was that of slavish subordination, and they regarded their fellows who were in the same position with themselves, as natural enemies to be put down in every possible way. In every way ,-?[ repeat it, — even by a petty species of tale bearing that was revolting to every noble instinct of manliness ; though it was admirably designed to prepare the pupil for the perfected system of delations to which the Order No. 13.— [Vol. V., No. 1.1—15. P 242 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. was chiefly indebted for its power. Even the Jesuit Mariana has tes- tified against this system : he says, " the whole framework of the So- ciety rests upon its delations, which spread, like a poison, through every portion, so that all confidence between the brethren comes to an end. Our general, out of his unbounded desire for absolute do- minion, receives these delations into his archives, admits their tj'uth as a matter of course, and acts upon them without giving the accused parties the least opportunity to be heard in their own defense." And yet, notwithstanding the existence of this emulation which doesnot scorn the basest measures, if they only lead to the grand aim, the elevation of the pupil above his fellows, notwithstanding such a systematic cul- tivation of pride, — with which, remember, a slavish subjection to the superior goes hand in hand, — the " System" is perpetually boasting of the importance to be attached to humility. Humility indeed ! It would do better to call it the extorted obedience of a slave. We find other methods laid down in the " System," which the teacher " may adopt to quicken a spirit of emulation." Take the fol- lowing, for instance : " the election of magistrates, praetors, censors, and decurions in the school, will prove a powerful auxiliary in accom- plishing this object, (viz., arousing competition.") Such officers were likewise created by Trotzendorf and Sturm, as we have had occasion to observe. Said Trotzendorf, " I do it, in order ' that my scholars may be early trained to the usages of a well ordered civil govern- ment." And Sturm's decurions were, like Lancaster's monitors, the same as assistant teachers. But the magistracies of the schools of the Jesuits appear, on the contrary, to have been created solely to en- gender ambition ; the decurions may perhaps have corresponded in a measure to those of Sturm's school, but the censors were formally installed to be spies upon their fellow pupils. And again ; " to provoke emulation the teacher should inculcate upon the scholars the sentiment, that it is the height of honor to out- strip one's equals ; and, on the other hand, that nothing is more de- grading and contemptible than to be outstript by them." The distri- bution of prizes too, was especially relied on to stimulate competition. " The public distribution of prizes must be ushered in by all rfllnner of imposing ceremonies, arid attended by a thronged audience. Let a comedy be acted before the distribution ; then let the names of the successful candidates be publicly proclaimed, after which, the prizes maybe formally pesented, and a short and appropriate poem, which has previously been submitted to the praefect and approved by him, may he pronounced. After the victors have thus been proclaimed by THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 243 tlie herald and rewarded, the names of those who stand next in rank may be read." ^ Still another method of kindling emulation is " for the scholars to yield the priority to those who take the first rank, not only in the school but out of school, and everywhere and on all occasions." " There are some teachers who cause to be inscribed in some public place whatever may have been ingeniously elaborated, gracefully said, admirably explained, or skilfully invented by any scholar, so that this memento 6f the successful achievement may redound to the perpetual fame of that scholar throughout the learned world. Some too, place in the middle of the school-room, or, perhaps, in a corner, a dunce bench, giving it some opprobrious name, such as the gate of hell, etc. Whoever occupies this seat is to be branded with some mart of re- proach, and to wear a humiliating motto ; but he may, nevertheless, be released from his disgrace, provided that, by a more perfect recita- tion or a superior essay he shall surpass one of ike other scholars." Such are the doctrines of honor of these Jesuit teachers. Corporeal punishrnent was seldom inflicted. " Let the master cor- rect no one with his own hands, but on those rare occasions where our method of education permits chastisement, in those extreme cases when it is necessary to resort to the rod, let the corrector be one who is not a member of the Society." So when the Inquisition was es- tablished through the zeal of Carafia and Toledo, though Loyola favored the plan before the Pope, yet neither he nor his Order would have any thing to do personally with the punishment of heretics, choosing rather that such punishments should be inflicted by those who were in no way connected with the Society. And, finally, this most characteristic caution is given, viz., " In order that the master may the more discreetly observe this method of punishment, he is constantly to consider that those, whose age and" condition now ap- pears to be feeble, unworthy of consideration, and, perhaps, contempt- ible, will, in a few years, grow up to manhood, and, as human affairs often turn out, will, haply, arrive at honor, wealth, and influence, so that their favor will be an object of desire and their power, of concil- iation. Let the master consider these things, and be governed by them both in his words and in his actions." An accurate and thorough knowledge of the character of the scholars, as a basis for discriminating and judicious authority over them, was furnished by the confessional. All the letters that the pupils wrote to their parents and relatives, as well as all those which they received, passed under the inspection of their teachers. 244 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. [The following passages in the original German of Von Kaumer, were omitted in the first edition of the American translation.^-B.] Before we proceed to describe the educational system of the Jesu- its, it will be necessary to advert to their influence at the confessional. For it was here they brought into play those principles which we find laid down in the various writings of their moralists. To understand these principles, then, is a matter of the utmost importance, since so prominent a place was given to the duty of confession in all their in- stitutions. The man who first opened the eyes of the world to the true char- acter of the Jesuitic morality, was Pascal ; although the Order had, long before, with unparalleled effrontery and shamelessness, embodied the distinctive features of this morality in many of their publications. A doctrinal controversy, into which Pascal's friend, M. Arnauld, had been drawn, occasioned him, under the name of Louis Montalto, to write his famous Provincial Letters. The three first of these are in- troductory, and of a doctrinal nature; the fourth forms a transition to the peculiar morality of the Jesuits ; which subject is continued through the tenth. The letter writer represents himself as a person unacqiuainted with the maxims of the Order, who betakes himself to an aged father for advice and direction in various cases of conscience. He begins with questions growing out of lighter forms of transgres- sion, such, for instance, as the omission to observe a fast, but gradually proceeds to sins of a deeper dye. The crafty Jesuit assists him out of every perplexity, showing him how, with a good conscience, he may set aside, or directly contravene every commandment of the Dec- alogue. Nay, he goes to the highest pitch of audacity, proving from his moralists that there may occur cases where a man is absolved from the "painful" task of sincerely loving God. At this point the letter writer can no longer contain his righteous indignation, but, throwing off his previous reserve, uttera his real opinion as to the abominable nature of these maxims. To give our readers an insight into this morality, we select the fol- lowing extract from the ninth of the Provincial Lettere. " I will now enumerate to you," says the Jesuit father, " some of the means which we have devised for men, by the use of which in their intercourse with one another and with the world, they may avoid sin. And first, most men are greatly troubled to know how to avoid falsehood, especially when they wish to make others believe what is not true. But see how admirably such cases are met by our doctrine of eguivocals, according to which men are permitted to use THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS, 245 ■words that have a double meaning, thus purposely conveying a wrong impression. You will find this laid down in Sanchez.'' " I know it," good father, "said I." "All the world ought to know it, indeed," he replied, "for we have made it sufficiently public ; but do you know how to proceed, in case you find no ambiguous words to make use of?" " No, reverend sir, this I have never learned." " I thought as much," said he, " for our device to meet exigences of this sort is quite new. It is the doctrine of mental reservations; you will find it stated by Sanchez i;i the same place as the above. He says, "A man may take an oath that he has not done a thing that he really has done, provided that he mentally adds, ' on a par- ticular day,' or ' before I was born,' or some such qualifying phrase, and yet the words that he uses shall, in no sense, betray his real meaning." This method is serviceable in many instSlnces, and it is always right to resort to it, when health, honor, or property is at " But is not this adding perjury to falsehood ?" " By no means," replies the Jesuit, " as Sanchez proves in the same chapter, and our Father Filiutius concurs with him. For he says, ' the end sanctifies the means.' The latter adds another and an infal- lible method to avoid falsehood. It is this. When you have said aloud, ' I swear that I have not done it,' add, in an undertone, ' to-day ;' or when you have said aloud, ' I swear,' go on, mentally, as follows : ' that I say,' then, resuming an audible tone, add, ' that I have not done it.' You plainly perceiTe that this is telling the truth." " I do," said I, " but I find one objection to it, and that is, truth is spoken in a whisper, while falsehood utters its voice boldly. Besides, I fear you will not find many men who have sufficient presence of mind to avail themselves of this method." " Our fathers have answered your objection in the same passage," he rejoined, "and, for the encouragement of those who are not shrewd enough to apply this precept, have taught that such persons may say, point blank, that they have not done the things that they have done, provided that they fully intend to give their language the same meaning that, under the circumstances, a wise man would do. Tell me, now, have there not been many occasions in your life, when the knowledge of this precept would have helped you out of trouble 3" " There have," I replied. "And will you not grant, moreover," he continued, " that it would often be very convenient to be absolved, at the bar of conscience, from the obligation of a promise ?" 246 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. " This would be the greatest convenience in the wovld." " Then hear the universal rule, as stated by Escobar. 'A promise is not binding, when he who gives it does not, at the time, design to keep it.' Now it seldom happens that a man has such a desiga unless he confirm his promise by an oath : hence when one simply says, ' I will do a certain thing,' he only means that he will do it if he does not change his mind ; for thus he does not surrender his lib- erty. He then lays down other rules, all of which you may read for yourself; and, at the close, he adds, 'all this is from Molina and our other writers; we may therefore 'trust them with perfect confi- dence.' " " I did not know," said I, " that a specific intention had power to vitiate a promise." " You see what an advantage this principle yields us in our inter- course with> the world." We can scarcely trust our eyes when we read such shameless doc- trines openly avowed by the most reputable of the Jesuit moralists ; moralists too of that Order to which the confessional was chiefly in- trusted. Says Lord Bacon, " In our investigations of nature, multi- tudes of scientific deductions flow from correct maxims." Who then shall estimate the multitude of abominable deductions and corrupt practices that flow, logically, from this Jesuitical morality ? In view of what we have now quoted, our readers will be surprised to learn that the Order exhibited some moralists in its ranks of quite a different character, stem and unyielding in their principles. And they will naturally ask how such .a thing can be without involving an inconsistency ? The reply is to be found in the following admission of Pascal's Jesuit. He says, " Men now-a-days have g6ne so far astray, that we are obliged to seek them out and adapt ourselves to their condition. For otherwise we could never prevail on them to come to us, but they would leave us altogether. For this reason our casuists have treated of the nature of all the vices to which men in all the varied walks of life are addicted, in order, without weakening the cause of truth, to devise maxims of so mild a character that one must be very hard to please indeed if he is not satisfied with them. Our Society has ever, with a view to promote the best, interests of re- ligion, acted on the principle, never to give ofiense to any one, that thus no one may give way to discouragement. Accordingly we have maxims for all classes of persons, — for stipendiaries, priests, monks, noblemen, servants, rich men, merchants, bankrupts, the poor, for pious women and women of the world, the married and the profli- gate ; — in short, nothing has escaped our oversight." THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 247 It may well be imagined what a sensation these Letters of Pascal's produced throughout France, particularly among the clergy. But though all the abominable doctrines of the Jesuits were thus exposed in the clearest colors, by quotations from their moralists, yet people ■were slow to believe that the quotations were correct. And in Rouen the clergy set on foot an investigation of the originals. A full month was spent in a most rigid comparison, and the result proved that all the quotations that Pascal had made were literally accurate. After this examination, the Provincial Letters acquired such an influence that the greater part of the French clergy came together and urgent- ly insisted that these noxious moral principles of the Jesuits should be publicly condemned. It was in vain that they sought, by sophist- ical argument or by burning the hated Letters, to remove the odi- um that had been fastened upon them. Many other things conspired also, at this time, to destroy their power, especially controversies with other Orders, and the growing convictioji that the wily knaves were every where disturbers of the peace. They maintained their position, however, until toward the middle of the eighteenth century. In the year 1762 France abolished the Order, and Spain and Naples follow- ed her example ; in the year 1769, the ambassadors of these powers called upon the Pope to put down the Order universally. On the 21st of July, 1773, appeared the famous Bull, "Dominus ac Ee- demptor noster," by which, at last, its existence was definitively ter- minated. In this Bull the Pope sai'd, " The Society, even at its incep- tion, contained manifold germs of jealousy and dissension, not only within its own body, but against other regular Orders, against the secu- lar priesthood, gymnasiums, universities, public schools, yea, even against sovereigns within, whose realms it had intrenched itself. There were numerous weighty accusations made against the Society, to the effect that they disturbed, in no small degree, the peace and quiet of Christendom." The Bull proved its assertions with facts, and mentioned, in express terms, " the advocacy and the adoption of doctrines which the Apostolical See had justly condemned as not only repulsive in themselves, but as directly at war with morality and good order." "And, finally, it asserted, " that it is hardly or not at all possible, so long as the ' Society of Jesus' exists, for the true and abiding peace of the church to be again restored." Thus even the Pope found himself compelled to uproot this Order, although it was founded for the very purpose of extending the power of the Romish hierarchy. There was one reason for this proceeding, however, which we do not find stated in the Bull of Clement XIV., 248 THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. nor could it have been, consistently with a due regard to policy. Though the right of appointing the general of the Jesuits was vested in the Pope, yet, when appointed, his authority was absolute. The Jesuitic fathers swayed the consciences of men by the agency of the confessional, and they transmitted annually to their general more than seven thousand reports. "No monarch in the ■world," says Spittler, " could have been so well advised in respect to the affairs of his kingdom as he. How potent was the scepter that he wielded, and how difficult was it to escape his scrutiny ! And what scheme could he conceive, that his power was not fully adequate to car- ry into effect !" So the Pope must have thought, as he saw, side by side with himself in Rome, this general of the Jesuits, so well in- formed in respect to all that was transpiring among all the Christian nations of the earth, and, at the same time, ruling these natioiis with such a limitless power. " There can be but one sun in the firma- ment." Said Clement the Eighth, of the Jesuits : " their aim is to rule the whole world." As the Praetorian Guard, first organized for the personal defense of the Koman emperors, became afterward their most dangerous foes, so the Jesuits, from being faithful allies to the Popes, after the lapse of years conspired to overthrow them. Soon the French revolution burst upon the world, and both church and state were rocked to their foundations. In the general confusion that followed, Pius VII. found himself compelled to submit to the su- perior power of Napoleon. Set free at length, and reinstated in his former position of independence, " the first great act with which he signahzed his reinduction intO'oflSce was the restoration of the Jesu- its." The Bull of Restoration appeared on the 'Ith of August, 1814 ; it is very circumspectly worded, and discloses but little of the Impe- rial air and style once so characteristic of the Roman Pontiffs. It commences with the permission to Francis Karnu, a lay priest, form- erly a Jesuit, and a resident of Russia, to form, in connection with other priests of the same class, an association, "thereby the better to carry out the purposes of their vocation" both in teaching and preach- ing. The reader will imagine that it is only Frauds Karnu who is here concerned. . But a little further on, we find the decision to re-es- tablish the Jesuit order in Russia, is " extended, at the request of King Ferdinand, to the Two SicilieSj" then to the " States of the Church," and, finally, " to all other states and countries.'' No attempt is made in this Bull to meet the heavy charges against the Order that were embodied in the Bull of Clement XIV. And, without giving any heed to the fact that the name of Jesuits had de- servedly been branded with odium, the members of this reorganiza- THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS. 24* tion styled themselves the Society of Jesus ; thus boldly proclaiming to all the world that they retained the same principles which had actuated the Jesuits of a former age. Thus was an Order, which had endeavored, in every possible manner, to destroy Protestantism, again revived, by the very Pope who owed his own restoration to the Papal dignity chiefly to Protestant princes. For we find that this same Pius VII. was under the necessity (witness his Allocution of the 4th of September, 1815,) of acknowledging the distinguished services of the King of Prussia, who, in the whole course of the negotiations, had steadily advocated his claims. The Order now undertook to battle, not against the Reformation alone,' but, at the same time, against the Eevolution, and, through its zeal in this latter direction, to win the favor of princes. And every eflfort was put tbrth to blend the ideas of Reformation and Revolution in one, although they were, in fact, totally dissimilar, inasmuch as the for- mer drew both its origin and its increase from the power of a Divinely directed faith ; while the other was the fruit of that infidelity into which nations, reared in superstition, are the foremost to relapse. We have deemed it necessary to say thus much of the peculiar characteristics of the Jesuits, because, without taking into the account the tendency and practical operation of their organization, we should not be in a position to judge aright of their system of education. , The dark and loathsome morality of the Oi-der, I have felt constrained to give chiefly from Catholic, and of course impartial, authorities, and the rather, since men of eminence in the ranks of Protestantism have been misled even into warm panegyrics of the education and the schools of the Jesuits. I need only to refer to Bacon and John Sturm. Perhaps, however, they are somewhat excusable, from the fact that, in their day, the corrupt character of the Order had not made itself fully manifest ; for even a Pascal was not able wholly to strip oflf their mask. Thus the ties of natural aflfection were, by slow gradations, percepti- bly weakened. And, after a time, the young Jesuit was expressly taught to abnegate his misplaced affection for his kindred ; f(nd, ac- cordingly, if any property came into his possession, he was expected to surrender it to the Order.* And then there remained to him in the wide world no relation, and, if the term is not a misnomer, no love, but that which he cherished for the body of which he was a member. With regard to heretics, the sole feelings that the pupils were per- mitted to cherish toward them, were those of hatred ; in proof of • From this single source, in Upper GermaDy alone, the Order accumulated, within the pe- riod from 1620 to 1700, the sum of 800,000 gulden (about half a million of dollars.) 250 THE JESUITS AND THEIB SCHOOLS. thi& assertion we need only appeal to the catechism of Canisius, a book in almost universal use among the Jesuits* For instance, ^after a general interdict against attending upon executions, there comes a single exception in the instance of the execution of heretics ; thus early was a thirst for blood developed in the tender minds of youth. But I will not continue the subject. I should not have given so much space to the schools of the Jesuits, if they had been merely an institution of the past. This they certainly are not. These crafty fathers, reinstated in their former position by Pope Pius VII., and having eifected a lodgment anew in many lands, are but waiting the wished-for day when they shall every where reassert their former do- minion. The same in character and aim as at the first, they have merely assumed a more refined exterior, adapting themselves to the times, until their time of triumph shall come. It behooves Protest- ants to be wary, and not sufier themselves to be deceived by the false colors which their institutions of learning have raised to disarm sus- picion. Have we not evidence enough against them in the fact that they themselves have repeatedly proclaimed their vile and godless tenets to the world through the medium of the press, and that too under the seal and authority of their general? Let us watch them with care. Por amid every apparent change of direction, their ultimate purpose is never lost sight of This fact we must bear in mind too, in our estimate of their schools. What though the butcher seeks out the greenest and fairest pastures for his lambs, shall we, on that account, praise him ? But the pasture of youth in the schools of the Jesuits was neither fair nor green. To view aright these gloomy and sinister institutions of the Jesuits, with their dark, joyless, and soul-destroying aims, it will be well to call to our minds the open-hearted adnionitions of Luther, to his " beloved Germans," admonitions prompted by the love of a. true pas- tor. " And, though there be some who deem me of too little conse- quence to give heed to my counsel, yet I hope that one day they will see that I did not seek my own, but only the welfare and the inter- ests of the entire German nation." • How different the teachings of Luther ! Says he ; "The schoolmaster should seek to impart to children that knowledge that will make them good men. He should not minister to dissension and hatred, nor speak evil of monks or any other class, as many indiscreet teachers are wont to do," , EARLY SCHOOL CODES OF GERMANY. I. DUCHY OF WIRTEMBERG. [Translated from the German of Karl Von Raumer, for the American Journal of Education.] The schools of Trotzendorf, Neander, and Sturm, formed the gen- eral model upon which the schools of the sixteenth century were or- ganized, a model imitated with greater or less exactness, however, in the different German states, according to their varying position and demands. The truth of this remark will appear from an examination of the school codes' of Wirtemherg and Saxony, that were published in the second half of this (sixteenth) century. The Wirtemberg code, to which we shall first advert, is to be found incorporated in the Grand Ecclesiastical Order, so-called, issued in the year 1659, by Duke Christopher, and, after receiving the formal sanc- tion of the assembled states at the Diet of 1565, accepted as an inte- gral part of the constitution of the government, and approved by suc- cessive revisions at different periods, as in 1582, 1G60, etc. In the preamble to this code, its purpose is stated as follows : "To carry youth from the elements through successive grades to the degree of culture demanded for offices in the church and in the state.'' TEUTSCII (GERMAN) SCHOOLS. The " Teutsch " schools formed the lowest grade, in which boys and girls, separate from each other, received instruction in reading, writing, religion, and sacred music. Arithmetic was left out of the account here; although afterward we find it required of the schoolmaster, that he be " of a good understanding to teach both reading and fig- ures." In the matter of discipline, the master was cautioned " to use the rod on all proper occasions, but .never to seize the children by the hair, etc." And in order that the service of the school might wholly engage the attention of the teacher, " wherever any sacristan is now reijuired to do beadle and mass service, for the future he may be re- leased therefrom." Such " Teutsch" schools, moreover, were to be set up "in the little villages and hamlets," where there were no higher institutions in ex- istence ; but, together with these, " in each and every city, large or small, as well as in the principal villages or hamlets, Latin schools hke- wise were to be founded." These last were also called private schools. 252 SCHOOL CODE OP WIRTEMBERG. LATIN BCHOOLS. A fully equipped Latin school was to include, according to the code of Duke Christopher, five classes, to which Duke Louis added a sixth. This number, however, in thinly settled hamlets, was reduced, so that in some instantes we find but one class in a school. ^ Where the classes were sufficiently full, they were to be divided into decurice; and each decuria, as in the school of Sturm, had its decurion, elected weekly, whose duty it was to take the general "oversight of his comrades." The lowest class was called Prima. The boys in this class learned to read Latin. The teachers were particularly admonished to require the boys "to pronounce the vowels and consonants in a dear and dis- tinct manner, and according to the usage of the Latin language rather than that of the vernacular.'' Those who, "from natural backwardness, are unable to pronounce all the letters, should be, as much as possible, practiced upon words of a smooth and gliding accent." The paradigms of the etymology were taught, Cato read, and two Latin words, taken from the Nomenclatura rerum, were daily assigned to each scholar, to copy and commit to memory. Second Class. — In this, Cato and the "Mimi PuhHanV were ex- pounded, word by word, and the declensions and conjugations were continued ; " with the other parts of speech (i. e., . other than nouns substantive and adjective, and verbs,) the boys in the lower decuria were not to be perplexed ; " but, in the upper decurice, all the parts of speech were to be learned, syntax begun, and translations made from the Latin catechism. Moreover, the preceptor was enjoined to " ques- tion and drill the boys in phrases," to see how they would express this or that particular phrase in Latin ; for at this point Latin conversation was the chief subject of attention. Exercises in music were likewise required. Third Glass.- — In this class, lessons were recited from the "Fables of Camerarius " and the " Dialogues of Cattalio," and " fine phrases were pointed out therein," for the boys " to put to use, both in writing and in speech." They were likewise introduced to the '' choice epis- tles of Cicero," and to Terence. The latter was to be committed to memory. "And, since Terence wrote with gi'eat elegance and purity, the boys should read over his expressions often, and that attentively, and should also turn them into good German, 'that so their own Latin, both written and colloquial, may be improved.' " At the read- ing of Terence, the teachers " should be specially careful to give prom- inence to the design and purpose of the author, how he does not him- self advocate every thing that is said, but depicts various vices and SCHOOL CODE OF WIRTEMBERO, 253 iispositions in the person of his various characters ; for instance, where Miiio says — ' JVbre est flagitium (crede miki) adolescentem scor- Ion, neque potare, neque fores effringere,' etc. ; here the boys are to inderstand that these words do not express the real sentiments of the iTiiter." " Again, these and the like passages should be used by the jreceptor, to show how those benighted pagans knew nothing of 3rod and his word ; in, short, a diligent care should be exercised, on all )ccasions, that the tender minds of the young receive no evil bias." Syntax was then taken up, combined with " exercises in style ; " ind in these the pupil was instructed " to imitate the periods of au- ;hors, gleaned from suitable readings." Patience and perseverance vere especially commended to teachers, in their corrections of the vritten essays of their scholars. Fourth Class.— Gicecoh " Letters to his Fi-jends," the treatises on ' Friendship," and on " Old Age,'' and Terence were read in this class, ^fter finishing syntax, the elements of prosody were taken up. Also ;he rudiments of Greek grammar were learned, and translations made i'om the smaller Greek catechism of Brentius. Fifth Class.' — Those boys who, while passing through the four first ilasses, ',' ha,d beep sufficiently exercised and perfected in grammar, so hat they spoke Latin with tolerable freedom, and had besides mas- ered the elements of Greek," were in this class to be confirmed " in ,11 the studies to which they had previously attended." They were then to read Cicero's "Familiar Letters,'' and his "Of- ices," also Ovid "de Tristibus," the Gospels in Greek and in Latin, ,nd, in, addition, to give their attention to prosody and to exercises in tyle. Sixth Class, — "After the boys have been thoroughly drilled in rammar, they are in this class to be made acquainted with logic and lietoric." They were to read, beside Cicero's Speeches and Sallust, be ^neid of Virgil, " that they may thereby grow accustomed to lie elegancies of the Latin tongue, and to a pure, poetical diction." In their exercises in/ style, "regard should be paid not to the quan- ity but the quality of their compositions, and to their successful imi- ition of the idiom and the phraseology of Cicero." In Greek, they were to go through with the grammar, and to read de Cyropsedia and the larger catechism of Brentius. Music, especially sacred, both in German and Latin words, was boroughly practiced by all the classes, and the recitations of the day rere always introduced with the singing of the '^Veni sancte Spiriius," r the " Veni Creator Spiritus.^' The boys were also obliged, " as well out of as in school, to con- 254 SCHOOL CODE OF WIRTEMBERG. verse with each other in Latin, not in German," and " every week to write ' letters.' " A comparison of the Wirtemberg school code with that of Sturm reveals a most surprising similarity between them both, in their re- spective aims, as well as in the means by which in each case that aim was reached. The Wirtemberg boj's were required to be " devout. God-fearing, modest, and obedient, and to be faithful in attendance on school and in study." Teachers were repeatedly cautioned against too great severity, especially in the infliction of corporeal punishment. THE CLOISTER BOHOOLS. Duke Christopher's chief care was to provide his people with gOod spiritual guides. For the education of such, he founded, in the year 1556, cloister schools, so-called, upon the endowments of the disfran- chised monasteries, so that these might be, according to their original design, again enlisted in the service of the church. At an annual ex- amination held by authority at Stuttgart, the most promising boys, of twelve or fourteen years of age, at the Latin schools, were transferred to the cloister schools, and there educated without charge, until they were fitted to enter the University of Tubingen. At their entrance into the cloister schools, the promise was exacted of them, to continue faithfully in the study of theology, and, exceptunder permission from the duke, never to engage in any foreign service^ ThQ"Church Order" divided the cloister schools into lower and higher ; the former were also styled grammar schools. Boys went, as we have stated above, in their twelfth or fourteenth year, from the Latin school, into the cloister grammar school. They were obliged, beforehand^ to have completed the studies of the third class ; for in the cloister school they receivea. nearly the same instruction that was imparted in the fifth and the sixth of the Latin schools. To this there was, moreover, added much theological doctrine, bearing upon their future course. From the grammar schools, they went up into the higher cloister schools. Here they read Cicero, Virgil, and Demosthenes, and took up Greek grammar ; they also continued logic and rhetoric, and practiced singing, in connection with the study of a Compendium of musical science. Up to this point, they were wholly upon old ground. But nbw, other and new branches demanded their attention; viz., arithmetic and astronomy, the latter most probably taught out of the '■^Sphere of Sacro Bosco." Meanwhile, frequent exercises in style were insisted on, in order " to attain to the purity and elegance of the Latin tongue.'' Some short collection of phrases was to be learned by heart, and reference " should SCHOOL CODE OF WIRTEMBERO. 255 be freely made to tlie ' Phrases out of Cicero and Terence, collected by certain scholars, and now first put into print.' " The preceptor "should himself, with such phrases as he had collected in his reading during the week, compose a Latin treatise, inventing his argument in such a manner, that well-considered phrases may be fitly woven into its expression ; for he ought, by all means, to avoid afiectation, and to use embeUishments only where they grow out of the subject. Such treatises he should translate into good German, and dictate the same to the boys, bidding them turn it again into pure and elegant Latin, for which purpose he may remind them to use their own com- mon-place books, already prepared of words and phrases from Cicero, Terence, Virgil, and otlier good authors. The preceptor must " strike out every phrase which is not sanctioned by some approved author," " and at last he should read over to the boys the Latin treatise which he has himself already prepared from the same phrases, and they should listen attentively, in order to see how skill- fully the preceptor has joined these phrases together ; that they may learn how to follow his lead, and attain to his excellence." Every where we find the same grand aim ; i. e., imitation of classical authors. And those earlier ^holars fancied themselves genuine imitators and pure classical writers, when they had merely put together, witli great care and pains, phrases borrowed from the classics. That they did not learn from the classics, as did Wieland, how to write German well, is sufficiently evident from the composition of the foregoing citations.* Every two weeks, disputations were to be held upon questions of grammar, logic, rhetoric, or the sphere, {^^Sphoerica lectio.'''') The discipline of these cloister schools was the more strict, inas- much as more was demanded of boys who were destined for the clerical office. UNIVERSITV. When the cloister scholars had reached J;he age of 16 or 17, they entered the university. They were first examined ; and those who liad passed a good examination were admitted to the Tubingen Foundation, and, during their entire university course, received a gratititous maintenance. And here, too, they were subjected to a strict discipline. Besides their particular department of theology, they paid special attention to Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, prosecuted logic, rhetoric, and mathematics more thoroughly, and were kept at exercises in style, together with disputations. The Foundation was " Take for instance the following ; " Kein phrasin die nicht ex probato autiiore herkommen passireii lassen," 256 SCHOOL CODE OF WIRTEMBERO. sufficiently ample for the support of one hundred and fifty students. Its privileges however were extended only to native-born Wirtem- bergers, who were destined for the sacred office. Such was the Wirtemberg school system, beginning in the "IVwiscA" or elementary schools, and ending in the university. But it did not entirely answer the expectations even of its founder, Duke Christopher. The private schools especially often proved a failure ; as, in many places, " from the scarcity both of teachers and pupils," they were not fully organized, having only the lower classes. For this reason, the Duke founded in eight cities special private schools with more classes — the principal of these was at Stuttgart ; this con- tained five classes, to which Duke Louis added a sixth. This latter school was a perfect reahzation of the plan of instruction of Louis, being a fully equipped private school, in which boys were. thoroughly fitted for the university.* They read the speeches of Cicero, Virgil, the comedies of Frischli- nus, and practiced writing, both in Latin and Greek, both diffuse and compact, {exercitia styli Latini, Qrceci, soluti, ligali.) They attended also to music, astronomy, logic, and rhetoric ; we find mention made likewise of physics and ethics. And because, in 1599, complaints were made of the neglect of the Greek language, the grammar of Crusius and the Cyropsedia were introduced into the school. Afterward, in the year 1686, " this school was reorgan- ized into the form and shape of a completely-equipped gymnasium;" both studies and classes being raised. The external organization of the Wirtemberg schools of the present day, agrees in the main with that of the 16th century. In addition to the German elementary schools, the duchy can now boast of 83 Latin schools. From these, those pupils destined for the ministry, who distinguish themselves at the official examinations, are sent to the four cloister seminaries at Maulbronn, Urach, Blaubeuren, and Schonthal, among which there is now no longer the ancient distinction of lower and higher. For example, thirty scholars entered, in the year 1828, the seminary , of Schonthal, taking the places of those, previously there, who had just left for Tubingen. These thirty new scholars formed a promotion, so called, and remained there four years; until, in 1832, at the end of the summer semester, they all left for the university. In the same manner, every year, one of the four cloister schools dismisses its scholars, and admits at the same time a new promotion, so that every year the Tubingen "The course oi instruction pursued in this school toward the close of the 16th century may he seen in the ■'Swabian Magazine " for 1776, part 1, page 412. In 1674 the school num- bered'312 pupils. SCHOOL CODE OF SAXONY. 257 Foundation receives from one of the four cloister schools not far from thirty scholars. But although the external organization of the present Wirtemherg schools appears thus similar to that of the schools of the 16th cen- tury, yet, on a comparison of their internal economy, we discover a most marked diflFerence. A new educational ideal, developed chiefly within the last seventy years, has introduced new subjects of instruction, and inaugurated new methods of teaching. To speak but of a single branch, viz., the classics. Under the ol4 system, but three of the Latin classics, Cicero, Terence, and Virgil, were read ; while now seven others are included in the curriculum, and eight Greek classical authors have now taken a place side by side with the Cyropaedia and Demosthenes of those days. Now, too, instruction in French and German is regarded as of equal importance with that in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. We have likewise, among our modern branches of education, geography, history, and natural philosophy ; and, with logic, we have the new science of anthropology. ir. SCHOOL CODE OF SAXONY, 1580. In the year 1580 there appeared in the Electorate of Saxony the "Kules and Regulations of Augustus, Elector of Saxony,'' to be ob- served by the churches, universities, and schools, both royal and pri- vate, throughout his dominions. If. we compare these ordinances closely with the Wirtemberg school code of Duke Christopher, we shall find a most remarkable similarity between them; and, in fact, a great portion of this Saxon edict was borrowed, word for word, from the Wirtemberg. The "Teutsch" schools "in the villages and thinly-settled hamlets " were, in Saxony, as in Wirtemberg, set apart for elementary instruction in reading, writing, and religious doctrine. Here, also, there was no mention made of arithmetic, although the Wirtemberg Ecclesiastical Order required of schoolmasters " that they understand it." Private schools in Saxony, as in Wirtemberg, were the next highest in grade; and there as well as here they were divided into five classes. With a few slight exceptions, the Saxon system was almost a literal transcript of the Wirtemberg. The chief difference between them was this, viz., that in the Saxon schools arithmetic was carried in the fourth class through division, and finished in the fifth ; while in those of Wirtemberg it was not taught at all. With regard to music, (and by consequenbe to musical instruction,) the Augustan code thus strin- gently and wisely ordained: "Pastors shall give diligent heed that 258 SCHOOL CODE OF SAXONY. lione of the pieces of the cantators, where these are also composers, nor any new pieces whatever, be sung ; but only the music of such learned and worthy old masters as Josquin, Clement, (not the Pope,) Orlandus, and the like ; and, above all, that all airs of a light and las- civious character be avoided ; for all the music chosen ought to be solemn, noble, and inspiring, so that the people may be charmed into a devout and Christian frame of mind." The private schools of Saxony were unconnected with any special theological institutions, as in Wirtemberg ; but in their stead there were royal schools at Meissen, Grimme, and Pforten, which were founded " for the benefit of all future generations." Each of these schools were divided into three classes, and each class into decurice, all under decu- rions. Boys were to remain at these royal schools six years. Before their admissioA they were required to have gone through the third class in one of the private schools. Nevertheless, in the first or lowest class of -the royal schools, the course of study in that third was to be repeated, viz., etymology, the Mimi Puhliani, Cato, and the Familiar Letters of Oicero. So, likewise, the course in the second class of the royal schools agreed in part with that of the fourth - of the private schools. Latin, syntax, the Familiar Letters, the Bucolics of Virgil, Ovid's Pontus, Tibullus, select Latin poetry, elementary Greek, with Ji]sop's Fables in Greek, and, lastly, arithmetic and music. In the third or highest class of the royal schools, the whole of Melancthon's Latin grammar, with the additions of Camerarius, was studied, and there was read of Cicero the Offices, Old Age and Friendship, and the Tusculan Questions, Virgil's Georgics and ^neid, and the Odes of Horace; in Greek, Isocrates, the Thsogony of Hesiod, the Golden Lines of Pythagoras, and the first book of the Iliad, and Plutarch on the Education of Children. Instruction was also given in the elements of Hebrew, in logic and rhetoric, Sacro Bosco on the " Sphere,''' and the " Rudiments of Astronomy " of M. Blebellius. Above all, the boys we?e to "learn to read and write good Latin in an elegant as well as intelligible manner ; " for this purpose to collect phrases, to giv? much attention to Cicero, to write many essays, etc. " The corhedies of Terence and Plautus they (the teachers) shall cause the boys to per- form throughout the year, and in this way accustom them to speak Latin with elegance." Yet the teachers should separate the poison from the honey, and should instruct their pupils " carefully to avoid and eschew the vices which these poets have depicted both in young men and old." Upon the office and qualification^ of teachers, rectors especially, and the doctrine and discipline to be observed in schools, the Saxon code No. 17.— [Vol. VI., No. 3.]— 28. SCHOOL CODE OF SAXONY. 259 contained mucli that was admirable. We find therein plain and straightforward rules, distinguished alike for their devout tone as for their shrewd common sense. In the /ear 1773, there appeared the well-known "Remodeled school code for the golfemment of the three royal and national schools of the Mectorate of Saxony." Its framer had before him the code of Augustus I., then of nearly 200 years' standing, and he appears to have translated this as faithfully as possible into the character and style of his own day. BuA, while both these codes agree with each other in the main, yet the new one vvas conformed to the demands of the new age, disclosing, for instance, an unmistakable tinge of the ra- tionalism of that age. The branches of study were more numerous ; notwithstanding the study of the classics still continued prominent, and the old modes of forming a Latin style, both written and spoken, were still retained. Hebrew was taught as formerly, and to this were added French, Italian, and English. Geography, history, and chro- nology were also particularized as subjects of study. With logic and rhetoric, natural theology and moral philosophy were combined, the text-books in these sciences being the well-known Initia of Ernesti. Since this code of 1773 appeared, a new educational era has dawned, and the character of Pforte has changed far more since 1773 than it had previously done during the long period from 1580 to 1773. UNIVERSITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [Translated for the American Journal of Education, from tlie German of Earl von Raumei.} The reader has doubtless been surprised to learn how muel* was left untaught, in the sixteenth century, in the schook. Geography and history were entirely omitted in every scheme of instruction, mathematics played but a subordinate part, while not a thought was- bestowed either upon natural philosophy or natural history. Every moment and every effort were given to the clsissical languages, chief- ly to the Latin. But we should be overhasty, should we conclude, without further inquiry, that these branches, thus neglected in the schools, were there- fore every where untaught. Perhaps they were reserved for the unii- versity alone, and there, too, for the professors of the philosophical faculty, as is the case even at the present day with natural philosophy and natural history ; nay, logic, which was a regular school study in the sixteenth century, is, in our day, widely cultivated at the univers- ity. We must, therefore, in order to form a just judgment upon the range of subjects taught in the sixteenth century, as well as upon the methods of instruction, first cast a glance at the state of the universi- ties of that period, especially in the philosophical faculties. A prominent source of information on this point is to be found m the statutes of the University of Wittenberg, revised by Melancthoiv in the year 1545. The theological faculty appears, by these statutes, to have con- sisted of four professors, who read lectures on the Old and New Tes- taments, — chiefly on the Psalms, Genesis, Isaiah, the Gospel of John„ and the Epistle to the Komans. They also taught dogmatics, com- menting upon the Nicene creed and Augustine's book, "J>a spiritu et. litera." ,The Wittenberg lecture schedule* for the year 1561, is to the sam& effect ; only we have here, besides exegesis and dogmatics, catechetics likewise. According to the statutes, the philosophical faculty was composed " This is to be found in Strobel's " New Contributions to Literature," who Kkewise cites an earlier one of the year 1507. 262 UNIVERSITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTCRY. of ten professors. The first was to read upon logic and rhetoric ; the second, upon physics, and the second book of Pliny's natural history ; the third, upon arithmetic and the "■Sphere " of John de Sacro Busto ; the fourth, upon Euclid, the "TheoricB Planetamm" of Burbach, and Ptolemy's "Almagest;" the fifth and sixth, upon the 'Latin poets and Cicero ; the seventh, who was the "Pedagogus,'' explained to the younger class, Latin Grammar, Linacer de emendata siructura Latini sermonis, Terence, and some of Plautus ; the eighth, who was the "Physicus," explained Aristotle's "Fhysics and Dioscorides ;^^ ' the ninth gave instruction in Hebrew ; and the tenth reviewed the Greek Grammar, read lectures on Greek Classics* at intervals, also on one of St. Paul's Epistles, and, at the same time, on ethics. The above requisitions of the statutes are likewise confirmed by the lecture schedule already alluded to. To the lectures were added declamations and disputes, and that alternating, so that on one Satur- day there woi^ld be declamations, on the next disputes, &c. In regard to lectures by jurists and medicists, the statutes are silent. But we learn ft'ora the lecture schedule, before cited, that seven jurists read upon the various departments of Boman and canon law ; of medicists, one discoursed upon the ninth boot of '^Rasis ad Almansorem, ;" a second read '■^Hippocratica et Galenica ;" a third, likewise upon Galen, and also upon Avicenna. Thus the philosophical faculty appears to have been the most. fully represented at Wittenberg, as it included ten professors, while the ■ theological had 'but four, the medical but three. The Elector John Frederick, in a new foundation-grant to the university, specified a i'faculty of '■^Artists*' the " origin and parent of all the other facul- ■'ties,'' and took it under his especial protection. Its functions over- stepped even the limits of •the curriculum, prescribed by the statutes. ■ Thus Melancthon read a historical course upon Carion's " Chronicon,'" lafi'did afterward his son-in-law, Peucer. A new chair, moreover, was established in 1572, when William Eabot, a native of Dauphiny, was ' iastalled in Wittenberg as professor of the French language. In his inaugural address, he spoke of the aflSnity between the Germans and the French, remarked that, according to the " lex Carolina,^' the Ger- man emperors were expected to understand French, and praised the elector, t)ecause he had called a special teacher to give instruction in the language. On a comparison of diiferent Protestant universities of the sixteenth 1 _— . • When MelanelUon waa a, student at Wittenberg, there existed no chair there for instrac. tioo iatke Sreek Jamguage; at Heidelberg, howeyer, Dionyeius Keuehlin had, prior to thia Pfa-joij, toeeo inducted iuto the office of Greek Professor. UNIVERSIlflES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 263 century, it appears that they all proposed to themselves essentially one and the same problem. This problem was, in part, entirely new ; though, in part also, an inheritance of the past, made new, however, or 'greatly modified, under the demands of that awakening age. We need only refer, in illustration of our statement, to the fact, that be- fore Erasmus there was no exegesis of the New Testament in the original, before Reuchlin none of the Old, and that Rudolf Agricola was the first to initiate a new style of commenting on and interpreting the ancient classics. But, as in our own day, we should not be in a condition to make a correct estimate of the value of our present schools and universities simply by consulting school-plans, governmental decrees, lecture sched- ules, and the like, but, must much rather, to avoid erroneous conclu- sions, inform ourselves, by careful observation, upon the internal econ- omy of these institutions, so neither can we decide upon the merits of the institutions of learning of former centuries, without putting them to a similar ordeal; Now there happens to have been preserved some indirect testimony to this point, going to show that studies in the sixteenth century, at least those of the, majority of students, by no means conformed to the idea which the reader will naturally form of them in the light of the preceding pages. A few examples will suffice in support of this assertion. The professor of mathematics and astronomy, at Wittenberg, Erasmus Eeinhold,* was an eminent scholar, who advocated the Copernican system ; but, in spite of his ability, " because of the general distaste for mathematical pursuits, he had few hearers." Melancthon wrote to Duke Albert, of Prussia, as follows: "Very few apply themselves to mathematics, and fewer still ar^ the men of wealth and influence who foster this study by their patronage. Our court pays scarce any heed to it." • To Spalatin he wrote : " There is urgent need of two instructors of mathematics in Wittenberg, that a science so absolutely indispensable, but now neglected, may come into honor." But the best proof we can give of the disrepute into which mathe- matics had then fallen, is to be found in the address of invitation of a Wittenberg mathematical Bocent. He eulogizes arithmetic, and implores students not to be intimidated by the difficulties th'at this study presents. The first elements are easy, and though the principles of multiplication and division require more diligence, yet the attent- ive can master them with ease. It is true there are parts of arith- metic which are much harder, " but," he continues, "I now speak only of these rudiments, which I am to teach, and which you will • Reinhold was born at Saalfeld, in 1511, and he died in 1552. His principal work was en- titled ^^Tabulae prutenicae coelestium motuum," 264 UNIVERSITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. find serviceable." We can scarcely trust our eyes, when we read such language as the above. In the year 1536, Melancthon read a course of lectures upon Ptole- my's Treatise, "i)e apotelesjnatibus etjudiciis astrorum." On finish- ing the first book, he announced the second in these terms: "It gives me pain to perceive that some of my hearers have already taken a dislike to so excellent an author." Then, after a panegyric upon Ptolemy's book, he continues: "It appears marvelous to me that so many can reject such a book. For, if we think of it, the life of a student is a continual warfare. Now it is not becoming in a soldier to grow weary and faint-hearted when every thing, does not go accord- ing to his wish. I therefore exhort all who began with me these lectures upon Ptolemy to come back. To those who have not desert- ed me, I oflFer my tribute of thanks." We might conclude that such a general indisposition to study had reference mainly to the department of natural science, and not to philology ; inasmuch as the latter was thq peculiar educational agent of that era. But it fared no better with Greek at Wittenberg, as we may learn from the following expressions of Melancthon. In 1531, he announced that he would give some lectures upon Homer : " I shall," said he^ " according to my custom, read gratis. But, as Homer in his life-time was needy and a beggar, so the same fate follows him now that he is dead. For this noblest of poets is compelled now to wander about imploring men to listen to him. He does not, however, , seek out those groveling souls, , bent only on gain, who, not content with resting in ignorance themselves, delight in crying down all noble learning, but turns rather to those free spirits who aim after perfect knowledge." There is preserved an announceraent from Melancthon, of the year 1533, of his lectures on the 4th Philippic of Demosthenes.* In this he says : "I had hoped, by disclosing to my hearers the grace of the second Olynthiac, to have allured them to a nearer acquaintance with Demosthenes. But I perceive that this generation has no ear for such authors. For there remain to me but few hearers, and these have not forsaken me lest I should he wholly discouraged ; for this courtesy, I thank them. But I shall, nevertheless, continue to dis- charge the duties of my. office. I shall commence these lectures to-morrow." But, on another occasion, Melancthon spoke in still stronger terras : " To-morrow it is my intention to begin my exposi- tion of the ^^ Antigone''' of Sophocles. And I would here utter an admo- nition, if I thought it would be at all heeded, in rebuke of the sbock- ■ The scarcity of printed copies of Demosthenes occasioned the request " that the students should transeribe Melanettion's copy." UNIVERSITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 265 ing bavbarism of manners that prevails around us.* But I must except a few of a heUev class, who have been my hearera thus far, and thank them." As at the schools, so also at the universities, Latin was the chief object of attention. And, while Greek was regarded with indifference, we have the authority pf Grohmann for the assertion that a special Professprship of Terence was founded by Frederick the "Wise. But we have a truer criterion by which to judge of the limited nature of the studies of that period, as compared with the vfide field which they cover at the present day, in the then almost total lack of academical apparatus and equipments. The only exception was to be found in the case of libraries ; but, how meager and insufficient all collections of books must have been at that time, when books were few in num- ber and very costly, will appear from the fund, for example, which was assigned to the Wittenberg library'; it yielded annually but one hundred gulden, (about 863,) with which, "for the profit of the uni- versity and chiefly of the poorer students therein, the library may be adorned and enriched with books in all the faculties and in every art, as well in the Hebrew and Greek tongues." f Of other apparatus, such as collections in natural history, anatomi- cal museums, botanical gardens, and the like, we find no mention ; and the less, inasmuch as there was no need of them in elucidation of * Thia strong expression of Metaiicthon's agrees throughout with many of his addresses, delivered to the students on the annual reading of the university statutes. Talce an extract, by way of example, from the address of the year 1533 : " Quorundam tania est ferocitas, ut contemptum disciplinae et legum, fortitudinem quandam esse putent. Jure deplorant omnes boni viri hoc tempore nimis laxatam esse disciplinam." " The barbarity of some is so great that they even think that a contempt for discipline and law is a part of (rue bravery." And again he says, in the address of 1537 : '* Nunquam juventus tam impaliens legum et disciplinae fuit, prorsus suo arbitrio, non alieno vult vivere. Non euim hominum sed Cyclopum hi mores sunt, totas noctes in publico tumultuari, furiosis clamoribus omnia complere, conviciis, lapidum jactn, armis in pacatos adeoque inermes atque innocentes hostilem in-jnodum debacchari,oppugnare honestorum civium aedes, effringere fores, fenestras, turbare somnum puerperis miserisque aegrotis ac senlbus, dissipare tabernas in foro, currus et quicquid occurrit." " Never were our youth so impatient of laws and of discipline, so determined to live after their own wills and not according to the wills of others. But it is the part, not of men, but of Cyclops, to make public tumults all night ; to fill w1)oIe neighborhoods with furi- ous outcries ; to make bacchanalian and even hostile assaults upon the unarmed and innocent with insults, throwing stones, and even with weapons ; to lay siege to the dwellings of respect- able citizens ; to break in their doors and windows, destroy the slumbers of women in child- bed, of the wretched, the sick, and the aged ; to demolish the booths in the market-pla»e, car- riages, and whatever else comes in the way." t The largest salaries then received by any of the professors at Wittenberg amounted to only two hundred gulden. The third medical professor had but eighty gulden. And the annual expenditure of the entire university did not exceed three thousand seven hundred and ninety-five gulden. And yet we find sumptuary edicts then in force, which forbade the rector, a doctor, &c., to entertain more than one hundred and twenty guests at any one time. But we should remember that a cord of wood could then be bought for six gToschen, a hare for two, and other things in proportion. " For board, lodging, and government, the student paid annually, to one of the professors, the sum of thirty gulden. 266 UNIVERSITIKS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. such lectures as the professprs ordinarily gave. When Paul Eber, the theologian, read lectures upon anatomy, h^ made no use of dis- section. And it was stated, as a remarkable event, that the medical lecturer, Schurf, in the year 1626, instituted an anatomical analysis of a human head. For it was not until some years after, that the special enactment, requiring two dissections annually, was passed. In Frankfort -on-the-Oder, Eggeling instituted the firet dissection in 1542. But much earlier, in 1482, Pope Sixtus IV. had issued a brief, in which the University of Tubingen received permission to dissect one subject every third or fourth year. It was not, however, until the middle of the sixteenth century, that the first anatomical museum was founded by the efforts of the talented Leonard Fox ; and, in 1569, the medical faculty were empowered to dissect the bodies of executed criminals.* The earliest mention that we find of a botanical garden at Tubin- gen is in 1652, at Wittenberg in 1668. Yet, at the latter place, it appears to have been a part of the duty of Professor Niemann, in 1624, "to take medical students, twice in each year, on a botanizing tour, {lierhatum.)\ The earliest regulations for the Tubingen cabinet of natural history are of the year IVTI. In the yepr 1603, Professor Joestelius, at Wittenberg, asked in vain for the erection of an observatory, and it was not until lV52 that Tubingen could boast of one. In the following pages we shall see how there grew up by degrees a strong desire, no longer to teach and to learn a traditional science of nature from books alone, but to question nature herself directly, without an interpreter ; meanwhile, what has been now advanced respecting academical institutes (apparatus,) may serve to point in advance to the period when a true realism was applied to the investi- gation of nature, and an enlightened humanism, moving in language as in its native element, penetrated through the form to the spirit of the ancient classics. , *The following inscription was placed over the door of the Wittenberg anatomical theater, where executed criminals were dissected : — " Qui vivi nocuere mali, post funera prosunt, - Et petit ex ipsa commoda morte stflus." " Here wicked men are found at last in useful ways, And here death shows us how to lengthen out our days." t As early as 1615, the University of Wittenberg sentenced a student, who had been i,on- victed of the crime of dueling, to pay a fine of three hundred gulden, hoping with the money to found a botanical garden, but the project failed through the inability of the student to pay VERBAL REALISM. [Translated for the American Journal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] Thus we perceive that the circle of studies, both at the schools and universities of that period (the sixteenth century, and thereabouts,) was extremely limited, compared with that of the present day. It is abundantly evident, as I have repeatedly remarked, that all the time and energy of youth was devoted to the acquisition and the practice of Latin eloquence. A many-years' course in grammar was submitted to for the sake of correctness of speech, in logic for the sake of precision of thought ; and history was taught in order to fur- nish the material for the display of rhetoric, either in speaking or in writing. Nothing was thought of, but disputations, declamations, and the acting of the plays of Terence. The classics were read merely for the purpose of gleaning from them phrases to be used in constructing Latin sentences; and, provided that an agreeable fullness and cadence was thereby secured to the expression, but little heed was given to the contents. Such we iind to have been the spirit of education among the Protestants, equally with the Jesuits ; Trotzen- dorf and Sturm, Wurtembergers and Saxons, agreeing herein with the Jesuit general, Claudius di Aquaviva. Nevertheless, in the more liberal-minded Erasmus, there appeared indications of a rebellion against this universal tendency : with him arose a new type of culture, which may be appropriately styled "verbal realism." This we will now endeavor to jmalyze, in order in the sequel to distinguish it more clearly from "real realism." Erasmus demanded of the grammarian or philologist (and it would really appear self-evident,) that he should learn many things, without which, he would be in no condition to understand the classics. For instancy, he insisted upon a knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and natural science. He did not, however, exact that perfect and full ac- quaintance with these topics possessed by the adept, but only a gen- eralknowledge of them all, which, nevertheless, was a great advance on the profound ignorance which had hitherto been acquiesced in. As in so many other literary aspirations and achievements, Melanc- thon, in this matter also, followed in the wake of Erasmus. We have seen that, even while at Tubingen, he did not rest contented with phi- lological pursuits alone, but used every endeavor to acquire universal Ko. 15.— [Vol. V., No. 3.]— 42. 268 VERBAL REALISM. knowledge, turning his attention to physics, mathematics, astronomy, history, and medicine, and all his life he remained true to this desire for universal culture. In, what spirit he studied all these sciences, especially the natural, he intimates in many places. Thus, in the dedication to his physics, addressed to Meienburg, the Mayor of Nordhausen, he says : "'Al- though the nature of things can not be absolutely known, nor the marvelous works of God be traced to their original, until in that future life we shall ourselves listen to the eternal counsel of the Fa- ther, Son, and Holy Spirit, nevertheless, even amid this our present darkness, every gleam and every hint of the harmony of this fair crea- tion forms a step toward the knowledge of God and toward virtue, whereby we ourselves shall also learn to love and maintain order and moderation in all our own acts. Since it is evident that men are en- dowed by their Creator with faculties fitted for the contemplation of nature, they must, of necessity, take delight in investigating the ele- ments, the laws, the motions, and the qualities or forces of the vari- ous bodies, by which they are surrounded." " The uncertainty which obtains with regard to so much in- nature," he says elsewhere, "should not deter us from our search, for it is none the less God's will that we trace out his footsteps in the creation." " Let us prepare ourselves," he continues, " for admission to that enduring and eternal Academy, where all the imperfections of our philosophy shall vanish in the im- mediate presence of the Master-Builder, who there shall Himself show us his own archetype of the world." " Many," he proceeds to say, " will smile at these Aristotelian be- ginnings ; but they are the rudiments of what is destined, one day, to become a perfected philosophy. Were the powers of men on a great- er scale than we find them, still their knowledge must, as now, pro- ceed from small beginnings. In such a plain and simple manner might Adam once have taught his son, Abel, philosophy ; pointing him to the heavens, the stars, the laid, the water, teaching him of the times and seasons, and, in all his teachings, directing him up to God the Creator." Further on he admonishes the learner, with an intelligent choice to read the best authors on physics, to avoid all controversy, and to make use of a faultless Latin style. "For," he says, "he who takes pains to weigh his words will form a clear conception of the objects he is describing. Where, on the contrary, a person coins uncouth and strange words, his ideas will be sure to be crude and anomalous ; as in the writings of Scotus and his fellows, yoii will not merely find the language corrupt, but likewise that vague shadows of trutfc, or it VERBAL REALISM. 269 may be dreams, have been summoned up, and new -words formed to express them.'' ♦■ Then he relates how Paul Eber, in connection -with himself, has projected the text-book in question, upon the basis of Aristotle. And he adds his caution against the course of those who deem it a mark of genius to make a parade of high-sounding sentiments; for "the right spirit in the quest of truth consists in the love of truth." Sci- ence must be applied to life. " The church too is benefitted by these physical studies; as, for instance, we have often to speak of the harmony of the creation, so, likewise, of the derangement of this harmony, and the evils which God has visited upon man in conse- quence of the fall." While preparing his psychology, in which he treats of the entire nature of man, be sought an interview with the Nuremberg doctors of medicine, and requested the celebrated Leon- ard Fox to send him communications upon anatomy, temperaments, &c. His enthusiasm for astronomy, he expresses thus, in his preface to John Sacrobusto's book on the sphere. This book he thinks pefcu- liarly adapted to schools, " because the author understood how, from the great mass of astronomical facts, to select the simplest and most essential." Then he praises the study of astronomy, and quotes, with commendation, Plato's saying, " that it was to gaze upon the stars that eyes were given to men. For to look at it, the eye itself would seem to bear an aflSnity to the stars." " And then too, the perdurable har- mony of the stariy heavens bespeaks a God. Thus, philosophers, who despised astronomy, were atheists, denying our immortality. The in- terpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and the conduct of life, equally called for a knowledge of astronomy. What would become of men, had they no chronology for the past, no calendar for the present ? Neither the church nor the state could stand without it." And further on, he lauds the Germans, Purbach and Kegiomontanus, through whose labors, astronomy, after being in disrepute for centuries, had been again brought into honor. Thus those Epicurean theologians, who scorned and rejected, not astrology alone, but a firmly -based scientific astronomy also, had more nebd of the physician than the geometer, to be cured of their madness. In the preface to his edition of Ara- tus, addressed to Hieronymus Baumgartner, he says, " the knowledge of nature we must learn from the Greeks ; Aratus throws light upon much in the Latin poets." And against the enemies of mathematics, he bears the following testimony, in a letter to Camerarius, " I can only laugh over your anger that my recommendation of mathematics has been condemned. In it I had no other aim, than to restore to " the schools the right use of this science, and to allure youth to the a'rO VERBAL REALISM. study of it. This I have desired, and for this will I labor, so long as any opportunity is left to me to help forward the cause of sound learning." But how ill i^ must have fared with the mathematics, when, as we have elsewhere cited, the mathematical professor at Wit- temberg, lectured upon simple numbers, or the four primary elements of arithmetic ; this fact, of itself, forms a practical comment on the entire neglect into which arithmetic had fallen in the schools. But much as Melancthon's defense of astronomy and mathematics merits our approval, yet we must not close our eyes to the fact that, he, like so many of^^his contemporaries, was a firin believer in the su- persfitions of astrology.* In support of this belief, he cites the say- ing of Aristotle, that " the world is under the dominion of the heav- ens." Neither the learned treatise of Picus di Mirandola against as- trology, nor Luther's hearty contempt for it, could ever wean him from this superstition, as is evinced by the practical use he made of it throughout his life. In common with many eminent astronomers of >that day, he ad- hered to the Ptolemaic system, and this, although his friend and col- league, Erasmus Reinhold, was among the first to recognize the claims of Copernicus. And truly, what an entire change, both in modes of thought as well as in text-books, was called for by that great work of Copernicus, "Ore the revolutions of the heavenly bodies;'' for it re- quired every work on astronomy to be rewritten, every opinion, and every method of instruction, to be reconsidered. Allusion has already been made, in another part of this work to Luther's earnest and lively recommendation of the study of the "real" sciences, such as history, mathematics, astronomy, and music. But, despite all the expostulations of Erasmus, Melancthon, and Lu- ther, these studies, as we have had occasion to observe, were sadly neglected, both at school^ and universities ; nor did they begin to re- ceive a gradually increasing attention until the seventeenth century. But what are " reals," and what is "realism?" These questions are not easy to answer, even after all that we have said in elucidation of them. Our task, however, will be simplified, if we divest our- selves of the views and conceptions obtaining on this subject at the present day, and confine our thoughts to the sixteenth century. The philologist of that period aimed, in the study of the classics, at a two- fold object. In the first place, he applied himself merely to the lan- * He thus writes of his son-in-law, Sabinus :— " Sabinus is of a liead-strong nature, and will not listen to advice ; tills is due to tlie conjunction of Mars and Saturn, at his nativity, a fact which I ought to have talten into account, when he asked the hand of my daughter." And, because the mathematician, Hassfurt, who' cast his nativity when he was a boy, had predicted that peril would befall him from the North Sea, and the Baltic, he declined invitations both to Denmark and to England. I VERBAL REALISM. 2Tl guage of ancient authors, grammatically, as he considered its ety- mological and syntactical forms; critically, as he scrutinized the accu- racy of the text; and sesthetically, while he weighed the expression and the rhythm of the prose writer or the meter of the poet. At the same time he read both prose and poetry, with constant reference to a more and more perfect imitation of them, both in speaking and in writing. And, secondly, he applied himself to the contents, whatever they might be, whether they related to war or to peace, to affairs of state, to nature, art, mythology, etc. This study of the contents of an author was afterward styled the study of " reals," to distinguish it from that of language alone. Such was that study upon which Eras- mus and Melancthon laid so much stress ; but it was nevertheless by no means conducted independently of the ancients, being based in great part upon their writings, and then, in turn, used as indispens- able aids in their interpretation. Let the reader imagine himself, on the one hand, regarding solely the language of the classics, and taking their subject into account only where this is required to throw light on the words ; and, on the other hand, penetrating to the subject-matter of an author, and giv- ing no more attention to the phraseology than is absolutely necessary to an understanding of that subject-matter. In this latter case, his ideal will be to convert the language into a perfectly transparent me- dium, and to read the classics without embarrassment, as though Greek or Latin were his mother tongue. Reading- the classics out of pure regai'd for the languftge, belongs chiefly to the professional philologist. This study of language, in and for itself, might be called pure philology, after the analogy of the pure mathematics. These have to do, for instance, with unknown quantities, with numbers in the absolute, with algebraic formulae. And, as the pure mathematics are applied to astronomy, optics, acous- tics, etc., becoming the handmaid to these sciences, so pure philology ministers to the purposes of the historian, the archaeologist, etc. This contest between " reals " and " verbals," had presented itself, as we have seen, to the minds, both of Erasmus and Melancthon ; but the terms "reals" and "realism" were not, so far as I can learn, employed by either of them. Nor is this strange^ if we consider that they flouiished near the period when the term " realism," intro- duced by the scholastics, as contrasted with " nominalism," had a meaning wholly unlike that of the same term in its present accepta- tion. When this terra first began, to Change its original meaning, we may gather from a treatise by the well-known philologist, Taubmann, 212 VERBAK REAUSM. which appeared in the year 1614. In thi? he says, "tbere is one thing which has often excited my surprise, and that is, if any one devotes unusual care to the acquisition of a graceful and elegant style, young men, and sometimes even the teachers of young men, will call him, by way of derision, philologist, critic, and grammarian, or, in one word, verbalist; but to themselves they arrogate the new name of realists, thereby intimating that their concern is with things alone, while those others, wholly absorbed in language, overlook the matter spoken of." It will be observed that realists are here contrasted, not with hu- manists, but with verbalists. Verba valent sicut nummi. Evidently, then, the realists to whom Taubmann alludes, found their advantage in fastening upon their opponents the epithet verbalists ; for thereby they branded them as dealers in words, who pursued the shadow and lost the substance. In our day, however, the tables are turned, since the verbalists have assumed the new title of humanists, and, by so do- ing, have given the realists, in no vague manner, to understand that they count them for barbarians, and, as such, destitute of all enno- bling culture. " But," my readers may ask,- " what is to be understood by the ex- pression ' verbal realism ? ' Is it not a contradiction in',terras ? " Ap- parently it is ; yet we shall see, in the sequel, that besides the general distinction between " verbals " and " reals," there also subsists a two- fold division of realism itself; viz., into verbal and real. Some in- dications of this latter division we have already met, in the close of our sketch of the earlier universities. Here, for instance, astronomy was taught vfithont an observatory, anatomy without dissections, bota- ny without herbals, natural philosophy without experiments, all from books, — Aristotle, Pliny, Aratus, Galen, etc., — and this knowledge was then made use of in turn for the elucidation of the same books from whence it was drawn. Such was "verbal realism" in those times, and such is it likewise in our day ! The meaning that we at- tach, on the other hand, to the phrase " real realism," will appear more clearly in the light of the succeeding chapter upon Lord Bacon. LORD BACON, HIS PHILOSOPHY, AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON EDUCATION. (Translated from the German of Von Raumer, for the American Journal of Education.) Francis Bacon was born at London, on the 22d of January, 1561. His father, Nicholas Bacon, was Lord Keeper of the Seal, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; his mother, whose maiden name was Anna Cook, was a pious and highly intellectual lady, well versed both in the Greek and Latin classics. When quite young, Bacon displayed such a mature judgment, that Queen Elizabeth, who took great pleas- ure in conversing with him, addressed him as her little Keeper of the Seal. When not quite sixteen years of age, he was placed at Trinity College, Cambridge. His principal instructor there was John Whit- gift, a doctor of theology, and afterward Archbishop of Canterbury. While at Cambridge, he bestowed diligent study upon Aristotle, but with all his regard for him, he conceived a distaste for his doctrines ; and, even from this early period, we may date the commencement of his warfare against scholasticism. After he had completed his education at the university, his father, wishing to initiate him in politics, commended him to the charge of Paulett, English ambassador at the Court of France. During Ba- con's residence at Paris, his father died, leaving but a moderate prop- erty to be divided between himself and his four brothere. In aflw yeare, his brother Anthony bequeathed him an independent fortune. On his return to England, he applied himself with ardor to the study of law, and was soon chosen councilor by Elizabeth ; but she did not advance him to any higher post of honor. This was re- served for James I., who made him Lord High Chancellor, with th& titles of Verulam and Vice-Count St. Albans. He married the daughter of a wealthy London alderman, whose name was Burnham, by whom, however, he had no issue. Six years before his death, he was deposed from his oflBce. And that he had been guilty of misdemeanor therein, is, alas ! but too evident. He was convicted of having used his high judicial function in the service of bribery, and James L could do no more than miti- gate the sentence that was pronounced against him, nor could he 274 I-OKD BACON. ever afterward recover the influence that he had lost, though he sought it with the most fulsome flatteries. It is truly painful to see a man of such commanding talents sink into such depths of moral degradation. It would appear, in some instances, as if an over-exertion of the intellectual powers operated to the injury of the moral nature ; since constant mental labor leaves no time for self-consecration and self-conquest, yea, in the end, destroys all power and capacity therefor, — so much does such labor engross the whole ^an. But the closing years of Bacon's life redounded to the inestimable advantage of science ; for he gave his undivided attention to it, after his removal from the service of the state. He died on the 9th of April, 1626, in the 66th year of his age, having lived to be three years older than Shakspeare, whom he sur- vived ten years. Seldom have two such eminent men lived at the same time, and in the same place, — men of such vast, and yet oppo- site endowments. It would almost appear that, in Bacon, the genius of prose, in Shakspeare, of poetry, came into the world in person : in. one, an understanding, the highest, clearest, most searching, and me- thodical ; and, in the other, an imagination of unbounded creative capacity. The poet, it is true, manifested a keen intellectual insight, together with a wonderfully comprehensive knowledge of human na- ture ; but we can hardly concede to Bacon much of that sense of beauty which is so marked an attribute of the poet. Both of them, however, were alike in achieving superior fame by the exercise of their understanding, and in suffering the glory of that fame to be tarnished by the abuse of their imagination. How far justice was meted out to Bacon, we shall be better able to judge iathe sequel. A third great genius, born in the same decade with Shakspeare and Bacon (1571,) deserves mention here, as ranking with the mightiest minds that the world ever produced ; I refer to Kepler. But what a remarkable contrast does the mutual non-intercourse of these three giant spirits present to the warm and living fellowship that subsisted between Luther and Melancthon. It is as though they Lad not known of each other's existence. Bacon, notwithstanding the imi- Mrsalitj of his writings, has no where made mention of Shakspeare ; he treats of dramatic poetry, but utters not a syllable in regard to the greatest dramatist " that ever lived in the tide of times," although this one was even his fellow-citizen. So, likewise. Bacon treats often of astroiiomy, and introduces Copernicus and Galileo, but Kepler never. And yet, Kepler must have been known to him, for, in the year 1618, ie dedicated his great work, "Jlarmonice Mundi" to the LORD BACON. 275 self-same King James whom Bacon revered as his great patron, and, in many of his own dedications, had styled a second Solomon. Bacon's works have appeared in repeated editions, both in separate treatises and in a collected form. Many of them have no bearing upon our present inquiry; such, for instance, as the ^'■Political Speeches," the "Essays, Civil and Moral," the "History of the Reign of Henry VII" etc. On the contrary, his philosophical works proper are of the utmost value in their relation to the science of ed- ucation, although, on a cursory glance, it may not appear so. What Bacon advanced directly on this subject, is comparatively unimport- ant ; but the indirect influence which, as the founder of the inductive method of philosophizing upon nature, or " real realism^' as I have elsewhere styled it, he exerted upon education, this, though we are unable always to analyze it, is nevertheless invaluable. The reader will therefore follow me without surprise, if, in the succeeding pages, I shall appear to have lost sight, for a time, of the purely educational element. Bacon has himself given us a sketch of the great philosophical work, which he designed to write, and parts of which he completed. The work was called "Instauratio Magna,^' and it was divided into six parts. The first part was an encyclopedia of all human learning, whether ancient or modern. In this he purposed, especially, to point out deficiencies, and suggest new subjects of inquiry. This part we have ; it is the "De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum,'" is in nine books, and is the best known of all his works. Some portions of it are completely elaborated ; others consist of a more or less thor- oughly meditated plan. The second part of the "Instauratio Mag- na," Bacon ^published under the title of "Novum Organum, Sive judicia vera de interpretatione Naturae" He worked upon this part for many years ; at his death, there were found twelve different elab- orations of it. It is a collection of great thoughts, remarkable for their depth, their freshness, and the extreme nicety with which they are adjusted, the one to the other, — and all are intelligibly expressed in aphorisms, whose every word we feel has been carefully weighed. The third part of the "Instauratio Magna " was designed to pre- sent a collection of the facts of natural history, and experimental phi- losophy, or " Fhcenomena universi :" some portions of this were com- pleted. In the fourth part, or " Scala intellectus," Bacon gives special applications of his philosophy in examples of the correct method of investigating nature. The fifth, or " Anticipationes philosophice secun- doe^' was to be a sketch of the preparations of preceding ages for the final introduction of the new philosophy ; while the sixth was to em- 276 LOttD BACON. body the new philosophy, in all its completeness and grandeur. This crowning part of the whole work Bacon left wholly untouched. We shall confine our attention, at the present time, however, chiefly to the two first and completest divisions of this great work, viz., to the "Be augmentis seientiarum" and the "JVovum Organum." But, in order to judge Bacon aright, we must first cast a glance at the in- tellectual character, not only of the age in which he lived, but of the centuries just preceding. We have seen that, in those centuries, supreme homage was paid to the word alone in all books, in disputations and declamations, and that thinking men displayed neither sense nor feeling for any thing but language, deriving from this, and basing upon this, all their knowledge. Every avenue to nature, to a direct and independent in- vestigation of the external world, was closed. That gifted monk,. Koger Bacon, a most worthy predecessor of Lord Bacon, was, in the middle ages, regarded as a magician ; and, as a magician, suffered per- secution, because he was not content to view nature through the eyes of Aristotle, choosing rather to go himself to the fountain-head and converse with her, face to face. He maintained that men ought not to be satisfied with traditional and accepted knowledge. Eeason and experience were the two sources of science ; but experience alone was the parent of a ;well-grounded certainty, arid this true empiricism had hilierto been wholly neglected by most scholars. That Roger Bacon did not' speak of experimental knowledge, as a blind man would dis- course of colors, is proved by some remarkable expressions of his, an- ticipatory and unambiguous, upon spectacles, telescopes, and gun- powder. But Roger stood alone in , that age of the world, like a solitary preacher in the desert ; and hence it was that he was re- garded with wonder, as a ma^cian, and persecuted. But that which showed in Roger Bacon as mere anticipation, and obscure prophecy, appeared, after the lapse of three hundred years, full-formed and clear in Francis Bacon. Even as Luther came forth to strip off the thick veil of human traditions, that had been woven over the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures, distorting ,its fea- tures, concealing it, and even burying it in obhvion, for multitudes of his fellow men, so did Bacon make war upon the traditions and pos- tulates of men, which had quite darkened over the revelation of God, in the material world- He wished men no longer to put their faith in arbitrafy and fanciful glosses upon this revelation, but to go them- selves directly to its living record. He saw, moreover, that the more sagacious intellects of his time wei-e wholly divorced fi-om natni'e, and wedded to books alone ; their LORD BACOK. 277 energies all expended upon words, and belittled by the endless hair- splitting subtleties of logic. He perceived that the physical philoso- phy current among his contemporaries, -was gathered from Aristotle, or his disciples; and that it no where rested upon the solid basis of nature. Men read in books what authors said concerning stones, plants, animals, and the like ; but to inspect these stones, plants, and animals, with their own eyes, was far enough from their thoughts. And hence were they compelled to defer to the authority of these authors, whether they would or no, because they cherished not the remotest idea of subjecting these descriptions and recitals to the test of actual experiment. Consider, too, that such test was the more needed, since these very authors had, mostly themselves, received their information even from third or fourth hands. We are amazed when we read the farrago of incredible and impossible stories, in which the books of natural history, especially those of the middle ages, abounded ; when we contemplate, for example, the monsters to which we are introduced in the zoologies of this period, or the marvelous virtues which were foolishly claimed for various stones, 'ai§ljag&-player, who, in the reign of Tiberius, with the aid of, surpassing,, etoquence, palmed off upon the Pannonian legions, a wholesale li^ amd so instigated them to a rebellion against theair general. But h>^, forgot to add, that Drusus most fitly recompensedl the- ill-omened orator for his all too potent-, speech with the loss of his Head. Why did. not.iB$,con, keennas-ha^ ordinarily pmved lijroself ihi airgaaaaent, rather use this example to. condemn theataiaal representations in schools, inasmuch as thesa rap- ■ resentatioms- very offeni pass frofB a mimic jest into a too seriousifa-- miliarity witih, lies aod dbceil ? Meanwhile some of His vi'evrs in the passage above quotedj as, . against over hasty, methodfe of imparting instruction, in favor of ajju- - dicious iiiaterchange- between th« easier and the more diflScult bmnch- - es of learning, and* the hte, are timely and encouraging. But, though these doctrines insure their own reception, vae -ought . not too hastily to conclude tliat Bacon's highest claims in liJe. -cause ■ of education are based raipon them. These claims proseed ; much , rather from: the fact, which I can not too often repeat, tbati heiwasih^- first to break out of the beaten track, and to address- scholirs, who- lived andl mo«ed in tha languages and writings of anticfjuitys, yea^who s 290 LORD BACON. were mostly echoes of the old Greeks and Romans, and who had no higher ambition than to be so, — to address them in such language as the following: "Be not wrapped up in the past, there is an actual present lying all about you ; look up and behold it in its grandeur. Turn away from the broken cisterns of traditional science, and quaff the pure waters that flow sparkling and fresh forever from the un- fathomable fountain of the creation. Go to nature and listen to her many voices, consider her ways and learn her doings ; so shall you bend her to your will. For knowledge is power." These doctrines have exerted an incalculable influence, especially in England, where theoretical and practical natural philosophy are, in the manner indicated by Bacon, united, and where this union has been marvelously fruitful of results. Their influence, moreover, may be traced, at quite an early period, in the department of education. The first teacher who imbibed the views of Bacon was, most proba- bly, Ratich. But we have 'the distinct acknowledgment from that most eminent of the teachers of the seventeenth century, Co- menius, of his indebtedness to Bacon. In the year 1633, he brought out a work upon natural philosophy ; and, in the preface to this work, he adverted to his own obligations to Bacon. He here called the " Insiauratio Maffna" " a most admirable book. I regard it as the most brilliant of the philosophical works of the present century. I am disappointed, however, tha't the keen-eyed Verulara, after furnishing us with the true key to nature, has not himself opened her mysteries, but has only showed us by a few examples how they may be opened, and so left the task to future generations." In another paragrajih he says : " Do not we, as well as the ancients, live in the garden of na- ture ? Why then should not we, as well as they, use our eyes and our ears? Why must we learn the works of nature from any other teachers than these, our senses ? Why, I ask, shall we not throw aside our dead books, and read in that living volume around us, in which vastly more is contained than it is possible for any man to re- cflrd ; especially too that the pleasure and the profit to come from its peir.asal are both so much the greater ? In experience too, we are so maaiy oenturies in advance of Aristotle." With this eminent example of Bacon's influence in the department of insti'iiction, I shall close. Were I to cite additional instances, 1 should be ■compelled tp anticipate much of the following history. In this, the eomaection of our modern realists, their schools of industry, polytechnie sdaook, and the like, with the doctrines of Bacon, will be so abundantly and so repeatedly demonstrated, as to justify me in styling him the founder and originator of modern realism, and of realistic principles of instruction. THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. tTmDslated from the Germnn of Karl tod Raumer for this Journal.] Ddbing the seventeenth century, pedagogical realism gained more and more ground in the schools of learning, as is shown by the in- troduction of the school-books c^f Comenius. These were brought into the gymnasium at Hersfield, in 1649. In the Dantzic Gymna- sium, according to the plan of study for 1653, the Vestibulum and Janua of Comenius were to be read ; in those of Stargard and JTu- remberg, the Orbis Pictus. In the use of these books, however, the thing sought for appears to have been a coi^ia vocabulorum, with especial regard to the speak- ing of Latin. The pictures were used rather as a mnemonic help for fixing the words in the memory, than according to the idea of Co- menius, as means of becoming acquainted with the things themselves. The things, however, imperceptibly asserted their proper place. Feuerlein remarks, that complaint had been made of the want of a good vocabulary or nomenclator ; and about the Orbis Sensualhim of Comenius, whi'ch up to that time had been almost the only work of the kind. This contained the Latin of tailors, weavers, shoemak- ers, cooks, and butlers, unlatin phrases and barbarisms ; and, on tho other hand, lacked the most necessary words, particles, &c.* The Libellus memorialis of Cellarius was introduced in the place of the Orbis Pictus, to remedy this defect. But this school-book, which was of printed matter only, gave no better satisfacti'on ; men hiid become used to the pictures of Comenius, and to his world of real things. Thus, Feuerlein says : " men might set about some wood-cuts or cop- per-plates, in which the several things which youth were learning might at least be placed in effigie before their eyes, and under each, what they are, or for what they are used, might be written ; of which they might memorize the Latin names, and thus might fix words in their memories in relation to which they did not know what the thing is, or what the word means. * * * Besides, it would not be a * Feuerlein relates that when a scholar asked Conrector Manner, " Master, what is the Latin for Kugel-Hopflein ? " (a sort of calie.) he answered, " You fool, do you suppose that Cicero ever ate a Kugel-HiSpfiein 1 " That is, where is the use of learning Latin words which do not appear in the classics 1 292 . THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. bad plan," he continues, " to take some of the boys, from time to time, upon walks into the fields and gardens, to forges, saw mills, pa- per mills, &c., or to workshops of all kinds ; to show them the tools, and tell them what are their names, and what is done with them ; and then to ask them what are the Latin names of this or that, which they see in substantia before their eyes ; or to tell them to them. This would not only impress the words much better upon their memo- ries, while they would not otherwise learn them without vexation, since they do not understand them in Uerman, or know what the thing is ; but also this knowledge would serve a good turn in every-day life ; in which the educated man oflen appears so ignorant and ill-informed upon subjects which are always coming up in ordinary conversation." Something of life was beginning to make itself felt all through the schools. Although the OrUs Pictus was disused in the Nuremberg Gym- nasium, the Vestibulum of Comenius was yet retained there in the two lowest classes. In the same direction was tending most of the realist instruction in mathematics, which is called, in the plan of study given by Feuerlein, mathesis juvenilis, and which passed through five classes. Sturm's class-book,* which was used for this purpose, is largely fur- nished with copper-plates, and includes general mathematics, practi- cal arithmetic, theoretical and practical geometry, (field surveying, measuring altitudes, and stereometry,) optics, military and civil archi- tecture, cosmography, chronology, dialing, mechanics, and, last of all, chiromancy! The elements of these studies are contained upon seventy-nine folio pages. Feuerlein praises highly Sturm's mathe- matical method ; one would thint one was listening to a scholar of Pestalozzi. " In it," he says, " there is no learning by rote of the one-times-one, as is customary in the German schools, without under- standing it ; but they learn themselves to make it, and to fix their understanding on it with reason and good apprehension of it. Here is learned the Sioh, the basis of the rules, why they do so and so; in the German schools only the oti is taught ; how to proceed, with- out knowing the basis of the proceedings, the why. In the latter case the work would seem to be almost entirely one of memory, rather than of reason." He then goes on to praise it, — and this is what we have special regard to ; that the boys " learn so skillfullv to use the compasses, the square, the measuring-rod, &c., and that, after a few exercises, they learn, quickly and neatly, to estimate by the eye alone, the size of a table, a window, a room, a house, &c." • The title is : " JohannU ChrtstoplutH Sturmii mathesis compendiaria sive tyracinia mathematica," I have before me the eixtli edition in folio, Coburg, 1714 ; edited by Sturm'a «an, Leonhird Christoph Bturm. THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY; 293 According to Sturm's preface to his book, it was introduced into various German gymnasiums. Pastor Semler, of Halle, went still one step further* In 1739, he published an account called " Upon the Mathematical, Mechanical, and Agricultural Real School in the city of Halle, approved and re- opened by the royal Prussian government of the Duchy of Magde- burg, and the Berlin royal society of soiences."f So far as I know, this is the first time that the name and the idea of the real school appear. Besides religious instruction, according to Semler, youth are to be instructed in knowledge which is useful and entirely indispensable in every-day life ; and, in particular, all visible things are to be shown to them, whether in nature or by means of all manner of pictures. "A description of Rome in a book," he says, " gives the faintest notion of the city ; a more lively one is given by an oral description, from one who has lived long in Rome ; the live- liness of this impression is increased by copper-plates, paintings, or models ; but to see the city with one's own eyes gives a most perfect knowledge. His rule has been, for forty years, Non scholm sed vitce discendum. In real life is needed a knowledge of weight, size, of the use of circles and lines, of the almanac, astronomy, and geogra- phy. There is also needed: "Knowledge of some physical things, such as metals, minerals, common stones, and precious stones, woods, colors, drawings, farming,' gardening, book-keeping, something of anatomy and regimen, the most necessary parts of police regulations, the history of the country, from the Halle Chronicle and other au- ►thors ; the map of all Germany, and those of the Duchy of Mag- deburg, and of the cities and towns lying about Halle, which will be the subject of conversation very often in daily life ; for this sort of knowledge is much more important than to know in what part of the world are Dublin, Astrakhan, and Adrianople.'' We have here not only an enumeration of most of the real sub- jects which were afterward taught in the real schools, but also the fundamental principle appears here which was the leading one of Rousseau and Pestalozzi ; that, first of all, that must be learned which is required by the immediate present, by dally life. Among the prtfessors at Halle, Semler mentions Chr. Thomasius, Cellarius, Hofmann the physician, and the philosopher Wolf, as those who approved his principles. In 1706, he presented his school pro- • Cliristoph Semler, a Lutheran preacher, was borff in Halle, in 1669 ; read lectures there ; in 1697 became a magistrate, in 1699 inspector of the poor schools; was principal deacon of the church of St. Ulrich, and member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He died in 1740 JQcher says, " He was a man of great science in mechanics and mathematics." t This appeared in the "HaOe Advertiser," from which it was taken for the "Ada Historica Ecclesiastica," (1740,' Vol. XIX., p. 198.) 294 THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. posals to the government of Magdeburg, which entered into them with approval. The Berlin society of sciences, being applied to by that government upon the subject, answered on the 15th of Decern-' ber, 1706 ; that provided schools were established for the training up of state and church officers, it would be well for such boys as now attend only the German schools, " to be instructed in an actual me- chanical school, so that their understandings and senses might be more developed ; and especially that they might become acquainted with common materials and subjects, their value and price, with the common proportions of circles, lines, angles, and weight, as well as with different sizes and their measurement, with weighing, and upon opportunity with the simple microscope, for the better understanding of the constituents of bodies ; and with the use of other useful in- struments, together with tools and levers ; to the end that this knowl- edge might serve them for improved understanding and practices, and to the invention of new and useful modes of using them. Thus it can be seen that there would be attained by such scholars, good proportions in their Work, a steady hand, and the like advantages, such as are derived from a more intelligent use of the outward senses, which are the foundation of all the skill which nature can offer and practice can perfect." Sernler, now assisted by the city, caused twelve poor boys to be in- structed in his house, by a " literary man, well experienced in mathe- matics, mechanics, and agriculture ; " but his plan lasted only for a year and a half. In this course of instruction, " sixty-three single objects were displayed before their eyes," chiefly by models.* In 1738, these ocular demonstrations were resumed. These were placed before the scholars, says Semler, " to see, not exotic things and ob- jects of curiosity, but only things daily necessary, and sucb as pos- sess the most immediate utiHty in every day life. By this method, the schoo)s, which have been verbal schools hitherto, will become real schools, since information will be given in them no more by means purely abstract, universal, and intellectual. The elementary information of little children should be given to them without books from things themselves." Books should merely serve for repetition, and ' the ideas of things are to be adjoined to words. The schools hitherto rooms of martyrdom, will, by the introduction of realities into them, become real pleasure rooms. Semler was seventy years old when he wrote these words. It would be an error to consider him, from what has above been said, an entirely earthly-minded ma- * Sometimes by very strange ones. Thus there was a machine "which demonstrated the true reason of the rise and fall of the tide." THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. 295 terialist realist, as so many of his successors were. He did not desire to remain permanently in the realm of the material, but, as he says, " to ascend from the creature to the Creator ; " and he prays for the gift of enlightened eyes, which may penetrate within the penetralia of the creature. lu conclusion, the pious old man, with the Psalm- istj praises the works of God. " Blessed is he," he says, " who knows them holily ; and twice blessed, he who holily takes pleasure in them, and thanks him for them, from the bottom of his heart."* It has been remarked that in Francke's school there were various real studies, as botany, turning, and the like. Should not Semler, brought into such close communion with Francke, as teacher in the University of Halle, and as preacher and instructor of the German schools, have had an influence upon the improvements in teaching in the Piedagogium and Orphan-house by his pedagogical realism ? It is worthy of remark, that from Francke's school came Johann Julius Hecker, who, in 1747, est^lished the first important real school in Berlin ; as did his successor in the same school, Johann Elias Silbers- chlag. In treating of the stronger and stronger growth of realism, a dis- tinction of it must be made, into two kinds. On the one hand, real studies, before entirely suppressed by the study of language, began to be more correctly estimated, and attempts were made to introduce them into the learned schools. And, on the other hand, the convic- tion grew, that in these schools the instruction was proper for such boys as were intended for the learned professions, and only for such, and that all other scholars were obliged to learn, and that in a super- ficial manner, things which could be of no use to them in after life. It was clear that, for scholars not intending a life of study, real knowl- edge was far more valuable than a mere purposeless beginning with Latin. The answer of the Berlin academy in the matter of Semler shows as much. Rector Gesner, of Rotenburg, m 1720, wrote to the same effect : " The one class, who will not study, but will become tradesmen, merchants, or soldiers, must be instructed in writing, arith- metic, writing letters, geography, description of the world, and his- tory. The other class may be trained for studying." Schbttgen, rector in Dresden, wrote, in 1742, a ^^Humhle proposal for the special class in public city schools." In these schools, he says, every one is arranged with a view to the learning of Latin, and children, " who are to remain without Latin," are entirely forgotten. They are forced to learn Donatus and the grammar, which are useless for them ; and • I hnve, up to this time, been unable to learn further particulars about Semler. Schulz, ("Rhenish Gazette," March and April, 1842, p. 159J speaks cursorily of " Semler's sad expe- riences at Halle." 296 THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. they do not study what would be useful to mechanics, artists, or mer- chants. Of what use will it be to such, to have learned anthrax, colax, &c. ? State and country need, not only people who know Latin, but others also. For these reasons he advises to organize a special class for such. " My proposal," he says, with resignation, " is already re- jected before it has been brought to light. But, if what there is in it is not yet ripe, we will wait until the time comes for it." Rector Henzky of Prenzlau, already mentioned, wrote, in 1751, a treatise '^Tkat real schools can and must become common;" and the learned and cautious Joh. Matthias Gesner expressed himself thus : " It is a common fault of most of our schools, that in them provision is made only for such as intend to become what are called learned men by profession ; and thus a complete acquaintance with Latin is required of all young people, without any distinction. On the con- trary, those things are for the most part neglected, which would be indispensable, or at least useful, in commoji civil life, in the arts and professions, at court and in war. * * * A well-organized gym- nasium should, on the contrary, be so arranged that yo^uth, of every extraction, age, character, and distinction, may find their account there, and be taught in them for the common good. Youth may be, with reference to their future life, divided into three classes. 1. Those who are to learn trades, arts, or to be merchants ; 2. Those who are to seek their fortune at court or in war ; and, 3. Those who are to remain stu- dents, and to, go to the university."* Thus many wise men demanded that regard should be had, not only exclusively and uniformly to the education of students, but also to that of children who were " to remain without Latin." But the question how to bring this to pass, was a difficult one to answer. According to Gesner's view, each gymnasium must solve the prob- lem of educating all these entirely different classes of children. But it is evident how difficult of solution it must have been ; and how great was the danger, that the endeavor to comply with the most vari- ous requirements, would result in satisfying none of them, and be- coming -quite characterless. But why such mixed schools ? asked others. Would it not be better to erect separate institutions, perhaps not for every pursuit not literary, but for them all together ? These questions may have be- come more important, as the confusion in the gymnasium from their attempt to attain different ends increased, and the conviction grew, *J. M. Geener, Minor German Works, p. 365. As these appeared in 1756, Gesner's "Thoughts on Ike Organization of a Gymnasium," from which the extract in the text is taken, must have beefi written before that time. His plan of a gymnasium includes those three classes, for the accommodation of pupils. THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. 297 that each school should have but one principle, one aim, one char- acter. '^ The history of the Berlin real school is very instructive in this con- nection, as furnishing a series of attempts to unite and bring into har- mony with each other, humanist and real studies ; the instruction of those who were and were not to become men of learning. I have named Julius Hecker as the founder of this school.* He was appointed preacher at the Church of the Trinity, in Berlin, in 1'739, and at the same time became instructor of the German schools belonging to the parish. He considered institutions of instruction the seed-beda of the state, from which the young, like trees from a nursery, cotild be transplanted into their proper places. He there- fore wished for schools which should prepare for learned studies ; and others which should train for the position of citizens, artisans, sol- ■diers, and land-owners ; and others for farmers and day-labbrers. In accordance with this view, he organized the real school, which he es- tablished in 1747. It consisted of three schools, partly subordinated and in part co-ordinate ; of the German school, the Latin school, and the real school proper. Scholars from the Latin and German schools might receive instruction in the real school also. In the latter were taught arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, architecture, drawing, and the knowledge of nature. A knowledge of the human body was espe- cially taught, then plants and minerals, and instruction was given in the cultivation of mulberry trees and silk-worms, and the scholars were taught by being taken to workshops. Among the classes were a manufacturing class, an architectural class, an agricultural class, a book-keeping class, and a mining class.f The organization of the Latin school presents nothing particular. The pupils were taught weekly, Latin twelve hours, French and other languages five hours ; and the boys received besides various kinds of real instruction, and were overwhelmed with lessons. Except from twelve to one, instruction was given from seven in the morning to seven at night. In 1753, J. F. Halm became teacher of the real school; who taught by means of intuition, after Semler's manner. For this pur- pose a large collection of real objects was used, among which were models of buildings, ships, chests, plows, churns, columns of the differ- ent orders, pictorial representations of an entire Roman triumphal procession, collections of merchandise, a miniature shop, a pharma- • The information here following is mostly from Principal Schulz's "ffistary of the Real School in Berlin." See Dicsterweg's "Rheiniache Bldlter," Vols. XXV. and XXVI., 1842. tin 1748, a boarding-liouse was attached to the school, in which the first boarder was Fried- rich Nicolai. 298 THE REAL SCHOOLS OP GERMANY. cologioal collection, specimens of leather, (fee, &e. There was also a botanical garden adapted to the real school, and a plantatioti of mul- berries. Hecker and Haln:i laid their pedagogical views before the public. The former, among other works, wrote, in 1749, one entitled ''A sin- cere proposal how the Latin tongue may be maintained in worth and honor."* He saj's, " it is in vain that we strive to keep the Latin upon its ancient throne ; juridical and medicinal examinations and exam- inations of candidates show into what a low estate it has fallen." His advice is, to pursue real studies until the eleventh or twelfth year, and then to begin Latin. Halm wrote, ^'■Hoto to collect in real schools what is necessary and useful of languages, arts, and sciences, 1753." He advised to give children not only oral descriptions, but also to show them things themselves, either in their natural form or in models and pictures. From his treatise will appear the connection between the specimens of leather above mentioned, and the class in manufacturing. "In the class in manufactures," he says, " they began at Christmas with the art of working in leather. To pursue this study in a manner to make it useful and practical in future life, a collection of all kinds of leather is necessary. There might be shown to youth for instruction, more than ninety kinds of leather, each piece perhaps as large as an octavo page. Among these might be all kinds of sole-leather, calves' leather, and that of cows, horses, and sheep ; similar pieces of goat- skin, deerskin, doeskin, buckskin, Cordovan, Morocco, Russia, and other kinds." Julius Hecker died in 1768; and Halm had left the school in 1759. From the foregoing it seems clear, that tbere had not been enough difference, in the real schools, between the studies of those who were to be students and of those who were not ; between literary studies and real studies. This occasioned the unheard of number of eleven hours of study daily ; which was made necessary by the crowd of ob- jects of instruction. It however also appears, from the same, that Hecker not only was true to his " chief principle, non scholw sed vitce discenduin, but that he pushed it fi'om a misunderstanding, even to caricatures. The school should prepare well for life, but should not anticipate it ; it should not undertake to teach what life only teaches or can teach. Halm's words, above quoted, "At Christmas we began with the art of working in leather," must appear silly to every intelligent * Ancient and Modern Schools, coUecled by Biedermann, 1758, Part VL THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. 299 man. Is this the meaning of the wise maxim, -non scholoe sed vilce discendum ? Had the real idea of life become wholly lost in that hard and dead period '? After the death of Hecker, Johann Ellas Silberschlag, known as a mathematician and naturalist, became director of the institution.* He seems to have in view a more popular distinction of the three in- stitutions here united under the common name of " real school." He gave to the three the names of P*dagogium, art school, and Gerr man or artisans' scb(ool. The German school was the elementary school for all, but had also an especial class in trades. In the art school, the students laid the foundation of a knowledge of mathematics, Latin, and French, al- though this school was particularly intended for workmen, farmers, and others not proposing to study. The teachers of mathematics in this school gave as rules, "Axioms and theorems which did not require theoretical acuteness ; " these being needed in the Psedagogium. In this there were two theoretical-mathematical classes ; in the lower of which arithmetic was taught, in the other algebra. The other studies of the Psedagogium were the usual ones of the higher gymnasium class. Silberschlag leaving in 1784, Andreas Jacob Hecker succeeded him in his office. An education for special pursuits was more and more aimed at in the artisans' school ; there were given in it special lectures to future miners and smelters, and particularly for those pre- paring to become practical geometers, artillerists, foresters, farmers, merchants, &c. Some hours weekly were even devoted to instruction in German ; " in order to make those, who shall wish in future to en- gage as secretaries to high boards of authorities in the country, bet- ter acquainted with the course of business.'' Thus the real school of arts was a gathering of the most dissimilar schools for special pur- suits. " The idea rises of necessity,'' says the historian of the school, " that where the endeavor is to reach every one, but little will be actually attained. And this was the fact with our real school." During the same time, the Paedagogium, under Hecker, acquired more the peculiar character of a literary school. In lYO'Z, on the oc- casion of its fiftieth anniversary festival, it took the name of the Fried- rich Wilhelm's Gymnasium;" and, in the year 1811, it was finally separated from the real school, in respect to its teachers and its lec- tures.f Long and hard experience had at last brought the convic- tion that the previous close connection of the two institutions was a mesalliance, by which both lost their independence of character. " It is characteristic of the man, that he was at the same time a consistorial counselor and high counselor of-public buildings. t That is, from the real school in Its more proper sense ; the school of arts of Silbera- chlae. 300 TDE REAL gCnoOLS OF GERMANY. The purposes of the two institutions being so different, it was nec- essary that the teaching in real studies in the gymnasium must be entirely distinct from that in the real schools ; and the instruction in language in the real school from that in the gymnasium. There must be a distinction in selection, method, and design. One observatioij suggests itself here. Gymnasiums are, as to their instruction, really aiM clearly distinct universities, in this ; that they look only to the general education, as the foundation for instruc- tion in all vocations, while the universities are characterized by study in the faculties, and thus prepare for the entrance into real life. It was with justice that great displeasure was manifested, when, at the end of the last century, a master required that future jurists, in the gymnasium, should study, instead of Tacitus and Virgil, the institu- tions of Heineccius. The gymnasium knows no professional studies, and should know of none ; lest it should forcibly communicate, to im- mature boys, a professional education without any real basis. Does this same distinction apply to real schools ? was it not the greatest of mistakes, that in the Berlin school direct instruction was given for miners, farmers, &c., &c. ? Such a purpose was that of the excellent Spilleke, who assumed the direction of the real school in 1820.* His opinion was, that this school should, in its higher classes, " give or at least introduce to such an education as, without pretending to thorough classic studies, should prepare for the higher relations of society ; but a more special pre- paration, such as was aimed at in earlier times in this part of the school, is not proper." If we understand Spilleke here, he suggests, new questions. If the real schools must correspond with the gymnasiums, how must those real studies be organized which correspond with the universities ; in which the real scholars intend to finish their studies ? Are our polytechnic schools and higher industrial schools trae " real" universities ? Do they, by virtue of the great variety of their studies in arts and trades, become divided into parts which corres- pond to the faculties of the universities? Or are such "real" uni- versities not practicable, and must ther3 be a special school for each trade, because most occupations have some peculiar elements in their life ? The miner must ultimately be trained in the mine, the sailor on the sea, the farmer in the country ; but all three can receive their general preparatory training in the same real school. And indeed, " A. J. Hecker died in 1819, and was followed by.Bernardi, who died the next year. After him came Spilleke, who was succeeded, after his death, in 1841, by F. Ranke; distinguished both as-«n educator and a. man of learning. THE REAL SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. 30I if students of many arts and trades should enjoy primary instruction, whether carried more or less far, should not this be followed by a purely practical study and drill in the pursuit, under the guidance of skillful masters ; and should not their more complete artistic or sci- entific training come after these years of apprenticeship ? But I must not too far transgress my limits as a historian. When rector Schottgen, in 1742, published his ''Modest proposal," for making suitable provision for the instruction of children who are not to study Latin, he hopelessly added, as we have seen, "My proposal is already rejected, before it has been brought into the light." But encouraging himself, he went on : "But yet, if what is proposed therein is not yet ripe, we will wait until its time shall come." The old rector prophesied rightly. One century after he wrote, there were, in the Pi-ussian states alone, forty-two real institutions, to one hundred and twenty-six gymnasiums. [To enable our readers, who may not have access to Bache's "Edu- cation in Europe,^' or to Barnard's ''National Education in Europe," we transfer from the latter the following account of a Eeal School, and Art Institute of our day, in Prussia, as compared with a Gynasium of the highest grade. — ^Ed.] FREDERICK WILLIAM GYMNASIUM OP BERLIN. This institution dates from 1797, and was at first an appendage to the " real school" of Mr. Hecker. It is now a royal institution, and is independent of the real school, except so far that it has the same director, and that the preparatory classes are in the real school, in which, or in other equivalent schools, the pupils are taught until ten years of age. The qualifications for admission are those con- tained in the general account of the gymnasia. This gymnasium had, in 1837, four hundred and thirty-seven pupils, divided into six classes, and instructed by fourteen teachers and six assistants. The second and third classes are subdivided into two parts, called upper and lower, pursuing different courses, and both divi- sions of the third class are again subdivided into two others, for the convenience of instruction. The course in each class occupies a year, except in the first, which is of two years. Pupils who enter in the lowest class, and go regulai'ly through the studies, will thus remain nine years in the gymnasium. The numbers of the several classes in 1837 were, in the first, fifty-four; in the upper second, thirty- two i lower second, forty-seven j upper third division, first, or A, thirty-six ; second division, or B, thirty-six j lower third, division first, or A, thirty-eight ; division second, or B, thirty-two ; fourth class, fifty-five ; fifth, fifty-seven j and sixth, fifty. Each division averages, therefore, nearly forty-four pupils, who are at one time under the charge of one teacher. One hundred and eight were admitted during the year, and the .same number left the gymnasium; of these, twenty-one received the certificate of maturity to pass to the university, viz., ten who intend to study law, three medicine, five theology, one theology and philo- logy, one philosophy, and one political economy, finance, &c., (cameralistio.) Of these all but five were two years in the first class ; out of this number two were two years and a half in the first class, and three more had been in the gymnasium less than two years, having entered it in the first class. The average age at leav- ing the gymnasium was nearly nineteen years, and the greatest and least, respec- tively, twenty-two and between sixteen and" seventeen years. It appears, thus, that on the average, the pupils actually enter at ten, and remain nine years, as required by rule. The subjects of instruction are latin, Greek, German, French, religious instrne- 302 FREDERICK WILLIAM GVMNASIUM OF BERLIN. tion, jnathematics, (incluflmg arithmetic, algebra, and geometry^ natural philoso- phy and natural history, history, geography, writing, drawing, Toeal music, and Hebrew for theologians. The numbers attached to the names of the different classes, in the following programme, show the number of "hours of study per week in the regular branches in which the division of classes takes place. In like manner, the numbers attached to the several subjects of study show how many hours are occupied per week in each of the subjects by the several classes. SIXTH CLASS, THIRTY HOURS. Latin. Inflections of nouns, &c. Comparisons, Conjugation of the indicative moods of regular and of some irregular verbs. Translation from Blume's elementary book. Exercises from Blume. Extemporalia. Ten hours. German. Etymology and syntax. Exercises in writing upon subjects previously narrated. Exercises in orthography, reading, and declaiming. Four hours. FrencA>. Etymology, to include the auxiliary verbs, in Herrmann's grammar. Oral and v?r;tten exercises. Keadiag and translation. Exercises on the rules from the grammar. Three hours. JReb'gion. Bible history of the Old Testament. Committing to memory selected verses. Two hours. \ Geography. Delineation of the outlines of Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, from deter- minate points given. Divisions of the countries, with their principal cities, rivers, and moun- tains. Two honrs. A ritkjnetic. The four ground rules, with denominate whole numbers. Their applications, Four hours. Writing. Elements of round and running hand. Dictation. Writing from copy slips. Three hours. Drawing. Exercises in drawing lines. Two hours. FIFTH CLASS, TWENTY-NINE HOURS. Laiin. Etymology. Use of the prepositions. The accusative before an infinitive, prac- ticed orally and in writing, and extempore, and in exercises. Translation from Blume'a reader. Ten hours. German. Parsing, reading, and declamation. Exercises on narrations. Four hours. French. Etymology, by oral and written exercises. Easier stories from Herrmann's reader. Three hours. Religion. Explanation of the gospels, according to St. Matthew and St. Luke. Commit- tin:: to memory the principal facts. Two hours. Geography. Review oJ thfi last year's course. Rivers and mountains of Europe, and chief towns, in connection. Two hours. Arithmetic. Review of the preceding. Fractions. Four hours. i Writing. Running hand from copy slips. Tw^o hours. Drawing. Drawing from bodies, terminated by planes and straight lines. Two hours. FOURTH CLASS, TWIfiNTY-EIGHT HOURS. Latin. Review of etymology. The principal rules enforced by oral and written exercises and extemporalia. Translation from Jacob's reader and Corn. Nepos, Ten hours. German. Compositions on subjects previously read. Declamation. Reading from Ka' lisch's reader. Parsing. Three hours. French. Rev,iew of etymology. Irregular verbs. Reciprocal verbs. Anecdotes and nar- rations from Herrmann's grammar, and commilting the principal to memory. Two hours. Religion. Gospel, according to St. Matthew, explained. Verses and psalms committed to memory. Two hours. Geography. Political geography of Germany, and of the rest of Europe. Review of the geography of the other parts ot the world. Three hours. Arithmetic. Review of fractions. Simple and compound proportion. Partnersh'ip- Simple interest. Three hours. Geometry. Knowledge of forms, treated inductively. One hour. Writing. Running hand, from copy slips. Two hours. Draioljtg. From bodies bounded by curved lines. Two hours. LOWER THIRn CLASS, THIRTY HOURS. Latin. Syntax. Rules of cases from Zumpt. Exercises and extemporalia. Inflections formerly learned reviewed. Cornelius Nepos Eight hours. Greek. Etymology, from Buttmann's grammar to regular verbs, included. Translation from Gr.eek into German from Jacob's, from German into Greek from Hess's exercises. Six hours. German. Compositions in narration and description. Declamation. Two hours French. Repetition of inflections, and exercises by extemporalia and in writin" Trans- lation of the fables from Herrmann's reading book, 2d course. Two hours. ° Religion.' Morals, and Christian faith. Two hours. Geography. Physical geogfraphy. Europe and the other parts of the world. Two hours History. General view oi ancient and modern history. Two hours. Mathematics. Legendre's geometry, book 1. Decimals. Algebra. Square and cube root. Foitr hours. i Drawing, Introduction to landscape drawing. Two hours. UPPER THIRD CLASS, THIRTY HOURS. ■Latin. Division L Syntax, from Zumpt. Review of the preceding course. Oral exer- cises in construction of sentences. Written exercises and extemporalia. Ceesar Bell. Gall FREDERICK WILLIAM GYMNASIUM OP UERLIN, 303 books 1, 2, and 7, in part. Ovid's Metamorphoses, extract's from books 7 and 8. Prosody, rules from Zumpt. Ten liours. Greek. JJieisicfji J. Etymology, from Buttmann's grammar. t>ral uud written exercises and extcmporalia. Jacob's reader. Six huura. German. Examiuation of exerciset; on hi&torical subjects. Pottical selections for decla- mation. Two hours, Jb'rench, Exercises in translation. Written exercises. Extemporalla. Two hours. Religion. Pnneipdl passages from the gospels gone over. General view of the Old Testa- ment writings Two hours. Jriistury and Geography. Roman history, from the Punic Wars to the destFUCtion of the Wtfciterii empire, llielory of the middle ages, three hours. Review of the live general divis- ions; of the world, one hour. Four hours. MatkentaficB. Geometry. Legendre, books 1 and 2, and part of 3. Algebi*a, with exer- ci&ts from Meyer Hirsch. Four hours. LOWER SECOND CLASS, TniRTY-ONIS HOURS. Latin. Extracts from Livy and Ctcsar de Bell. Civ. Review of Bell. Gall., books 2 and 3. ciyiitax. Exercises and extemporalia. Committing to memory exercises from Livy and tJajftur. Ovid's Metamorphoses, books 11 to 14. Eight hours. Urtek. Homer's Odys., 11, 12, 13, and 14. Exercises on the dialects. Xenophon's Anab. 1. y, and part of 3. Excerpts from the grammar reviewed. Exercises and extemporalia, tiyutax. Six hours. * Hebrew. Grammar, ending with irregular verbs. Easier parts of historical books of Serii)iure translated. Vocabulary learned by rote. Exercises on regular and irregular verb? out 01 the recitation room. Tdvo hours. German. Correction of written exercises and essays. Exei'cises on delivery. Two hours. I'U-ench. Voltaire's Charles XII. Exercises and extemporalia. Two hours. Religion^ Explanation of the principal parts of the Epistles of St. Paul, with l^slorical BkticlicS, and a view of the life of early Christian communities. Two hours. History. Romah history, from the Punic Wars. History of the middle ages concludeii. General view of history. Three hours. Mathematics. Geometry to proportions and simple figures. Elements of algebra. Loga- rirhins. Four hours. Natural History. Mineralogy. Botany, especially of native plants. Two hours. UPPER SECOND CLASS, THIRTY-TWO IIQURS. Latin. Cicero's Orations, pro. Rose. Anier., de Amic, de Senectute. Livy, books 22 lo 25, inclusive. Virgil's JSneid, books I and ?. Some eclogues and excerpts Irom Georgics. Ext-rcises and extemporalia. Nine hours. Greek. Homer's Iliad, books 4 to 11, inclusive. Arrian Alex, expedition, books 1 ancl 2. Butimann's grammar^ with exercises and extemporalia. Six hours. Hebreio. Books of Judges and of Ruth, with exercises of syntax. Easy exercises, and commit II ijg vocabulary to memory out of iheclass-i'oom. Two hours. Oeriiian. Essays. Delivery. Two hours. I'Vench. Excerpts from Herrmann and Briichner's manual of the more recent French literature. Two liours. Religion. Christian faith and morals. Two hours. History. Review of ancient history and geography, using the Latin language. Three hours. Matlieinatics. Arithmttical geometry and plane trigonometry. Algebraic exercises. Poly- gons, Stereometry. Simple and quadratic equations. Four houri*. Physics. General pliysics. Electricity and magnetism. Two hours. FIRST CLASS, THIRTY-ONE HOURS. Latin. Horace's Odes, books 3 and 4. Cicero against Verres. Tacitus, Annals, books H and 12, and extracts from 3 to 6. Cicero, Tusc. quest. Extempore translations from Ger- man into Latin. Exercises. Declamation. Eight hours. Greek. Homer'.s Iliad, book. 16, Odyssey, books 9 to Iti, inclusive. Hippias Major, Char- midea, and Gorsias of Plato, (s'xcerptsO Sopliocles' Edip. tyr. and Antigone. Grammatical exercises. Buttmann's grammar. Six hours, Hebrew. Second book of Kings. Genesis. Psalms, 61 to 100. Grammatical criticisms of historical excL-rpts, or oi psalms, as an extrcise at home. Two hours. German. Criticism of compositions. General grammar, and history of the German gram, mar and literature. One hour. l-Yench. Selections from Scribe and Delavigne. Exercises and extemporalia. Two hours. Religion. History of the Christian church, to the times of Gregory VII. Two hours. History. Modern history, and review. Three hours. Malhematics. Plane trigonometry and application of algebra to geometry. Algebra. Mensuritlion and conic sections. Binomial theorem.* Exponential and trigon. functions. Four hours. Physics. Physical geography. Mechanics. Two hours Philusophy, PropajdfcUties. Logic. One hour. There are five classes for vocal music, the fifth receiving two hours of instruction in mu-ii- cal notation and sniging by eai-. The fourth, time and cliffs, &c. Exercises m tlie natural scale, and harmony. Songs and chorals with one part. Tlie third, two hours, formation of the scale of sharps, running the gamut with difficult intervals, combined with the practical exercises of the last class. Tlie second, two hours, repetition of tones; sharps, aotl flats. Formation of the scale ofilats. Exercises of songs and chorals, in two parts. 'J he tirst class is an application of what has been learned, as well as a continuation ol the science and art, and all the pupils do not, of course, take part in this stage of the instruction. The course is of four hours per week, two lor soprano and alto, one (or tenpr and bass, and one for the union of the four parts. The proficitncy is indicated by the fact, that the pujjils perforin very creditably she h compositions as Haydn's " (Jrcat.on " and Handel's "Mtssiah." 304 FREDERICK WILLIAM GYMNASIUM OP BERLIN. The extemporalJa spoken of in tlie courses of language, consist of written translations made on the spot by the pnpils into a foreign language, of sentences spoken in the vernacular by the teacher. These sentences ai'e, of course, adapted to the progress of the pupil, and are prepared beforehand by the teacher who renders Iheni, especially in the early parts of the course, the application of the rules of grammar on which the pupil is engaged, or of peculiarities of idiom to which his attention is called. In the classical course, the oral and written exercises are varied in their relative proportions to each other. The translation from Latin or Greek into German, and vice versa, the grammatical exercises, Latin compositions or essays, the ex- temporalia before explained, the practice in versification, &c., are varied in amount in the different classes, according to the views of the instructor. One characteristic difference between the classical instruction in the higher classes and in those of similar schools in England and our country, is that, in gen- eral, it supposes the giammatical minutice to have been fully impressed in the lower clas.ses, and discusses philological questions, varieties of reading and collate- ral- subjects of antiquities, history, biography, and geography. The students receive much oral instruction, which they are required to record. The same is the practice to even a greater extent in the other depaitments of instruction, and the students thus acquire a facility in taking notes which they turn to good account in the university lectures, and which strikes a stranger with surprise on first witnessing it, IWost of the pupils in this class of schools begin their classical course at nine or ten years of age, and yet, judging by the progress shown in the programme of the first class, and by the scholars which the universities of northern Geimany turn out, and which are, in fact, formed in the gymnasia, the proficieney is all that can be desired. It is what a youth of nineteen issuing from one of our col- leges would be proud of, and clearly proves that the classics are not began too late. The mother tongue and French Sre both taught in these- institutions, in combi- nation with the classical studies. These languages are not merely entered npon the programme, but are actually more or less thoroughly taught, according to the time which is allotted and the skill of the teacher. The course of German would seem calculated to make both writers and speakers, and, probably, if the demand for the latter were equal to that of the former, this would "puove true in the latter case, as it does in the former. The religious characteristic of these schools is a striking^ one, and important in its effects. The Bible is taught rather than a particular creed, though from the fact that the pupils are nearly all of one creed, this forbearance is not essential, and is not always exercised. The separation of religious from other instruction can but have a most injm'ious tendency, and their connection, as in these schools, on the contrary, a happy inflnence. Religions knowledge is elassecl with tbe sciences in the formal division of the subjects of study. ' The courses of physics of tbe Frederick William gymnasium are exceedingly well calculated to fullfil their ot^ect, to give general ideas of natural phenomena, without going into what may be considered teghniical minutiee ; in the latter school physics is connected with an excellent course of physical geography. It seems tb me doubtful whether, in the natural history course, more than a general outline of the subject, is necessary, viiih the prosecution, practically, of such branches as the locality of the institution may rfender applicable for improving the habits of observation and discrimination:. The soientifi© details of the diffirent branches belong rather to special. purposes of study than to genersi education. The expe- rience of these institutions may, however, be appealed to as proving the entire compatibility of such instruction with an otherwise sound system, and the entire possibility of accomplishing it without neglecting other more important branches. Drawing and vocal music, wKah form parts of the regnJar courses of all these institutions, have not yet found their way into the systems of other nations on the samefootingwiththe regular studies. As a part of physical training, they are im- portant, and as offering a relief from severer pursuits, further recommend them- selves in this connection. ROYAL REAL SCHOOL OF BERLIN. 305 The Frederick William Gymnasium is regarded by Dr. Bacbe, as a fair specimen of this class of schools in Prussia; in the organization and instruction of which a good degree of liberty is tolerated by the govern- ment, to enable them the better to meet the peculiar circumstances of each province, and the peculiar views of each director. The Royal Real School, and City Trade School of BerKn, furnish a course of instruction of the same general value for mental discipline, but better calculated for that class of pupils who are destined in life, not for what are designated as the learned profession, but for tradesmen and me- chanics. There is less of verbal knowledge but more of mathematics and their application to the arts ; and the whole is so arranged as to fa- cilitate the acquisition bf those mental habits which are favorable to the highest practical success. ROYAL HEAL OOHOOL OF BERLIN. The Royal Real School of Berlin was founded as early as 1747, by Counsellor Ilfcolier. At the period in which this school was founded, Latin and Greek were the exclusive objects of study in the learned sohools, and the avowed purpose of tills eatablishment was that " not mere words should he taught to the pupils, but realities, explanations being made to them from nature, from models and plans, and of subjects calculated to be useful in after-life." Hence the school was called -1 " real school," and preserves this name, indicative of the great educational reform which it was intended to promote, and the suceess of which has been, though slow, most certain. Tlij successor of Hecker, in 1769, divided this flourishing school into three de- pavt:nents, the pedagogium, or learned school, the school of arts, and the German school : the whole establishment still retaining the title of real school. Tlie first nulled department was subsequently separated from the others, constituting the Frederick William gymnasium ; the school of arts, and the German, or elemen- tiuy seliool, remain combined under the title of the royal real school. The same director, however, still presides over the gymnasium and the real school. The question has been much agitated, whether the modem languages should be c iii.si Jei'ed in these schools as the substitutes for the ancient in intellectual educa- tion, or whether mathematics and its kindred branches should be regarded in this lioht. Whether the original principle of the " realities" on which the schools were founded, was to be adhered to, or the still older of verbal knowledge, only with a change of languages, to be substituted for it. In this school the languages will be found at present to occupy a large share of attention, while in the similar institution, a description of which follows this, the sciences have the pre- pja lerance. In the royal real school the branches of instruction are — ^religion, Latin, R'ench, English, German, physics, natural history, chemistry, history, geography, draw- ing, writing, and vocal music. The Latin is retained as praeticedly useful in. some- branches of trade, as in pharmacy, as aiding in the nomenclature of natural his~ tory, and as preventing a separation in the classes of this school and that of the- gymnasium, which would debar the pupils from pasmig from the former to tlie latter in the upper classes. It must be admitted ttiat, for all purposes but the last, it occupies an unnecessary degree of attention, especially in the middle daises. The following table shows the distribution of time among the courses. There are seven classes in numerical order, but ten, in i^t, the third, fourth, and fifth being divided into two ; the lower fourth is again, cm account of its numbers, sub- divided into two parallel sections. Of these, the seventh, sixth, and fifth are ele- mentary classes, the pupils entering the seventh at between five and seven yeara of age. In the annexed table the number of houi-s of recitation per week of each class in the several subjects is stated, and the vertical column separating the ele- mentary classes from the others, contains the sum of the hours devoted to each branch in the higher classes, excluding the lower section of the fourth class, which has not a distinct course from that of the other division. T 306' ROYAL REAL SCHOOL OF BERLIN. TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF RECITATION PER WEEK, OF EACH CLASS, IN THE SUBJECTS TAUGHT IN THE ROYAL REAL SCHOOL OF BERLIN. flUBJECTfl OF STUDY. Latin, . . French, . English, . German, Religion, Mathematics,* Natural History, . . Physios, Chemistry, Geography, History, Drawing, Writing, . ing, . Total, 36 36|35 35 32 32 32 If sa ■ss 26 26 26 26 10 Proportion of other studies to German in the 1.4 1,1 0.3 1.0 0.6 1.7 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.7 2.9 0.7 0.8 0.6 1.1 O.lt 0.2t 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.6 1^ 0.9 1.0 0.8 1.6 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.7 0.4 0.3 0.6 ^Pwpils who enter this school between five and seven years of age, and go regu- larly through the elementary classes, are prepared at ten to pass to its higher cliasses, «• to enter the- lowest of the gymnasium. . It is thus after the fifth class that a eowparison of the two institutions must begin. The studies of the real school proper, and of the gymnasium, have exactly the same elementary basis, and they remaiin so far parallel to each other that a pupil, by taking extra instruc- tion in Greek, may pass from the lower third class of the former to the lower third of the,latter. This fact alone is sufficient to show that the real schools must be institutipBS for secondaay instruction, since the pupils have yet three classes to pass 1 through after reachijig the point just refen'ed to. It serves also to separate the real schools from the higher bm'gher schools, since the extreme limit of tlie , courses of the latter, with the same assistance in regard to Greek, only enables the pupil to reach the lower third class of the gymnasium. In general, a pupil would terminate his studies in the real school at between sixteen and eighteen years of age. The difference between the subjects of instruction in the real school and the Fi-ederick William gymnasium, consists in the omission in the former of Greek, Hebrew, and philosophy, and the introduction of English and .themistry. The relative proportions of time occupied in the same subjects in tlio two schools, will be seen by comparing the two column? next on the right of tho ..Bumbers for the seventh class, in'the table just given. The first o^ these columns -ooatainfl the proportion of the number of hours per week devoted to the different subjects ui the six classes of the real school above the elementary, the number of hours devoted to the German being .taken as unity ; and the second, the same .proportion for six classes of the gymnasium, beginnihg with the lowest, the same ;,number of hours being taken as the unit, as m the preceding column. To brin" 'vtha natural history and physics into comparison, I have taken the numbers for the ••» Including «riWimetlc, geometry, algebra, and trigoflometry. ^ Tliese nunibefjs iiiQlude the entire course. ROYAL EEAL SCHOOL OF BERLIN. 307 upper classes - of the gymnasium in whioh these branches are taught. Of the courses common to the two schools, those to which nearly equal attention is paid in both tostitutions, are-^the rehgious instruction^ the German, geography aiid history, writing, and vocal music. The French, mathematics, physics, and nat^ ural history, predominate in the real'sehool, the Latin in the gymnasium. Tlie effect of reckoning the first, second, and upper thh'd classes of the gymnasium, does not materially change the proportionate numbers of the courses which are common to the two schools, except as to Latin and mathematics. To show this, the column on the extreme right of the table is introduced, containing the pro- portions for all the nine classes of the Frederick William gymnasium. There were, in 1838, five hundred .and ten pupils in this real school, under the charge of fourteen regular or -class masters, teaching several subjects in the lower classes, and of six other teachers.' Each of the eleven class divisions thus aver- ages about forty-six, who are under the charge of one teacher at a time. The elementary course in the real school is similar to that described in the burgher schools, beginning with the phonic method of reading, the explanations of all the words and sentences being required at the same time tliat the mechani- cal part of reading is learned. Written and mental arithmetic are taught together^ in the lowest olasis. The religious instruction consists of Bible stories adapted to their age ; and verses are committed to iftprove the memory of words. The ex- ercises of induction are practiced, but in a way not equal to that with objects, introduced by Dr. Mayo in England. Some of the > upils are able to enter the gymnasium after going through the two lowest classes. In regard to the real classes proper, as I propose to enter into the particulars of the course of study of the trade school, I shall here merely make a few remarks upon two of the branches studied in them, namely, French and drawing. The remarks in regard to the French will seiTe to show how great a latitude a teicher is allowed in the arrangement of his methods, the result of which is, that those who have talent ai'e interested in improving their art by observation and experiment. The French teacher to whom I allude had been able to secure the speaking, as well as the reading, of French from his pupils. From the veiy beginning of the course this had been a point attended to, and translation from Fi'ench into German had been accompanied by that from German into French : the conversation on the business of the class-room was in French. The pupils were exercised especially in the idioms of the language in short extempore sen- tences, and the differences of stracture of the French and their own langu.igo were often brought before them, and the difficulties resulting from them antici- pated. Difficult words and sentences were noted by the pupils. Declamation was practiced to encourage a habit of distinct and dehberate speaking, and to secure a correct pronunciation. The chief burthen of the instruction was oral. Without the stimulus of change of places, the classes under this gentleman's in- struction were entirely alive to the iusti'uotion, and apparently earnestly engaged in the performance of. a duty whioh interested them. If such methods should fail in communicating a greater amount of knowledge than less hvely ones, wliich I belive can not be the case, tliey will serve, at least, to break down habits of in- tellectual sloth to promote mental activity, the great aim of intellectual education. The drawing department of this school is superintended by a teacher Who has introducpd a new method of instruction, particularly adapted to the purpose for which drawing is to be applied in common life and in the arts ; a method which ' is found to enable a much larger proportion of the pupils to make adequate pro- grfess than the ordinary one of copying from drawings.* In this method tbe pupil begins by drawing from simple geometrical forms, those selected being obtained from models in wood or plaster, of a square pillar,t a niche, and a low cylinder, (the. form of a mill-stone.) Tlie square pillar separates in joints, affording a cube and parallelepipeds of different heights. The. hemisphere which caps the niche may be removed, leaving the concave surface of its cylindrical part. The exer- cises of the pupil ran thus : First, to place upon a board, or upon his paper or * Mr. Peter Schmidt, who now, hi his oM age. has received from Ihe government a pension in return for the introduction of his method, and the instruction in it of a certain number of teachers. ♦ Seven and a half inches liigh, and one inch and a hall in ..... ^^:.zrz section. 308 CITY TRADE SCHOOL. slate, a point vertically above another, or so that the linos joining tlie two shall be parallel to the right or left hand edge of the board, paper, or slate. Second, to join them. Third, to place a point horizontally from the second, ana at a dis- tance equal to that between the first and second points. Fourth, to place one vertically over the third, and at a distance equal to that below the first, and to join the third and fourth. The first and fourth being then joined, a square is formed. After practice in this, the simple elevation of the cube is drawn. Next, a perspective, by the use of a small frame and sills threads, such as is common in teaching the elements of this subject, and by means of which the pupil acquires readily a knowledge of the practice. The drawing of lines in various positions, and with various proportions, terminates this division of the subject. The niche and cylinder afford a similarly graduated series of lessons on the drawing of curved lines, and the drawing of lines of different degrees of strength and of shadows is introduced. This is accompanied with some of the more simple rules of shadow and shade. More difficult exercises of perspective follow from natural objects and from works of art or mechanism, according to the direction to the pupil's a(t- tainments and the amount of taste which he displays. This method of teaching has been introduced quite generally in Pinissia, and with the best results as to the formation of accuracy of eye and of hai)^. CITY TRADE SCHOOL. Tlie City Trade School was founded to give a more appropriate education for the mechanic arts and higher trades than can be had through the courses of clas- sical schools. It is agreat point gained. When the principal is admitted that dif- ferent kinds of education are suited to different objects in life ; and such an ad- mission belongs 'to an advanced stage of education. As a consequence of a gen- eral sentiment of this kind, numerous schools for the appropriate instruction of those not intended for the learned professions grow up by the side of the others. ^The city of Berlin is the patron of the trade school which I am about to notice, as the king is of the real school already spoken of. Its stability is thus secured, but the means of furnishing it with the necessary materials for instruction are liberally provided.* The trade school is a day school, and consists of five classes, of which the lowest is on the same grade as to age and qualification at admission, as the fourth class of a gymnasium. It is assumed that at twelve years of age it will have been decided whether a youth is to enter one of the learned professions, or to follow a mechanical employment, or to engage in trade, but the higher classes are not dosed against pupils. Of the five classes, four are considered necessary for certain pursuits and the whole five for others ; the courses of all but the first class last one year, that of the first, two years, a youth leaving the school at from 16tol7orl8 years of age, according t» circumstances. During the year 1836-7, the number of pupils in the several classes were, in the first class, eleven ; in the second, twenty-nine ; in the upper third, forty-thi'ee ; in the lower third, fifty- two ; in the fourth, fifty ; total, one hundred and eighty-five ; from which num- bers it appears that a considerable proportion of the pupils leave the school without entering the first class. The number of teachers is nineteen, five being regular or class teachers, and fourteen assistants. The director gives instruction. The following list of the callings to which pupils from this school have gone on leaving it, will show that it is really what it professes to be, a school for the in- struction of those who intend to follow occupations connected with " commei-ce * the useful arts, higher trades, building, mining, forestry, agriculture, and military life ;" and further, that its advantages are appreciated by the class for whom it is intended. The list includes the pupils who have left the school from the first and second classes, in the years 1830, 1832, 1833 and 1837. From the first class two teachers, five architects, one chemist, twenty-six merchants, one maohinest ' two Baliooi-printers, two glass-workers, one cloth manufacturer, one silk manufacturer, one miner, thirteen agriculturalists, eight apothecaries, two gardeners, one painter, one mason, one carpenter, one tanner, one miUer, one baker, one potter, one saddler, one soap-boiler, one cabinet-maker, two soldiers, one musician, five to »The present director nf t''''- school, Mr. Kloden, was formerly director of the liiijher jurgher scliool at Fotsuani, ana Is one of the most distinguished teachers ia his line in Persia. CITV TRADE SCHOOL IN BERLIN. 309 public offices, one to the trade institution, six to gymnasium. From the second class, forty-one merchants, one teacher, one chemist, one machinest, one ship-car- penter, nine agriculturist, one sugar-refiner, three dyers, one tanner, one brewer, two distillers, one miner, two lithographers, one dye-sinker, three apothecaries, one dentist, two painters, two gardeners, three masons, five carpenters, one miller, four bakers, one butcher, one to the trade institution, three to public offices, two to a gymnasium, one musician, one veterinary surgeon, one soldier, being ninety from the first class, and ninety-seven from the second, in the period of four years. In the course of instruction, the sciences and kindred branches are made the basis, and the modern languages are employed as auxiliaries, the ancient languages being entirely omitted. "Die subjects embraced in it are — religions Instruction, German, French, English, geography, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, technology, natural history, writing, drawing, and vocal music. The courses are fully laid down in the following list, beginning with the studies .of the lowest or fourtli class. FOURTH CLA^S. Religious Instruction* The goFpel according to St. Luke, and the Acta of the Apostles explained, with a catechetical development of the truths of religion and ethical applicatioDS. Two hours per week. German. Grammatical exercises in writing. Recital of poetical pieces. French. Grammatical exercises. Regular and irregular verbs. Reading from Lauren's Reader. One hour of conversation. Four hours. Arithmetic. Mental and written, Including proportions and fractions, with the theory of the operations. Four hours. Geometry. Introductory course of forms. Two hours. Qeograpiiy. Elementary, mathematical, and physical geography. Two hours. NaXural History. In the summer term, elements of bolauy, with excursions. In the win- ter, the external characters of animals. Two hours. Physics. Introductory instruction. General properties of bodies. Forms of crystals, specific gravity, &c. Two hours. Writing. Two hours. Drawing. Outline drawingand shadows, from models and copy-boards. Two hours. Vocal Music. Two hours. LOWER THIRD CLASS. Religious Instruction. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles read and explained. Two hours. German. Grammar with special reference to orthography and etymology. Written exer- cise»upon narrations made bv the teacher. Delivery of poetical pieces. Four hours. French. Translation from French into German from Gredicke's Chrestomathy. Grammar ; irregular vprbs. Extemporalla, and translations from German into French. Four hours. Arithmetic. Partly abstract, partly practical, from DJesterweg's Instructor. Four hours. Geometiy. Determination of angles in triangles and polygons. Equality of triangles. Dependance of angles and sides of triangles. Constructions. Three hours. Geography. Physical description of the parts of the earlh, except Europe. Two hours. NaMireU Histoiy. Mineralogy. In summer, botany, the class making excursions for prac- tical exercise. Man. Three hours. Physics. General properties of bodies and solids in particular. Doctrines of heat and their application to natural phenomena and the arts. Two hours. Chemistry. Introduction. Atmospheric air. Experimental illustrations of chemistry, applied to the arts. Two hours. Writing. Two hours. Architectural and topographical drawing. Two hours. Drawing by hand (or those who do not take pai"t in the other. Two hours. Vocai Music. Two hours. UPPER THIRD CLASS. Religious Instruction. Christian morals, from Luther's Catechism. Two hours. German. Simple and complex sentenc^es. Compositions on special subjects. Poems ex- plained and committed. Four hours. French. Translation from Gredicke's Chrestomathy, oral and in writing. Written trans- lations from Beauvais' Introduction, from German into French. Grammar, examples treated extempore. Four hours. Arithmetic. Properties of numbers. Powers. Roots. Decimal fractions Practical Arithmetic fromDiesterweg. Four hours. ■ Geometry. Similar figures. Geometrfcal proportion. Exercises. Mensuration of rectili- near figures. Three hours. Geography. Physical geography of Europe, audio particular of Germany and Prussia. Two hours. Natural History. Continuation of the mineralogy of the lower third class. Review in outline of zoology and the natural history of man in particular. Botany, with excursions in summer. Three hours. * Roman Catholic pupils are not required to take part in this instruction, whicb is commu- nicated by a Protestant clergyman. 310 CITY TRADE SCHOOL IN BERLIN. Phr/sics. Electricity and magnetism, witn experiments. Two hours. ChemUtry. Water and non-metaliio bodies, willi experiments. Two hours. Writing, Two hours. Architectural and topographical drawing. Two hours. Some ol the pupiiB durinff this time are engaged in ornamental drawing. Vocal Music. Tvfo hours. SECOND CLASS. Religious Instruction. Explanation of the first three gospels. History of the Christian religion and church to the reformation. Two hours. German. Correction of exercises written at home, upon subjects assigned by the teacher. Oral and written exercises. Introduction to the history of German poetry Three hours. French. Grammar; extemporalia for the application of the rules. Written and oral translations from German into French, from Beauvais' IManual, and vice versa, from Ideler and Nolte's Manual. Four hours. ' , t, , , j. English. Exercises in reading and speaking. Translation into German, from Burkharclt. Dictation. Verbs. Two hours. . Arithmetic. Commercial Arithmetic. Algebra, to include simple and quadratic equa- tions. Logarithms. Three hours. Geometry. Circles. Analytical and plane trigonometry. Three hours. Geography. Thestal.es of Europe, with special reference to their population, manulac-- tures and commerce. Two hours. History. Principal events of the history of the middle ages and of later times, as an mtro ■ ducfion to recent history. One hour. Natural History. Mineralogy. Physiology of plants. Three hours. Chemistry. Metallic bodies and their compounds, with experiments. Three honrs. ArchitEcturul, topographical, and plain dravnng. Drawing with instruments. Introduc- tion to India ink drawing. Beginning of the science of constructions. Two hours. Drawing. From copies, and from plaster and other models. Two hours. This kind ot drawing may be learned instead of the above. Vocal Music. Two hours. FIRST CLASS, Religious Instruction. History of the Christian religion and church continued. Refer- ences to the bible. One nour. German. History of German literature to recent times. Essays. Exercises of delivery. Three hours. / French. Reading from the manual of Buchner and Hermunn, with abstracts. Classic authors read. Review of Grammar, Exercises at home, and extemporalia. Free delivery. Correction of exercises. Four hours. English. Syntax, with written and extempore exercises from Burkhardt. Reading ot cl;;Esic authors. Writing of letters. Exercises in speaking. A rithmetic. Algebra. Simple and quadratic equations. Binomial and polynomial theo- rems. Higher equations. Commercial arthmetic continued. Three hours. Geometry. Plane trigonometry and its applications. Conic sections. Descriptive Geome- try. Three hours. 'History. History of the middle ages. Modern history, with special reference to the prog- rem of civilization, of inventions, discoveries, and of commerce and industry. Three hours. Natural History. In summer, botany, the principal families, according to the natural f^ys- tem. In winter, zoology. The pupils are taken, for the purpose of examining specimens to the Royal Museum. Physics. In summer, optics with experiments. In winter the system of the world. Three hours. Technology. ChemicaVand mechanical arts and trades, described and illustrated by mo- dels. Excursions to visit the principal workshops. Four hours. Architectural and machine drawing. Two hours. Those pupils who do not take part in this, receive lessons in ornamental drawing from plaster models. Vocal Music. Two hours. ■ The pupils of this class are, besides, engaged in manipulating in the laboratory of the insti- tion several hours eacli week. The courses require a good collection of apparatus and specimens to carry them out, and this school is, in fact, better furnished than any other of its grade which I saw in Prussia, besides which, its collections are on the increase. Tlie facilities for the courses are furnished by a collection of mathematical and physical apparatus, a labratory, with a tolerably complete chemical apparatus and series of tests, a collection of specimens of the arts and manufactures (or technological col- lectfon,) a collection of dried plants, and of engi'avings for the botanical course, and a small garden for the same use, a collection of minerals, a collection of insects,, a collection in comparative anatomy, a series of engravings for the drawing course, and of plaster models, a set of maps, and other apparatus for. geography, some as- tronomical in^ruments, and a library. The pupils are taken from time to time, to the admirable museum attached to the university of Berlin, for the examination of zoological specimens especially. i That this school is as a preparation for the higher occupations, and for profes- sions not ranking among the learned, the equivsSent of the gymnasium is clearly shown by the subjects and scope of its courses, and by the age of its pupils. CITY TRADE SCHOOL IN BEllLIX 311 Some of these occupations require no higher instmotion, others that the pupils shall pass to the special schools introductory to them. So also, many of the pupils of the gymnasia pass at once into active life, others enter the university. The class of schools to which the tvpo last described belong, are most important in their influence. In many countries, an elementary education is the limit beyond which those intending to enter the lower grades of the occupations enumerated in connection with the City Trade School of Berlin, do not pass i,and if they are in- clined to have a better education, or if intending to embrace a higher occupation, they desire to be better instructed, they must seek instruction in the classical schools. The training of these schools is, however, essentially different from that required by the tradesman and mechanic, the verbal character of the instruction is not calculated to produce the habits of mind in which he should be brought up, and the knowledge which is made the basis of mental training is not that which he has chiefly occasion to use. Besides, were the course ever so well adapted to his object, the time at which he must leave school only permits him to follow a part of it, and he is exposed to the serious evils which must flow from being, as it were, but half taught. In fact, however, he requires a very different school, one in which the subjects of instruction are adapted to his destination, while they give him an adequate in- tellectual culture ; where the character of the instruction will train him to the habits which must, in a very considerable degree, determine his future usefulness: and where the course which he pursues will be thorough, as far as it goes, and will have reached before he leaves the school the standard at which it aims. Such establishments are furnished by the real schools of Germany, and as the wants which gave rise to them there, are strongly felt every where, this class of institu- tions must spread extensively. In Germany they are, as has been Been,-no new experiment, but have stood the test of experience, and with various modi6cations to adapt them to differences of circumstances or of views in education, they are spreading in that country. As they become more diffused, and have employed a greater number of minds in their organization, their plans will no doubt be more fully developed. It is certainly highly creditable to Germany that its " gymnasia," on the one hand, and its " real schools" on the other, offer si^ch excellent models of secondary instruction in its two departments. The toleration which allows these dissimilar establishments to grow up side by side, admitting that each, though good for its object, is not a substitute for the other, belongs to an enlightened state of senti- ment in regard to education, and is worthy of the highest commendation. DISTHIBUTION OF STUDIES IN TUE CITV TRADE SCHOOL OF BERLIN. so. Oy HODR3 PER W&£K. GDrjECTS OP INflTRUCTIOX. Religion , German, French, English, , Arithmetic, . , . Geometry, Geography, .... History, Natural History, Physics, Chemistry, .... Technology, . . , ■Writing, Dravring, Vocal Music,... Total, First Class, 34 Upper ■rilird Class. Lower Third Class. 32 33 32 28 18 20 4 18 14 8 4 13 9 7 4 6 14 10 312 INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF BERLIN. In Prussia, every trade in which a want of slcill may jeopard human life, is regulated by law; and before its exercise can be commenced, a license is required, to obtain which an examination must be passed. This requisition of the law is considered to involve a reciprocal obliga- tion on the part of the government to afford the opportunity of obtain- ing the necessary knowledge, and schools have accordingly been estab- lished for the purpose. Twenty of the regencies of the kingdom already have technical schools established in them, where instruction is, in gen- eral, given at the expense of the state, or province, or for a very trifling remuneration ; and it is the intention that each regency shall have at least one such school within its limits. When there is a burgher school in the place intended as the locality for one of these technical schools, the two schools are connected as already described : at Potsdam, the special technical course alone being given in a separate department. In all cases the government supplies the apparatus for the courses ol mechanics, physics, and chemistry ; furnishes the requisite engravings for the courses of drawing; and supplies works for the hbrary and for instruction. The most promising pupils from the provincial schools usually find places at the central Institute at Berlin, which is in fact the university of arts. There is a special school for ship-builders at Stettin, in Pomerania. INSTITUTE OP ARTS OF BERLIN. This institution is intended to impart the theoretical knowledge essential to im- provement in the arts, and such practical knowledge as can be acquired to advan- tage in a school. It is supported by the- government, and has also a legacy, to be expended in bursaries at the school, from Baron Von Seydlitz. The institution is under the charge of a director,* who has the entire control of the funds, of the admissions and dismissions, and the superintendence of the instruction. The pro- fessors and pupils do not reside in the establishment, so that the superintendence is confined to study hours. There are assistant professors, who prepare the lec- tures, and conduct a part of the exercises, in some cases reviewing the lessons of the professors with the pupils. Besides these officers there are others, who have charge of the admirable collections of the institution, and of the workshops, offices, (fco. The number of professors is eight, and of repeaters, two. The dis- cipline is of the most simple character, for no pupil is allowed to remain in con- nection with the institution unless his conduct and progi-ess are sati^aotory. There is but one punishment recognized, namely, dismission ; and even a want of punc- tuality is visited thus severely. In the spring of every year the regenoi^ advertise that apphcations will be re- ceived for admission into the institute, and the testimonials of the candidates who present the best claims are forwarded to the director at Berlin, who decides finally upon the several nominations. The pupils from the provincial schools have, in general, the preference over other applicants. At the same time notice is given by the president of the Society for the Promotion of National Industry, in rela- tion to the bursaries vacant upon the Seydlitz foundation. The qualifications es- sential to admission are — to read and write the German language with correctness and facility, and to be thoroughly acquainted with arithmetic in all its branches. The candidate must, besides, be at least seventeen years of age. Certain of the * The director, M. Beuth, is also president of the Royal Technical CommiBsion of Prussia and has the distribution of the funds for the encouragement of industry, amounting to about seventy-five thousand dollars annually. M. Beoth is also a privy counsellor, and is president of the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry in Prussia. INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF BERLIN. 313 pupils, as will be hereafter more fully stated, require to have served an appren- ticeship to a trade. The Seydlitz bursar must, in addition, show — 1st. That their parents were not artizans,* relatives of the founder having the preference over other applicants. 2d. That they have been apprenticed to a trade, if they intend to follow one not taught in the institution. 3d. They must enter into an engage- ment that if they leave the mechanical career they will pay back the amount of their bursaries. There are sixty or seventy gratuitous pupils in the school of whom eighteen are upon the Seydlitz foundation. Forty are adtaitted annually, this number hiiving been adopted because it is found that, in the course of the first month, about a fourth of the newly admitted pupils fall away from the insti- tution. Each bm'sar receives two hundred and twenty-five dollars per annum for maintenance. The education is gratuitous. The regular pupils enter on the first of October, but the director is authorized to admit, at his pleasure, applicants who do not desire to become bursars, but who support themselves, receiving gra- tuitously, however, the instruction afforded by the institution. The education of the pupils is either solely theoretical, or combines theoiy and practice, according to the calling which they intend to follow. The first division is composed of students, who receive theoretical instruction only, and who are preparing to become masons, carpenters, and joiners. They are supposed to have become acquainted with the practice of their trade before entering the institution, being required to have served, previously, a part of their apprenticeship. An ex- cellent reason is assigned for this rule, namely, that on leaving the school such pupils are too old to begin their apprenticeship to these callings, and would, if they attempted to do so, find the first beginnings so h'ksome as to induce them to seek other employments, and thus their special education would be lost, and the object of the school defeated. The second division embraces both theoretical and prac- tical instruction, and consists of three classes. First, the stone-cutters, engravers, lapidaries, glass-cutters, carvers in wood and ivory, and brass-founders. Second, dyers and manufaohu'ere of chemical products. Third, machine-makers and me- chanicians. The practical instruction is different for each of these three classes. The general course of studies last two years, and the pupils are divided into two corresponding classes. The first class is, besides, subdivided into two sections. The lower or second class is taught first ; mechanical drawing, subdivided into decorative drawing, including designs for architectural ornaments, utensils, vases, patterns for weaving, &c., and linear drawing, applied to civil works, to handicrafts, and to machines. Second, modelling in clay, plaster, and wax. Third, practical arithmetic. Fourth, geometry. Fifth, natural philosophy. Sixth, chemistry. Seventh, technology, or a knowledge of the materials, processes, and products of the arts. The studies of the lower section of the first class are general, while those of the first section turn more particularly upon the applications of science to the arts. In the lower section, the drawing, modelling, natural philosophy, arid chemistry, of the fii'st year, are continued ; and, in addition, descriptive geometry, trigonometry, stereometry, mixed mathematics, mineralogy, and the art of con- struction are studied. In the upper or fii'st section, perspective, stone-cutting, carpentry, and mechanics applied to the arts, are taught, and the making of plans and estimates for buildings, workshops, manufactories, machines, &c. These are common to all pupils, whatever may be their future destination ; but beside them, the machinists study, during the latter part of their stay at the institution, a continuation of the course of mechanics and mathematical analysis. The ex- amples accompanying the instruction in regard to plans and estimates are adapted to the intended pursuits of the pupils. The courses of practice are begun by the pupils already enumerated as taking part in them, at different periods of their stay in the institution. The future chemists and mechanics must have completed the, whole range of studies above mentioned, as common to all the pupils, while the others begin their practice after having completed the first year's course. There are workshops for each class of pupils, where they are taught the practice of their proposed calling, under com- petent workmen. There are two foimdries for bronze castings, one for smSl, the * The object of M. Von Seydlitz appears to have been to counteract, to the extent of his power, the tendency to Ihe increase of the learned professions, at the expense of the mechanic arts, by an inducement to a course exactly contrary to the usual one. 314 INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF BERLIN. Other for large eastings, and the work turned out of both bears a high oharaotcr. A specimen of this work is retained by the institution in a bjeautiful fountain, which ornaments one of the courts of the building. The models for eastings are made in the estabhshment. In the first division of pupils, in reference to their callings, there are usually some whose art is connected with the fine arts in some of its branches, and these have an opportunity during part of the week to attend the oourses d! the Berlin Academy. The future chemists work for half the year in the laboratory. They are chiefly employed in chemical analysis, being furnished witli the requisite materials for practice by the institution. In th^ shops for the instruction of mechanics are machines for working in wood and the metals, a steam- engine of four horses' power, a forge, tools in great variety, lathes, &o. The pupils have the use of all necessaiy implements, according to their prt^ess, and are gradually taught, as if serving a regular apprenticeship. When capable, they are enable to constrnot machines which may be useful to them subsequently, as a 'lathe, or machine for cutting screws, or the teeth of wheels, &e., and are furnished with all the materials for the purpose, the machine becoming their own property. In these workshops, also, the models for the cabinet of the school are made. This is by far the most complete establishment for practice which I met with in any institution, and I beheve the practice is both real and effectual. It involves, however, an expenditure which in other cases it has not been practicable to com- mand. The scale of the whole institution is, in the particular of expenditure, most generous. This is one specimen of the various plans which have been devised to give practical knewledge of an art in connection with theory in a school. It is first most judiciously laid down that certain trades can not be taught to advant&ge in a similar connection, but that the practical knowledge must be acquired by an ap- prenticeship antecedent to the theoretical studies. There are besides, however, a large number of trades, the practice of which is to be taught in the institu- tion, and requiring a very considerable expenditure to carry out the design pro- parly. This could not be attempted in a school less munificently endowed, and requires very strict regulations to carry it through even here. The habits of a school workshop are, in general, not tjiose of a real manufactory, where the same articles are made to be sold as a source of profit ; hence, though the practi- cal knowledge may be acquired, the habits of work are not, and the mechanic may be well taught but not well trained. At the private school of Charoime, workshops were established, giving a variety of occupation to the pupils ; but the disposition to play rather than to work, rendered these establishments too costly to be supported by a private institution, and the- plan adopted instead of this, was to raalce the pupils enter a regular workshop for a stated number of hours, to work for the proprietor or lessee. This plan remedies one evil, but introduces another, that as the machinist takes orders, with a view to profit, the work may have so little variety as only to benefit a small class of the pupils. The pupils at Charonne are, however, under different circumstances fi-om those at Beriin ; they are gen- erally younger, and, being independent of the school, where they pay for their education, are not under the same restraint as in the other institution ; hence the experience of the one school does not apply in full force to the other. At Dres- den, in a school somewhat similar to that of Berhn, a different mode from either of those just mentioned has been adopted. An arrangement is made with a num- ber of mechanics, of different occupations, to receive pupils from the schools as , apprentices, allowing them the privilege of attending, during certain specified hours of the day, upon the theoretical exercises of the institution. Where such an arrangement can bo made, the results are unexceptionable, and the advantages hkely to accrue to the mechanic arts, from the union of theory with practice will offer a strong inducement to hberally disposed mechanics to take apprentices upon these terms. Small workshops, connected with an institution, must necessarily offer inferior advantages, even if closely regulated, so as to procure the gi-eatest possible amount of work from the pupils ; this should not be done for the sake of the profit, but to give him genuinely good habits. The difficulties in giving practical instruction in the chemical arts are not to be compared with those under discussion, and will be found to have been satisfactorily obviated in several schools. This subject will receive its more appropriate discus- sion in connection with the polytechnic institution of Vienna, where the ehemioal INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF BEKLIN. 315 department, at least as far as manufacturing chemistry is concerned, is generally recognized as having produced the best results of any yet established. Returning to the subject of the theoretical instruction in the Berlin institute of artSj the following statement will serve to show the succession of the course, with the time devoted to each : WINTER. COURSE. MONDAY. First Class. First division— drawing and sketching machines, eight A. M. to' twelve o'clock. Discussion of machines, estimates of power, &c., twoP. M. to five P. M. Second division- machine drawing, eight to ten. Modelling in clay,ten to twelve. Physicf-, two to five. Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to ten. Modelling, ten to twelve. Elements of geometry, two to four. Repetition of the lecture, four to five. TUESDAY. Pirst Class. First division— architectural plans and estimates, eight to twelve. Practical instruction iu machinery, two to five. Second division— ornamental and architectural draw- ing, eight to twelve. Trigonometry, two to five. Second Class. Ornamental and architectural drawing, eight to twelve. Physics, two to four. Repetition of the lecture, four to five. ^ WEDNESDAY. -^ IHrst Class. First division — original designs, eight to twelve. Discussion of machinery. Second division — mineralogy, eight to nine. Machine drawing, nine to twelve. Trigonome- try, two to five. Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to twelve. Practical arithmetic, two to five. THURSDAY. First Class. Firstdivision— drawing and sketching machines, eight to twelve. Architec- tural instruction, estimates, two to five. Second division — decorative and architectural drawing, eight to ten. Modelling in clay, ten to twelve. Trigonometry, two to five. Second C/ass— Decorative and architectural drawing, eight to ten. Modelling in clay, ten to twelve. Physics, two to four. Repetition of the lecture, four to five. FRIDAY. Firsf Class, First division— architectural plans, eight to twelve. Practical instruction in machinery, two to five. Second division— machine drawing, eight to twelve. Physics, two to five. Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to twelve. Elementary mathematics, two to four. Repetition of the lessons, four to five. SATURDAY. First Class. First division— perspective and stone-cutting, eight to twelve. Original de- signs, fwo to five. Second division — mineralogy, eight to nine. Decorative and architectu- ral drawing, nine to twelve. Trigonometry, two to five. Second Class. Decorative and architectural drawing, eight to twelve. Practical arithme- tic, two to five. I The summer term, which follows this, embraces the practical instruction, SUMMER TERM. MONDAY. First Class. First division— in the workshops from seven A. M. to twelve, and from one until seven P. M. Second division— machine drawing, eight to twelve. Applied mathemat- ics, two to five. , , ,,. 1 „. . Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to ten. Modelling, ten to twelve. Chemistry, two to four. Repetition, four to five. ^ ' TUESDAY. First Class. Firstdivii^on— analytical dynamics, eight to nine.. Drawingof machines from original desians, nine to twelve. Machinery, two to five. Second division— decorative and architectural drawing, eight to twelve. Cliemistry, two to five. Second Class. Decorative and architectural di-awing, eight to twelve. Elementary mathe- matics, two to four. Repetition, four to five. WEDNESDAY. First Class. First division— in the workshops from seven^to twelve, and from one to seven. Second division— machine drawing, eight to ten. Modelling, ten to twelve. Applied mathe- matics, two to five. , , . , . ^ ■-, Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to twelve. Practical arithmetic, two to four. Ma- terials used in the arts, four to five. • THURSDAY. First Class. First division— in the workshops from seven to twelve, and from one to ^ seven. Second division— machine drawing, eight to ten. Modelling, ten to twelve. Apphed mathematics, two to five. * , . -m- j n- . . Second Class Decorative and architectural drawing, eight to ten. Modeuing, ten to twelve. Chemistry, two to four. Repetition of the lesson, four to five. 316 INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF BERLIN. FRIDAY. First Class. First division— analytical dynamics, eight to nine. Drawing of a machine for an original design, nine to twelve. Machinery, two to five. Second division— chemistry, eight to nine. Applied mathematics, nine to twelve. Chemistry, two to five. Second Class. Machine drawing, eight to twelve. Elementary mathematics, two to lour. Repetition of the lesson, four to five. SATURDAY. . JPirst Class. First division— in the workshops, from seven to twelve, and from one to seven. Second division— decorative and architectural drawing, eight to twelve. Apphea mathematics, two to five. , „ .. , •., Second Class. Decorative and architectural drawing, eight to twelve. Practical arithme- tic, two to four. Materials used in the arts, four to five. The chemical division of the practical classes is engaged every day in the laboratory. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the library is open for reading from five to eight, P. M. The collections for carrying out the various branches of instruction are upon the same liberal scale with the other parts of the institution. There is a library of works on architecture, mechanics, technology, the various arts, archeology, is difficult after all to force the natural propensities ; hence it comes about, that when once we have entered upon a false course of training, we trouble ourselves and waste much time in the vain attempt to fit children for pureuits, for which they are not designed by nature. Meanwhile, in this diffi- culty, I am of the opinion, that they should ever be directed to the worthiest and most useful objects, and that we should not give too 318 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION- mucli heed to those unmeaning indications and presages, wliich we imagine we observe in their earliest actions." '• I would advise that care be taken to select for the child a tutor, whose head is sound and clear, rather than full of learning : regard should be paid to both these points, to be sure, but far more to integ- rity and good sense, than to attainments. And he should not exercise his ofiBce after the old fashion ; for the custom now is, to thunder knowledge into the pupil's ear, as if you were pouring into a farinel ; whence it follows that he becomes fitted for nothing, except to repeal again what he has before heard. But I w^juld prefer to have the tu- tor make an improvement in this custom, and at once, according to the capabilities of the mind which is committed to his charge, permit it to taste things for itself, and to choose and discriminate understand- ingly between them. At times he must assist his scholar in this exercise, and at times allow him to go through with it alone. He must not himself always strike the key-note, nor always assume the lead; he must hear the scholar likewise, and let him give his, views of the subject of his lesson. Socrates, and after him Arcesilaus, al- lowed their disciples to speak first, and then they themselves dis- cussed the topics thus introduced. ' The authority of teachers is very frequently an obstacle in the way of those who desire to learn.' l^Cicero, Nat. Deor. Lib. l.J It is a good thing for him to let the pu- pil run before him, ,that he may become acquainted with his gait, and thereby may judge how much he himself must abate of his own speed, in order to accommodate himself to his pupil's powers. If we overlook this due proportion, we spoil every thing. To attain it, and to observe it carefully and closely, is the most urgent of all the duties, which I would enjoin upon the tutor ; and it is, moreover, a proof of a lofty and a strong intellect to be able thus to descend to a level with childhood, and thereby to direct and guide it. But since it is the custom now-a-days for teachers of a certain stamp, to attempt the ed- ucation of a multitude of children, all different in their dispositions and their talents, all at the same time and by the same method, we can not wonder, when among them all, scarce two or three ever shew any good fruits from such discipline. The tutor must require of his pupil an understanding, not merely of the words of his lesson, but also of their meaning and their appropriateness. He must judge of the effect of his teachings, not on the testimony of his pupil's mem- ory, but on that of his conduct. He must exhibit whatever his pupil shall have learned in many different lights, and apply it to many dif- ferent subjects, in order to see whether he comprehends it, and has mastered it thoroughly. It is a mark of indigestion, when the MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 319 stomacli throws off the food which we take into it; unchanged. For it does not discharge its functions properly, unless it alters, either in nature or in form, that which we have given it to digest. We have bsen so long trammeled by leading-strings, that we can not walk alone ; both our freedom and our strength is gone. ' They are aliyays in wardship, and never become their own mas- ters.' [Seneca, Epist. 33.] I was well acquainted with an honest man in Pisa, but who was so great an Aristotelian, that his most prominent tenet was this ; ' The touchstone of all well-grounded opin- ions and of all truths, is their harmony with the doctrines of Aristotle ; every thing else is mere shadow and emptiness ; for Aristotle established every thing, and enunciated every thing.' The tutor must therefore lead his pupil to weigh every opinion, and to adopt nothing on mere authority. He should not suffer him to take on trust a principle" from Aristotle, any more than a dogma from Epicurus or the Stoics. He should make known to him all the varieties of opinion upon any given subject, and if he chooses .among them, so much the better; but if not, why, let hira doubt. 'There are times when doubting is better than believing.' \Bante Inf. c. 1 1 .J As we shall see, this passage exerted a vast influence upon Rou?seau, in whose Emile an ideal tutor is portrayed, who educates an ideal boy after an ideal and Utopian system. Rousseau, likewise, requires his pupil to form opinions for himself, and, with a mature insight, to choose, not only his philosophy, but even his religion, from amid the various systems and forms, of which the world is so full. ",If he can nbt choose," says Rousseau ," let him doubt." This radically cor- rupt sentiment, which is in direct opposition to Augustin's prof|;)und as well as true saying, "faith goes before understanding," is widely diffused at the present day. I shall examine it more closely further on. " The bees gather the sweets of every flower, but the honey they make is no longer that of thyme or marjoram, but purely their own. So should the pupil alter and transmute whatever he derives from others, in order to make it all his own." This beautiful and apt comparison we frequently meet with, in Erasmus and Bacon. But nothing interferes with this instinctive process of intellectual assimilation in the minds of youth, so much as the practice of questioning and doubting, recommended by Montaigne. A blessing upon spiritual growth comes only through a believing, humble self-surrendery, and through this alone is a genial quickening of the receptive faculties possible. "Veriiy, we make our 'children tiinorous, and cowardly, by giving them no freedom to do any thing of themselve^. Who of us ever 320 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. asks his scholar, what he thinks of rhetoric or grammar ? of this or that passage in Cicero 1 These things are only driven into the mem- ory, like oracles, whose whole essence consists in the letters and sylla- bles of which they are composed. But external knowledge is no knowledge at all ; it is nothing but the possession of that which has been intrusted to the memory. What, on the other hand we truly knoWj we can make available without an appeal to authority, and without first examining our book, to see whether it is thus or so." Thus he renders prominent the formation of independent opinions by children, in contrast with the slavish method, as hitherto practiced, of depending on external knowledge ; a method, which is an endless source of innumerable evils. "I could only wish that those dancing masters, Paluel and Pompey, could have taught us their pirouettes, merely by looking ' at them, without our having had to bestir ourselves at all ; even as those teachers of ours, would develop our understandings into action without stimulating them into any sort of activity ; or, that we could be taught to manage a horse, to handle a pike, or to touch a lute, without the necessity of practicing, just as our tutors aim to make us good reasoners or good speakers, without exercising us in speaking or in reasoning.'' An advocacy of self-activity, as an important element in mental cul- ture, and produced by exercise, as opposed to entire passivity ; that education, which leads to solid art, not merely to flimsy, theoretical science is thus set forth. " The opinion is universally received, that it is not good for it child to be jducated at home ; for natural affection renders even the most judicious of parents too tender-hearted and yielding. They can not bear to punish their child, nor to see him. hardened by frugal fare ; and yet he must be brought up thus. Nor can they bear to see him return home from his exercises, covered with sweat and dust, and then be allowed nothing but cold water, with which to quench his thirst ; nor can they suffer him to ride an unruly horse. And yet there is no help for all this; for whoever expects to educate a boy to be a brave man, most certainly should not render him effeminate in his youth, but must often, in his discipline, run counter to the precepts of physicians. ' Let him spend his days in the open air, and let him become familiar with danger.' [Jloraee, Carm. 1. 3. 2-.] It is not enough to inspire him with fortitude ; his muscles also must be har- dened. For the mind, when not assisted by the body, has too much to do, and sinks under its superadded labors. I feel that my own is over-burdened by my weak and unstrung body, its companion, which MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 321 is always leaning upon it and looking to it for aid. I have often ob- served in my reading, that my masters,- in their writings, in many cases, attribute to magnanimity and strength of intellect, those actions, which proceed rather from the thickness of the skin or the hard- ness of the bones. The pupil must be practiced in severe bodily exercises, in order that he may become insensible to all sorts of pain. The authority of the tutor likewise, which should be unlimited, is in- terrupted and checked by. the presence of the parents. Moreover the h«mage rendered to the young master by the servants, and the opin- ion which he imperceptibly imbibes at home of the wealth and the josition of his family, — these I think, are decidedly injurious to one of his years." This is in entire harmony with Rousseau, — a contempt of parental training, and an over-estimate placed upon the tutor's functions. Nothing but the deep moral corruption and the depraved manners of the French nobility can excuse such unnatural sentiments in these two men. The noble prominence here given to the culture and the hardening of the body, is likewise in the spirit of Eousseau and bis school, as well as in that of Fichte and Jahn. " The pupil should be taught, never to engage in any conversation or controversy, unless he has an antagonist, who is able to cope with him ; nor even then, to make use of all the arguments, which can serve his purpose. But let him be formed to a nice discrimination between different arguments, and to a desire to use those alone, which he absolutely needs ; and by consequence, to brevity. Especially let it be enjoined upon him, to lay down his weapons before the truth, and to surrender himself unconditionally to it, as soon as he perceives it, whether on the side of his opponent, or in his own consciousness." " Let the conscience and the virtue of the pupil shine forth in his discourse, but let them be ever under the dominion of his reason. Make it distinctly understood by him, that to acknowledge and correct any mistakes which he may have made in whatever he has advanced, though they should have been perceived by no one but himself, is a mark of good judgment and candor, those admirable qualities, for which he is striving ; and, on the contrary, that obstinacy and a spirit of wrangling are despicable traits, and to be found mostly in narrow minds ; while, to reconsider or to alter one's opinions, and even in the heat of debate, to give up a bad cause, betokens an eminently independent and a philosophical character." Worldly wisdom and the spirit of Christianity thus coincide in tho No. 11.— [TOL. IV., No. 2.]— 30. u 322 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. injunction to humble ourselves resolutely before the truth, and to avoid all contention for the mere sake of victory, "Let him endeavor to become acquainted with men in all the different spheres of life ; the cow-herd, the mason, the traveling merchant, every one, — he must see at their various avocations, and must get some information from each one of them ; for he can turn every thing to account, and even from the stupidity or the weakness of others, can gather wisdom. For as he diligently considers so many different fashions and manners, he becomes ever more eager to appropriate the good and to reject the bad. He should also be in- spired with a discreet curiosity to examine into every thing of interest ; all that is rare or attractive in his immediate vicinity he should visit, be it a castle, a fountain, a remarkable man, or a memorable battle field :— 'Wliat lands are chained ■with frost, what ever green apd fair, The swift-winged barks to Rome what fav'ring breeze will bear.' Prop. 1 : 4. He ought, moreover, to inform himself in respect to the manners, laws, and revenues of this or that Prince or Sovereign. These are things which are very pleasant to learn, and very useful to know. In recommending this acquaintance and intercourse with men, I refer also, and that chiefly, to those, whose memory has been handed down to us in books. By means of history the pupil will be enabled to converse with the great men of the most note-worthy ages. This is a study of inestimable value, and according to Plato, the only one to which the Lacedaemonians paid any attention. And what profit will he not derive, in this respect, from the perusal of Plutarch's lives 1 But the tutor must never forget the appropriate functions of his office ; for instance, he must not impress upon the memory of his pu- pil the date of the overthrow of Carthage, and omit all consideration of • the characters of Scipio and Hannibal. He must not dwell upon the narrative, and neglect to impart a just estimate of the events narrated." This ^requirement that the boy should take a siirvey both of the present and the past, and should form independent opinions in re- spect to each period, — as well as the recommendation of Plutarch, we find repeated in Rousseau. " In my opinion, .the 'first principles implanted in the understanding should be those, by which we shall be taught how to govern both our minds ajad Qur hearts, and how to obtain self-knowledge ; in a word, how to live well, and how to die well. Among the liberal arts, let us first acquire , the art which alone will make us free. They all, to be MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 323 sure, in a certain measure, serve to fit us for life and its duties ; and the same purpose is furthered, in some degree, too, by every thing that occurs in our experience. But we ought to apply ourselves to those which have a direct influence this way, in virtue of their very nature. If we understood how to confine our wants and necessities within their true and natural limits, we should find that most of the sciences would be altogether useless to us, and that, even among those which are indispensable, that there are many breadths and depths, which we would do well to leave untouched ; and we should realize the truth of the saying of Socrates, ' that it is not worth our while to prosecute any studies but such as will directly promote our interests.' " Montaigne attaches the highest importance to instruction in self- knowledge, and in the art of living w^ and of dying well, the art which makes us free. But he has not a word to say about the only master of this art, that One, who can make us free indeed. And in dissuading us from speculative and unprofitable knowledge, he speaks more in the spirit of Kousseau than in that of Socrates. '' " After the pupil has been taught all that is necessary to make him wiser and better, he may apply himself to logic, natural philosophy, geometry, and rhetoric; and whatever science he may now take up, he will speedily master; — because his judgment has been matured. He should be instructed sometimes by discom-se, and sometimes by reading ; at times the tutor should place the works of judicious authors in his hands, and on other occasions te shoidd give him only their pith and marrow. Who can doubt whether this way of teach- ing is more easy and natural than that of the Greek grammarian, Ga^a, whose system is composed of thorny, repulsive rules, and of empty, unmeaning words, containing nothing to inspire a thirst for knowledge ? But in the system which we here advocate, the mind is directed to fresh, wholesome food ; and its fruits are without compari- son more abundant, and they also ripen much sooner." A decided attack upon the old, austere method of teaching, in which time, place and grammar were all in all ; here again he appears the prototype of Rousseau and Basedow. "It is not a little remarkable, that in our day, and even among sensible people, philosophy, both in theory and practice, has come to be regarded as an unmeaning word, representing nothing of any value. I imagine that the 'Ergo's' and the wire-drawing sub- tleties of Logic, which guard every avenue by which philosophy can be approached, are chiefly to be censured for the neglect into which she has fallen. It is very wrong to represent her as inaccessi- ble, or as having a sour, morose, forbidding aspect. Who has disguised 324 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. her in this pale, hideous mask ? There is nothing more cheerful, sprightly, joyful, nay, I had almost said, more frohcsome than she. She preaches nothing but gaiety and good cheer. A crabbed and an austere countenance in a man, is a sure indication that she does not dwell with him. When Detaetrius, the grammarian, saw a number of philosophers sitting together in the temple at Delphi, he addressed them thus : ' Either I misjudge, or your quiet, cheerful faces tell me that you are engaged in no veiy important conversation.' Where- upon one of them, Heracleon, the Megarean, replied : ' Let those who are undertskking to settlei, whether the future of /3aXXu should have the X doubled, or who are tracing out the root of the comparatives ^srpiov and ^^Xtiov, or of the superlatives jjsipio'rov and ^sXTirfTov, let them knit their brows, wheff conversing together upon their hobbies; but as for philosophical inquiries, they commonly enliven and cheer those who enter upon them, and never make them sour and peevish.' " In this passage, Epicurus is commended, and still more in what follows. " '' I would n,ot have the youth imprisoned, as it were, and subjected to the passionate and gloomy caprices of a half-frantic pedagogue. I would not crush his spirit, by compelling him, sifter the customary method, to sweat and stagger, like a porter, under his daily round of fourteen or fifteen hours toil. Nor can I consent, when through an unsocial and melancholy temperament, he gives himself up to immod- erate study, that he be encouraged in so doing. For he will thus be rendered unfit for social intercourse, and will be withheld from better employments. Truly how great is the number of those who have been brutified by too overpowering a thirst for knowledge. Carneades was so greedy after it, that he gave himself no time to shave his beard or pare his nails. Nor do I desire to see the noble manners of the pupil spoiled by the impertinence and the rudeness of others. In former times the French philosophy of life passed into a proverb, as that which showed itself in the children at quite an early age, but which did not hold out long. In fact, we observe at the present day, that young people in France are extremely clever ; but they commonly disappoint 'the expectations which we had formed of them, and, when grown up, become in no wise eminent or distinguished. I have heard intelligent people say, that, the institutions of learning, of which there are so many in France, render them thus stupid. But to our pupil, on the other hand, every place should be a place, and every time a time for study,— the garden, the table, the bed, solitude, society, forenoon, afternoon, — ^no matter where or when ; for philosophy, which is the main object of his pursuit, as the guide of his ■understanding and his heart, is every where at home." MONTAIGNB'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND KDUCATION. 325 " Thus our lessons, mingling with every occasion, and taken up at every opportunity, will insinuate themselves into our minds almost without our perceiving how. Even our recreations and our exercises ; running, wrestling, music, dancing, riding, fencing, and the chase, — all will unite to assist us in our studies. It is also important that a graceful deportment and winning manners be cultivated, at the same time that we are taking so much pains with the mind. For it is neither a mind nor a body that we are educating, but a man ; and we must not divide him into two parts. For, as Plato says, we should not train the one without the other, but they must both lead and draw alike, as a span of horses harnessed to the same carriage. As for what remains, this our method of education must be conducted with an even- handed mildness, and not after the fashion of our modern pedagogues, who, instead of inspiring children with a love for learning, render it hateful and repulsive to them. Away with this coercion and violence ! For, in my opinion, there is nothing which so humiliates and stultifies an otherwise excellent nature. If you have any desire that your pupil should dread shame and punishment, do not render him callous to them ; but harden him rather to endure heat and cold, wind and sun, and all the disagreeable and dangerous accidents and adjuncts of life, which he ought to hold in contempt. Wean him from all effemi- nateness and delicacy in dress, eating, drinking and sleeping ; accus- tom him to bear all things, so that he may not become a senseless, foppish gallant, but may rather grow to be a strong and sturdy lad. The training in most of our institutions of learning, I am utterly op- posed to. It would be less mischievous, certainly, did its errors pro- ceed from overmuch indulgence ; but these places, on the other hand are veritable dungeons, where our youth are imprisoned. They are there made dissolute and corrupt, by being punished on the mere suspicion of being debauched already. Do but visit a class while engaged in recitation ; you will hear nothing save the cries of child- ren smarting under the rod, and the bellowings of the irritated and enraged masters. An admirable method, truly, to inspire the tender and shrinking minds of the young with a love for knowledge, is this being goaded to study by a wrathful visage and a merciless whip ! Consider, moreover, as Quintilian has very justly remarked, ' that a domineering spirit always exerts an unhappy influence ;' and how sig- nally so must it be in our present most wretched style of training ! How much more seemly were it to decorate the school-bench with garlands of flowers and leaves, than to make it dismal with the blood-stained birch. I would have the walls of the school-room hung with pictures of joy and gladness, of Flora and the Graces, after the manner of SoeusiDDUS. the nhilosonher. in liis school." 326 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDttCATION. Tliis is in close connection with previous passages. An attack upon the austere routine, the pedantic, joyless diligence of the recluse, and a renewed praise of manly exercises and of cheerfulness in disposition and, conduct. ' " My pupil should not recite his lesson, so much as put it in prac- tice, and repeat it in his actions. We must observe, whether he is prudent in his undertakings, whether he exhibits benevolence and justice in his conduct, whether intelligence and courtesy are man- ifest in his speech, whether he shows fortitude in sickness, modesty in iis mirth, moderation in his pleasures, and order in every thing, and lastly, whether it is all alike to his palate, what he shall eat or drink, be it fish or flesh, wine or water. ' Let him value his learning not for the show which he can make of it, but for its influence on his life, and let him govern himself and be obedient to the laws.' — [Cieero, Tusc. Qtiaest, v., Lib. 2.1 Our reason most faithfully mirrors itself in our daily life. Zeuxidamus replied to a certain one, who asked him why the Lacedaemonians did not reduce their science of military tac- tics to writing, and give it to their youth to study : ' It is because they accustom them to deeds, and not to words.' With these Lacedaemo- nians compare now one of the Latinists from our schools, who has spent fourteen or fifteen years in merely learning how to speak cor- rectly. The world is full of babble, and I have never yet seen the man, who did not say more than was necessary, rather than less. And yet the half of our life is spent in this manner." " If our pupil is familiar with a wide range of subjects, words will come of themselves ; and should they appear reluctant, he can force them to do his bidding. I hear some excuse themselves for not being able to express their ideas correctly ; and then they will put on a con- sequential air, as though they have their heads full of the finest thoughts in the world, but are unable to bring them to the light, for lack of eloquence. But this is not the cause. Shall I tell you what I think it is ? They have shadows in their minds of this and that crude and shapeless substance, which they are unable to represent clearly and distinctly to themselves, and which consequently they can not reduce to words. For my part, I hold it for a certainty, and Socraies maintained the same, that eVery one, who has a clear and sprightly thought in his head, can convey it to others, whether it be through the rudest provincial dialect, or, if he is dumb, by means of gestures. ' Is the subject well understood first, then words will not be slow to follow.' — [ffor. in Art. Poet.] And as Seneca has also in his prose thus poetically expressed himself: 'When the subject has taken possession of the mind, words will be eager to solicit for it.' — MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 327 [Sen. Conirov. 1. 3.] And Cicero : ' The subject itself bears the wor(3s along with it.' — [Cic. Be. Fin. 3. 5.] A plain, uneducated man knows nothing of rhetoric ; he does not know how to arrange his preamble so as to secure the good will of the courteous reader, nor in fact, does he care to know this. Seriously, all this fine painting, this flaunting array of trope and metaphor, grows dim before the splendor of untinseled truth. These elaborate flourishes serve only to tickle the palates of the multitude, who are not in a condition to digest stronger and more solid food. The ambassadors of Samos came to Cleomenes, king of Sparta, prepared with a long and grandiloquent speech, framed for the purpose of persuading him to engage in a war with the tyrant Polycrates. After Cleomenes had patiently heard them through, he gave them his reply, as follows ; ' The commence- ment and preamble of your speech I do not remember, nor can I recall the middle of it ; but as far as regards the conclusion of it, I can not grant your request.' That, it appears to me, was a good an- swer, and the orators must have gone away, utterly confounded with shame and mortification. And how was it, too, in this other instance ? The Athenians, wishing to build a^large edifice, were obliged first to choose one of two architects to superintend the work. The first stood up, and in a haughty manner, but with a well-studied speech, dis- coursed upon the whole subject, and that so eloquently, that he carried the multitude completely away with him." But the other then arose, and made use only of these few words : ' Ye men of Athens, what my rival has thus said, that will I do.' " Against multiplying words, without the energy to direct them. Whoever has a treasure of clear, well-marked thoughts in his mind, will never be at a loss for clear and appropriate language, in which to express them. , " I am none of those who hold that good metre makes good poetry. Should our pupil use a long syllable for a short one, what matters it ? If his invention displays genius, if wit and understanding have done their part, then I will say, 'he is a good 'poet, although a bad versifier.' " Here we have the same principles applied to poetry, — sense and substance placed higher than mere elegance of language. So we may justly admire the physical build of a strong, healthy man, even though he is ill-favored in the extreme. In any case, an inartistic decision, that takes no account of beauty, is always to be preferred to an admiration of smooth but unmeaning rhyme. " But what is our pupil to do when he is assailed with the subtleties of sophistical syllogisms 1 As, for example, ' eating bacon provokes 328 MONTAIGNE'S THODGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. to drinking ; drinking quenches thii'st : ergo, eating bacon quenches thirst.' Let him laugh, for laughing at such platitude is much better than answering them. Chrysippus said to a certain fellow, who was endeavoring to banter Cleanthes with his logical fallacies : ' Mock children with your foolish tricks, but do not expect that a man will condescend to take any notice of them.' " Montaigne here praises the self-confidence of the man of a strong, healthy understanding, who encounters, with his native, nnperverted good sense, the professed pugilists of philosophy, and parries their attacks, or, on the other hand, considers it beneath his dignity to close weapons with them. " There are some silly persons, who will go a half-mile out of their direct course to pick up an ingenious fancy. ' Or, those who do not suit their words to their subjects, but call in the aid of irrelevant sub- jects, in order to use words already chosen.'^[§«m<47Jan, Lib, 8^ Seneca too, says: 'Who, for the sake of using some pleasing and graceful word, will introduce a subject, upon which he did not at first intend to speak.'" — [Sen. Ep. 59.] " I would have the hearer so carried away by the subject, and his imagination so filled with it, that he shall forget the words. I love a plain, natural style, written or spoken ; a strong, expressive style, curt and compact, not so much nice and faultless, as animated and direct. ' Those words are after all the wisest, which reach the heart.' " " That eloquence which attracts attention to itself, does this at the expense of the subject ; and, as it is childish in our dress to seek noto- riety by what is singular and uncommon, so is it also, in our speech. A desire to employ new phrases and unfamiliar words denotes a scho- lastic and'puerile ambition. I would not use even a word or an ex-- pression, which could not be understood in the fish-markets of Paris. Aristophanes, the grammarian, knew nothing of the matter, when he censured Epicurus for his inartistic' style, and overlooked the chief element in his oratory, which was "simple, intelligible language. Forms of speech are so easy of imitation, that they soon spread over a whole nation ; but it is not so with judgment and invention. Bone and sinew we do not borrow, as we do the stufif and the fashion of our coat and our cloak. Most of thei peraons, with whom I converse, speak like my book ; whether they think after the same sort, I know not. ' The Athenians,' says Plato, ' look at the fullness and the beauty of your language ; the Lacedaemonians, at its conciseness ; but the Cretans, more at the sentiment, than the expression. And these latter please me the best.' " Precepts, again, of that genuine eloquence, which aims not at MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 329 appearance, but at essence and substance; which does not seek, by means of a fine array of borrowed phrases, to startle and captivate, but which leaps from heart to heart, bearing the hearers along with it, even against their will. How different this from the rhetoric that idly and aimlessly expends itself in cold and glittering words. " I would first become familiar with my mother tongue, and the language of ray neighbors, with whom I am in constant contact. There is, truly, something fine and grand about the Greek and the Latin, but we buy their acquisition at too dear a price. I will here communicate a method, whereby we may compass this knowledge with far less pains-taking, than in the ordinary way. It is the same method that was pursued with me, and whoever will may avail him- self of it. After my deceased father had made every possible inquiry of learned and experienced men as to the best mode of education, he became convinced of the disadvantages of the common method. They told him that the long time, which we spend in learning the language of the Greeks and that of the Romans, and which cost them hardly any time at all, was to be considered the sole reason that we did not attain to their mental elevation and their knowledge. I do not, however, think that this is the only cause of the difference. But the plan that my father adopted was the following. While I was yet in my nurse's arms, and even before I could talk, he committed me to the charge of a German, who has since died in France, having been a famous physician there. He understood not a word of French, but was so much the better a Latin scholar. My father had written for him, expressly to instruct me, and gave him a liberal salary there- for, and i was thus almost constantly in his arms. To lighten his labors, there were two others of less learning associated with him, as my attendants. These all spoke to me only in Latin ; and, as for the rest of the family, it was an inflexible rule, that neither my father nor my mother, neither a man-servant nor a maid-servant, should ever addi-ess me but with a few crumbs of Latin, that each one had learned to prattle with me. It was astonishing what progress they all made by this means. My father and mother learned enough Latin to understand it, and even enough to express themselves in it in case of necessity. In short, we all Latinized to that degree, that our speech flowed out over the neighboring villages, where it became cus- . toraary to give Latin names to various artificers and their tools, which remain even to the present day. To return to myself, then, I knew in my seventh year as little of the French or Perigord tongue, as of Arabic ; and without art 6r book, without grammar or rule, without a rod or a tear, I had learned to speak as pure Latin as did my teacher ; 330 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. and, in truth, tow could it have been otherwise ? If a theme was given rae for practice, as is the custom in schools, it was not in French, but in bad Latin, to be turned into good. As for Greek, which I knew' scarce anything of, my father contrived a new method of instruction to initiate me therein, namely, by games and exercises. For, among ^ other things, he had been advised to leave my will so entirely without constraint, that I should, from my own natural impulse, acquire a fondness both for duty and for learning, — and moreover, to mould my faculties with gentleness and freedom, forbearing all compulsion and severity. He even carried this policy out with superstitious fidelity ; for, as some are of opinion that it injures the delicate brains of child- ren to wake them suddenly and with violence out of sleep in the morning, because they sleep more soundly than adults, he invariably caused me to be awaked by music." " When I was not far from six years old, my father sent me to the public school in Guyenne, then in a very flourishing state, and the best in France. But it was none the less a public school. From that hour, my Latin grew corrupt ; and since then, I have lost all com- mand over it, from discontinuing its practice. And my previous extraordinary education served only to place me at the outset in the highest classes. For when I left the school at thirteen, I had run through my curriculum, as they 'call it, and had yet derived nothing from it at all, which I can now turn to any account. I early con- ceived a taste for books, which began with the pleasure I derived from reading Ovid's Metamorphoses. For in my seventh or eighth year, I stole from every other pursuit, to read Ovid ; aVid, so much the more, since his language was my mother-tongue, as it were, and his book was both the easiest that I was acquainted with in that tongue, and also iftreated of matters suited to my tender years. As for Launcelot of the Lake, Amadis, Huon of Bordeaux, and the like pleasant old romances, which youth in general devour so eagerly, I knew not even their titles, (and to this hour I know no more of their contents,) so strict was my training. But I was thus led to neglect the studies that were allotted to me. In this position of things, how- ever, it happened very favorably for me, that my preceptor was a man of sense, and he accordingly closed his eyes to my occasional deviations of one sort and another from my prescribed course. And thus I was enabled to read thrqugh, without interruption, Virgil's jEneid, Lucretius, Plautus, and the Italian Comedies, all of which al- lured me by the interesting nature of their subjects. Had he been so foolish as to have disUirbed me in this course, I verily believe that I should have brought nothing away from the school *ith me, but an MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 331 aversion to books altogether, as is almost invariably the case with all our nobility. But he was quite discreet in his apparent self-deception, acting as though he was not aware of my habits ; and he thus sharpened my appetite, by permitting me to peruse these books only in secret, while keeping me to my required tasks in the most indulgent manner possible.'' Here we have the course which was pursued in the education of Montaigne himself, and which he sanctions throughout. He antici- pates the new educational era in his wish ; " to learn before every thing else his mother-tongue, and the language of those who imme- diately surround him ;" in which it is apparent that he has regard more to the utilitarian aspect of philology, than to its influence upon mental culture. The spirit of the, same era is expressed in the attempt to teach Latin in a new and an easier way, " without gram- mar or rule, without a blow or a tear." In the same spirit it was that Montaigne learned Greek, " in- play," and that he was awakened from sleep, in play, as it were, — ^by strains of music. " We must ex- cite," he says, " a strong desire and a hunger for study ; otherwise, we shall educate with our books droves of luggage-laden asses; under the crack of the whip we shall fill their panniers with knowledge, and admonish them not to lose it. But we ought not merely to entertain knowledge in our dwellings, we should wed ourselves to her." With justice does Montaigne thus battle against the heartless, formal drill system, and against learning without enthusiasm. But he, like so many thousand others in the transition-period, while seeking to avoid this Charybdis, falls into a Scylla, into an enervating, ovet-weening neglect of all discipline, and into an unmethodical method of teaching and learnitig. Their ideal is an ideal amateurship from their youth up, untrarameled by that wholesome severity of the school, which moulds those strong, manly characters, who in their studies sedulously subordinate themselves to whatever subject is before them, and become obedient to it, in order to subdue it. That Montaigne emerged from such a delicate training, wherein he was diligently guarded from all care and trouble, a thoroughly indoc- trinated, pleasure-seeking Epicurean, we have already seen, and he is therefore himself to be regarded as the first fruits of the modern system of education. In his 24th chapter, " On Pedantry," Montaigne attacks not pedants merely, but the sciences in general, in so far as they unfit men for action ; thus repeating here the strictures, which we have observed in passages already cited. Here too he is throughout the forerunner of Rousseau. "Plutarch tells us," says Montaigne, "that among the Romans, 332 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. Greek and schoolmaster were correlative terms, and alike epithets of derision. I afterward," he continues, " found, as I advanced in life, that they had abundant reason for their opinion ; and that ' the great- est scholars are not always the wisest men.' But how it happens, that a mind enriched with the knowledge of so many things, is not made thereby more active and lively, while the commonest native under- standing is able without any cultivation to comprehend the thoughts and conclusions of the noblest intellects that the world has ever pro- duced, — this, I confess, I can not explain. 'Whoever must needs incorporate the thoughts of so many strong *and mighty brains with his own,' said a young lady to me once, in allusion to a certain acquaintance of. ours, ' can not do it, without first compressing his own brain, and drawing it intQ a smaller compass.' I might perhaps conclude, that, as plants are choked by too much moisture, and lamps quenched by too much oil, so it is with the activity of the understand- ing through tqo much study, and too great a burden of knowledge ; for, through the vast diversity of subjects among which its attention is divided, it is plunged into endless entanglements, and is crippled and clogged by the weight under "syhich it staggers. But the fact is quite otherwise ; for the mind expands in proportion as it is filled. In proof of this assertion, we can point to many examples of antiquity, where men, who have proved equal to the discharge of high public functions, men who have shown themselves great generals or able statesmen, have been at the same time very learned." As we observe, Montaigne does not overlook the fact that in Julius Csesar, Pericles, and others, great attainments in knowledge harmo- nized admirably with practical eflSciency. Yet he is the panegyrist of the Lacedemonian method of education, which he places in bold con- trast with the Athenian, much to the disadvantage of the latter. And not satisfied even with this expression of his views, he adds, "We are taught by examples, that the study of the sciences ren- ders the disposition weak and womanish, rather than unyielding and brave. The strongest government at present existing in the world, js the Turkish ; for there the people are trained to prize arms, and ti> look with contempt upon learning. I find too, that Rome was great- est, when the people were ignorant. The most warlike nations in our day are those which are the most rude and uneducated. The Scythians, Parthians, Tamerlane and others, are examples of the truth of this remark." Aside from this overestimate, this idolatry, we might almost term it, of barbarism and brute force, we find in this chapter many very excellent educational hints, which agree essentially with what has already been quoted. Take for instance the following : MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. 333 " If we look at the customary method by which instruction is im- parted to us, we shall not be at all astonished that neither scholars nor teachers are made either wiser or more learned thereby. The care and expense which our fathers bestow upon our education absolutely aims at nothing further than to fill our heads with knowledge ; but to cultivate the understanding and the heart is not so much as thought of. If we exclaim, in the hearing of the people, concerning a certain person passing by, — '0, the learned man !' and^ concerning another, — ' O, the good man !' you can not withhold them from fasten- ing their glances and their regards upon the first ;■ sq that a third per- son would be .justified) in turning upon them, and ciying out, ' What a pack of blockheads are ye all !' We are particular to ask concern- ing any one, ' Does he tmderstand Greek V ' Does ie read Latin ?' > Does he write poetry?' or, 'Does he write prose ?' bat whether he has become better, or more judicious, (and these after all are the main points,) we do not so much as think of. We should inquire, who is the wisest, not who is the most learned. If the mind of my pupil has not received a better direction through study, and if his judgment has not been matured by it, it is my opinion, that his time would have been much better employed in playing ball; for then, at least his body would have grown stronger and more healthy. Look at him on his return home, after so many years spent at the university ; who is less prepared than he to set about any thing practical ? And the most noticeable thing in him is, that his Greek and Latin have rendered him more stupid and more arrogant than he was when he first left his home. He ought to have returned with a full-grown and well-condi- tioned intellect, but it has on the contrary become dwarfed and pufied up with vanity." This attack upon an over-regard paid to the intellect to the neglect of the moral nature, upon an anti-utiUtarian spirit, and upon all mere exercises of the memory, — all this, is an exact fore-shadowing of Rousseau. So likewise are the following passages against dead learning, without the power or the skill to vitalize it. "What avails it if we fill our stomachs with food, unless it is di- gested and changed into nutriment, unless it gives us strength and growth? We rest so entirely upon the shoulders of other men, that our own powers at last utterly fail us. Shall I arm myself against the fear of death, I am forced to do it by the aid of a passage from Cicero. Do I seek consolation for myself or for my friends, I obtain it from Seneca. But had I been educated aright, I would rather have drawn consolation from my own breast. I do not love this vicarious and mendicant serenity. We must be taught by means of 334 MONTAIGNE'S THOUGHTS ON LEARNING AND EDUCATION. the knowledge of others, it is tioie, but we can never become wiser, save through our own wisdom.'' " My unlearned countrymen call these highly accomplished gentle- men, in their droll way, ' overdone with study ;' and truly it almost seems as if they had studied all their inborn understanding quite out of their heads. For, on the other hand, do but look at the hind or the shoemaker ; they keep the even tenor of their way, and speak only of that which they know ; but these fellows, while exalting them- selves, and parading the knowledge that swims about on the surface of their brains, fall into perplexity, and stumble at every step. Galen they may chance to know ; but they know nothing of the disease of their patient. Their heads may be full of law ; but how to manage a cause in court, this they do not understand at all. Of each and every thing they shall have learned the theory ; but some one else must be looked up, when it comes to the practice." " But it is not enough that our education be not an injury to us ; it ought to make us better. "We have in France some Parliaments, that examine the officers, whom they are to admit, only upon their knowl- edge ; others, on the contrary, test their understanding^ also, by pre- senting them with some law case, that they may give their opinion upon its merits. These latter appear to me to proceed in much- the most appropriate and judicious manner. And though, in such an office, there is need of both, yet knowledge is of less value than a soimd judgment. For as the Greek verse expresses it, ' learning, is useless, unless the mind control and direct it ;' and, would to God, that we were so fortunate in the matter of our administration of jus- tice, as to have our courts gifted with as much understanding and conscience as they now possess of knowledge. ' But alas, we do not leari^how to live, only how to talk.' " We now take our leave of this eminently original, and judicious, yet light and sarcastic writer, who, by the aid of an unperverted com- mon sense, looked upon the world with a far greater distinctness of vision, than the scholar, imprisoned, as it were, in the fetters of a dead classical formality, could by any means hope to do. In a bold and striking mariner he uttered all his thoughts without any constraint, and without once asking himself what pedants might say of him. How much he effected by this course, and what universal favor he has met with, is attested by the many editions which have been demanded of his Essays, and by th« influence, which he exerted not only on his contemporaries, but also on the most distinguished men of succeeding generations, and especially on Rousseau. THE PROGRESSIVES OP THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [Translated from the German of Karl Von Raumer, for the American Journal of Education.] We have already become acquainted with the educational institu- tions of Protestant Germany, from the lowest elementary school to the university ). and likewise with the character of the most important Catholic schools^-those of the Jesuits. We now approach the beginning of a new period in the history of the German systems of instruction ; at the same time, the most frightful period in the history of Germany. Before delineating the character of this new epoch, I shall glance at the condition of the schools of learning in Germany, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. First, the institutions of the Jesuits. The Order had early discerned the immeasurable importance to its purpose — the purpose of re-estab- lishing an absolute hierarchy, and of nullifying the results of the Eeformation^of securing to itself, if possible, the entire management of the education of youth. The Jesuits followed up their design with vvonderful. wisdom and skill, and indefatigable perseverance; and upon comprehensive and well-studied plans.* In 1550, they had no perilSBnent foothold in Germany. The next year they founded their first school, in Vienna ; in 1556, they established seminaries at Co- logne, Prague, and Ingolstadt; in 1559, at Munich and Tyrnau; inlSCS, at Dillingen ; in 1569, at Brannsberg; and, in 1575, at Heiligenstadt.f They also established themselves firmly at Mentz, Aschaffenburg, Briinn, Olmiitz, and Wiirzburg. The Jesuits were accustomed to use every means of accomplishing their objects ; and well understood how to put out of their way such institutions as obstructed them — not •nly Protestant, but Catholic ones — as in Treves, Posen, and Prague. In Treves, the Hieronymites had established a Brothers' House, at the end of the 15th century.J Johannes Even, substitute-bishop of * Rauke's account of the Counter-Reformation.— History of the Popes, Vol. 2. p-. 25, &c. t Director Rinke says, ("Gymnasial Programme." Heiligenstadt, 1837,) " In 1674 com- menced the work of regaining Eichsfeld to Catholicism." Two years after the erection of the Jesuit school there, in 1S77, it already had 200 scholars. The Jesuits. remained there until 1773, when Dalber,? came from Erfurt, and ordered them, in pursuance of the bull of abrogation of Clement XIV., to leave the city before daybreak of Sept. a).— Ibid, pp. 5, 11, 41. t ■' Contribution to the history of schools in the formei- electorate of Treves, by First Director J. II. Wyttenbach." In the Treves Gymnasium programme of 1S41, p. 10, &c. 336 THE PROGRESSIVES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Treves, gives (about 1514,) a most favorable account of them, as good and respected priests, of virtuous life, and as having in his time 300 scholars. The people gave the Hieronymians the surname of "golden priests." A protestant movement appearing in the archbishopric, Archbishop Johann von der Leyen invited the Jesuits to Treves, in .1560. They begun by preaching; then the elector appointed them teachers; and, in 1566, they had a college, completely organized. " The Hieronymian College of St. Germain, was still* in existence, although operations were already commenced to undermine the institution from a distance, since it did not seem practicable openly to overturn it. But it was easy to foresee that, by the side of that of the Jesuits, which received all the favors of the prince, it could not exist much longer." In 1570, the Jesuits got possession of a convent, ■which the Minorites were obliged to leave, "altogether against their will, and to remove into the building of thesCollege of St. Germain, \?here the school of the Hieronymians had at last come to an end. Of these latter teachers was remaining, in 1569, only one." They were obliged " at Treves, as elsewhere, to give way to the new order. All the schools came into the hands of the Jesuits."* In Posen,| Bishop Lubranski had established a school, in 1519; the Jesuits founded theirs in 1573. They contrived to get such an influence over Bishop Konarski, that he not only favored and assisted the Jesuit college in every way, but altogether neglected Lubranski's school, and intentionally suffered it to decline. In 1574, most of its pupils had already left it for the Jesuit institution, in which they were permitted much greater liberty. Thus did this order use their seduc- tive influence, as well against Catholics as Protestants. A merchant, Ryot, had founded an evangelical school here, in 1567 ; and still earlier, in 1555, one had been established by the Bohemian brothers. In 1616, both these schoolsj as well as the evangelical church, were " destroyed by the scholars of the Jesuits, and a rnob acting in con- cert with them." In 1621, after the battle of the White Mountains, the Jesuits intrigued most recklessly against both CathoHcs and Prot- estants. In spite of the (Opposition of Archbishop Harrach of Prague, and in violation of the existing rights of the chapter, univers- ity, dean, and minister, they seized the exclusive control of all schools and institutions of education. In the same year, they drove the Calvinistic preachers into Bohemia.J * lb., p. 14. t " On the former schools of Poland, especially in Posen," by Prof. Czwalina. Posen Gymnasium programme, 1837, pp. 10, 14, 18, 19. t Raumer's History of Europe, iii. 416. THE PROGRESSIVES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 337 Witli the purpose which the Jesuits had in view, they very natu- rally established themselves, as far as possible, in Protestant cities, or in their vicinity. And Protestant parents in various portions of Germ any ■were, nevertheless, so blind, as to intrust their children to the Order, for instruction. Should they wonder or be angry, if they were thus enticed into the bosom of the Catholic church ? When the Jesuits, in 1621, were about building a stately college at Alt-Schottland, befure the very doors of Dantzig, Johannes Schro- der, teacher in the Dantzig Gymnasium, wrote to the council, that there was urgent need for their schools to rouse themselves ; " lest," he says, " these fellows, with their institution, obtain the pre-eminence and the prize. Otherwise, much young blood will be seized upon by them, and thoroughly contaminated. I know these birds — I under* stand the Jesuits. I had twelve years', acquaintance with them in Brunswick."* Against this far-seeing and deeply-planned educational activity of the Jesuits, we have already seen with what hearty zeal the Protest- ants, reformers, educators, and princes, exerted themselves for the erection or improvement of schools. Especially prominent, in the second half of the 16th century, is Johannes Sturm, as a normal educator. His method, says Morhof,f was followed not only by the German cities, but also by those of foreign lands. We have seen that the school system of Duke Christopher, of Witrtemberg, and that of August I., of Saxony, corresponded very nearly with Sturm's. His model was followed in the most different German cities. The plan drawn up for the Stralsund Gymnasium, in 1591, by Rector Jentzkow, was " no other than the method laid down by Jotann Sturm, in his various writings, extended and adapted with great care and judg- ment."J In like manner, it is related by Rector Heinrich Petreus, that, in organizing the Gottingen Gymnasium, ho took that of Stras- burg for a model. § In the gymnasium at Frankfurt-on-the-Mayne, Sturm's method was fo}lowed.|| The introduction of decurions, in the gymnasium at Liegnitz, as well as at Frankfurt, was evidently after Sturm's plan.^ The contest of the confessionals was transferred to the schools. But, nevertheless, Protestants and Catholics sought the same object in their efforts for literary culture. Sturm said : " I have observed what ' " History of the Academic Gymnasium in Dantzig, by Prof. Dr. Th. Hirsch." Dantzig Gymnasium programme, Aug. 3, 1837. Exoeedingiy valuable, t Morhof Polyhistor. Ed. 4, 1747 ; 1, 333. J Zober : Stralsund Gymnasium programme, 1846, p. 7. ^ § Some account of the ancient schools of Gottingen, by Dir. Kirsten, 181nly when the teacher is present so that he may teach it first. If the pupil is himself wise and intelligent enough toknow how he ought to learn and be taught, then he needs no teacher." Yet before the scholar has heard any thing of Latin grammar, the teacher is to read with him a portion every day, and thus from Monday to Friday, to go over a space which is to be read again on Saturday. Thus the six comedies of Terence were to be read within six weeks.§ We shall see further on why the author is to be read before the grammar is studied. ■ Having thus explained one instance of the methods of instruction of Ratich and his fbllowers, I proceed to the n. General Pkincipleb Of this methodologist, as they appear in the "Articles" and "Aphorisms," subjoined to the " Praxis." 1. " Every thing in its order ; or, the course of nature-! Since na- ture uses a peculiar method, proper to herself with which the under- standing of men is in a certain connection, regard must be had to it, also, in the art of teaching ; for all unnatural and violent or forcible teaching and learning is harmful, and weakens nature." But, had Ratich dnd his school found the true order of nature ? Had they, for instance, in teaching Latin ? Were they not forced, in discipline, to adopt methods of compulsion and beating, quite opposed to the sacred motto of " naturam segui ?" 2. " Only one thing at a time.^ Nothing is a greater hindrance to the understanding than to undertake to learn many things togethei and at ofice. It is as if one should undertake to cook pap, fruit, * Mcthodus, 145. Maente praeceptore omnia privata repetitio discenti plane interdicta eat. t Praxis, 166. t lb. p. 199, § lb. p. 164. "Thus a comedy will be finished in a week, at one act a day. This shows how much promptness the teacher needs, to finish a whole act in an hour." (Very true !) " " * •' until, in six weelcs, all Terence will have been read and explained. And up to this time the pupil has heard nothing of Latin grammar." H lb. pp. 179, 176. nib. pp. 179, 175. WOLFGANG RATICH. 359 meat, milk and fish, in the same kettle. But things should be takea up orderly, one after another, and one thoroughly dealt with before proceeding to the next. In each language, one author should be studied until the language is well learned. When he is well learned, and, as it were, well swallowed down, others may be read. One should undertake nothing new until that which preceded it has been learned thoroughly and sufficiently for all purposes." Is this actually according to the " course of nature ?" Is it natural, if one has lived eight months on pap or on fish alone, just as Ratich's scholars were kept at Terence eight months, and more too, not to wish anything else to eat ? Is not a variety of reading material like that in the valuable reading books of Jacobs, much more agreeable to the " course of nature ?" Just as we do not eat one thing altogether ; but, for example, bread with meat ; just so it is the problem of the teacher, not to lay before the scholars an everlasting and wearisome monotony. And, as skilful cooks endeavor to find out what viands go together, so as to obtain at once a good flavor and easy digestion, just so must the skilful pedagogue, even within the same term, teach the same scholars different things, such as may serve as supplements to each other, by their variety may keep the scholar fresh and un- satisfied, and at the same time may healthily nourish his mind.* And the rule, " one should undertake nothing new until that which precedes has been thoroughly learned," needs this addition : in pro- portion to the measure of ability of each scholai'. 3. " Each thing should be often repeated. It is incredible, what may be accomplished by the frequent repetition of one thing. For this reason it is that only one and the same material is to be handled, in all lessons, both 'forenoon and afternoon. For what is often re- peated, will become more deeply and correctly impressed upon the understanding. But if one goes over one thing once, and immedi- ately goes on to another, and so to many things, one after another, none of them will be learned well, and the understanding will be' confused, overstrained and weakened." This is like the previous principle ; and like it suspicious, if moder- ation be not observed in the practice of it. 4. " Every thing first in the mother tongue. For the scholar must do his thinking about what he has to learn, in the mother tongue ; and he ought not to have any further trouble about the language of it." " There is always this advantage, that if knowledge useful and " A contemporary had already said, " variety of lessons may be of two kinds : one con- fused, and the other orderly ; this last is not hurtful, since it is directed to a single knowl- edge." Grawerus, 12. 360 WOLFGANG RATICH. necessary in common life, were put into German and learned in it, every one, whatever his busiaess, could acquire a much better knowl- edge of it, because he could guide himself and express himself better in all matters connected with it. How important this would be in religion and government, and in human life generally, will easily be imagined, if we reflect what a miserable condition of ignorance and inexperience is most usual." "After the mother tongue, then the other languages."* The importance of this article is clear. It aims at the restoration of the mother tongue to its proper rights, and at the removal of the sharp distinction between the Latin learned and the unlatinized laity, and of the demand that the latter shall be educated, and that the mother tongue be the vehicle of their education. What germs of good, but, from after abuses, of evil too! 5. " Every thing without compulsion."! a. " Boys can not be whipped into learning or wishing to learn. By compulsion and blows youth are disgusted with their studies, so that study becomes hateful to them. Moreover, this is contrary to nature. For boys are accustomed to be flogged for not remembering what has been taught them ; but if you had taught them rightly they would have remembered it, and you-would not have needed the blows. And that they should atone for your errors, because you did not use the right method of teaching, is too great an injustice. Also, the human understanding is so made that it must have pleasure in learning what it is to remember ; and this pleasure you destroy with your anger and blows. But as to what belongs to morals, mores, and virtue, there is a different rule. 'Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him,' as Solomon says. 6. The pupil should not be frightened at the teacher, bu,t should hold him in love and reverence. This follows of itself from the foregoing. For if the teacher rightly exercises his oflBce, it will not fail but that the boy shall take up a love for him and for bis studies. JAU the work comes upon the teacher. For he has to read and explain, and in the mother tongue too ; yet this is much easier than the work formerly iigual in the schools. For he has not to plague himself with hearing, examining and whipping, but conducts his lessons in a decent way, and is sure that he will gather fruit from them ; for this can not fail him if he only does rightly the oflBce of teacher, and pursues the proper method. • Praxis, p. 182. f P. 183. XV. 196. WOLFGANG RATICH. 361 *The teacher must do nothing but teach. To maintain discipline belongs to the school officials, * * * * so that the pupil can not contract a repugnance to his tea<}Jier, but may love him more and more ; which has much efficiency in learning.'' These doctrines pgain are forerunners of the later pedagogy. If the children learn nothing, the teacher must take all the blame ; for according to Ratich's method they must make progress, without any doubt at all ; a Mercury can be carved out of any block. If the earlier pedagogy was hard-hearted and Orbilian, here there appeared a tendency diametrically- opposite ; a fear of losing the children's love, even by the conscientious enforcement of justice.f To make up for this, it is not the teacher, but the school officer, who is to ad- minister punishment — as the Jesuits used to inflict bodily punishment not by a Jesuit, but by some one not a member of the order. 6. " Nothing must be learned by rote.J Reason : such is the iu- dioation of nature ; otherwise violence is done to the understanding ; and accordingly, experience shows us that any one who applies him- self much to learning by rote, loses much in. understanding and intel- lectual keenness. For if the understanding is occupied with the words, it has not room rightly to consider the things. It is unnecessary, too, and can be accomplished by better means ; that is, when a thing has been well impressed upon the mind by frequent repetition, the memory of it will follow of itself without any pains."§ Here is an indication of the origin and tendency of the method. Earlier pedagogues base every thing upon learning by rote, without regard to the understanding of what they learned ; but now the un- derstanding is to be substituted for the memory. Ratich's school had as little regard as many of the later pedagogues, for the intimate connection between imagination and the memory, by which the former grasps the images which the latter retains and either purposely or arbitrarily reproduces.! * Praxis, p. 200. The Praxis recommends the same, p. 167. -'All should be done with ju- dicious words and a countenance pleasant, yet grave ; not with blows and harshness. If any case demands severe discipline, it should be put into the hands of the school authorities. t We have observed above that the complaint was made in Kothen, that Ratich's schools were deficient in discipline. i p. 185. The Praxis, p. 169, says, " Examine your scholars, whether they are ready in the conjugations and declensions, but always from the book, and not from memory ; neither must the pupil be allowed to recite the inflections from memory."(!) §" For the real memory of an object ^pends immediately upon the knowledge of it." Methodus, 146. " The proceeding should be from the intellect to the memory ; and never the contrary." Praxis, 164. " Nature has been constrained in this ; that the boys have been made to learn by rote, and entirely by themselves, without the aid of the preceptor, what they do not understand." Grawer, 29. He also says, " The localis memoria is entirely forbidden ; that is, remembering any thing by means of certain figures set in a certain order and so retained." I P. 186. 362 WOLFGANG RATICH. Connected with this rule is another one, that the children are to have their hours of recreation ; indeed that no two lessons are to come immediately together. Chiefly because " this method of teach- ing depends upon reading, and the hearing becomes wearied more easily than the other senses;" and because "each scholar must listen and remain silent."* During the lesson he must not speak nor ask questions, in order not to disturb his fellow scholars, and because the lesson can not otherwise be finished in time. If he has any thing to ask, he must ask it after the lesson. i That such a continued silent listening to reading was a most un- natural constraint upon the boys, is indirectly here confessed by the Eatichians themselves in recognizing this fatigue. Comenius, who gives us a short description of Ratioh's method,f mentions, that if the scholars, are made to observe a Pythagorean silence, the teacher must labor in vain, for all power of attention is destroyed in the former. 7. "Mutual conformity in all things. j " In all languages, arts, and sciences, there must be a conformity, both as to the method of teaching, books used, and precepts given, as far as possible. The German grammar, for instance, must agree with the Hebrew and the Greek, as far as the idioms of the languages will permit. For this is a valuable help to the understanding, * * and gives perspicacity, when one sees how one language agrees with others and differs from them." This points toward a general grammar, by teaching that the grammar of each language is to be divided into two portions, the universal and the particular. This is certainly right in part. In learning a new language, we very soon distinguish its agreements with, and differences from, the mother tongue. 8. § " First a thing by itself, and afterward the explanation- of the thing. No rule can be given before the material for it — the author or the language — has been given. This appears entirely absurd, but expe- rience shows that it is entirely true. For what can one understand in any language, who has read nothing in any author of it, though he be all stuffed full of rules ? He must at last come to this, that either in one author or in many, one after another, and with frequent repetition, he learns to understand the rules and make them useful. * p. 197. " In the disciple a Pythagorean silencP." P. 176. t 0pp. did. 2, 80, 100. " This maxim imposes upon the teacher an asinine, useless, veia- tioup labor." "A human being is not a mere passive log from which you are to carve out a statue ; it is a living figure, forming, reforming, deforming itself." tP 1S7. 5P. 188, etc. WOLFGANG RATICH. ■ 363 What need, therefore, had he to plague himself in vain beforehand with the rules ? Rules without material confuse the mind. Let any one remember for himself whether all his life long he has found in his reading all the examples \^ich he was obliged to learn with great pains in the grammar. As, for instance, the patronymics ; how they martyr the poor boys, and yet are seldom used ; therefore it is an absurd thing that the grammar should first be beaten into them and that they should learn the language for the first time afterwai'd. Get your corn before you trouble yourself about a sack. Get money before you buy a purse to put it in. Eules are not of use for a pre- paration, nor for a guide ; but for the fixation of what has been learned. Whatever may have been the other uses of rules, nobody can remember that they gave him any help at the beginning, and prepared him to acquire the language more rapidly. Practice and experience teach us that any such speculation is empty." "A basis of material must have been laid in the mind, before the rules can be applied to it." To the observation that in the grammar the rules are furnished with examples, Ratich answers, that, notwith- standing, the rules are useless ; because they are insufiSciently scraped together out of the most various authors, arid are uninteresting. And in the "Articles " he says : "All sorts of examples come together from all sorts of authors, like mixed fodder in a manger ; but no such means, with no connection within itself, can lay a good foundation and lead into the peculiarities of a language.''* These are the gi'ounds upon which Ratich and his followers require the reading of some select author, and that the grammar shall be de- veloped out of that author. At the first it may seem strange that Ratich should cite here the instance of geometry. Oral instruction, he says, would be of httle use in this study, if the teacher should not display before his scholars some actual body or drawing on the black- board, an obtuse or acute angle, a circle, etc. But this illustration will be found, upon nearer examination, quite correct. He expresses himself entirely in agreement with our eighth "Article," thus, " that it is unnatural to occupy oneself with the accidentals of the thing before the thing itself"! This principle admits of a wide application in teaching, and is of great importance and truth, if it is not pushed to caricature. 9. " Every thing by experience, and investigation of parts."| The Latin aphorism is neater : Per inductionem et experimentum omnia.\ • p. 193. iEt omninOf accidentia rei prius quam rem ipaam quaerere prorsus absonum et absurdum ease videtur. And in the Praxis, p. I75,i JVe modus rei ante rem. t p. 194. I p. ITS. S64 WOLFGANG RATICH. 'No rule or idea is admissible which is not based upon new inves- ' tigation and founded upon good proof, whether or not many, or all, have written, or believe^ so or so about it. For it is assured cer- tainty which is needed, and this can by no means be founded upon authority. In this way there is no possibility of failure.* No au- thority is admissible, therefore, unless traced to its original reasons. Neither has established prescription any validity ; for it gives no cer- tainty. The Latin phrase, "Per inductionem et fxperimentum mnnia," shows almost conclusively that Bacon had had an influence upon Eatich. Whether or not the latter was in England when Bacon's first wort appeared, " induction " was Bacon's shibboleth. Ratich's radicalism appears most strongly in this ; and the motto of his school books, "Vetustas cessit, ratio vicit"^ proves the same — as if vetustas and ratio were opposite ! In combating the prevaihng servile regard for antiquity, however, he threw away the good with the bad. It is the past which must be the foundation of the future. The later Methodians became infected with a stupid self-esteem, and undervaluation of the ancients. In fact, however, the ancients bad full authority, with both Eatich and th,e Eatichians ; which is shown by the important part which Terence played in their schemes. The above quoted report of Jungius and Helwig agrees with this statement. Jungius was born in 1587 at Lubeck, and was in turn professor of philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, at Giessen, Ros- tock, and Helmstadt; and died in 1657, at Hamburg, while rector of the gymnasium there, and professor of physics and,logic. Among his numerous writings I find nothing except this report, of a peda gogical character. With Helwig it is otherwise. He was born in 1681, at Sprendlin- gen, south of Franlcfort-on-the-Main, and studied at Marburg, where he took the degree of master in 1599, in his eighteenth year. In 1605 he was established at Geissen, and was appointed professor of theology there in 1610. He died as early as 1617, in his thirty-sixth year, apparently in consequence of overwork. Helwig was an extra- ordinarily learned man. He spoke Hebrew as well as his mother tongue ;J wrote grammars of Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, and Syrian ; * Non igitUT auctoritas destituta raiionibus valeatt neque vetustas quicquam proEscribai, PrMis, 178. \ The same motto stands before hie uniTersal system in German : " prescription yields, rea- son overcomes, truth is recognized." {Gewohnkeit verschtoiiidf Vemurifft V^eTwindt Wahr- heit platzjlnd.) t Buxtorf wrote, " If I were\with you, Helwig, I would licit the dust off your feet." Thui Bays Schuppius, Helwig's son-in-law. WOLFGANG EATICH. 365 a HeVew and Greek school -lexicon, and many other worta. He waa considered one of the most skillful teachers of languages of his day ;* and had a new method for teaching languages easily, which brought upon him much derision and enmity. It was said of him that he " had contrived a funnel through which he could pour learning into the heads of youth as they pour wine into a cask in the autumn."f Helwig's report upon Ratich's method, appeared only three years before his death. This learned man had adopted Ratich's views with great enthusiasm, and had developed them with remarkable skill. I shall give the most important parts of this report. In the be- ginning he remarks, that Ratich has, " by diligent reflection and long practice, discovered a valuable method by which good arts and lan- guages can be taught and studied more easily, quickly and correctly, than has been usual in the schools ; and that he has been for thirteen years pursuing this Christian purpose." According to Ratich's method it is possible, " if the proper books are provided first, as well for the old as well as the young, to teach or to learn any language, with pleasure and love, better than the mother tongue, at most in a year, and, with industry, in half a year, in three or four hours daily."! "Ratich's method is more practicable in arts and sciences, than in language ; since arts and sciences are, by their nature, consistent with themselves, while the languages, on the contrary, by long use, have contracted many incorrectnesses." Helwig seems to consider any departure from his general principles of language as much of an incorrectness as any maimed or distorted Latin word introduced into German. * We will now consider, continues Helwig, not only the knowledge of objects of instruction, but the gift of teaching likewise; but not this only, however. " For nature," he says, " does much, it is true ; but when art assists her, her work as much more certain and complete. Therefore it is necessary that there should be an especial art to which any one who desires to teach can adhere, so that he shall not teach by mere opin- ion and guess, nor by native instinct alone, but by the rules of his * Bayle, Helvicus. t Schuppias, *' on BCboo[s," p. 129. His epitaph, on the contrary, calls him, •' Nvoae didac* ticae autoret iiiformatorj'elicissimus." t Grawer's report, (p. 21,) says that Ratich's method does not dispense with labor, but that it requires less than heretofore. He says, " If one, in going from Jena to Leipzig, goes to Weida, then to Altenburg, then to Vt^eissenfels, and thence to Leipzig, he will get there. But if another comes to him and says, * I will show you a surer way, that is, by Naumberg and Weissenfels to Leipzig,' he does not mean that the traveler can go to Leipzig without labor, but only without superfluous and unnecessary labor." 366 WOLFGANG RATICH. art ; just as he who would speak correctly, by the rules of granomar ; and he who would sing correctly, by the rules of singing." This art of teaching applies, like that of logic, to all languages, arts and sciences ; and is such a universal art of teaching as Ratich's. It dis- cusses among other things, " how to distinguish among minds and gifts, so that the quicker may not be delayed, and that, on the con- trary, those who are by nature not so qnick, may not remain behind ; how and in what order to arrange the exercises, how to assist the understanding, how to strengthen the memory, to sharpen the intellect, without violence and after the true course of nature. This art of teaching, no less than other arts, has its fixed basis and certain rules, founded not only upon the nature and understanding, the memory and the whole being of man, but also upon the peculiarities of languages, arts, and sciences ; and it a,dmits no means of teaching which are not deduced from sure grounds, and founded upon proof." Helwig argues further against the usual unintelligent learning by rote, and translating into strange languages ; " the requiring what has not been taught ; the remembering what is not understood ; the practicing what has not been learned." Ratich remedies this, relieves the boys from their misery, and puts the chief labor upon the teach- er, who, however, finds it easier than before, "since, if he is not fully master of every thing connected with the language or art which he teaches, still, while he is teaching it to others, he himself, becomes jeady, prompt, and thorough in it." Under the usual teaching, the result is uncertain, and every thing must be done by guess. " Most persons," he says, " choke themselves upon the bitter root, even to weariness, before they can get the least taste of the lovely fruit ; that is, they have to torment and plague themselves, before they can see or know of the least use for their efforts." Helwig proceeds to oppose the tyranny of the Latin ; " as every such language directly injures the knowledge of the mother tongue, and as all arts and sciences may be easily and with advantage learned in the German language." Men, in general, have no need of Latin ; "just as if Latin were the only -measure of all the other arts and sciences, and the only means of attaining them." Thus the new method leaves to the languages, arts, and sciences, their natural freedom. For," continues Helwig, " he who has abjured the tyranny of the Latin, may, according to his preferences or his necessities, learn one or another language, and use it, or devote him- self entirely to one single art or science, and enrich it with new dis- coveries, as the Greeks, Hebrews, and others have done ; who would never have done so much for posterity if they had been obliged to WOLFGANG RATICH. 367 martyr themselves with the grammar as many years as our own youth." If the monopolizing Latin is removed, Hebrew, Greek, and even Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, would.be attended to. The mother tongue, in particular, would not be neglected ; as it has great excellencies, and ought to be correctly and systematically learned, as the ancient Greeks and Romans learned their native tongues. "Besides," si^s Helwig, "it is a clear truth that all arts and sciences, logic, ethics, political economy, mensuration, medi- cine, drawing, weighing, astronomy, architecture, fortification, and as many more as there are, can be more easily, conveniently, correctly, thoroughly, and successfully learned and taught in the German lan- guage, than in the Greek, Latin, or Arabic." In order to introduce Ratich's method, grammars and compends must be prepared according to it, and " bookAf roots and words." In conclusion, Helwig recommends the subject to princes and au- thorities, parents and teachers. I can scarcely say how many of the principles of the modern Methodians, and of their views, appear in this report. Polemics against the usual method of instruction, against the tyranny of Latin, against mechanical learning by rote, and neglect of the understand- ing ; and on the other hand, the promise of a new, easy, brief and certain method of instruction, by whose aid both scholar and teacher would be spared fatigue and doubt, which made but little requisition upon the teacher ; the bringing forward of the understanding, and the low estimate of the memory ; the equalizing of the Greek, He- brew, (fee, with the Latin ; and especially the requisition that the mother tongue should be reinstated in its rights, and,' still more, that it should be learned " correctly and systiematically." Grawer's report (of Jena) upon Ratich, is chiefly directed against the opponents of the new method. Objections had been heard, just as they are to-day, if any thing new is sought to be introduced in the school system. He says, "Do you ask, has nobody, up to this time, known how to teach youth languages correctly 1 Did our forefathers know nothing about it ? Is the art now for the first time discov- ered ?"* Gvawer answers, "is it true that the method of instructing youth in languages, is so incapable of improvement? When music has risen to such a state of perfection, within the last eighty years, from so small a beginning, and yet have our forefathers left no im- provements to be iriade in didactics ?" These questions were, however, occasioned by Ratich's too violent Grawer, 68. 368 WOLFGANG BATICH. attacks upon the accepted method of teaching, and his extravagant valuation of his own. The second objection was, that if learning should be taught in the German language, it would become altogether too common, so that all without distinction, would be learned, and the rightful learned men would fall into disrespect. Learning, answers Grawer, is bound up with no language, although there is a belief, that, absolutely no one can be learned unless he understands Latin and Greek ; and on the contrary, that if any one knows Latin and Greek, even if he knows nothing else besides, he is a very learned man.* We have heard something of the same kind in our own times. Meyfart's report praises especially Eatich's orthodox Lutheranism, and says that he omits useless studies, and substitutes others.f Eatich's life and Wbors are, in many respects, diametrically op- posed to those of Johannes Sturm. The latter succeeded in every ,, thing, because he laboted in the spirit of the age, and, therefore, had the support of the age. He was only the head master among many who pursued the same design with him. Upon this purpose Sturm kept his eyes fixed clearly and steadily, and followed it resolutely and earnestly. On the contrary, many of Eatich's ideas were new and unintelligible, and even irritating to his contemporaries. Jlr had rn- gacity enough to perceive the wants of the systems in vogue, but not enough to remedy them. He indicated many improvements, but only shadowed them forth in general principles. If he undertakes to work out any of his principles, to put them in practice in the school, he shows himself entirely confused and incompetent. Trusting in his principles, he promised what his practical incapacity would not per- mit him to perform ; and thus, even with his well-wishers, he ap- peared a charlatan. This conflict between his ideal and his want of skill for the realization of it, made him unsuccessful, and in this he is a characteristic forerunner of the later Methodians, especially of Pes- talozzi. Sturm, as a man skillful in his calling, known and recognized by his age, was, on the contrary, successful. Eatich's works are in Latin, diffuse to tediousness, and pedantic m structure and style. Those of his followers are sometimes in Ger- man, but singularly interlarded with Latin words, showing that they were still under the " tyrannical dominion" of that language. * Grawer, 63-65. 1 1 omit wliat Meyfart says about " Xnstrumenta inservientia and dirigentia" as obscure. " By means of the former," he says, " all can be learned which will enable one to attain to a knowledge of things and of language ; and to the power of effective labor ; and it therefore consisted, partly in knowing and partly in laboring." This sounds very much like Bacon As Intstrtanenta dirigentia^ he names, eutactica, cpistamonica, mnemonia, glossodidacticaf praxeodidaclica, noematicodidacHca^ organicodidactica. WOLFGANG RATICH. 369 Works op and kelatiko to Ratica, Batich wrote many books, of which the following have come to my knowledge : 1. Universal Encyclopaedia for Ratioh'a Didactics. Kothen, 1619. This is apparently the same with the Allunterweisung nach der Lehrnrt Ratichii, 1619. This Encyolopeedia contaiD.s 13 pages of almost nothing except definitions of thirty-two literary studies. For example : " What is EnoyclopBedia 1 Ans. It is the course of rightly instructing the human jnind in all things which can be known. How is it divided? Ana. Into dogmatics and didactics. What is dog- matics ? Ana. It is the system of methodically explaining studies." At the end is given the fallowing synopsis : Encyclopaedia is divided into two parts : into Didactics, of and Dogmatics, which is either which elsewhere, , • , Illiberal, (Technology.) Liberal. Heal. Instrumental. Divine, (theology.) Human. of reason, (logic.) of speech. , '. ' \ (rhetoric, Jurisprudence, Philosophy. poetry. Medicine. , ■— s grammar.) Contemplative. Active. (Metaphysics, Physios, Mathematics,) (Ethics, Politics, Economics.) Pure. ' Mixed. (Arithmetic, Geometry.) (Music, Astronomy, Cosmography, Optics.) 3. Universal Grammar for Ratich's didactics : Kothen, 1619. (This appeared in Latin, German, Italian and French.) Like the Encyclopeedia, it is in cate- chetical form, and has twenty pages, mostly of definitions. For example : " What is gi'ammar ? Ans. Grammar is the system instrumental for conect speech. How many things are to be considered, relating to correct speech ? Ana. Two ; essence, and attribute. What is the essence of correct speech ? Ans. The es- sence of correct speech is its agreement with approved authors," etc. To this catechism is added a tabulated view of the Latin conjugations and de- clensions. Both the Encyolopeedia and the Grammar are little enough adapted to give a knowledge of Katioh's method. 3. The new method of instruction of Eatich and the Ratichians : by Johannes Rhenius. Leipsic, 1626. This collection includes : 1. W. Ratich's general introduction to the method of learning languages. 2. The Praxis, and description of the method, (in Latin,) which may serve as a model for other languages : by certain Ratichians. 3. Principles on which the Ratiohian system is chiefly founded. Rhenius says, in his preface, that he received these three treatises from the hand of his friend Ratich, and that two of them are by fellow-laborers of his at Augsburg. My respected friend Herr Rector Vomel of Frankfort, has been kind enough to communicate them to me ; they are of great importance for understand- ing the peculiarities of Ratich's method. I ha^^ quoted from all of them. Besides the manuals under the above heads 1 and 2, Ratich published the fol- lowing books, mentioned by Joeher, Schwarz and Massmann. I have not been able to obtain them, although I went for that purpose to Kothen, where they appeared. New Didactics. 1619. Rhetoric. Physics. Metaphysics. Compendium of Latin Grammar. Compendium of Logic. 1621. Practice in Greek. 1620. Little manual for beginners. To each of these titles are added the words " for Ratich's Didactics." 4. Memorial presented to the German Electoral Diet of the Empire at fVanii- 370 WOLFGANG RATICH. fort, 27th and 28th May, 1612. This memorial exists in manuscript in the city areliives of Frankfort. To these works of Ralieh are to be added the following works expressing the opinions of his contemporaries: 5. Sliort report on the didactics, or art of teaching, of Wolfgang Ratioh. In' which he gives directions how the languages, arts and sciences may be learned more easily, quickly, correctly, certainly and completely, than has heretofore been the ease. Written and published by Christopher Helwig, Doctor of Sacred Theology, and Joachim Jung, Philosopher ; both professors at Giessen. Printed in the year 1614. This report I received, as also the subsequent works, through my friend Profes- sor Massmann, who reprinted them with valuable remarks, in part 1 of vol 7, for 1827, of Sehwar/'s Independent Year-book for German common schools. 6. Report on the didactics, or art of teaching, of Wolfgang Eatich. In which he gives directions how youth can learn langqages very easily and quickly, with- out special constraint or wearisomeness. Composed and written by request, by several professors of the University of Jena, in which also various idle and use- less questions are answered. Jena, 1714. At the end of the report are the names of A. Grawer, Doctor and professor of the Holy Scriptures. Zaoharias Bendel, Doctor of philosophy and medicine and public professor. Balthasar Gualtherus, professor of the Hebrew and Greek languages. M. Michael Wolfius, public professor of physics. I have quoted from Grawer. 7. Report on the new method, as it has been put in practice in the instruction of youth in the schools of the principality of Weimar ; both in the German classes and in the classes in Latin ^grammar. Composed by Johannes Kromayer, court chaplain there, under the General Superintendency. Weimar : J. Weid- ner, 1619. For this important work also I am obliged to the kindness of Herr Professor Massmaun, who found them in the library at Munich. 8. Huihble relation. On the system of instruction of Herr Wolfgang Eatich, put into the hands of his excellency the Chancellor and High Councilor of the Kingdom of Sweden, at Gross-Sommerda, March 15, 1634. Signed, at the con- clusion, in these words: Signed, at Erfurt, March 10, 1634. Hieronymus Briiokner, Doctor ; Johannes Matthaus Meyfart ; Step^ianus Ziegler, Doctor of Sacred Theology. This Relation, which was addressed to the Chancellor Oxenstiern, was printed by Herr Director Dr. Niemeyer in his examination programme, Halle, 1840 ; where he has also made valuable contributions to our knowledge of Ratich. The original Relation is preserved in the ducal libary at Gotha. Among the contributions just I'eferred to. is an abstract of one of Ratich's works, also found at Gotha, every school ; for although they cost much, they are of much use. IV. CeMENIUs' THREE SCHOOL BOOKS, THE VeSMBULUM, THE REVISED JaNUA RESEEATA, AND THE AtRIUM. A. Vestibulum. Soon after '.publishing the Janua reserata, Comenius wrote a small • Didactica Magna, p. 116, etc. t Comenius repeatedly refers to 'his maxim, Xihit est in intellectu, quod nonprms in sensu. t ComeuiuB also quotes Horace's '^Seffniue irritant OMimos" etc. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 387 school book called Januae reseratae Vestibuhim* of only 42V short sentences. About 1648 he published a revisal of it,f and a second in 1650, while* at Patak, employed in re-organizing the schools there.J He intended this second revisal as a manual for the lower classes of this school ; I will briefly describe its form and contents. It begins with an Invitatio; the teacher promising to the scholar an introduction to wisdom, to the knowledge of all things, to the ability to do right always, and to speak correctly of every thing, especially in Latin, which, as a language common to all nations, is indispensable to a learned education. In the Vestibulum the founda- tions of language are laid, in the Janua the materials for building are furnished ; and in the Atrium, the decoration of the edifice is begun. After this the soholar may enter the palace of authors ; that is, their wise books ; by the perusal of which he may become learned, wise and eloquent. The second part treats of the classification of things ; that is, of substantives only, E. g. : Sidera sunt, sol, luna, stella. In sole sunt, lux, radius, lumen. Sine lumine est; umbra, caligo, tenebrae. Apld uanionem; farcimen, pema, lardum, arvina, adeps, sebum, etc. In the third part, the modifications of things are brought forward, adjectives being the most prominent words, E. g. ; Sol est clarus vel obscurus. Luna plena vel dimidia. Stella fixa vel vaga. The fourth part is headed mentiones rerum. E. g. ; Quis ibi est ? Is qiiem vides. Quidfert? Id quod vides. It explains especially the pronouns. , In the fifth section, headed motus rerum, verbs are introduced. E. g. ; Quaeque res potest aliquid esse, agere, pati. Dei actio est creare, sustentare, beare. Sentire est, videre, audire, etc. After this comes the varieties of human action, e. g., per membra corporis, per animam, etc. The sixth section, headed Modi actionum et passionum, includes the adverbs. E. g., Ubi est ? hie, illic, ibi, etc. The seventh, headed Circumstantiae rerum et aftionum, brings in the prepositions. E. g.. Quod movetur, movetur ab aliquo praeter aliquid, ad aliquid. The eighth, headed Cohaerentiae rerum et actionum, contains con- junctions. E. g., £go et tu, illeque sumiis homines, etc. • Opp. did., 1, 302. Preface dated 4th January, 1633. t Opp. did.,2,Wi. Preface undated. This Vestibulum immediately followed IheiMettodiM Noviasima, in which, (p. 163, 173,) it is described. Only a fragment of it is in the Opp. did. t Opp. did., 3, 141. No. 13,-[Vol. V. No. I,]— 18. 388 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. The ninth, Compendia rerum et ve'rhorum, contains inteijeotions. E. g., Heus tu ! Ecce me ! etc. The tenth is entitled ^Mto^Kcaijo rerum et yerhorum ; and con- tains some examples of the derivation and relation of words. E. g. ; Doctus, doctor, docet, docileSf doctrinam, etc. The Janua and the Atrium contain each 1,000 sentences, but the Vestibulum only half as many, 600. To the Vestibuliim are subjoined the rudiments of grammar. Chap. 1 treats of the letters; chaps. 2 — ^lo correspond with the same of the Vestibulum, e. g, ; chap. 2 treats of nouns, and gives briefly the declensions; ,chap. ,5 of verbs,-conjugation, etc.; chap. 10 explains the ideas of pripaitives, derivatives, compounds, etc., and chap. 11 gives fifteen simple rules of syntax, This grammar is followed by, a Repertorium vestfbulare sive lexici Latini rudimentum, containing all the words in the Vestibulum, alphabetically arrangedj with the nurpber of that sentence of the five hundred where i.t is found. K g.: Cano, {cecini, cantum,) 451. And sentence 467 is, Cantoris est canere. In a letter to I'ojnai,* teacher of the first (lowest) class at Patak, Comenius writes of his duties as a teacber, and especially of the use of the Vestibulum, etC) He (Tolnai) receives scholars who can read and write their mother tongue ; and he is to teach them the grounds of Latin and the rudiments of grammar and arithjnetic. The arrangement of the Vestibulum might seem to be exclusively grammatical, as it begins with substantives, and proceeds to adjec- tives, etc. It is in fact, however, in the profoundest sense, an arrange- in the order of things ; for it began with the enumeration of the things themselves, and goes on to their principal qualities, (^n'm aria rerum accidentia,) and so on. Comenius would have been glad to illustrate the Vestibulum with such cuts as the text requires, to amuse the boys, and to enable them better to remember, but was prevented for want of competent artists. The want of sudi cuts must be supplied by the teacher, by explana- tions of the things, showing them, or by such delineations of them as may be accessible. If there be not some such reference to them, the instruction will be entirely lifeless. '"This parallelism of the knowledge of words and things is the deepest secret of the method." In order that this may be more easily done, this nomenclature (of the Vestibulum) is to be translated into the mother tongue, and with this translation the scholars are to be first taken over the ground before any study of Latin. Thus their whole attention will be confined to * This latter reminds us strongly of Sturm's BpisMae classicae. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 389 the things ; they will not be required at the same time to attend to unknown things and unknown languages, but only to the first. B. Janua, I have already described the Janua reserata of 1631, the first edition. But the Janua which Comenius describes in the Methodus ITbvissima, is different from this. The latter consists of a text, simi- lar to that of the original Janua, but to which is added a lexicon, and to this a grainmar ; there beiiig thus three parts, as in the Vestibu- Comenius brought out the third edition of the Janua, at the same time with the third of the Vestibulum, for the schools at Patak., It does not, however, like the latter, begin with the text and go on to the grammar and lexicon, but iu a reversed order, with lexicon, grammar and text. The lexicon is entitled, Sylva Latinae linguae vocum deri- vaiarum co^iam explicans, sive lexicon januale.\ It is etymological, showing the derivation of each word. E. g. : Fin-is-it omnia, et os- tendii rei-em,\ h. e. - alem causam. De-ibus agrorum saepe sunt lites, quas-itor de-it distinguens agrum tarn ab agris - itimis (seu af-et con-ibus) quam a con-iis inde-itis. Si vero inter af-es faf-itaie junc- tos)jurgia exoriuntur, judex prae-it diem prae-itum, quo ea-aliter de- itat ; nam-ita esse convenit ; nan in-ita ; in-itas Dei est. In this manner are arranged some twenty-five hundred roots and their derivatipns and compounds, with the rules of derivation and composition. ' The teacher is to occupy some four months, in the beginning, in taking his scholars through this lexicon ; for they must first become acquainted with words, which are the simple elements of language. He calls the lexicon the forest, in which the radical words, with their derivations and compounds, are the trees and their branches. These form the material in which the second book, the Grammatica janua- lis continens residuum grammaticae vestibularis, is to be used and prepared for the construction of speech. In the introduction to the grammar, Comenius laments the faults of the earlier teachers of language, quoting especially the valuable teacher Gerard Vossius. " Our grammars," says Vossius, " contain a * According to Opp, did., 2, 299, this second edition contained only the Januae Ungtiarum grammatica. Comp. Meth. nov. ; 0pp. did., 2, 181. t Opp. did., 3, 219. T I. e., Finiajinit omnia, et ostendit reijlnem, h. e. finalem causam, etc. For the sake of greater clearness, Comenius afterward, (Opp. 4, 60,) required the German equivalent to be added, as Am-are-or-ator, Lieb-en-e-haber. (iot-e-e-er.) 390 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. mass of rules and exceptions which overwhelm the boys, who are obliged to learn much that is superfluous, only soon to forget it ; and besides, how many false rules do these grammars contain ! " " Lip- sius,'' continues Comenius, " calls them silly ; and Caselius, more than silly, and they agree that it would be better to learn Latin only from authors." Comenius, however, does not coincide with them in this ; mere practice, he says, is blind ; it is only by rules that they attain to the sure comprehension. He says further, in speaking of the Grammatica Janualis, subjoined to the Vestibulum, that it follows especially G. Vossius. The succession of chapters in this grammar is :* De Zitera, Syl- laha, Voce, Phrasi, Sententia, Periodo, Oratione. It proceeds from the simple beginnings of the Grammatica Vestibularis, leaving, how- ever, the subtilities and delicacies of the language for a higher class. From this grammar the scholar goes on to a third part, a Janualis rerum et verborum contextus, historiolam\ rerum continens. This is a revision of the earlier Janua reserata, but more extensive and com- plete, although, like it, containing a, thousand paragraphs, iji a hun- dred sections. In the first Janua each paragraph usually consisted of one short period; but in the second the paragraphs are often much longer. C. Atrium. Comenius describes the Atrium^ in his Methodus novissima ; but he first published it for the school at Patak.§ Like its predecessor, it is divided into three parts; but its arrangement, like that of the Janua, varies from that of the Vestibulum ; a grammar coming first, then the text, and then the lexicon. Comenius calls the grammar of the Atrium, Ars ornatoria, cive grammatica elegans. He defines it, " The art of speaking elegantly. To speak with elegance is, to express the thoughts otherwise than the laws of the mother tongue require, and yet to be understood with more pleasure than if we had spoken according to those laws.'' From this definition it follows, that Comenius was not speaking of what they called fine Latin, free from barbarisms, but of such Latin as was then used in rhetorical ex- ercises. After the grammar follows the Atrium itself; which, also, is an encyclopaedia of one thousand paragraphs, in one hundred sections, but more extensive and advanced than that in the preceding Janua. ' Opp. did., 3, 423. t lb., 474. t lb., 451. There is here a great error in the paging ; p. 451 following B92. § Opp. did., 2, 163, 197, 458. David Beohner published before Comenius, in 1636, a frag- ment entitled Proplasma tempK Laiinitatia, (Opp. did., 1, 318,) which, liite the Atrium, was to follow the Janua. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 391 To this Comenius had intended to add a Lexicon Latino-latinum ; which, however, did not appear. V. The Clabsiob. After the scholars had used, in their first year, the Vestibuium, in the second the Janua, an^ in the third the Atrium, as preparatory manuals, they were next, in a fourth class, to enter, from the Atrium, into the palace of authors. "For,'' says Comenius,* " if we should not, through the Vestibultim, the Janua, and the Atrium introduce the scholars into the palace of authors, we should be as foolish as one who, after with much pains, seeking, finding and pursuing his road to the very gates of a city, should refuse to enter." The scholars of this fourth class are, in their first quarter of a year, to practice the ordinary Latin style ; in the second, speeches from the Roman histories, and the Ciceronians, for the sake of the oratorical style ; in the third, to read Ovid, Horace and Virgil, to learn the poetical style ; and afterward to study the laconic authors, especially Seneca and Tacitus, and to begin studying the composition of letters, speeches and poetry. In his Methodus Novissima,\ he gives fuller directions what au- thors to read and how to read them. His three text-books, he says here, enable the scholar to understand Latin, and to write and read it not unlatinistically. He must then proceed to the authors, in order from fhem to gain a fuller knowledge of real things, a better style, and practical readiness. He must not restrict himself to Cicero, as he neither contains all Latinity, nor all subjects. Terence and Plau- tus must be read with caution, on account of the immoral character of some of their contents. For speaking Latin, however, they are the best ; as is Cicero for the construction of periods. For the laconic style, Seneca is the model, Virgil for the epic, Ovid for the elegiac, and Horace for the lyric. An acquaintance with real objects can be gathered from Pliny, Vitruvius, Caesar, and others. Authors must be read thoroughly, and extracts and imitations may be written ; this last in part by means of translations and re-translations ; and then abridgments and continuations come, and finally the contents of the classics are to be transferred to other persons, relations, etc. For this purpose the scholar must adopt only a single model, Cicero for in- stance, and train himself to a style by daily and hourly exercises^ • This, he says in his treatise upon the school at Fatak in tliree classes, the necessity of ad- ding a fourth, and its purpose. See below, Schola panaophica. t 0pp. did., 2, 199. % " For he must- feel himself so transferred into his author's spirit, that nothing will be grateful to h's ears, which has not the sound of Cicero." lb., 203. 392 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. upon that model. Yet he must be very careM lest he become a mere empty phraseologer.* Comenius expresses himself with greater rigor against the heathen books, in his earlier Didactica Magna.\ '" Our schools,'' he says, " are Christian only in name ; Terence, Plautus, Cicero, rule over ■ them. Therefore it is that our learned men, even our theologians, be- long to Christ only in externals, while Aristotle has the real authority over them. Day and night they study the classics, and neglect the Holy Scriptures. Shall, our boys, for the sake of a style, study the indecency of Terence, Plautus and the like ? Shall we in this way cast oil upon the fire of men already lost ? Although these authors have mall^ good portions, still, the evil they contain sinks at once deep into the souls of 'the boys. Even the better of the classics, Cicero and Virgil for instance, have whole pages entirely unchristian. Yet, as Israel took the vessels of the Egyptians,! ^° many learned men of confirmed Christian character, make collections of extracts from the classics, which may be read by youth without danger. Per- haps Seneca, Epictetus and Plato, only, may be put whole into the hands of youth already confirmed in Christianity." But to avoid any misunderstanding, as if he had forbidden without explanation, to read the classics, he refers to the promise of Christ, that believers shall be harmed neither by serpents nor by poison. Only boys who are yet weak in the faith, must hot be exposed to such serpents, but fed with the pure milk of God's word. He expresses himself in the strongest manner upon the study of the ancients, in one of his latest pedagogical works, which he has named " The Winnowing-fan of Wisdom."| Here he says, " We have seen in very recent times frightful examples of kings and queens,|| who, seduced by heathen books, have despised the simplicity of the gospel. If such learned men as Lipsius and others, who have become drunk with the classics, should be examined, there would be found in them nothing like David's pleasure in the law of God, but on the other hand a disgust with it." • " Not without reason did the wise Buchholtzer write, ' I dislilce tlie Italian Ciceronians, because they speali only words ; not tilings. Their rhetoric, for the most part, is MXaM*iT«J. It is a gloss without a text, a nut without meat, i cloud without rain. Their feathers are bet- ter than the birds themselves.' " Comenius was evidently acquainted with the Ciceronianua of Erasmus; and li Ice him, he found especial fault with the paganism of Bembo and the ott>€r Italians. * t Opp. did., 147. J Tliis same comparison occurs in Augustine's Confessions, (7, 9,) in relation to the read- ing of the heathen philosophers by Christians. 5 VentUabrum sapientiae. Opp. did., i, 47. A remarkable retractation, ' H Referring apparently to Christina of Sweden. JOHN AMOS COMENinS. 393 As to the reading of the ancients, Comenius was m the same per- plexity with many other Christian teachers. He feared the influence of the heathen books upon youth ; but at the same time these same Christian youth must learn thoroughly to speak and read Latin. Latin would be, without doubt, best learned by the repeated reading of Terence ; but then again Terence is so indecent ! How was this dilemma to be solved ? VI. Orbis Piotds. Besides the three school books with which we have become ac- quainted, the Vestibulum, the Janua and the Atrium, Comenius wrote a fourth. This is the Orbis Pictus, which, since its first ap- pearance in the year 1657, has been, during nearly two hundred years, down to the present time, and in the most various forms, the favorite book for children. Comenius had deeply felt the imperfec- tion of his school books in one respect. He desired that the begin- ning of teaching should be always made, by means of dealing with actual things; and in the school-room, there was nothing which could be tiius used. " It may be observed;" he writes to the book- seller, Michael Endter, of Nuremburg,* " that many of our children grow weary of their books, because these are overfilled with things which have to be explained by the help of words ; things which the boys have never seen, and of which the teachers know nothing." By the publication of the Orbis Pictus, however, he says, this evil will be remedied. We have seen that Comenius was desirous that the text of his Vestibulum, long before, should contain pictures ; but he could find no artists capable of designing the pictures, and cutting them on wood under his supei-vision. In the letter above alluded to, he most earnestly thanked Endter for having undertaken the designs. " This work," he writes to him, " belongs to you ; it is entirely new in your professioti. You have given a correct and clear edition of the Orbia Pictus, and furnished figures and cuts, by the help of which, the at- tention will be awakened and the imagination pleased. This will, it is true, increase the expense of the publication, but it will be cer- tainly returned to you." Comenius says further, that the book will be very welcome in schools, since it is entirely natural to look at pictures ; and still more welcome, since now instruction may progress without hindrance, and neither learning nor teaching need delay, since what is printed in words may be brought before the eyes by sight, and thus the mind may be instructed without error. ' The letter is dated at Lissa, 1G55, and is printed before the edition of the Atrium issued by Endter in 16S9. 394 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. I have thought it scarcely necessary to give a detailed description of this celebi-ated school book, for, as I have said, it has been pub- lished in innumerable editions, down to the present day. The old Or- bis Pictus, varies little as to text, from the Janua reserata ; it is the Janua with illustrations. The cuts in the later editions are clearer than in the old ; but the variations of the texts are not successful The comparison is especially strikingbetween the forty-second cut, en- titled " Of the soul of man," in the edition of 1659, and the same in the edition of 1755. In the first, the soul is very ingeniously repre- sented in a bodily shape, by uniform points, without light or shade, like a phantom. The artist evidently wished to indicate that the soul, so to speak, was present throilghout the whole body. In the Orhis Pictus of 1755, on the other hand, the picture is an eye, and on a table the figures I.I.II. I.I.II. It is difiicult to recognize in this an expressive psychological symbol, and to explain it. The Janua reserata of Comenius, notwithstanding its former great celebrity, is forgotten ; the Orhis Pictus, on the contrary, is known and liked by many, if not in its old form, at least in a new one. The principle that the knowledge of things and of words shou* go Land in hand, was, it is true, laid down by Comenius in the preface of the Janua, but was notrealized in the book itself. Hence, very naturally, the complaints of teachers and scholars, of the incompleteness of the book. , , But in the Orhis Pictus this principle was found to be realized as far as possible ; and many persons* said that they did not need the Vestibulum and the Janua, for that the shorter way in the Orhis Pictus, was enough. There was, it is true, a world-wide diflFerence between wbat Comenius originally sought — an acquaintance with things themselves, before any knowledge of words relating to those things — and the actual use made of the scarcely recognizable pictures of these originals in the Orbis Pictus, in connection with the reading of the text. Yet this is at least a beginning ; and who can tell what may be, in the course of time, developed from it ? Basedow's elemen- tary book is the Orbis Pictus of the eighteenth century. Chodo- wieck's pictures in this work, are much superior to the old wood-cuts of the Orbis; but in other respects, how far does the godless Elemen- tary Book, filled with false explanations and superficial and materialis- tic realism, fall behind the ancient earnest and religious Orbis Pictus / A very valuable commendation of the Orhis Pictus is to be found in the Isagoge of Job. Matth. Gesner.f " For beginners in language," says Gesner, " books are proper, from which, at the same time, a " • Opp. did., 3, 830. ' H, 112. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 395 knowledge of things themselves may be gained. For the younger scholars, especially, the Orbis Pictus of Comenins, which I very much like. Not that the work of Comenius is complete ; but we have no better." I repeat, the Orhis Pictus was the forerunner of future develop- ment ; and had for its object, not merely the introduction of an in- distinct painted world into the school, but, as much as possible, a knowledge of the original world itself, by actual intercourse with it. VII. Comenius' plan op stodt. A. Three schools. Academy. Comenius, in his Didactica idagna, gives a general plan of study, which, upon comparison with the school ordinances of Saxony and Wurtemberg, already mentioned, appears to have been generally similar to existing ones. He proposes the four following classes of institutions ; A. Schola maierna, (mother's school ;) B. Schola ver- naeula, (vernacular school ;) C. Schola Latina, (Grymnasium ;) D. Ac- ademia, (University.) A mother's school, he says, should be in every house ; a vernacu- lar school in every municipality ; a Latin school in every city, and a university in each kingdom or large province. Pupils are to remain in the mother school until their sixth year, from the sixth to the twelfth in the German, and from the twelfth to the eighteenth in the Latin, and from the eighteenth to the twenty- fourth at the university. In the mother school the external senses especially are to be trained in the right apprehension of things; iu the German school, the inner senses ; the imagination and the memory. Here, also, must the pictures of things which are impressed upon the mind through the external senses, be together brought out into expression, by the hand and the tongue, by reading, writing, drawing, singing, etc. In the gymnasium, the understanding and the judgment are to be trained by comparing, distinguishing, and the deeper investigation of things. In the university, the will is to be cultivated. After this Comenius proceeds to describe each of his four schools, A. The Mother School. We should pray for the Mens sana in corpore sano, but should use means for it also. Even during pregnancy, the mother should pray for the well-being of the embryo, should live upon suitable diet, and should keep herself as quiet and comfortable as possible. She herself must nurse the new-born child ; it is a most injurious custom which prevails, especially among noble ladies, of employing nurses ; 396 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. a custom harmful both to mothers and children, and contrary to God and to nature. Even the wolves and the swine suckle their own young* From vanity or convenience, nurses are often employed who are •weaker than the mothers themselves, No high-seasoned food should be given to children, and still less any heating drink ; the Spartans dared drink no ypjne until their twentieth year. Unnecessary medicine is poison to children. They should be allowed to play as much as they wish. During the first six years, the. foundation should be laid for all that they are to learn in all their lives. * III physics, they should begin to learn to know stones, plants, beasts, etc. ; and the names and uses of the members of their own body. In optics, they should begin to distinguish light and darkness and colors ; and to delight their eyes with beautiful things. In astronomy, they should learn to know the sun, moon, and stars, and that the moon js sometimes full and sometimes sickle-shaped. They should begin geography with the knowledge of the cradle, the room, the farm, the streets, the fields ; chronology, with the knowledge of day and night, hours, weeks, and festivals ; history, with the knowledge of what happened to themselves yesterday and the day before ; politics, with ,the, knowledge of domestic economy ; arithmetic, with counting, etc. ; geometry, with understanding the ideas of length and breadth, lines, circles, an inch, an ell, etc. ; music, with hearing singing, (in the third year they will be able to join in psalm singing ;) grammar, with the pronunciation of syllables and easy words ; rhetoric, with the making of gestures, and the under- standing of the gestures of others. Thus we se6 the beginning of all the sciences and arts, in the earliest childhood. Even then the children will take pleasure in poetry, rhythm and rhyme.f Comenius now proceeds to the beginning of the first or ethical part of religious instruction ;. he requires above all things, that the par- ents should set a good example ; and he inveighs strongly against the unjustifiable spoiling of children, and the want of a wholesome • " Have you nourished with your own blood the child which you carried beneath your heart for so many months, to deny it mUk now, when that very milk was given by God for the child, not for the mother 1 It is much more conducive to the health of the infant, to suekle its own mother than a nurse, because it has in the womb already become accustomed to nutriment from its mother's blood." t Comenius gives specimens of rhymes to amuse the children, as : *' O mi putlCymi pueUe, dormi belle ; Claude bellos tu ocellos, curoBpelle." JOHN AMOS COMENICS. 397 Strictness.* He also gives directions how to train them to modera- tion, purity, and obedience; 'and to silence, as soon as they can speak fluently, and not to speak merely in order to learn to speak. In baptism, children should be given back to their Creator and Saviour ; and from that time they should be prayed for and taught to pray ; should learn the Lord's Prayer, the creed, &c. ^ In the sixth year the child will be ready to go to school, which should not be described to him as an institution of punishment. We often hear people say, " If you are not good I will send you to school, and there you will be kept in order with the rod." It should rather be represented as delightful, so that the child shall be pleased with the idea of going. B. German School. 1. This is peculiarly a school of the mother tongue.f In this school, says Comenius, the children should not be, as many would have them, put at first to the study of Latin. All children Jshould be instructed. Whether or no they prove apt at study, and, therefore, proper to be carried forward to the Latin school, is not a thing to be determined in the sixth year. That school is not for the children of the noble alone ; the wind bloweth whither it listeth, and does not begin to blow at any fixed time. My method, continues Comenius, does not, by any means, look sim- ply to the Latin, most often so vainly beloved, but rather regards a common way of instruction in all the mother tongues. To teach a scholar a foreign tongue before he knows his own, is to instruct him in riding before he can walk.J Finally he says, I aim at knowledge of real things ; these can be learned just as well in the mother tongue as in Latin or Greek ; and, above all, all technical terms should be learned in German, instead of in Latin or Greek. He then proceeds to enumerate the studies in the German school ; as, to read German, to write well, to reckon, so far as ordinary life will require, to measure, to sing common melodies, to leari^certain songs by rote, the catechism, and the Bible, a very general knowledge of history, especially of the creation, the fall of man, and the re- demption ; a beginning of cosmography, and a knowledge of trades and occupations. All these are necessary, not only for those who are to be students, but also for future farmers, mechanics, \ii is constructed upon a more reg- ular plan. In truth it was intended to be a plan of studies ; to con- tain the principles which must lie at the basis of every rational plan of study .J In this work Comenius names, as (.he three chief principles of his method, the parallelism of things and words, the uninterrupted suc- cession of introduction, and the easy, natural, and rapid progi-ess made by his system ; the scholar being kept in continual activity.§ " If the method," he says, " could be as clearly written out as it lies in my thoughts, it would be like a well made clock, that goes on stead- ily, and, by its movements, marks out the hours for sleeping and for all occupations, without varying ; and, if it does vary, is easily set light again. |[ The mind thinks, the tongue speaks, the hand makes ; hence sciences of things, and arts of working and speaking. In God are the ideas, the original types, which he impresses upon things ; things, again, impress their representations upon the senses, the senses impart them to the mind, the mind to the tongue, and the tongue to the ears of others; by a bodily intercourse; for souls, shut «p an bodies, can not understand each other in a purely intellectual way.^ Any language is complete, in proportion as it possesses a full no- menclature ; has words for every thing; as the signification of its ■words are consistent ; and as it is constructed after fixed grammatical laws.** It is a sowiree of errors, when things are made to accommodate themselves to words, instead of words to things.ff * ■' Condendam suademiiB rerum et verborum tabulaturam quandam uuiverealem, in qua iisuudi fabriea tota et serjiunis human! apparatus totus, parallele disponantur." Opp. did. 2,53. tOpp. did.2, Ji&c J Various extracts from fhe Methodus will be given in the proper place. * lb. 211. lib. 14. llIb..S4. **Ib, SO. nib. 52. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 403 The same classification prevails for words as for things ; and who- ever understands the relation of words among themselves, will, so much the more easily, study the analogous relations among things* The most complete language, says Vives, would be that in which the words express the nature of things, such as must have been the speech of Adam, in which he gave names to things. Comenius be- lieved that there could be composed a real language, in which each word should be a definition, and which, even by its nouns, should re- present the nature of the things spoken of.f To know, is| to be able to represent any thing, either by the mind, or the hand, or the tongue. For all is done by such repre- senting and imagining of the pictures of things. If, for instance, I perceive a thing by the senses, its image is impressed upon the brain ; if I represent a thing, I impress its image upon the material. But if I express in words the thing which I have thought of or re- presented, I impress it upon the atmosphere, and through this upon the ear, brain and mind of another. The first kind of representation is called scire, wissen; the second and third kinds are called scire, k'dnnen. Thus, Comenius includes in one idea of representation, knowing, the power of representing and the art of speaking. To know is to him a mode of representing in which the individual holds himself in a receptive condition, and the mind receives impressions through the senses, like a living daguerreotype plate. Such is his process of conception. Opposed to this is a process of expression, in which the mind performs its creative operations by the arts of repre- sentation and speech. In every thing known, continues Comenius, there are three things ; which he calls Idea, Ideatum, and Means. Idea is the original image, {Intago archetypal of the object of knowledge ; Ideatum the con- ception, the product of the knowledge ; and Ideans the producing instrument, the sense, the hand, the tongue. To learn, is§ to proceed from something known, to the knowledge of something unknown ; in which there are also three things, viz., the unknown, the known, and the mental efibrt to reach the unknown from the known. •Meth. nov.,62. tib., 6?, 68. X lb., 94. This difficult passage is, in the original, " Scire est aliquid effigiare posse ; seu mente, seu manu, seu lingua. Omnia enim iiunt effigiando, seu imaginando, h. e. imagines et simulacra rerum effingendo. Nempe cum rem sensu percipio, imprimitur imago ejus ce- rebro. Cum similem efficio, imprimo imaginem ejus materiae. Quando vero id quod cogtto, aut efficio, lingua enuntio, imprimo ejusdem rei imaginem aeri, et per aereni alterius auri, cerebro, meuti. Primo modo imaginari dicitur Scire, Wissen : secundo, et tertio [losse im- aginari, dicitur Scire, Kiinnen." S lb., 95. No. 13.— [Vol. v., No. 1.1—19. 404 JOHN AMOB COMENIUS. Every thing is to be learned by examples, rules and practice. Be- fore the understanding, truth must be held up as the example ; before the will, the good ; and before the.forming powers, the possible ; and to this must be added practice, under thq government of rules. Rules should not be ^ven before examples. Artizans understand this well. None of them would give their apprentice a lecture upon his trade, but would show him how be, the master, went about it, and then would put the tools into his hands, and show him how to do the like, and to imitate himself.* Doing can only be learned by doing, writ- ing by writing, painting by painting. A second pointf must not be undertaken until the first is learned; and, with the second, the first must be repeated. LeamingJ is by steps, and proceeds from" the easy to the difficult ; from little to much ; from the simple to the compound ; from the nearer to the more distant ; from the regular to the anomalous. We first proceed toward knowledge by the perception and under- standing of the present, and afterward go on from the present to the absent, by the information of others. § Sight will supply the place of demonstration. It is good to use several senses in understanding one thing.|| A thing is understood when one comprehends its inward nature as well as he does its out- ward nature, by his senses. To this inner conception are requisite a healthy, intellectual perception, a distinct subject, and dehberate consideration.^ The atteption should be fixed upon only one object at a time ; and upon the whole first and the parts afterward. By the understanding, are compared the original object and its re- presentatioui {Ideatum cum idea.)** The memory has three ofBces ;, to receive, to retain, and to recol- lect.ft The subject to be apprehended must be clear, consistent, and or- derly; the faculty to be directed to it must not be too full of impress- ions, which are liable to confuse each other ; it must be calm, direct- ed only to one thing, and that with love, {animo afectuoso,) or rever- ence. Retaining will be made easier by repetition, extracts, etc. ; recol- lecting by means of the inner relations of things. The youngest must be instructed in visible things ; pictures impress themselves upon their memory most firmly ;JJ for these are suitable examples, copies, but not abstract rules. * Melh. nov,, 103, 129. tlb.,106. tlb.,109. §Ib.,113. llb.,114. Trib.,U6. *»Ib., 120. ttlb.,121. H lb., 132. JOHN AMOS COMENroS. 405 The teacher should not be intellectually too quick ; or if he be, let him learn patience* Cicero says well, that the more skillful and in- tellectual the teacher is, the more irritably and impatiently will he teach ; since it will annoy him to see his scholars slow in learning what he learned quickly. The scholars who learn quickest are not always the best.f The scholar's indolence must be made up by the teacher's industry. Beginners must keep strictly to the copy ; those more advanced may go on more independently of it ; beginners must work slowly, and the more advanced faster and faster. Whoever wishes to teach rapidly, must fasten his eyes at once up- on his object, and go straight toward it, without regarding collateral points ; must have all his instrumentaUties ready at hand ; and one and the same method for all studies ; so that his scholars need not be required, at the same time, to undertake new matter and new forras.J Learning will become easy to the scholars, if their teacher man- ages them in a friendly manner, and according to the dispositions of each one ; if he explains to them the object of their work ; not only makes them look on a lesson, but take part in the work and conver- sation ; and is careful to have a proper variety .§ To teach thoroughlyl are necessary, distinct, carefully chosen illus- trations and copies, reliable rules, and persevering drill ; solid founda- tions of knowledge, a judicious continuation of it, and completeness, examining and repetition. It is of especial importance that every scholar be made himself to teach. Fortius says that he learned much from his teachers, more from his fellow scholars, and most from his own scholars.^l" The school is a manufactory of humanity ; it ought to work its subjects into the right and skillful use of their reason, speech and talents for occupation ; into wisdom, eloquence, readiness, and shrewd- ness. Thus will the teacher shape these little images of God, or rather fill up the outlines of goodness, power and wisdom impressed upon them by the divine power.** The art of teaching is no shallow affair, but one of the deepest mysteries of nature and salvation. X. TJnum necessasiom. As we have looked back upon the predecessors of Comenius, so we • Meth. nov., 133. t lb., 134. tlb., 139, &c. § lb., 142, &c. I lb., 145. U lb , 150. Saepe rogare j rogata tenere j retenta docere. Haoctria discipulum faciant ea- perare magiBtrum. »*Ib.,251 • 406 JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. may look forward for a glance at his followers. Erasmus, Vives, Cam- panella, and especially Bacon, had, as we have seen, great influence upon him. A fifth stands in still closer relation to him, both in time and intellectual connection ; namely, Wolfgang Katich.* Many of Comenius' principles seem to have been taken from Eatich. Among , these are, the recommendation of the natural method instead of the prevailing unnatural one, the insisting upon the study of the mother tongue, the rejection of punishment in instruction, the preference of practice over theoretical, rules, the acquisition of a knowledge of sub- stances before the analytical treatment of their accidents, &c. By a comparison of our descriptions of the characters of Eatich and Co- menius, the reader will find still other similarities, and also important differences. A'tliough, for example, both were Christians; Eatich was a decided adherent of the Lutheran confession, while Comenius' highest ideal was a union of all confessions. Eatich's method of teaching Latin is entirely difierent from Comenius' ; for while the lat- ter requires every scholar to be continually taking an active part in the instruction, Eatich makes the teacher only read, and imposes up- on the scholar a Pythagorean silence. The influence of Comenius upon later, pedagogues, and especially Upon the Methodians, is immeasurable. It is often diSicult to judge whether they knew him,- or in their own way discover the same things. In Eousseau, Basedow, and Pestalozzi, we shall find much that is entirely in agreement with Comenius, of which, however, I will not here anticipate jny description. In the course of this history I shall have frequent occasion to mention this extraordinary man, for the reason that his works contain the germs of so many later devel- opments. Comenius is a grand and venerable figure of sorrow. Wandering, persecuted and homeless, during the terrible and desolating thirty years' war, he never despaired ; but with enduring and faithful truth, labored unweariedly to prepare youth, by a better education, for a better future. His undespairing aspirations seem to have lifted up, in a large part of Europe, many good men, prostrated by the terrors of the times,' and to have inspired them with the hope, that by a pious and wise system of education, there would' be reared up a race of men more pleasing to God. Adolph Tasse,f a learned professor at Hamburg, writes : " In all the countries of Europe, the study of a better art of teaching is pursued with enthusiasm. Had Comenius * Comenius. as we have related, applied to Ratich by letter, for information respecting tlie litter's method, but received no answer. He, however, knew Helwig's Report; and proba- Dly the Methodus instiiutimis nova Ratichii et Ratichmnorum, which appeared in 1C26. t Tasse, author of many mathemati(»l works, died 1654. The letter seems to be dated, 1640. Opp. did., 1, ISfi. JOHN AMOS COMENinS. 407 attempted nothing more than to sow such a seed of suggestions in the souls of all, he would have attempted enough." I have mentioned that Cqmenius wrote, in his 77th year, a Con- fession, from which we may become acquainted with his piety, his deep love, his unwearied aspirations to do good in the most various ways. The title of this book is, " The one thing needful to know ; needful in life, in death, and after death, which the old man, Amos Comenius, weary with the uselessness of this world, and turning to the one thing needful for himself, in his 77th year, gives to the world to consider." I will conclude my description with an extract from this remarkable book.* "I have described the universal labyrinthf of the human race; shall I now recoj-d my own errors ? I would pass them over In silence, did I not know that there have been spectators of my deeds and of my sorrows ; did I not fear to cause scandal by errors not repaired. But since God gives me a heart desirous of serving the common good, and has caused me to play a public part ; and, since some of my ac- tions have been blamed, I have thought it necessary to make mention of it, to the end that, although some have thought me, or still think me, a model of forwardness and gratuitous pains, they may see, by my example, how a man may err with the best intentions, and may learn, by my recollections, either to avoid the same, or, like me, to repair them. The apostle says, 'For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.' This ought every true servant of God to apply to himself, so that if he has committed any error, he may confess it to God, and if he has learned to amend it, he may, as soon as possible, make use of his knowledge. " I also thank God that I have, all my life, been a man of aspira- tions. And, although he has brought me into many labyrinths, yet he has so protected me that either I have soon worked my way out of them, or, he has brought me by his own hand, to the enjoyment of holy rest. For desire after good, if it is always in the heart, is a , living stream that flows from God, the fountain of all good. The blame is ours if we do not follow the stream even to its source, or to its outflow into the sea, where is fullness and satiety of good. Yet, be- sides, by the goodness of God, who always brings us through the many errors of our labyrinths, by the sacred Ariadne's clue of his wisdom, in the end, back again into himself, the spring and ocean of all good. * The Latin title of tiie boolc, which lies before me, is: '' TInum necessarium in vita et morte et post mortem, quod non-necessariis mundi fatigatus etad unum necessarium sese recipiens senex J. A. Comenius anno aetati suae 77 mundo expendendum offert. Terent. Ad omnia aetate sapimus rectius. Edit Amstelodami 1668, nnnc vero recusum Lipsiae 1734." t In the beginning of the book he explains the story of the labyrinth of Minos, as an in- Btructive picture of the manifold errors of man ; hence the frequent references to it. 408 JOHN AMOS COMENTOS. To me, also, this has happened ; and I rejoice, that after so innume- rable longings after better things, I have always been brought nearer to the end of all my wishes ; since I see that all my doings hitherto have been the mere running up and down of a busy Martha, (yet from love to the Lord and his children !) or a change from running to rest. But now, at last, I lie with Mary at the feet of Jesus, and say, with David, ' This is my delight, that I believe in God 1' " One of my chief employments has been the improvement of schools ; which I undertook, and continued for many years, from the desire to deliver the youth in the schools, from the difficult labyrinth in which they are entangled. Some have held this business foreign to the oflSce of theologians ; as if Christ had not connected together and given to his beloved disciple, Peter, at the same time, the two commands : ' Feed my sheep,' and, ' Feed my lambs !' To him, my everlasting love, I give everlasting thanks that he has put into my heart, and blest, such a love to his lambs, that things have turned out as they have. I hope and confidently expect it from my God, that my plans will come into life, now that the winter of the church is over, the rain has been heard, and the flowers are springing in the land ; when God shall give to his flock shepherds after his own heart, who will feed not themselves, but the Lord's flock ; and when the enmity which is directed against the living, shall cease, after their death. " My second wearisome and difficult labyrinth was, my labors after peace ; or my desire to unite together, if it should please God, the parties of Christians who were contending together over various arti- cles of faith, in a most harmful manner ; which efibrt cost me much pains. Upon this subject, I have not committed any thing to print ; but may yet do it. That I have not published any thing, is by rea- son of the implacableness of certain people, whose furious hatred true friends thought it unadviaable for me to draw upon myself. But I will yet publish it, for, after all; we must fear God rather than men.^ Our times have been like the experience of Elias upon Horeb, when be did not dare come forth from the cave, by reason of the storm- wind, the fire and the earthquake from before the Lord. But the time will come when Elias shall hear the still small voice, and shall recognize in it the voice of the Lord. To each one his own Babylon yet seems beautiful; and he believes it the very J&rusalem, which must give precedence to none, but all to it. It is called insolence, if any one, trusting in God and his own good purposes, dares to address himself to the whole worid, and to admonish it to amendment. We ■ ThiBWork remained unaccomplished, on account of hisdeal^ii. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 409 are all assembled together upon the great theatre of the -world, and what happens here or there concerns all. We are all one great family. By the same right by which one member of a family comes to another for help, ought we to be helpful to our fellow men. The whole of the Holy Scripture preaches love of our neighbor, and sound reason teaches the same. Socrates died, rather than not to teach goodness ; and Seneca says, that if wisdom were to be given him for himself only, and he were not to communicate it to any other, he would rather not have it. " Besides this, I fell, but, according to the will of God, into another strange labyrinth : in that I published the divine prophecies which have been accomplished down to our times, under the title, Lux in tenebris, or e tenebris. This brought upon me much pains and labor, arid also much fear, enmity, and hate ; and I was derided for my cre- dulity. Although some of these prophecies may not come to fulfill- ment, I shall avoid, being angry thereat, as Jonah was, to his sorrow. For perhaps God has cause to change his purposes, or, at least, the revelation of them ; perhaps he chooses thus to show that without him men know nothing; in order, at a future time to show what he can do without man, or by means of them, if he shall have brought them into accordance with his own will. " Where shall I now begin, after so many labyrinths and Sisyphian stones, with which I have been played all my life ? Shall I say with Elias : ' Now, Oh Lord, take away my life from me, since I am no bet- ter than my fathers ;' or with David : ' Forsake me not, Oh Lord, in my age, until I shall have prophecied all that thine arm shall bring to pass.' Neither, that I may not be unhappy with painful longing for the one or the other ; but I will have my life and death, my rest, and my labor, according to the will of God ; and with closed eyes will follow wherever he leads me, full of confidence and humility, praying, with David : ' Lead me in thy wisdom, and at last receive me into glory.' And what I shall do hereafter, shall happen no oth- erwise than ^ 'f directed for me by Christ, so that the longer I live the more I may be contented with what is needful for me, and may burn up or cast away all that is unnecessary. Would that I were soon to depart to the heavenly country, and leave behind me all earthly things ! Yea, I will cast away all the earthly cares which I yet have, and will rather bum in the fire, than to encumber myself further with them. "To explain this, my last declaration, more clearly, I say that a little hut, wherever it be, shall serve me instead of a palace ; or if I have no place where to lay my head, I will be contented after the example 410 JOHN AMOS COMENIUa. of my master, though none receive me under his roof. Or h will main under the roof of the sky, as did he during that last m upon the Mount of Olives, until, like the beggar Lazarus, the anj shall receive me into their company. Instead of a costly robe, I be contented, like John, with a coarse garment. Bread and wi shall be to me instead of a costly table, and if I have therewith a vegetables, I will thank God^or them. My library shall consist the threefold book of God; my philosophy shall be with David consider the heavens and the works of God, and to wonder that the Lord of so great a kingdom, should condescend to look upc poor worm hke me. My medicine shall be a little eating and freqi fasting. My jurisprudence, to do unto others as I would that t should do unto me. If any ask after my theology, I will, like dying Thomas Aquinas — for I, too, shall die soon — take my,Bi and say with tongue and heart, ' I believe what is written in book.' If he asks further about my creed, I will repeat to him apostolical one, for I know none shorter, simpler, or' more express or that cuts off all controversy. If he ask for my form of praye will show him the Lord's Prayer ; since no one can give a better to open the heart of the father than his only son, his own offspr If any ask after my rule of life, there are the ten commandmei for I believe no one can better tell what will please God than ( himself. If any seek to know my system of casuistry, I will ansi every thing pertaining to myself is suspicious to me ; therefore I even when I do well, and say humbly, ' I am an unprofitable ser.v; have patience with me !' " But whij,t will admirers of earthly wisdom say to this ? they ' no doubt, laugh at the old fool, who, from the highest pinnacle of honors, falls to the lowest self-abasement. Let them laugh, i pleases them ; my heart will also laugh, that it has escaped f; error. ' I have found the harbor, farewell fate and accident 1' s the poet. I say, I have found Christ ; depart, ye vain idols 1 H all to me. His footstool is more to me than all the thrones of earth, and his lowliness more than all grandeur. It seems to me I ha,ve found a heaven below the heavens, since I see more cle than of old the footsteps of this guide toward heaven. To fol these footsteps without departing from them, will be my surest wa heaven. My life here was not my native country, but a pilgrims my inn was ever changing, and I found nowhere an abiding res place. But now I see my heavenly country near at hand, to wl gates my Leader, my Light, my Saviour, who has gone before prepare a place for me in his father's house, has brought me. PEDAGOGICAL WORKS OF COMENinS. 411 will soon come to take me to be where he is. Yea, Lord Jesus, I thank thee, thou beginner and finisher of my faith, who hast brought me, a foolish wanderer, straying a thousand ways from the direction of my journey, diverted and delayed in a thousand by-oecupations, so far that now I see before me the bounds of the promised land, and have only to cross the Jordan of death, to attain even unto thy love- liness. I praise and glorify thy holy wisdom, my Saviour, that thou hast given me on this earth no home ; but that it has been for me only a place of banishment and pilgrimage ; and I can say with David, 'I am thy pilgrim and thy citizen.' I can not say, like Ja- cob, 'My days are few, and they attain not unto the days of my fa- thers,' for thou hast caused it to come to pass that they surpass the days, of my father and my grandfather, and many thousands who have passed with me through the desert of this life. Why thou hast done this, thou knowest. I commit myself into thine hands. Thou hast always sent an angel unto me, as unto Elias in the desert, with a morsel of bread and a draught of water, that I should not die of hunger and thirst. Thou has preserved me from the universal foolish- ness of men, who always mistake pleasure for real good ; the road for the destination; striving after rest; the inn for a home; and 'pil- grimage for their country ; but me hast thou led, and even forced, to thy Horeb. Blessed by thy holy name 1" Pedagogical Works of Comenius. 1. Janua Lingharum Eeberata aurea sive beminarium li.nguaruh et BOiENTiARUM OMNIUM, hoo est, compeiidiosa Latinam (et quamlibet aliamj linguam, una cum spientiarum artium que omnium fundamentis, perdisceudi nietbodus, sub titulis oentiim, periodis miUe oomprehensa. Editio postrema, prioribus castiga- tior et mille uireiter voeabulis auctior, ouin versiono Gcrmanioa et Gallica, abso- lutisslmoque titulorum ot voeum indice. Amstelodami apud Joannem Janssoni- um. 1642. I am not acquainted witli the first edition. Comenius' preface is signed with '' Soribebam in exilio 4 Mai'tii. 163] ." 2. Physicae ad Lumen Divikum Reformatae Synopsis. Lipsiae, 1633. 3. Orbis Sensualium Pictus, hoo est omnium fundamentalium in mundo re- rum ^et in vita aotionum, piotura et nomenolatura. Editio seeunda, multo emaou- latlor et emendatior. Noribergae typis et sumptibus Michaelis Endteri, 1659. The visible world ; that is, the representation and names of all the principal things of the world and occupations of life. I am unacquainted with the first edition. Of the later ones, I have an Orbis Piotus Quadrilinguis, in Latin, German, Italian, and French, which was edited by CoBtelle and published by Endter, in 1755. 4. Opera Didaotioa Omxia, vauiis huousque oeoasionlbus seripta, diversis que loois edita, nuno autem non tantum in unum, ut simul sint, collecta, sed et ultimo conatu in systema unum meohanioe oonstructum, redacta. Amsterdami impeij- sis D. Laurentii de Geer excuderunt Christopliorus Cqnradus et Gabriel a Roy. Anno, 1657. 4 vols., folio. Volume 1. contains the following, written between 1627 and 1642 : 1. De primis oocasionibus quibus hue studiorum delatus fuit author, brevissinia relatio. 2. Didaotica Magna. Omnes omnia dooendi artificia exhibens. 3. Sohola inaterni gremi, sive de provida juventutis primo sexennio educatione. 412 PEDAGOGICAL WORKS OP COMENIUS. 4. Soholae vernaoulae delineatio. 5. Janua Latinae linguae primum edita. (The first edition of the Janua.) 6. Vestibulum ei praesttueta. 7. Proplasma templi Latinitatis Dav. Veclmeri. 8. De sermonia ]liatini studio, 9. Prodromus Fansoptiiae. 10. Variorum de eo censurae, &e. Volume II. contains treatises written from 1642 to 1650; especially those of his Swedish engagement, viz. : 1. De novis didactica studia continuandi occasionibus. 3. Methodus linguarum noviesima. ' 3. Latinae linguae vestibulum, rerum et linguae cardines exhibens. 4. Januae linguarum novissimae clavis, grammatica Latino-vernaoula. Volume III. contains treatises written by Comenius in liungai-y, from 1650 to 1654, viz.: I. De vocatione in Hungariam relatio. 3. Scholae pansophicae delineatio. 3. De repertis studii pansopbici obicibus. 4. De ingeniorum cultura. 5. De ingenia eolendi primafio instrumento, libris. 6. De reperta ad authores Latinos prompte legendos et clare intelligendos &oi- li, brevi, amoenaque via. 7. Eruditionis scholasticae pars I. Vestibulum, rerum et linguae fundaments ponens. 8. Eruditionis scholasticae pars II. Janua rerum et linguarum structuram ex- ternam exhibens. This includes a. Lexicon januale. b. Grammatica jahualis. c. Janualls rerum et verborum contextus, historiolam rerum cOntinens. This is a revision of the Janua reserata, in one hundred chapters and one thousand para- graphs, as in the first edition. 9. Eruditiones scholasticae pars III. Atrium, rerum et linguarum ornamenta exhibens. This is, like the Janua, in one hundred chapters and one thousand paragraphs, but one grade above it. 10. Fortius redivivus, sive de pellenda scholis ignavia. II. Praecepta morum in-usum juventutis collecta. Anno 1653. 12. Leges bene ordinatae scholae. 13. Orbis Pictus. Merely a sort of announcement of the work. 14. Schola ludus ; hoc est, Januae linguarum praxis comica. This is, substan- tially the contents of the Janua linguarum in the form of a dialogue. 15. Laborum soholastieorum in Hungaria obitorum coronis. An educational address delivered at his departure from Patak, in 1654. Volume IV. includes the treatises written by Comenius in Amsterdam, up to the year 1657, viz. : 1. Vita gyrus, sive de occasionibus vitae et quibus aotorem in Belgium deferri, iterumque ad intermissa didactica studia redire contigit. 2. Parvulis parvulis, omnibus omnia, hoe est, Vestibuli^ Latinae linguae aucta- rium, voces primitivas in sententiolas redigens. 3. Apologia pro Latinitate Januae linguarum. 4. Ventilabrum sapientiae, sive sapienter sua retractandi ars. 5. E soholasticis labyrinthus exitus in planum, sive maohina didactica mechan- ioe oonstructa. 6. Latlum redivivum, hoc est, de forma erigendi Latinissimi collegii, sen novae Eomanae civitatulae, ubi Latina lingua usu et consuetudine addiscatur. 7. Typographeum vivum, hoc est; arscom pendiosa et tamen oopiose ac ele- ganter sapientiam non chartis sed ingeniis imprimendi. 8. Paradisus juventuti* Christianae reduoendus, sive optimus eoholarum status ad primae paradisiacae scholae ideam delineatus., ' 9. Traditio larapadis, hoc est studiorum sapientiae Christfanaeque juventutis et Boholarnm, Deo et hominibns devota oommendatio. 10. Faralipomena didactica. It may be added, that Comenius revised an edition which appeared in 1661, of the Theblogia naturalis sive liber oreaturarum of Eaymundus de Sabund'e. EDUCATION IN PERIODS OF WAR AND PEACE. [Translated from the German of Earl Von Raumer, for the American Journal of Education.] I, THE THIRTT YEARB' WAR IK GERHANY. The "Thirty Years' War," which broke out in 1618-19, is the most dreadful period in the history of Germany. Its armies were great bands of milrderers and robbers. The spirit of peace and holy order had entirely perished ; and murder, license, and robbery reigned without opposition. So fearful were the results of devastation and impious recklessness, that pious men began to doubt even of the gov- ernment of God. " The country was desolated, plundered, empty of men — a desert fpr wolves and savage beasts. Of schools and teach- ers nothing was said.''* The histories of those German institutions which date back to the thirty years' war confirm these statements. I shall quote a few of them. The Protestant school at Friedberg, in Hesse, suffered during that time " immeasurable evils." The pestilence and poverty which re- sulted from the war robbed it of many of its scholars. In 1630 it was almost destroyed by the Austrians and Bavarians ; but was re- established f in 1631, when the Swedes entered Friedberg, after the siege of Leipzig by Gustavus Adolphus. The Protestant gymnasium at Hersfeld was put in possession of Catholic priests and Jesuit teachers in 1829. Tilly was at hand to enforce the Edict of Restitu- tion by arms, and raved fearfully about it. In 1632 the gymnasium received its Protestant teachers back a^ain ; but was entirely destroyed in 1634 by the imperial general, Gbtz — the teachers fleeing to Kassel and elsewhere. In 1636 instruction was again commenced; and, in 1637, when the imperialist troops again came to Hersfeld, it had to be closed. It was soon reopened, and vegetated painfully through * Ranmer's "Biatory of Europe," III , 596. Two religious hymns, of the time of the thirty years' war, afford the deepest glimpse into the melancholy feelings of upright men. One by Afeder, a pastor in the circle of Leipzig, begins, " When, oh when will it appear, our much. longed-for day of peace 1 " The other, by Martin Rinckart, (1586—1649,) is a parody Ufon the Lord's Prayer. It begins, " Oar father will no longer be the father of the miserable ; " and again, " Shall thy name be entirely forgotten upon earth 1 " and, ■' Shall thy will never more be done upon earthT' It ends, however, with a hopefUl prayer for relief, and with the words, " Thou hast the kingdom, and the power, and the glory over hell and death." t •' Account of the Augustine School at Friedberg," by Prof. Dieffenbach. Frogramme, 1825, p. 12, &c. 414 EDUCATION IN PERIODS OF WAR AND PEACE. those troubled times, until its first accession of renewed vigor,, after the Peace of Westphalia.* Gottingen was besieged for nearly two months in 1626, and terribly bombarded. Under the pressure of the extremest want, the then celebrated rector, Georg Andreas Fabrioius, accepted a call to the gymnasium at Miilhausen ; and with him there departed the other teachers and the pupils from other places.f He was afterward invited back to Gottingen, but in 1641 was without income and five hundred thalers in arrear. Schulpforte suffered much by the war. The minister, Martin Caulbel,J came to Pforte, August 2d, 1632, through the midst of Wallenstein's army. In the same year the pupils were dispersed by hostilities, and returned next year. In 1636 they were twice dis- missed, on account of attacks by the enemy; in 1647, when Field- Marshal Leslie had his winter-quarters near Pforte, they were dis- missed for seventeen weeks ; there being no means of subsistence either for them or the teachers. On the 18th of February, 1639, both teachers and pupils were again dispersed by Bannier's cavalry. When the minister of Schulpforte returned, on the 23d of the same month, with five scholars, they were obliged by necessity to eat oaten bread until the next harvest. On the 16th of April, 1641, the boys, twelve in number, were hunted away again by Duke Bernhard's forces, under General Rose. " God will repay the general and his soldiers at the last day," writes Besold, then the minister ; " for they tortured t^o of .the pupils by cords twisted round their heads." On the 21st of May, Besold and two scholars returned to Pforte. The centennial festival of the, institution fell in the year 1643; but such was the devastation of the war that only eleven boys sorrowfully cele- brated the memory of the foundation of the school. It was only to the school at Sohweinfurt that the war seemed to bring good fortune.§ After the battle of Leipzig, Gustavus Adolphus entered Schweinfurt, October 2d, 1631. The citizens treated his troops exceedingly well, and gave much assi-stance in fortifying the city. In return, the Swedish king presented them with seventeen valuable villages,! wiLh the express condition that the Vents and in- comes should be in part devoted " to the erection of a gymnasium for the glory of God and the benefit of studious youth." After the death of Gustavus Adolphus, at Liitzen, and the evacuation of the « " Hers/eld Gymnasium Programme," by Director Dr. Miinsclier. 1836, p. 8, &c. t " GSltingen Gymnasium Programme," by Director Dr. Kirsten. 1829, p. 22, &o. t H. E. Schmiederi, " Cammentarii de vitis Pastorum et Inspectorum Portensium." 1838, p. 31, &c. 5 " History of the Latin School and Gymnasium at Schweinfurt, " by Prof. Wainich. Pro- gramme for 1831, \iA, &c. I The letter of gift was dated at Frankfort on the Main, March 2d, 1632. EDUCATION IN PERIODS OP WAR AND PEACE. 415 territories of Wurtzburg by the Swedes, the bishop resumed posses- sion of tlie villages, which had been his property before. Notwitlf- standing, the magistrates added to the already existing six classes of their Latin school a seventh, with the name of Gymnasium Gustavia- num. This was consecrated in 1634, and the burgomaster, (Dr. Bausch,) a senator, and several clergymen, undertook to give instruc- tion in it gratis. The honorable public spirit of the citizens maintained the school under the severest misfortunes of the war ; * and it only ceased to exist, at the end of one hundred and seventy years, in 1804. A gynxnasium was founded in Stargard by the legacy of Burgo- master Peter Groning, and was opened in September, 1633. But, in 1635, the city was besieged by the imperialists, and became a prey to the flames — only the church of St. Peter and nineteen houses remain- ing. The gymnasium building itself was also burnt, and the teachers were dispersed. For some time there was no school held. Two teachers then gradually gathered the scholars again, and one of them, Conrector Bindemann, was appointed rector, after there had been none for eleven years.f The gymnasium at Goldberg, once famous far and wide, by means of Trotzendorf, quite perished in 1621, as did that of Beuthen, in 1629. That of Oels fell into great distress. In 1639 an imperial regiment was quartei'ed in Oels; in 1640 the city was besieged, un- successfully, by the Swedes, taken and plundered by them in 1642, and afterward taken by the imperialists. Biebing, rector of the gym- nasium, wrote at that time, " Truly, among so many and so great miseries, to live in Oels means to starve, to die before our time, and daily to have a foretaste of the torments of hell."J In 1648, the year of peace, Duke Georg Rudolph established a school for princes in the church of St. John, at Liegnitz. He be- stowed upon it the <)-evenues of the late Goldberg gymnasium, as he says in his decree of establishment, dated 28th of April, 1646, "for the re-establishment, renovation, and improvement of all the praise- worthy institutions of our forefathers, for church and school, which it has been an impossibility to maintain, by reason of the thirty years' war."§ ' So much may suffice to show how destructive was the effect of the terrible desolation of the thirty years' war on the schools of our un- fortunate fatherland. * Octavio Piccolomini bombarded Schweinfurt, after the battle of Nordliogen, with redliot balLs, and took it ; and the Swedish general, Wangel, toolt it in 1647. The imperial troops alone had exacted from the city ransoms to the amount of 284,610 gulden. t ■' History of fhe Gymnasium of Stargard," by Director and School-Councilor Falbe. 1831, p. 6, &c. t " Gymnasium Programme," by Director Dr. Lange. 1841, p. 18, &c. § ** Gymnasium Programme of Liegnitz," by Prorector M. Kohler. 1837, p. 14. « No. 19.— [Vol.. VII., No. 2.]— 24. :16 EDUCATION IN PERIODS OF WAR AND PEACE. When, however, the war came to an end, this destruction was fol- »wed by a period of " re-establishment and renovation." We shall onsider this more in . detail, after we shall have become acquainted fith the life and labors of Comenius,.who lived and suffered through he whole of the thirty years' war. H. THB CENTURY AFTER THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. After the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia, all good princes iud magistrates of free cities took an interest in the re-establishment if schools. This was the more necessary since the generation which lad grown up since and during the desolating thirty yeare' war had legenerated as well in morals and religion as in knowledge. The plans of school organization which appeared first after the war gree mostly with those of the sixteenth century. Latin continued he chief study ; and next was Greek. ^ Programmes of a later date, in the end of the seventeenth and the iret ten years of the next century, show a much altered character. ?he old studies were pursued no longer after the old methods; and in increasing number of new ones were gradually introduced into the lircle of learning. We will first consider the methods followed in teaching Latin. In the school-plan published in 1654, by the council of Frankfort m the Main, daily exercises in speaking Latin were required. "Any )ne," it says, " who shall speak otherwise than in Latin, or any thing ndecent or blasphemous, shall be punished at the time of his trans- gression, but with good discretion." Entirely in agreement with Trotzendorf, Sturm, and the Jesuits. Whether this kind of speaking Latin were judicious, Feuerlein, inspector of the Nuremberg Gymna- lium, doubts.* ' " Hitherto," he says, " our leges have required of the Doys even in the lower classes, sub poena, to speak nothing but Latin ; with the intention, besides the usu expeditiore hvjus linffuce,tha,t they should not be able to chatter so much with each other." Others, on ;he other hand, were so " scrupulos " that they would not require any speaking whatever of Latin from the boys, in order that they might not become used to a vulgar Latin.f There should be a middle way between this excessive scrupulosity, " for the sake of preserving the language of the young by means of Latin, or rather the Latin by • " The Fatee hitherto of the Nuremberg Gtjmnasium of St. jEgidtus, rebuilt from the n*ound out of its ashes, in three completed periods ; and the institution for instruction and discipline as renewed and taptoyed in the fourth period, now passing," &c By J. C. Feuer- lein, pastor of St. .Egidius and inspector of the gymnasium. 1699, p. 95. t Feuerlein cites here Wagenseil's " Praxepla de copia verborum " and " De stylo." (Joh. Christoph Vl^agenseil, born'at Nuremberg, 1633 ; died in 1705, while professor at Altorf ; an eminent man of learning in his day. He wrote, among other things, upon the education of a prince, who abhors study above all things.) He says, in the place quoted, " Infante arc forth, with taught to attempt Latin expressions ; boys are forbidden, under severe penalties, from EDUCATION IN PERIODS OF WAR AND PEACE. 417 means of their tongue, and the fear that the boys would become ac- customed to mere sorry kitchen-Latin." They must not speak Latin among themselves, but only under the oversight of their teacher.* " As for the r^st," says Feuerlein, " I do not believe it is necessary to forbid our youth from speaking Latin among themselves. Evidently speaking Latin began to be regarded with other eyes in the previous century, for it was required of all, even the youngest scholars. Having been regarded as a second mother-tongue for the boys, it had been taught like the mother-tongue. Just as the latter is at first spoken by infants in mere attempts, in a most disfigured manner, and only gradually with fewer faults, so the youngest scholare had been permitted to speak the most helpless, gibberish Latin. But now a different rule was established. The boys were rather to be silent than to speak bad Latin ; and good Latin was to be learned by the continued reading of the classics. "Was the L»tin then no longer regarded- as a-second mother-tongue? Such an altered state of af- fairs is indicated by the following facts. Previously, Latin had been learned from the Latin grammars ; a practice which Ratich was the first to oppose.f He was followed by the school ordinances of the second half of the seventeenth century and the first decennium of the eighteenth. " In $Mmta,''J says the Frankfort school ordinance, " the new German grammar shall be used instead of the ' Compendium Orammaticce Giessensis.' "§ Feuerlein, of Nuremberg,! says that it is a question to be considered, " whether, in learning Latin, the use of a grammar written in Latin, should be fontinued, or whether it would not be found best to introduce one written in German ? " Some made use of the German grammar of Seybold. Tlie celebrated Mark grammar, prepared in 1728, by the rectors of Berlin, was in German. uttering a word except Latin at home, at school, or amongst their playfellows. Thus it hap- pens that, by saying whatever comes into their mouths, and many words which it would he better not to hear, they contract, unwisely, the habit, not of Latin eloquence, but merely ol I^atin talk." • In like manner, it is said, in the " Ordinance of tJi£ Honorable Council of Hamburg for the Public St. John's School, 1732," that "the youth shall speak Latin, especially in the two higher classes, and that there shall be examinations under the charge of the preceptor, to see that the boys speak Latin with each other." Page 15. t Anil after him Comeniusand Balthazar Schuppius (1610^1661.) The latter says': '-The first hindrance which makes the grammar difficult and unnatural is that they have to learn it in a language unknown to them ;^ that ttie pracepta fframmalices an 1b.\6 before them in Latin : and thus it is naught to teach them ignotum per ceque ignotum, and to bring them, by means which they do not understand, to the attainment of a subject whieh they do not under- stand."— B. Schuppius' Works, p. 161. J. M. Gesner's opinion was. that the use in Gerntan schools of grammars written in Latin was not at all suitable for beginners, but only for sueh as had, by olher means, already obtained some knowledge of Latin.— Gesner's ''-Minor Gtr- man Writinga," 302. J Sc. dassis ; Gth class. S In Quarta, however, the Giessen grammar was used. I L. The former must precede, and must be founded upon the Bible ; lest otherwise the influence of the external world should destroy faith in the supernatural. The pupil may read Des Cartes, to become acquainted with the substance of the current philosophy. Men of learning must understand Greek. But what I have undertaken, is not to treat of the education of the learned man by profession, but only of that of the man of the world. If siich an one has afterward a desire to carry his studies further, and to get a glimpse of the Greek literature, he can easily obtain a knowl- edge of that language for himself. (?) Dancing is of service, to give grace to all the motions ; and can not be learned too early. The dancing-master, however, must know and be able to teach in what the graces consist, or he will be of no value. Leaping and flourishing dances are to be prohibited. Music is related to dancing ; and is highly valued by many. But just so much is lost from the time of a young man, if he shall have acquired skill (upon instru- ments,) even to a moderate degree. He will also by this means be so liable to be brought into such foolish company, that others are of opinion that his time could 440 JOHN LOCKE. be much better employed. And I have so seldom known a man praised, or val- ued among men of talents and business for great skill in music, that I believe I should put it in the last place upon the list of the things in which skill is to be acquired. 'Life is too short to strive after every thing ; and time and effiirt should therefore be expended upon what is of real use and importance. For Locke's anti-poetical sentiments I found an excuse, but for his anti-musical ones I know of none ; and am therefore forced to believe that the musical faculties of the English were, at that time, far too little developed. Otherwise, Locke must have been characterized by the most terrific unimaginativeness and want of all susceptibility to art. A young man of good rank must learn to ride. Fencing is good for the health, but not useful in real life. Skillful fencers seek duels, or at least do not avoid them. But as long as fencing and riding are both general and necessary in the education of a young man of rank, it would be hard to deny him these marks pf his social position. Virtue and wisdom stand higher than knowledge. Boys should be taught to restrict their impulses, and to subject their desires to reason. For training a young man to this, there is no more effectual means than the love of approbatioii and praise ; for the cultivation of which, therefore, all means should be used ; and their minds should be made as sensitive to praise and blame as possible. If this be done, a, motive has been given them, which will be efficient, at all times, even when they are alone ; and they have a basis, upon which can be afterward reared the true principles of religion and morality. Here appear, in their full proportions, the errora of Locke's prin- ciples." He plants thorns with the utmost care ; and from these, when they-have grown up, he expects to gather figs. He does not at all recognize the existence of a Christian character, of which, according to Augustine, the first, second, and third fundamental virtue, is humility. S3. MANUAL LABOR.* The youth, even of high rank, should learn some trade, for his diversion ; that of carpenter, joiner, turning, gardening, or farming, for instance. To this may be added perfumery, (?) japanning, engraving on copper, and working in metals. Playing at cards or dice should not be learned, to avoid temptation. 34. MERCANTILE ARITHMETIO AND lOOK-KBEPINO.'l' This should be understood by every man of rank, not as a means of getting a livelihood, but that he may be acquainted with them, to prevent him from spend ing his money at random. 25. TRAVKLING.t Traveling, to learn foreign languages, is most profitable between the ages of seven and sixteen, and most unsuitable from sixteen to twenty; for then the youth is too old for learning languages, and too young for the study of human nature j but at the very best age to be tempted into a dissolute life 36. CONCLUSION.^ The character of children is a foundation which can not be built upon twice in the same manner ; and hence the method of education must be made to vary according to the various conditions under which it is required. The present gen- eral observations were intended for the son of an eminent man, and were written down, on account of his extreme youth. " * Pages 538—697. t Pages 598—601 . } Pages 601—610. 4 Pages 610—612. AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. [Translated for the American Journal of Education, from the German of Karl von Raumer.] Augustus Hermann Franke, the founder of the Orphan House at Halle, and of all the institutions which cluster around it, was bom March 22, 1663, in Lubeck, where his father was syndic of the cathe- dral-chapter of the town. In 1666, the father removed to Gotha, and became privy counselor and counselor of justice under Duke Ernst the Pious ; but died in 1671. The orphan boy attended the gymnasium at Gotha, where he was declared ready to graduate in his fourteenth year. He, however, did not go to the university of Erfurt until his sixteenth year ; whence he removed in the same year to Kiel, where he studied chiefly under the instruction of Kortholt. Under him he heard lectures on metaphysics and ethics ; under Morhof on physics, natural history and universal history. He also read carefully the rhetoric of Aristotle. Theology was with him only an affair of the head. From Kiel, he went to Hamburg, in 1682, where he studied Hebrew for two months under Ezra Ezard. He then lived in Gotha for a year and a half, in which time he read the Hebrew Bible seven times, and studied French and English. In 1684, he went to Leipzig, where he took his degree and habilitated himself by a disputation De Gravi- matica Hebraea. His most important lectures were a biblical course. He explained, after the afternoon's sermon, a chapter from the Old and one from the New Testament, first philologically and then practically. Spener, then court chaplain at Dresden, took much interest in these lectures, which were attended by an extraordinarily large number of hearers. About the same time, Frank6 translated two works of Molinos, for which reason he was considered a friend of Quietism and of Catholicism. In 1687, Franks went to Luneburg, to superintendent Sandhagen. Piously brought up, he had always prayed, from a boy, that his whole life might be devoted only and entirely to the glory of God. But when, at the university, theology became to him merely a heartless study, his inward peace of mind. left him. In Luneburg he grew un- easy, and was assailed by painful doubts. He himself relates that his opinion of the Bible became quite uncertain. The Jews, he often 442 AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. reflected, believe in the Talmud, and Turks in the Koran, and Chris- tians in the Bible: Which is right ? This contest of doubt had arisen to its greatest hight, when it beoame his duty to preach upon the word^, — "But this is written ; that ye believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that ye have life through faith in his name." He was to speak of true and living faith, and. was conscious that he himself had not this faith. He was already thinking of refusing to, preach the sermon, when he besought God for help in his perplexity. He was quickly heard, and all his doubts were removed. " I was assured in my heart," he says "of the grace of God in Jesus Christ; and I could call him not only God, but my father." Forty years afterward, in this last prayer, he referred to this, his real conversion. From Luneburg he went, in 1687, to Hamburg, where he remained until Easter, ] 688. Here he established an infant school, which was numerously attended. Teaching gave him self-knowledge ; by it he learned patience, love, forbearance. " Upon the establishment of this school," he says, "I learned how destructive is tffe usual school management, and how exceedingly difficult the discipline of children; and this reflection made me desire that God would make me worthy to do something for the improvement of schools and instruction." The result of his experience he put together in a work, " Upon the educa- tion of children to piety and Christian wisdom.'''' He often said that this work of instructing youth at Hamburg was the basis of all that God afterward did through him. It was upon the remembrance of it that he said, at Halle, that education would never be bettered by mere writing of books; but by working at it. From Hamburg he went, after two months, to Spener, at Dresden, then published his biblical lectures at Leipzig, and, in 1690, was in- vited. to become deacon in the church of St. Augustine, at Erfurt. Here, liowever, he soon became suspected of being the founder of a new sect, for which reason he vvas, by a decree of the elector of Mainz, and a vote of the council, of September 18th, 1691, prohibited from any further filling of his office. Just at that time the university of Halle was feunded, chiefly by the efforts of Spener, vpho was appointed, in 1691, high consistorial counselor and provost at Berlin. On the 21st of December, 1691, Franks was designated as a suitable man for professor of Greek and Oriental languages, in the new university ; and at the same time the pastorate of the suburb of Glaucha was Offered him. On January Yth, 1692, hej-emoved to Halle, where he lived and labored for thirty-five years afterward, to the end of his life. The opening of the year 1694 is to be considered the time of the AUGUSTUS HERMANN FUANKE. 443 beginning of all the great institutions of Franke. They commenced as follows. The poor were accustomed to come every Thursday to the parsonage. Instead of giving them bread before the door, Franke called them into the house, catechised the younger, in the hearing of the elder, and closed with a prayer ; and in his own poverty he began to lay by money for the poor, by depriving himself for a long time of his supper ;* and, in 1695, he fixed up a poor's box in his room, with the following text. " Whoso hath this world's goods, and aeeth his brother have need, and shut- teth up his bowels of compassion fi'om him, how dweUeth the love of God in him?"— IJohn, iii. IT. "Everyone, according aa he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." — 2 Cor. ix., 17. ■ In this he once found seven florins,, left by a benevolent lady. Upon taking out this, he said, "this is a handsome capital; I must found some good institution with it. I will found a poor school." On the same day he bought two thalers worth of books, and employed a poor student to teach the children tv^^o hours daily. Of twenty-seven books given it, only four were brought back. But Frank6 bought new books, made a schoolroom of a room next his study, and gave the children alms three times a week. The children of citizens soon began to attend, each of whom paid one grosch a.s tuition fee, so that the teacher was better paid, and was enabled to give five hours of teaching daily. During the first summer, the number of children in the school reached sixty. The reputation of Frank6's great activity in the cause of the poor soon spread sAroad, and, from that time, contributions began to come to him from far and near ; in proportion as this increased, his plans enlarged. Still, it often happened that in firm faith he undertook something great without any means, and that these means came to him at the necessary time in the most wonderful manner. His parsonage soon became too small for the school. He hired a room in the neighboring house and made two classes, one of the poor and the other for the citizens' children, each with its own teacher. The wish soon sprung up in Franke's mind not only to instruct, but also to educate the children ; a wish to found an orphan-house. A friend gave him for this purpose five hundred thalers, and in Novem- ber, 1695, nine orphans were already assembled, who were brought to him by citizens. Neubauer, a student of theology, was employed as overseer. In the same year, 1695, three young persons of noble family were * ile sent to a friend, who was in want about this time, one hundred aud-fifty thalers, whictl he had received from the bookseller for his Biblical Improvement. 444 AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE, put under Frank6's care to be instructed and educated. This was the first beginning of the present Psedagogium. In 1696, Franke bought a second house. The number of orphan children in these two houses, in that June, reached fifty-two. At the same time he established a free table for students, at which forty-two were fed in three months. As the number of children increased, Frank6 determined to build an orphan-house. For this purpose he sent Neubauer, the overseer of his orphan children, as early as 1 696, to Holland, in order to gather informa- tion. At his return, this true and intelligent man took the direction of the building of the orphan-house ; and the corner stone was laid, July 24, 1698. There were already one hundred orphans, and five hundred children were receiving instruction. It is impossible to read without edification how the blessing of God was with all which Frank6, in his unselfish Christian love, undertook. We can here mention only a few of the many examples of these bless- ings, which he himself relates. Once, his want of money was ex- treme. " When I went out into the beautiful weather," relates Franks, " and looked upon the clear heavens, my heart was much strengthened in faith, so that I thought within myself, how beautiful it is, when, although man is nothing of himself, and has nothing to rely upon, he recognizes the living God, who made the heavens and the earth, and pjits all his trust in him, so that even in want he can be peaceful. Upon my return to the house, there came an overseer who wanted money for the work-people. 'Has any thing come in ? ' he asked. I answered, ' No ; but I have faith in God.' Scarcely Jiad I uttered the words, when a student was announced to me, who brought thirty thalers, from some one whose name he refused to give. Then I went back into the room and asked the other how much he wanted to pay the workmen. He answered, thirty thalers. I said, here they are ; and asked whether he wanted more. He said, No ; which much en- couraged both of us, since we saw in it so evidently the hand of God, who had given what was needful in the very moment when it was wanted." In 1698, relates Franks further, "I sent to a pious and distressed Christian woman one ducat. She replied to me, that the ducat had come to her at a time when she was in much need of it ; and that she had prayed God that he would bestow upon my poor orphans a heap of ducats in return. Soon afterward were brought to me four ducats, and twelve double ducats. 'On the same day, two ducats were sent to me from a good friend in Sweden. Not long afterward, I received by the post twenty-five ducats, the giver of whom was not AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. 445 named. Twenty duoats were also sent me at the same time from one of my patrons. Prince Ludwig, of Wurtemberg, died about tbe same time, and I was told that he had left a sum of money to the orphan-house. It was five hundred ducats in gold. They were sent to me at a time when I was in the greatest need of them for the building of the orphan-house. When I saw this heap of ducats upon the table before me, I thought upon the prayer of the pious woman, that God would give to ray poor orphans a heap of ducats in return."* In innumerable other cases like these, Frank6 received help from the Lord. Two productive sources of income are especially worthy of mention. A young theologian, named Elers, had joined himself to Franke. In 1698, he took charge of the printing of one of Franke's sermons, entitled, " On duty toward the poor." Elers laid this and a few other sermons upon a little table at the Leipzig fair, for sale. This was the first beginning of the orphan-house bookstore, which, under the careful and intelligent management of Elers, soon so much in- creased that it opened branches at Berlin, and Frankforf-on-the-Main. There were sold in them, among other things, all of Franke's very popular works, besides many school-books, some of which passed through a great number of editions. All the gains of the bookstore went into the treasury of the orphan-house. Franke's second fruitful source of income was from the medicines of the apothecary's shop of the orphan-house. With this he had a singular experience. One Burgstaller, upon his death-bed, left to Frank6 a legacy " for the establishment of a very splendid apothecary's shop." Franks appointed to the management of the shop, Christian Friedrich Richto-, well known for his deeply pious divine songs. After the expenditure of large suras of money, the enterprise began to be profitable in January, 1701. The orphan-house medicines began to be in demand everywhere, wonderful effects were related of them, and great sums accrued to the orphan-house from their sale. It would require too much time to narrate how the institutions grew with each year ; it must suffice to give their condition at two periods. In 1705, there were in existence the following of Franke's institu- tions.f 1. The orphan-house proper, containing fifty-five boys engaged in * King Frederic I, of Prussia, also gave 2,000 thalers, 100,000 brick, and 30,000 tiles^ for the building. In 1702, he granted to the Orphan House and the FEedagogium some very valuable privileges. " Footsteps" p. 121 and 136. Envious adversaries accused Frank€ " of having embezzled many thousand thalers ; item that the people had sent him money; iVem, that he caught at the money of papists and all manner of visionaries." ** Footsteps," ch. 3, 94. t Frankg'a Institutions, 1, 382. 446 AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. study, forty-five in mechanic arts ; twenty-five girls, and seventeen per- sons in the household. 2. The seminary for teachers ; supporting seventy-five persons, whose board was free. 3. The extraordinary free table for sixty-four very poor students. 4. Eight school classes ; with eight hundi-ed scholars, including one hundred and twenty-five orphan children; and sixty-seven teachers. 5. The Paedagogium ; with seventy scholars, and seventeen teachers. 6. Bookstore and printing office ; fourteen persons. T. Apothecary's shop ; eight persons. 8. Widows' house ; four widows. 9. Oriental college ; eleven persons. In 1727, at Franke's death, the following return of the institution was made to King Friedrich Wilhelm I.* 1. The Psedagogium, eighty-two scholars, and seventy teachers and others. 2. The Latin school of the orphan-house ; with three inspectors, thirty-two teachers, four hundred scholars, and ten servants, &Ci 3. The German burgher school ; with four inspectors, ninety-eight teachers, eight female teachers, one thousand and twenty-five boys and girls. '4. Orphan children ; one hundred boys, thirty-four girls, and ten overseei's and female overseers. 5. Persons boarded free ; two hundred and fifty-five students, and three hundred poor scholars. 6. Household, apothecary's shop, booksellers ; fifty-three persons. 1. Institutions for females; fifteen in the girls' institution, eight in the boarding house for young women, six widows. This sketch of the exterior condition of Franke's institution does not however show by any means the whole of his sphere of labor; especially in his pastorate, for the university, the spread of the Bible, and missions. How wide soever were the extensions of these labors, they all sprang from the same root ; from Franke's inward Christian love toward God and his neighbor. Only in the name of Christ would he labor or plan ; and his expressed wish was, to bring to Christ all whom he taught, from the student down to the youngest of the orphan children. In this, as in his views of the study of theology, he agreed entirely with his friend Spener. They both repeatedly insisted upon the con- * Frankg's Institutions, 2, 296. In 1707, there were, in ttie'PEedagogium, and the other schools, one thousand and ninety-two pupils, under three inspectors, and eighty-five teacliers. Seven hundred and fifty-five scholars were from Halle. Footsteps, p. 3, 29. AUGUSTUS HERMANN FBANKE. 4417 version and piety of the students : and that theology must not only be an afiFair of the head, but of the heart* "One drachm of living faith," says Franke, "is more to be valued than an hundred weight-of mere historical knowledge ; and one drop of true love, than a whole sea of learning in all mysteries." He was strenuous against the perverted study of what does not look toward the work of real life. " It is the common evil," he says, "that we do not learn what we use in our occupations every day ; for it is too small for us ; and what we have learned at the university, that we do not know how to use profitably." Both Spener and Franke, however, Were careful to guard against the supposition that they were opposed to theological learning. " If you would become teachers," says Franke to the students,! " it is not enough that you are pious ; you must also possess thorough theolog- ical learning." ' "The Christian student," remarks Spener, "prays as earnestly for divine illumination as if he had no need of his own in- dustry, and studies with as much zeal as if he must do every thing by his own unassisted labor. For it would be presumptuousness and tempting God, Only to pray, and thus to await the divine help with- out any industry of his own." Frank6 labored in every way in connection with his like-minded colleagues, those able teachers Anton, Breithaupt, and Michaelis, for the good of the young theologians. Lectures were read upon all theological studies, and Franke read besides upon the method of the- ological study. . In the " parenetical lecture," he shows what are the hindrances of young theologians in religion, and in seeking their object in study ; and how these hindrance^ are to be overcome.J These lectures he continued weekly through many years, and at an hour when no other lecture was read. He began them in 1693 ; and the last lecture which he delivered, May 15, 1121, three weeks before his death, was parenetical. In this lecture he combated, with great zeal, the sins of young theologians ; he advised them before all thing's to convert themselves before they tried to convert others, to pray and to labor. He gave them rules for living and studying, drew their attention to all that had been done at Halle of late for students, which had not been thought of at other universities, and which had not been thought of at all in earlier times. Among these things he included this, that the theological students of Halle were spared the usual soholastical disputes, and applied themselves instead to the careful * "Idea," 95. The Bohemian Brothers told Luther that " they could not Joofc for good to re- sult tn those in whose schools so much care was expended on learning and so little on con science." t Idea, 37. J For the students he wrote his " Idea studiosi theologiaj," " Timotheus," aijd other writings. 448 AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. exegesis of the Holy Scriptures ; and that they had opportunity for practical efforts in catechizing and other instruction. Students newly come must report themselves to the theological faculty, who met upon certain days for that purpose.* Each new comer is to be in- quired of, how he has regulated his life and his studies. Once every quarter of a year all the theological students are to meet before the faculty, to give an account of their studies, and to receive counsel for the future. Besides, they are to be encouraged to visit single pro- fessors, and to consult with them upon the state of their souls, and upon their studies. In 1709, Franke delivered some parenetical lectures,f "in which," as their title states, " the distinctions between the present students of theology there and those who were here in the beginning is shown." Here he complains, that zeal for good has much diminished with most of them ; describes the coarse kind of sliudent-life which has crept in ; J and remarks how little the well-intended care of the theological professors is recognized by the students ; that the latter rather com- plain about them, as if they made invasions upon their freedom as students ; and that their good advice produces no results. § " The complaint is often heard," he remarks, " of the students of Halle, that they are hypocrites.'' " I can not think of this without great sorrow ; and can not enough wonder at it," he says, " how it should be possible that, from all our lectures and admonitions, so little effect should have come." A reaction was produced. In place of the prevailing useless stu- dent-life, Franke and his theological colleagues, with one blow, suc- ceeded in introducing the still, pious, almost Christ-like state of dis- cipline, which it would be well worth while to compare with the life of the Hieronymians. || One devotional exercise after another was attended. Pious emotions and incitements were encouraged in all ways. At every opportunity all prayed, preached, exhorted, and sung. *^ It is no wonder that a mode of life diametrically opposed to this, a student-life of coarse immorality, rooted deep in the customs of so rnany centuries, should make a strong opposition against Franke's efforts, so that he only succeeded in attracting to himself youths of * *■ Appendix to the representation," p. 198. t Lectiones par., part 4, p 73, &c. }lb. "A Studiosus Theologias must know this rule : Quodinaliis e3tpeccatumveniale,id in clerico, and also, moreover, in studioso theologia est peccatwn morfate.*' § lb., III. " Formerly, the theologia studiosi rather thought it a benefit, that their studia were directed by the Faculty." See also p. 39. II Ullmann's " Johann Weasel," p. 23 (1st ed.) n Niemeyer's Principles, 8th ed., 3, 348. Semler's autobiography has much information on the same subject, AUGUSTUS HERMANN PRANKE. 449 quiet and thoughtful character. There do not seem to have heen enough pains taken to devise means for winning others ; to practice a Pauline accommodation, such as is of no injury to truth or holiness. I doubt much whether Luther would altogether have approved of the ideal of the student-establishment of Franke and Spener. • How violently did Luther inveigh against all manner of monkish restraint ! " Pleasure and amusement,"* he says, " are as necessary to young people as eating and drinking." How strongly does he recommend "music and knightly games, fencing and wrestling; of which the first dispels care of the heart and melancholy thoughts, and the others bring the body to its proper proportions and keep it in health." There is danger of falling into drinking, debauchery, and gamirfg, " if such honorable exercises and knightly games are condemned and neglected."! Frank6's complaints of the ignorance of the students at entrance are worthy of attention. That he advises them to take lessons in writing, I am sorry to say, need not surprise us ;J but in regard to spelUng the case was as bad. "I find," he says,§ " that there are few theological students who can write a German letter correctly spelled. They violate orthography almost in every line. I even know of many examples where, after they have entered upon the ministry, and have had occasion to have something printed, it has been necessary to have their manuscript first corrected almost in every line ; insomuch that it has been recommended tOsthem to have their work transcribed by some one who understood spelling, in order that it might be read without difficulty. The reason of this defect is usually in the schools, where only the Latin translation of their exercises is corrected, but not the German ; so that they learn nothing of spelling. They do not learn to distinguish in their spelling such as er war, dit Wdar, es ist wahr, and the like, and can not, so long as they write their Ger- man exercises in so superficial a manner."|| It may be imagined that, in proportion as German was neglected at the schools, Latin was more thoroughly learned. But this was not so. " In many cases," continues Franke, " when they desire to write a Latin letter, it appears that they have not learned the grammar of the language ; which occasions many faults." The same students, at •SeePartFirst, 141, 177. t The eating and drinking life of dissipated students, as Franks described it, might well destroy hopes for such men, even if they should apply themselves to " honorable exercises and knightly games." X '* It is seldom that one writes a good hand when he comes from school." § Lect. paraenet., 4, 280. Comp. "Appendix to the picture of a theological student," p. 280. I" Appendix to the picture," ifcc, p. 281. "There is seldom as much as a jualemamqm peritiam in German orthography brought from the schoois." No. 14.— [Vol. V., No. 2.]— 29. 2C 450 AUGUSTUS HERMANN FRANKE. * entering, are not well grounded even in Luther's catechism. " At the same time," he says, " it is seldom the case that any one brings with him a knowledge of vulgar arithmetic, although it is of continual use in common life."* In another place, Frank6 saysf that the theological professors of Hallo " have found,''with great grief, that most of the schools are bo ill taught, that from them there come pufils of twenty years and over, who have, notwithstanding, to be taught the very rudiments of Latin, not to mention Greet .and Hebrew, if they are to attend the lectures with any profit. The univeiisities also," he goes on, " have found, by sad experience, that many unqualified and ignorant persons enter them, who are not fit to be taught any thing." The teachers of the schools ought to perform their duties more conscientiously. While Franks tried all means to enable those who were backward in their school knowledge to recover their lost ground, he sought, on the other hand, by every possible means, to promote instruction in all the school studies; languages, history, geometry, mathematics,