Part 7

The highest position to which learned valour doth give advancement, is that of a wise counsellor, the fruit of whose learning is policy, not in the limited sense where it is opposed to straightforwardness, but in the philosophical sense, as meaning the general skill to judge things rightly, to see them in their due proportions, to adapt them to any given circumstances, with as little disturbance as possible to existing arrangements, whether it be in matters religious or secular, public or private, professional or industrial. Such a man is, in the sphere of religion, a _divine_ who is able to judge soundly of the general principles and applications of divinity; in the sphere of government, a _lawyer_ who makes the laws in the first instance, and knows best how to have them kept; in short he is the man, whether he be concerned with ecclesiastical or temporal affairs, and whatever his rank or his profession may be, who is most sound and able, and sufficient in all points. And though the specialist may know more than he in any particular matter which he has not leisure to get up thoroughly himself, yet he will be able to make such skilful and methodical enquiries of the special student that he will probe his knowledge to the bottom, and then handle the material he gains to better purpose than the other could with all his scholarship. Of all those that depend upon learning I hold this kind of man worthiest to be preferred, in divinity a chief among divines, though he do not preach, in law, the first of lawyers, though he do not plead, and similarly in all the other departments of public direction. But wherefore is all this? To show how necessary a thing it is to have young gentlemen well brought up. For if these causes do make the man of mean birth noble, what will they do in him whose honour is augmented with perpetual increase, if he add personal worth to his nobility in blood? Wherefore the necessity of the training being evidently so great, I will handle that as well as I can, by way of general precept, with reference to those whose wisdom is their weight, learning their line, justice their balance, honour their armour, and all the different virtues their greatest ornaments in the eyes of all men.

Course of Study for a Gentleman.

As I have already said, I know no better training for the gentleman than that which is provided under proper conditions for the ordinary man; but while the latter learns first for necessity, and afterwards for advancement, the greater personage ought to study for his credit and honour as well. For which be gentlemanly accomplishments, if these be not--to read, to write, to draw, to sing, to play, to have language and learning, health and activity, nay, even to profess Divinity, Law, Medicine, or any other worthy occupation? These things a gentleman hath most leisure to acquire, and not being too much under the spur of necessity he can practise them with uprightness. These so-called “liberal” professions are too commonly now in the hands of meaner men, who make a trade of their high calling, and only seek to enrich themselves. Doth Divinity teach to scrape, or Law to scratch, or any other kind of learning to which the epithet “liberal” is applied? The practice of these callings crieth for help to ransom it from the pressure of selfish needs to which it hath fallen a prey, owing to the indifference of the nobility, who think anything far more seemly to bestow their time and wealth upon than the learned professions. But if young gentlemen of parts would be pleased to be so well affected toward their country as to shoulder out mercenary professional men by themselves taking their places, how fortunate it would be for the country, and for the young gentlemen as well! Enough might be spared for such employment without unduly lessening the numbers that fill the court and carry on military and judicial functions only too abundantly. If the warlike gentlemen betook themselves to arms and paid more attention to exercise, and if the more peacefully-inclined took their books and fell to learning, recalling by diligence those faculties which they have for so long allowed to run waste, should not the change be welcomed? This were better than vain foppery and travelling about.

Foreign Travel.

What is this travelling? I do not ask in regard to merchants, whom necessity obliges to travel and to tarry long from home for the sake of their own trade and often of our benefit, nor in regard to soldiers, who when there is peace at home must go abroad to learn in foreign wars how to defend their country when it is necessary. Nor do I refer to such travellers as Solon, or Pythagoras, or Plato, who sought knowledge where it was, in order to bring it where it was not. We have no need to travel in search of learning as they did. We have at this day, thanks to printing, as much of that as any country needs to have,--nay, as much as the ancient world ever possessed, if we would use it aright. And young gentlemen, if they made the best use of their wealth, might procure and maintain such excellent masters and companions and libraries, that they might acquire all the best learning far better by studying quietly at home than by stirring about, if the desire for knowledge were the cause of their travelling. And this excuse is made even by people of meaner rank, who love to look abroad for instruction that they could get quite well at home from competent persons who never crossed the seas. If there be defects in our own country, they can be remedied out of our own resources by giving good heed to the matter, without the need of borrowing from other lands. What, then, is travel, interrupting education as it does, and raising the question whether young gentlemen in choosing it are benefiting their country and themselves? To travel is to see countries abroad, to mark their singularities, to learn their languages, and to return thence with an equipment of wisdom that will serve the needs of one’s own country.

There may be some who gain all these advantages from travel; but for one whose natural excellence and virtue will turn such a hazardous experience to profit, there are many to whom it will prove pernicious, owing to their impetuous temper and their command of money beyond the discretion of their years. And while these are engaged in travel, what might they have been acquiring at home? Sounder learning, the same study of language, and, above all, the love of their native land, which groweth by familiarity, but is mightily impaired by absence and an acquired fancy for foreign customs.

What is the natural end of being born in a particular country? To serve one’s fatherland. With foreign fashions? They will not fit. For every country has its own appropriate laws and arrangements, and its special circumstances can be understood only by those who study its constitution carefully on the spot. What is quite suitable and excellent for other nations may not bear transplanting here; it may not fit in with the habits of our people, or at least the change might require so much effort that it would not be worth the cost. I do not deny that travel is good, if it hits on the right person; though I think the same labour, with equally good intentions, could be spent with better results at home. He that roameth abroad hath no such line to lead him as he that tarrieth at home, unless his understanding, years and experience offer better security than is the case with those of whom I am now speaking. Foreign things fit us not; or, if they fit our backs, at least they do not fit our brains, unless there be something amiss there. If we wish to learn from other countries, it is better to summon a foreign master to us than to go abroad as foreign scholars ourselves.

Our ladies at home can acquire all the accomplishments of these travelled gentlemen without stirring abroad, for it is not what one has seen that is of value, but the languages and learning that are brought back, and these are to be found at home. Our lady mistress, whom I must needs remember when excellence is being spoken of, a woman, a gentlewoman, a lady, a princess, in the midst of many other affairs of business, in spite of her sex and sundry impediments to a free mind such as learning requireth, can do all these things to the wonder of all hearers, which I say young gentlemen can learn better at home, as Her Majesty did. It may be said that Her Majesty is not to be used as a precedent, seeing she is of a princely courage that would not be overthrown by any difficulty in learning what might advance her person beyond all praise, and help her position beyond expectation. But yet it may be said, why may not young gentlemen, who can allege no obstacle, obtain with more liberty what Her Highness got with so little? It is having as much money as they like that eggs them on to wander. If they went abroad as ambassadors to acquire experience through dealing with great affairs, or if they were well known as learned men to whom important information would everywhere naturally be offered, or if they even went in the train of the former, or under the tuition of the latter, so that authority might secure benefits for them and preserve them from harm, I would not disapprove of it, as they might then learn to follow in the footsteps of their leaders. But this is a very different matter from the pursuit of those special ends that could be better attained at home. For good, simple, well-meaning young gentlemen, strong in purse and weak in years, to travel at a venture in places where there is danger to health, to life, to conduct, far from the chances of succour and rescue--the thought is so repugnant to me that I know not what to say.

Gentlemen should take up the Professions.

I do wish then that well-disposed young gentlemen would be pleased to betake themselves betimes to some kind of learning that is indeed liberal, seeing that their circumstances protect them from interested motives, and enable them to serve their country honourably. Instead of all becoming lawyers or court officials, why do not some of them choose to be divines, or physicians, or to take up some other learned profession? Any gentleman in our country who is now so qualified is esteemed and honoured above all others of his calling, and indeed gets some honour even if he is not particularly well qualified. Are not these professions to be reverenced for their subject-matter and for their influence? And are they not therefore proper for the nobility? I do not hold the conduct of barbarous invasions to be the true field of activity for the nobility; they should be for the most part peaceful, and warlike only for defence if the country be assailed, or for attack if previous wrongs are to be avenged. Nor do I take wealth to be any worthy cause of honour to the owner, unless it be both got by laudable means and employed in commendable ways, nor any quality or gift that adorns the body, unless it serves a good purpose, nor any endowment of the mind which is not exercised in conformity with reason and wisdom. Such gifts are demanded in the callings I have named as worthy of the nobility. Who dare think lightly of divinity in itself? There is more hesitation now about adopting it as a profession than formerly, when the emoluments were greater, and the dignity more generally recognised, but the position grows better again, and a good gentleman may find in it the honour which he seeks. As for medicine, if gentlemen will not study and practise it, they must pay the penalty of ignorance, as they will suffer in their own bodies as well as in their pockets by leaving the profession to those of meaner rank, whose attendance is often rather flattering and fawning than intelligent services. This caution, however, young gentlemen must bear in mind, that it were a great deal better they had no learning at all and knew their own ignorance, than a mere smattering, incomplete of its kind, and insecurely held in their minds. For their acknowledged ignorance harms only themselves, as others more skilful may supply their places, but unripe learning puffeth them up, and their rank encourages them to be superficial, either in not digesting what they have read, or in not reading sufficiently, or in doing desultory work, or presuming on their station to defend ill-considered notions. To conclude, I wish young gentlemen to be better than ordinary men in the best kind of learning, as they have ampler opportunities of acquiring it and turning it to good account for the benefit of their country and their own honour.

The Training of a Prince.

As a child, the greatest prince may be, like other children, in soul either fine or gross, in body either strong or weak, in form either well-developed or ill, so that in regard to the time for beginning to learn and the proper course of study, he is no less subject to the general laws already laid down than his subjects are. We must take him as God sends him, for we cannot choose as we would wish, just as he must make the best of his people, though his people be not the best. When the young prince’s elementary education is past, and there is more scope for reading, care must be taken to choose such matter as may recommend humility as well as afford adequate knowledge, so that competence in affairs may be supported by the gift of courteous persuasion. Intercourse with foreign ambassadors, and conference with his own counsellors, require both a knowledge of tongues and a knowledge of the matters that come under discussion. And as he governeth his State by means of his two arms, the ecclesiastical, which preserves and purifies religion, the main support of voluntary obedience, and the political, which by maintaining the civil government doth keep order and diffuse well-being, if he lack knowledge to use his arms aright, is he not more than lame? And is not his best help to be found in learning? Martial skill is needful, but only for defence, because a stirring prince, always ready to make aggression, is a plague to his people and a punishment to himself, and even when he seems to gain most, is only getting what he or his descendants must some day lose again with perhaps something in addition. But religious knowledge is far more important, being specially necessary for a prince, inasmuch as he hath none but God to fear. Almighty God be thanked who hath at this day lent us a Princess who indeed feareth Him, and who therefore, deserving to be loved, desires not to be feared by us. I pray God long to preserve her whose good education doth teach us what education can do, and I have good cause to rejoice that this work of mine concerning education is given forth in her time.

Boarding Schools.

I turn to the question whether it is better for a child to board with his master or elsewhere, or to come from home daily to school. If the place where the parents dwell be near the school, or only so far off that the very walk may be for the boy’s health, and if the parent himself be careful and wise to be as good a furtherer in the training of his own child as he is a father to its being, then certainly the parent’s home is much better, if for nothing else, yet because the parent can more easily at all times look after the interests of his own, having only one or a few, than the schoolmaster can after his ordinary duties are over, especially as he will have to divide his attention among many. Further, all the considerations which persuade people rather to have their children taught at home than along with others outside, especially with regard to their manners and behaviour, form arguments for their at least _boarding_ at home, if the parents will take their position seriously, because the parent can both see to the upbringing of the child outside school and interest himself in the work done by the child _in_ school. For undoubtedly the masters are wearied with working all day, so that the individual help they can give in their homes in the evening can be but little, without at once tiring the master unduly and dulling the child, if he is always poring over his books. There must be times for recreation if anything is to be well done continuously. Can anyone help thinking that it is a great deal more than enough for the master to teach, and the scholar to learn, daily from 6 in the morning till 11, and from 1 in the afternoon till wellnigh 6 at night, if the time is to be really well applied--nay, even if the hours were a great deal fewer? And may not the rest of the day be reasonably spent in some recreation that offers a pleasant variety to both parties? In the master’s home I grant children may keep school hours better, and be less liable to idleness and truancy; the master also may keep them better under his eye in his general teaching when they are wholly under his care in place of his own children, may arrange their hours better according to the subjects they are studying, and may sooner be able to discover their special talents and inclinations. There are also certain private considerations that have weight with parents in sending their children to board away from home, which I leave to their private thoughts, as I reserve some to my own. If the master have charge only of the scholars who board with him, and can himself do all that is necessary for the best education, and the numbers be moderate enough to allow of considerable progress, then I know of no more favourable circumstances, if the size, situation, and convenience of his house, and other necessary conditions are all suitable. But while he is thinking only of his boarders’ advancement, some slow-paying parents will be sure to keep him lean, if he look not well to it, and his fortunes will not flourish, or at least the risks will cause him continual anxiety. Parents have a different eye to their children’s comfort when they are at a boarding-school, and are ready to complain of many things that are made of no account at home. And if sickness or death should come, the worst construction is put upon it, as if death did not know where the parent dwells. And though the master should have done not only what he was formally bound to do, but even more than he could have done for his own child, yet all that is nothing. Wherefore, as parents must think of the objection on their side to sending out their children to board, so masters on their part must beware of admitting them to their own injury. Indeed, my own opinion is that it is quite enough for a master to undertake the education alone. If parents do not live near enough to the school, they should board their children elsewhere than with the master. They are distinct offices, to be a parent and a teacher, and the difficulties of upbringing are too serious for all the responsibilities to be thrown into the hands of one alone.

School Buildings.

Of the places of elementary education there is not much to say, as the masters supply rooms as large as they can, considering the fees that the parents are willing to pay, and the little people who attend these schools are not as yet capable of any great exercise. The Grammar Schools require more attention, because the years that are, or at least ought to be, spent there are the most important both for developing the body and for framing the mind and character. Here the pupils are most subject to the master’s direction, and provision is made for them not only out of the parents’ resources, but also from public endowment, so far as the buildings are concerned. As the elementary schools must be near the parents’ homes on account of the youth of the scholars, they must often be in the middle of cities and towns, but I could wish that the Grammar Schools were planted in the outskirts and suburbs, near to the fields, where partly by enclosing some private ground for regular exercises both in the open and under cover, and partly by utilising the open fields for rambles of wider range, there might be little or no feeling of restriction in the matter of space. There should be a good airy schoolroom above for the languages, and another below for others studies and for continuing and completing the elementary training, which will not be well enough kept up if it is left to private practice at home. There must also be suitable accommodation for the master and his family, even if they be pretty numerous, and there should be a convenient play-ground adjoining the school, walled round and having at least a quarter of the space covered over like a cloister, for the children’s exercise in rainy weather. All this will require no mean purse, but surely there is wealth enough in private possession, if there were will enough to endow public education. Yet we have no great cause to complain in regard to the number of schools and founders, for already during the time of Her Majesty’s most fortunate reign there have been more schools erected than existed before her time in the whole kingdom. I would rather have fewer and have them better appointed for the master’s accommodation and for general convenience. A small amount of help will make most of our rooms serve, and enable our teachers to give instruction and carry on the exercises under satisfactory conditions. The places for study and for exercise ought to adjoin each other, and be capable of holding considerable numbers, to be determined by the needs of the surrounding district. The schools that I know are mostly well placed already, or if they are in the heart of towns, they could be easily exchanged for some country situation, far from disturbances yet near enough to all necessary conveniences. It would be a very useful part of a great and good foundation if it provided for the removal of rooms to more suitable places, either by exchange or by new purchase, and I think licence would more readily be granted for this purpose than to build new schools. I am all the more impelled to recommend a country situation on account of the inconveniences that I have myself experienced, both in regard to my own health and that of my scholars, and the lack of facilities for the exercises on which I lay so much store. Yet I am by no means the worst off in this respect, owing to the zeal and generosity shown in the provision made by the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors in London, in whose school I have now served for twenty years, the first and only headmaster since its foundation. If ye consider what is to be done in these rooms which I desire, ye shall better judge what rooms will serve. Two rooms will be sufficient for the language study and the continuation of the elementary course, an upper room with proper arrangements for ventilation and the prevention of too much noise, and another similarly fitted up underneath to serve for what else is to be done. I could wish that we had fewer schools and that they were more efficient; it would be well if on careful consideration of the most convenient centres throughout the country, many of the existing schools could be put together to make a few good ones. To conclude this matter, I wish the rooms to be commodious, for though such studies as reading require small elbow-room, writing and drawing must not be straitened, nor music either, and physical exercises especially must have ample scope. And such rooms, if the numbers are not too large, if the distance is not too great for the young children, will with some distinction and separation of places serve conveniently both for the elementary school and the grammar school, which is so much the better.

Best Hours for Study.