94. The Theory and the Practice of Education in

the Sixteenth Century. — In the history of education in the

sixteenth century, we must, moreover, carefully distinguish

the theory from the practice. The theory of education is

already boldly put forward, and is in advance of its age ;

while the practice is still dragging itself painfully along on

the beaten road, notwithstanding some successful attempts

at improvement.

The theor}' we must look for in the works of Erasmus,

Rabelais, and Montaigne, of whom it may be said, that before

pretending to surpass them, even at this day, we should

rather attempt to overtake them, and to equal them in the

most of their pedagogical precepts.

The practice is, fust, the development of the study of the

humanities, particularly in the early colleges of the .Jesuits,

and, before the Jesuits, in certain Protestant colleges, partic-

ularly in the college at Strasburg, so brilliantly administered

by the celebrated Sturm (1507-1589). Then it is the revival

of higher instruction, denoted particularly by the foundation

of the College of France (1530), and by the brilliant lee-

86 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

tures of Ramus. Finally, it is the progress, we might

almost say the birth, of primary instruction, through the

efforts of the Protestant reformers, and especially of Luther.

Nevertheless, the educational thought of the sixteenth

century is in advance of educational practice ; theories

greatly anticipate applications, and constitute almost all that

is deserving of special note.

95. Erasmus (1467-1536). — By his numerous writings,

translations, grammars, dictionaries, and original works,

Erasmus diffused about him his own passionate fondness for

classical literature, and communicated this taste to his con-

temporaries. Without having a direct influence on education,

since he scarcely taught himself, he encouraged the study of

the ancients by his example, and by his active propagan-

clism. The scholar who said, " When I have money, I will

first buy Greek books and then clothes," deserves to be

placed in the first rank among the creators of secondaiy

instruction.

96. The Education of Erasmus : the Jeromites. —

Erasmus was educated by the monks, as Voltaire was by the

Jesuits, a circumstance that has cost these liberal thinkers

none of their independent disposition, and none of their

satirical spirit. At the age of twelve, Erasmus entered the

college of Deventer, in Holland. This college was con-

ducted by the Jeromites, or Brethren of the Common Life.

Founded in 1340 by Gerard Groot, the association of the

Jeromites undertook, among other occupations, the instruc-

tion of children. Very mystical, and very ascetic at first;

the disciples of Gerard Groot -restricted themselves to teach-

Ing the Bible, to reading, and writing. They proscribed, as

useless to piety, letters and the sciences. But in the

fifteenth century, under the influence of John of Wessel and

THE RENAISSANCE. 87

Rudolph Agricola, the Jeromites became transformed ; they

were the precursors of the Renaissance, and the promoters

of the alliance between profane letters and Christianity.

" We may read Ovid once," said John of Wessel, " but we

ought to read Virgil, Horace, and Terence, with more atten-

tion." Horace and Terence were precisely the favorite

authors of Erasmus, who learned them by heart at Deven-

ter. Agricola, of whom Erasmus speaks only with enthu-

siasm, was also the zealous propagator of the great works

of antiquity, and, at the same time, the severe critic of the

state of educational practice of the time when the school

was too much like a prison.

"If there is anything which has a contradictory name,"

he said, " it is the school. The Greeks called it a-xoXr], which

means leisure, recreation; and the Latins, Indus, that is,

play. But there is nothing farther removed from recreation

and play. Aristophanes called it ^povrLa-T-qpiov, that is,

place of care, of torment, and this is surely the designation

which best befits it."

Erasmus then had for his first teachers enlightened men,

who, notwithstanding their monastic condition, both knew

and loved antiquity. But, as a matter of fact, Erasmus

was his own teacher. By personal effort he put himself at

the school of the ancients. He was all his life a student.

Now he was a foundation scholar at the college of Montaigu,

in Paris, and now preceptor to gentlemen of wealth. He

was always in pursuit of learning, going over the whole of

Europe, that lie might find in each cultivated city new oppor-

tunities for self-instruction.

{ M. Pedagogical Works of Erasmus. — Most of the

works written by Erasmus relate to instruction. Some of

them are fairly to be classed as text-books, elementary

treatises on practical education, as, fВ«* example, his books

88 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

On the Manner of writing Letters, Upon Rules of Etiquette

for the Young, etc. We may also notice his Adages, a vast

repertory of proverbs and maxims borrowed from antiquity ;

his Colloquies, a collection of dialogues for the use of the

youug, though the author here treats of many things which

a pupil should never hear spoken of. Another categoiy

should include works of a more theoretical character, in

which Erasmus sets forth his ideas on education. In the

essaj' On the Order of Study (de Ratione Studii) , he seeks out

the rules for instruction in literature, for the stud} 7 of gram-

mar, for the cultivation of the memory, and for the explica-

tion of the Greek and Latin authors. Another treatise,

entitled Of the First Liberal Education of Children (De pueris

statim ac liberaliter instituendis) , is still more important, and

covers the whole field of education. Erasmus here studies

the character of the child, the question of knowing whethei

the first years of child-life can be turned to good account,

and the measures that are to be taken with early life. He

also recommends methods that are attractive, and heartily

condemns the barbarous discipline which reigned in the

schools of his time.

98. Juvenile Etiquette. — Erasmus is one of the first

educators who comprehended the importance of politeness.

In an age still uncouth, where the manners of even the cul-

tivated classes tolerated usages that the most ignorant rustic

of to-day would scorn, it was good to call the attention to

outward appearances and the duties of politeness. Eras-

mus knew perfectly well that politeness has a moral side,

that it is not a matter of pure convention, but that it pro-

ceeds from the inner disposition of a well-ordered soul. So

he assigns it an important place in education :

" The duty of instructing the young," he says, " includes

several elements, the first and also the chief of which is,

THE RENAISSANCE. 89

that the tender mind of the child should be instructed in

piety; the second, that he love and learn the liberal arts;

the third, that he be taught tact in the conduct of social

life ; and the fourth, that from his earliest age he accustom

himself to good behavior, based on moral principles."

We need not be astonished, however, to find that the

civility of Erasmus is still imperfect, now too free, now too

exacting, and always ingenuous. "It is a religious duty,"

he says, " to salute him who sneezes." " Morally speaking,

it is not a proper thing to throw the head back while drink-

ing, after the manner of storks, in order to drain the last

drop from the glass." " If one let bread fall on the ground,

he should kiss it after having picked it up." On the other

hand, Erasmus seems to allow that the nose may be wiped

with the fingers, but he forbids the use of the cap or the

sleeve for this purpose. He requires that the face shall be

bathed with pure water in the morning; "but," he adds,

" to repeat this afterwards is nonsense."

99. Early Education. — Like Quintilian, by whom he is

often inspired, Erasmus does not scorn to enter the primary

school, and to shape the first exercises for intellectual cul-

ture. Upon many points, the thought of the sixteenth cen-

tury scholar is but an echo of the Institutes of Oratory, or

of the educational essays of Plutarch. Some of his maxims

deserve to be reproduced : "We learn with great willingness

from those whom we love;" "Parents themselves cannot

properly bring up their children if they make themselves

only to be feared;" "There are children who would be

killed sooner than made better by blows : by mildness and

kind admonitions, one may make of them whatever he

will;" "Children will iearn to speak their native tongue

without any weariness, by usage and practice;" "Drill in

reading and writing is a little bit tiresome, and the teacher

90 THE HISTOKY OF PEDAGOGY.

will ingeniously palliate the tedium by the artifice of an

attractive method;" "The ancients moulded toothsome

dainties into the forms of the letters, and thus, as it were,

made children swallow the alphabet;" "In the matter of

grammatical rules, instruction should at the first be limited

to the most simple ; " " As the bod}' in infant years is nour-

ished by little portions distributed at intervals, so should

the mind of the child be nurtured by items of knowledge

adapted to its weakness, and distributed little by little."

From out these quotations there appears a method of

instruction that is kindly, lovable, and full of tenderness for

the young. Erasmus claims for them the nourishing care

and caresses of the mother, the familiarity and goodness of

the father, cleanliness, and even elegance in the school, and

finally, the mildness and indulgence of the teacher.

100. The Instruction of Women. — The scholars of

the Renaissance did not exclude women from all participa-

tion in the literary treasures that a recovered antiquity had

disclosed to themselves. Erasmus admits them to an equal

share.

In the Colloquy of the Abbe and the Educated Woman,

Magdala claims for herself the right to learn Latin, " so that

she may hold converse each day with so many authors who

are so eloquent, so instructive, so wise, and such good coun-

sellors." In the book called Christian Marriage, Erasmus

banters young ladies who learn only to make a bow, to hold

the hands crossed, to bite their lips when they laugh, to eat

and drink as little as possible at table, after having taken

ample portions in private. More ambitious for the wife,

Erasmus recommends her to pursue the studies which will

assist her in educating her own children, and in taking part

in the intellectual life of her husband.

THE RENAISSANCE. 91

Vives, a contemporary of Erasmus (1492-1540), a Span-

ish teacher, expressed analogous ideas in his books on the

education of women, in which he recommends young women

to read Plato and Seneca.

To sum up, the pedagog}* of Erasmus is not without value ;

but with him, education ran the risk of remaining: exclusively

Greek and Latin. A humanist above everything else, -he

granted but very small place to the sciences, and to history,

which it sufficed to skim over, as he said ; and, what reveals

his inmost nature, he recommended the stud} r of the physical

sciences for this reason in particular, that the writer will find

in the knowledge of nature an abundant source of metaphors,

images, and comparisons.

101. Rabelais (1483-1553). —Wholly different is the

spirit of Rabelais, who, under a fanciful and original form,

has sketched a complete system of education. Some pages

of marked gravity in the midst of the epic vagabondage of

his burlesque work, give him the right to appear in the first

rank among those who have reformed the art of training and

developing the human soul. 1

The pedagogy of Rabelais is the first appearance of what

may be called realism in instruction, in distinction from the

scholastic formalism. The author of Gargantua turns the

mind of the young man towards objects truly worthy of oc-

cupying his attention. He catches a glimpse of the future

reserved to scientific education, and to the study of nature.

He invites the mind, not to the labored subtilties and com-

plicated tricks which scholasticism had brought into fashion,

but to manly efforts, and to a wide unfolding of human

nature.

1 See especially the following chapters: Book I. chaps, xiv., xv., xxi.,

xxii., xxiv.; Book II. chaps, v., vi., vn., vni.

92 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

102. Criticism of the Old Education : Gargantua and

Eudemon. — In the manners of the sixteenth century, the

keen satire of Rabelais found many opportunities for dis-

porting itself ; and his book ma}' be regarded as a collection

of pamphlets. But there is nothing that he has pursued

with more sarcasms than the education of his day.

At the outset, Gargantua is educated according to the

scholastic methods. He works for twenty years with all his

might, and learns so perfectly the books that he studies that

he can recite them by heart, backwards and forwards, " and

yet his father discovered that all this profited him nothing ;

and what is worse, that it made him a madcap, a ninny,

dreamy, and infatuated."

To that unintelligent and artificial training which sur-

charges the memory, which holds the pupil for long years

over insipid books, which robs the mind of all independent

activity, which dulls rather than sharpens the intelligence, —

to all this Rabelais opposes a natural education, which appeals

to experience and to facts, which trains the young man, not

only for the discussions of the schools, but for real life, and

for intercourse with the world, and which, finally, enriches

the intelligence and adorns the memory without stifling the

native graces and the free activities of the spirit.

Eudemon, who, in Rabelais' romance, represents the pupil

trained by the new methods, knows how to think with accu-

racy and speak with facility ; his bearing is without bold-

ness, but with confidence. When introduced to Gargantua,

he turns towards him, "cap in hand, with open countenance,

rudd}* lips, steady eyes, and with modesty becoming a

youth " ; he salutes him elegantly and graciously. To all

the pleasant things which Eudemon says to him, Gargantua

finds nothing to say in reply : " His countenance appeared

as though he had taken to crying immoderately ; he hid his

THE RENAISSANCE. 93

face in his cap, and not a single word could be drawn from

him."

In these two pupils, so different in manner, Rabelais has

personified two contrasted methods of education : that which,

by mechanical exercises of memory, enfeebles and dulls

the intelligence ; and that which, with larger grants of

liberty, develops keen intelligences, and frank and open

characters.

103. The New Education. — Let us now notice with

some detail how Rabelais conceives this new education. 1

After having thrown into sharp relief the faults con-

tracted by Gargantua in the school of his first teachers, he

entrusts him to a preceptor, Ponocrates, who is charged with

correcting his faults, and with re-moulding him ; he is to

employ his own principles in the government of his pupil.

Ponocrates proceeds slowly at first ; he в–  considers that

" nature does not endure sudden changes without great

violence." He studies and observes his pupil ; he wishes to

judge of his natural disposition. Then he sets himself to

work ; he undertakes a general recasting of the character and

spirit of Gargantua, while directing, at the same time, his

physical, intellectual, and moral education.

104. Physical Education. — Hygiene and gymnastics,

cleanliness which protects the body, and exercise which

strengthens it, — these two essential parts of physical edu-

1 The contrast between the general system of education that culmin-

ated with the Reformation, and the system that had its rise at the same

period, is so marked that there is an historical propriety in calling the first

the old education, and the second, or later, the new education. Recollect-

ing the tendency of the human mind to pass from one extreme to an

opposite extreme, we may suspect that the final state of educational

thought and practice will represent a mean between these two contrasted

systems: it is inconceivable that the old was wholly wrong, or that the

new is wholly right. (P.)

94 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

cation receive equal attention from Rabelais. Erasmus

thought it was nonsense (" ne rime d, rien ") to wash more

than once a day. Gargantua, on the contraiy, after eating,

bathes his hands and his eyes in fresh water. Rabelais does

not forget that he has been a physician ; he omits no detail

relative to the care of the body, even the most repugnant.

He is far from believing, with the mystics of the Middle

Age, that it is permissible to lodge knowledge in a sordid

bod}', and that a foul or neglected exterior is not unbefitting

virtuous souls. The first preceptors of Gargantua said that

it sufficed to comb one's hair " with the four fingers and the

thumb ; and that whoever combed, washed, and cleansed

himself otherwise, was losing his time in this world." With

Ponocrates, Gargantua l-eforms his habits, and tries to re-

semble Eudemon, " whose hair was so neatly combed, who

was so well dressed, of such fine appearance, and was so

modest in his bearing, that he much more resembled a little

angel than a man."

Rabelais attaches equal importance to gymnastics, to walk-

ing, and to active life in the open air. He does not allow

Gargantua to grow pale over his books, and to protract his

study into the night. After the morning's lessons, he takes

him out to play. Tennis and ball follow the application to

books : " He exercises his body just as vigorously as he had

before exercised his mind." And so, after the study of the

afternoon till the supper hour, Gargantua devotes his time

to physical exercises. Riding, wrestling, swimming, every

species of physical recreation, gymnastics under all its forms,

— there is nothing which Gargantua does not do to give agility

to his limbs and to strengthen his muscles. Here, as in

other places, Rabelais stretches a point, and purposely resorts

to exaggeration in order to make his thought better compre-

hended. It would require days of several times twenty-four

U

THE RENAISSANCE. 95

hours, in order that a real man could find the time to do all

that the author of Gargantua requires of his giant. In con-

trast with the long asceticism of the Middle Age, he proposes

a real revelry of gymnastics for the colossal bod}' of his hero.

We will not forget that here, as in all the other parts of

Rabelais' work, fiction is ever mingled with fact. Rabelais

wrote for giants, and it is natural that he should demand

gigantesque efforts of them. In order to comprehend the

exact thought of the author, it is necessary to reduce his

fantastic exaggerations to human proportions.