Violence ! away with this compulsion ! than which, I certainly

believe, nothing more dulls and degenerates a well-descended

nature. . . . The strict government of most of our colleges

has evermore displeased me. . . . 'Tis the true house of

correction of imprisoned youth. . . . Do but come in when

the}* are about their lesson, and you shall hear nothing but

the outcries of boys under execution, with the thundering

noise of their Pedagogues, drunk with fury, to make up the

consort. A pretty way this ! to tempt these tender and

timorous souls to love their book, with a furious counte-

nance, and a rod in hand. A cursed and pernicious way of

1 " I was above six years of age before I understood either French or

P&rigordian any more than Arabic, and without art, book, grammar, or

precept, whipping, or the experience of a tear,- had by that time learned to

speak as pure Latin as my master himself." Essays, Book I. chap. xxv.

In this chapter I have several times quoted from Cotton's translation.

(London: 1711.) (P.)

- Book I. chap. XXY.

THE RENAISSANCE. 103

proceeding. . . . How much more decent would it be to see

their classes strewed with green leaves and fine flowers, than

with bloody stumps of birch and willows? Were it left to

my ordering, I should paint the school with the pictures of

Joy and Gladness, Flora and the Graces . . . that where

their profit is, they might have their pleasure too." '

113. Importance of a General rather than a Special

Education. — If Montaigne, in different chapters of his

essays, 2 has given passing attention to pedagogical questions,

it is not only through a recollection of his own years of ap-

prenticeship, but also because of his judgment as a philos-

opher, that " the greatest and most important task of human

understanding is in those matters which concern the nurture

and instruction of children."

For him, education is the art of forming men, and not

specialists. This he explains in his original manner under

the form of an anecdote :

" Going to Orleans one day, I met in that plain this side

Clery, two pedants who were going towards Bordeaux,

about fifty paces distant from one another. Still further

back of them, I saw a troop of horse, and at their head a

gentleman who was the late Count de la Rochefoucault. One

of my company inquired of the foremost of these dominies,

who that gentleman was who was following him. He had

not observed the train that was following after, and thought

that the question related to his companion; and so he

replied pleasantly. • He is not a gentleman, but a grammarian,

and I am a logician.' Now, as we are here concerned in the

training, not of a grammarian, or of a logician, but of a

1 Book I. chap. xxv.

2 See particular^ Chap. xxiv. of Book T.. Of Pedantry; Chap. xxv.

Book I., Of the Education of < 'hildren ; Chan. vm. Book II., Of the Affec-

tion of Fathers to th< ir ' 'hildn n.

104 THE HISTOKY OF PEDAGOGY.

complete gentleman, we will let those who will abuse their

leisure ; but we have business of another nature." 1

It is true that Montaigne says gentleman, and not simply

man ; but in reality his thought is the same as that of Rous-

seau and of all those who require a general education of the

human soul.

114. The Purpose of Instruction. — From what has now

been said, it is easy to comprehend that, in the opinion of

Montaigne, letters and other studies are but the means or

instrument, and not the aim and end of instruction. The

author of the Essays does not yield to the literary craze,

which, in the sixteenth century, took certain scholars captive,

and made the ideal of education to consist of a knowledge of

the ancient languages. It is of little consequence to him

that a pupil has learned to write in Latin ; what he does

require, is that he become better and more prudent, and have

a sounder judgment. "If his soul be not put into better

rhythm, if the judgment be not better settled, I would rather

have him spend his time at tennis." 2

115. Education of the Judgment. — Montaigne has

expressed his dominant thought on education in a hundred

different ways. He is preoccupied with the training of the

judgment, and on this point we might quote whole pages :

"... According to the fashion in which we are instructed,

it is not singular that neither scholars nor masters become

more able, although they become more wise. In fact, our

parents devote their care and expense to furnishing our heads

with knowledge ; but to judgment and virtue no additions

are made. Say of a passer-by to people, ' O what a learned

man ! ' and of another, ' O what a good man goes there ! '

and they will not fail to turn their eyes and attention towards

1 Book I. chap. xxv. 2 Book I. chap. xxiy.

THE BENAISSANCE. 105

the former. There should be a third to cry, ' O the block-

heads ! ' Men are quick to inquire, ' Does he know Greek

or Latin ? Does he write in verse or in prose ? ' But

whether he lias become better or more prudent, which is the

principal thing, this receives not the least notice ; whereas

we ought to inquire who is the better learned, rather than

who is the more learned? "

"We labor only at filling the memory, and leave the under-

standing and the conscience void. Just as birds sometimes

go in quest of grain, and bring it in their bills without tasting

it themselves, to make of it mouthfuls for their young ; so

our pedants go rummaging in books for knowledge, only to

hold it at their tongues' end, and then distribute it to their

pupils." 1

116. Studies Recommended. — The practical and utili-

tarian mind of Montaigne dictates to him his programme of

studies. "With him it is not a question of plunging into the

depths of the sciences ; disinterested studies are not his

affair. If Rabelais proposed to develop the speculative

faculties, Montaigne, on the contrary, is preoccupied with

the practical faculties, and he makes everything subordinate

to morals. For example, he would have history learned, not

for the salve of knowing the facts, but of appreciating them.

It is not so necessary to imprint in the memory of the child

•• the date of the fall of Carthage as the character of Hanni-

bal and Scipio, nor so much where Marcellus died as why it

was unworthy of his duty that he died there." 2

And so in philosophy, it is not the general knowledge of

man and nature that Montaigne esteems and recommends;

but only those parts that have a direct bearing on morals and

active life.

i Book I. chap. xxiv. - Book I. chap. xxv.

106 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

" It is a pity that matters should be at such a pass as they

are in our time, that philosophy, even with people of under-

standing, should be looked upon as a vain and fanciful name,

a thing of no use and no value, either for opinion or for

action. I think that it is the love of quibbling that has

caused things to take this turn. . . . Philosophy is that

which teaches us to live." :

117. Educational Methods. — An education purely

bookish is not to Montaigne's taste. He counts less upon

books than upon experience and mingling with men ; upon

the observation of things, and upon the natural suggestions

of the mind :

"For learning to judge well and speak well, whatever

presents itself to our eyes serves as a sufficient book. The

knavery of a page, the blunder of a servant, a table witti-

cism, — all such things are so many new things to think

about. And for this purpose conversation with men is

wonderfully helpful, aud so is a visit to foreign lands . . .

to bring back the customs of those nations, and their man-

ners, and to whet and sharpen our wits by rubbing them upon

those of others."

"... The lesson will be given, sometimes by conversation,

sometimes by book. . . . Let the child examine every

man's talent, a peasant, a mason, a passer-by. Put into his

head an honest curiosity in everything. Let him observe

whatever is curious in his surroundings, — a fine house, a

delicate fountain, an eminent man, the scene of an ancient

battle, the routes of Caesar, or of Charlemagne. . . ." l

Things should precede words. On this point Montaigne

anticipates Comenius, Eousseau, and all modern educators.

1 Book I. chap. xxv.

THE RENAISSANCE. 107

"Let our pupil be provided with things; words will

follow only too fust." l

• • The world is given to babbling ; I hardly ever saw a man

who did not rather prate too much, than speak too little.

Yet the half of our life goes in that way ; we are kept four or

five years in learning words. . . ." 2

" This is not saying that it is not a fine and good thing to

speak well ; but not so good as it is made out to be. I am

vexed that our life is so much occupied with all this."

118. How we should read. — Montaigne has keenly criti-

cised the abuse of books: "I would not have this boy of

ours imprisoned, and made a slave to his book. ... I would

not have his spirit cow'd and subdu'd by applying him to the

rack, and tormenting him, as some do, fourteen or fifteen

hours a da}-, and so make a pack-horse of him. Neither

should I think it good, when, by a solitary and melancholic

complexion, he is discovered to be much addicted to his

book, to nourish that humor in him, for that renders them

unfit for civil conversation, and diverts them from better

employments." 3

But while he advises against excess in reading, he has

admirably defined the manner in which we ought to read.

Above all, he says, let us assimilate and appropriate what

we read. Let the work of the reader resemble that of bees,

that, on this side and on that, tap the flowers for their sweet

1 Has not this extravagant preference for things, as distinguished from

words, become a new superstition in educational theory? Considering the

misuse made of words by Scholasticism, it was time for Montaigne to summon

the attention outwards to sensible realities: hut it is more than doubtful

whether there is any valid ground for the absolute rule of modern pedagogy,

" first the idea, then the term.'' In actual experience, there is no invariable

sequence. The really important thing is, that terms In- made significant. (P.)

2 Book I. chap. xxv.

3 Book I. chap. xxv.

108 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

juices, and make them into honey, which is no longer thyme

nor marjoram. In other terms, we should read with reflec-

tion, and with a critical spirit, while mastering the thoughts

of the author by our personal judgment, without ever be-

coming slaves to them.

119. Montaigne's Errors. — Montaigne's greatest fault, it

must be confessed, is that he is somewhat heartless. Some-

what of an egoist and Epicurean, he celebrates only the

easy virtues that are attained " by shady routes through

green meadows and fragrant flowers." Has he himself ever

performed painful duties that demand effort? To love child-

ren, he waits till they are amiable ; while they are small, he

disdains them, and keeps them at a distance from him :

" I cannot entertain that passion of dandling and caressing

an infant, scarcely born, having as yet neither motion of

soul nor shape of body distinguishable, by which they can

render themselves amiable ; and have not suffered them to

be nursed near me. . . ." ! " Never take, and, still less,

never give, to the women of your household the care of the

feeding of your children ! "

Montaigne joined precept to example. He somewhere say?

unfeelingly: "My children all died while at nurse." 2 He

goes so far as to say that a man of letters ought to prefer

1 Book II. chap. viii.

2 I am not sure that this remark does not do Montaigne injustice, especi-

ally when we consider the connection in which the original remark is made:

"I am of opinion that what is not to be done by reason, prudence, and

address, is never to be effected by force. I myself was brought up after

that manner; and they tell me that, in all my first age, I never felt the rod

but twice, and then very easily. I have practised the same method with my

children, who all of them dy'd at nurse; but Leonora, my only daughter, is

arrived to the age of six years and upwards without other correction for

her childish faults than words only, and those very gentle." Book II.

chap. viii. (P.)

THE RENAISSANCE. 109

his writings to his children : " The births of our intelligence

are the children the most truly our own." 1

120. Incompleteness op his Views on the Education

op Women. — Another mental defect in Montaigne is, that,

by reason of his moderation aud conservatism, he remains a

little narrow. High conceptions of human destiny are not

to be expected of him ; his manner of conceiving of it is

mean and commonplace. This lack of intellectual breadth

is especially manifest in his reflections on the education of

women. Montaigne is of that number, who, through false

gallantry, would keep woman in a state of ignorance on the

pretext that instruction would mar her natural charms.

In their case, he would prohibit even the study of rhetoric,

because, he says, that would " conceal her charms under

borrowed charms." Women should be content with the

advantages which their sex assures to them. With the

knowledge which they naturally have, "they command

with the switch, and rule both the regents and the schools."

However, he afterwards thinks better of it; but in his con-

cessions there is more of contempt than in his prohibitions :

" If, however, it displeases them to make us any concessions

whatever, and they are determined, through curiosity, to

know something of books, poetry is an amusement, befitting

their needs ; for it is a wanton, crafty art, disguised, all for

pleasure, all for show, just as the}' are." 2

The following passage may also be quoted: —

" When I see them tampering with rhetoric, law, logic,

and the like, so improper and unnecessary for their busi-

ness, I begin to suspect that the men who inspire them with

such tilings do it that they may govern them upon that

account.""'

1 Book III. chap. xin. - Book III. chap. in.

3 Book III. chap. in.

110 THE HISTORY OP PEDAGOGY.

It is impossible to express a greater contempt for women.

Montaigne goes so far as to deny her positive qualities of

heart. He chances to say, with reference to Mile, de

Gournay, his adopted daughter: "The perfection of the

most saintly affection has been attained when it does not

exhibit the least trace of sex."

To conclude : notwithstanding some grave defects, the

pedagogy of Montaigne is a pedagogy of good sense, and

certain parts of it will always deserve to be admired. The

Jansenists, and Locke, and Rousseau, in different degrees,

draw their inspiration from Montaigne. In his own age, it

is true, his ideas were accepted by scarcely any one save his

disciple Charron, who, in his book of Wisdom, 1 has done

scarcely more than to arrange in order the thoughts that are

scattered through the Essays. But if he had no influence

upon his own age, Montaigne has at least remained, after

three centuries, a sure guide in the matter of intellectual

education.

[121. Analytical Summary. — 1. The dominant charac-

teristic of education during the Renaissance period is the

reaction which it exhibits against certain errors in Middle

Age education.

2. A second characteristic is a disposition to conciliate or

harmonize principles and methods whose fault is exagger-

ation.

3. Against instruction based almost wholly on authority,

there is a reaction in favor of free inquiry.

4. Opposed to an education of the professional or technical

type, there is proposed an education of the general or liberal

type.

1 See particularly Chap. xiv. of Book III.

THE RENAISSANCE. Ill

5. From being almost exclusively ethical and religious,

education tends to become secular.

G. Didactic, formal instruction out of books, dealing in

second-hand knowledge, is succeeded by informal, intuitive

instruction from natural objects, dealing in knowledge at first

hand.

7. The conception that education is a process of manu-

facture begins to give place to the conception that it is a

process of growth.

8. Teaching whose purpose was information is succeeded

by teaching whose purpose is formation, discipline, or

training.

9. A discipline that was harsh and cruel is succeeded by

a discipline comparatively mild and humane ; and manners

that were rude and coarse, are followed by a finer code of

civility.]

CHAPTER VI.

PROTESTANTISM AND PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. —

LUTHER AND COMENIUS.

origin of primary instruction j spirit of the protestant re-

form j calvin, melanctiion, zwingli j luther (1483-1546);

appeal addressed to the magistrates and legislators

of Germany; double utility of instruction; necessity of

a system of public instruction; criticism of the schools

of the period; organization of new schools; programme

of studies; progress in methods; the states general of

ORLEANS (1560) ; RATICH (1571-1635) ; COMENIUS (1592-1671) ; HIS

CHARACTER J BACONIAN INSPIRATION J LIFE OF COMENIUS ; HIS

PRINCIPAL WORKS; DIVISION OF INSTRUCTION INTO FOUR GRADES;

ELEMENTARY INITIATION INTO ALL THE STUDIES; THE PEOPLE'S

SCHOOL; SITE OF THE SCHOOL J INTUITIONS OF SENSE ; SIMPLIFICA-

TION OF GRAMMATICAL STUDIES J PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF

COMENIUS J ANALYTICAL SUMMARY.

122. Origin op Primary Instruction. — With La Salle

and the foundation of the Institute of the Brethren of the

Christian Schools, the historian of education recognizes the

Catholic origin of primary instruction ; in the decrees and

laws of the French Revolution, its lay and philosophical

origin; but it is to the Protestant Reformers, — to Luther

in the sixteenth century, and to Comenius. in the seventeenth

— that must be ascribed the honor of having first organized

schools for the people. In its origin, the primary school is

the child of Protestantism, and its cradle was the Reforma-

tion.

PROTESTANTISM AND PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 113

123. Spirit of the Protestant Reform. — The develop-

ment of primary instruction was the logical consequence of

the fundamental principles of the Protestant Reform. As

Michel Br6al has said : "In making man responsible for his

own faith, and in placing the source of that faith in the Holy

Scriptures, the Reform contracted the obligation to put each

one in a condition to save himself by the reading and the

understanding of the Bible. . . . The necessity of explain-

ing the Catechism, and making comments on it, was for

teachers an obligation to learn how to expound a thought,

and to decompose it into its elements. The study of the

mother tongue and of singing, was associated with the reading

of the Bible (translated into German by Luther) and with

religious services." The Reform, then, contained, in germ,

a complete revolution in education ; it enlisted the interests

of religion in the service of instruction, and associated

knowledge with faith. This is the reason that, for three

centuries, the Protestant nations have led humanity in the

matter of primary instruction.

124. Calvin (1509-1564), Melancthon (1497-15G0),

Zwingli (1484-1532). — However, all the Protestant Re-

formers were far from exhibiting the same zeal in behalf of

primary instruction. Calvin, absorbed in religious struggles

and polemics, was not occupied with the organization of

schools till towards the close of his life, and even the college

that he founded at Geneva, in 1559, was scarcely more than

a school for the study of Latin. Melancthon, who has been

called "the preceptor of Germany," worked more for high

schools than for schools for the people, lie was above all

else a professor of Belles-Lettres : and it was with chagrin

that he saw his courses in the University of Wittenberg de-

serted by students when he lectured on the OtynthictCS of

114 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

Demosthenes. Before Calvin and Melancthon, the Swiss

reformer Zwingli had shown his great interest in primary

teaching, in his little book " upon the manner of instructing

and bringing up boys in a Christian way " (1524). In this

he recommended natural history, arithmetic, and also exer-

cises in fencing, in order to furnish the country with timely

defenders.

125. Luther (1483-1546). The German reformer Luther

is, of all his co-religionists, the one who has served the cause

of elementary instruction with the most ardor. He not only

addressed a pressing appeal to the ruling classes in behalf of

founding schools for the people, but, by his influence, meth-

ods of instruction were improved, and the educational spirit

was renewed in accordance with the principles of Protestant-

ism. " Spontaneity," it has been said, not without some

exaggeration, " free thought, and free inquiry, are the basis

of Protestantism ; where it has reigned, there have disap-

peared the method of repeating and of learning by heart

without reflection, mechanism, subjection to authority, the

paralysis of the intelligence oppressed by dogmatic instruc-

tion, and science put in tutelage by the beliefs of the

Church." l

126. Appeal addressed to the Magistrates and Legis-

lators of Germany. — In 1524, Luther, in a special docu-

ment addressed to the public authorities of Germany, forcibly

expressed himself against the neglect into which the interests

of instruction had fallen. This appeal has this characteristic,

that the great reformer, while assuming that the Church is

the mother of the school, seems especially to count on the

secular arm, upon the power of the people, to serve his pur-

1 Dittes, op. cit. p. 127.

PROTESTANTISM AND PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 115

poses in the -cause of universal instruction. " Each city,"

he said, "is subjected to great expense every year for the

construction of roads, for fortifying its ramparts, and for

buying arms and equipping soldiers. Why should it not

spend an equal sum for the support of one or two school-

masters? The prosperity of a city does not depend solely

on its natural .riches, on the solidity of its walls, on the ele-

gance of its mansions, and on the abundance of arms in its

arsenals ; but the safety and strength of a city reside above

all in a good education, which furnishes it with instructed,

reasonable, honorable, and well-trained citizens." 1