Vigilance in order to keep guard over young souls, and there

destroy, whenever possible, the seeds of evil that sin had

sown in them. When one is charged with the difficult mission

of moral education, it is, perhaps, dangerous to have too

much confidence in human nature, and to form too favorable

an opinion of its qualities and dispositions ; for then one is

tempted to accord to the child too large a liberty, and to

practise the maxim, " Let it take its own course, let it

pass" {Laissez faire, laissez passer). It is better to err on

the other side, in excess of mistrust; for, in this case,

knowing the dangers that menace the child, we watch over

him with more attention, abandon him less to the inspiration

of his caprices, and expect more of education ; we demand

of effort and labor what we judge nature incapable of pro-

ducing by herself.

Vigilance, patience, mildness, — these are the instruments

of discipline in the schools of Port Royal. There were

scarcely any punishments in the Little Schools. " To speak

little, to tolerate much, to pray still more," — these are the

three things that Saint Cyran recommended. The threat to

THE TEACHING CONGREGATIONS. 161

send children home to their parents sufficed to maintain

order in a flock somewhat small. In fact, all whose exam-P

pie would have proved bad were sent away ; an excellent ,

system of elimination when it is practicable. The pious '

solitaries endured without complaint, faults in which they

saw the necessary consequences of the original fall. Pene-

trated, however, as they were, with the value of human

souls, their tenderness for children was mingled with a cer-

tain respect ; for they saw in them the creatures of God,

beings called from eternity to a sublime destiny or to a ter-

rible punishment.

170. Faults in the Discipline oe Port Royal. ВЂ” The

Jansenists did not shun the logical though dangerous con-

sequences that were involved, in germ, in their pessimistic

theories of human nature. They fell into an excess of pru-

dence or of rigidity. They pushed gravity and dignity to

a formalism that was somewhat repulsive. At Port Royal

pupils were forbidden to thee and thou one another. The

solitaries did not like familiarities, faithful in this respect to

the Imitation of Jesus Chris/, in which it is somewhere said

that it does not become a Christian to be on familiar terms

with any one whatever. The young were thus brought up

in habits of mutual respect, which may have had their good

side, but which had the grave fault of being a little ridicu-

lous in children, since they forced them to live among them-

selves as little gentlemen, while at the same time they oppose

the development of those intimate friendships, of those last-

ing attachments of which all those who have lived at college

know the sweetness and the charm.

The spirit of asceticism is the general character of all the

Jansenists. Varet declares that balls are places of infamy.

Pascal denies himself every agreeable thought, and what he

called an agreeable thought was to reflect on geometry.

162 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

Lancelot refuses to take to the theatre the princes of Conti,

of whom he was the preceptor.

But perhaps a graver fault at Port Royal was, that through

fear of awakening self-love, the spirit of emulation was pur-

posely suppressed. It is God alone, it was said, who is to

be praised for the qualities and talents manifested by men.

" If God has placed something of good in the soul of a child,

we must praise Him for it and keep silent." By this delib-

erate silence men put themselves on guard against pride ;

but if pride is to be feared, is indolence the less so ? And

when we purposely avoid stimulating self-love through the

hope of reward, or through a word of praise given in due

season, we run a great risk of not overcoming the indo-

lence that is natural to the child, and of not obtaining from

him any serious effort. Pascal, the greatest of the friends

of Port Royal, said : " The children of Port Royal, who do

not feel that stimulus of envy and glory, fall into a state of

indifference."

171. General Judgment on Port Royal. — After all

has been said, we must admire the teachers of Port Roj'al,

who were doubtless deceived on some points, but who were

animated by a powerful feeling of their duty to educate, and

by a perfect charity. Ardor and sincerity of religious faith ;

a great respect for the human person ; the practice of piety

held in honor, but kept subordinate to the reality of the

inner feeling ; devotion advised, but not imposed ; a marked

mistrust of nature, corrected by displays of tenderness and

tempered by affection ; above all, the profound, unwearied

devotion of Christian souls who give themselves wholly and

without reserve to other souls to raise them up and save

them, — this is what was done by the discipline of Port

Roval. But it is rather in the methods of teachins;, and in

the administration of classical studies, that we must look for

THE TEACHING CONGREGATIONS. 163

the incontestable superiority of the Jansenists. The teachers

of the Little Schools were admirable humanists, not of form,

as the Jesuits were, but of judgment. They represent, it

seems to us, in all its beauty and in all its force, that intel-

lectual education, already divined by Montaigne, which

prepares for life men of sound judgment and of upright

conscience. The}' founded the teaching of the humanities.

"Port Royal," says an historian of pedagogy, Burnier,

" simplifies study without, however, relieving it of its whole-

some difficulties ; it strives to make it interesting, while it

d(ies not convert it into child's play; it purposes to confide

to the memory only what has first been apprehended by the

intelligence. ... It has given to the world ideas that it has

not again let go, and fruitful principles from which we have

but to draw their logical consequences."

[172. Analytical Summary. 1. In the history of the

three great teaching congregations we have an illustration

of the supposed power of education over the destinies of

men.

2." To resist the encroachments of Protestantism that fol-

lowed the diffusion of instruction among the people, Loyola

organized his teaching corps of Catholic zealots ; and this

mode of competition for purposes of moral, sectarian, and

political control lias covered the earth, in all Christian

countries, with institutions of learning.

3. The tendency towards extremes, and the difficulty of

attaining symmetry and completeness, are seen in the pref-

erence of the Jesuits for form, elegance, and mere discipline,

in their excessive use of emulation : and in the pessimism of

the Jansenists, their distrust of human nature, and their fear

of human pride.]

CHAPTER VIII.

FENELON.

education in the seventeenth century ; fenelon (1651-1715) ; how

fenelon became a teacher; analysis of the treatise on

the education of girls; criticism of monastic education;

refutation of the prejudices relative to women j good

opinion of human nature; instinctive curiosity; lessons on

objects; feebleness of the child; indirect instruction; all

activity must be pleasurable j fables and historical nar-

ratives ; moral and religious education; studies proper for

women ; education of the duke de bourgogne (1689-1695) ;

happy results ; the fables j the dialogues of the dead ;

variety of disciplinary agents; diversified instruction;

the telemachus; fenelon and bossuet ; sphere and limits

of education; analytical summary.

173. Education in the Seventeenth Century. — Outside

of the teaching congregations, the seventeenth century

counts a certain number of independent educators, isolated

thinkers, who have transmitted to us in durable records the

results of their reflection or of their experience. The most

of these belong to the clergy, — they are royal preceptors.

In a monarchical government there is no grander affair than

the education of princes. Some others are philosophers,

whom the general study of human nature has led to reflect

on the principles of education. Without pretending to

include everything within the narrow compass of this ele-

mentary history, we would make known either the funda-

mental doctrines or the essential methods which have been

concerned in the education of the seventeenth century, and

FENELON. 165

which, at the same time, have made a preparation for the

educational reforms of the succeeding centuries.

174. Fenelon (1G51-1715) . — Fenelon holds an important

place in French literature ; but it seems that of all the varied

aspects of his genius, the part he played as an educator is

the most important and the most considerable. Fenelon

wrote the first classical work of French pedagogy, and it may

be said, considering the great number of authors who have

been inspired by his thoughts, that he is the head of a school

of educators.

175. How Fenelon became a Teacher. — It is well

known that the valuable treatise, On the Education of Girls,

was written in 1C80, at the request of the Duke and the

Duchess of Beauvilliers. These noble friends of Fenelon,

besides several boys, had eight girls to educate. It was to

assist, by his advice, in the education of this little family

school, that Fenelon wrote his book which was not designed

at first for the public, and which did not appear till 1G87.

The young Abbe who, in 1G80, was but thirty years old, had

already had experience in educational matters in the man-

agement of the Convent of the New Catholics (1678). This

was an institution whose purpose was to retain young Protes-

tant converts in the Catholic faith, or even to call them there

by mild force. It would have been better, we confess, for

the glory of Fenelon, if lie had gained his experience else-

where than in that mission of fanaticism, where he was the

auxiliary of the secular arm, the accomplice of dragoons,

and where was prepared the Revocation of the Edict of

Nantes. We would have preferred that the Education of

Girls had not been planned in a house where were violently

confined girls torn from their mothers, and wives stolen from

their husbands. But if the first source of Fcmelon's educa-

166 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

tional inspiration was not as pure as one could wish, at least

in the book there is nothing that betrays the spirit of intoler-

ance and violence with which the author was associated.

On the contrary, The Education of Girls is a work of gentle-

ness 'and goodness, of a complaisant and amiable grace, which

is pervaded by a spirit of progress.

F6nelon soon had occasion to apply the principles that he

had set forth in his treatise. August 16, 1689, he was

chosen preceptor of the Duke of Bourgogne, 1 with the Duke

of Beauvilliers for governor, and the Abbe Fleury for sub-

preceptor. From 1689 to 1695, he directed with marvellous

success the education of a prince, " a born terror," as Saint

Simon expressed it, but who, under the penetrating influence

of his master, became an accomplished man, almost a saint.

It was for his royal pupil that he composed, one after

another, a large number of educational works, such as the

Collection, of Fables, the Dialogues of the Dead, the treatise

on The Existence of God, and especially the Telemachas, one

of the most popular works in French literature.

In furnishing occasion for the exercise of his educational

activity, events served Fenelon according to his wish. We

may say that his nature predestinated him to the work of

education. With his tender soul, preserving its paternal

instincts even in his celibate condition, with his admirable

grace of spirit, with his various erudition and profound

knowledge of antiquity, with his competence in the studies

of grammar and history, attested by different passages in

his Letter to the Academy; finally, with his temperate dispo-

sition and his inclinations towards liberalism in a century of

absolute monarchy, he was made to become one of the guides,

one of the masters, of French education.

i Son of Louis XIV., bom Aug. 6, 1G82; died Feb. 18, 1712.

FENELON. 167

176. Analysis of the Treatise on the Education of

Girls. — This charming masterpiece of Fenelon's should be

read entire. A rapid analysis would not suffice, as it is

difficult to reduce to a few essential points the flowing

thought of our author. With a facility in expression inclin-

ing to laxness, and with a copiousness of thought somewhat

lacking in exactness, F^nelon easily repeats himself ; he

returns to thoughts which have already been elaborated, and

does not restrict his easy flowing thought to a rigorous and

methodical plan. We may, however, distinguish three prin-

cipal parts in the thirteen chapters composing the work.

Chapters I. and II. are critical, and in these the ordinary

faults in the education of women are brought into sharp out-

line ; then in chapters III. to VIII. we have general

observations, and the statement of the principles and

methods that should be followed and applied in the education

of boys as in the education of girls ; and finally, from chap-

ter IX. to the end of the book, are all the special reflections

which relate exclusively to the merits and^ demerits, the

duties and the studies, of women.

177. Criticism on Monastic Education. — In the open-

ing of the treatise, as in another little essay * that is usually

included in this volume, Feuelon expresses a preference for

a liberal and humane education, where the light of the world

penetrates, and which is not confined to the shadow of a

monastery : —

" I conclude that it is better for your daughter to be with

you than in the best convent that you could select. ... If

a convent is not well governed, she will see vanity honored,

which is the most subtile of all the poisons that can affect a

1 See the Advice of Fenelon, Archbishop Cambray, to a lady of quality

on the education of her daughter.

168 THE HISTOliY OF PEDAGOGY.

young girl. She will there hear the world spoken of as a

sort of enchanted place, and nothing makes a more perni-

cious impression than that deceptive picture of the world,

which is seen at a distance with admiration, and which

exaggerates all its pleasures without showing its disappoint-

ments and its sorrows. ... So I would fear a worldly con-

vent even more than the world itself. If, on the contrary,

a convent conforms to the fervor and regularity of its

constitution, a girl of rank will grow up there in a pro-

found ignorance of the world. . . . She leaves the convent

like one who had been confined in the shadows of a deep

cavern, and who suddenly returns to the full light of day.

Nothing is more dazzling than this sudden transition, than

this glare to which one has never been accustomed."

178. Refutation of the Prejudices relative to the

Education of Women. — It is, then, for mothers that F6ne-

lon writes his book, still more than for the convents that he

does not love. Woman is destined to play a grand part in

domestic life. ' " Can men hope for any sweetness in life, if

their most select companionship, which is that of marriage,

is turned into bitterness ? " Then let us cease to neglect the

education of women, and renounce the prejudices by which

we pretend to justify this neglect. A learned woman, it is

said, is vain and affected ! But it is not proposed that

women shall engage in useless studies which would make

ridiculous pedants of them ; it is simply a question of teach-

ing them what befits their position in the household. Woman,

it is said again, ordinarily has a weaker intellect than man !

But this is the best of reasons why it is necessary to

strengthen her intelligence. Finally, woman should be

brought up in ignorance of the world ! But, replies F^nelon,

the world is not a phantom ; " it is the aggregate of all the

FENELON. 169

families" ; and women have duties to fulfill in it which are

scarcely less important than those of men. "Virtue is not

less for women than for men."

179. Good Opinion of Human Nature. — There are two

categories of Christians : the first dwell particularly on the

original fall ; and the others attach themselves by preference

to the doctrine of redemption. For the first, the child is

deeply tainted with sin ; his only inclinations are those

towards evil ; he is a child of wrath, who must he severely

punished. For the others, the child, redeemed by grace,

"has not yet a fixed tendency towards any object"; his

instincts have no need of being thwarted ; all ttiey need is

direction. Ferielon follows this last mode of thinking, which

is the correct one. He does not fear self-love, and does not

interdict deserved praise. He counts upon the spontaneity

of nature. He regrets the education of the ancients, who

left more liberty to children. Finally, in his judgments on

human nature, he is influenced by a cheerful and amiable

optimism, and sometimes by an excess of complacency and

approbation.

180. Feebleness of the Child. --But if Fenelon believes

in the innocence of the child, lie is not the less convinced of

its feebleness. Hence the measures he recommends to those

who have in charge the bringing up of children: "The

most important thing in the first years of infancy is the

management of the child's health. Through the selection- of

food and the regime of a simple life, the body should be

supplied with pure blood. . . . Another thing of great im-

portance is to allow the organs to si lengthen by holding

instruction in abeyance. . . ." The intellectual weakness of

the child comes for the most part from his inability to fix his

attention. " The mind of the child is like a lighted taper in

170 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

a place exposed to the wind, whose flame is ever unsteady."

Hence the urgent necessity of not pressing children beyond

measure, of training them little by little as occasion permits,

" of serving and assisting Nature, without urging her."

181. Instructive Curiosity; Object Lessons. — If the

inattention of the child is a great obstacle to his progress,

his natural curiosity, by way of compensation, is a potent

auxiliary. Fenelon knows the aid that can be derived from

this source, and we shall quote entire the remarkable passage

in which he indicates the means of calling it into exercise

through familiar lessons which are already real lessons on

objects : —

" Curiosity in children is a natural tendency which comes

as the precursor of instruction. Do not fail to take advan-

tage of it. For example, in the countiy they see a mill, and

they wish to know what it is. They should be shown the

manner of preparing the food that is needed for human use.

They notice harvesters, and what they are doing should be

explained to them ; also, how the wheat is sown, and how it

multiplies in the earth. In the city, they see shops where

different arts are practised, and where different wares are

sold. You should never be annoyed by their questions ;

these are so many opportunities offered you by nature for

facilitating the work of instruction. Show that vou take

pleasure in replying to such questions, and by this means

you will insensibly teach them how all the things are made

that serve human needs, and that give rise to commercial

pursuits."

182. Indirect Instruction. — Even when the child has

grown up, and is more capable of receiving direct instruc-

tion, Fenelon does not depart from his system of mild man-

agement and precaution. There are to be no didactic lessons,

FENELON. 171

but as far as possible the instruction shall be indirect. This

is the great educational method of Fenelon, and we shall

soon see how he applied it to the education of the Duke of

Bourgogne. " The less formal our lessons are, the better."

However, there is need of discretion and prudence in the

choice of the first ideas, and the first pictures that are to be

impressed on the child's mind.

" Into a reservoir so little and so precious only exquisite

things should be poured." The absence of pedantry is one

of the characteristics of F6nelon. "In rhetoric," he says,

' ' I will give no rules at all ; it is sufficient to give good

models." As to grammar, " I will give it no attention, or,

at least, but very little." Instruction must be insinuated,

not imposed. We must resort to unexpected lessons, — to

such as do not appear to be lessons. FВЈnelon here antici-

pates Rousseau, and suggests the system of pre-arranged

scones and instructive artifices, similar to those invented for

ВЈmile. !