The Teaching and Cultivation of the French Language in England during Tudor and Stuart Times / With an Introductory Chapter on the Preceding Period
Date: 2012-08-29T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: French language -- Study and teaching; Learning and scholarship -- England; French language -- Study and teaching -- Bibliography

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Title: The Teaching and Cultivation of the French Language in England during Tudor and Stuart Times

Author: K. Rebillon Lambley

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEACHING AND CULTIVATION OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN ENGLAND DURING TUDOR AND STUART TIMES ***

Transcriber's Notes:

Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected. A list of other changes made can be found at the end of the book. Footnotes were sequentially numbered and placed at the end of each chapter. The page headers of the book on the odd numbered pages are presented as sidenotes.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

FRENCH SERIES No. III

THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN ENGLAND

Published by the University of Manchester at

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS (H. M. McKechnie, Secretary)

12 Lime Grove, Oxford Road, MANCHESTER

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.

London: 39 Paternoster Row

New York: 443-449 Fourth Avenue and Thirtieth Street

Chicago: Prairie Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street

Bombay: 8 Hornby Road

Calcutta: 6 Old Court House Street

Madras: 167 Mount Road

THE TEACHING
AND CULTIVATION OF THE
FRENCH LANGUAGE
IN ENGLAND DURING TUDOR
AND STUART TIMES

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ON THE PRECEDING PERIOD

BY
KATHLEEN LAMBLEY, M.A.

Lecturer in French in the University of Durham
Sometime Assistant Lecturer in French in the University of Manchester

MANCHESTER
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
12 LIME GROVE, OXFORD ROAD
LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, ETC.
1920

PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

No. CXXIX

All rights reserved.

PREFACE

The present work, begun during the author's tenure of a Faulkner Fellowship in the University of Manchester, and completed in subsequent years, is an endeavour to trace the history of the teaching and use of French in England during a given epoch, ending with the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the Revolution of 1689, which events mark the beginning of a new period in the study of the French language in this country. No attempt has been made to treat the wider topic of French influence in England in its literary and social aspects (this has already been done by competent hands), though this side of the question is naturally touched upon occasionally by way of reference or illustration.

I gladly take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to Professor L. E. Kastner, at whose suggestion this investigation was undertaken, for his generous assistance, and the unfailing interest he has shown in my work during the whole course of its preparation. I am likewise considerably indebted to Dr. Phœbe Sheavyn for helpful criticism and advice, to Professor Tout for kindly reading through the introductory chapter, and to Mr. J. Marks for a careful revision of the proofs and many useful indications. I owe a great deal to my father also, whose sympathetic advice and encouragement did much to lighten my task. Nor can I close this list of acknowledgments without recording my obligation to the Secretary of the Press, Mr. H. M. McKechnie, for the valuable assistance he has so freely given me during the progress of this volume through the Press.

KATHLEEN LAMBLEY.

Durham, January 1920.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

PAGE

The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

3

French grammars in mediaeval England—The use of the French language—Latin, French, and English vocabularies—French at the Universities—Popularity of French in the thirteenth century—Ceases to be a vernacular in England—Treatises for teaching French—A treatise on French verbs—The Orthographia Gallica—The Tractatus Orthographiae—T. H. Parisiis studentis—Walter de Bibbesworth—French in the schools and Universities—The fourteenth century—Treatises on French—The Nominale—Model letters—Recovery of English in the second half of the fourteenth century—Deterioration of Anglo-French—English in official documents and correspondence—Decline in use of French.

CHAPTER II

The Fifteenth Century

26

Triumph of continental French over Anglo-French—"Doux françois de Paris" a foreign language—Standard of French taught in England—Femina—Treatises on Grammar—Barton's Donait—Epistolaries—Books of conversation in French—The Cambridge manuscript in French and English—First printed books for teaching French—Dialogues in French and English—Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and Pynson—French by conversation—Approaching improvement in the standard of French taught in England—Palsgrave's Grammar.

PART II

TUDOR TIMES

CHAPTER I

The French Language at Court and among the Nobility

61

French at the Court of the Tudors—English neglected by foreigners—Latin a spoken language—Defective pronunciation of the English—Interest in modern languages awakened—French holds the first place—Its use in correspondence and in official documents—The French of Henry VIII., his courtiers, and the ladies—Of Anne Boleyn and the other Queens—Of the royal family, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth—French tutors—Bernard André—French Grammars—Alexander Barclay's Introductory—Practice and Theory—Pierre Valence, tutor to the Earl of Lincoln—His Introductions in French—Fragment of a Grammar at Lambeth—French Humanists as Language masters—Bourbon and Denisot—England and the Pléiade.

CHAPTER II

French Tutors at Court—Giles Duwes—John Palsgrave—Jean Bellemain

86

French tutors at Court—John Palsgrave and Giles Duwes—Palsgrave's Esclarcissement—The pronunciation of French—His second and third books—The vocabulary—The Introductorie of Duwes—His Dialogues—The methods of the two teachers—Dates of composition and editions—Attitude of the two teachers to each other—Duwes on English teachers of French—Palsgrave's claims—Palsgrave's acquaintance with French literature—Incidents in Duwes's career in England—His royal pupils—Palsgrave's teaching career—Mary Tudor his pupil—The Duke of Richmond, Gregory Cromwell, etc.—Palsgrave in the North, at Oxford, and in London—Jean Bellemain, tutor to Edward VI.—The King's French exercises—Intercourse with Calvin—Bellemain on French orthography—French tutor to Elizabeth—Her translations from the French—A. R. Chevallier.

CHAPTER III

The Influence of Religious Refugees on the Teaching of French in England—Openings for them as Teachers—Demand for Text-Books—French Schools in England and Scotland

114

Effects of the persecution of the Protestants on the teaching of French in England—Protestant refugees—Registers and returns of aliens—French churches in London—Reception and treatment of foreigners—Incivility of the common people—Courtesy of the gentry—Refugees received into English families—French in polite education—French tutors and text-books—Converse with foreigners—Shakespeare's French—Professional schoolmasters—No opening in the grammar schools—French schools—Du Ploich's school—His Treatise in French and English and method of teaching—His works in manuscript—Claude Holyband—His French Schoolemaister and French Littleton—His French school—Holyband as private tutor—His method of teaching—Schools in connection with the French churches—Schools at Canterbury and elsewhere—Saravia's school at Southampton—Joshua Sylvester—Place of French in the public schools of Scotland—In the parish and private schools—No French grammars produced in Scotland.

CHAPTER IV

Huguenot Teachers of French—Other Classes of French Teachers—Rivalries in the Profession—The "Dutch" and English Teachers

155

Importance of the Huguenot teachers in London—St. Paul's Churchyard the centre of the profession—The group of Normans—Robert Fontaine—Jacques Bellot—His French and English grammars, and Jardin de Vertu—The French Methode—G. de La Mothe—His French Alphabet and method of teaching—French teachers from the Netherlands—Roman Catholic schoolmasters—Objections raised against French teachers—The right of the English to teach French—John Eliote—His attack on French teachers—His love of Rabelais and debt to French literature—His 'merrie vaine'—The Ortho-Epia Gallica and his other works.

CHAPTER V

Methods of Teaching French—Latin and French—French and English Dictionaries—Study of French Literature

179

Usual methods of learning French—Reading and translation—Pronunciation—Rules of grammar—Importance of 'practice'—Latin and French text-books—Contrast of methods—Grammar and Practice—Books in French and English—French by translation—French dictionaries—Holyband's Dictionaries—Dictionary printed by Harrison—A place given to French in some Latin dictionaries—Veron—Baret—John Higgins—French-Latin dictionaries—Cotgrave's great French-English Dictionary—Sherwood's English-French Dictionary—Howell's editions of Cotgrave—The reading of French literature—Attitude of French teachers—Favourite authors—Histories and Memoirs of military life for soldiers and statesmen.

CHAPTER VI

French at the Universities

198

Latin the language of the Universities—Retention of the use of French formulae—Modern languages read—French a relaxation from 'severer studies'—French tutors and French grammars—Morlet's Janitrix—French grammars written in Latin—Antonio de Corro—John Sanford—Wye Saltonstall—Henry Leighton—French grammarians and teachers at Oxford—Robert Farrear—Pierre Bense—French teachers at Cambridge—Gabriel du Grès at Cambridge and Oxford—On the teaching of French—French at the Universities at the time of the Restoration—The French of the Universities and of the fashionable world—French at the Inns of Court—One-sidedness of the University curriculum—Steps taken to supplement it.

CHAPTER VII

The Study of French by English Travellers Abroad

211

Travel in France and on the Continent—In the suite of ambassadors—Children in France—Course of studies—Girls in France—Objections to children being sent to France—France and Italy—Protests against travel—Prejudices against travel—Preference for France—Necessity of the French language—The travelling tutor—The age for travel—Literati as travelling tutors—Travel without a governor—Books on travel—'Methods' of travel—The study of French—Dallington and Moryson—Study of French before travel—French 'by rote'—Language masters for travellers—French grammars for travellers—Charles Maupas of Blois and his son—Antoine Oudin—Other grammars—Père Chiflet—The 'exercises'—Travellers at the Universities—At the Protestant Academies—Geneva—Isaac Casaubon—The 'idle traveller'—The 'beau'—Affectations of newly returned travellers—Commendation and censure of travel.

CHAPTER VIII

The Study of French among Merchants and Soldiers

239

Merchants and the study of French—Text-books for merchants—Relations with the Netherlands—The 'book from Anvers'—Barlement's book of dialogues—Meurier's manuals for teaching French to the English in Antwerp—The study of French in the Netherlands—French for soldiers—The Verneys—John Wodroeph—The difficulty of the French language—Necessity of rules as well as practice—The Marrow of the French Tongue.

PART III

STUART TIMES

CHAPTER I

French at the Courts of James I. and Charles I.—French studied by the Ladies—French Players in London—English generally ignored by Foreigners

259

The French language in England in the time of the early Stuarts—In the royal family—French tutors—John Florio—Guy Le Moyne—Massonet—Sir Robert Le Grys—French among the ladies—Erondelle's French Garden for English ladies—His dialogues—His career as a teacher—His earlier works—The French Queen of England—French plays in London—The English language neglected by foreigners—English literature ignored in France—English players abroad—The study of English—English grammars for foreigners in England—French teachers and merchants further the study of English—Provision for teaching English in the Netherlands and in France.

CHAPTER II

French Grammars—Books for Teaching Latin and French—French in Private Institutions

281

Robert Sherwood, teacher of French and English—His school and French Tutour—William Colson, another English teacher—His 'method' and writings—Maupas's French grammar in England—William Aufeild—How to study French—The Flower de Luce—Laur du Terme on the teaching of French—Paul Cogneau's French grammar—His method—Continued use of the sixteenth-century French grammars—Latin and French—Latin school-books adapted to teaching French—Books for teaching Latin and French together—The Janua of Comenius—Wye Saltonstall—De Grave—French in private institutions—The Museum Minervae—Gerbier's Academy—French in schools for ladies.

CHAPTER III

The "Little Blois" in London

301

The Blois group of French teachers—Claude Mauger and his French grammar—Its popularity and development—Mauger's Letters—Other writings—Life in London—Teaches English—Mauger's method of teaching—Mauger at Paris—The demand for his grammar abroad—Paul Festeau—His French and English grammars—Editions and contents—Pierre Lainé—His French grammar—Encouragement of the study of French literature.

CHAPTER IV

The French Teaching Profession and Methods of studying the Language

319

Vogue of French romances in England—Dorothy Osborne—Pepys on French literature—His French books—French text-books and the précieux spirit—William Herbert—His criticism of the French teaching profession—Rivalry among teachers—Need for protection—Herbert's later works—His early career in England—Quarrels with a minister of the French church—English gentry at the French church—Pepys a regular attender—French teachers encourage the practice—The method of 'grammar and rote'—French 'by rote'—Examples of how French was studied—Latin by grammar—Calls for reform—The case against grammar—French taught on the 'right method'—Attempts to teach Latin on the same lines as French—Contrast between the learning of Latin in England 'by grammar' and of French in France 'by rote.'

CHAPTER V

The Tour in France

341

The Protestant schools and Academies—A group of English students at Saumur—Travellers at the French Universities—A method of travel—Attitude of the French teachers to the tour in France—Guide books—Routes followed—Favourite resorts for study—Auberges and pensions—Language masters in France—Grammars for travellers—Howell's instructions for travellers—Suitable books for students—The 'Grand' and 'Petit' Tour in France—Paris—Inexperienced young travellers—Sir John Reresby in France.

CHAPTER VI

Gallomania after the Restoration

361

Gallomania in England after the Restoration—The royal family in France—Their knowledge of the language—English courtiers and gentry in France—Men of letters in France—French and the French at the English court after the Restoration—French 'salons' in London—French valets, cooks, dancing masters, tailors—The French language—French among the ladies—The 'Frenchified' lady—The 'beaux' or English 'monsieurs'—French influence at the theatre—Popularity of French actors in London.

CHAPTER VII

The Teaching of French and its Popularity after the Restoration

381

French grammars after the Restoration—Pierre de Lainé, tutor to the children of the Duke of York—The Princely Way to the French Tongue—Guy Miège—His Dictionaries—His French Grammars—His method of teaching—Rote and grammar—Miège's other works—Other French Grammars—Pierre Berault—The universality of French—Supremacy over Latin in the world of fashion and diplomacy—Position of French in the educational world—The classics read in French—'All learning now in French'—French recognized by writers on education—Projects for reformed schools—Numerous French schools in and about London—Villiers' school at Nottingham—Academies for ladies—Academies for training gentlemen in the necessary social accomplishments and for business—Effects of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

APPENDICES

I

Chronological List of Manuals and Grammars for Teaching French to the English

403

II

Bibliography, arranged Alphabetically, of Manuals for Teaching the French Language to the English, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the End of the Stuart Period

410

INDEX

429

PART I

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES

The first important grammar of the French language was printed in England and written by an Englishman. This enterprising student was John Palsgrave, "natyf de Londres et gradué de Paris," whose work, entitled L'Esclarcissement de la langue francoyse, was published in 1530. It is an enormous quarto of over a thousand pages, full of elaborate, detailed and often obscure rules, written in English in spite of the French title. It was no doubt the solid value and exhaustiveness of Palsgrave's work which won for it the reputation of being the earliest grammar of the French language.[1] Yet Palsgrave himself informs us that such was not the case, though he claims to be the first to lay down 'absolute' rules for the language.

The kings of England, he declares, have never ceased to encourage "suche clerkes as were in theyr tymes, to prove and essay what they by theyr dylygence in this matter myght do." "This like charge," he continues, "have dyvers others had afore my dayes ... many sondrie clerkes have for their tyme taken theyr penne in hande.... Some thyng have they in writing lefte behynde them concerning into this mater, for the ease and furtheraunce as well of suche as shilde in lyke charge after them succede, as of them whiche from tyme to tyme in that tong were to be instructed ... takyng light and erudition of theyr studious labours whiche in this matter before me have taken paynes to write.... I dyd my effectuall devoire to ensertche out suche bokes as had by others of this mater before my tyme ben compyled, of which undouted, after enquery and ensertche made for them dyvers came into my handes as well suche whose authors be yet amongst us lyveng, as suche whiche were of this mater by other sondrie persons longe afore my dayes composed."

The living predecessors to whom Palsgrave refers—authors of short works of small philological value, but of great interest to-day as evidence of the wide use of the French language in England—were likewise acquainted with earlier works on the subject. Giles Duwes, tutor in French to Henry VIII. and other members of the royal family, frequently invokes the authority of the 'olde grammar.' The poet Alexander Barclay, in his French Grammar of 1521, informs us that "the said treatyse hath ben attempted of dyvers men before my dayes," and that he had "sene the draughtes of others" made before his time; moreover, in times past, the French language "hath ben so moche set by in England that who hath ben ignorant in the same language hath not ben reputed to be of gentyll blode. In so moche that, as the cronycles of englande recorde, in all the gramer scoles throughout englande small scolars expounded theyr construccyons bothe in Frenche and Englysshe."

Thus the French grammarians in England in the early sixteenth century were acquainted with, and to some extent indebted to, a series of mediaeval treatises on the French language,—a type of work which, even at the time they wrote, was unknown on the Continent.[2] That England, before other countries, took on herself the study of the French language, was the result of events which followed the Conquest. From that time French had taken its place by the side of English as a vernacular. It was the language of the upper classes and landed gentry, the cultivated and educated; English was used by the masses, while all who read and wrote knew Latin, the language of clerks and scholars. For nearly three centuries after the Conquest almost all writings of any literary value produced in England were in French, though the bulk of composition was in Latin; English never ceased to be written, but was used in minor works for the most part.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that from an early date Latin was at times construed or translated into French[3] as well as English in the grammar schools, both languages serving as vernaculars. There are still extant examples of this custom,[4] dating from the twelfth century; for instance, a version of the psalter, in which the French words are placed above the Latin without any regard to the order of the French sentence.[5] Others are found in some of the first vocabularies written for the purpose of teaching Latin,[6] which consist of lists of words grouped round subjects and arranged, as a rule, in sentence form. Two of these works seem to have been particularly well known, judging from the number of manuscripts still in existence—those of the English scholars, Alexander Neckam (1157-1217) and John de Garlande, both of whom were indebted to France for most of their learning. Neckam, who in 1180 had attained celebrity as a Professor of the University of Paris, was the author of a Latin Vocabulary—De Utensilibus—which was glossed in Anglo-French.[7] In this he enumerates the various parts of a house and the occupations and callings of men, and gives scenes from feudal and agricultural life. The Dictionarius (c. 1220) of John de Garlande, a student of Oxford and Paris, and one of the first professors of Toulouse University, deals roughly with the same topics.[8] It is glossed in both French and English—the sign of a later period—as was also a Latin vocabulary or nominale of the names of plants,[9] dating from a little later in the same century, though probably existing in earlier manuscripts.

At the universities a decided preference for French was shown in the rare occasions on which the use of a vernacular was allowed. The speaking of French was encouraged in some of the colleges at both Oxford and Cambridge, chiefly those belonging to the second set of foundations.[10] The scholars and fellows of Oriel could use either Latin or French in their familiar conversation and at meals. Similar injunctions were in force at Exeter and Queen's. Among the Cambridge colleges[11] the statutes of Peterhouse allow French to be used for "just and reasonable cause"; at King's it was permitted on occasion, and at Clare Hall French was countenanced only if foreigners were present as visitors. At Pembroke, founded by a Frenchwoman, Mary de Valence, special favour was shown to Frenchmen in the election of Fellows, provided that their total number did not exceed a quarter of the whole body.[12] The cosmopolitanism of the mediaeval centres of learning encouraged a number of such French students to come to England. In 1259, for instance, owing to the disturbed state of the University of Paris, Henry III. invited the Paris students to come to England and take up their abode wheresoever they pleased;[13] no doubt those who accepted his invitation settled at one or other of the two English universities. We also find in the Treaty of Bretigny (1360) a clause to the effect that the subjects of the French and English kings should henceforth be free to resume their intercourse and to enjoy mutually the privileges of the universities of the two countries, "comme ils povoient faire avant ces presentes guerres et comme ils font a present."[14] On the other hand, the English frequented the French universities in large numbers; at Paris in the thirteenth century they formed one of the four nations which composed the University.[15] The authors of the early Latin vocabularies, Alexander Neckam and John de Garlande, were both connected with the University of Paris, while most of the other English scholars of the period were indebted for much of their learning to the same great centre. Many, no doubt, could have written with Garlande:

Anglia cui mater fuerat, cui Gallia nutrix
Matri nutricem praefero mente meam.[16]

In the thirteenth century French was still widely used in England. The fact that the fusion between conquerors and conquered was then complete,[17] and that at the same time French was very popular on the Continent undoubtedly helped to make its position in England stronger. It was then that the Italian Brunetto Latini wrote his Livres dou Tresor (1265), in French rather than in his native tongue, because French was "plus delitable et plus commune à toutes gens." During the same century French came to be used in correspondence on both sides of the Channel.[18] Little by little it was recognized as the most convenient medium for official uses, and the language most generally known in these sections of society which had to administer justice.[19] In the second half of the thirteenth century Robert of Gloucester complained that there was no land "that holdeth not to its kindly speech save Englonde only," admitting at the same time, however, that ignorance of French was a serious disadvantage. An idea of the extent to which the language was current in England may be gathered from the fact that in 1301 Edward I. caused letters from the Pope to be translated into French so that they might be understood by the whole army,[20] and in the previous year the author of the Miroir des Justices wrote in French as being the language "le plus entendable de la comun people." French, indeed, appears to have been used among all classes, save the very poorest;[21] some of the French literature of the time was addressed more particularly to the middle classes.[22]

Nevertheless, as the thirteenth century advanced, French began to hold its own with some difficulty. While it was in the unusual position of a vernacular gradually losing its power as such, there appeared the earliest extant treatise on the language. This, and those that followed it, were to some extent lessons in the vernacular; yet not entirely, as may be judged from the fact that they are set forth and explained in Latin, the language of all scholarship. The first work on the French language, dating from not later than the middle of the thirteenth century, is in the form of a short Latin treatise on French conjugations,[23] in which a comparison of the French with the Latin tenses is instituted.[24] As it appeared at a time when French was becoming the literary language of the law, and was being used freely in correspondence, it may have been intended mainly for the use of clerks. A treatise of considerably more importance composed towards the end of the century, appears to have had the same purpose. That he did not intend it exclusively for clerks, however, the author showed by adding rules for pronunciation, syntax and even morphology as well as for orthography. Like most of the early grammatical writings on the French language, this Orthographia Gallica is in Latin. The obscurity of many of its rules, however, called forth commentaries in French which appeared during the fourteenth century, and exceed the size of the original work. The Orthographia was a very popular work, as the number of manuscripts extant and the French commentary prove. The different copies vary considerably, and there is a striking increase in the number of rules given; from being about thirty in the earliest manuscript, they number about a hundred in the latest.[25]

It opens with a rule that when the first or middle syllable of a French word contains a short e, i must be placed before the e, as in bien, rien, etc.—a curious, fumbling attempt to explain the development of Latin free short e before nasals and oral consonants into ie. On the other hand, continues the author, e acute need not be preceded by i, as tenez. It is not surprising that these early writers, in spite of much patient observation, should almost always have failed to grasp fundamental laws, and group a series of corresponding facts into the form of a general rule. We continually find rules drawn up for a few isolated examples, with no general application. The most striking feature in the treatment of French orthography in this work is the continual reference to Latin roots, and the clear statement of the principle that, wherever possible, the spelling of French words should be based on that of Latin.

The Orthographia does not by any means limit its observations to spelling; there are also rules for pronunciation, a subject which in later times naturally held a very important place in French grammars written for the use of Englishmen, while orthography became one of the chief concerns of French grammarians. That orthography received so much attention at this early period in this country, is explained by the fact that these manuals were partly intended for "clerks," who would frequently have to write in French. As to the pronunciation, we find, amongst others, the familiar rule that when a French word ending in a consonant comes before another word beginning with a consonant, the first consonant is not pronounced. An s occurring after a vowel and before an m, writes the author, in another rule, is not pronounced, as in mandasmes, and l coming after a, e, or o, and followed by a consonant is pronounced like u, as in m'almi, loialment, and the like. A list of synonyms[26] is also given, which throws some light on the English pronunciation of French at this period, and there are also a few hints for the translation of both Latin and English into French.

Nor are syntax and morphology neglected; rules concerning these are scattered among those on orthography and pronunciation, with the lack of orderly arrangement characteristic of the whole work. Thus we are told to use me in the accusative case, and moy in all other cases; that we should form the plural of verbs ending in t in the singular by adding z, as il amet, il list become vous amez, vous lisez; that when we ask any one for something, we may say vous pri without je, but that, when we do this, we should write pri with a y, as pry, and so on.

The claim of the Orthographia Gallica to be the first extant work on French orthography, has been disputed by another treatise, also written in Latin, and known as the Tractatus Orthographiae. More methodically arranged than the Orthographia, this work deals more particularly with pronunciation and orthography.[27] It opens with a short introduction announcing that here are the means for the youth of the time to make their way in the world speedily and learn French pronunciation and orthography. Each letter of the alphabet is first treated in turn,[28] and then come a few more general observations. Like the author of the Orthographia, the writer of the Tractatus would have the spelling of French words based on that of Latin whenever possible. He claims that his own French is "secundum dulce Gallicum" and "secundum usum et modum modernorum tam partibus transmarinis quam cismarinis." Though he apparently places the French of England and the French of France on the same footing, it is noteworthy that he carefully distinguishes between the two.

The Tractatus Orthographiae bears a striking resemblance to another work of like nature, which is better known—the Tractatus Orthographiae of Canon M. T. Coyfurelly, doctor in Law of Orleans[29]—and for some time it was thought to be merely a rehandling of Coyfurelly's treatise which did not appear till somewhere about the end of the fourteenth century, if not later. But Coyfurelly admits that his work was based on the labours of one 'T. H. Parisii Studentis,' and there appears, on examination,[30] to be no doubt as to the priority of the anonymous Tractatus described above, which, on the contrary, is evidently the treatise rehandled by Coyfurelly, and the work of 'T. H. Student of Paris.' Besides being the original which Coyfurelly recast in his Tractatus, it also appears that T. H. may reasonably dispute with the author of the Orthographia Gallica, the honour of being the first in the field. His work shows no advance on the rules given for pronunciation in the Orthographia, while the orthography is of a decidedly older stamp.

At about the same time as these two treatises on orthography, probably a few years earlier, there was composed a work of similar purpose but very different character. It is of particular interest, and shows that, towards the end of the thirteenth century, French was beginning to be treated as a foreign language; the French is accompanied by a partial English gloss, and the author states that "touz dis troverez-vous primes le Frauncois et pus le Engleys suaunt." The author, Gautier or Walter de Bibbesworth,[31] was an Englishman, and appears to have mixed with the best society of the day. He was a friend of the celebrated statesman of the reign of Edward I., Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. The only work by which his name is known to-day, in addition to the treatise in question, is a short piece of Anglo-Norman verse,[32] written on the occasion of the expedition of Edward I. to the Holy Land in 1270, shortly before he came to the throne. We gather from letters of protection granted him in that year that Bibbesworth himself took part in this venture. In this poem he is pictured discussing the Crusade with Lacy, and trying to persuade his friend to take part in it. The name of Bibbesworth also occurs several times[33] in official documents of no special interest, and as late as 1302 a writ of Privy Seal was addressed to the Chancellor suing for a pardon under the Great Seal to W. de Bibbesworth, in consideration of his good services rendered in Scotland, for a breach of the park of Robert de Seales at Ravenhall, and of the king's prison at Colchester.[34]

Bibbesworth, however, interests us less as a crusader or a disturber of public order, than as the author of a treatise for teaching the French language, entitled Le Treytyz qe mounsire Gauter de Bibelesworthe fist a ma dame Dyonisie de Mounchensy[35] pur aprise de langwage. The large number of manuscripts still in existence[36] suggest that it was a popular text-book among the children of the higher classes of society. The treatise reproduces, as might be expected, the chief characteristics of the vocabularies for teaching Latin. In addition to giving a collection of words and phrases arranged in the form of a narrative, it also incidentally aims at imparting some slight grammatical information. Its contents are of a very practical character, and deal exclusively with the occurrences and occupations of daily life. Beginning with the new-born child, it tells in French verses how it is to be nursed and fed. Rime was no doubt introduced to aid the memory, as the pupil would, in all probability, have to learn the whole by heart. The French is accompanied by a partial interlinear English gloss, giving the equivalent of the more difficult French words. This may, perhaps, be taken as an indication of the extent to which French was regarded as a foreign language.[37]

After describing the life of the child during its earliest infancy, Bibbesworth goes on to tell how it is to be taught French as soon as it can speak, "that it may be better learned in speach and held up to scorn by none":

Quaunt le enfes ad tel age
Ke il set entendre langage,
Primes en Fraunceys ly devez dire
Coment soun cors deyt descrivere,
Pur le ordre aver de moun et ma,
Toun et ta, soun et sa,
better lered
Ke en parlole seyt meut apris
scorned
E de nul autre escharnys.

In accordance with this programme the parts of the human body, which almost invariably forms the central theme in this type of manual, are enumerated. Special care is taken to distinguish the genders and cases, to teach the children "Kaunt deivunt dire moun et ma, soun et sa, le et la, moy et jo . . .," and to explain how the meaning of words of similar sound often depends on their gender:

lippe and an hare
Vous avet la levere et le levere,
a pound    a book
Et la livere et le livere.
La levere si enclost les dens;
Le levere en boys se tent dedens;
La livere sert en marchaundye;
Le livere nous aprent clergye.

Throughout Bibbesworth seizes every opportunity to point out distinctions of gender of this kind, regardless, it appears, of the difference between the definite and indefinite articles. When the pupil can describe his body, the teacher proceeds to give him an account of "all that concerns it both inside and out" ("kaunt ke il apent dedens et deores"), that is of its clothing and food:

Vestet vos draps mes chers enfauns,
Chaucez vos brays, soulers, e gauns;
Mettet le chaperoun, covrez le chef, etc.

—a passage which illustrates the practical nature of the treatise, Bibbesworth's aim being to teach children to know the properties of the things they see ("les propretez des choses ke veyunt").

When the child is clothed, Bibbesworth next feeds him, giving a full account of the meals and the food which is provided, and, by way of variety, at the end of the dinner, he teaches his pupil the names given to groups of different animals, and of the verbs used to describe their various cries. ("Homme parle, cheval hennist," etc.). By this time the child is ready to observe Nature, and to learn the terms of husbandry,[38] and the processes by which his food is produced. From the fields he passes to the woods and the river, where he learns to hunt and to fish, subjects which naturally lead to the introduction of the French names of the seasons, and of the beasts and birds that are supposed to present themselves to his view.

During the whole of this long category the verse form is maintained, and the intention of avoiding a vocabulary pure and simple is manifest. How superior this method was to the more modern lists of words separated from the context is also evident. Besides giving a description of all the objects with which the child comes in contact, and of all the actions he has to perform, as well as examples for the distinctions of genders and of moy and jo—difficulties for which he makes no attempts to draw up rules—Bibbesworth claims for his work that it provides gentlemen with adequate instruction for conversational purposes ("tot le ordre en parler e respoundre ke checun gentyshomme covent saver"). And as he did not wish to neglect any of the items of daily life, he finally gives a description of the building of a house and various domestic arrangements, ending with a description of an old English feast with its familiar dish, the boar's head:

Au primer fust apporté
a boris heued
La teste de un sengler tot armé,
the snout               wit baneres of flurs
E au groyn le colere en banere;
E pus veneysoun, ou la fourmenté;
Assez par my la mesoun
tahen of gres tyme
De treste du fermeyson.
Pus avyent diversetez en rost,
Eit checun autre de cost,
Cranes, pokokes, swannes
Grues, pounes, e cygnes,
Wilde ges, gryses (porceaus), hennes,
Owes, rosées, porceus, gelyns;
Au tercez cours avient conyns en gravé,
Et viaunde de Cypre enfundré,
De maces, e quibibes, e clous de orré,
Vyn blanc e vermayl a graunt plenté.
wodekok
Pus avoyunt fesauns, assez, et perdriz,
Feldefares larkes
Grives, alowes, e pluviers ben rostez;
E braoun, e crispes, e fritune;
Ke soucre roset poudra la temprune.
Apres manger avyunt a graunt plenté
Blaunche poudre, ou la grosse dragé,
Et d'autre nobleie a fusoun,
Ensi vous fynys ceo sermoun;
Kar de fraunceis i ad assez,
De meynte manere dyversetez,
Dount le vous fynys, seynurs, ataunt
A filz Dieu vous comaund.
Ici finest la doctrine monsire Gauter De Byblesworde.

As time went on a conscious effort was made to retain the use of the French language in England. Higden, writing at about the middle of the fourteenth century,[39] informs us that English was then neglected for two reasons: "One is bycause that children than gon to schole lerne to speke first Englysshe and then ben compelled constrewe ther lessons in Frenssh"; "Also gentilmens children ben lerned and taught from theyr yougthe to speke frenssh.[40] And uplandish men will counterfete and likene them self to gentilmen and arn besy to speke frensshe for to be more sette by. Wherefor it is sayd by a common proverbe Jack wold be a gentilmen if he coude speke frensshe."

At the University of Oxford, likewise, the Grammar masters were enjoined to teach the boys to construe in English and in French, "so that the latter language be not forgotten."[41] The same university gave some slight encouragement to the study of French. There were special teachers who, although not enjoying the privileges of those lecturing in the usual academic subjects, were none the less recognised by the University. They had to observe the Statutes, and to promise not to give their lessons at times which would interfere with the ordinary lectures in arts. The French teachers were under the superintendence of the masters of grammar, and had to pay thirteen shillings a year to the Masters in Arts to compensate them for any disadvantage they might suffer from any loss of pupils; if there was only one teacher of French he had to pay the whole amount himself. As for those learning "to write, to compose, and speak French," they had to attend lectures in rhetoric and grammar—the courses most akin to their studies[42]—and to contribute to the maintenance of the lecturers in these subjects, there being no ordinary lectures in French.

In the meantime, more treatises for teaching French appeared; Bibbesworth's book soon found imitators, and early in the new century an anonymous author, clearly an Englishman, made free use of Bibbesworth in a treatise called The Nominale sive Verbale in Gallicis cum expositione ejusdem in Anglicis.[43] This anonymous writer[44] however, thought it necessary to make the interlinear English gloss much fuller than Bibbesworth had done, which shows that French had become more of a foreign language in the interval between the two works. He also placed the English rendering after the French, instead of above it. The later work differs further from the earlier in the order of the subject headings, as well as by the introduction of a few new topics. Enumerating the parts of the body,[45] as Bibbesworth had done, the author proceeds to make his most considerable addition to the subjects introduced by Bibbesworth in describing "la noyse et des faitz que homme naturalment fait":

Homme parle et espire:

Man spekyth & vndyth.

Femme teinge et suspire:

Woman pantyth & syketh.

Homme bale et babeie:

Man dravelith & wlaffyth.

Femme bale et bleseie:

Woman galpyth & wlispyth.

He then describes all the daily actions and occupations of men:

Homme va a la herce:

Man goth at the harewe.

Femme bercelet berce:

Woman childe in cradel rokkith....

Enfant sa lessone reherce:

His lessone recordeth,

and so on for about 350 lines. Other additions are of little importance, and, for the rest, the author treats subjects first introduced by Bibbesworth, though the wording often differs to a certain extent.[46]

When, towards the end of the thirteenth century, French began to be used in correspondence, need for instruction in French epistolary art arose; and early in the fourteenth century guides to letter-writing in French, in the form of epistolaries or collections of model letters, were produced.[47] The letters themselves are given in French, but the accompanying rules and instructions for composing them are in Latin. French and Latin have changed rôles; in earlier times Latin had been explained to school children by means of French. Forms for addressing members of the different grades of society are supplied, from epistles to the king and high state and ecclesiastical dignitaries down to commercial letters for merchants, and familiar ones for private individuals. Women, too, were not forgotten; we find similar examples covering the same range—from the queen and the ladies of the nobility to her more humble subjects. Each letter is almost invariably followed by its answer, likewise in French. Some contain interesting references to the great men or events of the day, but those of a more private nature possess a greater attraction, and throw light on the family life of the age. A letter from a mother to her son at school may be quoted:[48]

Salut avesque ma beniçon, tres chier filz. Sachiez que je desire grandement de savoir bons nouelles de vous et de vostre estat: car vostre pere et moy estions a la faisance de ces lettres en bon poynt le Dieu merci. Et sachiez que je vous envoie par le portour de ces lettres demy marc pur diverses necessaires que vous en avez a faire sans escient de vostre pere. Et vous pri cherement, beau tres doulz filz, que vous laissez tous mals et folyes et ne hantez mye mauvaise compagnie, car si vous le faitez il vous fera grant damage, avant que vous l'aperceiverez. Et je vous aiderai selon mon pooir oultre ce que vostre pere vous donnra. Dieus vous doint sa beniçon, car je vous donne la mienne. . . .

From about the middle of the fourteenth century a feeling of discontent with the prerogative of the French language in England becomes prominent. The loss of the greater part of the French possessions, and the continued state of hostilities with France during the reign of Edward III. brought home forcibly to the English mind the fact that the French were a distinct nation, and French a foreign tongue. This tardy recovery is sufficient proof of the strong resistance which had to be overcome. Chaucer is the greatest representative of the new movement. "Let Frenchmen endite their quaint terms in French," he exclaims, "for it is kindly to their mouths, but let us show our fantaisies in suche words as we learned from our dames' tongues." His contemporary, Gower, was less quick to discern the signs of the times. Of the four volumes of his works, two are in Latin, one in French, and one in English; but the order in which he uses these languages is instructive—first French, then Latin, and lastly English. Some writers made a compromise by employing a mixture of French and English.[49] French, however, continued to hold an important place in prose writings until the middle of the fifteenth century; but such works are of little literary value. The reign of French as the literary language of England, as Chaucer had been quick to discern, was approaching its end.

The same period is marked by a growing disrespect for Anglo-French as compared with the French of France. The French of England, cut off from the living source, had developed apart, and often with more rapidity than the other French dialects on the Continent. What is more, the language brought by the invaders was not a pure form of the Norman dialect; men from various parts of France had joined in William's expedition. The invaders, always called 'French' by their contemporaries, brought in a strong Picard element; and in the twelfth century there was a similar Angevin influence. Moreover, during Norman and Angevin times, craftsmen and others immigrated to England, each bringing with him the dialectal peculiarities of his own province.[50] Thus no regular development of Anglo-French was possible, and it can hardly be regarded as an ordinary dialect, notwithstanding its literary importance.[51] This disparity in the quality of Anglo-French is illustrated in a remarkable way by the literature of the period. Those who had received special educational advantages, or had travelled on the Continent, spoke and wrote French correctly; others used forms which contrasted pitiably with continental French. Moreover, the fourteenth century saw the triumph of the Île de France dialect in France; the other dialects ceased, as a rule, to be used in literature,[52] and this change was not without effect on Anglo-French, which shared their degradation. Chaucer lets us know the poor opinion he had of the French of England; his Prioress speaks French "full fayre and fetisly," but

After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For French of Paris was to her unknowe.

William Langland admits that he knew "no frenche in feith, but of the ferthest ende of Norfolke."[53] As early as the thirteenth century English writers had felt bound to apologize as Englishmen for their French. Nor were their excuses superfluous in many cases; William of Wadington, the author of the Manuel des Pechiez, for example, wrote:[54]

De le françois ne del rimer
Ne me doit nuls hom blamer,
Car en Engleterre fu né
Et nurri lenz et ordiné.

Such apologies became all the more necessary as time went on. Even Gower, whose French was comparatively pure,[55] owing no doubt to travel in France in early life, deemed it advisable to explain that he wrote in French for "tout le monde en general," and to ask pardon if he has not "de François la faconde":

Jeo suis Englois si quier par tiele voie
Estre excusé.

At about the same time the anonymous author of the Testament of Love finds fault with the English for their persistence in writing in bad French, "of which speech the Frenchmen have as good a fantasy as we have in hearing of Frenchmen's English."[56]

The notoriety of the French of Englishmen reached France. Indeed this was a time when the English were more generally known in France than they were to be for several hundreds of years afterwards—until the eighteenth century. Englishmen filled positions in their possessions in France, and during the long wars between the two countries in the reign of Edward III., many of the English nobility resided in that country with their families. Montaigne refers to traces of the English in Guyenne, which still remained in the sixteenth century: "Il est une nation," he writes in one of his Essays, "a laquelle ceux de mon quartier ont eu autrefois si privée accointance qu'il reste encore en ma maison aucune trace de leur ancien cousinage."[57] The opinions formed by the French of the English were naturally anything but flattering. We find them expressed in songs of the time.[58] But the recriminations were mutual, and the English had already hit upon the epithet which for centuries they applied to Frenchmen, and most other foreigners indiscriminately:

Franche dogue dit un Anglois.
Vous ne faites que boire vin,
Si faisons bien dist le François,
Mais vous buvez le lunnequin. (bière.)[59]

Even in the Roman de Renart we come across traces of familiarity with English ways, and also of the English language.[60]

It is not surprising, then, that Anglo-French was a subject of remark in France, especially when we remember that already in the thirteenth century the provincial accents of the different parts of France herself had been the object of some considerable amount of raillery.[61] The English, says Froissart, a good judge, for he spent many years in England, "disoient bien que le françois que ils avoient apris chies eulx d'enfance n'estoit pas de telle nature et condition que celluy de France estoit."[62] And this 'condition' was soon recognized as a plentiful store for facetious remarks and parodies of all kinds. In the Roman de Jehan et Blonde, the young Frenchman's rival, the Duke of Gloucester, is made to appear ridiculous by speaking bad French; and one of the tricks played by Renart on Ysengrin, in the Roman de Renart, is to pretend he is an Englishman:[63]

Ez vos Renart qui le salue:
"Godehelpe," fait il, "bel Sire!
Non saver point ton reson dire."

And Ysengrin answers:

Et dex saut vos, bau dous amis!
Dont estes vos? de quel pais?
Vous n'estes mie nés de France,
Ne de la nostre connoissance.

A fabliau of the fourteenth century[64] pictures the dilemma of two Englishmen trying to make their French understood in France; one of them is ill and would have some lamb:

Si tu avez un anel cras
Mi porra bien mengier ce croi.

His friend sets out to try to get the 'anel' or 'lamb'; but no one understands him, and he becomes the laughing-stock of the villagers. At last some one gives him a 'small donkey' instead of the desired 'agnel,' and out of this he makes a dish for the invalid who finds the bones rather large. In the face of a reputation such as this it is no wonder that the English found additional encouragement to abandon the foreign language and cultivate their own tongue.

English was also beginning to make its way into official documents.[65] In 1362 the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament was pronounced in English, and in the following year it was directed that all pleas in the courts of justice should be pleaded and judged in English, because French was "trope desconue en ledit realme." Despite that, the act was very tardily obeyed, and English progressed but slowly, French continuing to be written long after it ceased to be spoken in the Law Courts. There were a few public documents issued in English at the end of the century, but the Acts and Records of Parliament continued to be written in French for many years subsequently. English first made its way into the operative parts of the Statutes, and till 1503 the formal parts were still written in French and Latin. Protests were made to Henry VIII. against the continued use of French, "as thereby ys testyfied our subjectyon to the Normannys"; yet it was not before the eighteenth century that English was exclusively used in the Law Courts, and for many years French, in its corrupt form, remained the literary language of the English law. Till the seventeenth century works on jurisprudence and reports on cases were mainly written in French. Les Cases de Gray's Inn shows French in accounts of discussions on difficult legal cases as late as 1680.[66] Sir John Fortescue (1394?-1476), Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, in his De Laudibus Legum Angliae, suggests that this Law French is more correct at bottom than ordinary spoken French, which, he contends, is much "altered by common use, whereas Law French is more often writ than spoken." In later times no such illusions prevailed. Swift thus estimates the value of the three languages of the English Law:[67]

Then from the bar harangues the bench,
In English vile, and viler French,
And Latin vilest of the three.

At about the same time as Swift wrote, the 'frenchified' Lady, then in fashion, who prided herself on her knowledge of the "language à la mode" is described as being able to "keep the field against a whole army of Lawyers, and that in their own language, French gibberish."[68] And long after French ceased to be used in the Law many law terms and legal and official phrases remained, and are still in use to-day.[69] Anglo-French also lingered in some of the religious houses after it had fallen into discredit elsewhere, and continued to do so in some cases till the time of their dissolution. The rules and accounts of the nunneries were more often in French than not.[70] And John ap Rhys, visitor of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII., wrote to Cromwell regarding the monastery of Laycock in Wiltshire, that he had observed one thing "worthy th'advertisement; the ladies have their Rule, th'institutes of their Religion and the ceremonies of the same written in the Frenche tongue, which they understand well and are very perfyt in the same, albeit that it varieth from vulgar Frenche that is now used, and is moche like the Frenche that the common Lawe is written in."[71]

During this same period English began to be used occasionally in correspondence; but here again its progress was slow. Some idea of the extent to which French was utilized for that purpose may be gathered from the fact that three extant letters of William de Wykeham, addressed to Englishmen, are all in that tongue. Not till the second and third decades of the fifteenth century were English and French employed in correspondence to an almost equal extent, and during the following years, especially in the reign of Henry VI., English gradually became predominant.[72] French remained in use longer in correspondence of a public and official nature, but became more and more restricted to foreign diplomacy.

Towards the middle of the fourteenth century, at the beginning of the long wars with France, French lost ground in England in yet another direction. Edward III. is said to have found it necessary to proclaim that all lords, barons, knights, burgesses, should see that their children learn French for political and military reasons;[73] and when Trevisa translated Higden's Polychronicon, he wrote in correction of the earlier chronicler's description of the teaching of French in the grammar schools of England:[74] "This maner was moche used before the grete deth (1349). But syth it is somdele chaunged. Now (i.e. 1387) they leave all Frensch in scholes, and use all construction in Englisch. Wherin they have advantage on way that they lerne the soner ther gramer. And in another disadvantage. For nowe they lerne no Frenssh ne can none, whiche is hurte for them that shall passe the see," and thus children of the grammar schools know "no more French than knows their lefte heele."

Thus the custom of translating Latin into French passed out of use early in the second half of the fourteenth century. No doubt there had been signs of the approaching change in the preceding period, and it is of interest here to notice that while Neckham's Latin vocabulary, which dates from the second half of the twelfth century, is glossed in French alone, that of Garlande, which belongs approximately to the third decade of the following century, is accompanied by translations in both French and English. In the universities, however, where French had been slower in gaining a foothold, it remained longer; in the fifteenth century teachers of French were still allowed to lecture there as they had done previously, but it is to be noticed that in all the colleges founded after the Black Death (1349), from which the change in the grammar schools is dated, the regulations encouraging the speaking of French in Hall are absent. The change appears also to have affected the higher classes, who did not usually frequent the grammar schools and universities, but depended on more private methods of instruction. Trevisa here again adds a correction to the earlier chronicle, and informs us that "gentylmen haveth now myche lefte for to teach their children Frensch."

We thus witness the gradual disappearance of the effects of the Norman Conquest in the history of the use of the French language in England. The Conquest had made Norman-French the language of the Court, and to some extent, of the Church; it had brought with it a French literature which nearly smothered the national literature and replaced it temporarily; it had led to the system of translating Latin into French as well as into English in the schools. In the later fourteenth century French was no longer the chief language of the Court, and the king spoke English and was addressed in the same tongue. In the Church the employment of French had been restricted and transitory, though, as has been mentioned, it lingered in some of the monasteries until the sixteenth century; yet Latin never found in it a serious rival in this sphere, and the ecclesiastical department of the law never followed the civil in the adoption of the use of French. How French lost ground in the other spheres has already been traced: in all these cases its employment may be regarded as a direct result of the Conquest.

This great event had also indirect results. French became the official language of England, and the favourite medium of correspondence in the thirteenth century, when the fusion between the two races was complete. But it is highly improbable that French would have spread in these directions if the Conquest had not in the first place made French the vernacular of a considerable portion of Englishmen, and that the most influential. With its use in official documents and in correspondence, may be classed the slight encouragement French received at Oxford. In all these spheres it remained longer than it had done where its status had been a more direct result of the Conquest.

Meanwhile the desire to cultivate and imitate the French of France had been growing stronger and stronger; and when, towards the end of the fourteenth century, the older influences were getting feebler, and in some cases had passed away, the influence of the continental French, especially the French of Paris, now supreme over the other dialects, became more and more marked. And it is this language which henceforth Englishmen strove to learn, gradually relinquishing the corrupt idiom with which for so long their name had been associated.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This was the opinion of Ames: "This seems to be the first grammar of the French language in our own country, if not in Europe." Dibdin, Herbert Ames's Typographical Antiquities, 1819, iii. p. 365.

[2] The grammar of Jacques Sylvius or Dubois appeared in 1531, a year after Palsgrave's. No attempt at a theoretical treatment of the French language appeared in France in the Middle Ages. There are, however, two Provençal ones extant. (F. Brunot, "Le Français à l'étranger," in L. Petit de Julleville's Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française, ii. p. 528.)

[3] One of the chief effects of the Conquest in the schools is said to have been the substitution of Norman for English schoolmasters (Leach, Schools of Mediaeval England, 1915, p. 103).

[4] The majority of early Latin vocabularies extant, however, are accompanied by English translations (cp. T. Wright, Volume of Vocabularies, 2 vols., 1857), as was also the comparatively well-known Promptorium Parvulorum (c. 1440), Camden Soc., 1865.

[5] The text is given in L. E. Menger's Anglo-Norman Dialect, Columbia University Press, 1904, p. 14. The psalms, together with Cato, Ovid, or possibly Virgil, formed the usual reading material in the Grammar Schools. Cp. Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1895, ii. p. 603.

[6] Adam du Petit Pont (d. 1150) wrote an epistle in Latin, many words of which were glossed in French. But there is no evidence that it was used in England. It was published by E. Scheler in his Trois traités de lexicographie latine du 12e et 13e siècles, Leipzig, 1867.

[7] Ed. T. Wright, Volume of Vocabularies, i. 96, and Scheler, op. cit. Both editions are deemed unsatisfactory by Paul Meyer (Romania, xxxvi. 482).

[8] It has been published five times: (1) At Caen by Vincent Correr in 1508 (Romania, ut supra); (2) H. Géraud, in Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France: "Paris sous Philippe le Bel d'après les documents originaux," 1837; (3) Kervyn de Lettenhove, 1851; (4) T. Wright, Volume of Vocabularies, i. pp. 120 sqq.; (5) Scheler, Trois traités de lexicographie latine.

[9] Wright, op. cit. pp. 139-141.

[10] Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford, 3 vols., Oxford and London, 1853; A. Clark, Colleges of Oxford, 1891, p. 140; H. C. Maxwell Lyte, History of the University of Oxford, 1880, pp. 140-151.

[11] Documents relating to the Universities and Colleges of Cambridge, 1852, ii. p. 33; J. Bass Mullinger, The University of Cambridge, 1873; G. Peacock, Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge, 1841, p. 4.

[12] J. Heywood, Early Cambridge University and College Statutes, 1885, ii. p. 182.

[13] C. H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, Cambridge, 1852, i. p. 40.

[14] Rashdall, op. cit. ii. p. 519 n.

[15] Rashdall, op. cit. i. pp. 319 et seq. Later the English nation was known as the German; it included all students from the north and east of Europe. On the English in the University of Paris see Ch. Thurot, De l'organisation de l'enseignement dans l'Université de Paris, Paris, 1850; and J. E. Sandys, "English Scholars of Paris, and Franciscans of Oxford," in The Cambridge History of English Literature, i., 1908, chap. x. pp. 183 et seq.

[16] Quoted, E. J. B. Rathery, Les Relations sociales et intellectuelles entre la France et l'Angleterre, Paris, 1856, p. 11.

[17] A writer of about 1180 says it was impossible to tell who were Normans and who English ("Dialogus de Scaccario": Stubbs, Select Charters, 4th ed., 1881, p. 168).

[18] "Discours sur l'état des lettres au 13e siècle," in the Histoire littéraire de la France, xvi. p. 168.

[19] D. Behrens, in H. Paul's Grundiss der germanischen Philologie, Strassbourg, 1901, pp. 953-55; Freeman, Norman Conquest, v. 1876, pp. 528 sqq.; Maitland, "Anglo-French Law Language," in the Cambridge History of English Literature, i. pp. 407 sqq., History of English Law, 1895, pp. 58 sqq., and Collected Papers, 1911, ii. p. 436. At the universities, where Latin was the usual language of correspondence, letters and petitions were often drawn up in French (Oxford Hist. Soc., Collectanea, 1st series, 1885, pp. 8 sqq.).

[20] Bateson, Mediaeval England, 1903, p. 319.

[21] Maitland, Collected Papers, 1911, ii. p. 437.

[22] Such are Bozon's Contes moralisés (c. 1320), ed. P. Meyer, in the Anciens Textes Français, 1889. In his Introduction Meyer lays stress on the widespread use of French in England at this time, and its chance of becoming the national language of England, an eventuality which, he thinks, might have been a benefit to humanity.

[23] MS. at Trinity Col. Cambridge (R. 3. 56).

[24] Paul Meyer calls it the work of a true grammarian (Romania, xxxii. p. 65).

[25] There are four MSS. extant. These have been collated and published by J. Sturzinger in the Altfranzösische Bibliothek, vol. viii., Heilbronn, 1884; cp. Romania, xiv. p. 60. The earliest MS. is in the Record Office, and was published by T. Wright in Haupt and Hoffman's Altdeutsche Blaetter (ii. p. 193). Diez quoted from this edition in his Grammaire des langues romanes, 3rd ed. i. pp. 415, 418 sqq. The three other MSS. are in the Brit. Mus., Camb. Univ. Libr. and Magdalen Col. Oxon., and belong to the three succeeding centuries. Portions of the Magdalen Col. MS. are quoted by A. J. Ellis, in his Early English Pronunciation, pp. 836-839, and by F. Génin, in his preface to the French Government reprint of Palsgrave's Grammar, 1852. It is the British Museum copy, made in the reign of Edward III., which contains the French commentary.

[26] Early English writers on the French tongue were fond of drawing attention to the opportunities for punning afforded by the language.

[27] Edited by Miss M. K. Pope in the Modern Language Review (vol. v., 1910, pt. ii. pp. 188 sqq.), from the Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 17716, ff. 88-91; it also exists at All Souls, Oxford (MS. 182 f. 340), and at Trinity Col. Cambridge (MS. B 14. 39, 40); in the last MS. the introduction of the two preceding ones is lacking (cp. Meyer, Romania, xxxii. p. 59).

[28] For instance, we are told that a is sounded almost like e as in savez vous faire un chauncoun . . .; that the phrases a, en a, i a which mean one and the same thing when they come from the Latin habet, should be written without d; that aura, en array should be written without e in the middle, and sounded without u, as aray, en array, though the English include the e.

[29] Published by Stengel, in the Zeitschrift für neufranzösische Sprache und Literatur, 1879, pp. 16-22.

[30] Miss Pope, ut supra.

[31] His name has provoked some discussion as to its correct form. It is frequently written as Biblesworth, and one MS. gives it the form of Bithesway; the correct form, however, is Bibbesworth, the name of a manor in the parish of Kempton (Herts), of which Walter was the owner (P. Meyer, Romania, xv. p. 312, and xxx. p. 44 n.; W. Aldis Wright, Notes and Queries, 1877, 4th Series, viii. p. 64).

[32] Printed from the MS. in the Bodleian, in Wright and Halliwell's Reliquiae Antiquae, i. p. 134.

[33] Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1247-58, pp. 58, 103, 187. He received exemption from being put on assizes or juries in 1249.

[34] Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1301-1307, p. 39.

[35] She died in 1304; her father was one of the leaders on the king's side at the battle of Lewes (1264).

[36] There are many MSS. in the British Museum; others at Oxford and Cambridge, and one in the Library of Sir Th. Phillips at Cheltenham. The best-known edition of the vocabulary is that of T. Wright, Volume of Vocabularies, i. pp. 142-174, which is the one here quoted, and which reproduces Arundel MS. 220, collated with Sloane MS. 809. P. Meyer has given a critical edition of the first eighty-six lines in his Recueil d'anciens textes—partie française, No. 367 (cp. Romania, xiii. p. 500).

[37] In the vocabularies written in imitation of Bibbesworth at later dates, the English gloss is fuller, and in the latest one complete, as French became more and more a foreign language.

[38] "Pus to le frauncoys com il en court en age de husbonderie, com pur arer, rebiner, waretter, semer, sarcher, syer, faucher, carier, batre, moudre, pestrer, briser," etc.

[39] Polychronicon, lib. 1, cap. 59 (ed. Babington and Lumly, Rolls Publications, 41, 1865-66, vol. ii. pp. 159 sqq.).

[40] Cp. the thirteenth-century romance in which Jehan de Dammartin teaches French to Blonde of Oxford (ed. Le Roux de Lincy, Camden Soc., 1858).

[41] F. Anstey, Monumenta Academica, 1868, p. 438.

[42] Anstey, op. cit., 1868, p. 302.

[43] Published from a MS. in Cambridge University Library (Ee 4, 20), by Skeat, in the Transactions of the Philological Society (1903-1906).

[44] The MS. in which the work is preserved dates from about 1340, but is probably copied from an earlier one.

[45]

"Corps teste et hanapel

Body heuede and heuedepanne

Et peil cresceant sur la peal.

And here growende on the skyn," etc.

[46] How close the resemblance is between the two works may be judged by the following quotations:

Par le gel nous avons glas,
Et de glas vient verglas. (Nominale.)
Pur le gel vous avomus glas,
Et pluvye e gele fount vereglas. (Bibbesworth.)

And it is in words almost identical with those of Bibbesworth that the author describes the difference in the meaning of some words according to their gender:

La levere deit clore les dentz.

The lippe.

Le levere en boys se tient de deynz.

The hare.

La livre sert a marchauntz.

The pounde.

Le livere aprent nous enfauntz.

The boke.

[47] The earliest of these MSS. dates from the second decade of the fourteenth century. These epistolaries are found in the following MSS.: Harleian 4971 and 3988, Addit. 17716, in the Brit. Mus.; Ee 4, 20 in Cantab. Univ. Library; B 14. 39, 40 in Trinity Col. Camb.; 182 at All Souls, Oxford, and 188 Magdalen Col. Oxford (cp. Stürzinger, Altfranzösiche Bibliothek), viii. pp. xvii-xix. The Introductions to these letters were edited in a Griefswald Dissertation (1898), by W. Uerkvitz.

[48] Stengel, op. cit. pp. 8-10.

[49] Romania, iv. p. 381, xxxii. p, 22.

[50] W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Cambridge, 1896, pp. 635 sqq.

[51] L. Menger, Anglo-Norman Dialect; Behrens, art. cit. pp. 960 sqq.; Brunot, Histoire de la langue française, i. pp. 319 sqq., 369.

[52] Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 331.

[53] Jusserand, Histoire littéraire du peuple anglais, 1896. p. 240 n.

[54] Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 369.

[55] P. Meyer commends Gower's French (Romania, xxxii. p. 43).

[56] T. R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, London, 1892, p. 458.

[57] Livre ii. ch. xii.

[58] As in those of Olivier Basselin.

[59] Eustache Deschamps, Œuvres, ed. Crapelet, p. 91, quoted by Rathery, op. cit. p. 181 (cp. also English Political Songs, ed. T. Wright. Camden Soc., 1839).

[60] Jusserand, op. cit. p. 153 n. The fourteenth branch of the Roman is specially mentioned: cp. Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 369, n. 4.

[61] Brunot, op. cit. i. 330. It is not rare to find English pronunciation of French ridiculed in France, and Englishmen represented as talking a sort of gibberish; cp. Romania, xiv. pp. 99, 279, and Brunot, op. cit. p. 369 n.

[62] Behrens, op. cit. p. 957.

[63] Ed. E. Martin, 1882, l. 2351 sqq.

[64] Recueil général et complet des fabliaux, ed. Montaiglon et Raynaud, ii. p. 178.

[65] Maitland, Collected Papers, 1911, ii. p. 436; Freeman, op. cit. p. 536; Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 373.

[66] F. Watson, Religious Refugees and English Education, London, 1911, p. 6. There are numerous entries of such works in the Stationers' Register.

[67] Answer to Dr. Lindsey's epigram, Works, ed. 1841, i. p. 634.

[68] [H. Dell], The Frenchified Lady never in Paris, London, 1757.

[69] Pepys in his Diary notes the use of French in such phrases, and the Abbé Le Blanc (Lettres d'un Français sur les Anglais, à la Haye, 1745) was also struck by the custom.

[70] Bateson, Mediaeval England, p. 342; Warton, History of English Poetry, p. 10 n.

[71] Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd series, 1846, i. p. xi.

[72] M. A. E. Green (née Wood), Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, London, 1846; The Paston Letters, new edition by J. Gairdner, 3 vols., London, 1872-75; H. Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd series, London, 1846; J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, Letters of the Kings of England, London, 1846; C. L. Kingsford, English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century, Oxford, 1893, pp. 193 et seq.; Hallam, Literature of Europe, 6th ed., London, 1860, i. p. 54.

[73] "Que tout seigneur, baron, chevalier et honestes hommes de bonnes villes mesissent cure et dilligence de estruire et apprendre leurs enfans le langhe françoise, par quoy il en fuissent plus avec et plus costumier ens leurs gherres" (Froissart, quoted by Behrens, op. cit. p. 957 n.).

[74] Higden, ut supra.

CHAPTER II

THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

These great changes which took place in the status of French in England did not, however, affect fundamentally the popularity of the language: they had to do with Anglo-French alone. French, as distinct from this and as a foreign language, received more attention than ever before, especially from the higher classes, and from travellers and merchants. It was the language of politeness and refinement in the eyes of Englishmen, not only as a result of the Conquest, but for its inherent qualities; and so it retained this position when it gave way to English or Latin in other spheres where its predominance had been due, either directly or indirectly, to the Conquest. French had enjoyed a social reputation in England before the arrival of the invaders,[75] and had already made some progress towards becoming the language which the English loved and cultivated above all modern foreign tongues, and to which they devoted for a great many years more care than they did to their own. "Doulz françois," writes an Englishman at the end of the fourteenth century in a treatise for teaching the language,[76] is the most beautiful and gracious language in the world, after the Latin of the schools,[77] "et de tous gens mieulx prisée et amée que nul autre; quar Dieu le fist se doulce et amiable principalement a l'oneur et loenge de luy mesmes. Et pour ce il peut bien comparer au parler des angels du ciel, pour la grant doulceur et biaultée d'icel"—a more eloquent tribute even than the more famous lines of Brunetto Latini. Another writer of the same period informs us that "les bones gens du Roiaume d'Engleterre sont embrasez a scavoir lire et escrire, entendre et parler droit François," and that he himself thinks it is very necessary for the English to know the "droict nature de François," for many reasons.[78] For instance, that they may enjoy intercourse with their neighbours, the good folk of the kingdom of France; that they may better understand the laws of England, of which a great many are still written in French; and also because "beaucoup de bones choses sont misez en François," and the lords and ladies of England are very fond of writing to each other in the same tongue.[79]

As a result of the altered circumstances which were modifying the attitude of the English, there is a corresponding change in the standard of the French which the manuals for teaching that language sought to attain. All the best text-books of the end of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries endeavour with few exceptions to impart a knowledge of the French of Paris, "doux françois de Paris" or "la droite language de Paris," as it was called, in contrast with the French of Stratford-atte-Bowe and other parts of England. Those authors of treatises for teaching French of whose lives we have any details, had studied French in France, at Paris, Orleans, or some other University town. The fact that many of their productions still contain numbers of words belonging to the Norman and other dialects does not diminish the importance and significance of their more ambitious aims. These pioneer works on the French language, written in England by Englishmen without the guidance of any similar work produced in France, were bound to contain archaisms as well as anglicisms.[80]

Fluency in speaking French was the chief need of the classes of society in which the demand for instruction was greatest. Correctness in detail was only of secondary importance, and grammar, though desirable, was not considered indispensable. The importance of speaking French naturally brought the subject of pronunciation to the fore. No doubt most of the early teachers shared the opinions of their successors, that rules and theoretical information were of little avail in teaching the sounds of the language, compared with the practice of imitation and repetition; nevertheless, many of them attempted to supply some information on the subject. When, in the second decade of the fifteenth century, another writer based a new treatise for teaching French on the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, which had then been current for well over a century, the chief point in which it differed from its original was precisely in the provision of guidance to facilitate pronunciation.

This new treatise was styled Femina,[81] because just as the mother teaches her young child to speak his native tongue, so does this work teach children to speak French naturally.[82] It covers almost exactly the same ground as the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, but, as in the case of the earlier imitation of the same work, the Nominale, the order of arrangement varies, and the whole is permeated with a lively humour which makes it at least equal in interest to the work on which it is based. The French lines are octosyllabic and arranged in distichs, each pair being followed by an English translation, which is given in full, contrary to the practice in the earlier works of the same kind. The author endeavours to teach the French of France[83] as distinguished from that of England, and, although he lavishes provincialisms from the local dialects of France—Norman, Picard, Walloon—in the main they are French provincialisms, and many of them may be due to errors on the part of the scribe. To assist pronunciation notes are provided at the bottom of the page, giving pseudo-English equivalents of the sounds of words written otherwise in the text.

The treatise opens with an exhortation to the child to learn French that he may speak fairly before wise men, for "heavy is he that is not taught":

Cap: primum docet rethorice loqui de assimilitudine bestiarum.

a        b
Beau enfaunt pur apprendre
c                  d
En franceis devez bien entendre
Ffayre chyld for to lerne
In french ye schal wel understande

e
Coment vous parlerez bealment,
Et devaunt les sagez naturalment.
How ye schal speke fayre,
And afore ye wysemen kyndly.

f      g
Ceo est veir que vous dy,
h            i
Hony est il qui n'est norry.
That ys soth that y yow say
Hevy ys he that ys not taugth

k l
Parlez tout ditz com affaites
m
Et nenny come dissafaites
Spekep alway as man ys tauth
And not as man untauth.

Parlez imprimer de tout assemblé
n               o
Dez bestez que Dieu ad formé.
Spekep fyrst of manere assemble alle
Of bestes that God hath y maked.

(a) beau debet legi bev, (b) enfaunt, (c) fraunceys, (d) bein, (e) belement, (f) ce, (g) cet vel eyztt, (h) Iil, (i) neot, (k) toutdiz, (l) afetes, (m) dissafetes, (n) beetez, (o) dv et non Dieu.

The subsequent chapters deal with the same subjects as in Bibbesworth, and sometimes the wording is almost identical. The concluding chapter, "De moribus infantis," is taken from another source, and gives admonitions for discreet behaviour, quoting the moral treatise of the pseudo-Cato, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the like. The passage in which Femina deals with the upbringing of the child may be of interest, as showing how the later author repeats the earlier, while altering the wording; and as throwing some light on the way French was then learnt:

Et quaunt il court en graunt age

Mettez ly apprendre langage.

And when he runs in great age[84]

Put him to learn language.

En fraunceys a luy vous devez dire

Comez il doit soun corps discrire.

In French to him ye shall say

How first he shall his body describe.

Et pur ordre garder de moun et ma,

Toun et ta, son et sa, masculino et feminino.

And for order to kepe of mon and ma,

Toun and ta, soun and sa, for ma souneth.

Quia ma sonat feminino moun masculino.

To femynyn gender and moun to masculyn.

Cy que en parle soit bien apris,

Et de nule homme escharnis.

So that in speach he be well learned,

And of no man scorned.

At the end is a 'calendar,' or table of words arranged alphabetically in three parallel columns. The first gives the orthography of the word, the second the pronunciation, and the third the explanation of its meaning and construction, which usually takes the form of an English equivalent.

In the meanwhile the grammatical study of French was not neglected. There are still extant numerous small treatises[85] dealing with different aspects of French grammar, chiefly the flexions, and belonging to the end of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The conjugation of verbs receives special attention, and there are several manuscripts providing paradigms and lists of the chief parts of speech—often very incorrect, and of more value as showing the interest taken in French in England than as illustrating any development in the history of the conjugations of French verbs. The usual verbs described in these fragmentary works[86] are amo, habeo, sum, volo, facio, and the French paradigms are generally accompanied by Latin ones, on which they are naturally based, and which were intended to help the student to understand the French ("cum expositione earundem in Latinis"). The two most considerable of these works known add many verbs to the list mentioned above. Of these the first, the Liber Donati,[87] gives examples of law French rather than literary French;[88] but the other, written in French, endeavours to teach "douce françois de Paris"—cy comence le Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris.[89] The Donait belongs to the fifteenth century, and is the work of one R. Dove, who also wrote some Regulae de Orthographia Gallica in Latin,[90] which show considerable resemblance to those of the earlier Orthographia Gallica. The same is true of some of the rules devoted to orthography in the Liber Donati, which also owes something to the work of 'T. H., Student of Paris,' either in the original form, or, more probably, in the recast, due to Canon Coyfurelly. In this respect, Coyfurelly continues the efforts of the earlier writer to purify English spelling of French—efforts which at this time would meet with more success than was the case earlier.[91]

Another topic touched on in the Regulae of R. Dove is the formation of the plural of nouns, and of the feminine of adjectives. The substance of one of these rules may be quoted, as an example of the failure of these early writers to grasp general principles. All nouns ending in ge, like lange, says the grammarian, take s in the plural, as langes; all nouns ending in urc, as bourc, have z or s in the plural and drop the c, as bours; all nouns ending in nyn, as conyn, take s in the plural, as chemyns; all nouns ending in eyn, as peyn, form their plural by adding s, as peyns. Such is the rule for the formation of the plural of nouns, and that for the feminine of adjectives, which follows, is on the same lines. Pronouns also received some attention from these early grammarians. The Liber Donati[92] contains a few remarks on the personal, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, giving the different forms for the singular and plural and the various cases; thus it tells us that jeo and sometimes moy are used for I (ego) in the nominative case, and in other cases moy or me in the singular, while nous is used for the plural in all cases, and so forth.

We thus see that the verbs, nouns and pronouns received consideration, varying in degree, at the hands of these pioneers in French grammar. Neither were the indeclinable parts of speech neglected; at the end of the Liber Donati there is a list of some of these as well as of the ordinal and cardinal numbers in both Latin and French, while the Donait gives the numbers only. Some manuscripts contain lists of adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions in Latin and French.[93] Others give lists of the cardinal and ordinal numbers in French, and one adds to these a nomenclature of the different colours.[94] The names of the days, months, and feast-days were another favourite subject.

Of these small treatises that which nearest approaches the form of a comprehensive grammar is the Liber Donati, which includes observations on the orthography and pronunciation, on verbs and pronouns, and lists of adverbs, conjunctions, and numerals. But there appeared at the beginning of the fifteenth century, before 1409, a more comprehensive treatise of some real value—the Donait françois pur briefment entroduyr les Anglois en la droit langue du Paris et de pais la d'entour,[95] a work which but for its very many anglicisms might be placed on a level with some of the similar grammars of the sixteenth century.[96] The origin of this Donait is interesting. A certain Englishman, John Barton, born and bred in the county of Cheshire, but a student of Paris, and a passionate lover of the French language, engaged some good clerks to compose the Donait, at his own great cost and trouble, for the benefit of the English, who are so eager ("embrasez") to learn French.[97] Judging from the lines with which Barton closes his short but communicative preface, the work was intended mainly for the use of young people—the "chers enfants" and "tres douces pucelles," 'hungering' to learn French: "Pur ce, mes chiers enfantz et tresdoulcez puselles," he writes, "que avez fam d'apprendre cest Donait scachez qu'il est divisé en belcoup de chapiters si come il apperera cy avale." Barton then retires to make way for his 'clerks,' whose remarks are entirely confined to grammatical teaching and who, like Barton, write in French.

Most of the early treatises on French grammar which appeared in England are written in Latin. Latin appears to have been the medium through which French was learnt and explained to a large extent, although in the case of the riming vocabularies English was used for teaching the young children for whom these nomenclatures were chiefly written. But grammar, probably intended to be learnt by older students, was usually studied in Latin, which was also found to be a help in learning French. Students are told to base French orthography on that of Latin, and there are constant references from French words to their Latin originals. The Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris is apparently the only work of any importance written in French before that of Barton. English was not used for this purpose before the sixteenth century, when it was almost invariably employed, even by Frenchmen. A grammar such as Barton's would, no doubt, be read and translated with the help of a tutor; and it is highly probable that the children for whom it was intended would have previously acquired some practical knowledge of French from some such elementary treatise as Bibbesworth's vocabulary. Moreover, French was so generally in use in the higher classes of society, and had been for so long a kind of semi-national tongue, that it would hardly be approached as an entirely foreign language, as in later times. In writing a French grammar in French, Barton and those who followed the same course merely adopted for the teaching of French a method in common use in the teaching of Latin. The advisability of writing French grammars in French was a question, as we shall see, much discussed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as in much more recent times.

The clerks employed by Barton made free use of the observations on French grammar which had appeared previously. But their work had an additional value; the rules are stated with considerable clearness and are usually correct.[98] The opening chapters deal with the letters and their pronunciation, set forth, like the rest of the grammar, in a series of questions and answers:

Quantez letters est il? Vint. Quellez? Cinq voielx et quinse consonantez. Quelx sont les voielx et ou seroit ils sonnés? Le premier vouyel est a et serra sonné en la poetrine, la seconde est e et serra sonné en la gorge, le tiers est i et serra sonné entre les joues, le quart est o et serra sonné du palat de la bouche, le quint est u et serra sonné entre les levres.

To these observations on the vowels are added a few on the consonants, and "belcoup de bones rieules" (six in all) treating the avoidance of hiatus between two consonants and the effects of certain vowels and consonants on each other's pronunciation. Next come a few observations on the parts of speech; for "apres le Chapitre des lettres il nous fault dire des accidens." Instead of giving a number of isolated instances as rules for the formation of the plural, the general rule for the addition of s to the singular is evolved and emphasized by this advice: "Pour ceo gardez vous que vous ne mettez pas le singuler pour le pulier (pluriel) ne a contraire, si come font les sots." Further, we must avoid imitating the 'sottez gens,' to whom frequent reference is made, in using one person of a tense for another, and saying je ferra for je ferray.[99] In this section of the work the rules follow each other without any orderly arrangement.[100]

At about the same time an English poet is said to have written a French grammar, as another poet, Alexander Barclay, actually did later. An early bibliographer[101] includes in his list of Lydgate's works one entitled Praeceptiones Linguae Gallicae, in one book, of which no further trace remains to-day. Lydgate, however, was well acquainted with French; he made the customary foreign tour, besides visiting Paris again on a later occasion in attendance on noble patrons, and put his knowledge of the language to the test by translating or adapting several works from the French, like most contemporary writers.[102] The same early authority informs us that, as soon as Lydgate returned from his travels, he opened a school for the sons of noblemen, possibly at Bury St. Edmunds. Probably Lydgate wrote a French grammar for the use of these young noblemen, who would certainly have to learn the language; and, after serving their immediate purpose, these rules, we may surmise, were lost and soon forgotten.

In the fifteenth century, instruction in French epistolary style of all degrees continued to be supplied in collections of model letters; and at the end of the fourteenth century a new kind of book for teaching French appeared—the Manière de Langage or model conversation book, intended for the use of travellers, merchants, and others desiring a conversational and practical rather than a thorough and grammatical knowledge of French. Contrary to the custom, prevalent at this later period, of providing English translations, the earliest of these contain no English gloss, but simply the French text without any attempt at even the slight grammatical instruction provided in the vocabularies. Their sole purpose was to give the traveller or wayfarer a supply of phrases and expressions on the customary topics; grammatical instruction could be sought elsewhere.

The earliest of these[103] is the first work for teaching French to which a definite date can be assigned. A sort of dedication at the end is dated from Bury St. Edmunds, "la veille du Pentecote, 1396." We have not the same definite information as to the author.[104] The anglicisms make it clear that he was an Englishman, while the references to Orleans and its university, and the trouble there between the students and the townspeople in 1389, suggest that he was a student of that university, then much frequented by the English and other foreigners, especially law students. He may have been Canon M. T. Coyfurelly, Doctor of Law of Orleans,[105] and author of the contemporary recasting of T. H.'s treatise on French orthography. The author tells us he undertook his task at the request of a "tres honoré et tres gentil sire"; that he had learnt French "es parties la mere," and that he wrote according to the knowledge he acquired there, which, he admits, may not be perfect. Indeed his French is full of anglicisms; que homme is written for 'that man'; œuvrer for 'worker'; que for 'why,' and so on; there are also many grammatical mistakes such as wrong genders, au homme, de les for des, de le for du. This "manière" must have enjoyed a very considerable popularity, judging from the number of manuscripts, of various dates, still in existence. And, in modern times, it presents a greater interest to the reader than any of the treatises mentioned before, partly from the naïveté and quaintness of its style, partly owing to the vivid picture it gives us of the life of the time at which it was written.

It opens in a religious strain, with a prayer that the students of the book may have "sens naturel" to learn to speak, pronounce, and write "doulz françois":

A noster commencement nous dirons ainsi: en nom du pere, filz et Saint Esperit, amen. Ci comence la Maniere de Language qui t'enseignera bien a droit parler et escrire doulz françois selon l'usage et la coustume de France. Primiers, au commencement de nostre fait et besogne nous prierons Dieu devoutement et nostre Dame la benoite vierge Marie sa tres douce mere, et toute la glorieuse compaigne du Saint reaume de Paradis celeste, ou Dieux mette ses amis et ses eslus, de quoi vient toute science, sapience, grace et entendement et tous manieres vertuz, qu'il luy plaist de sa grande misericorde et grace tous les escoliers estudianz en cest livre ainsi abruver et enluminer de la rousée de sa haute sapience et entendement, qu'ils pouront avoir sens naturel d'aprendre a parler, bien soner et a droit escrire doulz françois.

Then, because man is the noblest of all created things, the author proceeds to give a list of the parts of his body, which recalls the old riming vocabularies. This, however, is the only portion in which conversation is sacrificed to vocabulary. In the rest of the work, though the vocabulary is increased by alternative phrases wherever possible, it is never allowed to encroach too much on the conversation.

The second chapter presents a scene between a lord and his page, in which the page receives minute instructions for commissions to the draper, the mercer, and upholsterer—an excellent opportunity of introducing a large choice of words. Conversation for travellers is the subject of the third chapter, the most important, and certainly the most interesting in the whole book. It tells, "Coment un homme chivalchant ou cheminant se doit contenir et parler sur son chemin qui voult aler bien loin hors de son pais." After witnessing the preparations for the journey, the reader accompanies the lord and his page through an imaginary journey in France. Dialogue and narrative alternate, and the lord talks with his page Janyn or whiles away the time with songs:

Et quant il aura achevée sa chanson il comencera a parler a son escuier ou a ses escuiers, ainsi disant: "Mes amys, il est bien pres de nuyt," vel sic: "Il sera par temps nuyt." Doncques respont Janyn au son signeur bien gentilment en cest maniere: "Vrayement mon seigneur, vous ditez verité"; vel sic: "vous ditez voir"; vel sic: "vous dites vray"—"Je panse bien qu'il feroit mieux pour nous d'arester en ce ville que d'aller plus avant maishuy. Coment vous est avis?"—"Ainsi comme vous vuillez, mon seigneur." "Janyn!"—"Mon signeur?"—"Va devant et prennez nostre hostel par temps."—"Si ferai-je, mon seigneur." Et s'en vait tout droit en sa voie, et quant il sera venu a l'ostel il dira tout courtoisement en cest maniere. "Hosteler, hosteler," etc.

The page then proceeds to make hasty preparations for the coming of his master to the inn, and we next assist at the arrival of the lord and his evening meal and diversions—another opportunity for the introduction of songs—and his departure in the morning towards Étampes and Orleans.

More humble characters appear in the next chapter: "Un autre manière de parler de pietalle, comme des labourers et œuvrers de mestiers." Here we have conversations between members of the working classes. A gardener and a ditcher discuss their respective earnings, describe their work, and finally go and dine together; a baker talks with his servant, and so gives us the names of the chief things used in his trade, just as the gardener gave a list of flowers and fruits. A merchant scolds his apprentice for various misdemeanours, and then sends him off to market:

Doncques l'apprentiz s'en vait au marchié pour vendre les danrées de son maistre et la vienment grant cop des gens de divers pais de les achater: et apprentiz leur dit tout courtoisement en cest maniere,—'Mes amis venez vous ciens et je vous monstrerai de aussi bon drap comme vous trouverez en tout ce ville, et vous en aurez de aussi bon marché comme nul autre. Ore regardez, biau sire, comment vous est avis; vel sic: comment vous plaist il;

and after some bargaining he sells his goods.

In the next "manière de parler" a servant brings a torn doublet to a mender of old clothes, and enlists his services. A chapter of more interest and importance is that dealing with greetings and salutations to be used at different times of the day to members of the various ranks of society:

Quant un homme encontrera aucun au matinée il luy dira tout courtoisement ainsi: "Mon signour Dieux vous donne boun matin et bonne aventure," vel sic: "Sire Dieux vous doint boun matin et bonne estraine, Mon amy, Dieux vous doint bon jour et bonne encontre." Et a midi vous parlerez en cest maniere: "Monsieur Dieux vous donne bon jour et bonnes heures"; vel sic: "Sire, Dieu vous beneit et la compaignie!" A peitaille vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous gart!" . . . Et as œuvrers et labourers vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous ait, mon amy,"

and so on. One traveller asks another whence he comes and where he was born, and the other says he comes from Orleans, where there is a fierce quarrel between the students and the townspeople; and was born in Hainaut, where they love the English well, and there is a saying that "qui tient un Henner (Hennuyer) par la main, tient un Englois par le cuer." We are next taught how to speak to children: "Quant vous verez un enfant plorer et gemir, vous direz ainsi: Qu'as tu, mon enfant," and comfort him, and when a poor man asks you for alms, you shall answer, "Mon amy, se je pourroi je vous aidasse tres volantiers. . . ."

From this we return to subjects more suited to merchants and wayfarers—how to inquire the road, and to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas-à-Becket. The work closes with a gathering of companions in an inn, which, like the rest of the chapters, is full of life and interest. Last of all, a sort of supplement is added in the form of a short poem on the drawbacks of poverty:

Il est hony qui pouveres est,

and a fatrasie in prose.

Another treatise of the same kind, written about three years later, was intended chiefly for the use of children, Un petit livre pour enseigner les enfantz de leur entreparler comun françois.[106] It was not the first of its kind. The metrical vocabularies of Bibbesworth and his successors were chiefly intended for the use of children. There is also some evidence to show that the grammatical treatises were used by children; the commentary was added to the Orthographica Gallica because the rules were somewhat obscure "pour jeosne gentz," and Barton, in his introduction, mentions the "chiers enfantz" and "tresdoulez puselles," as those whom his grammar particularly concerns.

In the Petit livre, however, the teaching is of the simplest kind, and specially suited to children. The dialogue lacks the interest of the earlier 'manière,' and inclines, in places, to become a list of phrases pure and simple. The work opens abruptly with the words: "Pour ce sachez premierement que le an est divisé en deux, c'est asscavoir le yver et la esté. Le yver a six mois et la esté atant, que vallent douse," and so on to the other divisions of the year and time. The children are then taught the numbers in French, the names of the coins, and those of the persons and things with which they come into daily contact. Then follow appropriate terms for addressing and greeting different persons, and the author even goes so far as to provide the child with a stock of insulting terms for use in quarrels. The rest of the treatise does not appear to be intended for children. There are conversations in a tavern, lists of salutations, familiar talk for the wayside and for buying and selling, all of which has little special interest, and is designed apparently to meet the needs of merchants more than any other class. In the chatter on the events of the day there occurs a passage which enables us to date the work. The traveller tells the hostess of the captivity of Richard II. as a recent event:

"Dieu, dame, j'ay ouy dire que le roy d'Angleterre est osté."—"Quoy desioie!"—"Par ma alme voir."—"Et les Anglois n'ont ils point de roy donques?"—"Marie, ouy, et que celuy que fust duc de Lancastre, que est nepveu a celluy que est osté."—"Voire?"—"Voire vraiement."—"Et le roygne que fera elle?"—"Par dieu dame, je ne sçay, je n'ay pas esté en conceille."—"Et le roy d'Angleterre ou fust il coronné?"—"A Westmynstre."—"Fustez vous la donques?"—"Marie, oy, il y avoit tant de presse que par un pou que ne mouru quar a paine je eschapey a vie."—"Et ou serra il a nouvel?"—"Par ma foy je ne sçay, mais l'en dit qu'il serra en Escoce."

The authorship is not so easy to ascertain. The manual may be due to Canon T. Coyfurelly, probable author of the earlier and better-known work also.[107] The many mistakes and anglicisms, such as quoy for quelle ('what') and the exclamatory 'Marie' in the quotation just given, show it to be the work of an Englishman.

Another book of conversation appeared in 1415,[108] as may be gathered from its first two chapters, in which a person fresh from the wars in France tells of the siege of Harfleur and the battle of Agincourt, and announces the return of the victorious English army. The rest of the dialogues are represented as taking place in and about Oxford. There is the usual tavern scene. Travellers from Tetsworth arrive at an Oxford inn, and are present at the evening meal and diversions. The hostess describes the fair at Woodstock and the articles bought and sold there; her son, a boy of twelve years, wants to be apprenticed in London; he goes to the school of Will Kyngesmylle, where writing, counting, and French are taught. One of the merchants calls the lad and questions him as to his knowledge of French: "Et que savez vous en fraunceys dire?—Sir je say moun noun et moun corps bien descrire.—Ditez moy qu'avez a noun.—J'ay a noun Johan, bon enfant, beal et sage et bien parlant engleys, fraunceys et bon normand, beneyt soit la verge que chastie l'enfant et le bon maistre qui me prist taunt! Je pri a Dieu tout puissant nous graunte le joye tous diz durant!" The lad then proceeds to give proof of his knowledge by naming the parts of his body and his clothing, always, it appears, the first things learnt.

This reference to the teaching of French in the school of an Oxford pedagogue shows that, though French had at this time lost all standing in the Grammar Schools, it was still taught in private establishments.[109] It seems highly probable that Will Kyngesmylle was the author of this work, and that he used his text-book as a means of self-advertisement, a method very common among later teachers of French. At the close comes a chapter belonging to another work of the same type, which is only preserved in this fragment; no doubt other such works existed and have been entirely lost.

It is likely that in the fifteenth century these conversational manuals supplanted, to a considerable extent, the earlier type of practical manual for teaching French—the metrical vocabulary—with which they had something in common. At any rate, there is no copy of such nomenclatures extant after Femina (1415). The 'manières' provided in their dialogues much of the material found in the vocabularies, giving, wherever possible, groups of words on the same topics—the body, its clothing, houses, and men's occupations. Further, the vocabularies, which had never departed from the type instituted by Bibbesworth in the thirteenth century, dealt more with the feudal and agricultural life of the Middle Ages, and so had fallen behind the times. The 'Manières de Langage' were more in keeping with the new conditions. Towards the end of the century (and perhaps at the beginning of the sixteenth century) we come to a manual,[110] which, while resembling the 'manières' in most points, reproduces some of the distinctive external marks of the vocabularies. For instance, the French is arranged in short lines, which, however, do not rime, and vary considerably in the number of syllables they contain; and these are followed by a full interlinear English gloss, as in the later vocabularies. The subject matter, however, is similar to that of the early conversation books. First comes gossip at taverns and by the wayside:

Ditez puisse ie savement aler?

Saie may I saufly goo?

Ye sir le chemyn est sure assez.

Yes sir the wey is sure inough.

Mes il convent que vous hastez.

But it behoveth to spede you.

Sir dieu vous donne bon aventure.

Sir god geve you good happe.

Sir a dieu vous commaunde.

Sir to god I you betake.

Sir dieu vous esploide.

Sir god spede you.

Sir bon aventure avez vous.

Sir good chaunce have ye.

Sir par saint Marie cy est bon servise.

Sir by saint Marie her is good ale.

Sir pernes le hanappe, vous comenceres.

Sir take the coppe, ye shal beginne.

Dame ie ne feray point devaunt vous.

Dame I wil not doo bifor you.

Sir vous ferrez verrement.

Sir ye shal sothely.

After some disconnected discourse on inquiring the time, asking the way, etc., we again return to the tavern:

Dame dieu vous donne bon jour.

Dame god geve you good daie.

Dame avez hostel pour nous trois compaignons?

Dame have ye hostel for us iij felowes?

Sir quant longement voudrez demourer?

Sir how long wol ye abide?

Dame nous ne savons point.

Dame we wote not.

Et que vouldrez donner le iour pour vostre table?

And what wil ye geve a daie for your table?

Dame que vouldrez prendr pour le iour?

Dame what wol ye take for the daie?

Sir non meynns que vj deniers le iour.

Sir noo lesse thenne vj d. the day ... etc.

Next comes the usual scene between buyers and sellers, followed by another inn scene of greater length. After attending to their horses, the travellers sup and spend the night at the inn, and set out the next morning after reckoning with their hostess. The manuscript ends abruptly in the midst of a list of salutations. The nature of the French[111] betrays the author's nationality; he was evidently an Englishman. As to the English, the quaint turn given to many of the phrases is usually explained by the writer's desire to give a literal translation of the French; many of the inaccuracies in both versions are probably due to careless work on the part of the scribe.

Merchants thus appear to have been one of the chief classes among which there was a demand for instruction in French. In addition to the large part assigned to them in the 'Manières de Langage,' and in the epistolaries, where letters of a commercial nature are a usual feature, there exist collections of model forms for drawing up bills, indentures, receipts and other documents of similar import. They are usually called 'cartularies,' are accompanied by explanations in Latin, and may be looked upon as the first text-books of commercial French.[112] One author explains their origin and aim by this introductory remark:[113] "Pour ceo qe j'estoie requis par ascunz prodeshommez de faire un chartuarie pour lour enfantz enformer de faire chartours, endenturs, obligations, defesance, acquitancez, contuaries, salutaries, en Latin et Franceys ensemblement . . . fesant les chartours, escripts munimentz a de primes en Latyn et puis en Franceys."

More emphasis is laid on the demand for instruction in French among the merchant class by the fact that the earliest printed text-books were designed chiefly for their use. The first of these may be classed with the new development of the 'Manières de Langage,' comprising dialogues in French and English, although it does not exactly answer to this description.[114] It was issued from the press of William Caxton in about 1483, and at least one other edition appeared at a later date.[115] In form it is a sort of narrative in French, with an English translation opposite. The aim of the work is stated clearly in an introductory passage which informs the reader that "who this book shall learn may well enterprise merchandise from one land to another and to know many wares which to him shall be good to be bought, or sold for rich to become." Caxton thus recommends the book to the learner:

Tres bonne doctrine | Rygt good lernyng
Pour aprendre | For to lerne
Briefment fransoys et engloys. | Shortly frenssh & englyssh.
Au nom du pere | In the name of the fadre
Et du filz | And of the soone
Et du sainte esperite | And of the holy ghost
Veul comnencier | I wyll begynne
Et ordonner ung livre, | And ordeyne this book,
Par le quel on pourra | By the which men shall mowe
Raysonnablement entendre | Resonably understande
Françoys et Anglois, | Frenssh and Englissh,
Du tant comme cest escript | Of as moche as this writing
Pourra contenir et estendre, | Shall conteyne & stratche,
Car il ne peut tout comprendre. | For he may not all comprise.
Mais ce qu'on n'y trouvera | But that which cannot be founden
Declairé en cestui | Declared in this
Pourra on trouver ailleurs | Shall be founde somwhere els
En aultres livres. | In other bookes.
Mais sachies pour voir | But knowe for truthe
Que es lignes de cest aucteur | That in the lynes of this auctour
Sount plus de parolles et de raysons | Ben moo wordes & reasons
Comprinses, et de responses | Comprised, & of answers
Que en moult d'aultres livres. | Than in many other bookes.
Qui ceste livre vouldra aprendre | Who this booke shall wylle lerne
Bien pourra entreprendre | May well enterprise
Merchandises d'un pays a l'autre, | Marchandise fro one land to anoothir,
Et cognoistre maintes denrées | And to know many wares
Que lui seroient bon achetés | Which to him shall be good to be bought
Ou vendues pour riche devenir. | Or sold for rich to become.
Aprendes ce livre diligement, | Lerne this book diligently,
Grande prouffyt y gyst vrayement. | Grete prouffyt lieth therein truly.

The 'doctrine' itself opens with a list of salutations with the appropriate answers. A house and all its contents come next, then its inhabitants, which introduces the subject of degrees of kinship:

Or entendes petys et grands,
Je vous dirai maintenant
Dune autre matere
La quele ie commence.
Se vous estes mariés
Et vous avez femme
Et vous ayez marye,
Se vous maintiens paisiblement
Que vos voisins ne disent
De vous fors que bien:
Ce seroit vergoigne.
Se vous aves pere et mere,
Si les honnourés tousiours;
Faictes leur honneur;. . .
Si vous aves enfans,
Si les instrues
De bonnes meurs;
Le temps qu'ilz soient josnes
Les envoyes a l'escole
Aprendre lire et escripre. . . .

At the end of the category come the servants and their occupations, which affords an opportunity of bringing in the different shops to which they are sent and of specifying the meat and drink they purchase there. We then pass to buying, selling, and bargaining in general, and to merchandise of all kinds, with a list of coins, popular fairs, and fête-days.

After an enumeration of the great persons of the earth comes the main chapter of the work, giving a fairly complete list of crafts and trades. This takes the form of an alphabetical list of Christian names, each of which is made to represent one of the trades, beginning with Adam the ostler: "For this that many words shall fall or may fall which be not plainly heretofore written, so shall I write you from henceforth divers matters of all things, first of one thing, then of another, in which chapter I will conclude the names of men and women after the order of a, b, c." The baker may be selected as a fair example:

Ferin le boulengier | Fierin the baker
Vend blanc pain et brun. | Selleth whit brede and brown.
Il a sour son grenier gisant | He hath upon his garner lieng
Cent quartiers de bled. | One hundred quarters of corn.
Il achete a temps et a heure, | He byeth in tyme and at hour,
Si qu'il n'a point | So that he hath not
Du chier marchiet. | Of the dere chepe (high buying prices).

At last the author, "all weary of so many names to name, of so many crafts, so many offices, so many services," finds relief in certain considerations of a religious order: "God hath made us unto the likeness of himself, he will reward those who do well and punish those who do not repent of their sins, and attend the holy services: If ye owe any pilgrimages, so pay them hastily; when you be moved for to go your journey, and ye know not the waye, so axe it thus." The usual directions for inquiring the way follow with the description of the arrival at an inn, and the customary gossip. The reckoning and departure on the following morning afford an opportunity of including a further list of Flemish and English coins together with the numerals; and Caxton concludes his work by commending it to the reader with a prayer that those who study it may persevere sufficiently to profit by it:

Cy fine ceste doctrine, | Here endeth this doctrine,
A Westmestre les Loundres | At Westmestre by London
En formes impressée, | In fourmes enprinted,
En le quelle ung chaucun | In the whiche one everish
Pourra briefment aprendre | May shortly lerne
François et Engloys. | French and English.
La grace de sainct esperit | The grace of the holy ghosst
Veul enluminer les cures | Wylle enlyghte the hertes
De ceulx qui le aprendront, | Of them that shall lerne it,
Et nous doinst perseverance | And us gyve perseverans
En bonnes operacions, | In good werkes,
Et apres cest vie transitorie | And after lyf transitorie
La pardurable ioye et glorie! | The everlasting ioye and glorie!

The short introduction and epilogue were most probably the composition of Caxton himself. The rest of the book is drawn from a set of dialogues in French and Flemish, first written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, called Le Livre des Mestiers in reference to its main chapter.[116] This would possibly be known to merchants trading with Bruges and other centres of the Low Countries; and when we notice the numerous points of resemblance between it and the English manuals of conversation, the first of which did not appear before the end of the same century, it seems very probable that the Flemish original had some influence on the works produced in England. Caxton was a silk mercer of London, and his business took him to the towns of the Low Countries, especially Bruges, where the English merchants had a large commercial connexion. There, no doubt, he became acquainted with the Livre des Mestiers, and probably improved his knowledge of French by its help, for he studied and read the language a good deal during his long sojourn abroad. There also he probably added an English column to his copy of the French-Flemish phrase-book, as a sort of exercise rather than with any serious intention of publication; and when he had set up his press at Westminster, remembering the need he had felt for French, in his own commercial experience, and the little book which had assisted him, he would decide to print it. Caxton's copy of the Livre des Mestiers belonged, no doubt, to a later date than the one extant to-day,[117] probably to the beginning of the fifteenth century. It must have been fuller, and have had different names attached to the characters, so that, as the names are still arranged in alphabetical order, it is difficult, at a glance, to distinguish the identity of the two texts.

Caxton's rendering of the French is often inaccurate, owing perhaps to the influence of the Flemish version from which he seems to have made his translation.[117] Moreover, at the early date at which Caxton, probably, added the English column to the Livre des Mestiers, his knowledge of French had not yet reached that state of thoroughness which was to enable him to translate such a remarkable number of French works into English. He himself tells us in the prologue to the Recuyell of the Histories of Troy of Raoul le Fèvre (Bruges, 1475)—the first of his translations from the French, and, indeed, the first book to be printed in English—that his knowledge of French was not by any means perfect. With the exception of the introductory and closing sentences, Caxton made few additions to his original. He did indeed supply the names of English towns, coins, bishoprics, and so on; but, on the whole, the setting of the work is foreign; Bruges, not London, is the centre of the action, and no doubt the place where the original was composed.

Not long after the publication of Caxton's doctrine another work of like character and purpose appeared. It claims to be "a good book to learn to speak French for those who wish to do merchandise in France, and elsewhere in other lands where the folk speak French." The atmosphere is entirely English, and consequently its contents bear a closer resemblance to its English predecessors. In the arrangement of the dialogue it is identical with the Cambridge conversation book, except that the English lines come before the French, and not the French before the English.[118] The four subjects round which the dialogue turns, namely, salutations, buying and selling, inquiring the way, and conversation at the inn, were all favourites in the early "Manières de Langage." For the rest it follows in the steps of its English predecessors in confining itself to dialogue pure and simple, while Caxton's 'doctrine' adopted the narrative form. In one point, however, the work differs from the latest development of the old "Manière de Langage," as preserved in the Cambridge Dialogues in French and English; the dialogues are followed by a vocabulary, then a reprint of one of the old books on courtesy and demeanour for children, with a French version added, and finally commercial letters in French and English. The work is thus made much more comprehensive than any of its type which had as yet appeared, and includes samples, so to speak, of all the practical treatises for teaching French which had appeared in the Middle Ages.

It was printed separately by the two chief printers of the time, both foreigners: Richard Pynson, a native of Normandy and student of Paris, who came to England and began printing on his own account about 1590-1591; and Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Alsace, and apprentice to Caxton, with whom he probably came to England from Bruges in 1476, and to whose business he succeeded in 1491.[119] Although neither of the printers dated their work, it seems probable that the earliest edition was issued by Pynson. There is a unique copy of his edition in the British Museum; it is without title-page, pagination, or catch-words, and the colophon reads simply "Per me Ricardum Pynson." The colophon of Wynkyn's work, of which there is a complete copy in the Grenville Library (British Museum),[120] and a fragment of two leaves in the Bodleian, is slightly more instructive and runs as follows: "Here endeth a lytyll treatyse for to lern Englyshe and Frensshe. Emprynted at Westmynster by my Wynken de Worde." Now as Wynkyn moved from Westminster in 1500 to set up his shop in the centre of the trade in Fleet Street, opposite to that of his rival Pynson, his edition of the work must have appeared before that date, because it was issued from what had been Caxton's house in Westminster. On the other hand, the type used by Pynson is archaic,[121] and the work is evidently one of the earliest issued from his press. It is inferior to Wynkyn's edition from the technical point of view. A headline is all there is by way of title; while in Wynkyn's copy we find a separate title-page, containing the words, "Here begynneth a lytell treatyse for to lern Englishe and Frensshe," and a woodcut of a schoolmaster seated in a large chair, with a large birch-rod in his left hand, and, on a stool at his feet, three small boys holding open books. This particular woodcut was a favourite in school-books of the period;[122] it appears, for instance, in a little treatise entitled Pervula, giving instructions for turning English into Latin, which Wynkyn de Worde printed about 1495.[123] Moreover, each page of Wynkyn's edition has a descriptive headline, "Englysshe and Frensshe," which is not found in Pynson's. The text also is in many places more accurate than that of the Norman printer, and gives the impression of having been corrected here and there. It is therefore probable that Pynson first printed the treatise shortly after 1490,[124] and that another edition was issued by Wynkyn de Worde during the period intervening between the date of the issue of Pynson's edition and the end of the century. A remnant, consisting of one page of yet another edition, is preserved in the British Museum, and shows some variations in spelling from the two other texts.

This little book, then, seems to have enjoyed considerable popularity during its short life. On the whole it is more elementary in character than the 'doctrine' of Caxton. The first things taught are the numbers and a list of ordinary mercantile phrases. The opening passage is very much like that written by Caxton for his work:

Here is a good boke to lerne to speke Frenshe.

Vecy ung bon livre apprendre parler françoys.

In the name of the fader and the sone

En nom du pere et du filz

And of the holy goost, I wyll begynne

Et du saint esperit, je vueil commencer

To lerne to speke Frensshe,

A apprendre a parler françoys,

Soo that I maye doo my marchandise

Affin que je puisse faire ma marchandise

In Fraunce & elles where in other londes,

En France et ailieurs en aultre pays,

There as the folk speke Frensshe.

La ou les gens parlent françoys.

And fyrst I wylle lerne to reken by lettre.

Et premierement je veux aprendre a compter par lettre. . . .

Next come the cardinal numbers and a vocabulary of words "goode for suche as use marchaundyse":

Of gold & sylver.

D'or et d'argent.

Of cloth of golde.

De drap d'or.

Of perles & precyous stones.

De perles et Pieres precieuses.

Of velvet & damaskes.

De velours et damas etc. . . .

and so on for nearly a page, in which the names of various cloths, spices, and wines are provided.

Then follows another "manner of speeche" in a list of salutations arranged in dialogue form:

Other maner of speche in frensshe.

Autre magniere de langage en françoys.

Syr, God gyve you good daye.

Sire, Dieu vous doint bon iour.

Syr, God gyve you goode evyn.

Sire, Dieu vous doint bon vespere.

Syr, God gyve you goode nyght & goode reste.

Sire, Dieu vous doint bon nuyt et bon repos.

Syr, how fare ye?

Sire, comment vous portez vous?

Well at your commaundement.

Bien a vostre commandement.

How fare my lorde & my lady?

Coment se porte mon seigneur et ma dame?

Ryght well blessyd be God.

Tres bien benoit soit Dieu.

Syr, whan go ye agayne to my lorde,

Sire, quant retournez vous a mon seigneour,

I praye you that ye wyll recommaunde me unto hym,

Je vous prie que me recomandez a lui,

And also to my lady his wyfe.

Et aussi a ma dame sa femme.

Syr, God be wyth you.

Sire, Dieu soit avecques vous.

Yet another favourite subject is next introduced—a conversation on buying and selling:

Other maner of speche to bye and selle.

Aultre magniere de langage pour vendre et achatter.

Syr, God spede you.

Sire, Dieu vous garde.

Syr, have ye not good cloth to sell?

Sire, n'avez vous point de bon drapt a vendre?

Ye syr ryght good.

Ouy sire tres bon.

Now lette me see it and it please you.

Or le me laisses voir s'il vous plest.

I shall doo it with a good wyll.

Je le feray voulentiers.

Holde, here it is.

Tenez sire, le veez cy.

Now saye how moche the yerde is worthe

Or me dites combyen l'aune vault.

Ten shelynges.

Dix solz.

Forsothe ye set it to dere.

Vrayment vous le faictez trop cher.

I shall gyve you eyght shelynges.

Je vous en donneray huyt soulz.

I wyll not, it is to lytell.

Non feroy, cest trop pou.

The yerde shall coste you nyne shelynges,

L'aune vous coustra neuf soulz,

Yf that ye have it.

Si vous l'airez.

Ye shall have it for no lasse.

Vous ne l'avrez pour riens mains.

The merchant has also to be able to ask for directions on his way, and to gossip with the landlady of the wayside inn; the phrases necessary for these purposes are recorded in the next "manner of speech," where, as in the first treatise of 1396, the scene is laid in France:

For to aske the waye.

Pour demander le chemin.

Frende, God save you.

Amy, Dieu vous sauve.

Whiche is the ryght waye

Quelle est la voye droite

For to goo from hens to Parys?

Pour aller d'icy a Paris?

Syr, ye muste holde the waye on the ryght hande.

Sire, il vous fault tenir le chemin a la droite main.

Now saye me, my frende,

Or me ditez, mon amy,

Yf that any good lodginge

Y a il point de bon logis

Be betwixt this and the next vyllage?

Entre cy et ce prochayn village?

There is a ryght good one.

Il en y a ung tres bon.

Ye shall be there ryght well lodged,

Vous serez tres bien logé,

Ye & also your horse.

Vous et aussi vostre chevaul.

My frende, God yelde it you,

Mon ami, Dieu vous le rende,

And I shall doo an other tyme

Et ie feraye ung aultre foiz

As moche for you and I maye.

Autant pour vous se ie puis.

God be with you.

Dieu soit avecques vous.

The passage proceeds to describe, always in the form of a dialogue, the traveller's arrival at the inn, his entertainment there, and his departure:

Dame, shall I be here well lodged?

Dame, seroy ie icy bien logé?

Ye syr, ryght well.

Ouy sire, tres bien.

Nowe doo me have a good chambre

Or me faites avoir ungue bonne chambre

And a good fyre,

Et bon feu,

And doo that my horse

Et faites que mon chevaul

Maye be well governed,

Puisse estre bien gouverné,

And gyve hym good hay and good otes.

Et lui donnés bon foin et bon avoine.

Dame, is all redy for to dyne?

Dame, est tout prest pour aller digner?

Ye syr, whan it please you.

Oui sire, quant il vous plaise.

Syr, moche good do it you.

Sire, bon preu vous face.

I praye you make good chere

Je vous prie faictez bonne chere

And be mery, I drynke to you.

Et soyez ioieux, ie boy a vous.

Now, hostes, saye me how moche have we spende at this dyner.

Hostesse, or me dites combien nous avons despendu a ce digner.

I shall tell you with a good wyll.

Je vous le diray voulentiers.

Ye have in alle eyght shelyngs.

Vous avez en tout huyt solz.

Nowe well holde your sylver and gramercy.

Or bien tenez vostre argent et grandmercy.

Do my horse come to me.

Or me faittz venir mon cheval.

Is he sadled and redy for to ryde?

Est il sellé et appointé pour chevaucher?

Ye syr, all redy.

Ouy sire, tout prest.

Now fare well and gramercy.

Or adiu et grandmercy.

Here the 'manière de langage' ends. It is followed by a list of nouns arranged under headings. The enumeration begins with the parts of the body,[125] followed by the clothing and armour—a list containing valuable information on the fashions of the time; then come the natural phenomena, the sun, the stars, water, the winds, and so on; the products of the earth and the food they supply, and finally, the names of the days of the week. With the exception of the last page, each word is preceded by a possessive adjective or an article indicating its gender. The English rendering is sometimes placed above the French word, sometimes opposite.

After the vocabulary, which covers nearly five pages, comes the courtesy book in English and French, occupying the next seven pages. It is a reprint of the Lytylle Chyldrenes Lytil Boke,[126] which contains a set of maxims for discreet behaviour at meals, in which children are told not to snatch meat from the table before grace is said; not to throw bones on the floor; nor pick their teeth with their knife; nor do many other things, which, when we remember that such books were intended for the instruction of the gentry, throw interesting sidelights on contemporary manners. The inclusion of such precepts for children in a text-book for teaching French was not without precedent; in the last of the series of riming vocabularies, Femina (1415), there is a collection of moral maxims taken, in this instance, from the ancient writers, and printed in Latin, French, and English.

In conclusion, the author reverts to the more strictly commercial side of the treatise, with two letters, given in both French and English. One is from an apprentice who writes to his master reporting on some business he is transacting at Paris, and asking for more money. In the second a merchant communicates to his 'gossip' the news of the arrival at London and Southampton of ships laden with rich merchandise, and proposes that they should "find means and ways in this that their shops shall be well stuffed of all manner of merchandise." In both these letters the English comes first:

A prentyse wryteth to his mayster, fyrste in Englysshe and after in frensshe.[127]

Ryght worshypful syr, I recommaunde me unto you as moche as I may, and please you wete that I am in ryght goode helth thanked be God. To whome I praye that so it may be of you and of all your good frendes. As for the mater for the whiche ye sent me to Parys, I have spoken with kynges advocate the which sayd to me I must go to the kynge and enfourme his royalle majeste thereof, and have specyal commaundement. Therfore consyderynge the tyme I have taryed at Parys in the pursute of this and the grete coste and expence done bycause of this. Please you for to knowe that for to pursue that mater unto the kyng, the which is at Monthason next Tours, and for to go thyder it is nedefull to sende me some monye and with the grace of God I shalle do suche dylygence that I shall gete your hertes desyre. No more wryte I to you at this tyme but God have you in hys protectyon. Wryten hastely the XIX daye of this moneth.

Tres honnoré sire, ie me recommande a vous tant comme je puis, et plaise vous savoir que ie suis en tres bonne santé la marcy Dieu au quel ie prie que ainsi soit il de vous et de tous vos bons amys. Quant pour la matiere pour la quelle vous me envoiastes a Parys, g'ay parlé avec l'advocat du roy le quel m'a dit quil me fault aller au roy et advertir sa royalle maiesté de ce et ay un specyal commandement. Pource consyderant le temps que j'ay attendu a Paris en cest poursuite et lez granz costz et despens faitz par cause de ce. Plaise vous savoir que pour poursuir ceste matiere au roy, le qyel est a Monthason pres Tours, et pour aller la il est mestier de m'enuoyer de l'argent. Et avecques la grace de Dieu je feray telle diligence que aurez ce que vostre cueur desire. Aultre chos ne vous escripz a ceste foiz mays que Dieu vous ayt en sa protection. Escript hastivement le dixneufieme jour du moys.

And so ends this interesting little book.[128] The texts of the two complete editions are in the main identical. The arrangement of the matter on the pages is different, and the spelling of the words, both French and English, varies considerably. Slips which occur in Pynson's text, such as the rendering of 'neuf' by 'ten,' or the accidental omission of a word in the French version, are sometimes corrected in Wynkyn's version. On the other hand, similar mistakes, though much fewer in number, are found in Wynkyn's edition and not in Pynson's; while yet others are common to both the printers. Dialect forms are scattered through the two editions with equal capriciousness. Both texts contain a few anglo-normanisms. Pynson's shows numerous characteristics of the North-Eastern dialects, Picard or Lorrain, but at times there is a Picard form in Wynkyn's version, where the pure French form occurs in the other. Apart from such variations, the wording of the two editions is usually similar. In cases where it differs, the improvements are found in Wynkyn's edition, in spite of the fact that, as a general rule, the output of Pynson's press reaches a higher literary level than that of the more business-like Alsatian. This exception may, no doubt, be explained by the fact that Pynson was the first to print the Good Book to learn to speak French.[129] Yet here again mistakes are sometimes common to both texts, as, for instance, the rendering of the lines:

For the clerks that the seven arts can
Sythen that courtesy from heaven came,

by the French:

Pour les clers qui les sept arts savent
Puisque courtoisie de paradis vint,

in which the wrong interpretation of the English 'for' (conjunction) and 'sythen' (taken as meaning 'since,' not 'say') destroys the sense.

On the whole, the impression conveyed by the perusal of the two editions is that the work is a compilation of treatises already in existence in manuscript. Neither the letters nor the vocabulary present any strikingly new features. The origin of the courtesy book is known, and it is even possible that the fragment of one leaf preserved belongs, not to another edition of the Good Book to learn to speak French, but to an earlier edition of the courtesy book in French and English, printed probably by Caxton, with the intention of imparting a knowledge of polite behaviour and of the favourite language of polite society at the same time. The fact that it reproduces the original courtesy book more fully than does either of the complete texts of Wynkyn and Pynson, suggests that it belonged to some such edition, or to an edition of the Good Book earlier than either of these. As to the dialogues, they may have belonged to the group of conversational manuals, which were, no doubt, fairly numerous. Caxton, while maintaining that his 'doctrine' contains more than "many other books," adds: "That which cannot be found declared in it, shall be found elsewhere in other books." That such practical little books shared the fate of the great majority of school manuals is not surprising.

The hypothesis that the work is a compilation of older treatises would, moreover, explain the variations in the quality of the French. The dialogues and letters, it would appear, were in the first place written by Englishmen. Pynson corrected them here and there, without, however, eliminating all the anglicisms, archaisms, and provincial forms; and when they passed through the hands of Wynkyn they underwent still further emendation. The English version contains gallicisms, just as the French contains anglicisms,[130] which were, however, probably due to a desire to make the English tally with the French. This same supposition also makes it easier to understand how it came about that the treatise was printed by the two rival printers within the space of a few years, and explains how it was they repeated the same obvious mistakes.

Thus, of the matter found in the mediaeval treatises for teaching French, grammar rules alone are unrepresented in this Good Book. Its aim is entirely practical. It seeks to teach those who wish to "lerne to speke Frensshe" for practical purposes, that is, "to do their merchaundise," and there is no mention of any deeper or wider knowledge of the language. That the work was intended for the use of children as well as for merchants is shown by the introduction of the courtesy book, and, in the later edition, of the favourite frontispiece for children's school-books described above. But these do not form a vital part of the work itself, and are mere supplements, added probably with the intention of increasing the public to which the book would appeal. The children who used it, we may assume, would probably be of the class of the boy, "John, enfant beal et sage," who appears in the 'manière' of 1415, and learns French that he may the more quickly achieve his end of being apprenticed to a London merchant. To such children the apprentice's letter quoted above would be of much interest.

Grammar did not hold a very large place in the teaching of French at this time. Practice and conversation were the usual methods of acquiring a knowledge of spoken French, and no doubt such books as those of Caxton and of Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde found many eager students. The two editions of the first and the three editions of the second with which we are acquainted, all of which probably appeared in the course of the last decade of the fifteenth century, bear testimony to this. Reference has already been made to the probable existence of numerous works of a similar scope in manuscript, and later in print. Such were the "little pages, set in print, with no precepts," to which Claude Holyband, the most popular French teacher of London in the second half of the sixteenth century, refers with contempt; he accuses them of wandering from the 'true phrase' of the language, and of teaching nothing of the reading and pronunciation, "which is the chiefest point to be considered in that behalf," and hence of serving but little to the "furtherance of the knowledge of the French tongue." Yet, though such was the case in all these early works, they seem, without exception, to have enjoyed great popularity at the time they were written, when to speak French fluently was an all-important matter. The difficulty of this accomplishment was realised to the full. We find it expressed in a few disconnected sentences added in French probably at the beginning of the sixteenth century, at the end of the 'manière de langage' of 1396: "We need very long practice before we are able to speak French perfectly," says the anonymous writer, evidently an Englishman, "for the French and English do not correspond word for word, and the fine distinctions are difficult to seize." He proceeds to urge the necessity of a glib tongue in making progress in French, and quotes the case of an unfortunate man, good fellow though he might otherwise be, who lacked this faculty: "Il ne luy avient plus a parler franceis qu'à une vache de porter une selle, a cause que sa langue n'est pas bien afilée, et pour cela n'entremette il pas à parler entre les fraunceis."

In the early part of the sixteenth century, however, French began to be studied with more thoroughness in England. Communication with France and the tour in France were no longer fraught with the same dangers and difficulties, and favoured the use of a purer form of French. Fluent was no longer sufficient without correct pronunciation and grammar. The standard of French taught was also raised by the arrival of numerous Frenchmen, who made the teaching of their language the business of their lives. Further, the spread of the art of printing had rendered French literature more accessible, and supplied a rich material from which the rules of the language might be deduced. And so it became possible for John Palsgrave, the London teacher and student of Paris, to complete the first great work on the French language, in which, however, he did not forget to render due homage to his humble predecessors,[131] then fast passing into oblivion.

FOOTNOTES:

[75] Freeman, Norman Conquest, ii., 1868, pp. 16 sqq., 28 sqq.

[76] Manière de Langage, 1396; cp. infra, p. 35.

[77] "Doulz françois qu'est la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus noble parler, apres latin d'escole, qui soit au monde."

[78] Jehan Barton, Donait François, c. 1400.

[79] "Afin qu'ils puissent entrecomuner bonement ove lour voisin c'est a dire les bones gens du roiaume de France, et ainsi pour ce que les leys d'Engleterre pour le graigneur partie et ainsi beaucoup de bones choses sont misez en François, et aussi bien pres touz les sirs et toutes les dames en mesme roiaume d'Engleterre volentiers s'entrescrivent en romance—tresnecessaire je cuide estre aus Englois de scavoir la nature de François."

[80] Which no doubt became more numerous, as English, rather than Latin, became the medium through which French was learnt. Thus we find pour honte written for 'for shame'; il est haut temps, for 'it is high time'; quoi ('why') for pourquoi; de les for des, and so on.

[81] Edited from a unique MS. in Trinity College, Cambridge, by W. Aldis Wright, for the Roxburghe Club, 1909 (Camb. Univ. Press). G. Hickes published part of the first chapter, with remarks on its philological value, in his Linguarum Veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archaeologicus, Oxford, 1705, i. pp. 144-151.

[82] "Liber iste vocatur femina quia sicut femina docet infantem loqui maternam, sic docet iste liber iuvenes rethorice loqui Gallicum prout infra patebit."

[83] P. Meyer, Romania, xxxii. pp. 43 et seq.

[84] The English spelling, very corrupt in the original, is here modernized.

[85] These MSS. have been described and classified by J. Stürzinger, Altfranzösische Bibliothek, viii. pp. v-x.

[86] Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 4971; Addit. MS. 11716, and Camb. Univ. Libr. MS. Ee 4, 20.

[87] Camb. Univ. Libr. MSS. Dd 12, 23. and Gg 6, 44.

[88] P. Meyer, Romania, xv. p. 262.

[89] Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, pp. 135-138.

[90] Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, fol. 139.

[91] There is a fragment, very indistinct, on French pronunciation in the Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971: Modus pronunciandi dictiones in Gallicis.

[92] Cp. also the Brit. Mus. Addit MS. 17716, fol. 100.

[93] Camb. Univ. Libr. MS., Ee 4, 20; Oxford, All Souls, MS. 182.

[94] Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971; MS. Addit. 17716 (preceding the observations on pronouns and verbs mentioned above); Camb. Univ. Libr., Ee 4, 20; Oxford Magdalen College, MS. 188, and All Souls, MS. 182.

[95] Published by Stengel, op. cit. pp. 25-40, from MS. 182 of All Souls, Oxford.

[96] Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 376.

[97] "A le honneur de Dieu et de sa tresdoulce miere et toutz les saintez de paradis, je Johan Barton, escolier de Paris, née et nourie toutes foiez d'Engleterre en la conté de Cestre, j'ey baillé aus avantdiz Anglois un Donait françois pur les briefment entroduyr en la droit language du Paris et de pais la d'entour la quelle language en Engleterre on appelle doulce France. Et cest Donat je le fis la fair a mes despenses et tres grande peine par pluseurs bons clercs du language avantdite."

[98] Brunot, op. cit. i. p. 376.

[99] "Cy endroit il fault prendre garde qu'en parlant François on ne mette pas une personne pour une aultre si come font les sottez gens, disantz ainsi je ferra pour je ferray. . . ."

[100] We pass from the numbers of nouns to the person of verbs, then to the genders and kinds (proper, appellative) of nouns and their cases, six in number on the analogy of Latin, which is naturally the basis of the terminology of this work and all others for many years after; then come observations on the degrees of comparison, after which we return to the verbs, and their moods and tenses. The following sections deal with the parts of speech; the four indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections) are merely mentioned. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns receive some attention, but the chief subject is the verb: "Cy maintenant nous vous baillerons un exemple coment vous fourmeres touz les verbs françois du monde, soient-ils actifez, soient-ils passivez, en quelque meuf ou temps qu'ils soient. Et ceste exemple serra pour cest verbe jeo aime. . . ." But the verbs are not classified, and only a few of the best known are conjugated as examples. In the list of impersonal verbs which closes the treatise, English is sometimes used to explain their meaning: "Me est avis, Me seemth."

[101] J. Bale, Illustrium Maioris Britanniae scriptorum summarium. Ipswich, 1548, p. 203.

[102] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[103] Preserved in a considerable number of MSS.: Brit. Mus. (Harl. 3988, Addit. 17716), Oxford (All Souls, 182), Camb. Univ. Libr. (Bd 12, 23), and in Sir Thomas Philipps's Library at Cheltenham (MS. No. 8188). The earliest (Harl. 3988) was published by P. Meyer in the Revue Critique, 1873, pp. 373-408.

[104] The name of Kirmington, which occurs at the end, is no doubt that of the copyist.

[105] Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878: article by Stengel.

[106] Published by Stengel, op. cit. pp. 12-15.

[107] Stengel, Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878. Coyfurelly also rehandled the Tractatus Orthographiae of 'T. H., Student of Paris.'

[108] Ed. Paul Meyer, Romania, xxxii. pp. 49-58. It exists in three MSS.; at the end of Femina in Camb. Univ. Libr. (Dd 12, 23), at Trinity Col. Camb. (B 14. 39, 40), and in the Brit. Mus. (Addit. 17716).

[109] French, however, still had some standing at Oxford at this date.

[110] Preserved in Cambridge University Library.

[111] Containing such anglicisms as the rendering of 'already' by tout prest.

[112] Such collections exist in MSS. Harl. 4971 and Addit. 17716, Brit. Mus.; and in Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.

[113] Harl. 4971; cp. Stürzinger, op. cit. p. xvi.

[114] Early bibliographers seem to have been uncertain as to what category it belonged to: for some time it was called a Book for Travellers; then a Vocabulary in French and English (Blades, Life and Typography of Wm. Caxton, 1861-63), and finally by the more appropriate title of Dialogues in French and English.

[115] Caxton's edition contains ff. 24, with about 24 lines on a page. There are three complete texts extant (at Ripon Cathedral, Rylands Library, and Bamborough Castle), and one fragmentary one (in the Duke of Devonshire's Library). The Ripon copy was reprinted for the Early English Text Society in 1900, by H. Bradley (extra series lxxix.). The other edition, of which a fragment exists in the Bodleian, was probably printed by Wynkyn de Worde (W. C. Hazlitt, Handbook ... to the Literature of Great Britain, 1867, p. 631).

[116] Published from a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, by M. Michelant: Le Livre des Mestiers, dialogues français-flamands, composés au 14e siècle par un maître d'école de la ville de Bruges. Paris, 1875.

[117] H. Bradley: Introduction to the edition of Caxton's Dialogues.

[118] Caxton's arrangement of the French and English in opposite columns is no doubt accounted for by the fact that he wrote the English version by the side of the French in his copy of the original phrase book.

[119] E. G. Duff, A Century of the English Book Trade, Bibliographical Soc., 1905; and Handlists of Books Printed by London Printers, Bibliog. Soc., 1913, ad nom. The work is here given the inappropriate title of a "Vocabulary in French and English."

[120] It was to have been reprinted by H. B. Wheatley in a collection of early grammars, for the Early English Text Society.

[121] W. C. Hazlitt, Bibliographical Collections and Notes, 3rd series, London, 1887, p. 293.

[122] For instance, the Cato cum commento (1514), Stans puer ad mensam (1516), and Vulgaria Stanbrigi (c. 1520).

[123] "What shalt thou do when thou haste an englyssh to be made in Latine? I shall reherce myn englyssh fyrst, ones, twyces, and loke out my princypal verbe, and aske hym this questyon who or what. And that worde that answeryth to the questyon shall be the nomynatif case to the verbe."

[124] In the British Museum Catalogue Wynkyn's edition is dated 1493? and Pynson's 1500?; the year 1500? is also put forward as the date for the fragmentary edition. W. C. Hazlitt dates Wynkyn's edition at about the year 1498, and Pynson's at about 1492-3 (Bibliographical Collections, ut supra, and Handbook, London, 1867, p. 210).

[125]

My heres.

Mes cheveulx.

My browes.

Mez sourcieulx.

Myn eres.

Mez oreilles.

Myn teeth.

Mez dens.

My forhede.

Mon front.

Myn eyen.

Mez yeulx.

My nose.

Mon nez.

My tong.

Ma langue . . . etc.

[126] Published by E. J. Furnivall, Manners and Meals in Olden Time, 1868, pp. 16 sqq. The MS. used by the compiler of the French manual was no doubt of a later date than the one here printed.

[127] Pp. 19-20 in fine.

[128] It contains 11 quarto leaves, of the size of the time, with usually 29 lines to a page.

[129] Thus in Pynson's edition the order of the personal pronouns before the verb is often inverted ("le vous diray," "le vous rende"), while it is correct in Wynkyn's; and some lines of the French version of the courtesy book are almost unintelligible, whereas their meaning is clearly expressed by Wynkyn.

[130] Such phrases as "say me my friend" for dites-moi mon ami; "do me have a good chamber" for faites-moi avoir une bonne chambre.

[131] In addition to the works already mentioned, some reference to these mediaeval treatises is also found in an article by H. Oelsner, in the Athenaeum (Feb. 11, 1905); in A. Way's edition of the Promptorium Parvulorum (Camden Soc., 1865, No. 89; Appendix, pp. xxvii sqq. and pp. lxxi sqq.); Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd series, ii. p. 208.

PART II

TUDOR TIMES

CHAPTER I

THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AT COURT AND AMONG THE NOBILITY

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the gradual changes which brought about the extinction of Anglo-French were complete to all intents and purposes; this corrupt form of the language lingered only in a few religious houses and the law courts. The French spoken at the English Court in the Middle Ages had remained purer than elsewhere; for centuries the kings of England were as much attached to France as to England; they had spent much of their time in France and fought for the French crown as their natural right, not as Englishmen in strife with Frenchmen. From the thirteenth century, however, English was understood, though not widely spoken, at Court. It progressed gradually until, two centuries later, in the reign of Henry VI., it was used more frequently than French. By the sixteenth century French was an entirely foreign language at the English Court, and it was round the Court circles that developed the new and more serious study of the language which then arose—a study which led to the production of so important a work as John Palsgrave's L'Esclarcissement de la langue françoyse. It will therefore be well to consider the extent to which French was used among the nobility and gentry of the time.

The personal ascendancy of the Tudors and the pomp of their Court began to attract the attention of foreigners, and to excite their curiosity. Consequently numerous travellers made their way to the English capital; and later in the same period religious persecution, raging on the Continent, drove many Protestants, frequently men of distinction, to seek refuge in England. What language would these visitors employ in their intercourse with their hosts? English is excluded from the purview, because at this time, and indeed for some time after, our language received no recognition, and certainly no homage from any foreigner, and but scant deference from English scholars themselves.[132] Several foreign visitors in London have left an account of their impressions on hearing this entirely unknown and strange language spoken. Thus Nicander Nucius, the Greek Envoy at the Court of Henry VIII., says of the English that "they possess a peculiar language, differing in some measure from all others"; although it is "barbarous," he finds in it a certain charm and attraction, and judges it "sweeter" than German or Flemish.[133] Others formed a less favourable opinion.[134] The physician Girolamo Cordano, for instance, when he first heard Englishmen speaking, thought they were Italians gone mad and raving, "for they inflect the tongue upon the palate, twist words in the mouth, and maintain a sort of gnashing with the teeth." The Dutchman, Immanuel von Meteren, gathered the impression that English is broken German, "not spoken from the heart as the latter, but only prattling with the tongue."

We have, however, to recollect that, among the learned, Latin was in general use as a spoken language; it was the ideal of the Humanists to make Latin the universal language of the educated world. Erasmus was able to live several years in England, and in familiar intercourse with Englishmen, without feeling the necessity for learning English or using any other modern language; but he mingled almost entirely with scholars, such as Grocyn, Linacre, Latimer, Colet, and More—men with whom Henry VIII. loved to surround himself. Still, the great Dutchman was an exception even amongst Humanists, who nearly all, at some period in their lives, forsook Latin for their native tongue. Moreover, Latin was not fluently or colloquially spoken by the majority of the English nobility and gentry. The poet, Alexander Barclay, tells us that "the understandyne of Latyn," in the early years of the sixteenth century, was "almost contemned by Gentylmen."[135] "I have not these twenty years used any THE SPEAKING OF LATINLatin tongue,"[136] said Latimer at his trial for heresy in 1554—a striking testimony on the lips of one whose natural sympathies were towards Humanism. Some years later the great Huguenot scholar, Hubert Languet, wrote to his young English friend, Sir Philip Sidney—then newly returned from continental travel—to express his apprehension lest the young man should forget all his Latin at the English Court and entirely give up the practice of it; he urges him to do his best to prevent this, and maintain his Latin along with his French. Languet affirms that he has never heard Sidney pronounce a syllable of French incorrectly, and wishes his pronunciation of Latin were as perfect.[137] Sidney, however, does not appear to have considered Latin of as much importance to a courtier as French: "So you can speake and write Latine not barbarously," he wrote to his brother Robert in 1580,[138] "I never require great study ordinarily in Ciceronianisme, the cheife abuse of Oxford." No doubt Sidney voices a general sentiment in this verdict. It is increasingly clear that the supremacy of Latin was beginning to be questioned on all sides, and, while Latin remained to a large extent the language of scholars, it was not generally employed in society.

Further, when the English did speak Latin, foreigners had considerable difficulty in understanding them, on account of their notoriously bad pronunciation. The great scholar Scaliger, who was in England in 1590, tells that he once listened to an Englishman talking Latin for a quarter of an hour, and at last excused himself, saying that he did not understand English![139] To the same effect is the observation of Tom Coryat, the traveller, who, on his journey on the Continent,[140] found his Latin so little understood, that he had to modify his pronunciation. At a later date, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo III., visited the two English Universities,[141] he was unable to understand the Latin speeches and orations with which he was greeted. A Latin comedy which the Cambridge students performed in his honour was equally unintelligible to him. "To smatter Latin with an English mouth," wrote Milton in a well-known passage, "is as ill a hearing as Law French."

At the same time a quickened interest in modern languages generally was felt in England as in other countries. Two of these, Italian and Spanish, entered the arena to challenge the supremacy of French in the world of fashion and intellect. The real issue of the contest, however, was never in doubt. The Renaissance and the new Humanism appeared for a time to favour the Italian rival,[142] but the inherent merits of French, with its particular genius for precision and clarity, easily won the day. Those circles—often very brilliant circles—of distinguished men and women for whom the Renaissance was as the dawn of a new day, often made Italian a more serious object of study than French; but though it was widely learned for the sake of its literature, it was never so widely spoken or so universally popular as French. Italian, and to a minor degree Spanish, were indeed seriously cultivated by the Tudor group of distinguished linguists,[143] and so became a sort of fashion, which, spreading to more frivolous circles, soon degenerated into mere affectation. These dilettanti had been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps, to use Shakespeare's words. Such affectation was naturally felt to be dangerous. While Roger Ascham renders due homage to the linguistic attainments of his queen,[144] he finds it necessary to reproach INTEREST IN MODERN LANGUAGESthe young gentlemen of the day with their deficiency in this respect. Professional teachers of modern languages likewise complain of the lack of seriousness on the part of many of their pupils. John Florio,[145] for example, bewails the fact that when they have learned two words of Spanish, three words of French, and four words of Italian, they think they have enough, and will study no more; and a French teacher[146] expresses the same thought in almost identical terms; according to him they learn a little French one day, then a bit of Italian and a snatch of Spanish, and think themselves qualified for an embassy to the Grand Turk. Shakespeare's Falconbridge, the young baron of England, may be taken as a fair example of such dilettantism.[147]

Thus Italian was never a really dangerous rival to French, which had struck its roots deep into the English soil long before Italian influence reached our shores. Not only was this the case, but French was also widely known throughout Europe. Even in the early years of this period, the poet Alexander Barclay, himself the author of a French grammar, affirms that French was spoken even by the Turks and Saracens. The French themselves are said to have been in love with their own language, and, as a result, to have neglected Latin;[148] when the English ambassador at Paris, Sir Amias Poulet, sent to England for a chaplain for his household, he wrote: "Yt were to be wished that he had at the least some understandinge in the French tongue for his better conference with the Frenche ministers, whereof many are not best able to utter there mynde in Lattyn."[149]

We may therefore safely conclude that French was the language commonly spoken by Englishmen in their intercourse with foreigners, although Latin was sometimes used in conversation, and Italians were occasionally addressed in their own tongue. English was so little used in the Court and its circles that foreigners were apt to forget that England had a language of her own; one of them considers it a merit in Henry VIII. that he was able to speak English! In London, indeed, the use of French was so common that several foreign observers deemed the fact worthy of note. Nicander Nucius, the Greek envoy who visited London in 1545, remarks[150] that, for the most part, the English use the French language, besides having a great admiration for everything else French—an observation which cannot safely be taken as referring to any other class than the nobility, as his relations would be almost wholly restricted to that class. When the Duke of Württemberg visited the court of Elizabeth, where he found ample occasion to exercise his own admirable knowledge of French, he left on record the fact that many English courtiers understood and spoke French very well. The spread of French at the English Court attracted the attention of Frenchmen also, and several years after Nicander's account, Peletier du Mans states that in England, at least among the princes and their courts, French is spoken on all occasions.[151]

French was also not infrequently used in correspondence. Apart from such diplomatic correspondence as exists, numerous examples of the interchange of private letters in French among the English nobility have come down to us. Even among scholars Latin was by no means the only medium of communication. In the sixteenth century the chief scholars of the two countries corresponded with each other, and, though Englishmen never wrote in their native tongue, Frenchmen did occasionally use their own language rather than Latin. Bacon wrote in French to the Marquis of Effiat, and Hotman, on the other hand, in French to Camden: "Me sentant detraqué de l'usage de la langue latine, je vous escris cette lettre en françois pour renouveller avec vous notre amitié ancienne et correspondance."[152] John Calvin corresponded with Edward VI. and Protector Somerset in French, and Henry IV. of France carried on a voluminous correspondence in his own language with his "tres chere et tres aimée bonne FRENCH REGARDED WITH SPECIAL FAVOURsœur," Elizabeth, as well as with her chief ministers.[153] French was thus more than a mere accomplishment for the English gentleman, and soon became an absolute necessity for all those who desired employment under the Crown. It is true that an interpreter might be had, but the practice was looked upon with great disfavour as very unsuitable where private negotiations had to be conducted. The necessity for a knowledge of French on the part of a minister of state may be gathered from the large number of petitions and other documents addressed to them in that language and preserved among the State Papers.[154] A rather curious instance of the favour with which the use of French was regarded in official circles is supplied by the case of a Scotch prisoner in London, who, when he desired leave on parole, on the ground of ill-health, was advised to make his application in French, "to shew his scholarship."[155] Copies of proclamations, issued in foreign countries, were frequently translated into French before being sent to the English Government; and time after time we find a lack of knowledge of French regarded as a serious disqualification for diplomatic or other public service. One young gentleman regrets that he "cannot be engaged on any work of importance as he does not know French." The drawbacks arising from an inadequate knowledge of the language appear from the case of a certain Thomas Thyrleby who writes from Valance to Wriothesly in 1538 telling him how much discouraged he is concerning his knowledge of French. He says he went with the Bishop of Winchester and Brian to the Constable that morning at eight o'clock, and that he could understand them, but not the Grand Master's answer, except by conjecture, guessing at a word here and there; after dinner he had audience of the French king and bore away never one word but "l'empereur, l'empereur" often rehearsed; and he feels he must diligently apply himself to learn the language or the king will be ill served when he is left alone.[156]

The Tudors appear to have regarded the study of French with much favour. The first king of this line had lived for many years in France and was strongly imbued with French tastes.[157] He encouraged Frenchmen to visit England, and appointed one of them, Bernard André, his Poet Laureate and Historiographer as well as tutor to his sons. There were also troupes of French comedians and minstrels who performed at Court from time to time.[158] The king always received with favour at his Court those who were fluent in the French tongue. No doubt Stephen Hawes secured the king's patronage partly by his facility in the use of this language, and partly from his really profound knowledge of French literature, of which the king also was an eager student. Yet this first of the Tudor kings belongs rather to the Middle Ages and the Old Learning than to the Renaissance.

Not until we reach the period of Henry VIII., a distinct favourer of the New Learning, do we enter fully into the spirit of the new movement. In a true sense Henry may be called the first King of England, for England was his real home, and while using the ancient title "King of France," he had no truly filial attachment to the country. He may thus be taken as a fair example of the attitude of the cultivated English noble towards foreign languages. He spoke French fluently though he had never been in France, and also conversed in Latin with ease; Italian he understood, but made no attempt to speak. He always addressed foreigners in either French or Latin.[159] An admirer of French fashions, he copied in such matters his friend and rival, the French king, even allowing his beard to grow when he heard that Francis wore one, and having his hair dressed "short and straight after the French fashion." When the Venetian ambassador, Piero Pasqualigo, came from Paris to London in 1515, Henry eagerly seized the opportunity to institute a comparison between himself and the French king. Pasqualigo, meeting Henry at Greenwich, writes how he on one occasion beheld his majesty mounted on a bay Frieslander, and dressed entirely in green velvet; directly the envoy came in sight, he began to make his horse to curvet and perform such feats, that Pasqualigo says he thought himself looking upon Mars. He came into our tent, the narrator continues, and, addressing me in French, said, "Talk with me a while."[160] HENRY VIII.'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCHHenry then proceeded to question him about Francis and to induce him to draw comparisons between himself and the French king. The ambassador remarks that Henry spoke French "very well indeed." The campaign of 1513 supplies another example of the ease with which Henry spoke French. The English king was accompanied by Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who later incurred the royal anger by his presumption in marrying Henry's sister Mary, the Dowager of France. On the present occasion, however, the king's knowledge of French was of great service to Suffolk, who found some difficulty in pressing his suit with the Lady Margaret of Savoy, owing to his ignorance of that language. The Duke had half seriously removed a ring from the lady's finger, and, as she particularly desired to reclaim it, and he refused to return it, she called him a thief; but he could not understand the word "larron," so she was forced to call upon the king to explain.[161]

There are extant several examples of Henry's compositions in French. Much of his private correspondence was written in this tongue; and he also essayed to write verses in French, possibly in imitation of Francis I. Their quality may be judged from the following specimens:[162]

Adieu madam et ma mastres,
Adieu mon solas et mon joy,
Adieu jusque vous revoy,
Adieu vous diz par graunt tristesse.

or:

Helas madam cel qe je metant [j'eme tant],
soffre qe soie voutre humble svant [servant];
ie seray [vous] a tousiours e tant que ie
vivray alt n'airay qe vous.[163]

We gather from Henry's spelling of French that he had learnt the language chiefly by ear.

There is a curious example of the fluency with which the king and his courtiers spoke French, in a scene described by Wolsey's gentleman usher and afterwards dramatized by Shakespeare.[164] The cardinal was among the few at the Court of Henry VIII. who did not speak French with ease. During a banquet he was giving at the palace of Whitehall, Henry and a band of courtiers landed unexpectedly at the Whitehall Stairs, disguised as foreign noblemen. Wolsey sent the Lord Chancellor to bid them welcome, because he could not speak French himself.[165] The visitors were introduced, and passed for a time as foreigners, the Lord Chancellor acting as their interpreter to Wolsey. At last the royal joker and his companions disclosed their identity amidst a tumult of exclamations, and then joined in the festivities.[166]

The ladies of the Court rivalled the noblemen in their knowledge of French. When the French ambassadors with their brilliant suite, who had come to England for the ratification of peace in 1514, were entertained in great state at Greenwich, all the ladies and gentlewomen were able to converse in good French with their French partners, "which delighted them much to heare the Ladies speake to them in their owne language."[167] It is not surprising, therefore, to find French holding an important place in the education of women of high birth. The princess Mary Tudor, one of the most attractive figures at the English Court, had, like the king her brother, been early initiated in the difficulties of the French language.[168] At the age of twelve she pronounced in French her betrothal vows to the Prince of Castile (1513); and when it fell to her lot to marry Louis XII. of France, she continued still more to apply herself to the study of the language. She was able to write to her future husband in his own tongue,[169] and even occasionally made use of it in her correspondence with her brother, the English king.

FRENCH AMONG THE LADIESHenry's first queen did little to forward French tastes and never modified her natural preference for all things Spanish, but with the advent of Queen Anne Boleyn French acquired a powerful and enthusiastic patroness. Anne was entirely French by education and tastes. She had been brought up by a French governess,[170] and had from an early age used the French language in her correspondence with her father during his absences at the Court and elsewhere. It was her fluency in this language which led to her rapid advancement on her arrival at Court. She was soon chosen to accompany the king's sister Mary to France, and just before her appointment wrote to her father in French, telling him that the presence of the Queen of France would inspire her with a still greater desire to speak French well.[171] Anne stayed in France several years, first in the service of Mary during the few months she was Queen of France, then in that of her successor, Queen Claude, consort of Francis I., and finally in the more lively household of Margaret of Alençon, afterwards Queen of Navarre. On her return to the English Court she became maid of honour to Queen Katherine, and her skill in dress and her French manners[172] did much to promote the taste for French fashions. The famous Elizabethan antiquary Camden asserts that Anne's French jollity first attracted to her the notice of Henry. At any rate the courtship was largely carried on in French. Out of the seventeen love letters of Henry to Anne Boleyn, which are preserved in the Vatican Library, more than half are in French.[173] One of these may be quoted as an example of the English king's powers in French prose. It was written to Anne during one of the absences she deemed expedient to make from the Court:

Ma Maitresse et amie, moy et mon cœur s'en remettent en vos mains, vous suppliant les avoir pour recommander a votre bonne grace, et que par absence votre affection ne leur soit diminué. Car pur augmenter leur peine ce seroit grande pitié, car l'absence leur fait assez, et plus que jamais je n'eusse pensé . . . vous asseurant que de ma part l'ennuye de l'absence deja m'est trop grande. Et quand je pense a l'augmentation d'iceluy que par force faut que je soufre il m'est presque intollerable, s'il n'estoit le ferme espoir que j'aye de votre indissoluble affection vers moi, et pour le vous rementevoir alcune fois cela, et voyant que personellement je ne puis estre en votre presence, chose la plus approchante a cela qui m'est possible au present, je vous envoye, c'est-a-dire ma picture mise en braisselettes a toute la devise que deja sçavez, me souhaitant en leur place quant il vous plairoit. C'est de la main de—Votre serviteur et amy,

H. R.

Of Henry's other queens, Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard were both ardent admirers of the French language. The former had, like Anne Boleyn, completed her education at the French Court. Henry's chief objection to Anne of Cleves was her lack of French refinements. We know from the French ambassador Marillac that Henry was ill pleased at Anne's German costume and made her dress in the French style,[174] which, according to the same authority, had been favoured by Queen Katherine Howard and all her ladies. Moreover, the new queen could speak neither French[175] nor English, and her own language was displeasing to the king's ears; consequently he refused to converse much with her by means of an interpreter.[176] As for Katharine Parr, she was one of the most distinguished linguists of her time, and did much to encourage the studies of the royal family.

French was one of the principal studies of Henry VIII.'s children. It appears to have been the only modern foreign language with which Edward VI. was acquainted; he is said to have been "in the French and Latin Tongues singularly perfect."[177] Mary, on the other hand, knew Spanish as well as she did French. This is, however, accounted for by the fact that she was early destined to become the wife of the Emperor Charles V. FRENCH STUDIED IN THE ROYAL FAMILYThe emperor had even tried to persuade Henry to allow his daughter to be brought up in Spain. His request was refused, but a promise was given that the princess should be educated in all points as a Spanish lady.[178] In addition to this, her mother, Katherine of Aragon, superintended her early education, and her attendants were all Spanish. Thus Spanish was for a time almost her native tongue. Yet French was by no means neglected, especially after the Spanish marriage was broken off. Fresh impetus was given to this study by the possibility of a French match, when in 1518 negotiations for a union with the Dauphin, son of Francis I., were set on foot. On the testimony of Marillac, Mary spoke and wrote French well; the ambassador had seen letters of hers written in French at the time of her mother's divorce.[179] The princess was also well acquainted with Latin, and understood Italian, though, like many others, she did not attempt to speak it.[180]

Elizabeth alone of the royal family spoke Italian with almost as much ease as she did French.[181] "French and Italian she speaks like English," wrote her tutor, Roger Ascham, "Latin with fluency, propriety, and judgment"; and in addition she had some knowledge of Greek. When queen, she retained her early fancy for Italian, and prided herself on using no other language in the presence of Italians.[182] The Scotch ambassador, Sir James Melville, a very competent judge, remarks that she spoke it "raisonable weill."[183] French, however, was her usual means of intercourse with other foreigners, even when, like Melville, they spoke English. The queen commended Melville's French. "She said my French was gud," he writes in his memoirs, where he likewise gives his own opinion of the queen's attainments in the language: "hir Maiestie culd speak as gud Frenche as any that had never bene out of the contrie, but yet she laiketh the use of the Frenche court language, quhilk was frank and schort and had oft tymes twa significations, quhilk discreit and famylier frendes tok always in the best part."[184] If not idiomatic, the queen's French is generally allowed to have been fluent. Her accent is reported to have been harsh and unpleasing; she spoke with a drawl, and, according to M. Drizanval, resident in London for the French king,[185] she constantly repeated the phrase "paar Dieu, paar maa foi" in a ridiculous tone. Another visitor, the Duke of Württemberg, records that he once heard her deliver an appropriate speech in French,[186] which, as usual, was the language in which he addressed her. Towards the end of her reign the queen still practised the use of French and Italian. In 1598 the German Hentzner, travelling in England, describes how he saw Elizabeth "as she went along in all her State and magnificence," and how "she spoke very graciously first to one then to another (whether foreign ministers or those who attend for different reasons) in English, French, and Italian."[187] She also wrote French with some ease. One of her earliest literary efforts was a translation from the French of Margaret of Navarre's Miroir de l'Ame pécheresse. She likewise composed devotions and prayers in French—a habit which she retained after she had been queen for many years. At the time when her marriage with the Duke of Alençon, her "little frog," as she calls him, was under discussion, the queen compiled a curious little volume, containing six prayers, written on vellum in a very neat hand; in addition to devotions in French and English there are others in Italian, Latin, and Greek. In the front of this work there is a miniature of the Duke, and at the end, one of Elizabeth.[188] Other examples of her compositions in French are found in her correspondence, where this language holds a considerable place.

It thus appears that the majority of the English nobility and gentry spoke and understood French at least tolerably well. FRENCH TUTORS AND FRENCH GRAMMARSWe are led to ask how they came by their knowledge, and what facilities there were in England for learning French, seeing that many of them never visited France. In the sixteenth century private tuition played a large part in the education of the gentry; and the professional tutor was, in many cases, a Frenchman, who would naturally further the study of his native tongue. The Court itself encouraged the custom of employing French tutors by engaging several in its midst; and as, at this time, the Court became a powerful factor in English social life, and the chief means of entering the service of the State, noblemen and gentlemen wishing to figure on the social stage endeavoured to adapt themselves to Court requirements. French tutors were to be found in all the chief families of the time. Étienne Pasquier remarks that there was no noble family in England without its French tutor to instruct the children in the French language.[189] This condition of things was still further developed a few years later when religious persecution in France and the Netherlands drove increasingly large numbers of Protestant refugees to take asylum in England. All traces of the majority of these tutors have been lost; those of whom anything is known were, for the most part, either the authors of manuals for teaching French, or had won repute as writers or Humanists before leaving their native land.

One of these Humanists was Bernard André, familiarly called "Master Barnard," the blind poet—an infirmity to which he frequently refers. He was a native of Toulouse, and probably came to England with Henry VII., his patron.[190] It is a curious fact that soon after his accession Henry appointed this Frenchman, author of verses in French and Latin but never a line in English, Poet Laureate of England. In addition to this he bestowed on him repeated marks of favour. For a time André was engaged as a tutor at Oxford, and in 1496 was chosen as governor to Prince Arthur, and probably had much to do with the education of his brother, afterwards Henry VIII. Appointed Historiographer Royal, he began in this capacity to write his patron's life. Like so many other men of education, André was in Holy Orders; he received preferment from time to time, and was finally presented to the living of Guisnes near Calais, which he resigned in 1521, having attained an "extreme old age."

In the early sixteenth century, as in the Middle Ages, England took the initiative in the production of French grammars.[191] The numbers which appeared are so many testimonies to Englishmen's interest in the French language. The chief and best known of these grammars is the great work of John Palsgrave (1530), already mentioned, which stands out in contrast with the slight treatises which had previously appeared on the subject in England. Considering the time when it was written and the irregular and unsettled condition of the language with which it deals, it is truly remarkable for its fulness and comprehensiveness. Almost alone of its predecessors and its immediate successors, it answered more than a merely temporary and professional purpose, and is still of very great value to the student of the English and French languages at that time, and a great storehouse of obsolete words in both languages. Perhaps the very reason which makes it so valuable to the student of to-day hindered its success in the sixteenth century; most students of French then preferred the shorter and more practical manuals. Palsgrave had a very exalted idea of the French tongue; he desired to place it on a level with the "three perfect tonges"—Latin, Greek, and Hebrew—and to make it a fourth and classical tongue, by drawing up "absolute" rules for its use.

Palsgrave's grammar acquires additional importance from the fact that no similar work had been produced in France. It is the first systematized attempt to formulate rules for the French language, or indeed for any modern tongue. Only one year later, however, Sylvius or Dubois published his In Linguam Gallicam Eisagoge (1531). In the address to Henry VIII., which precedes his work, Palsgrave speaks of the "great nombre of clerkes, whiche before season of this mater have written nowe sithe the beginnyng of your most fortunate and most prosperous raigne." All these "clerkes," he says, have treated chiefly of two things, which they judged specially useful to the English—the pronunciation of French, and "wherein the true analogie of the two tongues did rest." BARCLAY'S "INTRODUCTORY"No doubt many of these treatises were in manuscript and are among the lost treasures of the sixteenth century. Yet some have come down to us. Palsgrave mentions three writers by name, Alexander Barclay, Petrus Vallensys, and Giles Duwes, copies of whose works are still in existence.

The earliest of these grammars—so far as is known the first French grammar ever printed—was the work of Alexander Barclay, well known as a prolific writer and poet, who devoted much of his time to translation and did much to make contemporary French literature known in England. Barclay had spent a time "full of foly and unprofytable stody" at some university, possibly Paris; he had travelled, and was well acquainted with French; from his youth upwards, he says, he had been exercised in the two languages of French and English. It was late in his literary career, when he had "withdrawen" his pen from its "olde dylygence," that he undertook to compose a grammar of the French language, at the request of the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Treasurer of England, and of "certain other gentlemen." The work appeared in 1521[192] under the title of Here begynneth the introductory to wryte and to pronounce frenche compyled by Alexander Barclay, compendiously at the commandement of the right hye excellent and myghty prynce, Th. duke of Northfolke. The printer, Robert Coplande, himself a good French scholar, composed some lines on the coat of arms of the Duke in French, and printed them at the beginning of the book; at the end he placed a translation of Lambert Danneau's Traité des Danses, also from his own pen.[193]

Barclay's endeavour is to make his grammar as short and concise as possible; his rules, so far as they go, are stated very clearly; he plunges straight away into his subject without any preliminary observations: "je in frenche," he begins, "is as moche to say in english as I, tu, thou, il, he, nous, vous, ilz or els: we may use sometyme ceux for this worde ilz. If we answere to a question by this worde 'I' usynynge no verbe withall then shall not 'ie' be set for 'I' but 'moy,' as in this example, 'qui fist ce livre' ... If I sholde answere saynge I, addynge no verbe withall, I must say 'moy,' and not 'ie.'" After giving similar rules for the second person singular, he proceeds to explain how, when the words nous, vous, ilz are placed before a verb beginning with a consonant, their last consonant is not pronounced, although it remains in the spelling; but if they come before a verb beginning with a vowel, the consonants are pronounced. He then turns to the conjugation of the two auxiliaries and some of the most common irregular verbs, to show "how these pronouns are ioyned with verbes." On the back of folio 4 he begins his "introductory of orthography or true wrytynge wherby the diligent reder may be infourmed truly and perfytely to wryte and pronounce the Frenche tunge after the dyvers customes of many contress of France." Barclay, then, does not adopt an exclusive attitude towards provincial accents; he rather calls attention to them,[194] though probably merely stating facts and drawing distinctions with no intention of teaching provincial forms. Palsgrave, on the other hand, deals only with the French spoken between the Seine and the Loire, which he regarded as the only pure French. Barclay's attitude to dialectal forms may possibly be explained by the fact that he transcribed freely from the mediaeval treatises, especially the Donait françois of John Barton. His debt was early noted by Palsgrave, who wrote: "I have sene an olde boke written in parchment, in all thynges lyke to his sayd Introductory, whiche, by conjecture, was not unwritten this hundred yeares."[195] So freely, indeed, and so carelessly did Barclay use his sources, that he did not even trouble to modernize the spelling, which contains many obsolete forms; in this connexion Palsgrave, who criticizes Barclay very severely when occasion arises,[196] remarks on his use of k for c.

Having exemplified the pronunciation of some of the French letters by comparison with English sounds,[197] Barclay suddenly[198] passes to the consideration of the number and gender of nouns,[199] besides supplying a short list of nouns beginning with the first two letters of the alphabet. After this digression he concludes his observations on the pronunciation,[200] and proceeds to give an alphabetical vocabulary of nouns,[201] adjectives and verbs, apparently the earliest known attempt at an alphabetical French-English vocabulary; the earlier method of arranging words under headings is discarded, though it continued to be the usual form adopted in most French grammars until the end of the eighteenth century. Barclay's vocabulary consists of a list of words pure and simple, with no indication of gender or flexions. The Introductory ends with lists of ordinal numerals, days, seasons, and so on, together with words of learned origin common to both languages "amonge eloquent men," and, last of all, pieces of prose composition in both French and English, arranged in alternate lines.[202]

As is usual in these early grammars, there is an obvious lack of orderly arrangement, and the work, as a whole, gives the impression of being a collection of rough notes rather than a carefully planned treatise. Barclay does not, however, make any claim to completeness, nor pretend to lay down "absolute" rules as Palsgrave claimed to do. He shared the opinion, common at that time among Frenchmen, that it was impossible to formulate anything like adequate rules for the French language. The sketchy nature of his rules may be judged by that given for the position of the objective pronoun: "oft times that thynge whiche cometh before the verbe in Englyshe commyth after it in frenche as il m'a fait tort . . . je ne me puis lever." He was of opinion that rules were not of much use in learning French: that language is best learnt by "custome and use of redynge and spekynge, by often enquirynge and frequentynge of company of frenchmen and of suche as have perfytnes in spekynge the sayd language." This opinion prevailed throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in England, and, as a result, rules are reduced to a minimum in manuals for teaching French.

"Who so desyreth to knowe more of the sayd language, must provyde for mo bokes made for the same intent," Barclay notes at the end of his short and interesting treatise. Charles, Duke of Suffolk, the husband of Mary, sister to Henry VIII. and Dowager Queen of France, was soon to make the necessary provision. This "syngular good lorde," says Palsgrave, "by cause that my poore labours required a longe tracte of tyme, hath also in the meane season encouraged maister Petrus Vallensys, scole maister to his excellent yong sonne the Erle of Lyncolne to shewe his lernynge and opinion on this behalfe." Such was the origin of the Introductions in Frensche for Henry the Yonge Erle of Lyncoln (childe of greate esperaunce) sonne of the most noble and excellent princesse Mary (by the grace of God, queen of France etc.),[203] which is undated and anonymous, but clearly the work of Petrus Vallensys or Pierre Valence, French tutor to the Earl of Lincoln, and must have been written sometime in the third decade of the century.[204] Valence is said to have taught French after a "wonderesly compendious facile prompte and ready waye,"[205] and Gregory Cromwell, whom he also counted among his pupils, is reported to have made good progress under his direction. Pierre PIERRE VALENCE, TEACHER OF FRENCHValence was one of the natives of Normandy, so numerous in England at this time that the fact was commented on by Étienne Perlin, a French priest who visited England at the end of the reign of Edward VI. He describes them as being "du tout tres mechans et mauditz François," worse than all the English, which, according to him, is a very grave charge.[206] The date at which Valence came to England is unknown, but he is said to have studied at Cambridge in or about 1515.[207] He was in all probability a refugee for religious reasons. He is known to have held Lutheran opinions, and, whilst at Cambridge, caused a disturbance by defacing a copy of the Pope's general indulgence, which had been set up over the gates of the schools. Vigorous but ineffectual attempts were made to discover the writer, against whom the Chancellor pronounced sentence of excommunication. Valence is alleged finally to have acknowledged the act as his, to have expressed contrition, and to have been absolved. There are several points of contact between this man and his greater contemporary, John Palsgrave: both were students at Cambridge, possibly at the same time, though Palsgrave was the senior; both had as their pupil the son of Mr. Secretary Cromwell—the one for French and the other for Latin; both were protégés of the Dowager Queen of France (sister of Henry VIII. and Palsgrave's pupil for French) and of her husband the Duke of Suffolk. In 1535 Valence received a grant of letters of denization,[208] and ultimately became domestic chaplain and almoner to Dr. Goodrich, Bishop of Ely, and appears to have maintained this position under the bishop's successor. He was still living in 1555, since, in that year, he visited some heretics in Ely jail, and conjured them to stand loyally by the truth of the Gospel.[209]

Among the works of "dyvers clerkes" on the French language, to which Palsgrave refers, is probably to be reckoned a short treatise bearing the date 1528. This work is only known by a fragment consisting of two leaves now preserved in the library at Lambeth.[210] These pages are of quarto size and bear the signature "B. B." The right-hand page is in French, the left in English; the former is in Roman characters, the latter in black letter. Although these two pages contain the date, and the last is not full, they do not appear to be the end of the work, as the writer refers to what is to come hereafter.[211] One gathers from internal evidence that the author was a foreigner—no doubt a Frenchman. He speaks, for instance, of the "gentz Englois" as though he was not one of them; and it appears to be quite certain that the work was originally composed in French, and translated into English rather carelessly, and probably by another hand, for in the version it is rendered almost unintelligible by the translation of the French illustrative examples as well as the text itself.

The contents are of a light and entertaining character. The author holds that many rules do but "trouble and marre" the understanding. He counsels students rather to follow the example of good writers as likely to be more helpful.

He treats entirely of the pronunciation, and devotes special attention to the difficulties of the English,[212] laying emphasis on the importance of placing the accent on the right syllable. The rules are put in an amusing way, thus: "a should be pronounced fro the botom of the stomake and all openly, e a lytell higher in the throte there properly where the Englishman soundeth his e; i, in the roundnesse of the lippes; u, in puttynge a lytell of wynde out of the mouthe." Further uses of the vowel a are thus set forth: it may be placed before all verbs, in the infinitive mood, and before all manner of nouns and pronouns, as "to Robert," "to May," and so on. Again, "it betokeneth 'have' when it cometh of the Latin verb habeo." The consonants are next dealt with and disposed of in much the same way. Some attention is also given to the question, then much discussed, whether the etymological consonants in the words where they are not pronounced should be retained or not. The author's opinion was that every letter in a word ought to be sounded, yet he feels himself utterly unable to struggle against custom, and falls back on the rule "go as you please": TWO FRENCH POETS TEACH FRENCH"Pronounce ech one as he shal please, for to difficyl it is to correct olde errours."

Among the French teachers in England at this time were also two Frenchmen of considerable literary distinction—Nicolas Bourbon, the Latin poet and well-known scholar, friend of Rabelais and Marot; and Nicolas Denisot, who likewise held an important place among French humanists, and finished his literary education under Daurat, the famous Hellenist.

Bourbon came to England under the protection of Anne Boleyn, who appears to have taken a special interest in him;[213] she had, he tells us, procured his liberation from imprisonment. Bourbon was for some time a private tutor in Paris, and soon after he regained his freedom he crossed to England, intending to continue his work there. He had a cordial welcome, and invariably speaks of his stay and treatment in London with gratitude. His Latin verses[214] show him to be acquainted with the chief Englishmen who gathered round the Court, where he occupied his leisure by writing satirical verses against the queen's enemies, especially Sir Thomas More,[215] and in eulogizing Cromwell, Cranmer, and the Reform Party then in power. It was on the recommendation of the king and queen, he informs us, that he was engaged as French tutor in several families of distinction, including the Carews, Norrisses, and Harveys. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was one of his patrons, and from him Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, together with his brothers, learnt French as children. Bourbon left England in 1535, on hearing of the death of his father. He had probably been in the country at least two years, and, perhaps happily for himself, left it a year before the fall of his patroness Anne Boleyn.

At a somewhat later date, 1547, the elegant poet and artist Nicolas Denisot arrived in England, driven from Paris by an unfortunate love affair.[216] His nephew, Jacques Denisot, declares he was "fort bien accueilliz dans la cour d'Angleterre où son estime et sa reputation estoit deja cogneue." He mixed with the writers and politicians[217] of the day, and attracted the notice of the Court by writing verses in honour of the young king, Edward VI.[218] He soon found himself in the distinguished position of French and Latin tutor to the three daughters of the Protector Somerset,—Anne, Margaret, and Jane,—who were destined shortly to become famous in Paris as his pupils, and to form an important link in the literary relations of the two countries. Calvin corresponded with one of Denisot's pupils, the Lady Anne; and in 1549 he wrote requesting her to use her knowledge of French in transmitting to her mother an expression of his gratitude for a ring he had received from that lady, he being unable to do so, on account of his ignorance of English.[219] In this same year, 1549, Denisot's engagement in the house of Somerset came to an end rather abruptly, probably on account of some misunderstanding with the duke. He returned to France after spending three years in England, and thence kept up a friendly correspondence with his former pupils. On the death of Queen Margaret of Navarre, whom, no doubt, Denisot had taught them to admire, the sisters composed four hundred Latin distichs in her honour, and sent them to their former master, who welcomed them with enthusiasm, and published them in 1550. In the following year the verses appeared again, accompanied by French, Italian, and Greek translations, and verses from the pen of Ronsard, Du Bellay, and other literary friends of Denisot.[220] It is a striking fact that before the Pléiade was fully known in France, the fame of some of its members had reached England, where a particular interest would be taken in this development of the work of the three princesses. Ronsard, Denisot's intimate friend, wrote one of his earliest odes in honour of Denisot's pupils, in which he celebrates the intellectual union of France and England:

Denisot se vante heuré
D'avoir oublié sa terre
THE PLÉIADE IN ENGLANDEt passager demeuré
Trois ans en Angleterre.
. . . . les espritz
D'Angleterre et de la France
Bandez d'une ligue ont pris
Le fer contre l'ignorance,
Et (que) nos Roys se sont faitz
D'ennemys amys parfaitz
Tuans la guerre cruelle
Par une paix mutuelle.

Herberay des Essarts, the translator of the famous Amadis, wrote a letter in praise of the princesses, which was printed at the beginning of Margaret's "tombeau." With full justice has Denisot been called the "ambassador" of the French Renaissance in England.

FOOTNOTES:

[132] It was, however, an English scholar, Richard Mulcaster, Headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School (1561) and of St. Paul's School (1596), who boldly urged that the English language was a subject worthy of study by Englishmen, though this was not till 1582, when his Elementarie was published.

[133] The Second Book of the Travels of Nicander Nucius, 1545, Camden Society, London, 1841, p. 13.

[134] W. B. Rye, England as seen by Foreigners, London, 1865, passim.

[135] Translation of Sallust's Bellum Jugurthinum: Dedication to the Duke of Norfolk.

[136] Remains, Parker Society, p. 470. Quoted by J. J. Jusserand, Histoire littéraire du peuple anglais, Paris, 1904, p. 86, n. 3.

[137] The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney and Hubert Languet, ed. W. A. Bradly, Boston, 1912, pp. 41 and 112.

[138] Sidney Papers, ed. A. Collins, in Letters and Memorials of State, 2 vols., London, 1746, vol. i. pp. 283-5.

[139] Letters of Descartes, quoted by E. J. B. Rathery, Les Relations sociales et intellectuelles entre la France et l'Angleterre . . . Paris, 1856.

[140] Which provided the material for that "bonnie bouncing book," as Ben Jonson called it—Coryat's Crudities: Hastily gobled up in Five Months' Travells in France, etc. 1611.

[141] Rye, op. cit. pp. xxxv-xxxvii.

[142] L. Einstein, The Italian Renaissance in England, New York, 1907.

[143] The Tudor group of distinguished linguists includes the names of many women. The chronicler Harrison remarks that it is a rare thing to hear of a courtier that has but his own language, and to tell how many ladies are skilled in French, Spanish, and Italian is beyond his power (Holinshed's Chronicle, 1586, i. p. 196). Nicholas Udal writes in the same strain in his dedication to Queen Katherine Parr of his translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the Gospels; we are told that a great number of noble women at that time in England were given to the study of human sciences and of strange tongues; and that it was a common thing to see "young virgins so nouzled and trained in the study of letters that thei willingly set all other vain pastymes at nought for learnynge's sake." Amongst the most accomplished of such "Queens and Ladies of high estate and progeny" were Queen Katherine Parr and Lady Jane Grey. Mulcaster in his Positions (1581) praises English ladies for their fondness of serious study, and so does the Italian teacher Torriano in his Italian reviv'd (1673), p. 99. Many examples of fluent linguists are found in Ballard's Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain, 2nd ed., 1775.

[144] Elizabeth's command of foreign languages was constantly a subject of remark. Dr. William Turner in the dedication of his Herbal (1568) to the queen, addresses her thus: "As to your knowledge of Latin and Greek, French, Italian, and others also, not only your own faythful subiectes, beynge far from all suspicion of flattery, bear witness, but also strangers, men of great learninge, in their books set out in Latin tonge, give honourable testimonye." Best known of these learned observers was Scaliger (Scaligeriana, Cologne, 1695, p. 134). Similar eulogies in verse were left by French poets: Ronsard, Elegies, Mascarades et Bergeries (1561), reproduced in Le Bocage royal (1567); Jacques Grévin, Chant du cygne; Du Bartas, Second Week; and Agrippa d'Aubigné; also by John Florio, First Frutes, 1578, ch. xiii.

[145] First Frutes, 1578, ch. i.

[146] John Eliote, Ortho-Epia Gallica, 1596.

[147] Merchant of Venice, Act I. Scene 2.

[148] Cp. Brunot, Histoire de la langue française, ii. pp. 2 sqq. Dallington in his View of France remarks on the same neglect. In The Abbot and the Learned Woman, Erasmus praises the latter for studying the classics and not, as was usual, confining herself to French (Colloquia, Leiden, 1519).

[149] Copy Book of Sir Amias Poulet's Letters, Roxburghe Club, 1866, p. 129.

[150] The Second Book of the Travels of Nicander Nucius, Camden Soc., 1841, p. 14.

[151] Dialogue de l'ortografe et pronunciacion françoese departi en deus livres, Lyon, 1558.

[152] Peiresc wrote in French to the scholars Selden and Camden, who answered in Latin. Other French scholars who maintained a correspondence with Englishmen are de Thou, Jérôme Bignon, Duchesne, du Plessis Mornay, H. Estienne, Hubert Languet, Pibrac, and the Sainte-Marthe brothers.

[153] Lettres missives de Henri IV, 9 tom., Paris, 1843. For an example of Elizabeth's French in her intercourse with her neighbours, see Rathery, Les Relations sociales et intellectuelles entre la France et l'Angleterre, Paris, 1856, p. 31 n.; Unton Correspondence, Roxburghe Club, 1847, passim.

[154] See the Calendars of State Papers for the period.

[155] Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1595-97, p. 328.

[156] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., vol xiii. pt. i. No. 977.

[157] Henry VII.'s mother, the Countess of Richmond, was also an accomplished French scholar; she translated several works from the French, and encouraged others to follow her example.

[158] J. P. Collier, Annals of the English Stage, 1831, vol. i. pp. 48, 51, 53.

[159] Cp. Rye, op. cit. pp. 76, 79.

[160] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., ed. Brewer, vol. ii. No. 411; Rawdon Brown, Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII., 1854, vol. i. pp. 76-79 and 86.

[161] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., vol. i. p. xxiii.

[162] Songs, Ballads, and Instrumental Pieces composed by King Henry VIII., Oxford, 1912. Barclay says in his Eclogues that French minstrels and singers were highly favoured at Court. Jamieson, Life and Writings of Barclay, 1874, p. 44.

[163] "Je serai à [vous] toujours et tant que je vivrai autre n'aimerai que vous."

[164] Henry VIII., Act I. Scene 4.

[165] Wolsey spoke Latin well. Like Charles II. he considered it diplomatic to affect ignorance of French at times. Such is his advice to those who accompanied him on his embassy to France: "The nature of the Frenchmen is such that at their first meeting they will be as familiar with you as if they had knowne you by long acquaintance, and will commune with you in their French Tongue as if you knew every word. Therefore use them in a kind manner, and bee as familiar with them as they are with you: if they speake to you in their natural tongue, speake to them in English, for if you understand not them, no more shall they you." Puttenham, in his Arte of English Poesie, advises ambassadors and messengers not to use foreign languages of which they have not perfect command, lest they commit blunders similar to that of the courtier who said of a French lady, "Elle chevauche bien,"—blunders which might have serious results in diplomatic transactions.

[166] The Negociations of Th. Wolsey, The Great Cardinal of England, containing his Life and Death. Composed by one of his own servants, being his gentleman usher (G. Cavendish?), London, 1641.

[167] Negociations of Th. Wolsey, ut supra.

[168] M. E. A. Green, Lives of the Princesses of England, 1849-1855, v. p. 20.

[169] Green's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, 1846. See also Ellis, Original Letters, 1st series, vol. i. p. 115.

[170] Life of Anne Boleyn, in Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England, London, 1884, ii. pp. 179, 181.

[171] Ellis, Orig. Letters, 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 11. Anne's French spelling is curious and suggests that, like Henry VIII., she learnt French mainly by ear: "Mons. Je antandue par vre lettre que aves envy que tout onnete feme quan je vindre à la courte et ma vertisses que Rene prendra la pein de devisser a vecc moy, de quoy me regoy bien fort de pensser parler a vecc ung personne tante sage et onnete, cela me ferra a voyr plus grante anvy de continuer a parler bene franssais."

[172] A French poem of the time, preserved in MS. and quoted by Rathery, op. cit. p. 21, celebrates Anne's French accomplishments—Traité pour feue dame Anne de Boulant, jadis royne d'Angleterre, l'an 1533:

"La tellement ses graces amenda
Que ne l'eussiez oncques jugée Angloise
En ses fachons, ains naïve Françhoise.
Elle sçavoit bien danser et chanter,
Et ses propos sagement agencer,
Sonner du luth et d'autres instrumens
Pour divertir les tristes pensemens."

[173] Pub., with English translation, in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii., 1745, pp. 52-62.

[174] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., xv. 179, and xvi. 12.

[175] Ellis, Orig. letters, series 1, vol. ii. p. 122.

[176] Strickland, Lives of the Queens, 1884, ii. p. 299.

[177] This is the testimony of Girolamo Cordano, a physician and astrologer of Milan who was called upon to exercise his art on the young king of England in 1552. Rye, England as seen by Foreigners, pp. lxviii sqq.

[178] Strickland, op. cit. ii. pp. 477-8.

[179] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., xvi. No. 1253.

[180] Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd series, ii. p. 236.

[181] One of Elizabeth's Italian masters was Baptista Castiglione, a religious refugee in 1557. Elizabeth, however, had acquired some knowledge of Italian before 1544; in that year she addressed a letter in Italian to Queen Katharine Parr (printed in G. Howard's Lady Jane Grey and her Times, 1822). Other Italian letters of the queen are published in Green's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, 1846.

[182] Account of the Venetian ambassador at the Court of Mary—Michel Giovanni. Rye, op. cit. p. 266.

[183] Memoirs of his own Life, 1549-93, Bannatyne Club, 1827, p. 125. Elizabeth's Dutch he pronounces "not gud," and later says that neither the King of France nor the Queen of England could speak Dutch (p. 341).

[184] Memoirs of his own Life, 1549-93, Bannatyne Club, 1827, p. 117.

[185] J. Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 1788-1821, i. p. x.

[186] Rye, op. cit. p. 12.

[187] Rye, op. cit. p. 104.

[188] The MS. was reproduced in facsimile in 1893. The prayers in French begin thus: "Mon Dieu et mon pere puis qu'il t'a pleu desployer les tresors de ta grande misericorde envers moy ta tres humble servante, m'ayant de bon matin retirée des profonds abismes de l'ignorance naturelle et des superstitions damnables pour me faire iouir de ce grand soleil de justice . . . etc."

[189] Lettres, Amsterdam, 1723, liv. i. p. 5.

[190] An account of the little that is known of André's life is given in Gairdner's Memorials of Henry VII., pp. viii et seq.

[191] Of foreign countries, the Netherlands seem to have come next to England in zeal for the study of French, and Germany takes the next place. Countries in which sister Romance tongues were spoken, Italy and Spain, were apparently entirely dependent on practice for learning French.

[192] The printing was completed by Robert Coplande on the 22nd March 1521. The book consists of sixteen leaves of the folio size of the time, in black letter, with signatures A-B in sixes and C in fours. There is a unique copy in the Bodleian.

[193] Bale, Scriptorum Britanniae Summarium, 1548, p. 723, and Pits, Relationes Historicae de rebus Anglicis, 1619, p. 745, attribute to Barclay a work called De pronuntiatione linguae gallicae. This suggests that possibly the Introductory was first written in Latin.

[194] Time after time he mentions the usages of different parts of the country, as piecha for pieça in certain districts; jeo and ceo for je and ce in Picard and Gascon; the writing of the names of dignitaries and officers in the plural instead of the singular, as luy papes de Rome.

[195] L'Esclarcissement de la langue françoyse, bk. i. ch. xxxv.

[196] "There is a boke which goeth about in this realme, intitled The Introductory to write and pronounce French, compyled by Alexander Barclay. I suppose it is sufficient to warne the lerner that I have red over that boke at length, and what my opinion is therein it shall well apeare in my boke's self, though I make thereof no further expresse mencion."

[197] Thus the vowel a is sometimes a letter, sometimes a word. In the former case it is often sounded like English a; when it is a word d should not be added. This section of the work is reprinted in A. J. Ellis's Early English Pronunciation, Early Engl. Text Soc., 1869, etc., pt. iii. pp. 804 sqq.

[198] On the back of folio 5.

[199] "Howsoever the singular number end, the plural number must end in s or z." Such is the rule for the formation of the plural. As for the genders, he gives a few isolated examples and converts them into rules.

[200] On folio 8vº.

[201] Folios 9-14. The vocabulary begins with the letter M, and after proceeding to the end of the alphabet, resumes at the beginning—an arrangement probably due to some blunder on the part of the printer.

[202] Both deal with agricultural subjects; the first gives the life of a grain of wheat, and the second may explain itself:

"Dieu sauve la charue,

God save the ploughe,

Et celui qui la mane.

And he the whiche it ledeth.

Primierement hairois la terre,

Firste ere the grounde,

Apres semer le blé ou l'orge.

After sow the whete or barley.

Les herces doivent venir apres,

The harrowes must come after,

Le chaclir oster l'ordure.

The hoke to take away wedes,

En Aoust le foyer ou faucher,

In August reap it or mowe it,

D'une faucille ou d'une faux."

There is no English rendering of the last line.

[203] In the Library of the Marquis of Bath.

[204] The Earl was born in 1516.

[205] Ellis, Orig. Letters, 1st series, i. pp. 341-43.

[206] Description des royaulmes d'Angleterre et d'Escosse, Paris, 1558.

[207] C. H. and T. Cooper, Athenae Cantabrigienses, vol. i., 1858, p. 155.

[208] List of Denizations, 1509-1603, Huguenot Society Publications VIII.

[209] Athenae Cantab. ut supra.

[210] S. R. Maitland, List of some of the early printed books in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 1843, pp. 290 et seq.

[211] "'a' also betokeneth 'have' or 'has,' when it cometh of this verbe in Latin, habeo, as hereafter ye may see."

[212] "Sur toultes choses doibuit noter gentz Englois que leur fault accustomer de pronuncer la derniere lettre du mot françois quelque mot que ce soit (rime exceptée) ce que la langue engleshe ne permet, car la ou l'anglois dit 'goode breade,' le françois diroit 'goode' iii sillebes et 'breade' iii sillebes."

[213] J. A. Jacquot, Notice sur Nicolas Bourbon de Vandœuvre, Troyes et Paris, 1857. Bourbon was born in 1503, and died in 1550. He went to Paris in 1531, leaving behind him in his native town a reputation won by his Latin verses. On his return from England, Queen Margaret of Navarre entrusted to him the education of her daughter, Jeanne, who was the mother of Henry IV.

[214] Nicolai Borbonii vandoperani Lingonenis Παιδαγωγειον, Lugduni, 1536.

[215] J. H. Marsden, Philomorus, 2nd ed., 1878, p. 261.

[216] Clement Jugé, Nicolas Denisot du Mans, 1515-1559, Paris and Le Mans, 1907.

[217] He also began his work as a secret agent in the service of France, and it is said that Calais was recovered by the French in 1558, from a plan which Denisot submitted to the Duc de Guise.

[218] There was a MS. copy of Latin poems by Denisot in the Library of Edward VI. (Nichols, Literary Remains, 1857.)

[219] J. Bonnet, Récits du seizième siècle, 1864, p. 348.

[220] Le Tombeau de Marguerite de Navarre faict premierement en Distiques latins par les trois sœurs, Princesses en Angleterre: Depuis Traduits, en Grec, Italien et François par plusieurs des excellentz Poetes de la France. Avecques plusieurs Odes, Hymnes, Cantiques, Epitaphes sur le mesme subiect. Paris, 1551.

CHAPTER II

FRENCH TUTORS AT COURT—GILES DUWES—JOHN PALSGRAVE—JEAN BELLEMAIN

The two most popular French tutors at the Court of Henry VIII. were undoubtedly Giles Duwes and John Palsgrave. Palsgrave is the only one of these early French tutors who is well known to-day as a writer on the French tongue. He was a Londoner, and received his education at Cambridge and Paris. Giles Duwes was a Frenchman and seems to have enjoyed a greater popularity in his own day. He had been teaching French at the English Court for over ten years when Palsgrave received his first appointment there, as French tutor to the king's "most dere and entierly beloved" sister Mary, afterwards Queen of France. Both teachers were protégés of Henry VIII., and taught in the royal family—Duwes was tutor to the king himself; and both were authors of grammars of the French language. That of Palsgrave has been mentioned already. It appeared in 1530 under the title of L'Esclarcissement de la langue françoyse. Duwes's was not published till three years later approximately, at the request of his pupil, Princess Mary, afterwards Queen of England. It was called An Introductorie for to learne to rede, to prononce and to speke French trewly, compyled for the rigid high excellent and most vertuous Lady Mary of Englande, daughter to our most gracious soveraign, Lorde Kyng Henry the Eight.[221] His treatise is a small quarto of 102 leaves, forming a striking contrast to Palsgrave's enormous folio[222] of over 1000 pages.

The contents and style of the two books are as different as their size. Like all the French grammarians of the time, JOHN PALSGRAVE'S FRENCH GRAMMARPalsgrave opens his work with rules for the pronunciation, and the whole of the first book is devoted to an elaborate study of this subject. Earlier writers had treated it very slightly, if at all, trusting that the student would find some opportunity of learning the sounds of the language by mixing with those who spoke it. We are told[223] that as a result there was no means of acquiring a good pronunciation, save in early youth by practice and use for a year or two. And it came to be supposed in a manner a thing impossible; "in so much that whereas there be hundreds in this realm, which with a little labour and the aid of Latin, do so perfectly understand this tongue that they be able to translate at the first sight anything out of the French tongue into ours, yet have they thought the thing so strange to leave the consonants unsounded whiche they saw written in such books as they studied, that they have utterly neglected the Frenchmen's manner of pronunciation, and so read French as their fantasy or opinion did lead them and, by that means, perceiving in themselves a want and swerving from the truth, which they wot not how to amend, utterly leave to speak or exercise the language as a thing which they despair of."[224] One of the chief difficulties of these early students then was the numerous consonants found in French words for etymological reasons, and which were not pronounced. Other difficulties were found in the accentuation of vowel sounds. The English were in the habit of placing the accent on the wrong syllable, saying dōucement instead of doucemēnt, and of not giving the vowel its full and pure sound, both mistakes being due to peculiarities of their native tongue. "We must leave that kind of reading and pronouncing if we will sound the French Tongue aright," says Palsgrave, "for the French in their pronunciation do chiefly regard three things: to be armonious in theyr speking, to be brefe and sodayne in soundyng of theyr words, avoydyng all manner of harshenesse in theyr pronunciation, and thirdly to gyve every worde that they abyde and reste upon theyr most audible sounde." There is something solemn about his assurance of the successful results to be attained by the study of his rules: "whereas nowe the very grounde and consyderation of the Frenchmen in this behalf ones knowen, it hath been proved by experience that it is but a senyghts labour, or, at the most, a fournyghtes to lerne this poynt concernyng to theyr pronounciatyon an to be sure herof for ever."

Palsgrave devotes attention to each letter of the alphabet in turn, and seeks to elucidate the value of the sounds by reference to contemporary English or Italian, and by attempting to give the position of the vocal organs.[225] A, he says, has two diverse sounds. "Sometimes he is sounded as in English, and sometimes like the diphthong au and a little in the nose. The most usual pronunciation given it by the French, is the same as those who speak the best English, that is like the Italian sound a, or those of the English who sound the Latin tongue aright. When m or n follow the vowel it is pronounced as au and somewhat in the nose, chambre being sounded chaumbre," etc. More general topics are also touched on—the accent, the length of vowels, and the intonation which is so "brief, so sudden and so hard."

In his second book,[226] Palsgrave treats what he calls the second difficulty of the French tongue—the accidence of the nine parts of speech. Throughout, constant reference is made to the third book, "whiche is a very comment expositour unto my second." This last book deals with the more syntactical side of the subject, and was added on the model of Theodore Gaza's Greek grammar. It occupies by far the largest portion of the whole work,[227] and besides giving elaborate and often obscure rules to govern every French inflexion,[228] includes an English-French alphabetical vocabulary which reaches the size of a dictionary. This vocabulary is arranged according to the parts of speech, and numerous phrases and idioms illustrative of different uses of the words are freely given. THE "INTRODUCTORIE" OF GILES DUWESNothing like it in dimensions had yet appeared, and, contrary to custom, the English is placed before the French.

Duwes's manual, on the other hand, opens with an acrostich in French with an interlinear English translation containing the author's name—Giles Duwes or de Vadis,—followed by a short address in verse to the Princess Mary, "filleule a saincte Marie" (also in French, accompanied by an English interlinear version), and lists of French words beginning with each of the letters of his royal pupil's name. The grammar itself is written in English, for Duwes was one of the few Frenchmen of the time who knew English; neither Bourbon nor Denisot, though they lived in England some years, and taught French to English pupils, knew our language; and no doubt they helped to continue the long-standing relation between the teaching of Latin and the teaching of French. Duwes's work is divided into two books, the first of which is devoted to rules of grammar. He dismisses the pronunciation with seven short and inadequate rules, and proceeds to give his pupil a copious vocabulary of words and phrases, in which the English word is printed over the French one. The headings with which the earlier vocabularies have made us familiar are again utilized, though with variety in detail, and many passages are reminiscent of the mediaeval nomenclatures. After his pupil has gained a knowledge of pronunciation, and acquired a good vocabulary, Duwes proceeds to give him an insight into the grammar of the language. He treats the parts of speech, with the exception of the verb, in a very summary fashion; thus, with regard to the gender of pronouns, all he has to say is that those ending in a are feminine, and those ending in on or e are masculine. "But there be certain names of the feminine, which do require the pronouns masculine, that must be accepted (excepted), as mon ame; me and se be indifferent." He devotes nearly the whole of his space to a lengthy and elaborate treatment of the French verb, which he divides into two conjugations, according as there is not or is an s before the termination -ons of the first person plural, present indicative! Thus the forms aimons, avons, batons, donons prove the verbs aimer, avoir, batir, donner to belong to the first conjugation; and similarly the forms baisons, taisons, etc., indicate that these verbs belong to the second conjugation—an arrangement not at all conducive to lucidity. A considerable part of his work is occupied by the conjugation of verbs of all sorts, in a variety of forms and both negatively and interrogatively. He usually adopts the practice, frequent in modern text-books, of attaching words to the verbs as he conjugates them, and so providing them with a context. Thus he writes j'ai grand desir, and not simply the verb form j'ai. A knowledge of French verbs was, in Duwes's opinion, the key to the knowledge of the French language.[229]

The second book occupies more than half the volume. It contains practical exercises in the form of "letters missive in prose and in rime, also diverse communications by way of dialogue, to receive a messenger from the emperor, the French King or any other prince, also other communications of the propriety of meat, of love, of peace, of wars, of the exposition of the mass, and what man's soul is, with the division of time and other conceits." Each exercise is provided with an interlinear English translation, and all, as may be gathered from their subject matter, were in the first place written specially for the use of the Princess Mary. They deal with the daily events of her life, and, though occasionally public affairs are touched on, these exercises are of greatest interest in disclosing the affectionate relations existing between Mary and her tutor. Whenever possible, Duwes introduces alternative phrases as well as variations of number and gender, and this attention to his pupil's vocabulary and knowledge of the flexions often encumbers his sentences. As for the English version, it gives a word-for-word rendering of the French, without regard to the natural order of words in an English sentence.

The methods of the two teachers seem to have been as different as their works. Everything tends to prove that Duwes's manner of teaching was practical, light, and entertaining, and at the same time efficient—a rare combination of good qualities. Henry VIII.'s skill in French has already HIS METHODbeen noticed, and Duwes's other pupils seem to have been equally accomplished. In his opinion, a good vocabulary and a thorough knowledge of the verbs were the two essentials in teaching French. To learn French quickly, he thinks, the student must practise turning the verbs in all possible ways, affirmatively, negatively, and interrogatively—a principle of repetition. In this way he acquires fluency of speech and is able to "make diverse and many sentences with one word, and perconsequent come shortly to the French speach." For instance, thirty-six variations may be got in one tense, by turning each person in six different ways, "that is to say, the affirmative three ways, and the negative likewise." Duwes reaches this large total by giving the following forms of each person: "I have, have I?, why have I?" for the singular of affirmation, "I have not, have I not?, why have I not?" for the singular of negation, and so on with other persons and the corresponding plural forms. He further counsels the student to practise 108 similar variations in the same tense, by means of the use of the pronouns me, te, se; "for the first person, I have me, I have thee, I have him, and we turn it, we shall have, Have I me, have I thee, have I him. Then putting why before it we shall have, Why have I me," etc., and so on, on lines exactly similar to the example for thirty-six variations. Apparently such exercises were the mainstay of his grammatical instruction, for rules of grammar are reduced to a minimum. Practice held a higher place than theory in Duwes's estimation, and his attitude towards attempts to draw up rules for the French language was very sceptical; to be complete, the numbers of such rules would be infinite, and, what is more, rules are of more use to the teacher than to the learner.

Palsgrave, on the contrary, had a firm belief in the value and soundness of grammar rules. He seems to have been the first to advocate the learning of French chiefly by means of grammar. The earliest treatises had been intended more to correct the French of those who read them than to teach the language; and though in later times the rules were intended to impart a knowledge of the language, they were not put in the first place, and it was always felt that they were very secondary to "custom and the use of reading and speaking." Before Palsgrave's grammar appeared, declares his enthusiastic pupil Andrew Baynton, Englishmen did in a manner despair of learning French except by an "importune and long continued exercise and that begun in young and tender age." Sir Thomas Elyot in The Boke of the Governour, which appeared a year after Palsgrave's grammar, seems to regret this interference with long-standing custom, by means of which French was "brought into as many rules and figures and as long a grammar as is Latin or Greek."[230] He was afraid that the "sparkes of fervent desire of learnynge" should be "extincte with the burdone of grammar, lyke as a lytell fyre is sone quenched with a great heape of small stickes: so that it can never come to the principale logges where it shuld longe bourne in a great pleasaunt fire." Many years elapsed, however, before the deadening effect of too much grammar, apprehended by Elyot, was felt in the teaching of French.

Palsgrave's method of teaching, therefore, was the reverse of that of his fellow-worker, although he professes a desire to induce his pupils not only to love their studies, but to be merry over them.[231] It appears that he was fond of making his pupils learn rules by heart,[232] while the dynamic of his method was translation from English into French—an exercise not very popular amongst teachers at this time. So great was his faith in his rules that he felt that the student might, with their aid, even dispense with the assistance of a teacher. By an attentive study of the first book the reader "shal undouted attayne to the right and naturall pronunciation of this sayde tonge." And he assures the student that by reading the general information in the introduction to his first two books, and by learning by heart the three perfect verbs in his second book (Je parle, Je convertis, Je fais, representatives of the three conjugations into which Palsgrave arranges French verbs) and the three irregulars (J'ai, Je suis, and Je m'en vais), he will know French tolerably well, and be able, with the help of the vocabulary in the third book, to translate from English into French, and "so incontinente accustome hym to have theyr common speache"; and, again using the vocabulary, he will be able to read any French author by his own study, without help or teacher, if he knows the second book perfectly. However, he advises those who HIS DIALOGUES IN FRENCH AND ENGLISHdesire to attain perfection, or to qualify themselves for foreign service, to read and study the whole of the three books.

Palsgrave seems to assign the priority to Duwes by mentioning him as one of his immediate predecessors, although Duwes's work was not published until after Palsgrave's. Yet it is improbable that the debt on either side was anything but trifling. Duwes had been teaching many years before we first hear of Palsgrave. As he taught he drew up grammatical rules for the use of his pupils; and when he was tutor to the Princess Mary, she requested him to collect together and publish the material he had used in teaching the king, her father, as well as other members of the royal family.[233] According to Palsgrave, diverse noblemen supported the princess's request. Thus most of the rules published in Duwes's grammar had been composed very many years before they were published, for Duwes had then been teaching for over thirty years. And no doubt Palsgrave, who was also employed at Court, had opportunities of seeing them in manuscript. As to the dialogues and other practical exercises, they were all specially written for the use of the princess, and so are of later date than most of the rules. Duwes had doubtless composed for the benefit of his earlier pupils similar exercises, which remained in manuscript form and were lost. Some idea of the dates at which the dialogues were written and of the period during which Duwes was engaged in teaching the princess may be gathered from references to topical events which occur in the text. For instance, mention is made of a peace newly proclaimed throughout the kingdoms of France and England, which was, no doubt, that of 1525, when England joined with France to counteract the excessive power of Spain. We also find a somewhat vague reference to a possible marriage for the princess with a "king or emperor," and remember that it was in 1525 that negotiations for her marriage with Charles V. were broken off, and others for an alliance with the French king, Francis I., begun. Another circumstance points to this same period. One of the dialogues takes place at Tewkesbury Park; it was in 1526 that Mary was created Princess of Wales, and sent to Ludlow to hold her Court there, and in November of the same year six of her Council addressed a letter to Wolsey from Tewkesbury. Duwes is not mentioned by name in a list of the princess's household appointed on this occasion, probably because he was already in her service; and it is interesting to note that the Countess of Salisbury, her lady governess, had instructions "without fatigacion or weariness to intende to her learninge of Latine tongue and French," as well as her music, dancing and diet.[234] In May 1527, Mary had returned to London, and took part in the festivities given at Greenwich in honour of the French ambassadors who had come to ask for her hand on behalf of the French king's second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans. We may therefore conclude that Duwes's grammar rules were composed at various dates from the beginning of the century, and the dialogues probably between the years 1524 and 1527.

Palsgrave, on the other hand, began his great work when Henry VIII. appointed him French tutor to his sister Mary, the future Queen of France, in 1512. He had "conceyved some lyttle hope and confidence" by receiving such a noble charge, and thought it a convenient occasion for showing his gratitude by means of his works. Several years later he completed "two sondrie bookes" on the subject, which he offered in manuscript to his former pupil, the Dowager Queen of France, and her husband the Duke of Suffolk. On their advice and encouragement he undertook to enlarge these and to add a third, and present the whole to the king. In 1523, Palsgrave had planned the whole of the three books, for in that year he made a contract with the printer, Richard Pynson, in which it is stipulated that "the sayd Richarde, his executors and assignes shall imprint or cause to be imprynted on boke callyd 'lez lesclarcissement de la langue Françoys,' contayning iii sondrye bokes, where in is shewyd howe the saide tong schould be pronownsyd in reding and speking, and allso syche gramaticall rules as concerne the perfection of the saide tong, with ii vocabulistes, oone begynnyng with English nownes and verbes expownded in frenshe, and a general vocabulist contayning all the wordes off the frenshe tong expound in Englishe." Pynson undertook to begin at once and to print every whole working day, at the rate of a sheet a day, interrupting the work for nothing save a royal order. The third book was not fully POPULARITY OF DUWESwritten when the first two passed into the hands of the printer, as Palsgrave constantly refers in it to the mistakes made already by the printer in his second book,—mistakes unavoidable in so "newe and unaccustomed worke." He also seems to have modified his plan for the vocabulary; in that which actually appeared in the third book there is a separate English-French dictionary for each part of speech—noun, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, and interjection. In the meantime, Pynson died, and the book was completed by John Hawkins, this being the only known production of his press. The two writers, then, were both engaged on their work for a great many years. Duwes was the first in the field, but he wrote with no view to publication, merely to satisfy the needs of his pupils. Palsgrave, on the other hand, from the very first intended to publish his work, and had great ambitions. Although he no doubt saw some of Duwes's manuscript, his debt was of the slightest character, if it can be called a debt at all. The respective size of the two volumes is enough to prove this.

Duwes's small treatise, however, seems to have enjoyed a greater popularity than that of Palsgrave;[235] the latter did not reach a second edition, whereas the former went through three in rapid succession. This was no doubt largely due to its conciseness and practical nature, which would appeal to the student, discouraged at the sight of Palsgrave's immense work. The first edition (as far as is known) of Duwes's Introductorie must have appeared at least three years after Palsgrave's Esclarcissement. The first two editions, printed, one by Thomas Godfray, and the other by Nicholas Bourman for John Reyns at the sign of the George in Paul's Churchyard, were published during the years when Anne Boleyn was queen, and after the birth of the Princess Elizabeth, as they both contain a "laude and prayse" of the King, Queen Anne, and her daughter. This leaves a period of under three years for the publication of the two editions, seeing that Elizabeth was born in September 1533, and Anne was put to death on the 19th of May 1536, Jane Seymour becoming queen in her stead on the 20th. The third edition[236] appeared after Duwes's death in 1535, as perhaps the second edition may have done also. The dedication to Anne is omitted, and a new one inserted, addressed to Henry alone. The second part is here said to be "newly corrected and amended"; but it is difficult to find in what the corrections consist, for, with the exception of slight variations of spelling, the edition is identical with the two earlier ones. It was issued from the press of John Waley, who began to practise his trade as printer in about the year 1546.[237] Most probably, then, this edition appeared in the last months of the reign of Henry VIII. (1547), and was one of the earliest works issued from Waley's press. It is hardly likely that he would have inserted the "laude and prayse" of the king if the work had appeared after his Majesty's death.

Several reasons combine to explain how it was that Palsgrave's work does not appear to have been as widely used as that of Duwes.[238] While his book was still in the press, alarming rumours as to its size began to circulate, and caused the great demand there had been for the work previously to diminish noticeably. Some of Palsgrave's pupils made efforts to stop the report, one of whom was Andrew Baynton, already mentioned, a favourite courtier of Henry VIII. and vice-chamberlain to three of his queens. "The labour needed to master the book is not in proportion to his size!" he wrote indignantly to three distinguished fellow-students, who helped him to contradict the rumour. On the contrary, he argues, it may rather be thought too small; it is as complete as can be expected when we consider that it is the first of its kind: clerks have laboured for years at Latin grammar and still find something new; French grammar, then, cannot be expected to attain completeness in this first attempt. But "he that will seek, may find and in a brief time attain to his utterest desire." Palsgrave deemed it wise to publish this letter as a prefatory notice to his grammar; it may, indeed, have been written in the first place with that object in view. SALE OF PALSGRAVE'S GRAMMARHe also judged it expedient to explain how students, not wishing to study the whole, might learn enough French to serve their purpose by selecting and learning certain sections of the grammar.[239]

Moreover, Palsgrave himself restricted the sale of his book. On account of "his great labours, the ample largeness of the matter, and the great difficulty of the enterprise," as well as its "great costs and charges" (for he had the work printed at his own expense), he was anxious to keep his grammar for himself, his friends, and his pupils, "lest his profit by teaching the French tongue might be minished by the sale of the same to such persons as besides him were disposed to study the French tongue." His chief aim was to keep his book out of the hands of rival teachers, who might use it for their own ends. Yet this attitude conflicts strangely with Palsgrave's generous declaration in his epistle to the king, expressing the hope that by means of his poor labours on this occasion "the frenche tongue may hereafter by others the more easely be taught, and also be attayned unto by suche as for their tyme therof shal be desyrous." Nor was this the only precaution taken by Palsgrave to ensure safety and fair dealing for his grammar. He obtained from Henry VIII., to whom he dedicated the work, a privilege for seven years,[240] the king being greatly "moved and stirred by due consideration of his said long time and great diligence about this good and very necessary purpose employed." The fact that Palsgrave altered his original contract with Pynson twice[241] shows how careful he was in all his proceedings. He wished to be sure of having complete control of the 750 copies which were printed. He did not trust the "sayd Richarde" further than he could help, and intended to see that Pynson "used good faith" in his dealings with him. Pynson was to give Palsgrave six copies to present to the king and his friends. The rest were to be left at Pynson's house, in a room of which Palsgrave kept the key, and to be sold only to such as Palsgrave desired. When Pynson had paid himself,[242] the remaining books were to be given to Palsgrave, either to take away or leave, as he willed. A striking example of the difficulty there was in obtaining Palsgrave's grammar is illustrated by the case of Stephen Vaughan. Again and again he begged Palsgrave to let him have a copy, but Palsgrave would not grant this favour at any price; and it is easy to form an idea, from Vaughan's persistence, of the great value attached to the grammar among serious students; so great and unparalleled a work was credited with almost supernatural powers. Finally, in despair, Vaughan wrote to his patron Cromwell, asking him to use his influence with the French teacher in obtaining this "jewell."[243] Cromwell had received one of Palsgrave's presentation copies, and, as a last resort, Vaughan begs him to let him have this. It is to be hoped that the young man succeeded in getting a copy. At any rate he seems to have made good progress in the French language.[244]

It is not surprising to find that the fashionable Court tutors were personally acquainted with each other. Palsgrave seems to have had a great respect for Duwes, and to have set a high value on the opinions of "that singular clerk." He feels he "cannot too much praise his judgment concerning the French Tongue." And he quotes Duwes's authority on the subject of mean verbs, a matter about which he had consulted him personally. We thus see that Palsgrave probably was more indebted to Duwes in this direct way, than by any help he received from such manuscripts as came into his hands. "Maister Gyles," who was librarian to the king, also showed Palsgrave a very old text of the Roman de la Rose in the Guildhall, "to shewe the difference betweene tholde Romant tong and the right french tong." The Roman de la Rose was a text frequently quoted by Palsgrave in support and illustration of his rules.

Thus Palsgrave has nothing but praise for Duwes, and no doubt Duwes took a friendly interest in his younger rival, DUWES ON ENGLISH TEACHERS OF FRENCHthough he could not bring himself to excuse what seemed to him his presumption in attempting to write rules for a language not his own. Like many Frenchmen of the time, Duwes firmly believed that it was not possible to draw up anything like infallible rules for the French language, and that Englishmen should presume, not only to teach it, but to do this also, appeared to him preposterous. Would it not seem strange, he cries, to see a Frenchman endeavouring to teach the Germans their own language? Why should it be considered less strange for Englishmen to teach French and lay down rules and principles for the French language, a thing very few of those who have the language "by nature" are able to do? That these presumptuous Englishmen may be well read, and possess a good knowledge of French—"au moins pour non estre natif du territoire et pais"—does not alter the case; for Art, though it follow Nature closely, can never overtake her. Duwes himself, he tells us, had been teaching his language for over thirty years, he had searched and worked hard, but had never been able to find these so-called infallible rules—for it is not possible to do so. Yet there are Englishmen who claim to have done this great thing, though they have been studying French for but a short time. With Greek and Latin the matter is different. The rules of these languages have grown up through the ages, and are the common property of all nations. This tirade against English writers on the French language is evidently aimed at Palsgrave and his predecessors, all those who since the beginning of Henry's "well-fortuned reign of this thing had written"—but above all at Palsgrave and his ambitious aspirations.

Duwes's half-ironical assumption of humility as to the value of his own rules, although the fruit of over thirty years' experience in teaching, is probably meant as a rebuke to Palsgrave, who claimed to have "reduced the French tongue under a rule and grammar certain," and to have laid down "rules certain and precepts grammatical like as the other three perfect tongues." And when Duwes expresses, time after time, his intention of avoiding all prolixity and 'super-fluity' of words, we are also led to think that he is perhaps directing his remarks at Palsgrave's wordy rules and the size of his work. Duwes may have been a little annoyed at being anticipated in publication by his younger rival. But it is still more likely he resented, as a Frenchman, that the honour of having first produced a great work on the French language should be generally ascribed to an Englishman.

For Palsgrave, with very natural and just pride, laid claim to this honour, and was supported by his contemporaries. Andrew Baynton, in the letter already mentioned, speaks of his "master" as being "the first author of our nation or of the french mennes selfe that hath so farre waded in all maner thinges necessary to reduce that tong under rules certayne." The French, it is true, were beginning to take some interest in their own language, and a French writer of the time, Geoffrey Tory of Bourges, had urged the necessity of reducing the French language to rules in his Champ fleury (1529). "Would to God," he cried, "that some noble soul would busy himself in drawing up and writing rules for our French tongue!"[245] Palsgrave was acquainted with Tory's work, and thought he had realized Tory's ideal and "done the thynge which by the testimony of the excellent clerke, maister Geffroy Tory de Bourges (a late writer of the French nation) in his boke entituled Champ fleury, was never yet amongst them of that contraes self hetherto so moche as ones effectually attempted." Leonard Coxe, the Principal of Reading College, a popular philological writer of the time, also connects the names of Tory and Palsgrave in some Latin verses that were printed at the beginning of the grammar. The short interval which elapsed between the appearance of the two volumes renders it impossible for Palsgrave to have got his first suggestion from Tory, and makes it very improbable that Tory had even the smallest influence on his work.[246] Tory had begun his work in 1522. Before this date Palsgrave had already completed two books of his Grammar. He notes, however, as a coincidence, that Tory and himself quote the same French authors. PUPILS OF DUWESThroughout his Grammar, Palsgrave continually alludes to the authority of French authors, for he studied French a great deal in books. It would not indeed have been possible to produce so comprehensive a work in England without constant reference to French writers, who, owing to the spread of printing, were becoming more and more accessible. Palsgrave refers most frequently to Alain Chartier and Jean Lemaire de Belges, while Guillaume de Lorris (Roman de la Rose), Octovian de St. Gelais, Jean Meschinot, Guillaume Alexis, and Froissart are all consulted and quoted—a list in which, it will be noticed, the name of no contemporary French poet figures. Palsgrave was not content with simply referring to his authorities; he sought to awake an interest in French literature by quoting selections in verse and prose, with guides for pronunciation.

Apparently Duwes's attack on Palsgrave was only one of many. Much before this Palsgrave had complained of unreasonable opposition from his contemporaries, and the "unpleasantness" to which he had to submit. One should not, however, attach too much importance to such complaints, for they seem to have been more or less habitual among writers of the day. Duwes appears to have suffered in a similar way, judging by the acrostic which closes his first book, and contains an unusually vehement attack on the "correcteurs et de toutes œuvres repreveurs," those "grosses gens de rudes affections, ivrognes bannis de vray sentement." It is hard to imagine whence came such severe criticism; probably from other French teachers, but most certainly not from Court circles, where both these teachers enjoyed the greatest popularity.

Nearly all the members of the royal family for two generations learnt French from Duwes. He counted among his pupils Henry VIII. when prince, his elder brother Arthur, his sister Margaret, who became Queen of Scotland, and his daughter Mary, afterwards Queen of England, besides many English noblemen. There is also evidence that Henry's favourite sister Mary, afterwards Queen of France, learnt the first principles of French from Duwes before she became the pupil of Palsgrave. His favourite scholar, however, appears to have been the Princess Mary, afterwards queen, at whose request he published his observations on the French language. When Duwes began to teach her he was an old man, and a little inclined to melancholy. He was beginning to feel the effects of the English climate and complains bitterly of his chief enemies, December and January:

Par luy (Decembre) ay fait pleurs et soupirs mains,
Ja ne sera que ne m'en remembre,
luy et Janvier mont tollu ung membre
qui me fera que tant que je vivray
en grant doulleur doresavant iray;
pourquoy je crains qu'en grant melancolie,
en fin fauldra que j'en perde la vie.

Gout, his chief affliction, often nailed him to his chair, and prevented him from attending his pupil—a greater sorrow, he says, than to suffer sickness and danger. On one occasion he was so ill that he feared he would not see the princess again, and sent a letter, asking pardon if ever he had rebuked her in his lessons. His whole consolation "lies in the hope that Spring, seeing him in such a piteous state, will take pity on him."

Mary seems to have returned fully the affection of her old master. He was her almoner and treasurer, and she playfully called him her "adopted husband." Duwes spent a great deal of his time with his pupil, and his "adopted wife" appears to have become impatient when his gout or any other reason kept him from her. In one of the dialogues she is shown rebuking him for his absence one evening:

Mary. Comment Giles, vous montrés bien qu'avés grant cure et soing de m'aprendre quand vous vous absentés ainsy de moy.

Gyles. Certes madame, il me semble que suis continuellement ici.

Mary. Voire, et ou estiés vous hier a soupper je vous prie.

Gyles. Veritablement, madame, vous avez raison, car je m'entroubliay ersoir a cause de compagnie et de communication.

Mary. Je vous prie, beau sire, faictes nous parçonniere de vostre communication, car j'estime quelle estoit de quelque bon purpos.

Gyles. Certes, madame, elle estoit de la paix, laquelle (come on disoit) est proclamée par tout ce royaume. . . .

Then master and pupil are pictured discussing at length the subject of peace. Love, the nature of the soul, and the meaning of the celebration of Mass were other topics on which they had long conversations; and they would accompany their supper—for the princess begged her master to dine with her as often as possible, in order to talk French—by discourse on health and diet, in the course of which Duwes gave the princess much friendly advice. His eloquence on the subject QUEEN MARY'S FRENCH STUDIESsuggests that when he calls himself a "doctor" he means a doctor of medicine. Thus Mary's practice in the language was not by any means limited to regular lessons, and these lessons were always kept in close contact with her daily life. She is taught how to receive a messenger from the king, her father, or from any foreign potentate, in French, or how to accept presents from noble friends. Duwes sometimes used his lessons as a means of conveying to Mary messages from different members of her household. Lady Maltravers exhorts her to study French seriously that reports of her ability may not be belied, and that she may be able to speak French with the king her father, and her future husband, "whether king or emperor"; and her carver, John ap Morgan, writes to her when she is ill, to express his hopes for her speedy recovery. When Duwes's gout prevented him from waiting on the princess, he would send her a poem of his own composition, in French with an interlinear English version—Duwes wrote singularly crude and inharmonious verses—which the princess learnt by heart by way of lesson. Or he would excuse his absence in a letter, which, he assures her, "will not be of small profit" to her if she learns it.

Such were the relations of Duwes with his favourite pupil. Little else is known of his life beyond the fact that he taught French for nearly forty years in the highest ranks of English society. He himself tells us that he was a Frenchman, and in all probability he was a native of Picardy, for his name is of Picard origin, and there are a few traces of picardisms in his work. We also know that he was librarian to both Henry VII. and Henry VIII.,[247] and that in 1533 he was appointed a gentleman waiter in the Princess Mary's household, and his wife one of the ladies-in-waiting;[248] that, curiously enough, he was a student of alchemy and wrote a Latin dialogue, Inter Naturam et Filium Philosophiae, dated from the library at Richmond (1521), and dedicated to his friend "N. S. P. D.";[249] that he died in 1535, about two years after the publication of his Introductorie; and that he was buried in the Parish Church of St. Olave in Old Jury, where he was inscribed as "servant to Henry VII. and Henry VIII., clerke to their libraries, and schoolmaster of the French Tongue to Prince Arthur, and to the Ladie Mary"—a by no means complete list of his illustrious pupils.

Among Duwes's earliest pupils had been Henry's sister Mary, afterwards Queen of France. This princess, however, was to continue her study of the language under John Palsgrave, and the first we hear of Palsgrave as a teacher of French is on the occasion of his appointment by Henry VIII. as tutor to his sister, probably towards the end of 1512, when negotiations for the princess's marriage with the Prince of Castile, afterwards Charles V., were in progress.[250] And when at last it fell to the lot of the princess to marry, not the emperor, but the French king, Louis XII., in 1514, Palsgrave remained in her service, and accompanied her to France in the capacity of almoner. Like the majority of her English followers, he was soon dismissed from her service. Yet Mary did not forget her former tutor. From time to time she wrote to Wolsey, seeking to obtain preferment for him;[251] like many other men of his standing, Palsgrave was in Holy Orders, and became later chaplain to the king. In November 1514 the Queen of France wrote to Wolsey to beg his favour on behalf of Palsgrave that he may continue at "school."[252] From this we may conclude that Palsgrave was continuing the studies he had begun at an earlier date at the University of Paris. He calls himself "gradué de Paris" in 1530, and no doubt also, his work on the French language was making headway.

How long he remained in France is uncertain, but we are told that on his return he was in great demand as a teacher of French and Latin to the young English nobility and gentry.[253] Sir Thomas More, writing to Erasmus in 1617, mentions that Palsgrave is about to go to Louvain to study there. This second sojourn at a foreign university was not of long duration, for Erasmus, in a letter dated July the same year, informs Tunstall that Palsgrave had started for England.[254] Palsgrave was soon to receive from the king a second important appointment as tutor. PALSGRAVE'S PUPILSOn the formation of the household of his natural son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, in 1525, when his "worldly jewel," as Henry called the young duke, was made Lieutenant-General of the North, the king entrusted Palsgrave with the charge of bringing him up "in virtue & learning."[255] Palsgrave was allowed three servants and an annual stipend of £13:6:8. He took great pains with his young pupil's education, and the king seems to have approved of his method.[256] Such was not the case with Gregory Cromwell, who, it appears, shared the lessons of the duke. When Gregory went to Cambridge under John Cheking's care, the latter wrote to Cromwell that he had to unteach his charge all he had learnt, and that if such be Palsgrave's style of teaching, he does not think he will ever make a scholar.[257] Palsgrave declares that he suffered much, when in the North, from poverty and calumny.[258] His friend, Sir Thomas More, lent him money, and Palsgrave begged him to continue to help him to "tread underfoot" that horrible monster poverty. He also petitions his constant patroness the Dowager Queen of France and her husband the Duke of Suffolk. All he has to live by and pay his debts and maintain his poor mother is little more than £50.[259]

Among Palsgrave's other pupils of note were Thomas Howard, brother to the Earl of Surrey; my Lord Gerald, probably the brother of the fair Geraldine, the object of Lord Surrey's passionate sonnets; Charles Blount, son and heir of Lord Montjoie; Thomas Arundel, who later lost his head for conspiring with the Duke of Somerset against Northumberland, and Andrew Baynton, who has been mentioned already: all students of French, who were acquainted with his book before it was published, and knew his "hole intente and consyderation therein," and who called Palsgrave "our mayster" with a certain amount of pride.

The year after the publication of his grammar, Palsgrave went to Oxford, where he was incorporated M.A. and took the degree of B.D.[260] He was, however, back in London in the following year, taking pupils into his house and visiting others daily. He had, for instance, promised to serve Mr. Baynton and Mr. Dominico in the house of the latter till Candlemas. Of the pupils who were "with him," the "best sped child for his age" was William St. Loe, afterwards Sir William and captain of Elizabeth's Guard. Palsgrave seems to have suffered much from interruptions in his pupils' studies caused by visits to their mothers, or by their leaving London on account of the unhealthiness of the city. He writes to William St. Loe's father that if he takes his son away for either of these reasons the child will not "recover this three years what he has lost in one," and moreover he will have "killed a schoolmaster," for Palsgrave vows he will never teach any more. He also writes that after spending a little time at Cambridge, where he could take the degree of D.D., he intends to keep school in Black Friars, and have with him Mr. St. Loe's son, Mr. Russell's son (who is a good example of what results from interruption of studies by a visit home), the younger brother of Mr. Andrew Baynton, and Mr. Norice's son, of the Privy Chamber.[261] At Cambridge, also, he would be able to get an assistant, as at present the strenuous and continuous application to teaching is ruining his health. Nothing else is known of Palsgrave's teaching career. He seems to have spent a good deal of time towards the end of his life at one or other of the rectories[262] to which he was collated by Archbishop Cranmer, and where, no doubt, he continued to receive pupils till the time of his death in 1554.

Palsgrave's great French Grammar was not his only professional work. He also published a text-book for the use of students of Latin. This was a Latin comedy, Acolastus,[263] which had made its way into English schools. Palsgrave added an English translation of his own, and the whole appeared in 1540, with a dedication to the king. He says it is a translation according to the method of teaching Latin in grammar EDWARD VI.'S FRENCH EXERCISESschools, "first word for word, and then according to the sense." Palsgrave had also announced his intention of publishing a book of French proverbs; he had written in his grammar: "There is no tongue more aboundante of adages or darke sentences comprehendyng great wysdome. But of them I differ at this time to speake any more, intendyng by Goddes grace to make of thes adages a booke aparte." There is, however, nothing to show that he ever realized this intention, even partially.

Another French teacher in the royal family was Jean Bellemain, tutor to Edward VI. Edward refers to his French master in the passage in his diary[264] in which he gives an account of his education. Speaking of himself in the third person, he writes: "He was brought up until he came to six years old among the women. At the sixth year of his age he was brought up in learning by master Dr. Cox, who was after his almoner, and John Chepe, M.A., two well-learned men, who sought to bring him up in learning of Tongues, of scripture, philosophy and all liberal sciences: also John Belmaine, French man, did teach him the French language." It appears from a letter of Dr. Cox to Secretary Paget, that the prince had his first lesson in French on October 1, 1546.[265] His teacher was a zealous Protestant, a friend and correspondent of Calvin, and he had probably some influence on the religious opinions of his pupil.

The three French exercises in the king's hand which are still in existence show that he made rapid progress in the language.[266] They all bear on religious subjects, showing how carefully Bellemain attracted the attention of his young pupil to this matter. All were written after his accession to the throne (1547), and were dedicated to his uncle, Protector Somerset. The first two are very similar in composition. Edward made a collection of texts out of the Bible in English, bearing on two subjects, Idolatry and Faith. He then proceeded to turn these from English into French as an exercise in translation. After they had been corrected by his master, the king had them transcribed into a paper book—the first consisting of twenty pages, the second of thirty-five—and sent them to the Protector.[267] The first was written when Edward had been learning French for about a year (in 1547), and the second shortly afterwards.

The third exercise is much longer than the two earlier ones, and differs from them in being not a translation, but a composition of Edward's own in French. It is entitled, A l'encontre des abus du Monde, and was begun on December 13, 1548, and finished on March 14 of the following year, so that its composition occupied Edward for over three months. The manuscript is corrected throughout by Bellemain, who makes the interesting entry at the end, that the young king, who was then not yet twelve, had written the whole without the help of any living person. Bellemain seems to have been very proud of his pupil's performance; he sent a copy of it to Calvin as "flowers whose fruit would be seen in due season."[268] Calvin in turn sent Bellemain observations on the composition for him to transmit to his pupil, and advised its publication, which Edward would not hear of.[269] Bellemain remarks that Edward took great delight in Calvin's works, and from time to time the French tutor acted as a medium of communication between the two, as in the case just mentioned. Calvin did not scruple to give the young monarch advice on religious subjects,[270] while Cranmer invited him to write to the young king. Bellemain himself made a translation of the English Liturgy of 1552, and sent it to Calvin to have his opinion on it.[271]

Besides these three exercises, two of Edward's French letters have also survived. One is addressed to Queen Katharine Parr and the other to the Princess Elizabeth. In the former he compliments the queen, whom he more usually addressed JEAN BELLEMAIN in Latin, on her beautiful handwriting.[272] The other is to Elizabeth, who, it appears, had written to him in French, inviting him to reply in the same language. He takes her advice:

Puisque vous a pleu me rescrire, tres chere et bien aymée sœur, je vous mercie de bien bon cuer, et non seullement de vostre lettre, mais aussy de vostre bonne exhortation et example, laquelle, ainsy que j'espere, me servira d'esperon pour vous suivre en apprenant. Priant Dieu vous avoir en sa garde. De Titenhanger, 18 jour de decembre et l'an de nostre seigneur, 1548.—Vostre frere,

Edwardus. Prince.

a ma treschere et bien
aymée sœur Elizabeth.[273]

We see from the date of this letter that Edward had been learning French nearly three months when it was written.

Bellemain's salary as French tutor to the king was £6:12:4 per quarter. In 1546 he received an annuity of fifty marks for life; in 1550 a lease for twenty-one years of the parsonages of Minehead and Cotcombe, county Somerset; in 1553 a lease of the manor of Winchfield in Hampshire;[274] and in 1551 a grant of letters of denization.[275] He stayed in England until the king's death in 1553, and was present at his funeral. No doubt, with his religious sympathies, he would find the England of Mary's time an uncongenial home, and leave it at as early a date as possible.

Bellemain did not compose any treatise on the French language. He says that he had long nourished the hope of writing some rules for French pronunciation and orthography; but he changed his mind, thinking it mere folly to attempt to give rules for that which was not yet fixed and certain. In a translation into French of the Greek Epistle of Basil the Great to St. Gregory upon solitary life, which he dedicated to the Princess Elizabeth,[276] he expresses his opinion upon the new style of French orthography, then promoted by certain writers, with whom he did not agree on most points. These writers[277] wished to make the orthography tally with the pronunciation and to discard the letters which are not pronounced; they would thus change the spelling still used for the most part by scholars and courtiers, and which in Bellemain's opinion is preferable to that proposed by the so-called reformers. He argues that an alteration of the spelling of French would necessitate a corresponding change in Latin, where the letters have the same sound and meaning, a thing which appears ridiculous to the merest observer. Besides, the derivative consonants are useful, as they serve to distinguish words of identical sound but different meaning and derivation, and to indicate the length of the preceding vowel. On the other hand, letters have been added by versifiers merely to suit their rimes, and these writers have done more than any others to corrupt French orthography. Of what avail is it, asks Bellemain, to compose rules on a subject so much in dispute? For these reasons he abstained from increasing the number of works on the French language produced in England.

In the dedication to Elizabeth of his translation of Basil the Great's Epistle to St. Gregory, Bellemain shows that he was familiar with the books which the princess read, and also expresses his desire that she will not let her French be corrupted by the so-called reformed orthography she may meet in some of these books.[278] Thus Bellemain took an interest in Elizabeth's French, and it is highly probable that he was her tutor in that language.[279] QUEEN ELIZABETH'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCHIn the year 1546, when he began to teach Edward French, the Princess Elizabeth shared for some time her brother's studies. It is said that they began with religious instruction in the morning, and the rest of the forenoon, breakfast alone excepted, was devoted to the languages, science, and moral learning. Edward then went to his outdoor exercises and Elizabeth to her lute or viol.[280] No doubt, then, she received lessons from the French tutor until she left her brother in December. Elizabeth, however, had made considerable progress in the language some years before this date, and before 1544, so that it is extremely likely that Bellemain had been teaching her for several years before he was appointed French tutor to Edward, perhaps owing to his success with Elizabeth. At any rate there does not seem to be any trace of any other French tutor to the princess, and the fact that he received an annuity of £50 for life suggests that he had already rendered some service in the royal family.

The scholar Leland praised Elizabeth's skill in French and Latin when he saw her at Ampthill with her brother, and already in 1544 she had completed the first composition in which she exerted her early activity in the French language. This was a translation of Margaret of Navarre's Miroir de l'ame pecheresse,[281] which she called The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, and dedicated to Queen Katharine Parr.[282] It was published in 1564 under the title, A godly meditacyon of the Christian soule concerning a love towards God and Hys Christe, compyled in Frenche by Lady Margarete, Quene of Naver, and aptly translated into Englysh by the right vertuous lady Elizabeth, daughter of our late Soverayne Kynge Henri the VIII.[283] The translation itself is not very good, and the style is awkward. But Elizabeth was only eleven years old when she undertook it, and observes apologetically that she "joyned the sentences together as well as the capacite of (her) symple witte and small lerning coulde expende themselves." In the following year (1545) she translated some prayers and meditations written in English by the queen, Katharine Parr, into Latin, French, and Italian, and dedicated them to her father.[284] Of greater interest is a little book the princess wrote in French, and also offered to the king—a translation into French of the Dialogus Fidei of Erasmus, thus inscribed: "A Treshaut Trespuissant et Redoubté Prince Henry VIII de ce nom, Roy d'Angleterre, de France et d'Irlande, défenseur de la foy, Elizabeth sa Treshumble fille rend salut et obedience." This treatise, composed before the death of the king in 1547,[285] was preserved in the Library at Whitehall, and often attracted the attention of foreign visitors in London.[286]

Thus Elizabeth was well accomplished in French before the reign of Edward VI. It was while her brother was king that the great Hebrew scholar, Antony Rudolph Chevallier, commonly called Monsieur Antony, was for a short time her tutor in French. Chevallier was a Norman who had studied Hebrew under Vatable at Paris, and had been forced to take refuge in England on account of his religious opinions. He studied at Cambridge and lived for a year in the house of Archbishop Cranmer,[287] who brought him to the notice of the young king (then famous for his patronage of foreign scholars of the Reform) and of Protector Somerset, who appointed him tutor to the Princess Elizabeth.[288]

On the death of Edward VI., Chevallier, like Bellemain, left England. He taught Hebrew at Strasburg and Geneva, where he came into contact with English student refugees under the reign of Mary I., and made the acquaintance of Calvin. He returned to England in the reign of Elizabeth (1568) to solicit the queen's help for the French Protestants. He received a good welcome, and in 1569 was made a lecturer in Hebrew at Cambridge, where "he was accounted second to none in the realme." He returned to France before the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1570), and died as a result of the hardships he suffered in making his escape.

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF FRENCH TUTORSIt is a curious fact that the religious opinions of the French tutors in Henry VIII.'s family were reflected in the reigns of their pupils—the Protestant Edward VI., the Roman Catholic Mary, and the Protestant Elizabeth. Both Duwes and Bellemain allowed the subject of religion to make its way into their lessons, and they probably exercised some influence, differing in degree, on the religious convictions of their pupils.

FOOTNOTES:

[221] First edition. Printed at London, by Th. Godfray, c. 1534. Sig. A-Ea in fours.

[222] Both these grammars were reprinted by Génin, in the Collection des documents inédits sur l'Histoire de France. II. Histoire des lettres et sciences. Paris, 1852.

[223] By Andrew Baynton, in a letter prefixed to Palsgrave's grammar.

[224] Palsgrave in his grammar.

[225] Both Palsgrave's and Duwes's observations on the pronunciation of French are utilized by M. Thurot: De la prononciation française depuis le commencement du 16e siècle d'après les témoignages des grammairiens. 2 tom. Paris, 1881.

For further treatment of Palsgrave's grammar, see A. Benoist, De la syntaxe française entre Palsgrave et Vaugelas. Paris, 1877.

[226] The second book begins on folio xxxi. and ends on folio lix. In the third book the pagination begins anew: folio 1 to folio 473.

[227] Four hundred and seventy-three folios, while the first and second books together occupy only fifty-nine folios.

[228] The fulness, originality, and exhaustive character of the work may be illustrated by the treatment of such a point as the agreement of the past participle with its subject, when used with the auxiliary avoir. "... yet when the participle present followeth the tenses of Je ay, it is not ever generall that he shall remain unchaunged, but ... yf the tenses of Je ay have a relatyve before them or governe an accusative case eyther of a pronoune or substantyve, the participle for the most part shall agree with the sayd accusatyve cases in gendre and nombre, and in such sentences not remayne unchaunged. Helas, I have loved her, helas je l'ay aimée ..." etc.

[229] Duwes's plan is as comprehensive as Palsgrave's, as is seen by the following table:

"In the first part shal be treated of rules, that is to say, howe the fyve vowelles must be pronounced in redynge frenche, and what letters shal be left unsounde, and the course thereof.

"The second part shal be of nounes, pronounes, adverbes, participles, with verbes, propositions, and coniunctions.

"Also certayne rules for coniugation.

"Item fyve or syx maners of coniugations with one verbe.

"Item coniugations with two pronounes and with thre and finally combining or ioinyng 2 verbes together."

[230] The Boke of the Governour ... ed. H. H. S. Croft, 1883, vol. i. p. 55.

[231] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. iv. 5806.

[232] Ibid. iv. 4560.

[233] ". . . m'a comandé et enchargé de reduire et mectre en escript la maniere coment g'ay procedé envers ses dictz progeniteurs et predecesseurs, coe celle aussi y la quelle ie l'ay (tellement quellement) instruit et instruis iournellment. . . ."

[234] Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary, ed. F. Madden, 1831, pp. xli-xliii.

[235] "Duwes avait d'une main leste et sure esquissé la petite grammaire de Lhomond: Palsgrave avait laborieusement compilé la grammaire des grammaires: L'in-folio fut étouffé par l'in-8vo. Cela se voit souvent dans la littérature où le quatrain de St. Aulaire triomphe de la Pucelle de Chapelain" (Génin's Introduction).

It seems an exaggeration to use the word "étouffer." At any rate the victory was not final. Palsgrave's work is not forgotten to-day, like that of Duwes.

[236] There are copies of all three editions in the Bodleian. The British Museum contains one copy of Bourman's edition, and two of Waley's (the third). Génin used Godfray's edition in his reprint.

[237] E. G. Duff, A Century of the English Book Trade, Bibliog. Society, 1905.

[238] There are, however, a larger number of Palsgrave's one edition extant than of Duwes's three. This is, no doubt, because its size and value prevented it from being used with the lack of respect with which school-books are usually treated. There is a copy of the Esclarcissement in the Bibliothèque Mazarine at Paris; two in the British Museum; one in the Bodleian, one in Cambridge University Library, and one in the Rylands Library.

[239] Supra, p. 92.

[240] Dated September 2, twenty-second year of his reign (i.e. 1530).

[241] There were three drafts of the indenture with Pynson, Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. iii. 3680, iv. 39. The first two were probably drawn up in 1523. The last is dated January 18, 1524. The first two were printed by Dr. Furnivall for the Philological Society, 1868. The third draft is in Cromwell's hand, corrected by Palsgrave. There is a clause that Pynson shall not print more than the given number—750—until that number is sold. Pynson seems to have printed only the first two parts of 59 leaves. After this there comes a third part, with a fresh numbering of leaves from 1 to 473. The printing was finished July 18, 1530, by J. Hawkins.

[242] At the rate of 6s. 8d. a ream.

[243] Ellis, Orig. Letters, 3rd series, vol. ii. p. 214.

[244] He found it useful in diplomatic service. He writes to his patron: "I am well asseyed here and my little knowledge of French well exercised" (Brussels, Nov. 20, 1538), Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. xiii. pt. ii. No. 882.

[245] "O devotz amateurs de bonnes lettres pleust a Dieu que quelque noble cœur s'employast a mettre et ordonner par regle nostre langaige françois! Ce seroit moyen que maints milliers d'hommes se evertueroient a souvent user de belles et bonnes paroles. S'il n'y est mis et ordonné on trouvera que de cinquante en cinquante ans la langue françoise pour la plus grande part sera changée et pervertie" (folio 1, verso). Tory sketched a plan of a great work on the language to which his Champ fleury was intended only as an introduction.

[246] Génin is 'certain' that the date given on the frontispiece of Palsgrave's work is a year earlier than that on which it actually appeared. He draws this conclusion from the date of the king's privilege, twenty-second year of Henry VIII., who came to the throne in 1509; 9 + 22 = 31. This leaves Palsgrave a longer period to gather what he could from Tory's work, says Génin. But the twenty-second year of the reign of Henry VIII. began in April 1530, and the printing of Palsgrave's work was completed on the 18th of July.

[247] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. i. Nos. 513 and 3094.

[248] Ibid. vi. No. 1199. Duwes also received numerous grants of money and licences to import Gascon wine.

[249] Printed in Theatrum Chemicum, Ursel, 1602, vol. ii. pp. 95-123, and reprinted in J. J. Manget's Bibliotheca Chemica, Geneva, 1702, vol. ii. Two copies of an English translation are in the Bodleian (Ashmole MSS.). See Dict. Nat. Biog.

[250] He is called "schoolmaster to my Lady Princess of Castile," in the Book of Payments, March 1513, Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. ii. No. 1460.

[251] Ibid. ii. 295.

[252] Ibid. i. 5582.

[253] Bale, Britanniae Scriptorum, 1548, fol. 219.

[254] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. ii. pt. 2, 1107.

[255] J. G. Nichols, Memoir of the Duke of Richmond, 1855, Camden Society, Miscellany, iii. pp. xxiii-xxiv; also Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. iv. 5806, and v. 1596, 1793, 2069, 2081.

[256] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. iv. 5806.

[257] Ibid. iv. 4560: Letter dated July 27, 1528.

[258] Ibid. iv. 5806, 5807.

[259] "Instructions for Syr Wm. Stevynson, what he shall do for one John Palsgrave with the Frenche Queenes Grace and the Duke of Suffolk her espouse": ibid. v. 5808.

[260] Wood, Athen. Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 121.

[261] Letters and Papers, v. 621-622: Letter dated Oct. 18, 1532.

[262] Palsgrave received ecclesiastical preferment from time to time. Amongst others, he was collated to the prebend of Portpoole in St. Paul's Cathedral by Bishop Fitzjames in 1514, and to the Rectory of St. Dunstan-in-the-East by Cranmer in 1533, and to that of Wadenhoe, Northamptonshire, in 1545, by the same Archbishop. (Thompson Cooper in the Dict. Nat. Biog.)

[263] Written by a Dutch contemporary, Fullonius, in 1529.

[264] J. G. Nichols, Literary Remains of Edward VI., Roxburghe Club, 1857, p. 210.

[265] Ibid. p. lxxviii.

[266] These have been printed by J. G. Nichols in his Literary Remains, p. 144 et seq. The MS. of the first is at Trin. Col. Cantab. R 7, 31, of the second in the Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 9000, and of the third at Biblio. Pub. Cantab. Dd 12, 59, and Brit. Mus. Addit. 5464. Nichols uses the text of the first of these.

[267] "Apres avoir noté en ma Bible en Anglois plusieurs sentences qui contredisent a toute ydolatrie, a celle fin de m'apprendre et exercer en l'ecriture Françoise, je me suis amusé a les translater en ladite langue Françoise, puis les ay fait rescrire en ce petit livret, lequel de tres bon cœur je vous offre" (Literary Remains ..., p. 144).

[268] "Lettre inédite de Bellemain": Bulletin de la Soc. de l'Hist. du Protestantisme Français, vol. xv., 1866, pp. 203-5.

[269] It was, however, translated into English and published in 1681 (two copies in the Brit. Mus.), and reprinted by Rev. J. Duncan in 1811 (no copy known), and by the Religious Tract Soc., Vol. of Writings of Ed. VI., etc.

[270] Calvin wrote to Edward VI. in French: "C'est grand chose d'estre roy, mesme d'un tel pays. Toutesfois je ne doubte pas que vous n'estimez sans comparaison mieux d'estre chrestien. C'est doncq un privilege inestimable que Dieu vous a faict, Sire, que vous soiez roy chrestien, voire que luy servez de lieutenant pour ordonner et maintenir le royaulme de J. Christ en Angleterre" (Bulletin, ut supra).

[271] There is a copy of this in Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 20, A xiv.

[272] Ellis, Orig. Letters, ser. 1, vol. i. p. 132, and translated in Halliwell's Letters of the Kings of England, ii. 33.

[273] J. C. Nichols, Literary Remains, p. 32.

[274] Ibid. p. li.

[275] Huguenot Soc. Publications, vol. viii. ad nom.

[276] Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 16, E 1. The whole consists of only eighteen small leaves, of which five are occupied by the dedication. No date is attached. The dedication continues:

". . . S'ainsy estoit (Tresnoble et Tresillustre Dame) que i'attendisse le temps auquel ie peusse trouver et inventer chose digne de presenter a vostre excellence, certes, madame, i'estime que ce ne seroit de long temps: car quelle chose est ce qu'on pourroit monstrer de nouveau a celle a qui rien n'est caché, soit en langue grecque ou latine ou en la plus part des autres langues vulgaires de l'Europe: soit en la congnoissance des histoires ecrites en icelles ou en philosophie et autres liberales sciences. Puis donc qu'ainsy est que peu de livres antiques se peuent trouver que n'ayez leuz ou au moins desquels n'ayez ouy aucunement parler, ioint aussy qu'estes maintenant comme en lieu solitaire, ie vous vueil seulement ramentevoir une epistre de Basile le grand que i'estime qu'avez autres fois leue: en laquelle il recommande fort la vie solitaire ou au moins exempte des cures et solicitudes de ce monde: et ce a intention de pouoir induire celuy a qui il l'envoioit a la contemplation de Dieu et de la vie future: qui sont les choses ausquelles devons le plus penser durant que sommes en ce monde comme estans les causes qui plus nous donnent occasion de bien vivre. . . ."

[277] Sylvius (1530) had proposed a new system of orthography based on etymology and pronunciation. Meigret, however, was the chief exponent of the reformers, who sought to make orthography tally with pronunciation (in his Traité touchant le comun usage de l'escriture françoise, 1542 and 1545, and other works). Meigret was supported by Peletier du Mans (Dialogue de l'ortografe et prononciation françoese, 1549) and others, and bitterly attacked by the opposing party. The question, once opened, continued to be discussed until the decision of the Academy (founded 1649) settled the matter. Brunot, op. cit. ii. pp. 93 sqq.

[278] "Ie vous ay escrit ce petit avertissement de paour que paraventure, en lisant tant de diversitéz d'impressions comme pourriez faire en ceste langue, ne sceussiez laquelle devriez suivre en ecrivant; mais il sera bon de suivre la plus part des modernes qui s'accordent quant a cela."

[279] Stevenson, Cal. of State Papers, foreign series, 1558-9, p. xxv, takes it for granted that Bellemain was Elizabeth's tutor in French.

[280] Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, 1884: Life of Elizabeth, iii. pp. 9, 13.

[281] First printed at Alençon, 1531.

[282] This is at present in the Bodleian Library. It has an embroidered cover, probably by the princess herself. See Cyril Davenport, English Embroidered Bookbindings, London, 1899, p. 32. It was reprinted in 1897.

[283] There are two copies of this rare little volume in the Brit. Mus. Another edition, varying considerably from the first, occurs in Bentley's Monuments of the Nations, iv., London, 1582 (Stevenson, ut supra, p. xxvi). It was republished in 1897.

[284] See Davenport, ut supra, p. 33. The original is in the Brit. Mus.

[285] This little work appears to have been lost.

[286] Such as Hentzer the German, in 1598; Justus Zinzerling, 1610; Peter Eisenburg the Dane, 1614. See Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners, pp. 133, 171, 268, 282.

[287] D. C. A. Agnew, Protestant Exiles from France ..., 3rd ed., 1886, vol. i. p. 45.

[288] Haag, La France Protestante, and Cooper, Athen. Cant. i. 306. Agnew, op. cit., does not mention that Chevallier was tutor to Elizabeth.

CHAPTER III

THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS REFUGEES ON THE TEACHING OF FRENCH IN ENGLAND—OPENINGS FOR THEM AS TEACHERS—DEMAND FOR TEXT-BOOKS—FRENCH SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Religion, the question of all questions in the sixteenth century, was destined, incidentally, to exercise a great influence on the teaching of French in England. The conflicts resulting from the fierce hatreds aroused by the Reformation compelled many Protestants to seek asylum from the triumphant Catholic reaction abroad, and England was the land to which many of them fled.[289] Among these refugees were many who took upon themselves the task of teaching their native tongue to the English. The second half of the sixteenth century was the time when this influence was most strongly felt, although it is not altogether negligible in the years immediately preceding. In France the Reformation had at first been favourably received at Court, but in the third decade of the century persecution began to drive some Protestants from their native land. They made their way to England with some trepidation at this early date,[290] for Henry VIII., in spite of his breach with Rome, had but little sympathy with the Protestants, although he refused on several occasions to surrender fugitive heretics to the French king.[291] On the accession of Edward VI. in 1547, however, England became FOREIGNERS IN ENGLANDa more hospitable abode for the Protestants, driven from France in increasing numbers by the persecutions sanctioned by Henry II., whose reign coincided with that of Edward. When Mary came to the throne all protection extended to these fugitives was withdrawn, and we find many of their protectors fleeing in their turn "to the Church and Christian congregation, then dispersed in foreine realmes, as to the safest bay."[292]

The return of the English Government to Protestantism in the reign of Elizabeth coincided with the period of increased persecution on the Continent. Refugees arrived in great numbers, not only Huguenots from France, but also subjects of Philip II., Dutch, Flemings, and Walloons, fleeing from the cruelties of Alva.[293] These inhabitants of the Low Countries came to England in greater numbers than the Huguenots.[294] Many of them, such as the Walloons and Burgundians, spoke French; and, while the chief teachers of the time were drawn from the Huguenots, a large group of these French-speaking Netherlanders also joined the profession. To these two classes of French teachers must be added a third, the Roman Catholics, who formed the largest proportion of the foreigners in England.[295]

The number of foreigners, augmented by the arrival of the refugee Dutch and French, created a situation which required serious consideration. These foreigners now formed a large fraction of the general population—probably about one in twenty of the inhabitants of London.[296] It became indispensable to keep some record of them, especially as there was a danger that spies and Roman Catholic emissaries might enter the country under the guise of refugees, and the overcrowding resulting from the arrival of so many aliens was becoming a serious matter. In earlier reigns the names of strangers in London had been registered; but in the time of Elizabeth a census, both numerical and religious, was taken more systematically, and at more and more frequent intervals. In these returns of aliens dwelling in London,[297] the names of many French teachers are preserved. Frequently their profession is stated, and we are told what church they attended and whether or not they were denizens, as well as the part of London in which they dwelt, and, in the lay subsidies, the amount they had to pay towards the heavy taxes levied on strangers.

Other names are preserved in the lists of the grants of letters of denization.[298] This grant made the precarious position of foreigners in England more secure. Denization became almost indispensable to any one wishing to exercise a craft or trade. These letters gave the recipient much the same privileges as a native, except that he was still subject to special taxation.[299] Only those intending to settle in England would trouble to take out letters of denization; and that many of these foreigners' stay in England was only temporary is shown by the fact that, when the number of strangers was greatest, as after the St. Bartholomew massacre, there is no marked increase in the number of denizations granted.

Means for registering the Protestant section of the community of foreigners were provided through the Dutch and French churches in London.[300] In 1550, Edward VI. had granted the dissolved monastery of the Austin Friars to the foreigners as a place of worship; some months later, owing to their increase in numbers, they were allowed the use of another building—St. Antony's Hospital in Threadneedle Street. The congregation was divided, the Dutch part remaining in the original church, while the French and the Walloons and other French-speaking refugees moved to Threadneedle Street. Both churches, each with two pastors,[301] were under the control of a Superintendent. But when, in the time of Elizabeth, the churches rose to new life, after their suppression in the reign of Mary, the Superintendent was replaced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This change, however, did not RECEPTION OF REFUGEES IN ENGLANDprevent the refugee congregations from enjoying many of their former liberties, for in the time of Elizabeth the Archbishops, who had themselves experienced the hardships of exile in the reign of Mary, took a particular interest in the cause of the refugees. The English, indeed, complained, not entirely without reason, that the foreigners were allowed greater religious freedom than they themselves.

As French and Dutch refugees settled in different parts of the country, similar churches arose in these settlements. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth there were French-Walloon churches in existence at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Sandwich, Southampton, Rye, and Norwich. In 1552 all strangers were ordered to repair either to their own church or to the English parish church. These injunctions were renewed in the time of Elizabeth and became a useful means of checking the number of refugees in London. From time to time, during this reign, the Archbishop requested the ministers of the foreign churches to send him a list of their communicants. Foreigners who did not attend any church were not allowed to apply for the privilege of letters of denization.

Thus the aliens who arrived in England in such large numbers in the second part of the sixteenth century had many restrictions placed upon them, especially if they were engaged in any craft or trade which might arouse the commercial jealousy of the English. In the teaching profession such rivalry would not be felt to the same extent, though it did actually exist. In any circumstance, however, all the exiles had to endure the hatred and insults of the common people, from which, nearly two centuries later, Voltaire only escaped without injury thanks to his ready wit. Riots such as those of Evil May Day (1517) were directed mainly against foreign traders, but all foreigners, especially Frenchmen, were a continual butt for the insults of the mob. Nicander Nucius remarks that the common people in England do not entertain one kindly sentiment towards the French. "Ennemis du françois" is one of the epithets applied to the English by De la Porte in his collection of epithets (Paris, 1571) on the different nations. The French priest, Étienne Perlin, who was in England during the last two years of the reign of Edward VI., and thoroughly hated the country, calling it "la peste d'un pays et ruine," speaks bitterly of the contrast between the courteous reception the English receive in France, and the greeting of the French in England with the cry, "French dogue": "it pleaseth me not that these churls being in their own country spit in our faces, and they being in France are treated with honour, as if they were little gods."[302] All foreign visitors to England are at one in their complaints of the lack of courtesy among the people. The great scholar Casaubon says he was more insulted in London than he ever was in Paris; stones were thrown at his window day and night, and once he was wounded in the street on his way to pay his respects at Court.[303]

All these visitors, nevertheless, recognize that the English nobility and gentry and those in authority are "replete with benevolence and good order," and as courteous and affable as the people are uncivil.[304] And thus we find foreigners, especially refugees, welcomed to chairs at the English universities, and foreign students having their fees refunded on showing they had suffered "for religion," and receiving ecclesiastical preferment.[305] Most of the chief families in the realm, we are told, received refugees into their midst. Laurence Humphrey[306] exhorts these noble families to fulfil the sacred duty of hospitality towards strangers, especially religious exiles, whose sufferings many of them had themselves experienced in the reign of Mary, and to provide them with necessary livings, admit them to fellowships, and allow them yearly stipends. "Which well I wot, the noblest Prince Edward of happy memory most liberally did both in London and either university, whom some Dukes, Nobles, and Bishops imitated, chiefly the reverend Father and late Primate of England ... Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.... Amongst the Nobles not the least praise earned Henry Gray, Marquis of Dorset, and Duke of Suffolk now a noble citizen of Heaven, who liberally relieved many learned exiles. The like may be said of many others."

Cranmer had entertained at Lambeth Pierre Alexandre and "diverse other pious Frenchmen," including Antony TUTORS IN PRIVATE FAMILIESRudolph Chevallier, who was tutor to Elizabeth for a short time. Matthew Parker, his successor to the see in the time of Elizabeth, followed his example and declared it to be a Christian duty to befriend "these gentle and profitable strangers." Cecil, Walsingham, and other dignitaries of the time also became their protectors, and, recognizing the advantages, both intellectual and commercial, which accrued to the country, sought by all means to ward off the hostile measures demanded from time to time by the English bourgeoisie.

One French teacher of the time, G. de la Mothe, says that so great was the affection of the English nobility and gentry for the French that few of them were without a Frenchman in their houses. Thus Pierre Baro, a native of Étampes and student of civil law who came to England at the time of the St. Bartholomew massacre, was "kindly entertained in the family of Lord Burghley, who admitted him to eat at his own table." Subsequently he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and became Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at that university on the recommendation of his patron, besides being admitted to the degrees of Bachelor and Licentiate of Civil Law, and Doctor of Divinity (1576).[307] Lord Buckhurst had for a time in his house Claude de Sainliens or Holyband, the most popular French teacher of the time, and several other strangers; while Sir Nicholas Throckmorton gave shelter to two Burgundians, one Dutchman, and four Frenchmen, "whose names cannot be learned."[308]

In many instances we know that these refugees taught French when thus received into noble families, and it is extremely probable that such was almost always the case, for French was one of the chief studies of the higher classes of society and held an important place in the courtly education of the time. This partiality for the language was called one of the rare vocations which distinguished the English nobility. An idea of the intellectual accomplishments necessary to a young gentleman of the time may be gathered from the programme drawn up for Gregory, the son of Mr. Secretary Cromwell;[309] this comprises "French, Latin, writing, playing at weapons, casting of accounts, pastimes of instruments." Wilson, the author of the earliest treatise on rhetoric in English,[310] varies this scheme slightly; he commends the gentleman "for his skill in French, or Italian, or cosmography, Laws, Histories of all countries, gifts of inditing, playing on instruments, painting, and drawing." Lord Ossory, Duke of Ormond, for example, rode very well, was a good tennis-player, fencer, and dancer, understood music and played well on the guitar and on the lute; French he spoke elegantly, while he read Italian with ease—a careful and significant distinction between the two languages—and, in addition, he was a good historian and well versed in romances.[311]

Thus a place had to be assigned to French in the education of gentlemen. Thomas Cranmer,[312] for instance, wrote to Cromwell in 1539, making suggestions for the establishment of a College in the Cathedral Church at Canterbury, to provide for the instruction of forty students "in the tongues, in sciences, and in French"—a proposal which came to nothing, but is none the less important, as being the first attempt to reinstate French in an educational institution.

In the sixteenth century the long-standing custom among gentlemen of sending their sons to the houses of noblemen for education was still practised to some extent, and French was taught in these little communities.[313] The usual subjects of study were reading, probably writing, and languages, chiefly Latin and French. Sir Thomas More and Roger Ascham were both educated in this way. More, at the age of three, was sent to the house of John Morton, the chancellor, where he learnt French, Latin, Greek, and music. Ascham spent his early years in the house of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, who "ever loved and used to have many children in his house."[314] Sir Henry Wotton was "pleased constantly to breed up one or more hopeful youths which he picked out of Eton School, and took into his own domestic care."[315] It was also customary for young peers to become royal wards. In 1561 Sir Nicholas Bacon devised a plan for their FRENCH IN EDUCATION OF GENTRY"bringing up in virtue and learning" which he submitted to Cecil. According to these articles,[316] the wards were to attend divine service at six in the morning, then to study Latin till eleven; nothing is said of breakfast, but an hour is allowed for dinner; from noon till two o'clock they were to be with the music master, from two to three with the French master, and from three to five with the Latin and Greek masters. The rest of the evening was devoted to prayers, honest pastimes, and music under the direction of a master. No doubt Cecil put this advice into practice. Some years later, Sir Humphrey Gilbert drew up an admirable scheme for the "erection of an Academy in London for the education of her majesty's wards, and others, the youth of Nobility and Gentlemen," which was laid before the queen, probably in 1570. Although this scheme was never carried out, it is of great interest as showing what were the subjects most likely to be taught. Gilbert's plan is very extensive. French, of course, is included in the curriculum—"also there shall be one Teacher of the French tongue which shall be yearly allowed for the same £26. Also he shall be allowed one usher, of the yearly wage of £10." Gilbert urges also the teaching of other modern languages—Italian, to which he assigns about as large a place as to French, and Spanish and High Dutch, to which less importance is attached.[317]

French, then, was a recognized part of the education of the nobility and gentry. Italian, it will be noticed, was also considered desirable, but chiefly for reading purposes.[318] In the Elizabethan era Italian literature had perhaps more influence on English writers than that of France, although it not infrequently reached England through a French medium. But when the first enthusiasm of the early days of the Renaissance had burnt itself out, Italian was not cultivated generally, except by those specially interested in literature or by those who had special reasons for learning it. Nor was Spanish much studied, except for practical purposes and the government services; Richard Perceval, for instance, put his excellent knowledge of the language at the disposal of Lord Burghley for the purpose of deciphering the packets containing the first intelligence of the Armada.[319] Neither language could be a dangerous rival to French, which alone was studied generally, and by ever-increasing numbers.

It was in private tuition that those Frenchmen desirous of teaching their language, or driven to do so by stress of circumstances, would find the readiest opening and the largest demand for their services. Turning to the various registers of aliens, the earliest notices we find of French tutors are in the grant of letters of denization for the year 1544.[320] In that year one, John Verone, a French and Latin tutor to the children of William Morris, a gentleman usher to the king, received the grant, as did also a certain Honorie Ballier, a Frenchman who had been ten years in England, and was engaged in teaching his language to the children of the Lord Admiral, Lord Lisle, Duke of Northumberland. Yet another teacher received the same privilege in this year—John Veron, one of the "eminentest preachers" of the time, and the author of various religious controversial works. He gained considerable preferment in the Anglican Church, and once preached before the queen at the Cross in St. Paul's Churchyard,—"a bold as well as an eloquent man," and a perfect master of the English tongue.[321] In the earlier part of his life in England, where he arrived about 1536, Veron had been engaged in teaching gentlemen's children; a task in which, say his letters of denization (1544), he "doth yet continue with intent ever so to persevere." Veron manifested his interest in the teaching of Latin and French by publishing a Latin, French, and English dictionary in 1552, the first dictionary, published in England, in which a place is given to French. It is based on the Latin-French Dictionary of Robert Éstienne,[322] with the addition of a column in English, and entitled Dictionariolum puerorum tribus linguis Latina, Anglica, et Gallica conscriptum cui anglicam interpretionem adjecit Joannes Veron.[323]

The impetus imparted to the teaching of French by the arrival of these large numbers of refugees naturally led to an increased TEXT-BOOKS FOR TEACHING FRENCHproduction of books for teaching the language. Nearly all the grammars written in the second half of the sixteenth century are the work of Frenchmen,[324] the English, after their first initiative, soon giving place to the French writers on the language, although not without some protest. Some of these teachers no doubt made use of one or other of the grammars which had appeared in French; many of them taught without any such help, and a few were able to use one or other of the grammars which had already been published in England, while yet others set to work to compile text-books of their own. As many of them were, or had been, employed in noblemen's houses, and had composed their grammars from material used in teaching in these noble families, it was easy for most of them to find patrons for their works,[325] and thus secure a greater measure of success by offering them to the public under the protection of some well-known and powerful name, which would "shadow these tender plants" from the "over violent rays of reproachful censurings." To dedicate a grammar to some famous pupil, with praise of his rare knowledge of French acquired by means of its contents and the excellent method employed by his tutor, the author, was a very good form of self-advertisement, freely used by the French teachers of the time. Among patrons of French grammars were Edward VI. and particularly Elizabeth, who is, says one of these writers, "le vray port de retraite et asyle asseuré de ceux qui, faisans profession de l'Evangile, souffrent ores persecution soubs la Tyrannie de l'Antichrist"; another adds that she has "des estrangers les cœurs a volonté." Lord Burghley, Sir Henry Wallop, Sir Philip Wharton, and other influential men of the time also figure among the patrons of French teachers.

These French grammars which appeared in the second half of the sixteenth century are of a decidedly more popular kind than those of Palsgrave and Duwes, and appeal to a larger public. The earlier grammars were written for the special use of royalty and the highest ranks of the nobility. Barclay, however, differs from his rivals in having a wider aim; his grammar is intended for the "pleasure of all englysshe men as well gentylmen marchauntes, as other common people that are not expert in the sayd langage." Palsgrave also, by way of epilogue, expresses the hope that the "nobility of the realm and all other persons, of whatever state and condition whatsoever, may in their tender age, by means of it the sooner acquire a knowledge of French by their great pains and study"; but it is clear that the size and price of his book, not to mention the restrictions he placed on its sale, would prevent it from fulfilling any such aim.

In this new series of French text-books there appeared nothing which could compare in importance with the great work of Palsgrave; they were all the hasty product of teachers, and intended to meet a pressing practical demand. The authors had not the time, even if they had had the ability, to produce any comprehensive study of the language, and, consequently, their works are of more value as showing how French was taught in England, and its popularity here, than as a store of philological material for the historical grammarian. Rules of grammar are usually reduced to as small a compass as possible; and the largest part of the volumes is occupied by dialogues in French and English, which give lively and often dramatic pictures of contemporary family life, and of the busy London streets of the time. A place is also given to familiar phrases, collections of proverbs, and golden sayings.

The public to which such text-books appealed was wider, including merchants and commoners, as well as the gentry. Nor was the demand for tutors in the language confined to the higher classes. At this time the great middle classes were rising to wealth and prominence, and demanding a share in the intellectual distinctions of their social betters. "As for gentlemen, they be made good cheap in England," writes Sir Thomas Smith,[326] in reference to the democratic movement. In this new class of Englishman, the teachers of French recruited a large number of their pupils. And so the French teacher who visited a clientèle of pupils became a familiar figure in the London of the later sixteenth century.

The numerous French-speaking inhabitants of London, occupied in various trades and crafts in the city, were, so to speak, his unconscious collaborators, for the proportion of such foreigners in London was large enough to have some influence on the spread of the knowledge of French. SHAKESPEARE'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCHWe have an instance of this indirect influence in the case of Shakespeare. From 1598 he lodged for about six years, and possibly longer, in the house of a Huguenot, one Christopher Montjoy, who lived in Silver Street, Cripplegate[327]—a well-to-do neighbourhood, and the resort of many foreigners. Montjoy was one of the French head-dressers who were in such demand at that time. His wife, daughter, and also his apprentice, Stephen Bellot, formed the rest of the household, with whom Shakespeare seems to have lived on fairly intimate terms; he acted as a mediator in arranging a marriage between Montjoy's daughter and Bellot, and, some years later, was drawn into a family quarrel concerning a dowry which Bellot claimed and Montjoy refused to pay; in 1612 Bellot took the matter into the Court of Requests, and Shakespeare was one of the witnesses summoned. Finally the matter was referred to the consistory of the French Church, which decided in Bellot's favour.[328] It was no doubt during his sojourn in the house of this Huguenot family that he improved his knowledge of French, of which he gives evidence in his works.[329] The two plays in which he uses the language most freely—Henry V. and The Merry Wives of Windsor—were produced during the early time of his residence with Montjoy, whose name is given to a French Herald in Henry V. In The Merry Wives the French physician, Doctor Caius, speaks a mixture of broken English and French,[330] and in Henry V. French is introduced freely into a number of the scenes,[331] while one, in which Katharine of France receives a lesson in English from her French maid, is entirely in French, and is here quoted for convenience' sake:[332]

(Enter Katharine and Alice.)

Kath. Alice, tu as esté en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.

Alice. Un peu, madame.

Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il fault que j'apprenne à parler. Comment appellez-vous la main en Anglois?

Alice. La main? elle est appellée de hand.

Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?

Alice. Les doigts? ma foy, j'oublie les doigts; mais je me soubviendra. Les doigts? je pense y qu'ils sont appellez de fingres; ouy, de fingres.

Kath. La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je pense que je suis le bon escholier. J'ay gagné deux mots d'Anglois vistement. Comment appellez-vous les ongles?

Alice. Les ongles? nous les appellons, de nails.

Kath. De nails. Escoutez: dites-moy, si ie parle bien: de hand, de fingres, et de nails.

Alice. C'est bien dict, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.

Kath. Dites-moi l'anglois pour le bras.

Alice. De arm, madame.

Kath. Et le coude.

Alice. D'elbow.

Kath. D'elbow. Je m'en fais la répétition de tous les mots que vous m'avez appris dès à present.

Alice. Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.

Kath. Excusez-moy, Alice; escoutez: de hand, de fingre, de nails, de arm, de bilbow.

Alice. De elbow, madame.

Kath. O Seigneur Dieu! je m'en oublie; de elbow. Comment appelez-vous le col?

Alice. De nick, madame.

Kath. De nick: et le menton?

Alice. De chin.

Kath. De sin. Le col, de nick: le menton, de sin.

Alice. Ouy. Saulve vostre honneur, en vérité vous prononcez les mots aussi droict que les natifs d'Angleterre.

Kath. Je ne doubte poinct d'apprendre, par la grace Dieu, et en peu de temps.

Alice. N'avez vous pas desjà oublié ce que je vous ay enseigné?

Kath. Non, je réciteray a vous promptement. De hand, de fingre, de mails—

Alice. De nails, madame.

Kath. De nails, de arme, de ilbow.

Alice. Saulve vostre honneur, de elbow.

Kath. Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin: comment appelez-vous le pied and la robbe?

Alice. De foot, madame; et de coun.

Kath. De foot, et de coun? O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont mots de son maulvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non pour les dames d'honneur d'user. Je ne vouldrois prononcer cez mots devant les Seigneurs de France, pour tout le monde. Il fault de foot, et de coun, neant-moins. Je reciteray une aultre fois ma leçon ensemble: de hand, de fingre, de nails, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.

Alice. Excellent, madame!

Kath. C'est assez pour une fois; allons-nous à disner.

It is not surprising, remembering Shakespeare's friendship with the Huguenots, to find him quoting from the Genevan Bible in the same play.[333] When he composed it, he must have FRENCH NEGLECTED IN GRAMMAR SCHOOLShad a strong inclination to write French, as he sometimes uses the language rather inconsistently, making the Dauphin, for instance, speak French one moment and English the next.

On the whole, Shakespeare's French seems to have been fairly correct grammatically, if not quite idiomatic.[334] It contains just enough mistakes and anglicisms to make it extremely unlikely that he received help from any Frenchman; for example, we find the Princess Katharine of France saying, "Je suis semblable a les anges." On other occasions, when Englishmen are speaking, Shakespeare purposely makes their French incorrect and clumsy. That he could read French is shown by the fact that some of the originals on which he based his plays were not translated into English.[335] Moreover, he probably read Montaigne in the original, unless, like Cornwallis, Florio allowed him to see his translation in manuscript—a rather remote possibility, as the French would be easier of access. No doubt many others besides Shakespeare owed a good deal of their knowledge of French to direct intercourse with Frenchmen, a means of improvement strongly advocated by the professional teachers of the time. "Get you acquainted with some Frenchman" is their cry.

In addition to the refugees, students or men belonging to no particular craft or profession who took up the teaching of their language on their arrival in England, there were also professional schoolmasters—French, Flemish, and Walloon. Many of the latter, we may surmise, were no doubt driven from their country by the edict issued by Margaret, Duchess of Parma, in 1567. One clause was particularly directed against schoolmasters who might teach any error or false doctrine. None of these teachers, however, would find any opening in the grammar schools, which were then "little nurseries of the Latin tongue." The memorizing of Latin grammar, with the study of rhetoric in the Latin writers, both in verse and prose, formed almost the whole of the curriculum.[336] In the books on education of the time the study of French was equally ignored. These works, however, are mainly from the pen of pedants, and have but little bearing on practical education.[337] For them French was not a 'learned' tongue, in spite of the efforts of Palsgrave to secure its recognition as such.

But it is not difficult to reconcile the general prevalence of the study of French with its absence from the grammar schools. At this time, and throughout the seventeenth century, there was a great division between scholastic education and social requirements.[338] The school and educational writers, in refusing to recognize French, held aloof from the social needs of the day: "non vitae sed scholae discimus"; and in retaining the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Middle Ages they ignored the new spirit of nationalism which called modern languages into prominence. The school had little, if any, effect in retarding the progress of French, which came to be looked upon in the light of an 'extra,' to be studied privately and with the help of tutors. Many scholars of the public or grammar schools had a private tutor who would teach them French when occasion served. Such, for instance, was the case with Sir Philip Sidney. Fulke Grenville and Sidney both entered Shrewsbury School at the age of ten, in the year 1564. Two years later a letter of Sir Henry Sidney informs us that he had received two letters from his son, one in Latin and the other in French, "whiche I take in good parte, and will you to exercise that Practice and Learning often: For that will stand you in most steade, in that profession of lyf that you are born to live in."[339] Apparently, then, Sidney had received lessons in French either at home or out of school hours. He had also, in all probability, had a French tutor before he went to Shrewsbury.

French, however, was not entirely neglected in all schools. As the grammar schools were "Latin" schools, there arose in the second half of the sixteenth century a considerable PRIVATE FRENCH SCHOOLS number of private "French" schools, where this language received special attention. The earliest of these owed their origin to the refugees, both professional schoolmasters and others. St. Paul's Churchyard, the busy centre of city life, was the quarter round which many of these schools were grouped. There they were most likely to get a good clientèle, partly, it may be, among those boys attending St. Paul's School who desired, like Sir Philip Sidney, to extend their studies. In St. Paul's Churchyard, also, lived the chief booksellers, who generally seem to have cultivated friendly relations with French teachers, especially those whose books they were commissioned to sell. Frequently they acted as agents for the teachers, who in their grammars advise prospective pupils to "inquire" at the bookseller's. And, at this time, when indications of address were given by reference to the nearest place of importance, printers' signs are frequently used to locate the situation of French schools. At least one of these schools seems to have been very well known, for in 1590 the printer W. Wright, senior, gave as his address, "neare to the French School."[340]

All of them, however, did not owe their origin to the French refugees. We hear, for instance, of a certain John Love, an Englishman, son of the steward of the Jesuit college founded by the English Catholics at Douay, who had a French school near St. Paul's, at the end of the century. But he was suspect, as it was feared he might be an "intelligenceer."[341] Among the earliest, however, if not the first of these French schools, was that of Peter Du Ploich, a Frenchman, and no doubt a refugee; at any rate the text-book for teaching French which he published shows his strong sympathy with the Protestants. This was entitled A Treatise in English and Frenche right necessary and profitable for al young children, and was first issued in about 1553 from the press of Richard Grafton, who had "privilege de l'imprimer seul."[342] Of this schoolmaster's life little is known.[343] From his little French text-book, "right necessary to come to the knowledge of the same," we learn that he kept his school at the sign of the Rose in Trinity Street; that he was married, and probably received some of his pupils into his house; and that he taught French, Latin, and writing. Probably religious instruction also formed part of the curriculum, as it did in the other schools of the time; both Henry VIII. and Edward VI. issued orders that the Paternoster, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed should be taught to children.[344] Not only Du Ploich but other French teachers of the time provided religious formularies in their books for teaching the language, and in 1559-1560 the printer William Griffith received a licence to print a Catechism in Latin, French, and English.[345]

The Catechism, Litany, Suffrages, and prayers occupy a large part of Du Ploich's Treatise, which is of quarto size, and consists of about fifty leaves.[346] All these formularies are given in both French and English, arranged in two columns on each page.[347] Then come three familiar dialogues which constitute the third, fourth, and fifth chapters of the book. The first of these gives us a lively picture of family life at the time. From the street, where we meet friends and are taught how to greet and address them, we pass into the house, where we are spectators of the family repast and of the arrival of the guests, and hear conversation on many subjects in which Du Ploich finds an opportunity for self-advertisement by mentioning his school and address. A child reads a passage from the New Testament, and the meal is preceded and followed by lengthy thanksgivings, which, however, do not interfere with the joviality and conviviality of the host.

Sir, you make no good chere. | Mons., vous ne faictes pas bonne chere.
You say nothing. | Vous ne dictes rien.
What sholde I say? | Que diroys-ie?
I cannot speake frenche. | Je ne sais pas parler françois.
I understande you not. | Je ne vous entens pas.
O God, what say you? | O Dieu, que dictes-vous?
You speake as well as I doo and better. | Vous parlez aussy bien que je fais et mieus aussy.
Pardon me. | Pardonnez moy.
It pleaseth you to say so. | Il vous plaist de dire ainsy . . . etc.

The next two dialogues deal with subjects characteristic of PETER DU PLOICHthese books for teaching French—asking the way, the arrival and entertainment at an inn, and finally, buying, selling, and bargaining—all topics useful for merchants and merchants' apprentices, from whose ranks Du Ploich probably recruited a number of his pupils. "L'aprentif" is the word he uses in speaking of his pupils, though there is no proof to show that he employed it in any special sense. Then comes a fifth chapter containing the following headings: "Pour demander le chemin," "Aultre communication en chevauchant," "Pour aller coucher," "Pour soy descoucher," and beginning thus:

Sir, we be oute of our way. | Monsieur, nous somes hors de nostre chemin.
We be not. | Non sommes.
But we be. | Si sommes.
We go well. | Nous allons bien.
We doo not. | Non faisons.
But we doo, abyde. | Si faisons, attendez.
Beholde there cometh a woman. | Voyla une femme qui vient.
We will aske her whiche is the way. | Nous voulons lui demander ou est le droict chemin.
Good wife, shew me the ryghte way here hence to the nexte towne. | M'amie, monstre moy le droict chemin d'icy au prochain village.
Streyghte before you. | Tousiours devant vous.
Upon whiche hande? | A quelle main?
On the lefte hande. | A la main gauche, etc.

In the sixth chapter the merchants leave the inn in the early morning to transact their business:

Wil we go see if we can bye some thyng? | Voulons nous aller veoir sy nous pourrons acheter quelque chose?
That shold be wel done, but it is yet too tymely. | Ce seroit bien faict, mais il est encore trop tempre.
By your licence it is tyme. | Pardonnez moy il est temps.
Have you any Eglyshe cloth? | Avez vous dez draps d'Engleterre?
Ye, what colour. | Ouy, quelle couleur . . . etc.

At the end come the names of the figures, necessary for such transactions, and finally information and advice in verse form, without any English rendering, "pour gens de finance":

Toy qui est receveur du Roy
Je te prie entens et me croy.
Reçoy avant que tu escripves,
Escriptz avant que tu delivres,
De recevoir faitz diligence
Et fais tardifve delivrance.
En tes clers pas tant ne te fie
Que veoir te fais souvent oublie.
Regarde souvent en ton papier
Quant, quoy, combien il fault payer.
Prens lettres quy soyent vaillables,
Aye parrolles amiables,
Et soys diligent de compter.
Ainsy pourras plus hault monter.

Du Ploich seems to have brought with him to England a Genevan "A B C," or book of elementary instruction and prayers for children, such as was common in France as well as in England. The next section of his treatise treats of the French A B C in words identical with those of an A B C françois printed at Geneva in 1551. This is followed by a few very slight rules in English, which tell us not to pronounce the last letter of a French word, except s, t, and p, when the next word begins with a consonant; to neglect a vowel at the end of a word when the following word begins with another vowel; also that the accusative precedes the verb; that after au, ou, i, and eu, l is not sounded; that the consonants sp, st, and ct should not be separated in pronunciation; and that the negative is formed by placing ne before the verb and pas or point after it. To this scanty grammatical information, which bears considerable resemblance to that contained in some previous works,[348] the eighth and last chapter adds the conjugation of the two auxiliaries in Latin, English, and French. The treatise closes with a Latin poem addressed to "preceptor noster Du Ploich" by John Alexander, one of his pupils, and with a table of contents.

No doubt French was the basis of the whole of the instruction given by Du Ploich in his school. His pupils learnt to write from this French text-book, and memorized the Latin verbs with the French verbs. The fact that Du Ploich places his few grammar rules at the end of the work, and after the practical reading-exercises, shows what slight importance he attached to them. He would, we may assume, refer his pupils to them as occasion arose, but practical exercises and conversation formed the chief part of his lessons. He made free use of English in explaining the meaning of the French, and throughout his book he sacrifices the English phrase in order to render more closely the meaning of the French, for which he duly apologizes: "that none blame or reprove this sayd translacion thus made in Englishe because that it is a litle corrupt. DU PLOICH'S METHOD OF TEACHINGFor the author hath done it for the better declaryng of the diversitie of one tounge to the other, and it is turned almost worde for worde and lyne for lyne, that it may be to his young scholars more easy and lyght."

Du Ploich was thoughtful for his young pupils. "A little at a time, and that done well" was his motto. On this method, he says, the child will learn more in a week than he would do in two months by attempting a great deal at the beginning. The master should repeat the lesson two or three times before allowing the child to say it, and be ready to explain difficulties, and not wait for the child to guess. If not, the pupil will lose patience and the little courage he possesses. Du Ploich would have the verbs learnt on the plan already advocated on a larger scale by Duwes, that is, he advises the student to practise them negatively and interrogatively as well as in the usual affirmative form.

Some time later, probably after Du Ploich's death, or when he had left England, there appeared another edition of his grammar. This was printed by John Kingston, and finished on the fourteenth day of April 1578.[349] An important change in the arrangement of the chapters distinguishes it from the edition of 1553; in the later edition the chapter on the alphabet and grammar is placed at the beginning, although in both issues the chapter on the two auxiliaries closes the work. Kingston—for he was probably responsible for the change—thus yielded to the tendency, which became stronger and stronger as time advanced, of placing theoretical before practical instruction. In addition to slight variations, other differences between the two works are the omission of the verses for "gens de finance," and of the Latin poem addressed to Du Ploich by one of his pupils.

The Little Treatise in English and French was not the only work produced by Du Ploich during his residence in England. On its completion he turned his attention to the composition of a work on the estate of princes, which he called a Petit Recueil tresutile et tresnecessaire de l'Etat dez Princes, dez Seigneurs temporelz et du commun peuple, faict par Pierre Du Ploych.[350] This Recueil is written in French. Its subject matter is not of much interest, but the Latin verses with which it closes inform us that Du Ploich had a law degree (Licentiatus Legum). He dedicated the manuscript, which is not dated, to the "Roy tres puissant Eduard sixieme de ce nom," who graciously received it and rewarded Du Ploich's industry by a generous gift.[351] This favourable reception encouraged the French teacher to present another work to his "Soverain lord and master" in the course of the following year. This second manuscript is shorter than the earlier Recueil;[352] it bears the title of Petit Recueil des homaiges, honneurs et recognoissances deubz par les hommes a Dieu le createur, avec certaines prieres en la recognoissance de soy mesme. At the end occurs a passage of some interest in which Du Ploich expresses his intention of providing the work, unworthy as it is, with an English translation, as soon as he finds time and opportunity for such an undertaking, for he has not English "de nature."[353] This rendering, he says, will be "mot pour mot et ligne pour ligne, affin d'augmenter les couraiges des professeurs." We may infer from this that he thought of having the work printed in French and English for the use of students.

A French school very similar to that of Du Ploich, but of which we have more details, was kept by Claude de Sainliens, De Sancto Vinculo, or, as he anglicized it, Holyband. A native of Moulins and a Huguenot, Holyband probably sought refuge in England from the persecutions. In 1571 he is said to have been in England seven years;[354] hence he must have begun his long career in London as a teacher of French in the year 1564. In 1566 he took out letters of denization.[355] Holyband was not exactly a scholar, but rather a man of broad interests, sustained by extraordinary vitality, and before he had been in England three years he had published two books for teaching French, which became very popular, and continued to be reprinted for nearly a century. There is no extant copy of the earliest edition of the first of these, but it appeared most probably in 1565. CLAUDE HOLYBANDThe earliest copy known is dated 1573, and bears the title, The French Schoolemaister, wherin is most plainlie shewed the true and most perfect way of pronouncinge of the French Tongue. The contents of this little book are of the kind which became characteristic of works for teaching French. It opens with rules for pronunciation and grammar in English, of little value or originality, and purposely made as concise as possible. These are followed by dialogues, collections of proverbs, golden sayings, prayers, and graces before meat, and a large vocabulary. The dialogues are by far the most interesting portion of the work. Like those of Du Ploich, they show a close connexion between the teaching of French and the daily concerns of life. They give us a picture of the busy London of the time, and especially of St. Paul's Churchyard, as well as lively family scenes, together with the usual wayside and tavern conversation. We see the boy setting off to school in the morning, threading his way through the busy streets, and again see him return to the hearty and hospitable family dinner, during which he finds occasion to speak of his French studies. These dialogues are given in French and English arranged on opposite pages. Their dramatic interest may be gathered from the opening passage, where we listen to the servant hurrying the boy off to school:

Hau François, levez vous et allez a l'eschole: vous serez battu, car il est sept heures passées: abillez vous vistement. | Ho Francis, arise and go to schoole: you shall be beaten, for it is past seven: make you ready quickly.
Dites voz prieres, puis vous aurez vostre desiuner: sus, remuez vous. | Say your prayers, then you shall have your breakfast: go to, stirre.
Marguerite, baillez moy mes chausses. | Margaret, give me my hosen.
Despeschez vous ie vous prie: où est mon pourpoint? apportez me iartieres et mes souliers: donnez moy ce chausse-pied. | Dispatch I pray you: where is my doublet? bring my garters and my shoes: give me that shooing-horne.
Que faites vous là? que ne vous hastez vous? | What do you there? why make you no haste?
Prenez premierement une chemise blanche, car la vostre est trop sale: n'est elle pas? | Take first a cleane shirt, for yours is too foule: is it not?
Hastez vous donc, car ie demeure trop. | Make haste then, for I do tarry too long.
Elle est encore moite, attendez un peu que ie la seiche au feu: i'auray tost fait. | It is moist yet, tarry a litle that I may drie it by the fire: I will have soone done.
Je ne sauroye tarder si longuement. | I cannot tarry so long.
Allez vous en, ie n'en veux point. | Go your way, I will none of it.
Vostre mere me tancera si vous allez a l'eschole sans vostre chemise blanche. | Your mother will chide me if you go to school without your clean shirt.

And after quarrelling with Margaret, and using rather bad language, Francis receives his parents' blessing, and starts off to school. Unfortunately we are not spectators of his doings there.

Whether Holyband had opened his French school or not when he composed the French Schoolemaister is uncertain; but the school was evidently in full swing at the time his second work appeared, about a year later, in 1566. The contents of the new work, The French Littleton, a most easie, perfect, and absolute way to learn the French tongue, are much the same as those of the French Schoolemaister. There is, however, one important difference between the two works. In the Schoolemaister the rules precede the practical exercises, but this order is reversed in the Littleton. In the first work Holyband does not appear to have fully evolved his method of teaching French. By the time he wrote the French Littleton he was able to lay down principles, based, no doubt, on experience, and consequently he attached a higher value to the second of his works, and used it himself in teaching. The French Schoolemaister was intended more for the use of private pupils. It was described as a "perfect way" of learning French without any "helpe of Maister or teacher,[356] set foorthe for the furtherance of all those whiche doo studie privately in their own study or houses." Holyband himself does not seem to have given it much attention after its first appearance. Nevertheless it enjoyed as great a popularity and went through as many editions, or nearly so, as its author's more favoured work. Other French teachers made up for Holyband's neglect by editing it themselves in the early seventeenth century. So great indeed was its success that in 1600 a tax of 20 per cent was levied on each edition for the benefit of the poor.[357] We may perhaps conclude from this that those who studied French privately were numerous.

The value of the French Littleton is more educational; it expounds all the favourite theories of its author. The name is taken from the popular work on English law, the text-book for all law-students, Littleton's Tenures. While the French Schoolemaister was a small octavo, the Littleton was printed to the size of a tiny pocket-book, in 16mo. First come practical HOLYBAND'S FRENCH GRAMMARSexercises in the form of dialogues in French and English,[358] but of less lively interest than those of the Schoolemaister. They deal, however, with the same subjects,[359] only, as we read them we do not forget, as we were inclined to do in the earlier book, that we are reading exercises intended for school use. Then follow proverbs, golden sayings, prayers, the creed, the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, a treatise on the iniquity of dancing (Traité des Danses), and finally a vocabulary less comprehensive and of less value than that of the French Schoolemaister.

The French Littleton derives additional interest from the fact that in it Holyband sets forth a new system for rendering the pronunciation of French easier to the English. He realized the difficulties placed in their way by the many unsounded letters present in certain French words. He had no desire, however, to join the extremists, who advocated the omission of all such consonants in orthography as well as in pronunciation. Holyband considered such letters an essential part of the word, and often a useful indication of the pronunciation of vowels and of the derivation. He therefore proposed a compromise which he thought would please both parties: he retains the unsounded letters, but distinguishes them from those which were pronounced by placing a small cross below them,[360] a device adopted in later editions of the French Schoolemaister also. A short quotation from the conversation for travellers and merchants will show how Holyband applied his method:

Monsieur ou pikezx vous si bellement? | Sir whither ride you so softly?
A Londres à la foire de la Berthxelemy. | To London to Barthelomews faire.
Je vay au Landi à Paris, je vay à Rouen. | I go to Landi to Paris, to Rouen.
Etx moy aussi: allons ensemble: je suy | And I also: let us go together: I am
bien aise d'avoir trouvé compagnie. | very glad to have found company.
Allonsx de par Dieu: picquons un peu, | Let us go in God's name: let us pricke a littell,
j'ay pour que nousx ne venionsx pasx là | I fear we shall not come thither
de jour, car le solxeil s'en va coucher. | by daylight: the sunne goeth downe.
Mais où logeronsx nous? où exstx le | But where shall we lodge? where is the
meilleur logis? la meilleurex hostelerie? | best lodging? the best inne?
Ne vous souciezx pasx de cela: | Care you not for that: it is
c'esxt au grandx marché a l'enseigne de la | at the great market, at the sign of the
fleur de lis, vis à vis de la croix. | flower Deluce, right over against the crosse.
Je suy joyeuxx d'esxtre arrivé, car | I am glad that I am arrived, for
certes g'ay bon appetit: J'espère de | truly I have a good stomacke: I hope to
fairex à ce soir souper de marchant. | make to-night a marchauntes supper.
Nousx disons en nosxtre pais que desiuner | We say in our country, that hunters
de chasseurs, disxner d'adxvocatsx, souper | breakefast, lawyers dinner, supper
de marchantxs etx collacion de moynes exstx | of marchauntes, and monkes drinking is
la meixlleure chere qu'on sauroitx faire, et | the best cheere that one can make, and
pour vivrex en epicurien. | to live like an epicure.
Etx on dit en nosxtre paroisse que jeunexs | And they say in our parish that young
medecins fontx les cymetieres bossus | phisitions make the churchardes crooked
etx vieuxx procureurs, procès tortus: mais | and old attornies sutes to go awry, but
au contraire que jeunesx procureurs et | on the contrary that young lawyers,
vieuxx medecins, jeune chair, etx | olde phisitions, young flesh, and old
vieilx poisson sontx lesx meixlleurs. | fishe be the best.
Or bien, irons nous acheter ce qu'il | Well shall we go and buy that whiche
nousx faut? Nousx demourons trop. | we doe lack? We tarie to long.
Roland que ne te levesx-tu? ouvre | Roland, why doest thou not rise? open
la boutique: estx tu encorex au lit? | the shop: are you yet a bed?
Tu aimesx bien la plume: si mon | Thou loveth the fethers well: if my
maisxtre descendx, etx qu'il ne treuve | maister commeth downe and find not
la boutiquex ouverte, il se courroucera. | the shop opened, he will be angry.
Messieurs, monsieur, madame, mesdames, mademoiselle, | Sirs, sir, my lady, maistres, gentlewoman,
que demandezx vous? que cerchezx vous? | what lack you? what seek you?
Qu'acheteriezx vousx volontiers? | What would you buy willingly?...

The most interesting of the dialogues in the French Littleton, however, is that in which we have a picture of Holyband's school, which was first opened in St. Paul's Churchyard at the sign of Lucrece—the shop of the printer Thomas Purfoote. Here we see children arriving for their lessons early in the morning, each with his own books and other materials. The schoolroom seems to have been a lively place; the scholars are represented as fighting, pulling each other's hair, tearing their books, and indulging in other pranks of the kind. Holyband sought to keep order by means of a birch, and one of the many offences which called it into action was the speaking of English. HOLYBAND'S FRENCH SCHOOLIn this little school of his, Holyband appears to have laboured at the task he set himself of leading the English nation "comme par la main au cabinet de (nostre) langue françoyse," under excellent conditions. The whole atmosphere seems to have been French. The curriculum, however, was not confined to this one language. Holyband had to safeguard his interests by instructing his pupils in the subjects taught in the ordinary English schools, and so we find him teaching Latin, writing, and counting, as well as French, and probably by means of French. With some of his pupils Holyband studied Terence, Vergil, Horace, the Offices of Cicero, and with others, Cato, the Pueriles Confabulatiunculae, and Latin grammar, according to their capacity. Yet others learnt reading, writing, and French only. Morning school, which closed with prayer at eleven, was devoted chiefly to the study of Latin. The afternoon was given over entirely to French; and it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that other scholars came then specially for instruction in French. The pupils returned for afternoon work at mid-day, and began by translating French into English and then retranslated the English back into French, using, we may be sure, Holyband's French Littleton. Next came a little practice in vocabulary, in which "maister Claude" asked them the French for various English words. Grammar was not neglected, but questions concerning it do not appear to have been invited until some difficulty in the text rendered it necessary. The pupils were also required to decline various nouns and verbs which occurred in the text. The auxiliaries they were expected to learn by heart. Not until five o'clock did the long French lesson draw to a close, and then the scholars lit their torches or lanterns and set off home after being dismissed with evening prayers. Before their departure, they received instructions to read the lesson for the following day six or seven times after supper. By doing this, their master assured them, it would appear easy on the morrow, and be learnt without effort.

Holyband informs us that his charges were one shilling a week or fifty shillings a year. He allows that this was more than the fees asked for in most schools, but justifies the higher charge by the superior instruction imparted. At any rate his school was very prosperous. In 1568, when it had been in existence for at least two, and perhaps three years, we find him assisted by an usher, one John Henrycke, said to be a Frenchman.[361] He was, no doubt, the Jehan Henry "Maistre d'Eschole," who wrote a dizain in praise of Holyband's French Schoolemaister (1573), where, in rather questionable French, he summoned the students of France to devote all their attention to "ce poli et belle œuvre," and not to read

Des ravaudeurs le reste,
Qui souloyent quelques regles escrire,
Mais, au vray indignes de les lire.

Holyband, as we have noticed, was a very active and somewhat restless person, never staying long in one place, and it is difficult to follow him in his frequent changes of residence. For a time he removed his school to Lewisham, then outside London. Here, sometime before 1573, he had an interview with Queen Elizabeth, who perhaps visited his school as she passed through the village, for the head boy, Harry Edmondes, pronounced a discourse before Her Majesty.

In 1576 Holyband had given up his French school, and entered the ranks of French private tutors, living in the house of a patron. He was one of the aliens dwelling in Salisbury Court, the residence of Lord Buckhurst, and, no doubt, was engaged in teaching French to the younger children of his protector. He had previously come into contact with this noble family, and had probably received some assistance from this quarter on his arrival in England, and may have taught French to the eldest son, Robert Sackville, now at Oxford,[362] to whom he dedicated both his early works.

When we first hear of Holyband he was already married and had children. His wife died probably before he went to Salisbury Court. Two years later he married an Englishwoman, Anne Smith,[363] and had resumed his French school in St. Paul's Churchyard, but his address was now at the sign of the Golden Bell, HOLYBAND'S TEACHING CAREER for the printer Thomas Purfoote had moved his sign to Newgate Market. Here he remained for some time, until 1581 at the earliest, and probably somewhat later. He also attended the French Church. At this period of his life he again turned his attention to writing on the French language, and collecting together notes which he had no doubt compiled in past years. In 1580 three new works on French appeared from his pen. One was a Treatise for Declining Verbs—a subject which he calls "the second chiefest worke of the Frenche tongue"—written at the request of several gentlemen and merchants. The book itself is of little value, and did not by any means share the popularity of his earliest books. Still, two other editions appeared, one in 1599 and the other much later, in 1641. The second of these works, dealing with French pronunciation on much the same lines as the French Littleton, was even less popular. It was intended for the "learned," and consequently written in Latin—De Pronuntiatione linguae gallicae.[364] Holyband was also becoming more ambitious in his dedications; probably through Lord Buckhurst, the queen's cousin on his mother's side, he was able to dedicate his treatise "ad illustrissimam simulque doctissimam Elizabetham Anglorum Reginam." At the end Holyband added a dialogue in three different kinds of spelling—the new, the old, and his own—as well as a Latin sermon on the Resurrection. A French-English Dictionary was the third of these works, published in 1580, with the title: The Treasurie of the French Tong, Teaching the way to varie all sorts of Verbs, Enriched so plentifully with Wordes and Phrases (for the benefit of the studious in that language), as the like hath not before bin published. Many years later, in 1593, Holyband again gave proof of his deep interest in French lexicography by the publication of his Dictionarie French and English, published for the benefit of the studious in that language, based on his earlier work, but on a much larger scale.[365]

Meanwhile he had had an opportunity to extend his knowledge and to refresh his mind by a long journey on the Continent. Once more he had yielded to his love of change and movement, and entered the service of another powerful patron, Lord Zouche, to whom he dedicated his dictionary of 1593. In the dedication we are told how he had undertaken a "long, lointain, penible et dangereux voyage" with his noble protector, who was to him "plutot pere ou baston de vieillesse que non pas maistre, Seigneur ou commandeur." Thus we may conclude that, when Lord Zouche crossed to Hamburg by sea in March 1587, intending to qualify himself for public service on the Continent, as well as to "live cheaply," Holyband accompanied him, and, no doubt, found many opportunities for serious study. They proceeded to Heidelberg, where their names were inscribed on the matriculation register of the university in May.[366] Zouche then travelled to Frankfort, Basle (1588), Altdorf (1590), and thence to Vienna (1591), and on to Verona, returning to England in 1593.[367]

After the publication of this last of his works in 1593, we lose sight of Holyband in his rôle of teacher of French. He was, however, still in England in 1597, when he dedicated a new edition of his French Littleton to a new patron, Lord Herbert of Swansea. Thereafter he is not mentioned, and subsequent editions of his most popular works—the Schoolemaister and French Littleton—were issued without his supervision. Probably he had returned to his native country, for in the last of his published works he assumes the title of "gentilhomme bourbonnais," which suggests that he had come into the possession of some property in his native province, where his name was still known in the seventeenth century.[368] Certain it is that he did not remain in England. There is no further trace of his children, of whom he had at least four.[369] Thus silently, as if forgetful of his former habits, he slipped out of sight after he had spent nearly forty years teaching his language in England. He won the praise of the scholar Richard Mulcaster, soon to be appointed Head of St. Paul's School, near which Holyband had so long had his own modest establishment; and the poet George Gascoigne wrote a sonnet in his honour:

The pearl of price which Englishmen have sought
So farre abroade, and cost them there so dere,
Is now founde out within our country here,
And better cheape amongst us may be bought.
HOLYBAND'S METHOD OF TEACHING FRENCH I mean the French that pearle of pleasant speech,
Which some sought for, and bought it with their lives,
With sicknesse some, yea some with bolts and gives,
But all with payne this peerlesse pearle did seeke.
Now Holyband, a friendly French indeede,
Hath tane such paynes, for everie English ease,
That here at home we may this language learne,
And for the price he craveth no more meede
But thankfull harts to whome his pearles may please.
Oh, thank him then, that so much thanke dothe earne.

Holyband, like his predecessor Du Ploich, was an advocate of the practical teaching of languages. A perfect knowledge of French, in his eyes, consisted in being able to read and pronounce the language accurately. Thus the first thing to be done by those desiring to study the language is to begin to read at once. The learner must not "entangle himself at the first brunte" with rules; but, "after he hath read them over, let him take in hand the dialogues, and as occasion requireth he shall examine the rules, applying their use unto his purpose."[370] He must first "frame his tongue by reading them aloud, noting carefully which letters are not pronounced, looking for the reasons why they are lefte in the rules of pronunciation," so that "when he shall happen uppon other bookes printed without these caracters he may remember which letters ought to be uttered and which ought not." In these rules[371] Holyband endeavours to explain French sounds by comparison with English sounds. His treatment of the letter a may be given as an example of his method. "Sound our a," he says,[372] "as you sound the first sillable in Laurence, or Augustine in English. When a is joined with in it loseth his sound, or at the least it is very little heard: as pain, hautain.... Pronounce then as if they were written thus: pin, hautin.... But if e followeth n, then i goeth more towards n, thus: balaine, semaine ...," and then he proceeds to describe in like fashion the sounds of the diphthong ai. His treatment of the sound gn is quaint and interesting. "When you find any word written with gn, remember how you pronounce these English words, onion, minion, companion, and such like: so melting g, and touching smoothly the roofe of the mouth with the flat of the tongue, say: mignon, oignon, compagnon; say then, cam-pa-gne, campa-gnie, and not cam-pag-ne, campag-nie, separating g from n; but rather sound them as if they were written thus in your English tongue, campaine, campanie."

Such rules alone, however, were of little value in Holyband's opinion, and we cheerfully agree with him. The reader must be very circumspect in his use of them, and his teacher a very skilful Frenchman, "or else all will go to wracke." He seems to have thought that much more depended on the tutor than on rules. No doubt he fully shared the opinion stated earlier by Duwes, that rules are of more use to the teacher than the learner. "Oh how busie is this tongue," he says of French, "and into what maze doth the learner enter which doth take it in hand: therefore let his tutor be sevenfold skilfull." We are prepared, then, to find Holyband agreeing with Henry VIII.'s tutor on another point—the teaching of French and writing of French grammars by the English. To him it appeared obvious that "it is not the part of a stranger, except he be learned and of a long continuance in France, to give precepts concerning the pronunciation of the (French) tongue: yea neither of the best Frenchmen, be he never so learned or eloquent in the same, except he hath practised the premises by teaching or otherwise by a long and diligent observation." There can be no question of committing rules to memory; they merely serve to throw light on the reading matter. Yet the practice of memorizing is not neglected. There were two purposes for which it was called into use, the verbs, chiefly the two auxiliaries, and vocabulary, to which Holyband attached much importance.

According to Holyband himself, his method had excellent results. He was especially proud of the pronunciation of his pupils. In teaching this he followed a plan which strikes the modern reader as curious, but which had already been employed in an early sixteenth-century grammar, that of the poet Alexander Barclay. According to this plan he taught his scholars the main characteristics of the different dialects of France, as well as the pure French in which they were encouraged to speak. His reason for doing so was to put them on their guard against the variety of dialects, chiefly Picard and Walloon, spoken by the numerous refugees FRENCH CHURCH SCHOOLSscattered all over London. When new scholars came to his school from "other French schools," he assures us that on hearing them speak and pronounce any letter incorrectly, his own pupils "spie the faultes as soone as I, yea they cannot abide it: and which is more they will discerne whether the maister which taught them first was a Burgonian, a Norman, or a Houyet."

The reading, which Holyband made the basis of his language teaching, was always explained by means of English renderings. In his dialogues he makes no attempt to retain the purity of the English phrase. English for him was merely a vehicle for interpreting to his young scholars the meaning of the French, "for I do not pretend to teach them any other thing then the French tongue," and so he begs his readers not to "muse" at the English of his book, but to take the French with such goodwill as it is offered. It will be noticed that on this point, as on many others—placing the rules after the practical exercises, for instance—Holyband resembles Du Ploich, and no doubt he was acquainted with the Treatise of his less well known fellow-teacher. The points of resemblance between the dialogues of the two works are sufficient proof of this, although Du Ploich's cannot compare with Holyband's in interest. Another work which had some influence on his dialogues was the Linguae Latinae Exercitatio of the great Spanish scholar and educationist Vives—a book containing Latin dialogues, dealing with the life of the schoolboy at home and at school, at work and at play. This was a very popular school-book in the sixteenth century, and was most likely used by Holyband in the Latin lessons at his own school. He also incorporated the Latin dialogues of Vives in a work which he called the Campo di Fior, or flowery field of four languages, Italian, Latin, French and English, giving the dialogues in these four languages. This work appeared in 1583, when he was probably still teaching in St. Paul's Churchyard.[373]

Besides these French schools kept by private individuals, there were others in connexion with the French churches. After the foundation of the French Church in Threadneedle Street, other churches had arisen in different parts of the country. The education of the children attending these institutions had to be seen to, and very soon schools were established under the supervision of the churches themselves.[374] Although these schools were primarily intended for the instruction of the children of the refugees, they also undertook to teach those "who would wish to learn the French language." Just as some English attended the services of the French Church, so also some sent their children to the school associated with it. And it must be remembered that to some Englishmen the French Church presented greater attractions than the English Church did at that time; for there naturally grew up a bond of sympathy between the Protestant refugees and the English Nonconformists, many of whom sought in the French Church, with its Genevan discipline, a form of worship not sanctioned by the English Church. Others attended these churches for the same reason as the "Italianate gentleman," censured by Roger Ascham,[375] went to the Italian Church: "to heare the (French) tongue naturally spoken, not to heare God's doctrine trewly preached." This was a practice strongly advocated by many of the French teachers of the time. The number of Englishmen of both kinds must have been considerable. In 1573 Elizabeth issued an Order forbidding the French Church to give communion to those English who, by curiosity or dislike for their own ceremonies, wished to receive it in the French Church. The church in Threadneedle Street took steps to limit the number of its English adherents. These were required to produce evidence of a sober life, and of loyalty to their own church, before they were allowed to communicate.[376] English names are not uncommon in the Threadneedle Street Registers. Even members of the nobility stood as sponsors to the children of the French strangers, for instance, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Countess of Bedford, in the year 1624.[377] The French Church at Southampton also had numerous English members and communicants,[378] while at Canterbury a rule was made that all the English connected with the church should know French; on one occasion, a person was refused as a sponsor on account of his ignorance of that tongue.[379] Considering FRENCH SCHOOL AT CANTERBURYthe esteem in which the French churches were held by many Englishmen, we may assume that some of the latter were glad to take advantage of the willingness of the French Church to receive their children into its schools. The refugees, on their part, did not always send their children to their own schools. The sons of the wealthier strangers would go to the English grammar schools, and thence, in many cases, to the University.[380]

The subjects taught in these French church schools were, no doubt, much the same as those of the private French schools, including religious instruction, writing, reading, arithmetic, and possibly music. The curriculum appears to have been of quite an elementary nature. As to the teachers, they were required to be of sober life, and members of the French Church. They had to be appointed by the minister and presented to the bishop. They also were required to give the minister an account of the books they read to the children, and of the methods followed, and be willing to adopt the advice of their superiors "sans rien entreprendre à leur fantaisie." Further, it was their duty to conduct the children to church on Sunday for the catechism.[381] Such were the regulations laid down in the second Discipline, drawn up on the restoration of the French Church after the accession of Elizabeth. When this was revised some years later, in 1588, a few changes were made. The presentation to the bishop was dispensed with, and the teachers were no longer obliged to conduct the children to the catechism: they had only to prepare them to answer it. And the ministers, on their side, were required to visit the schools, accompanied by the elders and deacons, at least four times a year; their attention was specially called to "those who teach languages."[382]

The French teachers attached to the Church at Canterbury are those of whom we have most detailed information. In one of the articles of a petition, which the group of refugees there addressed to the city authorities, in the reign of Elizabeth, they crave that permission may be given to the schoolmaster whom they have brought with them to teach both their own youth and also other children who desire to learn the French tongue.[383] Their request appears to have been well received, as a French church and school were established not long after. Among the names of the petitioners was that of Vincent Primont, teacher of youth, who seems to have been the first schoolmaster of this little community. He was a refugee from Normandy, and arrived at Rye in 1572.[384] To the office of schoolmaster, which he held for many years, was added that of Reader to the congregation—a post he resigned in 1584, owing to some action of the consistory which did not meet with his approval. The last mention we have of him, as schoolmaster, occurs in December 1583, when a member of the congregation was reproved for allowing his workmen to set a bad example to Master Vincent's scholars. He probably filled his position for some time after this date. In August 1581, however, another teacher, Nicholas du Buisson, obtained permission "to go from house to house to teach children," and in 1583 received a small quarterly allowance for taking charge of the children at the services in the Temple.[385] The demand for teachers apparently increased considerably at this time; in 1582 we hear of a third schoolmaster, Paul Le Pipre, who had already been teaching for some time previous to this date. Le Pipre several times took steps to defend his monopoly and prevent the admission of other schoolmasters. In 1582 he opposed the application of Jan Roboem or Jean Robone, who sought permission to hold school. Roboem, who had been Reader in the French Protestant Church at Dieppe, fled thence to Rye in 1572, in company with his wife and two children.[386] He was in very poor estate on arriving at Canterbury, and the consistory of the French Church at last prevailed on Le Pipre to agree to his admission, promising him that if any disadvantage accrued to him thereby it should be remedied. Roboem was therefore told he might put his notice on the door of the Temple—the usual form of advertisement—whenever he pleased.[387] He did not, however, keep it there long, moving to London in the same year. He is no doubt to be identified with the John Robonin, "schoolmaster of the French tongue," who was living in the "Warde of Chepe," and attending the French Church, at the end of 1582.[388]

PAUL LE PIPREPaul Le Pipre was again approached in 1583 with regard to the appointment of another schoolmaster, probably a successor to Robonin. He was told that another teacher was necessary, and that one had come forward, a destitute refugee, who wished for permission to teach in order to earn his living. Le Pipre replied "that he held to his agreement with the Church, namely that he could not leave without giving three months' notice." Ultimately it was decided "that the aforesaid should not be permitted to keep school, both on account of the agreement and because he was not as yet sufficiently known to be of the religion." This teacher, whose name is not given, was, however, allowed to instruct "certain married people, and others grown up and over fourteen years of age who did not go to Paul's school, in consideration of his poverty."[389]

Paul Le Pipre retained the position he was so unwilling to share with a colleague, for many years after this. The last we hear of him is in September 1597, when he was censured by the consistory for holding school on Sunday.

French schools likewise arose in other provincial towns, where French Churches had been established. There were also, it appears, similar private schools, with the primary object of teaching French to the English, and unconnected with the churches. At any rate, French and Walloon schoolmasters arrived in some of these towns. At Rye in 1572, for instance, we come across Nicholas Curlew and Martin Martin, fugitives from Dieppe,[390] though probably, like Vincent Primont and John Robone, they did not settle in the town. At Norwich, in 1568, was a Pierre de Rieu of Lille who had arrived ten months before, and in 1622 Francis Boy and John Cokele.[391] At Dover, in the same year, Francis Rowland and Nicholas Rowsignoll, both French schoolmasters, had "come out of France by reason of the late troubles yet continuing."[392] And lastly, at Southampton, we hear in 1576 of Nicholas Chemin, who, in 1578, was refused communion at the church on account of his causing some disturbance in the congregation; of a M. Du Plantin, dit Antoine Ylot, in 1576, and of a Pierre de la Motte, 'mestre d'escolle,' in 1577.[393] No doubt most of these schoolmasters taught under the auspices of the French Churches.

M. Du Plantin was one of a large number of ministers who took refuge in England, and his school was probably a French Church school, for seven of his young scholars are mentioned as communicants. Many French pastors like him, no doubt, took to the teaching profession during their stay in England, their numbers being far in excess of the ministers needed in the churches. The famous reformer, John Utenhove of Ghent, was in 1549 tutor to the son of a London gentleman.[394] Valerand Poullain, a converted priest, who, after being pastor at Strasburg, came to England, for a time held a similar post in the household of the Earl of Derby;[395] he afterwards became minister of the French Church at Glastonbury on the recommendation of Utenhove. Another minister, Jean Louveau, Sieur de la Porte, spent the time of exile from his Church of Roche Bernard, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in teaching languages in London, and there were many others in like case.[396]

At Southampton there was a French school of special interest. Its teacher, like Du Plantin, was a pastor, though the school does not seem to have had any close connexion with the French Church. This schoolmaster and divine was the once famous Dr. Adrian Saravia, a learned refugee from Flanders. He became later Professor of Divinity at Leyden and an intimate friend of Casaubon; and when he took refuge in England for a second time in 1587, he enjoyed some ecclesiastical preferment, and was one of the translators of the Authorised Version of the Bible.[397] During his first sojourn in England, however, he was engaged on a more humble task. He first arrived at Southampton in about 1567,[398] after having been for some years headmaster of a grammar school in Guernsey. Saravia's school at Southampton was limited to sixteen or twenty youths of good family. It was a rule that all the scholars should speak French. Any one who used English, "though only a word," was obliged to wear a fool's cap at meals, and continue to wear it until he caught another in the same fault.[399] FRENCH SCHOOL AT SOUTHAMPTONTwo Englishmen, who later became well known as translators, acquired their knowledge of French in this school. One was Joshua Sylvester, famous for his translation of Du Bartas, and the other Robert Ashley, who turned Louis le Roy's De la Vicissitude ou Variété des choses de l'univers (1579) into English (1594). Sylvester informs us that he learnt his French at Saravia's school "in three poor years, at three times three years old"; "I have never been in France," he writes to his uncle, William Plumb, "whereby I might become so perfect." Elsewhere he expresses his affection for his master and his debt of gratitude to him:

My Saravia, to whose revered name
Mine owes the honour of Du Bartas' fame.

Sylvester did not put his knowledge of French into practice only by translations into English. He also wrote some original verses in French; the sonnet with which he offered to James I. his translation of the works of Du Bartas, a poet for whom the king had a great admiration, will show his skill in a difficult art:

Voy, sire, ton Saluste habillé en Anglois
(Anglois, encore plus de cœur que de langage:)
Qui, connaissant loyall ton Royale héritage,
En ces beaux Liz Dorez au sceptre des Gaulois
(Comme au vray souverain des vrays subjects françois),
Cy à tes pieds sacrez te fait ton sainct Hommage
(De ton Heur et Grandeur éternal temoinage).
Miroir de touts Heros, miracle de tous Roys,
Voy (sire) ton Saluste, ou (pour le moins) son ombre,
Ou l'ombre (pour le moins) de ses Traicts plus divins
Qui, ores trop noyrcis par mon pinceau trop sombre,
S'esclairciront aux Raiz de tes yeux plus benins.
Doncques d'œil benin et d'un accueil auguste,
Reçoy ton cher Bartas, et Voy, sire, Saluste.[400]

Another of Sylvester's contemporaries at Saravia's school was Sir Thomas Lake,[401] who became Secretary of State in the reign of James I., and is said to have read Latin and French to Queen Elizabeth towards the end of her reign. His French accent, unlike that of his schoolfellows, seems to have left much to be desired. In 1612 he incurred much ridicule by reading the French contract of marriage at the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector with a very bad accent.

Saravia, it seems, encouraged his pupils to attend the French Church. Two of their names occur in the registers of the Church for the year 1576, viz. Nicholas Essard and Nicholas Carye, both probably Englishmen. Saravia himself and his wife were also regular attenders; in 1571 and again in 1576 he stood godfather at baptisms. The latest mention of him occurs in 1577. Usually the descriptive title "minister" is added after his name.[402] He is mentioned in the town records under the year 1576 as Master of the Grammar School, and in the following year the town paid 36s. "for four yardes of broade cloth for a gowne for Mr. Adrian Saravia the schoolmaster at 9s. the yarde."[403] Apparently he had abandoned his private school, although it is very likely that he continued to take private pupils into his house, and that the grammar school scholars had ample opportunity to learn French; but it is hardly probable that he introduced the language into the grammar school curriculum, where, no doubt, Latin retained its usual supremacy.[404]

Thus we see that in the England of the sixteenth century French had no footing in the ordinary schools, but was taught in a growing number of small private schools kept by Frenchmen, French-speaking refugees from the Netherlands, and sometimes by Englishmen.

In Scotland, on the other hand, French received more recognition in the grammar schools, although it did not form part of the ordinary curriculum, which was based on Latin, as in England. Yet in several schools its use was distinctly encouraged on lines which, we may conclude, were followed at Southampton grammar school in Saravia's time. For instance, the boys of Aberdeen grammar school, in the middle of the sixteenth century, were enjoined to address each other in French, while the use of the vernacular was forbidden. In the famous grammar school of Perth, when John Rowe, the reformer, was master there, and many of the scholars boarded with him, we are informed that "as they spake nothing in the schoole and fields but Latine so nothing was spoken in his house but French." It is of interest to note that in this school French is put side by side with FRENCH IN THE SCHOOLS OF SCOTLANDthe ancient tongues, as Palsgrave had wished. After meals a selection from the Bible was read; if from the Old Testament, in Hebrew, if from the New Testament, in Latin, Greek, or French.[405]

Turning to the more elementary education, we find French holding a still larger place in some of the parish schools of Scotland, where it was taught as part of the regular course by the side of Latin. An interesting account of one of these schools has been left by James Melville, in his diary.[406] He records that in 1566, at the age of seven, he, together with his elder brother, was sent to a school kept by a kinsman, minister at Logie, a few miles from Montrose. This "guid, lerned, kind man" attended to the children's education, while his sister was "a verie loving mother" to them, and to a "guid number of gentle and honest mens berns of the country about," who also were at the school. "Ther we lerned," he continues, "to reid the catechisme, prayers and scripture, to rehers the catechisme and prayers par cœur.... We lerned ther the Rudiments of the Latin grammar, with the vocables in Latin and French, also divers speitches in Frenche, with the reading and right pronunciation of that toung." Melville also assures us that his master had "a verie guid and profitable form of resolving the authors," and that he treated them "grammaticallie, bothe according to etymologie and syntaxe"; but, unfortunately, he gives us no further details on the teaching of French. After spending five years at this school, where, he admits, he learnt but little, "for his understanding was yet dark," he went to the grammar school at Montrose. There, although he had a French Protestant refugee, Pierre de Marsilliers, to teach him Greek, he does not appear to have had occasion to continue his study of the French tongue.

In Scotland, as in England, there were also special schools for teaching French. For instance, the French schoolmaster Nicholas Langlois, or Inglishe, who came to England in 1569, and in 1571 was installed in Blackfriars, London, with his wife and two children,[407] moved to Scotland in about 1574. He opened a French school in Edinburgh, which was subsidized by the Town Council, and where he taught French, arithmetic and accounts until the time of his death in 1611. The Town Council of Aberdeen also showed itself favourable to French schools; in 1635 it granted to a certain Alexander Rolland a licence "to teach a French school," and allowed him "for that effect to put up one brod or signe befoir his schoole door."

Yet in spite of the fact that French received greater recognition in the schools of Scotland than it did in those of England, there is nothing to show that the same general interest was taken in the study of the language. While in England large numbers of grammars and other text-books were published, there is only one notice of the production of a similar work in Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This solitary work, which a certain William Nudrye received a licence to print in 1559,[408] was entitled Ane A B C for Scottes men to read the frenche toung, with an exhortation to the nobles of Scotland to favour their old friends. The plea that French was learnt by the help of French grammars imported from France, or on conversational methods, or yet again in France by direct intercourse with Frenchmen, may be applied with as much force to England as to Scotland, though it is not improbable that in Scotland such methods were relied on to a greater extent; the friendly relations which existed between Scotland and France from the thirteenth century onwards encouraged large numbers of Scots to seek instruction in France, just as it led some Frenchmen to the Scottish centres of learning.[409] French tutors were said to be as common in Scotland as in England; a Spanish ambassador reported to Ferdinand and Isabella as early as 1498 that "there is a good deal of French education in Scotland, and many speak the French language." Yet the fact remains that while one small French A B C appears to have been the only work on the language issued in Scotland, there was a whole series of such works published in England.

FOOTNOTES:

[289] Sources for the History of the Persecutions: L. Batiffol, The Century of the Renaissance, London, 1916; D. C. A. Agnew, Protestant Exiles from France, 3rd ed., 1886, vol. i.; J. S. Burn, The History of the French, Walloon, Dutch, and other Foreign Protestant Refugees settled in England, London, 1846; S. Smiles, The Huguenots, their Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland, London, 1867.

[290] Early refugees also came in small numbers from Italy where the Inquisition was established in 1542; and a few others from Spain, where it was set up in 1588. Their arrival in England imparted some slight impetus to the study of their respective languages; cp. F. Watson, The Beginnings of the Teaching of Modern Subjects in England, London, 1909, chapters xii. and xiii.

[291] Huguenot Society Publications, xv., 1898; F. W. Cross, History of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Canterbury (Introduction).

[292] L. Humphrey, The Nobles or of Nobilitye, London, 1563, 2nd book.

[293] See A. Rahlenbeck, "Les Réfugiés belges au 16me siècle en Angleterre," in the Revue Trimestrielle, Oct. 1865.

[294] The following numbers show the proportion of the Netherlanders to the French: in 1567, 3838 Flemish to 512 French; in 1586, 5225 to 1119.

[295] Huguenot Soc. Pub. i., 1887-88; O. J. W. Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich, ch. ix.

[296] W. Besant, London in the Time of the Tudors, London, 1904, pp. 80, 200, 203. The population of London is taken as about 120,000.

[297] Hug. Soc. Pub. x., 1900-1908, 4 parts.

[298] Hug. Soc. Pub. viii., 1893: Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalisation for Aliens in England, 1509-1603, ed. W. Page.

[299] Naturalization by Act of Parliament, which gave additional rights, such as that of succession to and bequeathment of real property, was in general of more advantage to Englishmen born abroad than to foreigners.

[300] On the French churches in England, see F. de Schickler, Les Églises du refuge en Angleterre, 3 tom., Paris, 1892.

[301] The first ministers appointed to the French church were François Pérussel, dit la Rivière, and Richard Vauville. Perlin visited the French church: "La prechoit un nommé maistre Françoys homme blond, et un autre nommé maistre Richard, homme ayant barbe noire" (Description des royaulmes d'Angleterre et d'Escosse, Paris, 1558, p. 11). Perlin was one of the few Frenchmen who came to England at this time.

[302] Op. cit. p. 11. Perlin also says that the English tried several times to set fire to the French church.

[303] See accounts in Rye, England as seen by Foreigners.

[304] This was naturally not without exceptions. For instance, Sir Nicholas Bacon, father of Francis, was noted for his support of the attempt to drive all the French from the country after the St. Bartholomew massacre (Archaeologia, xxxvi. p. 339).

[305] F. Foster Watson, "Religious Refugees and English Education," Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, London, 1911.

[306] The Nobles or of Nobilitye, ut supra.

[307] Athenae Cantab. ii. 274. A certain L. T. attacked Baro about a sermon of his on the text in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, twenty-eighth verse (Brit. Mus. Catalogue).

[308] Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. iii. p. 360.

[309] Ellis, Original Letters, 1st series, i. pp. 341-3.

[310] Arte of Rhetorique (1553), ed. G. H. Mair, 1909, p. 13.

[311] Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Autobiography, ed. Sir S. Lee (2nd ed. 1906), p. 37, n.

[312] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., xiv. pt. ii. No. 601; and Works, Parker Society, i. p. 396.

[313] E. J. Furnivall, Manners and Meals in Olden Time, pp. ix et seq.

[314] Ascham, Toxophilus, quoted by Nichols: Literary Remains ..., p. xl.

[315] Reliquiae Wottoniae, London, 1657 ("Life of Sir Henry Wotton"), n.p.

[316] J. Payne Collier, in Archaeologia, vol. xxxvi. pp. 339 et seq.

[317] Queene Elizabeth's Academy, ed. Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 1869.

[318] This purpose is expressly stated in the earliest grammar for teaching Italian to the English, dated 1550: The Principal Rules of Italian Grammar, with a Dictionary for the better Understandynge of Boccace, Petrarcha, and Dante (also in 1562 and 1567). Cp. F. Watson, Modern Subjects, chapter xii.

[319] Cp. F. Watson, Modern Subjects, chapter xiii.; and J. G. Underhill, Spanish Literature in England of the Tudors, New York, 1899.

[320] Hug. Soc. Pub. viii.: List of Denizations.

[321] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[322] Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, 1532, the first of Latin-French dictionaries.

[323] Printed by T. Wolfe.

[324] The first French grammar for teaching French to the Germans, mentioned in Stengel's Chronologisches Verzeichniss französischer Grammatiken (Oppeln, 1890), was the work of a Frenchman Du Vivier, schoolmaster at Cologne, and was published in 1566.

[325] Cp. Ph. Sheavyn, The Literary Profession in the Elizabethan Age, Manchester, 1909, chap. i.

[326] De Republica Anglorum, ed. L. Alston, Camb., 1906, p. 139.

[327] C. W. Wallace, "New Shakespeare Discoveries," Harper's Magazine, 1910, and University Studies, Nebraska, U.S.A.; Sir S. Lee, Life of Shakespeare ..., new ed., London, 1915, pp. 17, 276.

[328] Unfortunately the registers of the Threadneedle Street Church, previous to 1600, have been lost. It would have been interesting to have found Shakespeare brought into contact with this church by his Huguenot friends.

[329] A list of French words and phrases used by Shakespeare is given in A. Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon, 2 vols., Berlin, 1902, p. 1429.

[330] Act I. Sc. 4; Act II. Sc. 3; and other Scenes in which the Doctor appears.

[331] Act III. Sc. 6; Act IV. Sc. 2, Sc. 4, Sc. 5; Act V. Sc. 2.

[332] Act III. Sc. 4.

[333] Act III. Sc. 6. The quotation from 2 Peter ii. 22 bears closest resemblance to the edition of the Bible issued at Geneva, 1550; H. R. D. Anders, Shakespeare's Books, Berlin, 1904, p. 203.

[334] Often what appear to be mistakes to-day are due to change in pronunciation; as when Pistol takes the French soldier's "bras" ('arm') for English 'brass,' a possibility at this period when the final s was still sounded (Thurot, Prononciation française, ii. pp. 35-36; Anders, op. cit. pp. 50-51.)

[335] Anders, op. cit. p. 51 et seq.

[336] Cp. A. F. Leach, English Grammar Schools of the Reformation, 1896: F. Watson, The English Grammar Schools up to 1660, Cambridge, 1908, and The Curriculum and Text-Books of English Schools in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century, Bibliog. Soc., 1906.

[337] The author of the Institution of a Gentleman, 1555 and 1560, mentions the "knowledge of tongues as necessary to gentlemen," but he does not seem to have meant modern languages. William Kemp, in his Education of Children in Learning, 1588, names the ancient tongues, especially Latin, and other writers do the same. For a list of similar works, cp. Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica, under "Education."

[338] Cp. J. W. Adamson, Pioneers in Modern Education, Cambridge, 1905, pp. 178 sqq.

[339] Sidney Papers, ed. A. Collins; Letters and Memorials of State, vol. i. p. 8.

[340] E. Arber, Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers, 1554-1640, v. p. 162.

[341] Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 413.

[342] Handlists of Books printed by London Printers, 1501-56, Bibliog. Soc., 1913: Grafton, p. 13.

[343] There is no trace of Du Ploich's name in any of the registers of aliens published by the Hug. Soc. The only trace of a name resembling his is that of Peter de Ploysse, butcher, in Breadstreet Ward (Lay Subsidies, 1549).

[344] F. Watson, Grammar Schools, pp. 69 et seq.

[345] Arber, Stationers' Register, i. p. 126.

[346] Sig. A-N in fours.

[347] French in Roman type, English in black letter.

[348] Especially the Lambeth fragment, and the Introductorie of Duwes.

[349] Sig. A-I in fours. Like the first edition, this is preserved in a unique volume in the Brit. Mus. The copy of Kingston's edition is not complete, wanting all before signature A3.

[350] Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 16, E xxxvii., 63 quarto leaves.

[351] Edward had the MS. placed in his Library. Nichols, Literary Remains, p. cccxxxiv.

[352] Royal MSS. 16, E xxiii., 29 quarto leaves.

[353] "Et je ne suis pas si presumptueux de vouloir dire que celuy livre je soye suffissant a translater du tout en englois, a cause que je ne l'ay de nature. Mais a mon simple entendement, ayant l'opportunité et le loisir, l'ensuivray au plus pres que ie pourray."

[354] Returns of Aliens in London, Hug. Soc. Pub. x.

[355] Lists of Denizations, Hug. Soc. Pub., ad nom. (a Sancto Vinculo). Other details of his life are given in Miss L. E. Farrer's La vie et les œuvres de Claude de Sainliens, Paris, 1907.

[356] Yet in this work Holyband refers several times to the necessity of having a good tutor.

[357] Farrer, op. cit. p. 21.

[358] As in the French Schoolemaister, French and English are arranged on opposite pages, the French in Roman characters, and the English in black letter.

[359] Des escholiers et l'eschole—Pour voyageurs—Du Logis, Du Poidz, Vendre et acheter, Pour marchans.

[360] Sylvius (1530) had placed a small vertical line over final unsounded consonants.

[361] Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. iii. p. 400. The name John Henricke occurs frequently in the registers of aliens. There was a John Henryke, a "Dutchman," who, in 1567, was living in Broadstreet Ward, and had been three weeks in England; and, in 1571, in St. Mary Alchurch Parish, when he is said to have been five years in England, and to be a native of Barowe in Brabant and nineteen years old. In 1582 one of the same name was living in Blackfriars and had two servants (Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt i. p. 322; pt. ii. pp. 91, 253). In 1579 a John Hendricke from the dominion of the Bishop of Liége received letters of denization (Hug. Soc. Pub. viii. ad nom.). It does not seem likely that Holyband employed one of the Walloons, whose accent he taught his pupils to avoid.

[362] Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, ad nom.

[363] Farrer, op. cit. p. 1.

[364] C. Livet, La Grammaire française et les grammairiens du 16e siècle, Paris, 1859, pp. 500 et seq.

[365] For his sources, etc., see Farrer, op. cit. pp. 73 et seq.

[366] Schickler, Églises du Refuge, i. p. 358.

[367] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[368] Farrer, op. cit. p. 16. Miss Farrer suggests that Holyband was connected with the family of Thuillier de Saint Lyens of Moulins (op. cit. pp. 8, 9).

[369] Latin poem in the Campo di Fior, 1583.

[370] In the Schoolemaister, on the contrary, the exercises follow the rules, "to the end that I may teache by experience and practice that which I have shewed by arte."

[371] The philological side of Holyband's work has been fully treated by Farrer, op. cit.

[372] In the Schoolemaister. The rules of the French Littleton are much the same, only less quaintly worded.

[373] Holyband was the author of a work for teaching Italian: The Italian Schoolmaster, 1583, and again in 1591, 1597, and 1608.

[374] Schickler, Églises du Refuge, iii. pp. 167-171. The members of the Church attended to the interests of the schools, and donations were made from time to time. Cp. for instance, Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 123.

[375] The Scholemaster, ed. Arber, 1869, p. 82.

[376] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 211.

[377] Registers of Threadneedle Street, London, Hug. Soc. Pub. ix.

[378] Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton, Hug. Soc. Pub. iv., 1890. In 1584 three baptisms were performed by Mr. Hopkins, an English minister.

[379] Registre de l'Église de Cantorbéry, Hug. Soc. Pub. v. pt. i., 1890.

[380] W. J. C. Moens (The Walloons and their Church at Norwich, Hug. Soc. Pub. i., 1887-8, p. 58) enumerates eighteen sons of strangers at Norwich who went to the Grammar School and thence to Cambridge.

[381] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 106.

[382] Ibid. p. 346.

[383] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 281; F. W. Cross, History of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Cantuar, Hug. Soc. Pub. xv., 1898, p. 15.

[384] W. J. Hardy, Foreign Refugees at Rye, Proceedings Hug. Soc. ii., 1887-8, p. 574.

[385] Cross, op. cit. p. 53.

[386] Hardy, op. cit. p. 570 (cp. Durrant Cooper, Refugees in Sussex, Sussex Archaeological Collections, xiii., 1861). The name is here written John Robone.

[387] F. W. Cross, ut supra.

[388] Cross, ut supra; Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 283.

[389] Hug. Soc. Pub. x.

[390] Hardy, op. cit. p. 572.

[391] Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich; W. Durrant Cooper, Lists of Foreign Protestants and Aliens resident in England, 1618-1688, Camden Soc., 1862.

[392] G. H. Overend, Strangers at Dover, p. 166; and D. Cooper, Lists of Foreign Protestants.

[393] Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton, Hug. Soc. Pub. iv.

[394] Schickler, op. cit. i. 25.

[395] Ibid. i. 59.

[396] For example, John Veron, J. R. Chevallier, mentioned above.

[397] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[398] In 1568 letters of denization were granted him (Hug. Soc. Pub. viii., ad nom.).

[399] MS. Memoir of Robert Ashley (Sloane, 2105); cp. Sylvester's Works, ed. Grosart, 1880, i. p. x.

[400] Works, ed. Grosart, i. p. 4. See also i. p. lvii, and ii. pp. 52, 301, 322.

[401] 1567?-1630. Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[402] Registre de l'Église wallonne de Southampton, Hug. Soc. Pub. iv., 1890.

[403] J. S. Davids, History of Southampton, Southampton, 1883, p. 311.

[404] Another Fleming, Thomas Hylocomius, a native of Brabant, was master of St. Alban's Grammar School, 1570-1596 (Watson, Protestant Refugees, pp. 137-139). But there is nothing to show that he encouraged the study of French.

[405] Authorities for the use of French in Scotch schools are: J. Strong, Secondary Education in Scotland, Oxford, 1909, pp. 44 et seq., 76, 142; T. P. Young, Histoire de l'enseignement primaire et secondaire en Écosse, Paris, 1907, pp. 12 et seq., pp. 64 et seq.; J. Grant, Burgh Schools of Scotland, London and Glasgow, 1876, pp. 64, 404; F. Michel, Les Écossais en France et les Français en Écosse, 1862, ii. p. 78.

[406] Autobiography and Diary of Mr. James Melville, minister of Kilrenny and Professor of Theology in the University of St. Andrews, ed. R. Pitcairn (Wodrow Soc., Edinburgh, 1842), pp. 16 et seq.

[407] His daughter Esther, who married a Scotch minister Kello, became famous for her calligraphy. Some of her work, preserved in the Bodleian, was admired by Hearne (Collections and Recollections, Oxf. Hist. Soc., 1885, i. p. 38).

[408] D. Murray, Some Early Grammars, etc., in use in Scotland, in the Proceedings of the Royal Philos. Soc. of Glasgow, xxxvii. pp. 267-8. In the List of Books printed in Scotland before 1700, by H. G. Aldis (Edinburgh Bibliog. Soc., 1904), there is not one book on the French language amongst the 3919 titles recorded.

[409] Pasquier, Letters, Amsterdam, 1723, lib. i. p. 5.

CHAPTER IV

HUGUENOT TEACHERS OF FRENCH—OTHER CLASSES OF FRENCH TEACHERS—RIVALRIES IN THE PROFESSION—THE "DUTCH" AND ENGLISH TEACHERS

We have seen that some of the refugees who came to England as a result of the persecutions in France and the Netherlands were professional schoolmasters; others joined the profession on their arrival, through force of circumstances, or as a means of repaying hospitality. The lot of such teachers varied considerably. Some lived and taught in gentlemen's families; others thrived by waiting on a private aristocratic clientèle; others gained a more precarious livelihood under less powerful patronage; and yet others opened private schools, often with decided success. Many of these teachers[410] were denizens, and had long teaching careers, chiefly in London; a certain Abraham Bushell, for instance, a native of "Rotchell," had been a "schoolmaster of the French tongue" in London for twenty-two years in 1618, during which time he had attended the French Church. Many other French teachers were members of the French Church, which naturally, seeing that it fostered a French school itself, took a particular interest in the French schoolmasters generally. Thus in 1560 all French schoolmasters having schools in London were summoned before the consistory, which was seeking to ascertain how many belonged to the Church, and also what book they used in teaching the children. Eight were ready to conform to the Church and its discipline;[411] a ninth, one Gilles Berail, refused to conform, on the plea that he attended the English parish church and understood English as well as French.

With the exception of Holyband, the chief Huguenot teachers who gathered round St. Paul's Churchyard would seem to have been Normans. One of these was Robert Fontaine, a friend of Holyband. He had a long and varied career in England as a teacher of French. Arriving in 1550, he remained in England during the reign of Mary, modifying his religious convictions to suit the exigencies of the time. He returned to his former faith early in the reign of Elizabeth, and expressed contrition for his "falling off to idolatry."[412] He attended the French Church faithfully in the early time of its revival, but he appears to have gone more frequently to the Anglican Church in later years, and possibly his sympathies were more in that direction. The favourite neighbourhood, St. Paul's Churchyard, was the scene of his activities, and there he lived for many years with one of his countrymen, Mr. Bowry, a purse-maker. In 1571 he had been living seventeen years in the vicinity of the Cathedral, and in 1582, the latest mention of him in the returns of aliens, he was still in the same district, and appears to have been very prosperous.

Some of this group of Normans added to their activities that of writing books for teaching French—an occupation for which Fontaine, presumably, had not time or inclination. One such author was Jacques Bellot, a "gentleman of the city of Caen in Normandie," who came to England in 1578, or the end of 1577, probably driven from his native land by the persecutions. He was received into the household of Sir Philip Wharton, third baron of that name, and in a surprisingly short time produced a French Grammar, which he dedicated to his patron, with an expression of his gratitude. Bellot, it appears, had already a considerable connexion. His work is preceded by numerous commendatory poems, after the fashion of the time. The poet Thomas Newton of Chester wrote two of these, one in Latin and the other in English, laying stress on the debt due by his countrymen to these French grammarians:

JACQUES BELLOT Thankes therefore great and threefold thankes are due
By right to those, whose travaile, toyle and penne
Dothe breake the yce for others to ensue,
By rules and practice for us Englishmen,
An easye way, a methode most in use
Amonge the Learn'de t' enduce to knowledge sure.

Other verses are written in French by John and William Wroth, no doubt two of the numerous sons of the politician Sir Thomas Wroth.

This new work, entitled The French Grammar, or An Introduction orderly and Methodically by ready rules, playne preceptes and evident examples, teachinge the French Tongue, differs from the popular books of Holyband, and also from most other French manuals, in that it deals with grammar alone. It opens with the usual observations on pronunciation. Each letter is taken in turn, and the position of the organs necessary to produce it is given. The author makes no attempt to compare the French sounds with the English equivalents. He had probably not yet had time to master the intricacies of English pronunciation, although the whole book is written in English; and he also, no doubt, made free use of grammars written in France. He tells us, for instance, that "c ought to be pronounced with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and the mouth somewhat open"; that "f is pronounced holding the nether lip against the upward teeth"; and that "h is but aspiration, which loseth his sound after e feminine, and also after every consonant." Then, after a few general observations and lists of numbers, months, and other familiar words, we reach the second part of the Grammar, which deals with the eight parts of speech. Each is defined and commented on in turn. The wording is often quaint; for instance, verbs are defined as "words which be declined with Modes and tenses, and are betokenynge doing." This second book treats of the accidence. In the third we pass to the consideration of syntax with the following warning:

Dire, sy ay (quoy qu'usage on en face)
N'est point parlé en courtois et bien nay:
Bien seant n'est aussy, dire, non ay:
Sauf votre honneur, ou bien sauf votre grace
Seroient trouvéz de trop meilleure grace.
Je ne l'ay fait, est trop desordonné:
Pardonnez moy, seroit mieux ordonné,
Car grand fureur douce parolle efface.
Nous estions, Nous y pensons, faut dire,
Non, J'estions, on ne s'en fait que rire,
Ne J'y pensons, tout cela est repris.
Les bons François ne parlent point ainsy.
Acunement pris ne doit estre aussy
Petit, pour peu, ny peu pour petit pris.

This part of the work is not extensive, and consists of a miscellaneous collection of observations; we are, for instance, told that the antecedent governs its relative, that the adjective agrees with its noun, and we are supplied also with rules for the gender and number, the negative, and so on. To this Bellot adds a fourth book, which is perhaps the most curious part of the work. It deals with French versification. We are first favoured with a description of the structure of various forms of poems, such as the "chant royal," the "ballade," the sonnet, rondeau, "dixain," and so on, each accompanied by an example, by way of illustration. The various forms of rime are next described and exemplified; and some of the complicated forms dear to the "rhétoriqueurs" find a place here. This is followed by a description of the various kinds of metres, again with examples; and finally rhythm, colour or "lizière," the caesura, elision, the "coupe féminine," and the use of the apostrophe are treated. Such is this little treatise on the "French poeme," which shows incidentally that Bellot had not yet learned the lesson enforced by the Pléiade more than twenty years before he wrote.

What strikes one most, perhaps, in Bellot's Grammar is that he makes no attempt to deal with the difficulties which the French language presents to the English in particular. No comparison of the two languages is instituted; no emphasis is laid on points in which they differ. Were it not written in English, it might be taken for a study of the language on the model of those produced in France. Considering that the work was published in the year of his arrival in England, it seems almost certain that he had begun his study before his arrival, and translated it himself, or had it translated into English. This would account for its unusual character.

Bellot opens and closes his Grammar with apologies. He repudiates all claim to completeness, and writes, he says, merely to provoke the "learned" to do better. "Yet the worke is not so leane and voide of fruite, but there is in it some taste. The bee gathereth honey from the smallest flowers, and so may the wise man from this small work."

Some time after the publication of his Grammar, he joined the group of French teachers dwelling in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's Churchyard. He was there in 1582, and made the acquaintance of Holyband, who had then resumed his French school in that locality. In the following year he wrote a quatrain and a sonnet in praise of Holyband's latest work, the Campo di Fior (1583):

Goustez Anglois, Gent bien heureuse,
Les fleurs qu'en vostre Isle argenteuse
Vous donne Holybande pour un gage.

It is not certain how Bellot employed his time there. He may have had a school, or have taught privately. In any case he was a member of the French Church, and in the returns of aliens he calls himself a "schoolmaster" and a "teacher of children."[413] But the title on which he is most insistent is that of "gentleman." He is a "gentilhomme cadomois," or a gentleman of Caen, and usually attaches the abbreviation G.C. to his name. His attitude to the usual type of French teacher is distinctly supercilious. He prided himself on belonging to the "noblesse instruite et de Savoir," and had the reputation of teaching elegant French.

In 1580 he dedicated to no less a person than François de Valois,[414] brother to Henry III., a work for teaching English to foreigners. Like Holyband, he gave his book the title of "Schoolmaster": Maistre d'Escole Anglois pour les naturelz françois, et autre estrangers qui ont la langue françoyse, pour parvenir a la vraye prononciation de la langue Angloise.[415] The work contains rules of pronunciation and grammar, given in opposite columns in French and English; it was evidently written in French in the first place, and then somewhat carelessly translated into English, for in the English column the illustrative examples are given in French. This produces a curious effect, and involves such statements as: "quand should be pronounced as Houen" (when), etc. In the dedication he refers to his "misfortune," by which, presumably, he means his exile.[416]

Bellot was busily occupied in the production of other text-books also during his residence in Paul's Churchyard. The Maistre d'Escole Anglois appeared in January 1580, and in 1581 was followed by a third work, in the form of a collection of moral dicta, entitled Le Jardin de vertu et bonnes mœurs plain de plusieurs belles fleurs et riches sentences, avec le sens d'icelles, recueillies de plusieurs autheurs,[417] and intended to be used as a "reader." It was published by the French refugee printer Thomas Vautrollier, who, at the same time, issued a new edition of Holyband's French Littleton. The works of the two friends were of the same size, and are bound together in the copy preserved in the British Museum.

Holyband, with his long-standing reputation, may have been able to further Bellot's interests. In 1580 he had dedicated his Latin work on French pronunciation to the queen, and in the following year Bellot obtained the same favour for his little work. He accordingly opened his book with six French sonnets in honour of Her Majesty, celebrating her generous reception of strangers, not omitting to beg her protection for the "garden":

Reçoy donc ce jardin: te plaise a l'appuyer
De ta faveur Royalle: et pren le jardinier
En ta protection contre la gent hargneuse:
Alors il tachera (sans appouvrir la France)
L'Angleterre enrichir d'œuvres d'autre importance,
Pour façonner l'Anglois au Françoys, en son estre,
Alors il chantera tes vertus en tout lieu. . . .

The whole of the Jardin is printed in French and English; each maxim or saying is accompanied by explanations of the most difficult words, by means of synonyms, paraphrases, and definitions, as in the following example:

NORMANS IN ENGLAND

La memoire du prodigue est nulle. | Of the prodigall ther is no memory.
Prodigue est:— | Prodigal is:—

un degasteur, un rioteux et un excessif depenseur, un consomme-tout, qui degaste et depense où il n'en est nul besoin et a l'endroit de qui n'en a besoin.

a wastefull, a riotious and an outrageous spender, a spendall that will lavishe and spende where it needeth not and upon whom it needeth not.

Memoire est:— | Memory is:—
une souvenance, une resconte pensée, une chose non mise en oubly. | a remembrance, and having in minde, a not forgetting.
Le Moral:— | The meaning:—

La renommée et fame du prodigue ne dure ny continue long temps: si tost qu'il est mort et passé il est oublié et hors de toute souvenance.

The prodigall mans fame and renown endureth nor continueth not long; as sone as he is gone and dead he is forgotten and out of all remembrance.

Cicero en Paradox dit:— | Cicero in Paradox saith:—

Les prodigues employent et degastent leurs biens en choses dont ils ne peuvent laisser qu'une courte memoire de eux, ou point du tout.

Prodigall men employ and wast their goods upon thinges whereof they can not leave but a short memory of them, or none at all.

It will be noticed that Bellot had not fully mastered the English idiom, although he had written an English grammar. The rest of the "beautiful flowers of vertue" which he planted in his "garden" are similar in character and treatment. He characteristically closes his little book with a prayer, which he quaintly compares to a fence to keep the "goats" from harming the "flowers."

In 1583 Bellot was still living near St. Paul's Churchyard. But after this date we lose all trace of him until 1588, when the printer Robert Robinson received a licence to print "a booke intytuled a grammar in Frenche and Englishe, the auttour is James Bellot."[418] This second French Grammar was known as The French Methode.[419]

To the numerous band of Normans in England also belonged, perhaps, G. De la Mothe, who wrote the letter "N" after his name. De la Mothe was another refugee for the sake of religion, and he speaks with gratitude of the generous welcome he received in England.[420] He tells us that the cruel civil wars in France had "burnt the wings of his studies" and ruined his fortune.[421] On his arrival in England, he began his career as a teacher of French in the same way as many others; he became a tutor in a noble family, and shortly after produced a book for teaching French. He was first appointed French tutor to the son of Sir Henry Wallop, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and a prominent patron of the refugees, on the return of his lordship to England in 1589. De la Mothe was also received, at some date before 1592, into the midst of another important English family, the Wenmans, of Thame Park, Oxfordshire. He taught French to the girls, and early in 1592, if not before, was at Oxford with the eldest son, Richard Wenman,[422] afterwards Sir Richard, and his brothers.

De la Mothe had in the meantime written a French text-book which he called The French Alphabet, Teaching in a very short time by a most easie way, to pronounce French naturally, to read it perfectly, to unite it truly, and to speak it accordingly, Together with a Treasure of the French Tongue.[423] He divided it into two parts, which he dedicated to each of his patrons—the first to Sir Henry Wallop and the second to Sir Richard Wenman's mother, at whose request he had undertaken the work. De la Mothe acknowledges his debt of gratitude to both, and also to the country which had received him so hospitably, in terms which contain something more than the usual trite expressions.

The French Alphabet was licensed to the printer Richard Field in 1592,[424] but no copy of this earliest edition has been preserved. Field succeeded to Vautrollier's successful business, and in this same year showed his friendship for his fellow-townsman[425] Shakespeare, by printing the first work he published, Venus and Adonis. It is of course pure conjecture to suggest that Shakespeare saw and even read the little book printed by his friend. Whether this be so or not, it was perhaps through Field and his Huguenot connexions—he had married Vautrollier's widow—that Shakespeare became acquainted with the family of Christopher Montjoy.

A G. DE LA MOTHE, N. new edition of the Alphabet appeared in 1595, from the press of Edward Alde. At this date De la Mothe had joined the group of teachers in St. Paul's Churchyard. He taught at the "Signe of the Helmet," and "there you shall finde him ever willing to show you any favour or curtesie he may; and most ready to endeavour himselfe to satisfie you in all that can be possible for hime to doe." The Sign of the Helmet was the address of the bookseller Thomas Chard.[426] Any one desirous of becoming acquainted with the author for his better furtherance in the French tongue could also make enquiries at the Sign of St. John the Evangelist in Fleet Street, beneath the Conduit, where lived the printer and bookseller Hugh Jackson, commissioned to sell the book—further instances of the friendly relations between the French teachers and the printers and booksellers of the time, through whom these teachers would, no doubt, get a large proportion of their clientèle. The Huguenot sympathies of many of the printers, such as Vautrollier and Field, account in part for this cordial feeling.

After the 1595 edition of his work we hear nothing further of De la Mothe. Although the name occurs frequently in the returns of aliens, none can be identified with him. He probably seized an early opportunity of returning to his native land. His manual, however, did not disappear with him. Second in popularity only to the works of Holyband in the sixteenth century, it enjoyed numerous editions in the seventeenth.[427] Excepting the omission of De la Mothe's advertisement, all the later editions are identical. They were issued from the press of Field's successor, George Miller.[428] It is difficult to understand how the 1595 edition came to be printed by Edward Alde, though his work was evidently countenanced by De la Mothe.

The French Alphabet is a very practical little work. It contains rules for pronunciation and familiar dialogues in the usual style. The whole is given in French and English arranged on opposite pages. His treatment of pronunciation is much the same as Holyband's, and he sometimes transcribes freely from his active contemporary's work.[429] He explains the sounds chiefly by comparison with English, giving the nearest equivalent to each letter. After the letters he deals with the syllables and then the words. The rules are arranged in the form of dialogues between master and pupil:

Sir, will it please you do me so much favour (or would you take the pain) to teach me to speak French? | Monsieur, vous plaist il me faire tant de faveur (ou voudriez vous prendre la peine) de m'apprendre a parler François?
With all my heart, if you have a desire to it. | Tres volontiers, si vous en avez envie.
I desire nothing more. | Je ne desire rien plus.
If you desire it you shall learn it quickly, if you please to take some pain. | Si vous le desirez vous l'apprendez bien, s'il vous plaist de prendre un peu de peine.
There is nothing though never so hard but by labour it may be made easie. | Il n'y a rien si difficile qui par labeur ne soit facile.
You say true, I believe you. | Vous dites vray, je vous en croy. . . .
How do you pronounce the letter a? | Comment prononcez vous la lettre a?
A is pronounced plaine and long as this English word awe, to be in awe, as ma, ta, sa, la, bat, part, blanc, etc. | A se prononce ouvert et long comme ce mot Anglois awe, to be in awe, comme ma, ta, sa, la, bat, part, blanc, etc.

And the next lesson takes the following form:

HIS FRENCH ALPHABET

Sir, can you say your lesson? | Monsieur, sçaves vous vostre leçon?
Have you learnt to pronounce your letters? | Avés vous apprins a prononcer vos lettres?
Yea, as well as I can. | Ouy, le mieux qu'il m'est possible.
I have done nothing but study it since you did heare me yesterday. | Je n'ay fait autre chose qu'estudier depuis que vous me feistes dire hier.
It is very well done, I am glad then. | C'est tresbien fait, i'en suis bien aise.
Go to, let me heare you how you do pronounce. | Or aus, que je voye comment vous prononcez.
I will, I am content. | Je le veux, i'en suis content.
Say then, begin, speak aloud. | Dites, doncq, commencez, parlez haut.
Pronounce distinctly. Softly, make no haste, open your mouth. | Prononcez distinctement. Tout beau, ne vous hastez point, ouvrez la bouche.
That is very well, that is well said. | Voyla qui est bien, cela est bien dit.
Repeat it once again. | Repetez encore une fois derechef.
Do I pronounce it well? Yea, you pronounce well. | Prononce-je bien? Ouy, vous prononcez bien.
Help me, I pray you. | Aydez moy, je vous prie.
How do you pronounce that letter? | Comment se prononce ceste lettre?
Before we go any further you must pronounce perfectly your letters. | Devant que passer oultre il faut que vous prononciez vos lettres parfaitement.
Now that you can tell your letters well, learne your syllables, say after me. | Maintenant que vous sçavez vos lettres, apprenez vos syllables, dictes après moy.

After dealing with the sounds of the French language, De la Mothe passes to more general considerations. He touches on the much-discussed question of the reform of the orthography, and expresses his strong disapproval of all attempts to make it tally with the pronunciation. Then he deals with the pronunciation of the Law French of the English,[430] which he puts down to such fanciful experiments. Lawyers write their French as they pronounce it, and pronounce it as they write it, so that it is now quite corrupt. He next proceeds to give his pupils a short history of the chief Romance tongues, French, Italian, and Spanish, and finally of the English language.

The remainder of the first part of the Alphabet is occupied by short familiar dialogues on the usual subjects—greetings, the weather, the divisions of time, buying and selling, and the occurrences of daily life—as follows:

For to aske the way. | Pour demander le chemin.
How many miles to London? | Combien y a il d'icy à Londres?
Ten leagues, twenty miles. | Dix lieues, vingt mil.
What way must we keep? | Quel chemin faut il tenir?
Which is the shortest way to goe to Rye? | Où est le plus court chemin d'icy à Rye?
Keepe alwayes the great way. | Suyvez tousjours le grand chemin.
Do not stray neither to the right nor to the left hand. | Ne vous fourvoyez ny à dextre ny à sinestre.
What doe I owe you now? | Combien vous doy-je maintenant?
Two shillings. Here it is. | Deux sols. Les voylà.
Bring me my horse. | Amenez moy mon cheval.
Will you take horse? | Vous plaist il monter à cheval?
Yea, I hope I shall not alight till I be come to London. | Ouy, j'espere que je ne descendrez que je ne soys arrivé à Londres.
God be with you. Farewell. | Adieu. Bonne vie et longue.

At the end of these dialogues comes the second part of De la Mothe's book, entitled the Treasure of the French Tongue. It consists of a collection of French and English proverbs and golden sayings, "diligently gathered and faithfully set in order after the Alphabeticall manner, for those that are desirous of the French tongue." These early teachers of French were fond of such collections. They usually included proverbs in their grammar books, and Palsgrave, as we have seen, hoped to publish a separate work on them. His intention seems to have been first fully realised by De la Mothe, although Holyband had included a smaller list in both his popular text-books.

From De la Mothe's French Alphabet, more than from any other of these early works, we can form a fairly adequate idea of the method of teaching French prevalent at the time. Much importance was attached to pronunciation and to reading, which were made the first subject of study. Rules were felt to be desirable for learning the sounds, but more stress was laid on the services of a good teacher; "for do not think," says De la Mothe, "that my book is by itself to make thee a good Frenchman." His own method was to make his pupils repeat the sounds after him. He believed that the acquirement of a good pronunciation depended on a mastery of each separate sound in the language. According to him, any one who can pronounce each letter correctly must, perforce, enunciate words correctly, and on the same plan, sentences also; a rather questionable theory this, but we must remember that De la Mothe took for granted the daily attendance of a French tutor. The understanding of the language De la Mothe regards as the second stage in the pupil's progress. This he considers a natural consequence of a perfect command of the pronunciation and reading of the language. Lastly comes the speaking of the language, which, according to him, results from understanding it.

De la Mothe does not only expound his theories; he also gives fairly detailed information as to how they may be put into practice. After engaging a good teacher, the student should learn to pronounce his letters and syllables perfectly. Then he may begin to read, very slowly at first, at the rate of from three to four lines a day, "or more or less according as your capacity can reach or your patience permit." Each word should be spelt four or five times, and in the spelling HIS METHOD FOR LEARNING FRENCHand reading the pupil should "not let passe any letter or syllable without bringing them to the trial of his rules." When you can "read truly and pronounce perfectly, then go about to English it." First translate the French passages into English, with the help of the word for word translation provided, then copy out the French into a book provided for the purpose, close the Alphabet and attempt to translate your copy into English at sight, correcting the version by referring again to the Alphabet. Next proceed to retranslate the English back into French on a similar method. "Continue this order for a month, every day repeating three or four times, both your letters and your syllables, and reading and Englishing as many times your old from the beginning till your latter lesson." ... "Being once able to reade and pronounce perfectly with your rules, two or three leaves of your book, at most, I can assure you that there is not any French book though never so hard, but you shall be able to reade it and pronounce it as truly as can be wished. For in less than one leaf of your book, all your rules are to be observed, three or four times at least. For there is not a word but in it is one or two rules to be noted."

When the learner has thus fully mastered the rules of pronunciation, he may go forward speedily, translating from English into French, and from French into English, and revising constantly. "This is the only ready way to learn to read and pronounce, to write and speak French." Not a single day should be allowed to pass without exercises of this kind, and "you shall find in less than five or six weeks your labour and dilegence afford you much profit, and advancement, that you will wonder at it, and much greater than I dare promise you."

Those who have made some progress in the language, De la Mothe advises to make the acquaintance of some Frenchman, if possible, "to the end that you may practice with him by daily conference together, in speech and talk, what you have learned. And if you be in place where the Frenchmen have a Church for themselves, as they do in London, get you a French Bible or a New Testament, and every day go both to their lectures and Sermons. The one will confirm and strengthen your pronunciation, and the other cause you to understand when one doth speak." And, finally, if you wish to understand the hardest and most "eloquent" French, and to speak it naturally, you must not neglect reading, but provide yourself with a French Dictionary, and the hardest book you can find, and set about translating it, on the method already described. If the student will not take the pains to translate the book, he should at least read it carefully, and write out a list of the hardest words and of appropriate phrases "to serve his turn, either to speak or write when he has need of them."

Although De la Mothe makes no mention of grammar, when he describes his method of teaching, he did not consider it unnecessary. Indeed he declares it is not possible to speak French perfectly without such rules, which he no doubt used for purposes of reference, as he did the rules of pronunciation. He even promises to produce shortly a French Tutor, "that will teach you in so short and easie a way as may be, both by the perfect knowledge of the parts of your speeches, and syntaxe, not only to speak perfectly, but also to know if one doth not speak well, to reprove him when he doth speak ill, and to teach him to amend his bad speech: a thing which yet before has never been taught. The promise is great, but the performance shall not be less if this be acceptable to you." Unfortunately this promise does not seem to have been kept. That his Alphabet did not prove "acceptable" cannot be the reason. Most probably De la Mothe left England before he had time to show his gratitude to the English nobility by the production of this second book.

We have seen that these teachers of French did not always look upon each other as rivals. Bellot wrote verses in honour of Holyband, who was a friend of Fontaine, another of the group of French teachers in St. Paul's Churchyard. But such friendly relations were not general. The teachers just mentioned belonged to what formed, no doubt, the highest rank of the profession. Bellot calls himself a "gentilhomme," and so does Holyband; and both refer to criticism and attacks upon them by other French teachers.[431] Holyband calls attention to the unscrupulousness of many of them, who take money in advance and do nothing to earn it; and expresses his contempt for his critics—Frenchmen ignorant of English, Burgundians, or Englishmen who do not know French thoroughly. FRIENDSHIPS AND RIVALRIESThe many French-speaking schoolmasters from the Netherlands—chiefly Walloons and Burgundians—and the English teachers of French formed separate groups apart from the Huguenots. Yet another group was recruited from the ranks of the Roman Catholics.

The Burgundians, who did not come from Burgundy, but from that portion of the Netherlands which had been under the rule of the House of Burgundy, formed a very considerable proportion of the foreign population of London. In 1567 there were only forty-four of them in London, but by 1571 their number had risen to four hundred and twenty-four—almost as many as the total number of French in the city.[432] The Walloons were still more numerous, and no doubt outnumbered the French. Such instructors were an obstacle in the way of those desirous of raising the standard of the French taught in England. Against the peculiarities of the French spoken in the Netherlands, Holyband is constantly warning his pupils. "You shall know them," he says, "at the pronunciation of c, as the proper mark of their language," for they sound it as the English sh or the French ch, saying shela for cela.[433] Warnings were also given against the barbarisms of the Picard dialect.

Of the many "Dutch" teachers in London—an epithet which usually includes the Flemings and Walloons—it is impossible to say which actually taught French.[434] Apparently those who attended the French Church taught that language; a certain Gouvert Hawmells, for example, a native of Antwerp, who came to England in 1568—"for religion"—is specially mentioned as a teacher of the French language; in 1571 he was living with his family in the house of one Thomas Grimes in St. Margaret's parish. He attended the French Church and was not a denizen.[435] Apparently his case was not an exceptional one. What is more, there were in London French schoolmistresses from the Low Countries. Marry Lemaire, "by trade a French schoolmistress," was a native of Antwerp and came to England in 1578; for over forty years she kept school in Southwick. Another French schoolmistress, Anness Deger, born in Tournay, came to England some ten years earlier, and in 1618 was still practising her "trade" in Tenter Abbey. Her qualifications were not of the first order; in the Register of Aliens she was unable to sign her name, for which she substituted a cross. There was also a "goodwife Frances schoolmistress, in Popinjay Alley," mentioned in 1598 and 1599, but whether she taught French or not is not specified.

Although the chief French teachers who were responsible for the manuals of the second half of the sixteenth century were Huguenots, it is extremely probable that Roman Catholic teachers were in the majority. When a census of the foreigners dwelling in London was taken in 1563, only 712 out of a total of 4534 had come to England on religious grounds.[436] Naturally the proportion of Protestants greatly increased as the persecutions grew more severe, until the passing of the Edict of Nantes in their favour in 1598. Then it probably again decreased; in the time of Charles I. there were at least five French papists to one French Protestant.[437] These Roman Catholic teachers were as a matter of course regarded as suspect by those in authority, and Jesuit priests teaching in noble English families, or those conversant with them, were carefully watched.[438] The suspicions aroused by the John Love who had a French school in St. Paul's Churchyard have already been noticed. This feeling became particularly strong after the Gunpowder Plot (1605). In the "Constitutions, Laws, Statutes, Decrees and Ordinances" of the Bury St. Edmunds Town Council of 1607 an article was inserted "to prevent the infectinge of youth in Poperie by Schoolmasters."[439] CLASSES OF FRENCH TEACHERSThe constables of every ward in the borough had to certify the Aldermen, Recorder, and Justices of the Peace, of the names of all persons "that do keep any school for the teaching of youth to write, read, or understand the English, Latin, French, Italian and Spanish Tongues, upon pain to forfeit for every default 6s. 8d." This notification had to be made quarterly. Others than the master or usher of the free grammar school, wishing to teach any of these languages, had to obtain special licence; and any one sending his children to a school kept by a teacher who had no licence was liable to forfeit for every week the sum of 6s. 8d.

Fear of proselytism was not the only incentive which aroused the animosity of certain sections of the English public. Many young Englishmen received much of their education from French tutors, frequently refugees, who taught them the usual subjects as well as French. One objection raised against them was that they corrupted their pupils' English if they spoke and wrote English themselves, as they did almost without exception. Thus they "pul downe with one hand more than they can build with the other," wrote Th. Morrice in 1619.[440] Such complaints, however, cannot have been very general or have had much effect on the lot of French teachers.

A further attack was to come from another quarter. In the early years of the sixteenth century, as in the Middle Ages, Englishmen had held an important place in the French teaching profession. They had been called to important positions as tutors, and had written grammars of the language. After the appearance of Palsgrave's Grammar, however, we hear no more of these English teachers of French, driven into the background, no doubt, by the great invasion of French teachers. Probably Duwes's earlier attack had helped either to turn public favour from the native teachers or to discourage them. Holyband, too, had endorsed the opinion of Duwes somewhat later, and expressed the little importance he attached to their criticisms. To acquire the true French pronunciation and idiom, he declares, it is necessary to learn from a Frenchman.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, however, an English teacher of French came forward, and energetically took up the defence of his fellow-teachers of English birth. This was John Eliote, a man of boisterous spirits and a lover of good wine—a taste which he had acquired in France, where he had lived many years. There, if the dialogue he wrote for the help of students of French may be taken as autobiographical, he had spent three years in the College of Montagu at Paris, taught for a year in the Collège des Africains at Orleans, lived for ten months at Lyons, and spent a year amongst the Benedictine monks. On the murder of Henri III. in 1589, Eliote returned to England, strongly imbued with a love for the country in which he had lived so long.

"Surely for my part," he writes, "France I love well, Frenchmen I hate not, and unto you I sweare by S. Scobe cap de Gascongne, that I love a cup of new Gascon or old Orleans wine, as well as the best French of you all. Which love, you must know, was engendered in the sweet soile of Fraunce, where I paissed like a bon companion, with a steele at my girdle, till the Friars (a canker of the cursed Convent) fell to drawing of naked knives, and kild indeed the good King Henrie of France, the more the pitye. Since which time I retired myself among the merrie muses, and by the worke of my pen and inke, have dezinkhornifistibulated a fantasticall Rapsody of dialoguisme, to the end that I would not be found an idle drone among so many famous teachers and professors of noble languages, who are very busy daily in devising and setting forth new bookes & instructing our English gentry in this honourable citie of London."

This "fantasticall rapsody" was published in 1593, and entitled the Ortho-Epia Gallica. Eliot's Fruits for the French enriched with a double new invention, which teacheth to speake truly, speedily, voluably the French tongue. Pend for the practice, pleasure and profit of all English gentlemen, who will endevour by their owne paine, study, and diligence, to attain the naturall accent, the true pronunciation and swift and glib Grace of this noble, famous and courtly Language.[441]

It was dedicated to the young Sir Robert Dudley,[442] son of the famous Earl of Leicester, whom Eliote possibly instructed in the French tongue. Eliote had taken up the teaching of French, "that most ticklish of all tongues," on his return to England, and in his book he speaks of his long practice in learning and teaching the language. He proceeds, in the first place, to make fun of the "learned Professors of the French Tongue in the city of London." He burlesques the dedicatory epistles of his predecessors, especially that of Bellot,[443] and declares he is fully aware that, to be in the fashion, ENGLISH TEACHERS OF FRENCHhe ought to "dilate in some good speeches of the dignitie of the French tongue, and then show what ease this book of mine shall bring to the learning of the French, more than other bookes have done heretofore." But he must first ask pardon for his presumption in writing on this subject.

"Do no blame me," he says, addressing the "gentle doctors of Gaule," as he called them, "if because I would not be found a loyterer in mine own countrie, amongst so many virtuously occupied, I have put my pen to paper: if I have bene busie, labourd, sweat, dropt, studied, devised, fought, bought, borrowed, turned, translated, mined, fined, refined, interlined, glossed, composed, and taken intollerable toil to shew an easie entrance and introduction to my deare countrimen, in your curious and courtesan French tongue, to the end to advance them as much as may bee, in the knowledge of all virtuous and noble qualities, to the which they are all naturally adicted."

He is quite ready to have his book criticised as the work of an Englishman, and challenges these "gentle doctors" "to be ready quickly to cavill at his booke."

"I beseech you," he continues, "heartily calumniate my doings with speede, I request you humbly controll my method as soone as you may, I earnestly entreat you hisse at my inventions, I desire you to peruse my periodicall punctuations, find fault with my pricks, nicks, and tricks, prove them not worth a pin, not a point, not a pish: argue me a fond, foolish, frivolous, and phantasicall author, and persuade every one that you meet, that my booke is a false, fained, slight, confused, absurd, barbarous, lame, imperfect, single, uncertaine, childish, piece of work, and not able to teach and why so? Forsooth because it is not your owne but an Englishman's doing. Faile you not to do so, if you love me, and would have me do the like for you another time."

While admitting that there may be a few good French teachers amongst the refugees, he outlines a picture of the ordinary type which is far from flattering; and we gather that he had himself studied French with several refugees. He implies that the French teachers receive money in advance, and then do nothing else but "take their eases and, as the renowned poet saith,

Saulter, dancer, faire les tours,
Boire vin blanc et vermeil,
Et ne rien faire tous les jours
Que conter escuz au soleil.

Mercurie the god of Cunning, and Dis the Father of French crowns are their deities." They care nothing for the progress of their scholars; all they do is to give them a short lesson of half an hour, in which they read and construe about half a page of French. They are equally indifferent to the troubled state of their country, provided they themselves are comfortable and well provided with French wines.

"Messires, what newes from France, can you tell?" he asks them, "still warres, warres. A heavy hearing truly, yet if you be in good health, have many scholars, get good store of crowns, and drink good wine, I doubt not but you shall do well, and I desire the good God of Heaven to continue it so still. Have they had a fruitful vintage in France this year, or no? me thinks our Bordeaux wines are very deare, and in good faith I am very sorry for it. But they will be at a more reasonable reckoning, if these same loftie Leaguers would once crouch and come to some good composition ... that we may safely fetch their deifying liquer, which dieth quickly our flegmaticke faces into a pure sanguine complexion."

The style of the introduction is maintained throughout the rest of the book. Eliote says he wrote the whole "in a merrie phantasicall vaine to confirme and stir up the wit and memorie of the learner," and "diversified it with a varietie of stories no lesse authenticall than the devices of Lucian's dialogues." He admits that he had turned over some French authors, and where he "espied any pretie example that might quicken the capacitie of the learner," he "presumed to make a peece of it flie this way, to set together the frame of (his) fantasticall comedie ... and out of every one (he) had some share for the better ornament of (his) worke." Eliote was well acquainted with French literature. He considered Marot the best poet, and gave Ronsard the second place only. He also read Du Bartas, Belleau, Desportes, and other sixteenth-century writers. But most of his admiration was reserved for Rabelais, "that merrie grig," and it is clear that he modelled his style on that of the great French humorist. Like Rabelais, he occasionally affects a sort of gibberish, coins words, and, like him also, he strings words together and is fond of exaggeration. Numerous passages in the Ortho-Epia Gallica are reminiscent of famous incidents in Gargantua and Pantagruel. Like Panurge, he defends debts and debtors:

"Quoy! Debtes! O chose rare et antiquaire. Il n'est bon chrestien qui ne doibt rien," and, in the style of Rabelais, he assures us that his book contains "profound and deep mysteries, ... and very worthie the reading, and such as I thinke you have not had performed in any other book that is yet extant.... Doest thou see what a sea, what a gulfe there is? Thou hadst need of Theseus' thread to guide thee out of that Labyrinth."

The Ortho-Epia Gallica forms a striking contrast to Palsgrave's rather austere Esclarcissement, the last work on the JOHN ELIOTEFrench language composed by an Englishman before that of Eliote. The dialogues occupy nearly the whole volume. The first few pages, however, contain a table of French sounds with their pseudo-English equivalents. The pronunciation was, in Eliote's opinion, one of the chief difficulties of this difficult language, "deemed a jewel, so dearly bought, and so much desired by all"; and he considered that, with the help of Ramus and Peletier for the pronunciation, he had succeeded in reducing "the gulf of difficulties into a small stream" by "sounding the French by our English alphabet."

He arranges his dialogues, which he calls Le parlement de Babillards, id est, The Parlaiment of Prattlers, into three groups. The first of these consists of three long dialogues on the method of learning foreign languages, on the excellence of writers in both ancient and modern tongues, and on travel through the chief towns of Europe. The first dialogue ends with the quotation from Du Bartas in praise of Queen Elizabeth and her accomplishments, accompanied by a translation in English verse by Eliote himself.

The second part, styled "M. Eliote's first booke," is of a much more elementary character than the one just described. Eliote had referred elsewhere to a work entitled The Scholler, in which he propounded a "general method of learning and teaching all languages contrived by nature and art, conformable to the precepts of Aristotle." This, or part of it, evidently formed the first part of the Ortho-Epia Gallica, where it is separately paged.[444]

In his first and second books, which thus form the second and third parts of the work, he expounds "his double new invention, which teacheth Englishmen to speake truly, speedily and volubly the French tong." The first part of this "invention" consists in placing by the side of the French and English a third column, giving the French in pseudo-English equivalents—"the true pronunciation of each word wholly and certain little stripes (called approches) between the sillables that are to be spoken roundly and glib in one breath." The twelve dialogues of Eliote's first book are fairly simple in character, and some of them were probably suggested by Vives's Exercitatio. Their subject matter does not differ much from earlier dialogues, but their treatment is decidedly original. The following quotation is taken from the first dialogue:

Hau Garcon dors tu vilain? debout, debout, ie te reveilleray tantost avec un bon baton. | Ho Garssoon dortu veelein? deboo, deboo, ie te reue-lheré tant-tot tavec-keun boon batoon. | What boy slepeth thou villain? up, up, I shall shall wake thee soon with a good cudgell.
Je me leve, monsieur. | Ie me léveh moonseewr. | I rise sir.
Quelle heure est-il? | Qel-heur et-til? | What o'clock is it?
Il est six heures. | Il-é see-zewres. | It is six o'clock.
Donnez moy mes chausses de velours verd. | Donné moe' mes shosséh de veloor vert. | Give me my my green velvet breeches.
Lesquelles? | Le-keles? | Which?
C'est tout un; mes chausses rondes de satin rouge. . . . | Set-toot-tewn; mes shosseh roondeh de satin rouge. . . . | It is all one; my round red satin ones, etc.

There are twelve dialogues in all, but only each alternate one is accompanied by this curious guide to pronunciation.[445]

In the second book and third part the dialogues are longer and more numerous, dealing with the different trades and occupations—"les devis familiers des mesters fort delectables a lyre." They do not, however, confine themselves to the characters usually introduced into similar dialogues; besides the mercer, the draper, the shoemaker, the innkeeper, and so on, we have the armourer, the robber, the debtor, the apothecary, and other characters which offer ample scope for treatment in the Rabelaisian vein, of which Eliote was so fond. Some suggest that Eliote was acquainted with Holyband's works. This book contains the second part of his "double new invention." The French and English are printed on opposite pages, and in the margin the sounds of the most difficult French letters are indicated, thus:

ai sound e
ay sound e

am sound ein
aine sound eineh, and so on.

This table he describes "as Mercurie's finger to direct thee in thy progress of learning," and he repeats it on the margin of every pair of opposite pages.

THE "ORTHO-EPIA GALLICA"

After these twenty dialogues comes the "Conclusion of the parlaiment of prattlers," which depicts a group of friends walking by the Thames and St. Paul's, "prattling, chatting, and babbling." The arrangement is the same as in the previous dialogues, and the work closes with a quotation from Du Bartas's praise of France:

O mille et mille fois terre heureuse et féconde,
O perle de l'Europe! O Paradis du monde!
France je te salue, O mère des guerriers.

In his dialogue called The Scholar, incorporated in the first part of the Ortho-Epia, Eliote explains his 'new' method of learning languages, by nature and art. By "nature" he means the acquirement of a vocabulary of all created things, by use and common practice; and by "art" the rules and precepts for combining these into sentences, and also the authority of learned men. Such rules chiefly concern nouns, verbs, and pronunciation, "in which the greatest mystery of all languages consists." Thus, although he gives no grammatical information in his Ortho-Epia Gallica, he recognized its importance.

Before introducing his pupils to the method of "Nature and Art," Eliote would have them well grounded in nouns and verbs, and able to translate dialogues, comedies in verse, and prose writings. He attached much importance to translation from English into French, just as Palsgrave did. He directs the student to make out the meaning of the French first by comparing it with the English column, and then to cover over the French version, and attempt to translate the English into French. "This I have learned by long experience to be the readiest way to attaine the knowledge of any language, that we of Englishmen make French, and not of French learn English." As to the theory of "Nature and Art," it seems to have been little more than the method, common at the time, of making practice the basis of the study of French, and confirming this by rules as need for them arose.

In addition to the Ortho-Epia Gallica,[446] Eliote also wrote a Survey or topographical description of France, collected from sundry approved authors. This was published in 1592, and dedicated to Sir John Pickering, Keeper of the Privy Seal. He also translated from French into English[447] a number of unimportant works, mostly of topical interest, one of them being dedicated to Robert, Earl of Essex. Little else is known of him, except that he was born in Warwickshire in 1562, and entered Brasenose College, Oxford, on the 12th of December 1580, at the age of eighteen years.[448] He tells us that he held the degree of Doctor of Divinity, but there is no record of his having taken any such degree there. Robert Greene was among his friends, and he wrote a sonnet in questionable French on Greene's Perimedes or the Black Smith, with which it was published in 1588. These are all the details we possess concerning this amusing and striking figure among the French teachers of the sixteenth century.

FOOTNOTES:

[410] The names of many have been lost, owing to the incompleteness of the records, or to the fact that no profession is indicated. A few are known from other sources to have been schoolmasters or private tutors; cp. Huguenot Society Publications, vol. x., Returns of Aliens dwelling in London; vols. viii., xviii., Letters of Denization.

[411] Evrard Erail, Onias Ganeur, Charles Bod, Robert Fontaine, Charles Darvil d'Arras, Jean Vaquerie, Baudouin Mason, and Adrian Tresol (Schickler, Églises du Refuge, i. p. 124). Of these names only that of Robert Fontaine is found in the Returns of Aliens. Charles Darvil and Adrian Tresol are again mentioned in connexion with the Church in 1564. Baudouin Mason received letters of denization in 1565, and Adrian Tresol, a Netherlander, in 1562. In 1571 there were three other schoolmasters connected with the Church: Adrian Tressel, John Preste of Rouen, and Nicolas Langlois or Inglish. All these, however, are mentioned in the Returns of Aliens.

[412] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 182.

[413] Returns of Aliens, Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. ii. pp. 228, 335.

[414] Duc d'Alençon, who died in 1584.

[415] Printed by Henry Dizlie for Thomas Purfoote. Reprinted by T. Spiro in the Neudrucke frühneuenglischer Grammatiken, herausgegeben von R. Brotanek, Bd. 7, Halle, 1912. It contains 75 pages, 8vo.

[416] Bellot's name does not occur in the Registers (vol. i., Lymington, 1908).

[417] 16º, pp. 80.

[418] Stationers' Register, 19th February 1588.

[419] Hazlitt, Handbook, 1867, p. 36.

[420] Perhaps he was a member of the La Motte Fouqué family whose name became so closely connected with the Protestant cause in France. In 1551 René La Motte left Saintonge and went to Normandy, where he died, leaving two sons and three daughters. Cp. Crottet, History of the Reformed Church in Saintonge, quoted by T. F. Sanxay, The Sanxay Family, 1907.

[421] "Estant donc refugié a l'ombre favorable du Sceptre de sa serenissime majesté, qui est le vray port de retraicte et asyle asseuré de ceux qui faisans profession de l'Evangile souffrent ores persecution soubs la Tyrannie de l'Antichrist, j'ay tasché de tout mon pouvoir de faire en sorte par mes labeurs que ceste noble Nation qui maintenant nous sert de mere et de nourrice peust tirer quelque proffit d'iceux, afin que par ce moyen je peusse eviter le vice enorme de l'ingratitude. . . . Or entre toutes les belles et rares vertus dont la Noblesse angloise se rend tant renommée par tout le monde, admirée des estrangiers, et honorée en son pays, est l'Estude des bonnes lettres, et cognoissance des langues, qui leur sont si familieres et communes qu'il s'en trouve peu parmi eux, non seulement entre les Seigneurs et Gentilhommes, qui n'en parlent trois ou quatre pour le moins, mais aussi entre les Dames et Damoiselles, exercise veritablement louable, par lequel toute vertu s'honore et se rend immortelle et sans lequel nulle autre n'est parfait ni digne d'estre aucunement estimé. Or c'est ce qui, outre la singuliere affection que naturellement ils portent aux estrangers et la grande courtoisie dont ils ont a coustume de les traicter, leur faict faire tant d'estat des François, si bien qu'il y en a fort peu qui n'en ait un avec soy."

[422] Who first went to Oxford in 1587. Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, ad nom.

[423] Containing the rarest Sentences, Proverbs, Parables, Similies, Apothegmes and Golden sayings of the most excellent French Authors as well Poets as Orators.

[424] Arber, Register of the Company of Stationers, ii. 614. Miss Farrer in her book on Holyband takes this entry, l'Alphabet François avec le Tresor de la langue françoise, to refer to another edition of Holyband's Treasurie, which, she assumes, was prevented and superseded by the publication of his dictionary in 1592.

[425] Field was born at Stratford in the same year as Shakespeare; cp. S. Lee, Life of Shakespeare, pp. 42 et seq.

[426] A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers, 1557-1640, Bibliog. Soc., 1910: Index of London Addresses.

[427] 1625, 1631, 1633, 1639, 1647.

[428] In 1626 the work was made over to Miller by Field's widow. Arber, Transcript, iv. 157.

[429] How closely, may be judged by comparing the following selection with the description of Holyband's rules on p. 142, supra.

How do you pronounce g before n? | Comment prononcez vous g devant n?
Gn is hardly pronounced by Englishmen. | Gn se prononce difficilement par les Anglois.

Notwithstanding if they will take heed how they do pronounce minion ... it will be more easy for them to pronounce it: for though we do write the selfesame words with gn, neverthelesse there is small difference between their pronunciation and ours: let them take heed only to sound g in the same syllable that n is, and then they shall not finde any hardnesse in his pronunciation, as mignon ... mi-gnon.

Toutesfois s'ils veulent prendre garde comment ils prononcent minion, onion, companion, il leur sera plus aisé de le prononcer: car encore que nous escrivions ces mesmes mots par gn, neantmoins il y a peu de difference de leur prononciation a la nostre: seulement qu'ils prennent garde à mettre g en la mesme syllable que n, et ils ne trouveront aucune difficulté en sa prononciation, comme mi-gnon. . . .

[430] "Et pourroit a bon droict estre comparé a quelques vieilles masures d'un bastiment où il a tant creu de ronces et espines, qu'à grand peine il apert que jamais il y ait eu de maisons. Car devant qu'on eust trouvé l'imprimerie, on l'a tant de fois coppié, et chaque écrivain l'escrivant à la fantaisie et ne retenant l'orthographe françoise, que maintenant il semble qu'il n'y ait presque langage plus esloigné du vray François que ce François de vos loix."

[431] Bellot frequently refers to the gent hargneuse and the "aiguillons envenimez des langues qui se plaisent à detracter les œuvres d'autruy et qui deprisent tout ce qui n'est tiré de leurs boutiques, iaçoit que souvente fois leur estofe ne soit que biffes et hapelourdes."

[432] Returns of Aliens, Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. i. pp. xii, xiv.

[433] And again: "Or vous noterés qu'en tous les noms terminés en ent, t n'est pas exprimé en la fin: quant aux verbes, il est prononcé, mais bien doucement: donnés vous donc garde d'ensuivre en ceci les Bourgignons qui expriment leur t si fort que de deux syllabes ilz en font trois: comme quand nous disons ils mangent . . . le Walon dira; ilz mangete." And yet again: "Sounde ch as sh in English: you shall not follow in this the Picard or Bourgignions, for they doo pronounce ch like k, say kien for chien."

[434] French was widely used in the Spanish Netherlands, and there was hardly any opening for the teaching of any of the Germanic languages in England at this early time, when they were only learnt in exceptional cases. There were no doubt a few such teachers, here and there. We are told that in London "there be also teachers and professors of the Holy or Hebrew language, of the Caldean, Syriack or Arabicke or Tartary Languages, of the Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch and Polish Tongues. And here be they which can speake the Persian and the Morisco, and the Turkish and the Muscovian Language, and also the Sclavonian tongue, which passeth through seventeen nations. And in divers other languages fit for Ambassadors and Orators, and Agents for Merchants, and for Travaylors and necessarie for all commerce or Negociation whatsoever." Buck, The Third Universitie of England, 1619, ch. xxxvii. "Of Languages." The earliest work for teaching Dutch to Englishmen was probably the Dutch Tutor of 1660; cp. F. Watson, Modern Subjects, ch. xv. John Minsheu taught a number of languages in London, and wrote a Ductor in Linguas (1617), in eleven languages.

[435] Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. ii. p. 81.

[436] Returns of Aliens, Hug. Soc. Pub. x. pt. i. p. xi.

[437] Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich, Hug. Soc. Pub. i. p. 90.

[438] Cal. State Papers, Dom., Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 294.

[439] Victoria County Histories: Suffolk, ii. p. 317.

[440] Apologie for Schoolmasters.

[441] Sm. 4to, pp. 1-60, and 17-173. Printed by J. Wolfe. Licence dated 18 Dec. 1592. Preface dated 18 April 1593.

[442] Born 1574; at Oxford in 1588.

[443] Bellot, in his quality of "gentleman," compares his labours to those of Diogenes rolling his tub up and down a hill, in order not to be idle while the Corinthians were busy preparing to defend their city against Philip of Macedon. Eliote takes up the theme and turns it to ridicule.

[444] The first part is paged from 1 to 60, and has signatures A-L in fours. In Eliote's first booke the pagination begins afresh at p. 17 and continues to p. 175 at the end of the work: it has signatures c-y in fours.

[445] Palsgrave had accompanied his French quotations with similar indications:

"Au diziesme an de mon doulant exil
Avdiziemavndemoundoulauntezil."

[446] He announces his intention of producing a book called De Natura et Arte Linguae Gallicae.

[447] Advice given by a Catholike gentleman to the Nobilitie & Commons of France, Lond., 1589; Newes sent unto the Lady Princesse of Orange, 1589; Discourses of Warre and single combat ... from the French of B. de Loque, 1591.

[448] Foster, Alumni Oxon., ad nom.

CHAPTER V

METHODS OF TEACHING FRENCH—LATIN AND FRENCH—FRENCH AND ENGLISH DICTIONARIES—STUDY OF FRENCH LITERATURE

Eliote gives some information concerning the fees charged by French teachers in the later part of the sixteenth century. He asserts that the usual charge was a shilling a week,[449] but we are left in doubt as to how many lessons this entitled the student to. He affirms, probably not seriously, that he would charge a gentleman £10 a year, and a lord from £20 to £30.

We are indebted to him also for an account, very prejudiced, no doubt, of the usual method employed by French teachers generally. This consisted, according to him, in reading a page of French and then translating it. Fortunately we are enabled, by means of the French text-books that have come down to us, to draw a fuller picture of the French lessons of the time. It has been seen that as a rule these books contained four parts—rules of pronunciation, rules of grammar, reading exercises, and a vocabulary. They are generally written throughout in French and English (in parallel columns[450]), the reason of this being the importance attached to reading and to double translation, from French into English and English into French. In the English version the idiomatic phrase is sacrificed in order to give a more literal rendering of the French, and also, possibly, because these Frenchmen were incapable of writing any other. As is to be expected, translation from French into English was the more usual exercise. Translation from English into French, however, was by no means neglected, and appears to have been recommended principally by English teachers of French, and more especially by Palsgrave and Eliote. Edward VI.'s French exercises, it will be remembered, are translations from English into French, or free composition in French.

In addition to reading and translating, much importance was attached to pronunciation. It was generally considered best to learn the sounds of the language by repetition after a teacher with a good accent; but rules were thought necessary to confirm the knowledge thus acquired. As to rules of grammar, there was no question of learning the language by means of them. A grammar was treated as a book of reference, just as a dictionary. Thus the student usually learnt the pronunciation by reading the French aloud with his tutor, referring to the rules of pronunciation whenever necessary, and then translating and retranslating the dialogues, grammar being supplied as the need for it was felt. Although these early teachers strictly limited the place of grammar, they almost all agree in emphasizing its importance within the limits indicated. Grammar rules were reduced to a minimum. Attention was called to what were considered important general rules, but those with numerous exceptions, it is argued, were better learnt by "use" and persistent reading, "so as not to weary with long discourses which would be necessary to explain things learnt better by practice than by rule."

The dialogue form in which almost all the reading material is given, and the proverbs and familiar phrases, show the importance attached to a practical and colloquial knowledge of the language. The teaching of French was of a decidedly business-like nature, and closely in touch with the concerns of life. One of the chief reasons for this, no doubt, was that it was learnt for social or other immediate requirements. The fact that French was not taught in the grammar schools undoubtedly assisted it to maintain its close connexion with practical life. It is only about a century and a half later, when French began to gain a foothold in these schools, that it was taught more and more on grammatical lines, and less and less as a living language.

Latin, although most of the school statutes of the time encourage the scholars to speak it, was taught chiefly on grammatical lines.[451] The memorizing of Latin grammar was a foremost subject even in the Middle Ages.[452] LATIN AND FRENCHIn the sixteenth century the Latin grammar usually known as Lily's was the prescribed national grammar, with rules of accidence in English and of syntax in Latin.[453] Familiar dialogues in the style of those for French were also used, the chief difference between the Latin and French dialogues being that the Latin are separate and complete works in themselves, and are not, as a rule, provided with an English translation. They were memorized as the grammar was. From the dialogues, or colloquies as they were called, dealing with typical occurrences of life, the Latin scholar passed on to the reading of school authors—Cato, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, Terence, etc.[454] Nor was vocabulary neglected, for in the schools of the Renaissance the practice of learning so many words a day, prevalent in the Middle Ages, was still in vogue.

It thus appears that the books generally used in teaching Latin were not without some influence in determining the types of manuals employed for teaching French. The practice of including religious formulae, which we find in some books, was sanctioned by their place in the national Latin grammar, while it is clear that the Latin colloquia of the time had considerable influence on the French dialogues. In the early sixteenth century the dialogues of the scholar Vives,[455] who received honours at both Oxford and Cambridge during his short stay in England, were much in vogue. Like the French dialogues of the time, they kept closely in touch with the interests of the pupils and dealt with such topics as rising in the morning, going to school, returning home, and children's play and meals, and students' chatter. Similar works were the Sententiae pueriles,[456] a book for beginners, first published at Leipzig in 1544, and containing a collection of familiar phrases rather than dialogues, and the Pueriles Confabulatiunculae by Evaldus Gallus. In the second half of the sixteenth century two other manuals of conversation were added to those already in use in England: the Colloquia of Mathurin Cordier, first published in Latin in 1564, and Castellion's Sacred Dialogues based on the Scriptures, printed in Latin at Basle, in 1555.[457]

With the text-books, however, all close resemblance between the teaching of Latin in grammar schools and the teaching of French ends. As we have seen, reading, pronunciation, and conversation were the main concerns of the French student; translation held a large place and grammar rules a subsidiary one. The grammar-school boy, on the contrary, would first gain an elementary knowledge from rules written in English, and memorize the vocabulary and phrases; learn his Latin grammar, and then parse and construe[458] the usual school authors.[459] The sons of the aristocracy and well-to-do classes probably learnt by a more practical method, as they were able to have private tutors, who devoted all their time to providing the necessary atmosphere. As late as 1607, when Latin was less used colloquially, the writer Cleland, a great advocate of the teaching of French, condemns the practice of those parents who have their children brought up to speak Latin only; they neglect their mother tongue and the language of elegance, French, and soon forget their Latin when once removed from their tutor's care.[460] That such cases were the exception rather than the rule, even in the early sixteenth century, may be gathered from the two great educational writers of the time, Sir Thomas Elyot and Roger Ascham. Both the Governour (1531) and the Scholemaster are protests against the common school usage of placing grammar in the first place, and a summons to base the study of the language on the reading of authors. They believed with Quintilian that "Longum et difficile iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla." Colet in his Aeditio had laid down the same principle, to the effect that the "reading of good books, dyligent information of taught masters, studious advertence and taking heed of learners, hearing eloquent men speak, and finally busy imitation with the tongue and pen, more availeth shortly GRAMMAR AND TRANSLATIONto get the true eloquent speech than all the tradition of rule and precepts of masters"; and he adds, "men spoke not Latin because such rules were made, but contrariwise because men spoke such Latin, upon that followed the rules and so were made."[461] Yet it seems that the force of tradition prevailed, and that these precepts were only put into practice in exceptional cases.

It is striking to notice how close was the resemblance between the actual methods used by French teachers and those advocated by would-be reformers of the teaching of Latin. Colet's words express almost exactly the sentiments and practice of Holyband, De la Mothe, and other French teachers; and the same is true of Elyot and Ascham. "Nothing can be more convenient," writes Elyot in referring to students of Latin, "than by little and little to train and exercise them in the speaking of Latin, informing them to know first the names in Latin of all the things that come in sight, and to name all the parts of their bodies, and giving them somewhat that they covert or desire in most gentle manner to teach them to ask it again in Latin." He even goes so far as to say that the pupil may "as sone speake good latin" on this method "as he may do pure frenche,"[462] thereby showing that he probably derived suggestions from the prevalent methods of teaching French. Elyot, however, realized that the use of Latin as a familiar tongue was not as practicable in schools as in many noble families, where it might well happen that the pupil would have "none other persons to serve him or keep hym company but suche as can speake Latine elegantly." How successful the sole use of Latin could be in such circumstances is exemplified in the well-known case of Montaigne. Ascham, like Elyot, recognized the exceptional conditions required for such a method. He believed the "dailie use of speaking" would be the best way of learning the language if the child could only hear it spoken perfectly, but failing this he considered the practice dangerous.[463] It is probable, however, that in the best French schools, and certainly in that of Holyband, this ideal was realized in the case of French.

As regards the respective importance of reading and grammar, the French teachers of the time appear to have put into practice the ideas of the reformers. All agree that grammar rules should be as few as possible, and be taught in connexion with reading. The general method of French teachers was to refer to the rule as the need for it arose in reading. Ascham also pleads for the study of grammar, "so hardlie learned by the scholar in all common scholes," along with authors; and the educational reformer Mulcaster, in his Elementarie of 1582, writes that grammar is best learnt by being applied to the matter, and that the child's mind should not be clogged with rules. Elyot differs slightly from them in detail but not in principle. He allows grammar to precede the study of authors, provided it is reduced to the smallest possible amount. "Grammar," he says, "being but an introduction to the study of authors," care should be taken "not to detain the child too longe in that tedious labour, for a gentyll wytte is there with some fatigate," and "hit in a maner mortifieth his corage" before he "cometh to the most swete and pleasant readinge of olde authors."[464] Both these views as regards grammar—that of Ascham and Mulcaster, and that of Elyot—were prevalent among French teachers of the time. There are only small differences in detail; the general principles are identical.

In the matter of translation, "most common and most commendable of all other exercises of youth,"[465] there is a striking resemblance between the method of double translation common among French teachers, and the same method set out by Ascham, who marks the transition from oral to written methods of teaching Latin.[466] In the case of De la Mothe, the resemblance is so clear and close that we are led to believe he was acquainted with the work of Elizabeth's tutor,[467] published in 1570, over twenty years before the French Alphabet. Ascham's system consisted of the double translation of a model book, and it is interesting to compare it with the method of De la Mothe. The pupil has first to parse and translate the Latin into English; "after this the child must take a paper booke, and sitting in some place where no man shall prompe him, by him self, let him translate into Englisshe his former lesson. Then showing it to his master, let the BOOKS IN FRENCH AND ENGLISHmaster take from him his Latin booke, and pausing an houre, at the least, than let the childe translate his owne Englishe into latin againe, in an other paper booke." And when this is done, the master should compare it with the original Latin, "and laie them both togither."[468]

There was thus much in common between the teaching of Latin and the teaching of French. The dialogues, which form so important a feature in the French text-books of the time, were certainly indebted to the Latin Colloquia, although they also continue the tradition of the mediaeval French conversation-books. The Latin Dialogues of Vives had much influence on the French, and Holyband based one of his books, the Campo di Fior, on the Exercitatio translated in French, Italian, and English. Eliote also acknowledged his debt to the Spanish scholar. In other cases the debt was almost inevitable and probably unconscious; for the French teachers, who often taught Latin as well, would use such books daily, and had moreover probably acquired their own knowledge of Latin from them. Holyband, we have seen, read the Sententiae pueriles with his pupils.

The importance attached to reading and double translation by teachers of French led to the appearance of a great number of books in French and English, on the lines of Bellot's Jardin de Vertu. For instance, part of the Semaines of Du Bartas, the most popular French poet in England in the sixteenth century, was published in this form in 1596, and again in 1625, on the occasion of the marriage of Charles I. This translation is due to William L'Isle of Wilbraham,[469] the pioneer in the study of Anglo-Saxon, who dedicated it in the first place to Lord Howard of Effingham, Earl of Nottingham, Lord Admiral, and subsequently to Charles I. It is entitled Part of Du Bartas, English and French, and in his own kinde of verse, so near the French Englished, as may teach Englishmen French, or a Frenchman English. Sequitur Victoria Junctos,[470] and consists of the first two days of the Second Week, with the French and English arranged on opposite pages, followed by an English translation of the commentary of Simon Goulart de Senlis.

Guy du Faur, Sieur de Pibrac, was another French writer widely read in England, and his Quatrains were frequently commended by French teachers to their scholars. They were translated into English verse by Sylvester, the translator of Du Bartas, and published with the French original in 1605. Sylvester dedicated the quatrains to Prince Henry, and the copy in the British Museum contains an epigram in English in the handwriting of his brother, afterwards Charles I., and a manuscript dedication to the younger prince in that of the translator.[471] The quatrains appeared again with the subsequent editions of Sylvester's works. About this time Prince Henry made Sylvester a Groom of his Chamber, and gave him a small pension of £20 a year.[472] The story goes that the prince valued him so highly that he made him his first "poet pensioner," and it seems that Sylvester took advantage of his position to encourage his royal patron's French studies. Many other works of the kind appeared in French and in English.[473] The educational writer Charles Hoole tells us that masters frequently taught languages by using interlinearies, "not to speak of their construing the French and Spanish Bible by the help of an English one."[474] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, philosopher and gallant, ambassador in France in the time of James I., learnt French, Italian, and Spanish, on this translation method, whilst living in the University or at home. He mastered them, he assures us, without the help of a tutor, solely by means of Latin or English books translated into those languages, and of dictionaries.[475]

De la Mothe advised his advanced pupils to read difficult FRENCH AND ENGLISH DICTIONARIESFrench books with the help of a dictionary, and there was some supply of works of this kind at the disposal of Lord Herbert and other students of the language. It is true that the widespread use of books in both languages diminished the demand for such manuals, which may not have been easy to acquire. Yet there was a considerable choice of such works. Holyband had produced two French-English dictionaries, in 1580 and 1593 respectively, in which he referred to "those which broke the ice before him." There had appeared in 1571 an anonymous Dictionarie Frenche and English,[476] printed by Henry Bynneman for Lucas Harrison. This work, which does not confine itself to words only, but includes phrases as well, was no doubt known to Holyband. Its author had probably drawn largely on an earlier dictionary, already mentioned, in which a place was given to French—the Latin, English, and French Dictionary of John Veron (1552). The inclusion of French in such a work is a striking testimony to the importance of French at that time. But when a second edition of Veron's dictionary was prepared by Ralph Waddington, in 1575, he "of purpose thought good to leave out the French, both because (he) saw it was not necessary for English students of Latin, as for that Maister Barret hath five years since set forth an alvearie sufficient to instruct those which are desirous to travel in th'understanding of the French Tongue."

This "alvearie" appeared in 1573, two years after the French-English dictionary printed for Harrison. It was entitled "An alvearie or Triple Dictionarie in English, Latin and French, very profitable for all such as be desirous of any of those three languages ..." and was dedicated to Wm. Cecil, Lord Burghley, then Chancellor of Cambridge University. Baret had been teaching at Cambridge for eighteen years "pupils studious of the Latin tongue," and part of their daily task was to translate some piece of English into Latin "for the more speed and easie attayning of the same." At last, "perceiving what great trouble it was to come runnying to (him) for every word they missed,"[477] he made them collect each day a number of Latin words and phrases, together with their English equivalents. Within a year or two they had gathered together a great volume of work, to which, "for the apt similitude between the good scholers and diligent bees in gathering them wax and honey into their hive," Baret gave the title of Alvearie. At first he had no intention of publishing the work, but when he went to London he was finally persuaded to do so, and received help from many of his old pupils who were then at the Inns of Court, and from several of the best scholars in various English schools. How Baret first thought of adding French to his dictionary is not known. He owns that he did not trust his own skill in this matter, although he had formerly "travelled in divers countries beyond the seas both for languages and for learning"; but that he "used the help of M. Chaloner and M. Claudius." By 'M. Claudius,' Baret possibly meant Holyband, who was often called "Maistre Claude." M. Chaloner may have been the author of the French-English dictionary published by Harrison in 1571.

According to the custom of the time, Baret's dictionary was preceded by a number of commendatory addresses, one of which was by the head-master of Merchant Taylors' School, Richard Mulcaster. In the dictionary itself, every English word is first explained, and then its equivalent in Latin and French given. At the end are tables of the Latin and French words "placed after the order of the alphabet, whatsoever are to be found in any other dictionarie. And so as to turn them backwards againe into Englishe when they reade any Latin or French authors and doubt of any harde worde therein."

Baret had "gone to God in Heavenlie seates" before the close of 1580, when there appeared a posthumous second edition of the Alvearie. In this final form Greek has a place by the side of the other languages, and the title runs, An Alvearie or quadruple Dictionarie containing four sundrie tongues, namely, English, Latine, Greeke, and Frenche, newlie enriched with varietie of wordes, phrases, proverbs, and divers lightsome observations of grammar. But there is no table of the Greek words, as for the Latin and French. Such was the third dictionary of French words which appeared before Holyband's.[478]

FRENCH IN LATIN DICTIONARIES

The place given to French in these early Latin dictionaries is worthy of notice. No doubt French first entered the schools in this indirect way. Both Veron's and Baret's works were used in schools; and Baret's dictionary is included in the list of books mentioned by Charles Hoole as being specially useful to schoolboys.[479] There are at least two other school vocabularies in which French was introduced, both due to the poet and compiler John Higgins, who is said to have been "well read in classick authors, and withall very well skilled in French."[480] The first of his lexicographical works was a new and revised edition of Huloet's Dictionarie,[481] which occupied him two years. It appeared in 1572,[482] a year before Baret's work. Higgins calls himself "late student in Oxforde," and dedicates the volume to Sir John Peckham. This edition by Higgins is so much altered that it is almost a new work. One of the chief changes was the addition of a French version to the Latin and English, "by whiche you may finde the Latin or French of anye Englishe woorde you will." For the French, Higgins seems to have drawn chiefly on the Latin-French dictionary of Robert Estienne, which had already been published in French, English, and Latin by Jean Veron, in 1552. Higgins also acknowledges his debt to Thierry, whose French-Latin dictionary appeared twelve years later in 1564. There was a close relationship between French-Latin and French-English dictionaries. French is first found side by side with English, in one of these French-Latin dictionaries—that of Veron; and in subsequent years the French-English dictionaries are mostly based on one or other of the French-Latin lexicons. Those due to Robert Éstienne and to Thierry were probably the sources from which the author of the French-English dictionary of 1571 drew his material; while Holyband based his Treasurie (1580), and his Dictionary (1593), respectively, on the augmented editions of Thierry's work due to Nicot, which appeared in 1573 and 1584.[483]

The second lexicographical work of Higgins, published in 1585, was a translation, entitled Nomenclator or Remembrancer of Adrianus Junius, Physician, divided into two tomes. It professed to supply the appropriate names and apt terms for all things under their convenient titles, in Latin, Greek, French, and English.[484] The English column was added by Higgins.

Thus by the end of the sixteenth century there had appeared in England three French-English dictionaries, and several others in which French found a place by the side of the classical languages. And we may add to these the French-Latin dictionaries on which they were usually based, for it seems extremely likely that those students of French who knew Latin—and practically all of them would know this chief and first of school subjects—used the French-Latin lexicons as well, in their study of French, when other means were not available.

Early in the seventeenth century, in 1611, Holyband's French dictionary of 1593 was succeeded by the celebrated French-English dictionary of Randle Cotgrave,[485] which occupies in the seventeenth century the place that Palsgrave's Esclarcissement does in the sixteenth among the works on the French language produced in England. Although Cotgrave's work is on a much larger scale than Holyband's, and much superior to it,[486] there is a close connexion between the two. In the Stationers' Register Cotgrave's is entered as a dictionary in French and English first collected by Holyband, and since augmented and altered by Cotgrave.[487] But the work which no doubt was of most help to Cotgrave was another French-Latin dictionary, Aimar de Ranconnet's Tresor de la Langue Françoise, revised by Nicot (1606).[488] He had, moreover, read all sorts of books, old and new, in all dialects, where he found words not heard of for hundreds of years, which he included in his book, to be used or left as the reader thought fit. J. L'Oiseau de Tourval,[489] a Parisian, and friend of Cotgrave, who wrote in French an epistle prefixed to the dictionary, thought it advisable to assure the reader that none of these words were of Cotgrave's invention, COTGRAVE'S DICTIONARYobserving at the same time that it would be well to revive some of these obsolete and provincial terms. He also adds that Cotgrave had sent to France in his eager search for words. M. Beaulieu, secretary to the British ambassador at Paris, was no doubt Cotgrave's collaborator in this quest, as Cotgrave tells us elsewhere[490] that he had received valuable help from M. Beaulieu, as well as from a certain Mr. Limery.

Cotgrave dedicated his dictionary to Wm. Cecil, Lord Burghley, "his very good Lord and Maister," whose secretary he was. He declares that he would have produced a more substantial work to offer to his patron had not his eyes failed him and forced him "to spend much of their vigour on this bundle of words." He also offered a copy to the eldest son of James I., Prince Henry, and received from him a gift of £10.[491] The price of the dictionary seems to have been 11s. Cotgrave sent two copies to M. Beaulieu at Paris, and wrote requesting payment of 22s., which they cost him; for, he says, "I have not been provident enough to reserve any of them and therefore am forced to be beholden for them to a base and mechanicall generation, that suffers no respect to weigh down a private gain."[492]

Cotgrave's dictionary was much superior to anything of the sort which had yet appeared. In addition to giving the meaning of each French word in English, with an indication of its gender in the case of nouns, and, in the case of adjectives, of the formation of the feminine form, Cotgrave supplied a collection of illustrative phrases, idioms, and proverbs. At the end are found "briefe directions for such as desire to learne the French tongue," giving a succinct treatment of the pronunciation of the letters, followed by a description of the various parts of speech.

This really remarkable work, which is still of considerable utility to the modern student, reigned supreme throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century. A second edition was issued in 1632, when Cotgrave was still alive. The only change in this issue is the addition of a "most copious Dictionarie of the English set before the French by R. S. L." This R. S. L. was Robert Sherwood, Londoner, who taught French and English in London, and also had a French school for a time. He gave his dictionary the title of Dictionarie Anglois et François pour l'utilité de tous ceux qui sont desireux de deux langues,[493] and addressed it to the "favorables lecteurs françois, alemans et autres." The English reader he advises to look for fuller information as to "the gender of all French nouns, and the conjugation of all French verbs" in Cotgrave's dictionary; the small space to which he was limited did not allow him to provide such information. Like Cotgrave, Sherwood closes with rules of grammar, in the form of observations on English pronunciation and on the English verbs. Sherwood's work is the earliest of the English-French dictionaries. Both Baret and Higgins had placed English before French, and no doubt Sherwood made use of their works, as well as of English-Latin dictionaries. Baret, however, gives an indication of the greater demand there was for French-English vocabularies, by supplying a table of French words at the end of his work. Moreover, the object of Sherwood's lexicon was less to facilitate translation from English to French than to teach English to foreigners.

In 1650 Cotgrave's dictionary was issued in a revised and augmented edition by James Howell, the famous letter-writer.[494] This edition is preceded by a lengthy essay on the French language, tracing its growth from the earliest times, and taken, without acknowledgement, from Pasquier's Recherches. Howell had already put much of the same matter in a series of letters addressed to the Earl of Clare in his Epistolae Ho-Elianae,[495] and repeated it in his glossary of English, French, Italian, and Spanish, the Lexicon Tetraglotten (1660). He quotes several examples of old French in both prose and verse, and adds on his own account a praise of Richelieu and the Academy recently founded by the cardinal. He also discusses the question as to where the best French was spoken—at the Court, among scholars at the University, or lawyers JAMES HOWELLat the Courts of Parliament—and is inclined to share the general opinion of the day, which made the Court the supreme arbiter in matters of language.

Cotgrave, it has been seen, included all sorts of words in his dictionary. Howell thought it necessary to distinguish obsolete and provincial words, and, accordingly, with the help of "a noble and knowing French gentleman," he marked such terms with a small cross. He also initiated another change by placing the grammar before the dictionary instead of after it, as Cotgrave did: "for a dictionary which contains the whole bulk of a language to go before the grammar is to make the building precede the basis. Therefore it was held more consentaneous to reason, and congruous to order that the grammar should be put here in the first place, for Art observes the method of Nature to make us creep before we go." He likewise made a few additions to Cotgrave's rules, and appended a dialogue in French and English, "consisting of some of the extraordinary and difficult criticall phrases which are meer Gallicismes, and pure idiomes of the French tongue"; and also a passage of French prose, in the old spelling and also according to the reformed orthography introduced by the Academy.

In 1660 appeared another edition of Cotgrave, still further enlarged by Howell.[496] Some years previously copies of the edition of 1650, "with blank pages sown between the leaves," had been sent by the printer "to knowing persons, true lovers of the French," who were invited to enter on the blank pages any word they came across in their reading which was not in the dictionary; by means of this plan several hundred additional words were gathered together, many being "new invented terms, which the admired Mons. Scudéry, and other late Romancers have so happily publisht in their printed volumes." After Howell's death there appeared yet another issue of his edition of Cotgrave, in 1673.[497] The printer employed the same means to increase the number of words as had been so successfully adopted in 1660.

The appearance of French dictionaries naturally facilitated the reading of French literature, which in its turn had much influence on the spread of the knowledge of the language. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, it has been seen, gained his first knowledge of French by reading it with the help of a dictionary. And, in spite of the fact that French literature was widely read in translations,[498] there were many who preferred to read it in the original. The number of French books in private libraries is enough to show this. One translator of the time felt it necessary to apologize for offering an English version (1627) "of the French Knight Lisander and his lady Calista," contrary to the fashion of the time, "which is all French."[499] Further testimony is found in the many French books which were printed in England,[500] in addition to the books in both French and English. And many English writers of the time introduced French freely into their own English compositions.[501]

Almost all Englishmen of education could read French, and many, no doubt, learnt it as Herbert did. Milton, who differed from most of his countrymen in his decided STUDY OF FRENCH LITERATUREpreference for Italian, taught both languages to his two pupils and nephews, Edward and John Philips, on this method of reading. For Italian they read Giovanni Villani's History, and for French "a great part of Pierre Davity, the famous geographer of France in his time."[502] In fashionable circles the case was the same, and French romances and collections of nouvelles were much in vogue. Lady Brilliana Harley, for instance, who later distinguished herself by defending her castle in Herefordshire against the Royalists, spent much of her time reading French literature. She wrote asking her son, then at Magdalen College, Oxford (1638-9), to send her books in French, as she "had rather reade any thinge in that tounge than in Inglisch."[503] She would even while away days of sickness by translating passages of Calvin, whom the English Protestants, yielding to the general prejudice in favour of all things French, followed in preference to Luther. Not infrequently, moreover, works in other languages were read in French versions, just as such versions were frequently the medium of translation; Drummond of Hawthornden read Orlando Furioso and the Azolani of Bembo in French, as well as the works of the Swiss theologian and follower of Zwingli, Thomas Erastus.[504]

Among the most eager advocates of the reading of French literature were naturally the French teachers of the time. One of the chief objections raised against Holyband's system of distinguishing the unpronounced letters was that the student would be at a loss when he came to read French books. Holyband, however, protested that such was not the case, and that "the cavillation of these ignorantes who measure other men's wit according to their owne" was in contradiction to his experience, which daily showed him the contrary. As to his reading, Holyband would first have the learner "reade halfe a score chapters of the New Testament, because it was both easie and profitable:[505] then let him take in hand any of the works of Monsieur de Launay, otherwise called Pierre Boaystuau, as the best and the most elegant writer of our tongue. His workes be le Theatre du monde, the tragicall histories, the prodigious histories. Sleidan's commentaries in frenche be excellently translated. Philippe de Commins, when he is corrected is very profitable and wise." The Nouveau Testament of de Bèze, Boiasteau's Théâtre du monde, and Sleidan's Commentaries[506] were all books well known in England, and Holyband himself prepared an edition of Boiasteau.[507] An additional reason, according to him, for retaining the unsounded consonants was to facilitate the reading of the older monuments of the French language. He also advised the perusal of Marot's works, of the Amadis of Herberay des Essarts, of François de Belleforest's Histoire Universelle du monde, of the Vies et Morales de Plutarque, in Amyot's version, and of the collection of stories, on the plan of the Decameron, which its author, Jacques Yver, had entitled Le Printemps (1572),[508] by way of contrast with his own name.

Evidently Holyband's choice of French literature was influenced to some extent by his religious sympathies. It is curious that he makes no mention of Ronsard, who was much read in England, and one of the favourite authors of the Queen. Bellot in his Grammar had similar if not identical ambitions. He sought to enable his pupils to read the Amadis of Des Essarts, Marot, de Bèze, du Bellay's lyrics, Froissart, Ronsard, Collet[509] and Jodelle "racontans l'un l'amour et l'autre la guerre cruelle." Pibrac and Du Bartas have already been mentioned as favourite authors. It was to encourage his pupils to take delight in the "profound learning and flowing sweetness of the French poets, especially the divine works of that matchlesse du Bartas," that a French teacher of the seventeenth century, Pierre Erondell, printed at the end of his book for teaching the language, the New Testament story of the Centurion, rendered by himself into French verse. "This poor work," he quaintly writes, will encourage learners to read better ones, "because everything is better known by his contrarye and the sweet sweeter, after that the mouth hath tasted of the sharpe sower."

Naturally writings of a religious character were much in favour with these teachers. AUTHORS USUALLY READHolyband advised the reading of de Bèze's New Testament, and several times we hear of "the French Bible" being printed in England.[510] The Liturgy in French[511] was also printed, and would be useful to English students of French attending the French Church.

French teachers were not the only zealous advocates of the reading of French literature. Most of the writers on polite education of the time give similar advice, although for different reasons. "For statesmen, French authors are the best," wrote Francis Osborne in his Advice to a son,[512] "and most fruitful in negociations, and memoirs left by public ministers, and by their secretaries published after their deaths." Cleland names the works of the many learned historiographers of France he would have the future diplomat and aspirant to the services of the State read: "Engerrand of Munstrellet, Philip of Commines, the Lord of Haillant, who is both learned and profitable and pleasant in my conceit. The Commentaries of Bellay and the Inventorie of John Serres, newlie printed and worthie to be read, both for the good and compendious compiling of the storie and also for the French eloquence wherin he floweth. For militarie affairs, yee maie read the Lord of Noue, who is somwhat difficil for some men, and also the Commentaries of the L. Monluc, which are good both for a young souldier, and an old captaine."[513]

Bodin was another of the authors specially recommended. Sir Philip Sidney counsels his brother Robert to read him with particular attention, and James Howell[514] includes him in a list of "good French writers," which varies slightly from that of Cleland: "For the general history of France, Serres is one of the best, and for the modern times, d'Aubigni, Pierre Mathieu, and du Pleix: for the politicall and martiall government du Haillan, De la Noue, Bodin, and the Cabinet: Touching Commines, who was contemporary with Machiavel, 'twas a witty speech of the last Queen mother of France that he made more Heretiques in policy than Luther ever did in religion. Therefore he requires a reader of riper years."

FOOTNOTES:

[449] This was the fee charged by Holyband in his French school.

[450] The interlinear arrangement used in the Middle Ages had been abandoned in all but a few exceptional cases. These teachers no doubt agreed with the pedagogue John Brinsley, the chief exponent of the method of translation, that interlinears were confusing because the eye catches the two languages simultaneously.

[451] F. Watson, English Grammar Schools, Cambridge, 1908, pp. 305 sqq. J. E. Sandys, "Education in Shakespeare's England," in Shakespeare's England, i. pp. 231 sqq.

[452] Cp. Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, ii. p. 603.

[453] Article on Lily in Dict. Nat. Biog., and Watson, Grammar Schools, pp. 243 sqq.

[454] Cp. W. Lilly's History of His Life, "Autobiographies," I., London, 1828, pp. 12, 13; The Autobiography of Adam Martindale, Chetham Soc., 1845, pp. 14, 15, and similar diaries and memoirs.

[455] Published at Brabant, 1538; cp. F. Watson, Tudor Schoolboy Life, 1908.

[456] By Leonard Culman.

[457] Less widely used were the Dialogues of John Posselius, a German philosopher. They treat of the school and the study of the classical tongues. They were printed in London in Latin and English in 1625, as Dialogues conteyning all the most familiar and usefull words of the Latin Tongue.

[458] Which took the form of translating: "For all your constructions in Grammar Scholes be nothing els but translations," Ascham, The Scholemaster (1570), ed. Arber, 1869, p. 92.

[459] C. Hoole, An advertisement touching ... school books, 1659.

[460] Institution of a young nobleman, 1607, p. 78.

[461] Quoted by F. Watson, Grammar Schools, p. 246.

[462] The Boke named the Governour, ed. Crofts, 1883, i. p. 33.

[463] The Scholemaster (1570), ed. Arber, London, 1869, p. 28.

[464] Elyot, op. cit. i. p. 54.

[465] Ascham, op. cit. p. 92.

[466] F. Watson, Grammar Schools, p. 264. "Much writing breedeth ready speaking," was one of his precepts.

[467] Ascham himself got his ideas mainly from Cicero (De Oratore).

[468] The Scholemaster, ed. cit. p. 26. Ascham also suggests the use of a third paper book, in which a collection of the different forms of speech and phrases should be made from the material read.

[469] 1574?-1637, the second of the five sons of Edmund Lisle of Tanbridge in Surrey, Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[470] This is the title of the 1625 edition, printed by John Hoviland. That of 1596 was printed by L. Bollifant for R. Wilkins, and entitled Babilon a part of Du Bartas his second Weeke (Pyne, List of Books, 1874-8, i. p. 132); cp. Stationers' Register, iii. 98 (A Booke called the Colonyes of Bartas with the commentarye of S. G. S. englished and enlarged by Wm. L'Isle, 1597).

[471] This is a copy bound separately from the rest of the 1605 edition of Sylvester's Divine Weekes, with which it was issued.

[472] S. Lee, in Dict. Nat. Biog.

[473] A long list may be compiled from the Registers of the Stationers' Company. J. Wolfe and R. Field, both printers of French grammars, received many licences to print books in French and English. See also Upham, French Influence in English Literature, New York, 1908 (Appendix I., pp. 471-505). Many of these works are on religious topics; others belong to no particular category, in the style of Bellot's Jardin de Vertu; many on topical subjects, such as news-letters and pamphlets on the French wars, were printed in French more to appeal to a larger public than to give instruction in the language.

[474] An advertisement touching ... school books, 1659.

[475] Autobiography, ed. S. Lee, 2nd ed., 1906, p. 23.

[476] Hazlitt, Bibliog. Collections, iv. 111. In 1584 Newbury and Denham received licence to print "the Dictionary in French and English, in 4to, and all other dictionaries French and English in quarto," Stationers' Register, ii. 438.

[477] "Knowing then of no other dictionary to help us, but Sir Thomas Eliot's Librarie, which was come out a little before."

[478] On Holyband's debts to these works see Miss E. Farrer's La Vie et les œuvres de Claude de Sainliens, pp. 70 sqq.

[479] F. Watson, Grammar Schools, p. 458.

[480] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[481] Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum, London, 1552.

[482] Folio, printed by Thomas Marshe.

[483] Farrer, op. cit. p. 72.

[484] First appeared at Leyden in 1567. Higgins' edition was printed for Ralph Newberie and Henrie Denham, 8vo.

[485] A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues. London, printed by A. Islip, 1611, folio.

[486] Cp. Revue des Deux Mondes, 1901, v. p. 243.

[487] Stationers' Register, iii. 432.

[488] Farrer, op. cit. p. 86.

[489] Himself a good linguist, who translated some of James I.'s compositions into French, and was for many years in the service of the English Foreign Office; cp. S. Lee, Beginnings of French Translations from the English. Transactions of the Bibliog. Soc. vii., 1908.

[490] In an autograph letter; cp. Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[491] Rolls of expenses of Prince Henry, "Revels at Court," ed. P. Cunningham, New Shakespeare Soc., 1842 (Preface).

[492] Harl. MSS. 7002, quoted Dict. Nat. Biog. At the end of one of the Brit. Mus. copies is the MS. inscription: "Mr. James Winwood, his book and sent him out of England by John More the 18th May [1611]." Evidently Cotgrave's work made its way rapidly into France.

[493] Printed by Adam Islip, 4to.

[494] A French English Dictionary, compil'd by Mr. Randle Cotgrave, with another in English and French. Whereunto are newly added the Animadversions and Supplements etc. of James Howell, Esquire. London, printed by W. H. for Rd. Whitaker ... 4to. Sherwood's dictionary was printed by Susan Islip.

[495] Ninth ed., 1726, pp. 470 sqq.

[496] A French and English Dictionary composed by Mr. Randle Cotgrave, with another in English and French. Whereunto are added sundry animadversions with supplements of many hundreds of words never before printed; with accurate castigations throughout the whole work, and distinctions of the obsolete words from those that are now in use. Together with a dialogue consisting of all gallicisms, with additions of the most useful and significant proverbs, with other refinements according to cardinall Richelieu's late Academy. For the furtherance of the young learners, and the advantage of all others that endeavour to arrive to the most exact knowledge of the French this work is exposed to publick.... Printed by Wm. Hunt in Pye Corner.

[497] Title same as in 1660. "Printed for Anthony Dolle, and are to be sold by Th. Williams at the Golden Ball in Hosier Lane."

[498] Many important literary productions in different languages came into England through the medium of a French version—for instance, Plutarch, Amadis, the Politics of Aristotle. Cp. Upham, French Influence in English Literature, p. 13. The influence of Senecan tragedy reached England through the intermediary of the "French Seneca," Robert Garnier (Schelling, Elizabethan Drama, ii. pp. 5 sqq. and p. 512). In 1612 licence was granted N. Bulter to print an English translation from French of so popular a work as Ovid's Metamorphoses (Stationers' Register, iii. 489).

[499] The Histoire tragi-comique de nostre temps sous les noms de Lysandre et de Caliste (1615) was the work of d'Audigier.

[500] Thus the Préau des Fleurs meslées, contenant plusieurs et differentz discours of François Voilleret, sieur de Florizel, was printed in London in 1600 (?), and dedicated to the Prince of Wales. In 1620 it was licensed to be printed in French and English, provided the English translation be approved. In 1619 a French translation of Bacon's Essays was published at London, and in 1623 Field received a licence to print a French translation of Camden's Annals (originally in Latin) by J. Bellequent, avocat au Parlement de Paris (Stationers' Register, iv. 106).

[501] As did Shakespeare (cp. Schmidt, Shakespeare Lexicon, Berlin, 1902, vol. ii.) and several of the lesser poets. French refrains were also sometimes used, as in Greene's Never too Late (Infida's song):

"Wilt thou let thy Venus di,
N'oseres vous mon bel amy?
Adon were unkinde say I,
Je vous en prie, pitie me:
N'oseres vous mon bel, mon bel,
N'oseres vous, mon bel amy?"

See S. Lee, French Renaissance in England, Oxford, 1910, p. 243. Sylvester even ventured to write poems in French.

[502] Lives of Ed. and John Philips, nephews of Milton (1694), reprinted by William Godwin, 1815, pp. 362-3.

[503] Letters, Camden Soc., 1854, p. 13, and passim.

[504] Upham, op. cit. p. 8.

[505] In 1551 the New Testament and a Book of Prayers in French were printed by Thomas Gaultier. Handlist of Books, Bibliographical Society, 1913.

[506] The German historian's commentary, De Statu religionis et reipublicae Carolo Quinto Caesare, appeared in Latin in 1555, and in French in 1557.

[507] Le théâtre du monde . . . revue et corrigé par C. de Sainliens, 1595. Printed by George Bishop and dedicated to "the Scotch Ambassador, Jacques de Betoun, Archevesque de Glasco."

[508] Which was very popular. It reached twelve editions before the end of the century.

[509] No doubt the poet Claude Collet.

[510] Cp. Stationers' Register, iii. 468. Another work of a religious nature was the Catechisme ou instruction familiere sur les principaus points de la Religion Chrestienne (par M. Dielincourt), Stationers' Register, iii. 410.

[511] Stationers' Register, ii. 451, 452.

[512] 1656, pp. 12-13.

[513] Institution of a young nobleman, p. 152.

[514] Directions for forreine travel (1642), ed. Arber, 1869, p. 21.

CHAPTER VI

FRENCH AT THE UNIVERSITIES

The universities set the grammar schools the example by neglecting the study of French and other subjects necessary to a polite education. Even the limited encouragement given to the modern language at the universities during the Middle Ages no longer existed in the sixteenth century. At this date Latin reigned supreme at Oxford and Cambridge, and its use was rigorously enforced. The students were required "to speak in Latin at public places" or otherwise "incur the penalty contained in the statute regarding this point."[515] It is true that these regulations were not always obeyed; Fynes Moryson says that scholars in the universities shun occasions of speaking Latin. But it was none the less the chief language cultivated at the universities,[516] where no modern languages received official recognition.

The mediaeval custom of using French on various academic occasions had not, however, disappeared without leaving a few traces. Some of the French forms of procedure favoured in the Middle Ages, probably owing to the influence of the University of Paris, were still in use at Cambridge in the seventeenth century. The books of two Cambridge beadels, Beadel Stokys (c. 1570) and Beadel Buck (1665),[517] show that on several occasions these officials were instructed to use French during public ceremonies. Thus, at the solemn exercise of determination, one of the beadels gave thanks for the money he and his fellows received, in the following terms: "Noter Determiners je vous remercie de le Argent que vous FRENCH AND ITALIAN READavez donner a moy et a meis companiouns, pourquoy je prie a Dieu que il vous veuille donner tres bonne vie et en la Fin la Joye de Paradise." In similar "Stratford-atte-Bowe" French they summoned the lecturers in the 'schools' to be present on commencement day: "Nostre Seigneur Doctor, une parolle sil vous Plaist, nostres Peres de nostres Seigneurs Commencens vous prient que vous estes demayn a son commencement en l'église de nostre Dame." And throughout the ceremonies[518] in Arts and Theology similar French formulae, often interspersed with Latin, were frequently used, though they had probably passed out of use by the beginning of the eighteenth century. But even at that time the summons to dinner at New College still retained a trace of the old custom; two choristers walked from the chapel door to the garden gate crying, "Tempus est vocando, mangez tous seigneurs."

Yet modern languages were not entirely neglected by all university students. Gabriel Harvey, in an interesting letter to a certain Mr. Wood, says that the students of Cambridge have "deserted Thomas Aquinas and the whole rabblement of schoolmen for modern French and Italian works such as Commines and Machiavell, Paradines in Frenche, Plutarche in Frenche, and I know not how many outlandish braveryes of the same stamp." "You can not stepp into a schollars studye," he adds, "but (ten to on) you shall litely finde open either Bodin de Republica or Le Royes exposition uppon Aristotles Politiques, or some other like Frenche or Italian Politique Discourses."[519]

Thus we may safely conclude that French and to a less extent Italian books were widely read at the universities. No doubt, those who learnt Italian did so with the help of a dictionary or an English translation, like Lord Herbert of Cherbury. But there were additional opportunities for learning the more popular language. French tutors and French grammars were not unknown at both Oxford and Cambridge. But it was at Oxford that they were by far the more numerous. The tutors taught French privately to those of the students who were willing to learn. And Holyband in dedicating his French Schoolemaister (1573) to the young Robert Sackville, then a student at Oxford, throws light on the attitude taken towards that language: "not that you shuld leave off your weightier and worthier studies in the Universitie, but when your mind is amazed and dazled with long readinge, you may refresh and disport you in learninge this [French] tongue."

Protestant refugees formed an important section of the little band of private French tutors at Oxford. Many Huguenots, frequently scholars of distinction, settled at the English centres of learning. Some were promoted to positions in the University,[520] on which they had a very beneficial influence, just as others received preferment in the English Church. The French tutors were among the humbler and more numerous exiles who "taught privately," as the seventeenth-century historian of the University, Anthony à Wood, tells us. Apart from those who actually taught French, the presence of considerable numbers of Frenchmen[521] cannot have been without some indirect influence on the study of French at Cambridge, as well as at Oxford.

In addition, several French tutors accompanied their pupils to the University, and spent some time with them there. Such, no doubt, was the case of Peter Du Ploich who, for some unknown reason, was residing in Barnard College (now St. John's), Oxford, early in the second half of the sixteenth century. Another well-known French tutor, G. De la Mothe, accompanied his pupil Richard Wenman to Oxford, some time between 1587 and 1592. About ten years before, we come across a famous Protestant, Jean Hotman, sieur de Villiers St. Paul, resident at Oxford with his pupils, the sons of Lord Poulet, English ambassador at Paris; while attending to the education of his charges he completed his own, and received the degree of Doctor. Subsequently he became secretary to Leicester, and was thus brought into contact with the English Court.[522] The younger Pierre Du Moulin likewise remained with his pupil Richard Boyle when at Oxford.[523] Among tutors who spent a short time at Oxford, and then joined the larger and FRENCH GRAMMARS PRINTED AT OXFORDmore successful group of language teachers in London, was John Florio,[524] well known as a writer of books for teaching Italian, and himself of Italian parentage, though born in London. In about 1576 he became tutor for French and Italian to Emmanuel, son of Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham, and to several other Oxford students. He was, we are told, a "very useful man in his profession." Shortly after, he removed to London, where he enjoyed favour at Court.

Of more importance, however, is the group of private tutors who settled at Oxford, found a clientèle among the University students, and frequently wrote and published French grammars for the use of their pupils. There was evidently some demand for instruction in French at Oxford early in the sixteenth century. The bookseller John Donne enters a book called Frans and Englis twice in the register of books he sold in 1520;[525] this may have been either Caxton's Book in French and English, or the similar collection of dialogues printed by Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde in turn.

The first book for teaching French printed at Oxford was due to a Frenchman called Pierre Morlet, a native of Auteuil, who taught French at Oxford in the last decade of the sixteenth century. His Janitrix sive institutio ad perfectam linguae gallicae cognitionem acquirendum was issued from the press of Joseph Barnes in 1596.[526] The dedication, dated from Broadgates Hall the 5th of March of the same year, is addressed to Morlet's former pupil, Sir Robert Beal. This rare little treatise contains a few observations on the pronunciation of the letters, followed by a concise treatment of each part of speech in turn. It is preceded by a number of commendatory verses in Latin and Greek, tributes from Morlet's pupils, students of the various colleges. Morlet had previously prepared a revised edition of Jean Garnier's French grammar, which was published at Jena in 1593,[527] no doubt before his coming to England.

As might be expected, most of the early Oxford French grammars, written for the use of Oxonians, differ from those published at London in that they are composed in Latin. They differ further in containing no practical exercises and restricting their contents to rules of grammar.

All the French grammars published at Oxford were not due to Frenchmen. In 1584 a Spanish refugee, Antonio de Corro, resident at Christ Church, after acting as minister of the Spanish Church in London, had anticipated Morlet by adding a few rules on French pronunciation and accidence to his Spanish Grammar,[528] written in his own language. This was subsequently translated into English in 1590 by J. Thorius, also of Christ Church, and printed in London as The Spanish Grammer with certaine Rules teaching both the Spanish and French tongues. Several grammars were likewise produced by Englishmen resident at Oxford, and teaching the French language. Among others was John Sanford, or Sandford, chaplain of Magdalen College, and the author of the French grammar which succeeded Morlet's. Sanford wrote in Latin, and entitled his work Le Guichet François, sive Janicula et Brevis Introductio ad Linguam Gallicam. It was published by Joseph Barnes in 1604,[529] and dedicated to Dr. Bond, president of Magdalen. Sanford compiled his observations on the pronunciation and parts of speech from the various French grammars published in both France and England; he drew largely on Morlet, as well as Bellot and Holyband; and made equally free with de Bèze, Pillot, and Ramus.

He varied his duties as chaplain by giving lessons in French. In 1605 he was teaching French to that "hopefull young gentleman Mr. William Grey, son to the Rt. Honourable Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton," and found "good contentement" in his "happy progresse therein." Called away temporarily by other duties, Sanford made an English translation of the Latin work, which he addressed to his young charge "as a pledge of my duteous love towards your good deserts, and as my substitute to supplie my absence, being willing also for your sake to make a publicke use therof." The Janicula appeared in its new form, much abridged as well as translated, in 1605, under the title of A Briefe Extract of the former Latin Grammar.[530] It is significant that although this English translation was printed by Barnes at Oxford, it was mainly intended for a London public, and was "to be sold in Paules Church Yard at the signe of the Crowne by Simon Waterson."

SALTONSTALL AND LEIGHTON

Sanford retained his position at Magdalen for some years after the appearance of his grammars. In about 1610 he was travelling abroad as chaplain to Sir John Digby, whose acquaintance he had made when Sir John was a student at Balliol.[531]

Other well-known English teachers of French at Oxford were Wye Saltonstall and Henry Leighton. Wye Saltonstall came of a noble family in Essex. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, where "his descent and birth being improved by learning, flatter'd him with a kinder fortune than afterwards he enjoyed his life being all Tristia." He is said to have then gone to Gray's Inn, Holborn, without taking a degree at Oxford, and afterwards to have become a perfect master of French, which he had acquired during his travels. In 1625 he returned to Oxford for purposes of study and converse with learned men. There he taught Latin and French, and was still living in good repute in 1640 and after.[532]

Henry Leighton, on the other hand, had not so good a reputation at the University. He is said to have been a man of debauched character, and to have obtained the degree of M.A. in anything but a straightforward manner; when Charles I. created more than seventy persons M.A. on the 1st of November 1642, Leighton, who then bore a commission in the king's army, contrived to have the degree conferred on himself by presenting himself at dusk, when the light was very low, though his name was not on the list. When the king's cause declined, Leighton, who had received the greater part of his education in France, and was an accomplished French scholar, settled at Oxford as a teacher of French, and had a room in St. John's College. Apparently he continued to teach French until 1669, the year of his death.[533]

He was the author of a French grammar written in Latin, called Linguae Gallicae addiscendae regulae, printed in 1659,[534] and again in 1662. Beginning with rules for the pronunciation of each letter, the author passes to observations on the articles, nouns, pronouns, and verbs; he then returns to the pronunciation, gives fuller rules for the more difficult sounds, and closes with a list of irregular verbs.[535] Leighton says he published his work at the request of his friends. He dedicated it (in French) to Henry O'Brien, baron of Ibrecken, only son of the Earl of Thomond, expressing, in words very like those used by Holyband on a similar occasion, the hope that this "divertissement," as he calls the grammar, may help to while away time not occupied by more serious and important studies. Thus we see that the general attitude towards the study of French was still, in the middle of the seventeenth century, very much what it had been in the preceding century.

In the meantime other grammars had appeared from the pens of French sojourners at Oxford. One, Robert Farrear, a teacher of French, wrote a grammar in English for the use of his pupils, The Brief Direction to the French Tongue, printed at Oxford in 1618. Nothing further is known of its author. Anthony à Wood[536] informs us that in the title of the book Farrear inscribed himself M.A., but "whether he took that degree or was incorporated therein in Oxford" he could not discover.

The works on French which appeared at Oxford were not all formal grammars of the type described. Pierre Bense, a native of Paris, who taught Italian and Spanish as well as French, was the author of the Analogo-Diaphora seu Concordantia Discrepans et Discrepantia Concordans trium linguarum Gallicae, Italicae et Hispanicae, commended by Edward Leigh in his Foelix Consortium or a fit Conjuncture of Religion and Learning (1663). This comparison of the resemblances and differences in the grammar of the three languages is dedicated to the University of Oxford, and was printed at the author's own expense in 1637.[537] As to Bense himself we are told that he was partly bred "in good letters" at Paris, and then, coming to England, "he went by letters commendatory to Oxon where being kindly received and entertained, became a sojourner there, was entred into the public library, and taught for several years the French, Italian and Spanish tongues." For the rest we must be content to add with Wood: "What other things he hath written I know not, nor any thing else of the author."[538]

GABRIEL DU GRÈS

As yet no French grammars had appeared at Cambridge, and French teachers do not seem to have made their presence felt there.[539] In 1631, however, one of the best known of this group of university French tutors arrived at Cambridge—Gabriel Du Grès, a native of Saumur, and a member of a good family from Angers. He arrived in England as a refugee on account of his Protestant faith, received a warm welcome at Cambridge, and taught French to several of the students in various colleges.[540] In the fifth year of his residence, the liberality of his pupils enabled him to publish his Breve et Accuratum Grammaticae Gallicae compendium in quo superflua rescinduntur et necessaria non omittuntur (1636), a work on the same lines and of about the same dimensions as that of Morlet.[541] It is preceded by Latin verses addressed to the author by members of different colleges, and is dedicated to the students of the University, especially those engaged in the study of French. This grammar of Du Grès appears to be the only work of its kind printed at Cambridge before the eighteenth century.[542]

Shortly after its publication Du Grès joined the group of French tutors at Oxford,[543] and this removal points to the more ready openings offered there to those of his profession. When he published his Dialogi Gallico-Anglico-Latini[544] at Oxford in 1639, he was teaching French in that "most illustrious and famous university." These dialogues are dedicated to Charles, Prince of Wales. Twenty-one in number, they deal with the usual familiar topics, greetings and the ordinary civilities, visiting and table talk, the house and its contents, man and the parts of his body, wayfaring, a journey to France, and so forth, many being of much interest on account of the light they throw on the customs of the time. Considerable space is devoted to instructions for writing letters.

A second edition appeared in 1652, enlarged with "necessary rules for the pronunciation of the French tongue, very profitable unto them that are desirous of it," giving a pseudo-English equivalent of the sound of each French letter, and followed by a few general rules for reading French and a table of the auxiliary and regular verbs. This little book, which has more in common with the productions of the London teachers than with the Oxford manuals, enjoyed a greater popularity than those of Du Grès's rivals. In 1660 a third edition appeared, without the additions found in the second.

He was also the author of an interesting little work in English on the Duke of Richelieu,[545] printed in London in 1643. Probably Du Grès had removed to London at that date; in the second edition of his grammar, printed, like the first, by Leonard Lichfield at Oxford, he describes himself as "late teacher of the same in Oxford."

In his dialogues Du Grès gives some account of his ideas on the teaching of French:[546]

Commençons à l'abécé.

Escusez moy.

Entendez moy, oyez moy, prononcer les lettres. Remarquez bien comment je prononce les voyelles, et principalement u, car il est bien malaisé a prononcer à vous autres mm. les Anglois, comme aussi e entre les consonnes. Prononcez apres moy.

Voilà qui va bien.

Prononce-je bien?

Fort bien. Essayez encore une fois.

Ce mechant u me donne bien de la peine.

Il ne sauroit tant vous en donner que votre th ou ch nous en donne.

Il est malaisé d'avoir la proprieté de votre langue.

L'exercice et la lecture des bons autheurs vous apprendront avec le temps, etc.

He agreed with most of the French teachers of the day in attaching much importance to conversational practice and reading. He also recommended a certain amount of memorising and the study of grammar; general rules and rules of syntax he considered indispensable; but for pronunciation he thought practice of more avail than rules. It is possible, he admits, to learn French by rote, without any grammar rules. But it is not the best way in his opinion. Without grammar rules the student cannot distinguish good French from bad, nor can he translate, write letters, or read; and reading, thought Du Grès, was an essential condition if the cultivation of French in England was to be maintained. FRENCH AT CAMBRIDGEThose who learn by ear are at a loss as soon as they no longer hear French spoken daily. As for those who promise to teach French in a short time, they are nothing but mountebanks. Du Grès held that a man of moderate intellect could, with hard work, learn to understand an ordinary French author in three or four months. He had had, he declares, some pupils at Cambridge who learnt to read and speak fairly well in four months and others who learnt practically nothing in a whole year.

At the end of the seventeenth century the status of French at the universities had undergone no marked change. At the time of the Restoration, a certain Philemon Fabri petitioned Williamson for an appointment as Professor of French eloquence at Oxford, "he having held a similar situation at Strasburg"; he supported his request by an address to the king in French verses, entitled Le Pater Noster des Anglais au Roi. Apparently Fabri did not receive the desired position.[547] At Cambridge we find still less encouragement given to the study of French than at Oxford. During the Commonwealth, Guy Le Moyne, formerly French tutor to Charles I., lived at Cambridge, and no doubt continued to teach French there, as he had done in London and at Court.[548] At the Restoration he petitioned Charles II. to let him have the Fellowship at Pembroke Hall reserved for Frenchmen.[549] Le Moyne was then seventy-two years old, and wished, he said, to end his days at Cambridge.[550] At Cambridge, as at Oxford, there were also French tutors in charge of particular pupils. Many of these were French Protestants. Thus the famous Pierre Du Moulin, arriving in England as a destitute refugee in 1588, was received into the service of the Countess of Rutland, who sent him to Cambridge as tutor to her son. There he remained until 1592, continuing his own studies as well as attending to those of his young charge. He thoroughly disliked his position, and seized the first opportunity of leaving it.[551] We also hear of Herbert Palmer, President of Queen's College (1644-47), who had learnt French almost as soon as he could speak, and could preach in French as well as in English.[552] He won considerable distinction as a college tutor, but whether he placed his knowledge of French at the service of students, as Sanford and Leighton did at Oxford, is not specified.

Yet, even at Oxford, the efforts of this band of French teachers were not on a large enough scale to have any very noticeable effect. Some gentlemen who, like Sanford's pupil, William Grey, had gone to the University to make themselves "fit for honourable imployments hereafter," took advantage of such opportunities as there were of studying French. Thus Henry Smith, while acting as tutor to Mr. Clifford, learnt French himself, and wrote to Williamson in that language.[553] And no doubt the French tutors found enough pupils among those who were drawn more towards the fashionable than the scholastic world. But the inability of the young Oxford student to speak French when in polite London circles was a subject of comment in the seventeenth century as the language became more and more widely cultivated. To speak French was even considered incompatible with a university education, to judge from this passage in one of Farquhar's comedies:[554]

Sir H. Wildair. Canst thou danse, child?

Bantu. Oui, monsieur.

Lady Lurewell. Heyday! French too! Why, sure, sir, you could never be bred at Oxford!

To the same intent Pepys relates[555] how an Oxford scholar, "in a Doctor of Lawe's gowne," whom he met at dinner at the Spanish ambassador's, sat like a fool for want of French, "though a gentle sort of scholar"; nor could he speak the ambassador's language, but only Latin, which he spoke like an Englishman. Pepys, on the other hand, was very pleased at the display he was able to make of his own French on this occasion. The famous diarist was a competent judge, and spoke and wrote the language with ease. Unfortunately we know nothing of how he acquired this knowledge, beyond the fact that he had not been to France.[556] ONE-SIDEDNESS OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONHe often criticizes the French of those he meets, and a certain Dr. Pepys, according to him, "spoke the worst French he had ever heard from one who had been beyond sea." Pepys's brother spoke French, "very plain and good," and Mrs. Pepys, the daughter of a refugee Huguenot, was as familiar with that language as with English.[557]

Thus the universities, like the schools, failed to keep in touch with practical life by their neglect of the broader education necessary to persons of quality and fashion. At the Inns of Court, where gentlemen usually spent some time on leaving the university,[558] or where they sometimes went instead of to the university,[559] the state of things was somewhat better. Some knowledge of French was indispensable to those studying the law, and the position of the Inns, almost all of them within the boundaries of the ward of Farringdon Without, the favourite abode of the French teachers, was such as to offer exceptional facilities for the study of the language. When Robert Ashley was at the Inner Temple he studied Spanish, Italian, and Dutch, as well as French. We are told[560] that in earlier times "knights, barons, and the greatest nobility of the kingdom often placed their children in those Inns of Court, not so much to make the laws their study, much less to live by the profession ... but to form their manners and to preserve them from contagion of vice." There, could be found "a sort of gymnasium or academy fit for persons of their station, where they learn singing and all kinds of music, dancing, and other such accomplishments and Diversions ... as are suitable to their quality and such as are usually practiced at Court." French was, without doubt, one of these accomplishments. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Inns of Court were still much in favour, and gentlemen's sons could enjoy there good company and the innocent recreations of the town, as well as improve themselves in the "exercises." Clarendon calls the Inns of Court the suburbs of the Court itself.

None the less, the gentleman with a university education, even when it was followed by residence at one of the Inns of Court, was felt to be inadequately equipped. Almost invariably he sought on the Continent the polite accomplishments and knowledge of languages, which were necessary qualifications for high employment at Court, in the army, and elsewhere. Travel came to be regarded as "an especial part"[561] of the education of a gentleman, and as such occupies an important place in the educational treatises of the time. The usual course advised for the sons of gentlemen was an early study of Greek and Latin, followed by residence at one of the Universities and at the Inns of Court, and, finally, "travel beyond seas for language and experience" and the study of such arts as could not be easily acquired in England.

In some cases gentlemen were educated quite independently of the English schools and universities[562]—at home with private tutors, and in France. Lady Brilliana Harley, for instance, feared that her son would not find much good company at Oxford. "I believe," she wrote, "that theare are but feawe nobellmens sonne in Oxford, for now, for the most part, they send theaire sonnes into France when they are very yonge, theaire to be breed."[563]

FOOTNOTES:

[515] J. Heywood, Cambridge Statutes (sixteenth century), London, 1840, p. 267.

[516] Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, 1852, iii. p. 429; Mullinger, History of the University of Cambridge, iii. p. 368.

[517] Printed in Peacock's Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge, 1841 (Appendix).

[518] Cp. C. Wordsworth, Scholae Academicae, 1877, pp. 209 sqq.

[519] Letter Book of Gabriel Harvey (1573-1580), Camden Soc., 1884, pp. 78-9. The tutor of John Hall, author of the Horae Vacivae (1646), testified to his pupil's attainments in French, Spanish, and Italian literature. Mullinger, History of the University of Cambridge, ii. p. 351.

[520] One, Jean Verneuil, became underlibrarian of the Bodleian in 1625. Cp. Schickler, Les Églises du Refuge, i. p. 424; Foster Watson, Religious Refugees and English Education, Hug. Soc. Proceedings, 1911; Agnew, Protestant Exiles, i. ch. v. and pp. 137, 147, 148, 156, 163; ii. pp. 260, 274, 388; Smiles, The Huguenots, ch. xiv.

[521] There were also numerous French Protestant students at the University of Edinburgh; cp. Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 366.

[522] Schickler, op. cit. i. p. 244.

[523] Wood, Fasti Oxonienses (Bliss), ii. 195.

[524] Wood, Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 380.

[525] Oxford Historical Society: Collectanea, i., 1885, pp. 73 sqq.

[526] 8vo, pp. 92.

[527] E. Stengel, Chronologisches Verzeichnis französischer Grammatiken, Oppeln, 1890.

[528] F. Madan, Oxford Books, 1468-1640, 1895-1912, i. p. 22; ii. p. 24. Another Spanish Grammar, by d'Oyly, had appeared at Oxford in 1590.

[529] 4to, 21 leaves.

[530] Printed by Joseph Barnes, 4to, 8 leaves.

[531] He visited Spain, and wrote An Entrance to the Spanish Tongue (1611). While at Oxford he had composed An Introduction to the Italian Tongue (1605). Cp. Wood, Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 471; C. Plummer, Elizabethan Oxford, Ox. Hist. Soc., 1887, p. xxviii; Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[532] Wood, Athen. Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 676; Foster, Alumni Oxon., ad nom.

[533] Wood, Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 29, 30; Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[534] 12º, pp. 31.

[535] In the copy in the Cambridge Univ. Library these are accompanied by a MS. translation into Latin. Some additional rules in Latin are written on the last blank leaf.

[536] Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 277.

[537] Printed by William Turner, 8º, pp. 72.

[538] Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 624.

[539] Valence, French tutor to the Earl of Lincoln, had studied at Cambridge early in the sixteenth century.

[540] "Eandem linguam in celeberrima Cantabrigiensi Academia docens."

[541] Sm. 8vo, pp. 96.

[542] Cp. R. Bowes, Catalogue of Books printed at Cambridge, 1521-1893.

[543] The statement of Wood (Athenae Oxon. iii. 184), that Du Grès had studied at Oxford before going to Cambridge, is probably incorrect.

[544] 8vo, pp. 195, printed by Leonard Lichfield.

[545] Jean Arman Du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu and Peere of France his Life, etc., followed by a translation, "out of the French copie," of The Will and Legacies of the Cardinall Richelieu ... together with certaine Instructions which he left the French King. Also some remarkable passages that hath happened in France since the death of the said Cardinall.

[546] He charged 10s. a month for an hour's lesson daily.

[547] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-62, p. 439.

[548] Le Moyne also translated The Articles of Agreement between the King of France, the Parlaiment and Parisians. Faithfully translated out of the French original copy. London, 1649.

[549] In the Middle Ages, Pembroke College gave preference to Frenchmen in the election of Fellows; cp. supra, p. 6.

[550] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660-61, p. 162.

[551] "Autobiographie de Pierre du Moulin," Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire du Protestantisme Français, vii. pp. 343 sqq.

[552] Mullinger, History of the University of Cambridge, 1911, iii. p. 300.

[553] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1670, p. 275. Evelyn (Diary, ed. Wheatly, 1906, ii. p. 306) describes verses written in Latin, English, and French by Oxford students and added to Newes from the dead, an account of the restoration to life of one Anne Green, executed at Oxford, 1650.

[554] Sir Harry Wildair, Act III. Sc. 2; cp. Mockmode in the same dramatist's Love and a Bottle.

[555] Diary, 5th May 1669.

[556] He long looked forward to a journey there—a hope which was not fulfilled until his failing eyesight had compelled him to stop writing his diary.

[557] She spent some time in France, until her father ordered her back to England on account of her leaning towards Roman Catholicism. Many times she expressed a wish to go and live in France.

[558] Cp. Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV. Act III. Sc. 2:

"He's at Oxford still, is he not?
A' must then to the Inns a' Court shortly."

[559] Higford (Institution of a Gentleman, 1660, p. 58) blames those of his countrymen who neglect the Inns of Court.

[560] J. Fortescue, De Laudibus Legum Angliae ... Translated into English ... with notes by Selden, new ed., 1771, p. 172.

[561] Higford, The Institution of a Gentleman, 1660, p. 88.

[562] Perlin says of the English in the middle of the sixteenth century, referring no doubt to the nobility: "Ceux du pays ne courent gaire ou bien peu aux deux universités, et ne se donnent point beaucoup aux lettres, sinon qu'à toute marchandise et à toute vanité" (Description des royaulmes d'Angleterre et d'Escosse, p. 11).

[563] Letters (1638), Camden Soc., 1854, p. 8. Nearly half a century later, Chancellor Clarendon wrote: "I doubt our Universities are defective in providing for those exercises and recreations, which are necessary even to nourish and cherish their studies, at least towards that accomplished education which persons of quality are designed to; and it may be want of those Ornaments that may prevail with many to send their sons abroad, who since they cannot attain the lighter with the more serious Breeding, chuse the former which makes a present shew, leaving the latter to be wrought out at leisure" (Miscellaneous Works, 1751, p. 326).

CHAPTER VII

THE STUDY OF FRENCH BY ENGLISH TRAVELLERS ABROAD

One of the favourite methods of learning French was a sojourn in France. To speak the language well a visit there was considered imperative, and to speak it "as one who had never been out of England"[564] was synonymous with speaking it badly. Consequently a journey to France was common among the young gentry and nobility of the time. Moreover, those who pursued their travels further, and undertook the Grand Tour as many gentlemen did on leaving the university, invariably visited France first, and spent the greater part of their time there. Eighteen months in France, nine or ten in Italy, five in Germany and the Low Countries, was considered a suitable division of a three years' tour. Most young Englishmen of family and fortune spent some time on the Continent. Sir Francis Walsingham, said by one of his contemporaries to have been the most accomplished linguist of his day,[565] had acquired his proficiency abroad, as had also Lord Burghley, who wrote to Walsingham from France in 1583 to report on his progress in the language.[566] Both ministers in their turn were patrons to numerous young travellers in France. A certain Charles Danvers wrote to Walsingham from Paris, in French, to show his progress and thank him for his favours.[567] And Burghley gave one Andrew Bussy a monthly allowance of £5 to enable him to study French at Orleans, where, according to his own account, he took great pains to make good progress so as to serve his patron the better on his return.[568] It was generally held that travel was "useful to useful men,"[569] and that "peregrination" well used was "a very profitable school, a running Academy."[570]

Many young English gentlemen went to the French Court in the train of an ambassador,[571] or with a private tutor;[572] Henry VIII. sent his natural son, the Duke of Richmond, Palsgrave's pupil, to the French Court, in the care of Lord Surrey the poet. Richard Carew, the friend of Camden, was sent to France with Sir Henry Nevill, ambassador to Henri IV., and Bacon visited Paris in his early youth in the suite of the diplomat Lord Poulet. The last-mentioned ambassador had several young Englishmen in his charge. Of few, however, could he make so favourable a report as he did of the son of Sir George Speake: "I am not unacquainted with your son's doings in Parris," he wrote to Sir George, "and cannot comend him inoughe unto you aswell for his dilligence in study as for his honest and quiett behaviour." One of these young travellers, a Mr. Throckmorton, he was particularly glad to be rid of; the young man "got the French tongue in good perfection," we are informed, but he was of flippant humour, and before he left for England, Poulet told him his mind freely, and forbade him to travel to Italy, as he intended to do later, without the company of "an honest and wyse man." The ambassador had kept him and his man in food during the whole of his stay in Paris, and, besides, provided him with a horse, which he had also "kept att his chardges."[573]

Children too were often sent abroad for education. Thomas Morrice, in his Apology for Schoolmasters (1619), commends "the ancient and laudable custom of sending children abroad when they can understand Latin perfectly"; for then they learn the romance languages all the more easily, "because the Italian, French and Spanish borrow very many words of the said Latin, albeit they do chip, chop and change divers letters and syllables therein." ENGLISH GENTRY AT THE FRENCH COURTAnd Thomas Peacham[574] tells us in the early seventeenth century that as soon as a child shows any wildness or unruliness, he is sent either to the Court to act as a page or to France, and sometimes to Italy. The number of English children in France was, we may assume, considerable; and when the news of the terrible massacre of St. Bartholomew reached England, one of its most noticeable effects was to fill with concern and apprehension all parents who had children in France. "How fearfull and carefull the mothers and parents that be here be of such yong gentlemen as be there, you may easely ges," wrote Elizabeth's secretary of state to Sir Francis Walsingham, the English ambassador at Paris.[575] Among these "yong gentlemen" was Sir Philip Sidney, then newly arrived at the French Court, whom Walsingham himself sheltered in the ambassador's quarters during that awful night.

James Basset, the son of Lord Lisle, deputy at Calais for Henry VIII., was sent to Paris in the autumn of 1536 to complete his education, after having been for some time in the charge of a tutor in England. There he went to school with a French priest, whom he soon left for the College of Navarre. He appears to have attended the college daily, and boarded with one Guillaume le Gras, who, in June 1537, wrote to Lady Lisle that her son would soon be able to speak French better than English. "I think when he goes to see you," writes the Frenchman to her ladyship who did not understand French, "he will need an interpreter to speak to you." James himself wrote to tell his mother how he was progressing "at the large and beautiful college of Navarre, with Pierre du Val his Master and Preceptor."[576] The following letter[577] giving details on the course pursued by a young English gentleman studying French in Paris may no doubt be taken as fairly typical. "In the forenoone ... two hours he spends in French, one in reading, the other in rendryng to his teacher some part of a Latin author by word of mouth.... In the afternoon ... he retires himself into his chamber, and there employs two other hours in reading over some Latin author; which done, he translates some little part of it into French, leaving his faults to be corrected the morrow following by his teacher. After supper we take a brief survey of all.... M. Ballendine [apparently the teacher] hath commended unto us Paulus Aemilius in French, who writeth the history of the country. His counsell we mean to follow."

Girls also were occasionally sent to France for purposes of education. Two of James Basset's young sisters, Anne and Mary, spent some time in that country. To prevent their hindering each other's progress, Anne was committed to the care of a M. and Mme. de Ryon, at Pont de Remy, while Mary was sent to Abbeville to a M. and Mme. de Bours. Both girls wrote letters in French to their mother, Lady Lisle, and it appears that they had almost forgotten their mother tongue. When Anne returned to England, where she became maid of honour to Jane Seymour, she had to apologize to her mother for not being able to write in English, "for surely where your Ladyship doth think that I can write English, in very deed I cannot, but that little that I can write is French,"[578] and Mary wrote to her sister Philippa in French expressing her wish to spend an hour with her every day in order to teach her to speak French. In France the two sisters acquired, besides French, the usual accomplishments befitting their sex—needlework, and playing on the lute and virginals.[579]

The traveller Fynes Moryson did not unreservedly approve of the custom of sending children "of unripe yeeres" to France; "howsoever they are more to be excused who send them with discreet Tutors to guide them with whose eyes and judgments they may see and observe.... Children like Parrots soone learne forraigne languages and sooner forget the same, yea, and their mother tongue also." He relates how a familiar friend of his "lately sent his sonne to Paris, who, after two yeeres returning home, refused to aske his father's blessing after the manner of England, saying ce n'est pas la mode de France."[580] Milton in the same vein deplores the fact that his compatriots have "need of the monsieurs of Paris to take their hopeful youth into their slight and prodigal custodies and send them over back again transformed into mimics, apes and kickshows."[581] ENGLISH CHILDREN IN FRANCE"My countrymen in England," wrote Sir Amias Poulet from Paris in 1577, "would doe God and theire countreye good service if either they woulde provide scolemasters for theire children at home, or else they woulde take better order of their educacion here, where they are infected with all sortes [of] pollucions bothe ghostly and bodylie and find manie willinge scolemasters to teache theme to be badd subiects."[582]

Nor were such sentiments confined to individual cases. Queen Elizabeth was constantly making inquiries concerning her subjects beyond the seas generally, often for political reasons or on account of her Protestant fears of popery. She found "noe small inconvenience to growe into the realm" by the number of children living abroad "under colour of learning the languages." In 1595 she ordered a list of such "children" to be sent to her with the names of their parents or guardians and tutors,[583] and there were frequent examinations of subjects suspected of desiring to go abroad; in 1595 the Mayor of Chester writes to Burghley to know what he is to do with two boys, aged fifteen and seventeen, who have been brought before him on suspicion of intending to travel into France to learn the language, and thence into Spain.

The objections raised against the journey to France were few, however, in comparison with those alleged as regards Italy. Italy held a place second only to France in the Grand Tour on the Continent, and in the early sixteenth century the first enthusiasm awakened by the Renaissance attracted many Englishmen there. Scholars, such as Linacre and Colet, set the example. Then others, including most literary men of the time, made their way as pilgrims to the centre of the revived learning, passing through France on their way.[584] Soon the journey became largely a matter of fashion. This rapid development of the custom of continental travel was looked upon as a danger in matters political and religious; popish plots were suspected and foreign intrigues of all kinds feared. In Elizabeth's time leave "to resort beyond seas for his better increase in learning, and his knowledge of foreign languages"[585] was not freely granted to any who might apply. Lord Burghley would often summon before him applicants for licences to travel, and look carefully into their knowledge of their own country,[586] and if this proved insufficient, would advise them to improve it before attempting to study other countries.[587]

Voluble were the protests against foreign travel which were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. France and above all Italy were made responsible for all the vices of the English. It was urged that trade and state negotiations were the only adequate reasons for travel abroad. "We are moted in an Island, because Providence intended us to be shut off from other regions," Bishop Joseph Hall affirms, in his Quo Vadis: a juste censure of travel as it is commonly undertaken by gentlemen of our own nation (1617). So strong were the prejudices of some of these critics that the grandfather of the royalist Sir Arthur Capell wrote—in 1622—a pamphlet containing Reasons against the travellinge of my grandchylde Arthur Capell into the parts beyond the sea, in which he draws an alarming picture of the dangers of infection from popery, and seeks to prove that the time could be much better spent at home.[588] The chronicler Harrison went so far as to assert that the custom would prove the ruin of England.[589] And even the courtly Lyly could write: "Let not your mindes be carried away with vaine delights, as travailing into farre and straunge countries, wher you shall see more wickednesse then learn virtue and wit."[590]

But it was Italy much more than France that excited the fears of these alarmists. There was a common saying at the time that an Englishman Italianate was a devil incarnate. "I was once in Italy myself," wrote Roger Ascham,[591] "but I thank God my abode there was but nine dayes"—in which he saw more wickedness than he had beheld during nine years in London. "Suffer not thy sons to pass the Alpes, for they shall learn nothing there but Pride, Blasphemy and Atheism; PROTESTS AGAINST FOREIGN TRAVELand if by travelling they get a few broken Languages, that will profit them no more than to have the same meat served in divers dishes," was the advice of Lord Burghley.[592] Many were the precautions taken to prevent English subjects from travelling to Rome of all places. Travellers who were suspected of such intentions or who had travelled abroad without permission were rigorously examined. One such traveller confessed that he went to Brittany and France to see the countries and learn the language, but swore he had never been to Rome or spoken to the papist Cardinal Allen.[593] Many passports issued for the Grand Tour stipulated specifically that the traveller should not repair to Rome.[594]

George Carleton gave expression to the general feeling when he wrote to his brother Dudley, afterwards Lord Dorchester: "I like your going to France much better than if you had gone to Italy."[595] "France is above all most needful for us to mark," was the advice Sir Philip Sidney sent to his brother Robert on his travels.[596] Sir John Eliot gave similar injunctions to his sons.[597] France was, he said, a country full of noble instincts and versatile energy; and what his own experience had been, he recommended his sons to profit by. Some friend had warned them of possible dangers in France. Heed them not, says Eliot; any hazard or adventure in France they will find repaid by such advantages of knowledge and experience as observation of the existing troubles there is sure to convey. But he will not allow them even to enter Spain; and the Italian territories of the Church they must avoid as dangerous: "stagnant and deadly are the waters in the region of Rome, not clear and flowing for the health-seeking energies of man." He thought, however, that some parts of Italy might be visited with profit. To attempt to learn the Italian language before some knowledge of French had been acquired, was not discreet. "Besides it being less pleasant and more difficult to talk Italian first," he writes, "it was leaving the more necessary acquirement to be gained when there was, perchance, less leisure for it. Whereas by attaining some perfection in French, and then moving onward, what might be lost in Italy of the first acquirement, would be regained in France as their steps turned homeward."

Not only were fears of Roman Catholicism and corrupt manners directed more specifically toward Italy than France, but the French language was considered a much more necessary acquirement than Italian. It was generally agreed that the country most requisite for the English to know was France, "in regard of neighbourhood, of conformity in Government in divers things and necessary intelligence of State."[598]. "French is the most useful of languages—the richest lading of the traveller next to experience—Italian and Spanish not being so fruitful in learning," remarks Francis Osborne in his Advice to a Son.[599]

Thus the main object of study of the traveller in France was usually the language itself, and next to that the polite accomplishments. Those who continued their travels into Italy were attracted chiefly by the country and its antiquities. When Addison was in France, after a short stay in Paris in 1699[600] he settled for nearly a year at Blois to learn the language, living in great seclusion, studying, and seeing no one but his teachers, who would sup with him regularly. In 1700 he returned to Paris, qualified to converse with Boileau and Malebranche. But he spent his time in Italy very differently, living in fancy with the old Latin poets, taking Horace as his guide from Naples to Rome, and Virgil on the return journey: there was no question of settling down in a quiet town to study Italian. The experience of Lord Herbert of Cherbury at the end of the sixteenth century and of Evelyn in the middle of the seventeenth was of a similar nature. Though travellers continued to include Italy in their tour, the feeling in favour of France became stronger and stronger. It reached its climax in the latter half of the seventeenth century, when Clarendon wrote: "What parts soever we propose to visit, to which our curiosity usually invites us, we can hardly avoid the setting our feet first in France." And he invites travellers, on returning there after visiting Italy, THE TRAVELLING TUTORto stay in Paris a year to "unlearn the dark and affected reservation of Italy." As for Germany, he thinks they have need to remain two years in France that they may entirely forget that they were ever in Germany![601]

The sons of gentlemen setting out on the Grand Tour were usually accompanied by a governor or tutor,[602] and the need for such a guide was generally recognized by writers on travel; all urge the necessity of his being acquainted with the languages and customs of the countries to be visited. "That young men should Travaile under some Tutor or grave Servant, I allow well: so that he be such a one that hath the language and hath been in the Countrey before," wrote Bacon. And if any one was not able or did not wish to "be at the charges of keeping a Governor abroad" with his son, he was advised[603] to "join with one or two more to help to bear the charges: or else to send with him one well qualified to carry him over and settle him in one place or other of France, or of other Countries, to be there with him 2 or 3 months, leave him there after he hath set him in a good way, and then come home." We also gather from Gailhard's The Compleat Gentleman that it was "a custom with many in England to order Travelling to their sons, as Emetick Wine is by the Physician prescribed to the Patient, that is when they know not what else to do, and when schools, Universities, Inns of Court, and every other way hath been tried to no purpose: then that nature which could not be tamed in none of these places, is given to be minded by a Gouvernor, with many a woe to him."[604]

The suitable age for the Grand Tour, as distinct from the shorter journey in France, was the subject of much discussion. It was usually undertaken between the ages of sixteen and twenty, and occupied from three to five years. Some, and among them Locke,[605] agreed with Gailhard in thinking that travel should not come at the end. They argued that languages were more easily learnt at an earlier age, and that children were then less difficult to manage. Others, regarding travel as a necessary evil,[606] held that, at a later age, travellers are less receptive of evil influences and the snares of popery. This was the current opinion.

In many cases, especially in later times, the travelling tutor was a Frenchman. Many Englishmen, however, found in this capacity an opportunity for travel which they might not otherwise have had. For example, Ben Jonson visited Paris in 1613 as tutor to the son of Sir Walter Raleigh, and became better known there as a reveller than as a poet.[607] In the same way Ben Jonson's friend, the poet Aurilian Townsend, accompanied Lord Herbert of Cherbury on his foreign tour in 1608, and was of much help to him on account of his fluent knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish.[608] The time-serving politician Sir John Reresby travelled with a Mr. Leech, a divine and Fellow of Cambridge.[609] And the philosopher Thomas Hobbes spent as travelling tutor in the Cavendish family many years which he calls the happiest time of his life. He visited France, Germany, and Italy. For a time he left the Cavendishes to act as tutor to the son of Sir Gervase Clifton, with whom he remained eighteen months in Paris. It was while travelling with his pupils that Hobbes became known in the philosophic circles of Paris.[610] Addison was offered a salary of £100 to be tutor to the Duke of Somerset, who desired him "to be more of a companion than a Governor," but did not accept the offer.[611] In some cases the travelling tutor had several pupils. Thus Mr. Cordell, the friend of Sir Ralph Verney, was tutor to a party of Englishmen.[612]

On the other hand, Sir Philip Sidney travelled without a governor. At Frankfort, in the house of the Protestant BOOKS ON TRAVELprinter Andreas Wechel, he began his life-long friendship with the Huguenot scholar Hubert Languet, who, to some degree, supplied his needs. Languet, however, expresses his regret that Sidney had no governor, and when the young Englishman continued his journey into Italy they kept up a correspondence, in the course of which Languet sent Sidney much good advice. At his instigation Sidney practised his French and Latin by translating some of Cicero's letters into French, then from French into English, and finally back into Latin again, "by a sort of perpetual motion."[613] John Evelyn the diarist also travelled without a governor, while the eldest son of Lord Halifax first made the Grand Tour in the usual fashion, and afterwards returned to his uncle, Henry Savile, English ambassador at Paris, without the "encumbrance" of a governor. Savile superintended his nephew's reading, providing him with books on such subjects as political treaties and negotiations, and warning him against "nouvelles" and other "vain entretiens."[614]

The practice of travelling abroad called forth many books on the subject, often written by travellers desiring to place their experience at the service of others. Such books usually include indications of the routes to be followed and the places to be visited, and sometimes advice as to the best way of studying abroad. Some, such as those of Coryat, Fynes Moryson, and Purchas,[615] are descriptions of long journeys. Others deal more especially with the method of travel.[616] A few were written for the particular use of some traveller of high rank; for instance, when the Earl of Rutland set out on his travels in 1596, his cousin Essex sent him letters of advice, which circulated at Court, and were published as Profitable Instructions for Travellers in 1633.[617] Further information was supplied in the treatises on polite education.[618]

The subject of travel was thus continually under consideration, and the different books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which deal with this topic are of great interest. Robert Dallington, the author of an early guide to France,[619] thought it necessary, seeing the few teachers there were in France, to "set downe a course of learninge." "I will presume to advise him," he says of the traveller to France, "that the most compendious way of attaining the tongue is by booke. I mean for the knowledge, for as for the speaking he shall never attaine it but by continuall practize and conversation: he shall therefore first learne his nownes and verbs by heart, and specially the articles, and their uses, with the two words sum and habeo: for in these consist the greatest observation of that part of speech." He also urges the future traveller to engage a Frenchman to assist him, chiefly, no doubt, with reading and pronunciation. This "reader," as Dallington calls him, "shall not reade any booke of Poetrie at first, but some other kinde of stile, and I thinke meetest some moderne comedie. Let his lecture consist more in questions and answers, either of the one or the other, then in the reader's continued speech, for this is for the most part idle and fruitlesse: by the other many errors and mistakings either in pronunciation or sense are reformed. After three months he shall quit his lectures, and use his Maister only to walk with and discourse, first the one and then the other: for thus shal he observe the right use of the phrase in his Reader, heare his owne faults reproved and grow readie and prompt in his owne deliverie, which, with the right straine of the accent, are the two hardest things in language." He should also read much in private, and "to this reading he must adde a continuall talking and exercising of his speech with all sorts of people, with boldnesse and much assurance in himselfe, A "METHOD OF TRAVEL"for I have often observed in others that nothing hath more prejudiced their profiting then their owne diffidence and distrust. To this I would have him adde an often writing, either of matter of translation or of his owne invention, where againe is requisite the Reader's eye, to censure and correct: for who so cannot write the language he speaks, I count he hath but halfe the language. There, then, are the two onely meanes of obtaining a language, speaking and writing, but the first is the chiefest, and therefore I must advertise the traveller of one thing which in other countries is a great hinderer thereof, namely, the often haunting and frequenting of our own Countrimen, whereof he must have a speciall care,[620] neither to distaste them by a too much retirednesse[621] nor to hinder himselfe by too much familiaritie."

A few years later Fynes Moryson[622] offered equally sound advice to the traveller "for language." "Goe directly to the best citie for the puritie of language," he tells him, and first "labour to know the grammar rules, that thy selfe mayst know whether thou speaketh right or no. I meane not the curious search of those rules, but at least so much as may make thee able to distinguish Numbers, Cases, and Moodes." Moryson thought that by learning by ear alone students probably pronounced better, but, on the other hand, with the help of rules, "they both speake and write pure language, and never so forget it, as they may not with small labour and practice recover it again." The student, he adds, should make a collection of choice phrases, that "hee may speake and write more eloquently, and let him use himselfe not to the translated formes of speech, but to the proper phrases of the tongue." For this purpose he should read many good books, "in which kind, as also for the Instruction of his soule, I would commend unto him the Holy Scriptures, but that among the Papists they are not to be had in the vulgar tongue, neither is the reading of them permitted to laymen. Therefore to this purpose he shall seeke out the best familiar epistles for his writing, and I thinke no booke better for his Discourse then Amadis of Gaule.... In the third place I advise him to professe Pythagoricall silence, and to the end he may learne true pronunciation, not to be attained but by long observation and practice, that he for a time listen to others, before he adventure to speake." He should also avoid his fellow-countrymen, and, having observed these rules, "then let him hier some skilfull man to teach him and to reprove his errors, not passing by any his least omission. And let him not take it ill that any man should laugh at him, for that will more stirre him up to endevour to learne the tongue more perfectly, to which end he must converse with Weomen, children and the most talkative people; and he must cast off all clownish bashfulnesse, for no man is borne a Master in any art. I say not that he himselfe should rashly speake, for in the beginning he shall easily take ill formes of speaking, and hardly forget them once taken."

The learning of French in England before going abroad did not, as a rule, enter into the plan of writers on the subject of travelling. Moryson, however, realized that "at the first step the ignorance of language doth much oppresse (the traveller) and hinder the fruite he should reape by his iourney." And Bacon went a step further when he wrote that "he that travaileth into a Country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to schoole, and not to travaile.... If you will have a Young Man to put his Travaile into a little Roome, and in a short time to gather much, this you must doe. First, as was said, he must have some Entrance into the Language before he goeth. Then he must have such a Servant, or Tutor, as knoweth the country."[623] Later writers usually agree that it would be of benefit to have "something of the French"[624] before leaving England, "though it were only to understand something of it and be able to ask for necessary things," or to have "some grammatical instruction in the language, as a preparation to speaking it."[625] And indeed many travellers had some previous knowledge of French. Sir Philip Sidney, for instance, could manage a letter in French when he was at school at Shrewsbury; Lord Herbert of Cherbury had studied the language with the help of a dictionary; Sir John Reresby, at a later date, had learnt French at a private school, though, like many students nowadays, he could not speak the language on his arrival in France. STUDIES PREVIOUS TO TRAVELSeveral went abroad to "improve" themselves in French, and no doubt the phrase "to learn the French tongue"[626] often meant to learn to speak it.

In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, however, many of those who studied French seriously in England did not go to France. Among these were the ladies, to whose skill Mulcaster[627] draws the attention of travellers, as a proof that languages can be learnt as well at home as abroad; and not a few of the younger sons of noblemen,[628] as well as the prosperous middle class—the frequenters of the French schools in St. Paul's Churchyard, and the pupils of Du Ploich and Holyband, neither of whom makes any reference to the tour in France.

The "common practice" in the sixteenth century among young travellers was to proceed to France knowing no French. They fully expected to learn the language there, with no further exertion than living in the country. They are constantly warned of the futility of such expectations. Dallington, Fynes Moryson, and others lay much emphasis on the necessity of some serious preliminary study of grammar and reading of good literature. French teachers in England compared the poor results obtained in France by these leisurely methods with those achieved by their own efforts in England. No doubt they found the practice of learning French by residence in France a serious rival to their own methods. De la Mothe,[629] for instance, declares he knows English ladies and gentlemen who have never left England and yet speak French incomparably better than others who have been in France three or four years trying to pick up the language by ear, as most travellers do. Another French teacher[630] writes: "I have knowne three Gentlemen's sonnes, although I say it that should not say it, who can testify yet, that in their return from France (after they had remained foure yeares at Paris, spending a great deal of money) perused my rules but six moneths and did confesse they reaped more good language in that short space I taught them then in all the time they spent in France. And sundry others I have helped who never saw France, and yet could talke, read and write better language in one yeare than those who have bene at Paris two yeares, learning but the common phrase of the countrie, shacking off a litle paines to learne the rules."

While holding that French could be better learnt in England with rules than in France without any such assistance, the French teachers of London admitted that the language could perhaps be best learnt in France, but only with the help of a good teacher and serious study, as in England. However, there were hardly any language teachers in France, according to them, while in England it was easy to find many good ones. Dallington more specifically bewails the fact that the traveller finds a "great scarcitie" of such tutors, and directs him to a certain M. Denison, a Canon of St. Croix in Orleans, after whom he may inquire, "except his good acquaintance or good fortune bring him to better."

There was indeed little provision for the serious study of French in France before the end of the sixteenth century. Most travellers, we are told, "observed only for their owne use." Few Frenchmen took up the teaching of their own language to foreigners as a profession, and those who taught from time to time or merely upon occasion rarely proved successful. Yet the earliest grammars produced in France were intended largely for the use of foreigners. Special attention is paid to points which usually offered difficulty to foreigners, such as the pronunciation and its divergencies from the orthography.[631] Sylvius or Du Bois, writing in Latin,[632] remarks that his principles may serve the English, the Italians and Spaniards, in short, all foreigners; no doubt those he had chiefly in mind were the numbers of English and other foreign students at the University of Paris. When the earliest grammar written in French appeared, its author, Louis Meigret,[633] sought to justify his use LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN FRANCEof the vernacular by suggesting that foreign students should first learn to understand French by speaking and reading good French literature, instead of depending on Latin for the first stages. He had noticed the peculiarities of the English pronunciation of French, especially the habit of misplacing the accent; "they raise the voice on the syllable an in Angleterre, while we raise it on the syllable ter: so that French as spoken by the English is not easily understood in France." From other grammarians foreigners always received some attention. Pillot[634] and Garnier[635] both wrote in Latin with a special view to foreigners; and Peletier,[636] who used French, retains all the etymological consonants, that strangers may find Latin helpful in understanding French.

Not before the end of the sixteenth century, however, do we hear of the first important language teacher in France—Charles Maupas of Blois, a surgeon by profession, who spent most of his life, more than thirty years, teaching French to "many lords and gentlemen of divers nations" who visited his native town. He was "well known to be a famous teacher of the French tongue to many of the English and Dutch nobility and gentry." For his English pupils Maupas showed particular affection.[637] And from them he received in turn numerous proofs of friendship. Among the Englishmen who learnt French under his care was George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who, at about the age of eighteen, travelled into France, where "he improved himself[638] well in the language for one that had so little grammatical foundation, but more in the exercises of that Nobility for the space of three years and yet came home in his naturall plight, without affected formes (the ordinary disease of Travellers)."[639] Maupas bears stronger testimony to his pupil's attainments in the French language, and some years later he gratefully dedicated to the Duke his French grammar, first issued publicly in 1618.

Maupas's Grammaire françoise contenant reigles tres certaines et adresse tres asseurée a la naïve connoissance et pur usage de nostre langue. En faveur des estrangers qui en seront desireux, was first privately printed in 1607.[640] He had not originally intended it for publication. The work grew out of the notes and observations he compiled in order to overcome his pupils' difficulties. As these rules increased in number and importance, many students began to make extracts from them; others made copies of the whole, a "great and wearisome labour." Finally, Maupas, touched by this keenness, resolved to have a large number of copies printed. He distributed these among his pupils and their friends, till, contrary to his expectation, he found he had none left. It was then that the first public edition was issued at Lyons in 1618, and was followed by six others, which were not always authorized. A Latin edition also appeared in 1623.

Maupas insists on the necessity of employing a tutor. "Let them come to me," he says, addressing foreigners desirous of learning French, "if it is convenient."[641] To learn the language by ear and use alone is impossible. The small outlay required to engage a teacher saves much time and labour. As to the grammar, it should be read again and again, and in time all difficulties will disappear; it will be of great use even to those already advanced in French. He undertook to teach and interpret the grammar in French itself, without having recourse to the international language Latin, the usual medium of teaching French to travellers; he tells us that many of his pupils were ignorant of Latin, and that the practice of interpreting the grammar in French had been adopted by many of his fellow-teachers in other towns. The great advantage of this method was, he thought, that reading and pronunciation are learnt conjointly with grammar, the phrases and style of the language together with its rules and precepts. Besides, the student must read some book; and a grammar was, in his opinion, preferable to the little comedies and dialogues usually resorted to for this purpose. He did not, however, forget that some light reading was a greater incentive to the learner, and in practice used both.

Maupas died in 1625, when a new edition of his grammar was in preparation. His son, who assisted him in teaching, saw the work through the press, and invited students to transfer to him the favours they had bestowed on his father. Apparently the younger Charles Maupas continued to teach his father's clientèle for some time. CHARLES MAUPAS OF BLOISIn 1626 he gave further proof of his zeal for the cause in editing and publishing a comedy which both he and his father had frequently read with pupils not advanced enough for more serious matter. We are told vaguely that this comedy, entitled Les Desguisez: Comedie Françoise avec l'explication des proverbes et mots difficiles par Charles Maupas a Bloys, was the work of one of the beaux esprits of the period.[642] Maupas, however, only had one copy, and knew not where to procure more. He was induced to have it printed on seeing the great labour and time expended by many of his pupils in making copies of it for their own use. For the benefit of students who had no tutor, he added an explanatory vocabulary of proverbs and difficult words.

Maupas's Grammaire et syntaxe françoise is still looked on with respect.[643] The reputation it enjoyed in the seventeenth century is the more remarkable in that it was the work of a provincial who had no relations with the Court, then the supreme arbiter in matters of language. But the grammar passed into oblivion in the course of time, as more modern manuals took its place. Maupas's hope that it would be used by foreign students of French as long as the language was held in esteem was not to be fulfilled.

His Grammar was superseded by that of Antoine Oudin—Grammaire Françoise rapportée au langage du temps, Paris, 1632. Oudin's original intention had been merely to enlarge the grammar of his predecessor. But as his work advanced he found "force antiquailles" and many mistakes, besides much confusion, repetition, and pedantry. He felt no compunction in telling the reader that he had enormously improved all he had borrowed from Maupas—although he is careful to note that he has no intention of damaging his rival's reputation, and is proud to share his opinion on several points. He had a great advantage over Maupas in having spent all his life in close connexion with the Court; his father, César, had been interpreter to the French king, and Antoine succeeded him in that office. He also appears to have had continual relations with foreigners, and he tells us on one occasion that he received from them "very considerable benefits." His grammar was certainly much used by foreign students, although it does not seem to have enjoyed as great a popularity in England as that of Maupas. Oudin's Curiositez Françoises (1640) was also addressed "aux estrangers," and his aim was to show his gratitude by attempting to call attention to the mistakes which had made their way into grammars drawn up for their instruction.[644]

L'Eschole Françoise pour apprendre a bien parler et escrire selon l'usage de ce temps et pratique des bons autheurs, divisée en deux livres dont l'un contient les premiers elements, l'autre les parties de l'oraison (Paris, 1604), by Jean Baptiste du Val, avocat en Parlement at Paris and French tutor to Marie de Medicis, was also intended partly for the use of foreigners. He seeks to console foreign students coping with the difficulties of French pronunciation and orthography, by assuring them that though the French themselves may be able to speak correctly, they cannot prescribe rules on this score. As for his grammar, the student will learn more from it in two hours than from any other in two weeks. He also takes up a supercilious attitude, natural in one who exercised his profession in the precincts of the Court, towards anything that resembled a provincial accent; better no teacher at all than one with a provincial accent.

Among other grammars of similar purport is that of Masset in French and Latin, Exact et tres facile acheminement a la langue Françoyse, mis en Latin par le meme autheur pour le soulagement des estrangers (1606);[645] and to the same category belongs also the Praecepta gallici sermonis ad pleniorem perfectioremque eius linguae cognitionem necessaria tum suevissima tum facillima (1607), by Philippe Garnier, who, after teaching French for many years in Germany, settled down at Orleans, his native town, as a language tutor.[646]

Another work widely used by travellers, and well known in England, was the Nouvelle et Parfaite Grammaire Françoise (1659) of Laurent Chiflet, the zealous Jesuit and missionary, which continued to be reprinted until the eighteenth century, and enjoyed for many years the highest reputation among foreign students of French. The Swiss Muralt relates how he FRENCH GRAMMARS FOR TRAVELLERSand a friend were inquiring for some books at one of the booksellers of the Palais, the centre of the trade; and how the bookseller answered them civilly and tried to find what they desired, until his wife interfered, crying, "Ne voiez vous pas que ce sont des etrangers qui ne savent ce qu'ils demandent? Donnez leur la grammaire de Chiflet, c'est là ce qu'il leur faut."[647]

Chiflet is very explicit in his advice to foreign students. In the first place the pronunciation should be learnt by reading a short passage every day with a French master, and the verbs most commonly in use committed to memory. Then the other parts of speech and the rules of syntax should be studied briefly; but care should be taken not to neglect reading, and to practise writing French, in order to become familiar with the orthography. One of his chief recommendations is to avoid learning isolated words; words should always be presented in sentence form, which is a means of learning their construction and of acquiring a good vocabulary at the same time. The rest of the method consists in translating from Latin or some other language into French, and in conversing with a tutor who should correct bad grammar or pronunciation. When once a fair knowledge of French is acquired, it should be strengthened by reading and reflecting upon some good book every day. Such reading is the shortest way of learning the language perfectly. Excellence and fluency in speaking may be attained by repeating or reciting aloud the substance of what has been read.[648]

The acquisition of the French language was not the only ambition of the English gentleman abroad. His aim was also to acquire those polite accomplishments in which the French excelled—dancing, fencing, riding, and so on. For this purpose he either frequented one of the "courtly" academies or engaged private tutors; and "every master of exercise," it was felt, served as a kind of language master.[649] We are indebted to Dallington[650] for an account of the cost of such a course abroad. "Money," he says, "is the soule of travell. If he travel without a servant £80 sterling is a competent proportion, except he learn to ride: if he maintain both these charges, he can be allowed no less than £150: and to allow above £200 were superfluous and to his hurt. The ordinary rate of his expense is 10 gold crowns a month his fencing, as much his dancing, no less his reading, and 10 crowns monthly his riding except in the heat of the year. The remainder of his £150, I allow him for apparell, books, travelling charges, tennis play, and other extraordinary expenses."

Some of the more studious travellers resorted to one or other of the French universities. John Palsgrave and John Eliote, the two best known English teachers of French in the sixteenth century, had both followed this course. Palsgrave was a graduate of Paris, and John Eliote, after spending three years at the College of Montague in Paris, taught for a year in the Collège des Africains at Orleans. The religious question had much influence in determining the plan of study in France. The university towns of Rheims and Douay were the special resorts of English Catholics.[651] On the suppression of the religious houses in England and the persecution of the English Roman Catholics, English seminaries arose at Paris, Louvain, Cambrai, St. Omer, Arras, and other centres in France. English Roman Catholics flocked to the French universities and colleges, and there is in existence a long list of English students who matriculated at the University of Douay.

On the other hand, the schools,[652] colleges,[653] and academies[654] founded by the Huguenots offered many attractions to Protestant England. The colleges had much in common with the modern French lycée, and the chief subjects taught were the classical languages. They did not take boarders, with the exception of that at Metz, and the students lived en pension with families in the town. The same is true of the academies, institutions of university standing. They were eight in number, and situated at Nîmes, Montpellier, Saumur, Montauban, Die, Sedan, Orthez (in the principality of Béarn[655]), and Geneva. Some Englishmen and many Scotchmen[656] held positions in the Protestant colleges and academies. BRITISH STUDENTS AT FRENCH UNIVERSITIESMany English Protestants, during their enforced sojourn on the Continent during the reign of Mary, took advantage of their exile to study at one or other of the Protestant academies, as well as to perfect their knowledge of French. A great number flocked to Geneva, including the Protestant author Michael Cope, who frequently preached in French.[657]

Of the colleges, that of Nîmes attracted a large number of foreigners. Montpellier likewise was very popular during the short period at the beginning of the seventeenth century when the town was Protestant. Among the academies in France, Saumur, Montauban,[658] and Sedan were much frequented by English travellers. Saumur in particular quickly attained to celebrity; its rapid growth may be partly accounted for by the fact that Duplessis Mornay, Governor of the town in 1588, naturally became a zealous patron of the Academy. Three years after its foundation the number of foreign students was considerable, and throughout the seventeenth century students from England, Scotland, Holland, and Switzerland thronged to the town.

The Academy at Geneva likewise was very popular.[659] Though not French, it was largely attended by French students, who had some influence in raising the standard of the French spoken in the town, which was rather unsatisfactory in the sixteenth century. It greatly improved in the following century, and when the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), which dealt the death-blow to the French Protestant foundations, drove many students to Geneva, their influence in all directions was still more strongly felt. Some years before, in 1654, the regents were enjoined to see to it that their pupils "ne parlent savoyard et ne jurent ou diabloyent," but in 1691 Poulain de la Barre, a doctor of the Sorbonne, could say that "à Geneve on prononce incomparablement mieux que l'on ne fait en plusieurs provinces de France."[660]

The Protestant academies usually consisted of faculties of Arts and Theology. At Geneva[661] there were lectures in Law, Theology, Philosophy, Philology, and Literature; the teaching was chiefly in Latin, but sometimes in French. At the end of the sixteenth century a riding school, known as the Manège de la Courature, on the same lines as the polite academies of France, was started. The instruction given at Geneva was on broader lines than that of the less popular academies. Nîmes and Montpellier, for instance, were mainly theological.[662]

Of the many Englishmen who went to Geneva, as to other Protestant centres, not all attended lectures at the Academies. Some went merely to learn French, "the exercises and assurance of behaviour," as the general belief in England was that they did so with less danger in the towns tempered by a Calvinistic atmosphere. Among the Englishmen who visited Geneva in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century we find the names of Henry Withers, Roger Manners, fifth Earl of Rutland, Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, the son of Elizabeth's unfortunate favourite, and others. Thomas Bodley, the celebrated founder of the Oxford Library, followed all the courses at the University in 1559. It was considered a great honour to lodge in the house of one or other of the professors; Anthony Bacon, the elder brother of the great Bacon, had the good fortune to be received into the house of de Bèze. Casaubon likewise received into his house certain young gentlemen who came to the town with a special recommendation to him. These included the young Henry Wotton, then on the long tour on the Continent, during which he acquired the remarkable knowledge of languages which qualified him for the position of ambassador which he subsequently occupied. In 1593 Wotton wrote to Lord Zouch: "Here I am placed to my great contentment in the house of Mr. Isaac Casaubon, a person of sober condition among the French." The learned professor soon became very fond of Wotton, so far as to allow him to get into debt for his board and lodging, and the young man left Geneva without paying his debts, leaving Casaubon to face his numerous creditors in the town. Casaubon was in despair; but fortunately the episode ended satisfactorily, for Wotton lived up to his character, and paid his debts in full as soon as he was able.[663]

THE AFFECTED TRAVELLER

When later Casaubon was at Paris (1600-1610) and his fame was widespread, most travellers and scholars passing through the city seized any opportunity of visiting him. Coryat relates his visit to the great humanist as the experience he enjoyed above all others. Lord Herbert of Cherbury was also among the English travellers received by Casaubon into his house at this period. "And now coming to court," writes Lord Herbert, "I obtained licence to go beyond sea, taking with me for my companion Mr. Aurilian Townsend ... and a man to wait in my chamber, who spoke French, two lacqueys and three horses.... Coming now to Paris through the recommendation of the Lord Ambassador I was received to the house of that incomparable scholar Isaac Casaubon, by whose learned conversation I much benefited myself. Sometimes also I went to the Court of the French King Henry IV., who, upon information of me in the Garden of the Tuileries, received me with much courtesy, embracing me in his arms, and holding me some while there."[664]

By the side of the serious traveller we are introduced to the frivolous type, travelling merely as a matter of fashion. These "idle travellers," as they were called, were the cause of most of the objections raised against the journey to France and the longer tour on the Continent—apart from questions of religion and politics. Few such travellers "scaped bewitching passing over seas."[665] When Lord Herbert of Cherbury arrived in Paris he remarked on the great number of Englishmen thronging about the ambassador's mansion. They had, most of them, studied the language and fashions in some quiet provincial town, such as Orleans or Blois, and returned to Paris full of affectations. Herbert draws a picture[666] of one such "true accomplish'd cavalere":

Now what he speaks are complimental speeches
That never go off, but below the breeches
Of him he doth salute, while he doth wring
And with some strange French words which he doth string,
Windeth about the arms, the legs and sides,
Most serpent like, of any man that bides
His indirect approach.

Many travellers did not follow Moryson's advice "to lay aside the spoone and forke of Italy, the affected gestures of France, and all strange apparrell" on their return to England. Their affectation of foreign languages and customs proved disagreeable to many of their countrymen. The Frenchified traveller and his untravelled imitators were known as beaux or mounsiers. Nash speaks of the "dapper mounsieur pages of the Court," and Shakespeare of the young gallants who charm the ladies with a French song and a fiddle, and fill the Court with quarrels, talks, and tailors.[667] When the English nobles and gentlemen who had held official appointments at Tournai returned to England, after lingering some time at the French Court, the chronicler Hall[668] declares they were "all French in eating, drinking, yea in French vices and brages, so that all estates of England were by them laughed at."

The English beau thought it his duty to despise English ways, fashions, and speech, and to ape and dote upon all things French:[669]

He struts about
In cloak of fashion French. His girdle, purse,
And sword are French; his hat is French;
His nether limbs are cased in French costume.
His shoes are French. In short from top to toe
He stands the Frenchman.

Above all, he loves to display his "sorry French" and chide his French valet in public, and

if he speak
Though but three little words in French, he swells
And plumes himself on his proficiency.

And when his French fails him, as it soon does, he coins words for himself which he utters with "widely gaping mouth, and sound acute, thinking to make the accent French":

With accent French he speaks the Latin Tongue,
With accent French the tongue of Lombardy,
To Spanish words he gives an accent French,
German he speaks with the same accent French,
All but the French itself. The French he speaks
With accent British.

Thus the beau cannot be ranked among the genuine students of French.

Would you believe when you this monsieur see
That his whole body should speak French, not he?

asks Ben Jonson.[670] "FRENCH-ITALIANATE" GENTLEMENWe have a picture, in Glapthorne's The Ladies' Privilege, of a travelled gallant who undertakes to teach French to a young gentleman desiring thereby to be "for ever engallanted." They confer on rudiments; "your French," says the gallant, "is a thing easily gotten, and when you have it, as hard to shake off, runnes in your blood, as 'twere your mother language." Until you have enough of the language to sprinkle your English with it, answer with a shrug, or a nod, or any foreign grimace.[671] The author of the Treatyse of a galaunt bemoans the fact that "Englysshe men sholde be so blynde" as to adopt the "marde gere" of the French.[672] Many were the outbursts of patriotic indignation roused by the affectation of the newly returned travellers, who "brought home a few smattering terms, flattering garbes, apish cringes, foppish fancies, foolish guises and disguises and vanities of neighbour nations."[673] In the sixteenth century France was not exclusively responsible for the fopperies of the English beau, who might often be described as "French Italianate."[674] He spoke his own language with shame and lisping.[675] Nothing "will down but French, Italian and Spanish."[676] "Farewell, Monsieur Traveller," says Rosalind to Jacques, "look you lisp, and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are."[677] The affected beau will "wring his face round about as a man would stirre up a mustard pot and talke English through the teeth."[678] He sprinkles his talk with overseas scraps. "He that cometh lately out of France will talke French-English, and never blush at the matter, and another chops in with English Italianated."[679] And what profit has he from the journey on which he has gathered such evil fruit? Nothing but words, and in this he exceeds his mother's parrot at home, in that he can speak more and understands what he says.[680] And this is often no more than to be able to call the king his lord "with two or three French, Italian, Spanish or such like terms."[681] His attire, like his tongue, speaks French and Italian.[682] He censures England's language and fashions "by countenances and shrugs," and will choke rather than confess beer a good drink. In time the beau forgot what little he had learnt of Italian, and in the seventeenth century was generally known as the English monsieur, or the gentleman à la mode.

There were two very different attitudes towards the journey to France, as there were two types of traveller, the serious and the flippant. The prejudiced and insular-minded asked with Nash:[683] "What is there in France to be learned more than in England, but falsehood in fellowship, perfect slovenry, to love no man but for my pleasure, to swear Ah par la mort Dieu when a man's hands are scabbed. But for the idle traveller (I mean not for the soldier), I have known some that have continued there by the space of half a dozen years, and when they come home, they have hid a little weerish lean face under a broad hat, kept a terrible coil in the dust in the street in their long cloaks of gray paper, and spoke English strangely. Nought else have they profited by their travel, save learned to distinguish the true Bordeaux grape and know a cup of neat Gascoigne wine from wine of Orleans." The opposite view is expressed in the message George Herbert sent to his brother at Paris:[684] "You live in a brave nation, where except you wink, you cannot but see many brave examples. Bee covetous then of all good which you see in Frenchmen whether it be in knowledge or in fashion, or in words; play the good marchant in transporting French commodities to your own country."

FOOTNOTES:

[564] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. vol. xvi. No. 238.

[565] Sir Rt. Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia, 1824, p. 69.

[566] Cal. State Papers, Dom.: Add., 1580-1625, p. 99.

[567] Ibid. p. 119. A certain Charles Doyley wrote in similar terms from Rouen.

[568] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1595-97, p. 293.

[569] Purchas Pilgrimes, 1625.

[570] Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae.

[571] As did Sir James Melville (Memoirs, Bannatyne Club, 1827, p. 12), "to learn to play upon the lut, and to writ Frenche," at the age of fourteen. Similarly, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, Edward VI.'s youthful favourite and proxy for correction, was sent to Paris to study fashions and manners (Nichols, Literary Remains, p. lxx).

[572] The practice was also very common in Scotland, especially when the reformers assumed the power of approving private tutors as well as schoolmasters. Gentlemen were driven to evade this restriction by sending their sons to France in the care of what they considered suitable tutors. The Assembly then tried to assert its power by granting passports only to those whose tutors they approved. See Young, Histoire de l'Enseignement en Écosse, p. 52.

[573] Copy Book of Sir Amias Poulet's Letters, Roxburghe Club, 1866, pp. 16, 231.

[574] The Compleat Gentleman (1622), 1906, p. 33.

[575] Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd series, iii. 377.

[576] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. vol. viii. 517; vol. ix. 1086; vol. xii. pt. i. 972, etc.

[577] Dated 1610. Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd series, iii. 230.

[578] Green, Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, London, 1846, ii. pp. 294 et seq.

[579] Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. vol. xiii. pt. i. 512.

[580] Itinerary, 1617, pt. iii. bk. i. p. 5.

[581] Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib.

[582] Copy Book, p. 90.

[583] State Papers, Dom., 1598-1601, p. 162; and 1601-1603, p. 29. In 1580 a list of some English subjects residing abroad was sent to the queen (ibid., Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 4.)

[584] Greene left an account of his impressions of France and Italy in his Never too Late (Works, ed. Grosart, viii. pp. 20 sqq.).

[585] Frequently the wording in passports (Cal. State Papers).

[586] There were many complaints throughout the two centuries of the travellers' neglect of everything concerning their own country. "What is it to be conversant abroad and a stranger at home?" asks Higford. See also Penton, New Instructions to the Guardian, 1694; and F. B. B. D., Education with Respect to Grammar Schools and Universities, 1701.

[587] Ellis, Original Letters (3rd series, iv. p. 46), publishes one of the licences which had to be obtained.

[588] Reprinted by Lady T. Lewis, Lives from the Pictures in the Clarendon Galleries, 1852, i. p. 250.

[589] Description of Britaine, 1577, Lib. 3. ch. iv.

[590] Euphues, ed. Arber, 1868, p. 152.

[591] Scholemaster, ed. Arber, 1870, p. 82. Mulcaster was also eloquent on the evil result of travel (Positions, 1581).

[592] Instructions for Youth ..., by Sir W. Raleigh, etc., London, 1722, p. 50.

[593] Who founded the English seminary at Douay.

[594] See entries in Cal. of State Papers.

[595] March 25, 1601 (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1601-1603, p. 18).

[596] Correspondence with Hubert Languet, 1912, p. 216.

[597] Letter dated September 1, 1631 (J. Forster, Sir John Eliot, a Biography, London, 1864, i. pp. 16, 17).

[598] J. Howell, Instructions for Forreine Travel, 1642 (ed. Arber, 1869), p. 19.

[599] 1656, p. 102.

[600] Spence's Anecdotes, 1820, p. 184; Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[601] A Dialogue concerning Education, in Miscellaneous Works, London, 1751, pp. 313 et seq.

[602] Cp. Entries of Passports, in the Cal. State Papers. The necessity of such a course was considered specially urgent if the traveller was himself ignorant of languages (The Gentleman's Companion, by a Person of Quality, 1672, p. 55).

[603] Gailhard, The Compleat Gentleman, 1678, p. 16.

[604] Gailhard, op. cit. pp. 19, 20. A gentleman, he thinks, should be sent abroad betimes to prevent his being hardened in any evil course.

[605] Some Thoughts on Education, 1693.

[606] Walker, Of Education, especially of Young Gentlemen, 1699, 6th ed.

[607] Notes on Ben Jonson's Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden (1619), Shakespeare Soc., 1842, pp. 21, 47.

[608] Autobiography, ed. Sir Sidney Lee (2nd ed., 1906), p. 56.

[609] Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, ed. J. J. Cartwright, 1875, p. 26.

[610] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[611] Addison was well acquainted with French literature and criticism. He frequently quotes Boileau, Racine, Corneille, and also Bouhours and Lebossu. His Tragedy of Cato is closely modelled on the French pattern. See A. Beljame, Le Public et les hommes de lettres en Angleterre au 18e siècle, 1897, p. 316.

[612] Memoirs of the Verney Family, 1892, iii. p. 36.

[613] The Correspondence of Philip Sidney and Hubert Languet, ed. W. A. Bradly (Boston, 1912), p. 26.

[614] Savile Correspondence, Camden Soc., 1858, pp. 133, 138. O. Walker, in his Of Education, differs from other writers in proposing that young gentlemen should travel without a governor.

[615] In the same category may be placed the Traveiles of Jerome Turler, a native of Saxony, whose work was translated into English in the year of its appearance (1575). It was specially intended for the use of students.

[616] T. Palmer, Essay on the Means of making our Travels into Forran Countries more Profitable and Honourable, 1606; T. Overbury, Observations in his Travels, 1609 (France and the Low Countries). William Bourne's Treasure for Travellers (London, 1578) has no bearing on travel from the language point of view. Of special interest are Dallington's Method for Travell, shewed by taking the View of France as it stoode in the Yeare of our Lorde 1598, London (1606?), and his View of France, London, 1604. Other works are A Direction for English Travellers, licensed for printing in 1635 (Arber, Stationers' Register, iv. 343); Neal's Direction to Travel, 1643; Bacon's Essay on Travel, 1625; Howell's Instructions for Forreine Travel, 1624.

[617] The versatile master of the ceremonies to Charles I., Sir Balthazar Gerbier, wrote his Subsidium Peregrinantibus or an Assistance to a Traveller in his convers with—1. Hollanders. 2. Germans. 3. Venetians. 4. Italians. 5. Spaniards. 6. French (1665), in the first place as a vade mecum for a princely traveller, the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth. It claimed to give directions for travel, "after the latest mode." Cp. also A direction for travailers taken by Sir J. S. (Sir John Stradling) out of (the Epistola de Peregrinatione Italica of) J. Lipsius, etc., London. 1592.

[618] List in Watt's Bibliographia Britannia, 1824 (heading Education); and in Cambridge History of English Literature, ix. ch. xv. (Bibliography).

[619] Method for Travell, 1598, and View of France, 1604.

[620] The constant warnings against mixing with Englishmen abroad show how numerous the latter must have been. "He that beyond seas frequents his own countrymen forgets the principal part of his errand—language," wrote Francis Osborne in his Advice to a Son (1656).

[621] As did Lord Lincoln, who "sees no English, rails at England, and admires France."

[622] Itinerary, 1617.

[623] Bacon, Essay on Travel, 1625.

[624] Gailhard, op. cit. p. 48.

[625] S. Penton. New Instructions to the Guardian, 1694, p. 104.

[626] Cp. Entries of passports to France in the Calendar of State Papers.

[627] Positions, 1581.

[628] It appears from a deleted note in the MS. of Defoe's Compleat English Gentleman that travel was not always considered necessary for younger sons (ed. K. Bülbring, London, 1890).

[629] French Alphabet, 1592: "Car la plus part de ceux qui vont en France apprennent par routine, sans reigles, et sans art, de sorte qu'il leur est impossible d'apprendre, sinon avec une grande longueur de temps. Au contraire ceux qui apprennent en Angleterre, s'ils apprennent d'un qui ait bonne methode, il ne se peut faire qu'ils n'apprennent en bref. D'avantage ce qu'ils apprennent est beaucoup meilleur que le françois qu'on apprend en France par routine. Car nous ne pouvons parler ce que nous n'avons apris et que nous ignorons. Ceux qui apprennent du vulgaire ne peuvent parler que vulgairement . . . d'un françois corrompu. Au contraire ceux qui apprennent par livres, parlent selon ce qu'ils apprennent: or est il que les termes et phrases des livres sont le plus pur et naif françois (bien qu'il y ayt distinction de livres); il ne se peut donc qu'ils ne parlent plus purement et naivement (comme j'ay dict) que les autres."

[630] Wodroeph, Spared houres of a souldier, 1623.

[631] Livet, La Grammaire française et les grammairiens au 16e siècle, 1859, p. 2.

[632] In linguam gallicam Isagoge, 1531.

[633] Le Traité touchant le commun usage de l'escriture françoise, 1542, 1545; cp. Livet, op. cit. pp. 49 sqq.

[634] Gallicae linguae institutio Latino sermone conscripta (1550, 1551, 1555, 1558, etc.).

[635] Institutio gallicae linguae in usum iuventutis germanicae (1558, 1580, 1591, 1593).

[636] Dialogue de l'ortografe et prononciacion françoese, departi en deus livres, 1555.

[637] "J'ay tousiours eu plus ordinaire hantise, plus de biens et d'honneur et de civile conversation de la nation Angloise que de nul aultre."

[638] Villiers had no doubt some previous knowledge of French. From the age of thirteen he had been taught at home by private tutors.

[639] Reliquiae Wottonianae, London, 1657, p. 76.

[640] 12º, pp. 386.

[641]

"Etranger desireux de nostre langue apprendre,
Employe en ce livret et ton temps et ton soin,
Que si d'enseignement plus ample il t'est besoin,
Viens t'en la vive voix de l'autheur mesme entendre."

[642] It differs from Les Desguisez, a comedy written by Godard in 1594.

[643] E. Winkler, "La Doctrine grammaticale d'après Maupas et Oudin," in Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, Heft 38, 1912.

[644] Towards the end of his career, Oudin was appointed to teach Louis XIV. Spanish and Italian; he was the author of several manuals for teaching these languages, and it is worthy of note that sometimes the German language is included.

[645] Printed with Nicot's edition of Aimar de Ranconnet's Thresor de la langue françoyse, Paris, 1606.

[646] Garnier was also the author of familiar dialogues, published in French, Spanish, Italian, and German in 1656.

[647] Lettres sur les Anglais et sur les Français (end of seventeenth century), 1725, p. 305.

[648] Another grammar specially intended for the use of strangers was Le vray orthographe françois contenant les reigles et preceptes infallibles pour se rendre certain, correct et parfait a bien parler françois, tres utile et necessaire tant aux françois qu'estrangers. Par le sieur de Palliot secretaire ordinaire de la chambre du roy. 1608.

[649] Gailhard, op. cit. p. 33.

[650] Method for Travell, 1598.

[651] Records of the English Catholics, i. pp. 275 et sqq.; F. C. Petre, English Colleges and Convents established on the Continent ..., Norwich, 1849; G. Cardon, La Fondation de l'Université de Douai, Paris, 1802.

[652] Cp. p. 343 infra.

[653] Cp. account by M. Nicolas, in Bulletin de la société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, iv. pp. 503 sqq. and pp. 582 sqq. Twenty-five such colleges are named.

[654] Bulletin, i. p. 301; ii. pp. 43, 303, 354 sqq.; also articles in vols. iii., iv., v., vi., ix., and Bourchenin's Études sur les Académies Protestantes.

[655] Suppressed as early as 1620.

[656] Driven from Scotland, in many cases, by James I.'s attempt to introduce the English Liturgy into the Scottish churches. Robert Monteith, author of the Histoire des Troubles de la Grande Bretagne, was professor of philosophy at Saumur for four years (Dict. Nat. Biog.).

[657] He composed in French A faithful and familiar exposition of Ecclesiastes, Geneva, 1557; cp. Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[658] Cp. Nicolas, Histoire de l'ancienne Académie de Montauban, Montauban, 1885.

[659] There was an early Academy at Lausanne which emigrated to Geneva and assured the latter's success (1559); cp. H. Vuilleumier, L'Académie de Lausanne, Lausanne, 1891.

[660] Essai de remarques particulières sur la langue françoise pour la ville de Genève, 1691. Quoted by Borgeaud, Histoire de l'Université de Genève, 1900, p. 445.

[661] C. Borgeaud, op. cit.

[662] They were united at Nîmes in 1617, and finally suppressed in 1644.

[663] Pattison, Isaac Casaubon, Oxford, 1892, pp. 40-42, 155. On the English at Geneva, cp. ibid. p. 20.

[664] Autobiography, ed. Sir S. Lee (2nd ed., 1906), p. 56.

[665] T. Scot, Philomythie, London, 1622.

[666] Satyra (addressed to Ben Jonson), 1608. Poems of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, ed. J. Churton Collins, London, 1881.

[667] Henry VIII., Act I. Sc. 3.

[668] A. T. Thomson, Memoirs of the Court of Henry VIII., London, 1826, i. p. 259.

[669] Epigram by Sir Th. More: translated from Latin by J. H. Marsden, Philomorus, 2nd ed., 1878, p. 222.

[670] English Monsieur: Works, London, 1875, viii. p. 190. Cp. other satires and epigrams of the time: Hall, Satires, lib. iii. satire 7; Skialetheia, 1598, No. 27; H. Parrot, Laquei, 1613, No. 207; Scourge of Villanie, ed. Grosart, 1879, p. 158.

[671] H. Glapthorne, "The Ladies' Privilege," Plays and Poems, 1874, ii. pp. 81 sqq. It was sometimes the good fortune of the gallant to "live like a king," "teaching tongues" (T. Scot, Philomythie, 1622).

[672] 1510? Colophon: "Here endeth this treatise made of a galaunt. Emprinted at London in the Flete St. at the sygne of the sonne by Wynkyn de Worde." Alex. Barclay, Andrew Borde, Skelton and others, all satirize the mania for French fashions. Every opportunity of getting the latest French fashion was eagerly seized. Thus Lady Lisle, wife of Henry VIII.'s deputy at Calais, constantly sent her friends in England articles of dress "such as the French ladies wear" (Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., i. 3892). Moryson says the English are "more light than the lightest French."

[673] Purchas, Pilgrimes, 1625.

[674] Sylvester, Lacrymae Lacrymarum: Works (ed. Grosart), ii. p. 278.

[675] Sir T. Overbury, Characters, 1614: "The Affected Traveller."

[676] George Pettie, Civile Conversation, 1586 (preface to translation of Guazzo's work).

[677] As You Like It, Act IV. Sc. 1.

[678] Nash, Pierce Pennilesse, quoted by J. J. Jusserand, The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, 1899, p. 322.

[679] Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique (1553), ed. G. H. Mair, 1909, p. 162.

[680] Hall, Quo Vadis, 1617.

[681] Humphrey, The Nobles or of Nobilitye, London, 1563.

[682] Overbury, Characters, 1614.

[683] The Unfortunate Traveller (1587), Works, ed. McKerrow, ii. p. 300.

[684] Letters (1618), ed. Warner, Epistolary Curiosities, 1818, p. 3.

CHAPTER VIII

THE STUDY OF FRENCH AMONG MERCHANTS AND SOLDIERS

Merchants, always a very important and influential class in England, claim a place by the side of the higher classes as learners of French. They were continually in need of foreign languages, and French was certainly the most useful, and, for those trading with France and the Netherlands, quite indispensable. As to their own language, we are told that when English merchants were out of England "it liketh them not, and they do not use it."[685] Those sons of gentlemen and others who wished to engage in trade were usually apprenticed to merchants. For instance, Sir William Petty (b. 1623) first went to school where he got a smattering of Latin and Greek, and, at the age of twelve, was bound apprentice to a sea captain. At fifteen he went to Caen in Normandy aboard a merchant vessel, and began to trade there with such success that he managed to maintain and educate himself. He learnt French and perfected himself in Latin, and had enough Greek to serve his turn. Thence he travelled to Paris and studied anatomy.[686] Sylvester, no doubt, had many opportunities of putting to the test the French he first learnt in Saravia's school when later in life he became a merchant adventurer. It appears that many merchants belonged to the class of travellers who picked up the language abroad by mixing with those who spoke it. Fynes Moryson accuses merchants, women, and children of neglecting any serious study of languages and "rushing into rash practice." "They doe many times," he admits, "pronounce the tongue and speake common speeches more gracefully than others, but they seldome write the tongue well, and alwaies forget it in short time, wanting the practice." The many practical little manuals of conversation which had appeared in the Middle Ages, and the "litle pages set in print without rules or precepts" which succeeded them, would certainly encourage this "rushing into rash practice"; such, indeed, was their aim. The majority of merchants acquired their French, we may be sure, either by the help of such little handbooks, intended to be learnt by heart, or simply by "ear."

Dialogues for merchants are provided in almost all French text-books of the time, giving phrases for buying and selling and enquiring the way. Barclay describes his grammar (1521) as particularly useful to merchants. There was, moreover, a very popular little book specially intended for that class—A plaine pathway to the French Tongue, very profitable for Marchants and also all other which desire the same, aptly devided into nineteen chapters, which appeared first in 1575, and in at least one,[687] and probably several other editions.[688] The aim of the book would explain how it has come about that only one copy has survived the wear and tear of the demands made upon it. Again James Howell dedicated his edition of Cotgrave's dictionary (1650) to the nobility and gentry, and to the "merchant adventurers as well English as the worthy company of Dutch here resident and others to whom the language is necessary for commerce and foren correspondence." Books such as those of Holyband and Du Ploich were written for the use of the middle class, and, no doubt, for merchants also; and a later writer, John Wodroeph, describes his collection of common phrases as "more profitable for the merchants than for the loathsome curtier who cannot digest such coarse meats."

Dutch merchants are mentioned by Howell in the dedication of Cotgrave's dictionary, and the close relations, existing between England and the Netherlands in the time of Elizabeth, possibly account for the fact that the Netherlanders took some part in instructing the English, chiefly merchants, in the French tongue. It has already been seen how unfavourably the Huguenot teachers in England criticized their fellow-teachers of French from the Low Countries, and we are not surprised to find that the latter contented themselves with teaching the language orally, and avoided the risk of committing their views to paper. FRENCH TEXT-BOOKS FOR MERCHANTSIn the Netherlands, however, no such compunction was felt, and some manuals composed there made their way to England. At an early date one was reprinted in London. Holyband, the chief of the group of Huguenot teachers, was quickly up in arms against it. "Je ne diray rien," he writes in 1573, "d'un nouveau livre venu d'Anvers, et dernierement imprimé à Londres, à cause que, ne gardant ryme ne raison, soit en son parler, phrase, orthographe, maniere de converser et communiquer entre gens d'estat; et cependant qu'il pindarise en son iargon il monstre de quel cru il est sorti, que si nos chartiers d'Orleans, Bourges ou de Bloys avoyent oui gazouiller l'autheur d'icelluy, ilz le renvoyeroient bailler entre ses geais, apres luy avoir donné cinquante coups de leur fouet sur ses échines." Let this writer teach his jargon to the Flemings, the Burgundians, and the people of Hainault; it is a true saying that a good Burgundian was never a good Frenchman. "Lesquelles choses considerées," concludes the irate Holyband, "i'espere que l'autheur de ce beau livre ne nous contraindra point de manger ses glands, ayans trouvé le pur froment."

What was this book newly come from Antwerp? Probably an edition of a very popular collection of phrases and conversations, written originally in French and Flemish in the early years of the sixteenth century, by a schoolmaster of Antwerp, Noel de Barlement or Barlaiment.[689] By the middle of the century the work had appeared in four languages. In 1556 it was printed at Louvain in Flemish, French, Latin, and Spanish, and in 1565 it appeared at Antwerp in Flemish, French, Italian, and Spanish. In 1557 a London printer, Edward Sutton, received licence to print "a boke intituled Italian, Frynshe, Englesshe and Laten,"[690] and in 1568 a "boke intituled Frynsche, Englysshe and Duche" was licensed to John Alde.[691] Both of these volumes, we may safely conclude, were adaptations of the Flemish handbook, and either may have been the "book from Anvers" reviled by Holyband. Another English edition of the work was issued in 1578, a few years after Holyband's attack, by George Bishop, who received licence to print a Dictionarie colloques ou dialogues en quattre langues, Fflamen, Ffrançoys, Espaignol et Italien, "with the Englishe to be added thereto."[692]

This vocabulary of Barlement probably enjoyed considerable popularity in England in its foreign editions also. It was widely used by English merchants and travellers after it had been adapted to their use by the addition of English to its columns; and they would, no doubt, bring copies back with them from the Netherlands. The earliest edition in which English has a place was probably that of 1576, entitled Colloques or Dialogues avec un Dictionaire en six langues, Flamen, Anglois, Alleman, François, Espagnol et Italien. Tres util a tous Marchands ou autres de quelque estat qu'ils soyent, le tout avec grande diligence et labeur corrigé et mis ensemble. A Anvers 1576. By the end of the century a seventh and finally an eighth language were added. There are copies of two further editions of the work issued in England in the first half of the seventeenth century. The first included four languages and appeared in 1637, under the title of The { English FrenchLatine Dutch } Scholemaster or an introduction to teach young Gentlemen and Merchants to travell or trade. Being the only helpe to attaine to those languages. It was printed for Michael Sparke, who issued another edition in eight languages in 1639 as New Dialogues or colloquies or a little Dictionary of eight languages. A Booke very necessary for all those that study these tongues either at home or abroad, now perfected and made fit for travellers, young merchants and seamen, especially those that desire to attain to the use of the Tongues. Michael Sparke recommends the convenience of this portable little volume: "And if parents use to send their children beyond the sea to learne the language and to gaine the learning of forraine nations, judge what may be said of the benefit of this booke (I had almost said of the necessity of it) which being read doth by daily experience furnish the Reader with a full and perfect knowledge of divers tongues." He also tells you "in your eare" that "since the worke has been published in England and the Netherlands," not so perfect an edition has appeared.

Turning to the contents of the little handbook, we are at once struck by the close resemblance between its dialogues and those of the French text-books produced in England—still further THE DIALOGUES OF BARLEMENTevidence of the use of the book in our country. Its contents, which in all the varied forms in which it appeared are fundamentally the same, are divided into two parts. The first consists of four chapters, and opens with table talk very similar to that of the English-French dialogues, especially those of Du Ploich. There is a passage, for example, in which the schoolboy speaks of his school, found in varying form in several of the early manuals produced in England:

Peter is that your son? | Pierre est cela vostre filz?
Ye it is my sonne. | Ouy c'est mon filz.
It is a goodly child. | C'est un bel enfant.
God let him alwayes prosper in vertue. | Dieu le laisse tousiours prosperer en bien.
I thanke you cousen. | Je vous remercie cousin.
Doth he not goe to schoole? | Ne va-il point a l'escole?
Yes, he learneth to speake French. | Ouy, il apprend a parler François.
Doth he? | Fait-il?
It is very well done. | C'est tres bien fait.
John can you speake good French? | Jean sçavez vous bien parler françois?
Not very well, cousen, but I learne. | Ne point fort bien, mon cousin, mais ie l'apprends.
Where go you to schoole? | Ou allez vous a l'escole?
In the Lombarde Street. | En la rue de Lombarts.
Have you gone long to schoole? | Avez vous longuement allé à l'escole?
About halfe a yeare. | Environ un demy an.
Learn you also to write? | Apprenez vous aussi a escrire?
Yea, cousen. | Ouy, mon cousin.
That is well done, learne alwayes well. | C'est bien fait, apprenez tousiours.
Well cousen, if it please God. | Bien mon cousin, s'il plait a Dieu.

The second chapter deals with buying and selling; the third with counting, demanding payment of debts, and so on; and the fourth gives specimens of commercial letters and documents. The second part contains an alphabetical vocabulary of common words, followed by directions for reading and speaking French, in the guise of a slight grammar. A few rules for pronunciation and the different parts of speech are accompanied by advice to seek fuller information in other French grammars. Then come a few rules for the other languages—Italian, Spanish, and Flemish.

So popular was this handbook in England that it was reprinted without much alteration, and no modernization, at the beginning of the nineteenth century: The Dialogues in six languages Latin, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and English, appeared at Shrewsbury in 1808. We are informed that "this book contains common forms of speach, one being a literal translation of the other, and as near as the idiom of the language will bear, so that they correspond almost word for word, and will be found extremely useful for beginners." The second part of the work, although mentioned in the table of contents, is omitted.

A similar polyglot manual, which was probably less well known in England, was the Vocabulaire de six langues, Latin, François, Espagniol, Italien, Anglois et Aleman, printed at Venice, probably in 1540—an enlarged edition of a vocabulary in five languages (Antwerp, 1534, and Venice, 1537) in which English had no place. This handbook passed through several other editions,[693] and no doubt became fairly well known in England through the intermediary of the numerous Italian merchants who came to London, and the English traders and travellers visiting Italy; editions which appeared at Rouen in 1611 and 1625 would also be easily obtainable. The dictionary is described as a very useful vocabulary for those who wish to learn without going to school—artisans, women, and especially merchants. The first part consists of a vocabulary, arranged under fifty-five headings, dealing with the usual subjects, beginning with the heavens; the second contains a list of verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns, together with a collection of phrases and idioms. The interesting dialogue of the Flemish vocabulary is lacking.

In the second half of the sixteenth century there lived at Antwerp a language master, Gabriel Meurier, who counted many English among his pupils. Meurier was a native of Avesnes in Hainault, where he was born in about 1530. But for many years he taught languages—French, Spanish, Flemish, and Italian—at Antwerp, which had by this time supplanted Bruges as the chief trading centre of the Low Countries. His pupils were largely merchants, and his first work on the language, the Grammaire françoise contenante plusieurs belles reigles propres et necessaires pour ceulx qui desirent apprendre la dicte Langue, 1557,[694] was dedicated to "Messeigneurs et Maistres, les gouverneurs et marchans Anglois." In 1563 was issued at Antwerp another work GABRIEL MEURIERspecially for the use of the English—Familiare communications no leasse proppre then verrie proffytable to the Inglishe nation desirous and nedinge the ffrench language, dedicated to his most honoured lord, John Marsh, governor of the English nation, and intended for the use of "Marchands, Facteurs, Apprentifs, and others of the English nation." These dialogues on subjects specially useful to merchants are divided into seventeen chapters, giving familiar talk for the members of the different trades with lists of their merchandise, directions for travellers, the names of different artisans and tradesmen, instructions for collecting debts, receiving money and writing receipts. Meurier teaches his pupils the words used daily by merchants at the Exchange, and then the degrees of kinship, numbers, coins, the days and feast days, the parts of the body and clothing, food and table talk, and, finally, commercial notes and letters.[695] Another edition of the book was published at Rouen in 1641, being intended, in this case, to teach both French and English. The title given to it was A treatise for to learne to speake Frenshe and Englishe together with a form of making letters, indentures, and obligations, quittances, letters of exchange, verie necessarie for all Marchants that do occupy trade or marchandise. Meurier also composed numerous other books which have no direct bearing on the teaching of French to Englishmen. They were almost all written for the use of merchants, whom they sought to instruct in French and Flemish, and sometimes in Spanish and Italian as well. That the English were always in the author's mind is shown by the fact that he sometimes explains pronunciation by comparison with English sounds. He also did important lexicographical work. He prepared French-Flemish vocabularies in 1562 and 1566, and in 1584 his French-Flemish Dictionary was published at Anvers. This dictionary is said to have been one of the sources which helped Cotgrave to compile his famous work, and Meurier seems to have outdone the later writer in collecting rare and obsolete words.[696]

There were thus many faculties for learning French in the Netherlands. Francis Osborne wrote regarding the study of French abroad:[697] "for the place I say France, if you have a purse, else some town in the Netherlands or Flanders, that is wholesome and safe: where the French may be attained with little more difficulty then at Paris, neither are the humours of the people so very remote from your owne." Thus the Netherlanders taught French to the English both in their own country[698] and in England. The connexion was a long-standing one. Caxton had taken his French and English Dialogues from a Flemish text-book, and in later times, as has been seen, Flemish works were published in England, and had some influence on the dialogues of the English manuals of French. The debt, however, was not all on one side. Holyband's French Schoolemaister, for instance, was adapted to the use of Flemings and printed at Rotterdam in 1606,[699] and in 1647 was published at the end of the Grammaire flamende et françoise (Rouen) of Jan Louis d'Arsy. Moreover, the grammar of the seventeenth-century French teacher whose popularity equalled that of Holyband in the sixteenth century—Claude Mauger—was published in the Low Countries at the same time as in England.

Another link between the teaching of French in the Netherlands and in England is found in the book by John Wodroeph—an interesting figure among teachers of French. He spent many years in the Netherlands, and in his French text-book he adapted what he called his "court and country dialogues" from some French-Flemish ones written for the instruction of the Court of Nassau in the former language. Writing of the importance of a knowledge of French, he emphasises its usefulness to the nobility. But, he adds, it is still more profitable to merchants, for, excepting Latin, it is the most widely used language in Christendom, and, "si j'osoye dire," much more useful.

Wodroeph was a soldier, and soldiers, like merchants, gave much impetus to the study of French. In Barlement's book of dialogues, soldiers are ranked with merchants, FRENCH IN MILITARY CIRCLEStravellers, and courtiers as those to whom the knowledge of languages is most necessary: "soit que quelcun face merchandise ou qu'il hante la court, ou qu'il suive la guerre, ou qu'il aille par villes et champs." The wars raging almost incessantly in France and the Low Countries attracted numbers of Englishmen. The army was an opening for younger sons, and so "Some to the wars to try their fortunes there." Judging from the epigrams and satires of the time, the swaggering gallant home from the wars was a familiar figure in London. This sworded and martial beau is

He that salutes each gallant he doth meete
With "farewell sweet captaine fond heart adieu";

one who

hath served long in France,
And is returned filthy full of French,

and who, at night when leaving the inn, "thinking still he had been sentinell of warlike Brill, crys out que va la? Zounds que? and stabs the drawer with his Syringe straw."[700]

Those who were moved by the spirit of adventure and liked the picturesque crowded to the camp of Henry IV. of France who counted many admirers in this country. One of these, Dudley Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, writes from the king's camp in 1596 that he is busy studying French, though "Mars leaves little room for Mercury." Later he perfected his knowledge by studying at Paris, and wrote thence to John Chamberlain, the letter writer, to tell him how one Sir John Brooke, with Coppinger, a Kentish gentleman, "lately come to learn the language," are the "logs in our French school."[701] Unfortunately we have no more details of this little group of Englishmen studying French at Paris. One of the Englishmen who served in Normandy in 1591 with the troops sent by Queen Elizabeth to help Henry IV. against the League kept a daily journal from the 13th of August till the 24th of December following.[702] This soldier, Sir Thomas Coningsby, a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, acted as muster master to the English detachment, and was in frequent intercourse with Henry before Rouen.

An interesting example of how the army and service abroad offered opportunities for the study of French is found in the memoirs of the Verney family. The three younger sons of Sir Edmund Verney (1590-1642) all became soldiers. Tom took service in the army of France, while Edmund (1616-1649), after studying at Oxford, joined the army of the States in Flanders (1640). When in winter quarters at Utrecht, he "made up for his former idleness," and studied for seven or eight hours a day for many months to improve his knowledge of French and Latin. His Frenchman, he writes to tell his father, is the same that was Sir Humphry Sidenham's; he "warrants I shall speak it perfectly before we draw into the field, and truly, I am confident I shall."[703] He was reading Plutarch's Lives in French. Edmund was soon after killed in the Civil War. His younger brother, Harry, was intended from his youth for a soldier, and early sent to Paris to study French. There he seems to have spoilt his English without making any very rapid progress in French, for French grammar had a powerful rival in horses and dogs—his chief interest in life. "Pleade for me in my behalfe to my father," he implores his eldest brother, "if I have not write in french so well as he expects, but howsoever, I presume a line to testifie some little knowledge in the same, and hope in time to expresse myselfe more radier, as the old proverbe is ... il fault du temps pour apprendre." Harry Verney later took part in the Thirty Years' War, and was present at the recapture of Breda by the Prince of Orange in 1637.[704]

It was during the Thirty Years' War also that John Wodroeph served in the Netherlands. He tells us in 1623 that he had been "following the uncertaine warres" for "these seven years past." During this period of service, "by the spared dayes and houres of (his) watch and guarde," he composed a book for teaching French, to which he gave the title of The Spared Houres of a Souldier in his travells or The true Marrowe of the French tongue. It was printed at Dort, near Rotterdam, in 1623, and dedicated to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I. Wodroeph was a "gentleman," and we gather from the interest he shows in Scotland that he hailed from that country. At both the beginning and the end of his book JOHN WODROEPHare several poems of all sorts dedicated to courtiers who had followed James from Scotland to England—the Duke of Lennox, Earl Ramsey, James, Lord of Hay, and others. He also addresses the Elector Palatine and his queen, Elizabeth, James I.'s daughter. Many other poems, some in French and some in English, are written in honour of the Lords of the States-General and of sundry Flemish gentlemen. All these give this work, written in the midst of the British army abroad, a strong local colour. In addition, Wodroeph wrote poems to celebrate the virtues and learning of numerous Scottish and English officers—Colonel William Brog, Colonel Robert Henderson, Captain Roger Orme, Captain Edwards, Captain Drummond, and John Monteith, his very kind captain. To many of these and other "sons of gentlemen" Wodroeph had taught French, when his military duties permitted, and he mentions Captain Drummond as being among his most enthusiastic pupils. He also addresses lines to his very good friend John Cameron, the Scotch theologian and the minister of the French Church at Bordeaux, one of the many Scotchmen who held important scholastic positions in France. These verses must have been written between 1608 and 1617, the period when Cameron was at Bordeaux. Later Cameron became professor of divinity at Saumur and Montauban. He spoke French with unusual purity, and also wrote some of his theological treatises in French.[705]

Apart from its martial atmosphere, this curious volume has also a strong Calvinistic flavour, another indication of Wodroeph's Scottish sympathies. He wrote many "godly songs" in French, to be sung to various psalm tunes, and even introduced the spirit into his grammar itself. His verbs are "truly formed and constructed after the order of Geneva, which retaineth alwaies entirely the true marrow, method and rules of verbs, or any other part of speech, both in their Bibles, Psalms, and other godly books: forsaking all new corruptions, of poets, and other vaine toyes, threatening to deface the old authority of the Orthographie." Moreover, a godly gentleman, "maister John Douglas, minister of the Word of God to the English and Scotch troopers within Utrecht," persuaded him to undertake the translation into French of Sir William Alexander's Doomesday, which at this date embraced four books or "houres," subsequently extended to twelve. Doomesday, thought Wodroeph, would be greatly "liked of in France, yea, even as well as a second Du Bartas." He was, however, unable to complete his task, "finding the style so excellent and so high, and also somewhat harsh, to agree with French verse, because that our English tongue (and chiefly by this extraordinary poet) can affoorde more sense and matter with ten of its syllables than ever I have been able to construe with twelve or thirteen of the French. Therefore I was constrained to leave it off, partly for want of tyme and commoditie, and partly that it was so constrained." The one 'Houre' he completed was included in his book, with an apology and the expression of the hope that "any kind French poet would end out the rest, and also help these few rude lines which are translated in haste out of his week and shallow braine."

Wodroeph wrote French, both verse and prose, with remarkable ease. In addition to the poems already mentioned, there are many others scattered through his works. One of these, "Chanson Spirituelle de la vie des vertueux hommes," is written to the tune of Desportes' song, "O nuit, jalouse nuit, contre moy conjurée." He tells us that whenever possible he used French in correspondence in preference to English. He spoke the language with equal fluency, and assures us that he did so with greater facility than English. He had not acquired this mastery of the language without much study, but by "many cold winter nights sitting at it," and by much practice. He appears to have been fairly widely read in French literature, and shared the admiration felt by many of his countrymen for Du Bartas and the Quatrains of Pibrac.

Thus Wodroeph was perfectly conscious of the many difficulties offered by the French language, and censured in strong terms those who pretend to teach it in a short space of time. "I have shamefully heard say a teacher (in my tyme) that he could give rules, that any might read and write and understand the French language in six weeks. O what a weake ground should hee build therein! Yea not in sixteene months, hee and his gentle teaching! Unlesse he dazell his eyes much, and straine his memory out of her limits." At an earlier date, Holyband had deplored the existence of the many METHOD OF STUDY"thornie and inepte bookes" claiming to give a knowledge of the language, and Wodroeph, in his turn, shows the small esteem in which he held the many "small wares" by which it is impossible to prove a good speaker. He had seen very many treatises on verbs, "confused (for want of space), confusing those who read them," and so many pamphlets and books making believe "by wordes rather than by effects that the French tongue can be truly learned by the same." No doubt most of these little pamphlets are among the many school-books of which all trace has been lost. There is, however, mention of one, A shorte method for the Declyning of Ffrench Verbes, by J. S., licensed in 1623 to the printer, Richard Field.[706]

Wodroeph, therefore, earnestly begs the student of French not to fancy he can "spare the marrow of his famous braines" and pick French up by ear alone, as many seek to do. He must, on the contrary, be prepared "to storm the citadel of grammar, and do as the valiant captaine, that is to say, besiege the strongest houldes which commande over the lesser and weaker sort." "Loving Reader," he writes, "if I could persuade thee to believe what profit the diligent and serious Man doth reape learning the true methode of French Tongue and what advantage he gaineth above him who thinketh to obtaine the said Tongue by the eare only: truly thou wouldest use thine earnest diligence and celeritie perusing these rules." Otherwise learners will speak "scurvily, harshly and painfully, that they make the Frenches take their sport at them, even as the English do at the Welshes ... taking sometyme the male for the female, and the hand for the foote; applying to the woman that which should apply to the man: and to the leg which ought apply to the arme: as la garçon, le femme, ma sieur, and mon dame: ... O what language this is in the eares of the Frenches! I think truely it should make Père Coton him selfe to laugh at it, who said in a sermon (the King and Queen present), that hee had neither sinned nor laughed in fiftene yeares tyme, yea and any man else." Verbs are a special difficulty, and there "be many that can never speake true French for lack of knowing their methode. For where it ought to be spoken thus: Il y eut or il y avait un homme là, some will say il fut, il estoit un homme là. Fine French! And so will the ignorant speake through all the moodes and tenses, whereat the Frenches take often their sport." Thus those who have learnt no grammar "go wallowing in the painefull and muddy mire of confused and backward broyles, doubting and fearing (without any assurance) what words to speak first in framing their phrases."

But Wodroeph, in spite of the great emphasis he laid on the study of rules, fully recognizes the importance and value of practice. "I do not meene (for all this)," he writes, "to condemne common practice of the tongue by the eare, but do praise both wayes; esteeming (nevertheless) the method of the rules for the better and surer way, as I have certainlie found (and many others), by myne owne experience practicing them bothe." "Certes il vous faut parler tousiours," he says, "soit-il ou en bien ou en mal." To make progress "il vous faut frequenter, hanter, accoynter, accoster, discourir, babiller, caquetter, baiser, lecher, parler hardiment et discretement, aymer, rire, gausser, jouer, vous rejouir, et jouir de leurs bonnes faveurs et graces: et principalement ès compagnies honestes: asçavoir, parmi les seigneurs et Dames, Damoiselles honestes, pudiques matrones, femmes et filles de vertu et d'honneur; captaines et dignes chefs de guerre, là où il y a tousiours quelque chose a esplucher, si c'est de leurs prouesses, entreprises, ou de leurs faicts heroiques et memorables . . . sans vous esbahir pour le bruit non plus que fait le bon cheval de trompette." Wodroeph doubtless based his advice on his own experience. Moreover, a bold and enterprising spirit has much to do with the successful study of French: "si vous n'estes hardi prompt, diligent, et vigilent, vous n'apprendrez pas la langue françoise par songe . . . mais cela vient par grande peine, diligence et priere a Dieu. Certes, . . . si un homme estoit marié a une femme françoise . . . il me semble qu'il apprendroit plustost en disant, Mme, ou m'amie, permettez moy que ie vous recerche en tout honeur et mariage . . . a celle fin de vous faire ma chere moitié, et fidele espouse: que par ce moyen, ie puisse et avoir vostre alliance et apprendre vostre language, autrement, madame, il me cousteroit beaucoup plus de temps, de peine et de mes moyens."

Wodroeph's book for teaching French is one of the most comprehensive. He assures the student that it lacks "nothing to make him a perfect Frenchman but the birth and delygence though he never read any other." It fills more than five hundred folio pages. Putting his theories into practice, he "THE SPARED HOURES OF A SOULDIER"begins with rules of pronunciation and grammar, "set downe by God's helpe as I have practiced in my time and by the tracke of best Authours, which have professed this tongue heretofore." His debt to Holyband makes it evident that he ranked the popular sixteenth-century teacher among these. He would have the student pay special attention to three things: first the pronunciation, which, as was usual, he bases on comparison with English sounds; then the genders, learning every noun with its article "to lead to the same in right gender"; and, finally, and most important of all, the verbs, which should be committed to memory. In his grammar he follows the usual order, treating each part of speech in turn. He endeavours to avoid all superfluous rules, fearing the "loathsomeness of the unlearned."

The rules occupy about a hundred pages. Then follows a most comprehensive collection of practical exercises, intended for all sorts and conditions—courtiers, merchants, and the middle classes, "the learned and the unlearned." The dialogues are accompanied by a verbatim English translation. In the introductory ones the reader is referred to the margin for the pronunciation of the most difficult words, where it is given in English spelling. The "true English phrase" is added in the footnote where necessary. Wodroeph was strongly in favour of sacrificing if need be the purity of the English for the sake of rendering the meaning of the French clearer. He did not pretend, he says, to teach his countrymen their "own ornate English." "Verbatim, therefore, sometimes must be had, because it is requisite that it should not always be closed up in a phrase, but showed bare, as it fals very often: then (nil thou wilt thou) thou must have a coat to cover it, that is to say his true signification, or else thou must leave it, and run to the Dictionarie, and dazle thy eyes there awhile, and be even so wise as thou wast before; for sometymes they are not to be found at all in it, and sometymes it will fall in some tense of some mood which no Dictionarie can yield: yea even thousands."

The first section of the dialogues, that accompanied by the guides to pronunciation, deals with familiar subjects, more useful than elegant and more profitable for the middle classes and merchants than for the "loathsome courtier." "Thou hast in this Booke all household stuffe and other pretty necessary words meete for thy dailie use in this tongue. Also an Introduction to frame all common and ordinarie phrases pertaining to a house: as of victuals, dressing, voyaging through the land. Also the partes and cloathing of a Man, his body, all in remarkable phrases; whereof I will shew thee vively, yea every Member, from the crowne of the Head unto the Foot." Though Wodroeph's dialogues are on a much larger scale than usual in French manuals, they treat of much the same topics. He advises the student to read this first set of dialogues several times, as much to get a good foundation of common talk, as to learn the pronunciation by means of the guides provided. They are followed by lists of common phrases to be learnt by heart, "every day one or two, for ordinarie use," and to facilitate an early use of French in conversation, and also by French idioms "very necessary for Translations of this tongue into any other."

After about sixty pages of this introductory matter we pass to what Wodroeph calls "The first booke of familie Dialogues, wherein is treated of all kinds of common necessary phrases as well for the use of the fields, labourage and contries, as for all sortes of home affaires for a house"—all accompanied by a verbatim English translation. These dialogues comprise conversations between members of most ranks of society, from a king and queen, ladies and gentlemen, to family scenes, and discussions between various tradesmen and peasants, not forgetting the schoolmaster and his pupil and the military officer and his subordinates; for, whenever occasion arises, Wodroeph introduces military talk. This section of the work closes with a list of the proper terms in which to address the higher and lower classes.

Next come the dialogues taken from Le verger des Colloques recréatifs, offered by a Walloon to Prince Henry of Nassau, for his furtherance in the same tongue in his younger years. Wodroeph claims to have purified this book, written in "scurvie Wallons language." It had already been adapted to the instruction of the English in the Italian language, by John Florio in his Second Frutes. These dialogues are naturally more of the courtly type, and are concerned with the daily occurrences of the life of a gentleman.

They are followed by The Springwell of Honour and Vertue, a collection of moral sayings and counsels, "composed both by ancient and moderne philosophers not only for the benefit of the corrupted youth, but also for all folkes, of all qualities, and chiefly for the yong gentilitie." END OF WODROEPH'S CAREERWodroeph explains how this collection came to have a place in his book: "being once invited to supper of a worthy and virtuous gentleman (one who had showed me much favour for clearing his eldest sone of some doubts of the French tongue), I saw that hee (his owne selfe) did copie some Theames out of this same Worke ... for to instruct one of his children being (for that present) at the French schoole; I entreated him to lend it me for a Tyme, who did it willingly until I had viewed it, and corrected the French and read it all out." The Springwell is divided into three bookes: the first deals with the "means of acquiring Honour and Vertue"; the second with the old subject of the six or, as Shakespeare has it, seven ages of man; and the third with the worship of God and our duty to our neighbours.

After sundry poems, addressed to English, Scottish, and Flemish gentlemen, and the translation of Sir William Alexander's First Hour, given in both French and English, come directions for writing letters, with thirty-six epistles in French and English, and themes gathered out of French authors for the use of some of his pupils, "before I made them frame any letters: very profitable to begin with and out of the best and purest French." Finally we have the usual proverbs, so much in favour at this period, "picked" from those of the learned Mathurin Cordier, and "sundry other Authours and writers." The work closes with "a Thankesgiving (of the Authour) unto God for his helpe in the finishing of this worke," and the quotation of Wodroeph's device—"Vers Dieu c'est le meilleur."

In 1625 a second edition of this curious volume appeared in London, under the title of The Marrow of the French Tongue. This edition is said to be "revised and purged of much gross English" which had made its way into the former edition, printed abroad. It is considerably abridged, and lacks the living interest of the Dort edition. The actual instructions for the French tongue remain intact, but all the little chatty autobiographical scraps, and observations to the "Loving Reader," as well as the addresses to officers, which gave such a characteristic personal touch to the earlier edition, are here omitted, and the work is about one hundred and seventy pages shorter. The dedication to Charles Stuart, now newly crowned Charles I., still stands. Wodroeph had no doubt returned to England, where he was known to several of the prominent men of the time. In 1623 he had mentioned favours received from James, Lord of Hay, at Hampton Court, sixteen years before. We may presume that he continued to teach French among the higher classes of society after his return, though there does not appear to be any further trace of him.

FOOTNOTES:

[685] Florio, First Frutes, 1578.

[686] J. Aubrey, Brief Lives (ed. A. Clark, Oxford, 1898), ii. p. 140.

[687] A fragment of one leaf, the title page, leaving no date; British Museum, Harl. MSS. 5936.

[688] Arber, Transcript of the Stationers' Register, iii. 413; iv. 152 and 459.

[689] Vocabulaire de nouveau ordonné et derechief recorigé pour aprendre legierement a bien lire, escripre, et parler françoys et flameng, Anvers, 1511 (E. Stengel, Chronologisches Verzeichnis, p. 22 n.; and Michelant, Livre des Mestiers, Introduction).

[690] Arber, Stationers' Register, i. 343.

[691] Ibid. i. 389.

[692] Arber, Stationers' Register, ii. 338.

[693] Cp. Ch. Beaulieux, "Liste de Dictionnaires, Lexicographes et vocabulaires français antérieurs au Thrésor de Nicot" (1606), in Mélanges de Philologie offerts à Ferdinand Brunot, Paris, 1904.

[694] Cp. E. Stengel, "Über einige seltene französische Grammatiken," in Mélanges de Philologie romane dédiés à Carl Wahlund. Macon, 1896, pp. 181 sqq.

[695] Of similar import, no doubt, were the Boke of Copyes Englesshe, Ffrynshe and Italion, licensed to Vautrollier in 1569-70 (Stationers' Register, i. 417); and the Bills of Lading English, French, Italian, Dutch, licensed to Master Bourne in 1636 (ibid. iv. 364).

[696] H. Vaganey, Le Vocabulaire français du seizième siècle, Paris, 1906, pp. 2 sqq.

[697] Advice to a Son, 1656, p. 83.

[698] Cp. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1666-67, pp. 57, 104. At a later date A. de la Barre, a schoolmaster of Leyden, published a Methode ou Instruction nouvelle pour les etrangers qui desirent apprendre la manière de composer ou écrire a la mode du temps et scavoir la vraye prononciation de la langue françoise, Leyden, 1642. In 1644 he issued, also at Leyden, a book probably intended as reading material for his pupils, and called Les Leçons publiques du sieur de la Barre, prises sur les questions curieuses et problematiques des plus beaux esprits de ce temps.

[699] Farrer, La Vie et les œuvres de Claude de Sainliens, Bibliography.

[700] G. S. Rowlands, The Letting of Humour's blood in the Head-Vaine (1600). Edinburgh, 1814.

[701] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1595-97, p. 173; 1601-1603, pp. 18, 111.

[702] Printed in the Camden Miscellany, vol. i., 1847, pp. 65 sqq.

[703] Memoirs of the Verney Family, i. 171.

[704] During the Commonwealth there were many English troops in the service of France, and the Duke of York, afterwards James II., spent much of his first exile in serving under Turenne.

[705] Cp. Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom. An Englishman, Gilbert Primrose, was for a time minister at Bordeaux (till 1623), and afterwards of the Threadneedle Street Church, London (Dict. Nat. Biog.).

[706] Arber, Stationers' Register, iv. 100.

PART III

STUART TIMES

CHAPTER I

FRENCH AT THE COURTS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I.—FRENCH STUDIED BY THE LADIES—FRENCH PLAYERS IN LONDON—ENGLISH GENERALLY IGNORED BY FOREIGNERS

The coming of the Stuarts strengthened considerably the connexion between France and England. French was widely used at the Court of James I. The King himself does not appear to have been well acquainted with other foreign languages than French and Latin, both of which he employed freely in conversation[707] and correspondence.[708] In one or other of these tongues he conversed with the learned foreigners he loved to gather at his Court, such as Isaac Casaubon[709] and the famous Protestant preacher, Pierre Du Moulin, minister of Charenton. The latter has left an account[710] of the warm welcome he received from the English monarch; he tells us that at meal times he usually stood behind His Majesty's chair and conversed with him. James requested Du Moulin to write an answer to Cardinal Du Perron's pamphlet concerning the power of the Pope over monarchs, in which he had been attacked. Du Moulin complied, and his work was printed at London in 1615 as the Declaration du Sérénissme Roy Jacques I. He also preached in French before James at the Chapel Royal at Greenwich, and received marks of distinction from the University of Cambridge, which conferred the degree of D.D. upon him.[711]

An idea of the extent to which French was used in intercourse with ambassadors and other foreigners may be gathered from the Finetti Philoxenus, a series of observations by Sir John Finett, knight and master of the ceremonies to the two first Stuart kings of England, touching the reception and precedence, treatment and audience of foreign ambassadors. The French language was making important progress at this time, and Latin was rapidly losing ground. James was the last king of England to employ Latin in familiar conversation, and this is partly accounted for by his pedantic turn of mind. The spread of the use of French in England was hastened too by its growing popularity all over Europe. The Flemish Mellema, in his Flemish-French Dictionary of 1591, says French is used everywhere in Europe and the East.[712] To be unacquainted with French was accounted a great deficiency in a gentleman. It was said of the language that qui langue a jusqu'à Rome va,[713] and in England the general conviction was that "No nobleman, gentleman, soldier, or man of action in business between Nation and Nation can well be without it."[714]

James seems to have acquired his knowledge of French chiefly by means of intercourse with the many Frenchmen at the Scottish Court, one of whom, Jérôme Grelot, was among the young noblemen who shared his studies.[715] He also read much French literature, however, and later took a great interest in the language studies of his children. They were constantly required to send him letters in French and Latin to allow him to judge of their progress.

"Sir," wrote the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia, "L'esperance que j'ay de vous voir bien tost et d'avoir l'honneur de recepvoir voz commandemens m'empeschera de vous faire ma lettre plus longue que pour baiser tres humblement les mains de vostre Majesté."[716]

The king's eldest son, Henry, made acquaintance with French at a very early age. In 1600, when only seven years old, he addressed a letter in French to the States-General of Holland. He calls this epistle "les primices de nostre main,"[717] and probably received some help in its composition. He also wrote in French to Henry IV., who had recommended to him his riding master, FRENCH STUDIES OF THE STUART FAMILYM. St. Antoine,[718] and to the Dauphin, offering him two bidets.[719] At this time many of the riding-masters in England were Italians, but almost all the dancing-masters were Frenchmen.[720] The young prince, however, had a French master for both these exercises.[721] One of his language masters was John Florio, best known by his translation of Montaigne's Essais, published in 1600, who taught both French and Italian and was the author of several books for teaching the latter. Florio had spent many of his earlier years at Oxford, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century was in London, teaching languages, and well acquainted with many of the chief men of the day. It is uncertain at what date he became tutor to Prince Henry,[722] but in 1603 he was appointed Reader in Italian to Queen Anne, and in the following year "Gentleman extraordinary and Groom of the Privy Chamber." His royal pupil was a great lover of Pibrac's Quatrains, popular among teachers of French. The prince wrote to his mother in 1604, sending her a copy of one of the quatrains, and telling her that if she likes he will undertake to learn the whole by heart before the end of the year; and, in reminding his father of a promise to give ecclesiastical preferment to his tutor, Mr. Adam Newton, he quotes one of them as appropriate:[723]

Tu ne saurois d'assez ample salaire
Recompenser celui qui t'a soigné
En ton enfance et qui t'a enseigné
A bien parler et sur tout a bien faire.

Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I., seems to have been the most accomplished of James's family in so far as French is concerned. He was able to carry on a conversation in it with his father and the Duke John Ernest of Saxe-Weimar when he was thirteen years old.[724] Evidence of his fluency is provided by the well-known episode of his visit to Spain to see the Infanta. The Queen of Spain, daughter of Henry IV. and sister of Henrietta Maria, was delighted when the English prince, on his arrival at the Spanish Court, addressed her in her native idiom. She warned him not to speak to her again without permission, as it was customary to poison all gentlemen suspected of gallantry towards the Queen of Spain. She managed to obtain leave to speak with Charles, however, and had a long conversation with him in her box at the theatre, in the course of which, it is said, she confided to him her desire for his marriage with her sister.[725] When Charles married Henrietta she was quite ignorant of English, and his knowledge of French was again put to the test. He was also called upon to employ French with his mother-in-law, Marie de Medecis, during her stay in England. His letters to her show how accomplished a writer of French he was. He possessed a more elegant style than his French wife, thanks largely to Guy Le Moyne,[726] who was also French tutor to the Duke of Buckingham[727] and other members of the nobility.

Among the French masters employed in the family of Charles I. was Peter Massonnet, a native of Geneva, who attended the princes, Charles (II.) and James (II.), in the capacity of sub-tutor, writing-master, and French teacher. We have no details as to how he taught them, nor do we know if Charles learnt from one or other of the French manuals which had been dedicated to him. Massonnet received a salary and pension from Charles I., in whose service he remained for thirty-two years, first as French tutor to his children and then, in the time of his adversity, as clerk to the Patents, and Foreign Secretary. During the Commonwealth he spent some time at Oxford, and was created D.Med. on the 9th of April 1648, being described as second or under tutor to James, Duke of York.[728] At the time of the Restoration Massonnet was in a very destitute condition. His pension had not been paid during the troubled period of the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth, and to crown all he was outlawed for debt. He had to petition Charles II., his former pupil, several times for the payment of his salary and arrears before his appeal had any real effect. From time to time he received instalments, but in 1668 he was still "the saddest FRENCH TUTORS AT COURTobject of pity of all the king's servants, and ready to perish."[729]

In 1633 Sir Robert le Grys, Groom of the Chamber to James I. and Charles I.,[730] offered his services as tutor to Prince Charles (II.), then three years old. He undertook to make Latin the prince's mother tongue by the age of seven, using an easy method, not "dogging his memory with pedantic rules, after the usual fashion." French was to be the language first studied, and Italian and Spanish also entered the programme.[731] What sort of reception these proposals met with is not known, but in May of the same year Sir Robert was granted the office of captain of the Castle of St. Mewes for life.[732] Another tutor, named Lovell, taught French and Latin to two of Charles I.'s children during the Civil War. He was employed at Penhurst by the Countess of Leicester, to whose care the children had been committed.[733]

Ladies were among the most eager lovers of the French language at the Court of the early Stuarts, and were noted for their proficiency in that tongue. We hear that wealthy ladies go to Court, "and there learn to be at charge to teach the paraquetoes French."[734] Not only was he that could not parlee not considered a gentleman, but the ladies had to talk French if they wished to play a part at Court. French had entirely supplanted Euphuism, the high-flown, bombastic speech which had held sway in polite circles after the appearance of Lyly's Euphues in 1579. "Now a lady at Court who speaks no French," wrote Th. Blount in 1623,[735] "is as little regarded as she who did not parley euphuisme" in the earlier days. Girls, to be considered well brought up, had to "speak French naturally at fifteen, and be turned to Spanish and Italian half a year later."[736] It is improbable that Spanish was learnt in any but a few exceptional cases. Italian, however, was fairly widely learnt for purposes of reading as we may conclude from the title of a book printed at London in 1598 by Adam Islip—The Necessary, Fit and Convenient Education of a young Gentlewoman, Italian, French, and English.[737] John Evelyn's favourite daughter, Mary, was as familiarly acquainted with French as with English. Her knowledge of Italian was limited and characteristic of the general attitude taken up towards that language; she understood it, and was able "to render a laudable account of what she read and observed." His other daughter, Susanna, was also a good French scholar, but apparently knew no Italian, though she had read most of the Greek and Roman authors. Sir Ralph Verney, who dissuaded women from deep study, recognised that French was indispensable, and encouraged them to read French romances especially.

While Italian was sometimes read, French was almost always spoken in polite circles. Milton's avowed preference for Italian forms a noticeable exception to the general rule, and even he acquired some knowledge of French at an early age.[738] There were also many more facilities for learning French than there were for Italian. It is certain—some of the dialogues of the French text-books prove it—that many ladies picked up a conversational knowledge of the language from their French maids. This was how the young daughters of Lord Strafford acquired their knowledge, as we see from the following account of their progress which he sent to their grandmother: "Nan, I think, speaks French prettily ... the other (Arabella) also speaks, but her maid, being of Guernsey, her accent is not good."[739]

Women, however, had had at all times no small influence on the production of French text-books. One of the first written in England, the Treatyz of Walter de Bibbesworth, was composed in the first place for the use of Lady Dionysia de Mounchensy. The two chief grammars of the early sixteenth century, the Introductorie of Duwes and the Esclarcissement of Palsgrave, both owed their origin to royal princesses, and early in the seventeenth century there appeared a grammar written specifically to enable women to "match old Holliband" and "parlee out their part" with men—The French Garden for English Ladyes and gentlewomen to walke in, or a Summer dayes labour, by Peter Erondell or Arundell, LADIES STUDY FRENCHa native of Normandy, and one of the group of refugee Huguenots, who taught the French language in London. Erondell informs us he had long felt the urgent need of such a book in his own teaching experience. "It is to be wondered," he writes, "that among so many which (and some very sufficiently) have written principles concerning our French Tongue (making the dialogues of divers kinds), not one hath set forth any respecting or belonging properly to women, except in the French Alphabet,[740] but as good never a whit as never the better; not that I finde faulte with it, but it is so little, as not to contayne scarce a whole page, so that it is to be esteemed almost as nothing. I knowe not where to attribute the cause, unles it be to forgetfulnes in them that have written of it. For seeing that our tongue is called Lingua Mulierum, and that the English ladyes and gentlewomen are studious and of a pregnant spirits, quicke concertes and ingeniositie, as any other country whatsoever, me thinketh it had been a verie worthie and specious subject for a good writer to employ his Pen." Accordingly Erondell undertook "to break the yce first," as he puts it.

He opens his Garden with some rules of pronunciation in English, "as a gate through the which wee must (and without the which we cannot) enter into our French Garden." He acknowledges that he has selected these rules "out of them which have written thereof." Many are taken from De la Mothe's French Alphabet, and Holyband, as well as Bellot, are also reckoned amongst those "which have written best of it." On one point, however, Erondell claims to make an observation "never noted before in any book." This had to do with the change in pronunciation of the diphthong oi.[741] "Whereas our countrymen were wonte to pronounce these words connoistre ... as it is written by oi or oy; now since fewe yeeres they pronounce it as if it were written thus, conètre."

Erondell reduces the grammar rules to the smallest possible number. "He wishes the student to learn by heart" the first two verbs avoir and estre, and for the rest to "help him selfe by the treatise that M. Holliband made thereof,[742] as being the best (French and English) that I have yet seen, notwithstanding it is not amisse to make you knowe our persons and the number of our conjugations, which M. Bellot, in his French Guide,[743] saith to be sixe, and I can number no more." In dealing with grammar, Erondell claims to correct a gross error common in England—the use of de for the preposition from before a masculine noun preceded by le; "because that in English it is said ... I come from the country, so the English students do commonly say, insteade of Je viens du pays, ... Je viens de le pays.... But why should I finde faulte in the English students," says Erondell, "whereas I my selfe have heard the French teachers (I mean of our language) commit commonly that error?"

Erondell's grammar rules occupy but ten pages. They contain a few observations on the gender and number of nouns, on verbs, notes on du, au, de la, a la, en, y, and on the negative and degrees of comparison. He considers that the rules usually contained in French text-books are too many. Except for a few indispensable rules, "without the which our language can never be intelligiblie spoken," the rest are "rather a trouble and discouragement to the student then any furtherance." He compiled his book "for them of judgement and capacity only, which may far sooner attaine to the perfect knowledge of our tongue, by reason of cutting off those over-many rules, wherein the student was overmuch entangled." His first idea, indeed, had been to make a set of dialogues for women without any rules, but he realised that to do this would have been like building a "house without a doore"; "and so, the gate being wider open, they may walke in who will." Gentlemen also may find some "flowers" to please them, and the garden is an "arbour for the child":

Who with the busie mother now and then
May prattle of each point, in phrases milde
The witty Boies, of bookes of sport and play,
The pretty lasses of their worke all day.

The dialogues, thirteen in number, and all of considerable length, form the main part of the work. As usual they are in French and English, and, in addition, the pronunciation of the more PETER ERONDELLdifficult French words is given in English spelling in the margin. They deal with the events in the daily life of a lady, from her rising in the morning till bed-time. The first portrays the lady, who is of a rather pedantic turn of mind, rising and dressing. The second introduces her two daughters and their French governess. There is much talk on the education of children, and we are spectators of the French tutor's (Erondell) arrival and of the French lesson, which forms the fourth dialogue. Each of the two girls in turn reads in French and then translates. The more advanced is given some English to translate into French, and the beginner is asked to conjugate certain French verbs. This is how the lesson opens:

Sister Charlotte I pray you goe fetch our bookes, bring our French Garden, and all our other bookes: now in the name of God let us begin.

Ma sœur Charlotte, Je vous prie allez querir nos livres, apportez nostre jardin Francois, et tous nos aultres livres: or ça commençons au nom de Dieu.

Mistres Fleurimond read first: speake somewhat louder to th' end I may heare if you pronounce well: say that worde againe. Wherefore do you sounde that s?

Mlle. F. lisez premierement: parlez un peu plus haut afin que j'oye si vous prononcez bien: dites ce mot la derechef. Pourquoy prononcez vous cette s la?

Doe you not knowe that it must be left? Well, it is well said, read with more facilitie, without taking such paines. | ne savez vous pas qu'il la faut laisser? Et bien, c'est bien dit, lisez avec plus de facilité, sans tant vous peiner.
Construe me that, what is that? | Traduisez moy cela, qu'est cela?

Do you understand that? tell me the signification in English—Truly Sir I cannot tell it, I understand it not, I beseech you tell it me, and I will remember it against another time—Give me your paper and I will write it, to th' end you forget it not ... etc.

Entendez vous cela? dites m'en la signification en Anglois—Certes Mons. je ne le scauroye dire, je ne l'entend point, je vous supplie de me le dire, et je le retiendray pour une autre fois—Baillez moy vostre papier et ie l'escripray, afin que vous ne l'oubliez. . . .

At the end of her lesson, Florimond has to point out her younger sister's mistakes; for, says Erondell, "in teaching others, one learns oneself." His rule for learning to read was, "observe your rules and read as you do in English"—a method which explains his system of guides to pronunciation. From the dialogues the student passes to the reading of French literature. The girls' French tutor came between seven and eight in the morning, the dancing-master at nine, the singing-master at ten, and another music-master at four in the afternoon.

In the following dialogues the lady visits first the nursery, and next her sons and their tutors. She is then pictured receiving guests, going out shopping, presiding at the dinner-table,[744] and taking part in the conversation. Finally, in the evening, the company take a walk by the Thames, and the thirteenth and last dialogue "treateth of going to bed, prayers (including the Creed), and night-clothes."

In order to give students an introduction to French verse as well as prose, Erondell adds to his book the story of the Centurion in the New Testament put into French verse by himself. He does not provide any English translation, and considers that the pupil who has progressed so far in the study of the language can very well do without it. For the same reason he here omits, as he does in the last dialogue also, the guides to pronunciation.

For a time Erondell had been tutor in the Barkley family, and dedicated the Garden to the Lady Elizabeth Barkley, with an expression of his gratitude for the many favours he had received from her. The verses on the Centurion are dedicated to Thomas Norton, of Norwood, whom he calls his "très intime et très honoré amy." As was usual at this time, Erondell's book is preceded by commendatory poems, including lines by William Herbert, author of Cadwallader, and by Nicholas Breton. There is also a sonnet by the "Sieur de Mont Chrestien, Gentilhomme françois," possibly the famous Antoine de Montchrétien, who in about 1605 was forced to leave France on account of a duel, and visited both England and Holland. Erondell appears to have been many years in England before he produced his Garden. At this date he had a large clientèle, including "many honourable ladies and gentlemen of great worth and worship." In about 1613 he engaged an assistant to help him, one John Fabre, a Frenchman, "born in the precinct of Guyand, a town of Turnon"; in 1618 Fabre was still "professeing the teaching of the French tongue with Mr. Peter Arundell."[745]

In addition to compiling the French Garden, Erondelle prepared four new editions of Holyband's French Schoolemaister. Although they are said to be "newly corrected and emended by P. Erondell," he made no noticeable changes. The first of these editions appeared in 1606, and the others in 1612, 1615, and 1619. This last date is the latest at which we hear of him.

ERONDELL'S WORKS

The earliest notice we have of Erondell is found in 1586, when he published a Declaration and Catholic Exhortation to all Christian Princes to succour the Church of God and Realme of France,[746] faithfully translated out of French, and printed side by side with the original—another of the many similar pamphlets in French and English. He had thus been in England at least twenty years when his book for teaching French was published, and its tardy appearance led one of his admirers to ask:

Swift Erondell, why hast thou been so slowe
Whose nature is to bring the summer in?

In earlier years Erondell had no doubt made use of Holyband's works; he evinces a high esteem for the sixteenth-century teacher, and shows intimate acquaintance with his Schoolemaister and his Treatise on Verbs. It is an interesting fact that until the middle of the seventeenth century and probably much later Holyband's sixteenth-century French was still being taught in England; as late as 1677 the French Schoolemaister was among the books advertised for sale by Thomas Passenger at the sign of the Three Bibles on London Bridge.[747] The great changes taking place in the evolution of the French language reached England but slowly.

Erondell translated another French work into English.[748] One day Richard Hakluyt, the geographer, brought him the whole volume of the Navigations of the French Nation to the West Indies to translate. From this Erondell selected the Nova Francia, or the Description of that part of New France, which is one continent with Virginia, described in the three late voyages ... made by M. de Monto, M. du Pont Grave, and M. de Poutrincourt, into the countries called by the French men La Cadre, lying to the southwest of Cape Breton ..., which was published in 1609 and dedicated to the "Bright Starre of the North, Henry, Prince of Great Britaine."

The arrival of the French Queen of England, Henrietta Maria, in 1625, gave further stimulus to the already strong French influence at the Court. When she came she knew no English, and for many years after her arrival waywardly refused to study the language. Her numerous suite of French ladies and gentlemen, including Mme. Georges, the Duc and Duchesse de Chevreuse, and Père Sancy, shared her ignorance, as indeed did practically all foreigners. The English Court was thus called upon to exercise its French to the uttermost. The small French colony in London managed to make itself very unpopular, not only with the King but also with the whole Court. Their ignorance of English and English ways caused them to commit blunders which prejudiced people against them. Such was the case when Henrietta and her suite strolled, chattering and making a great noise, through an assembly of English people listening to a sermon. The preacher asked if he must stop, but no notice was taken, and soon the whole retinue returned in the same fashion, evidently not understanding a word of what was going on.[749] Within a year of their arrival, however, most of the French attendants were dismissed.

Four years after the arrival of the French queen, who had a passion for the theatre, a French company arrived in London and acted before an English audience.[750] They first played a farce at Blackfriars on the 17th of November, but did not meet with much success, being "hissed, hooted, and pipinpelted." This hostile reception was partly due to the fact that women[751] took part in the acting—a thing hitherto unknown in England—and partly because the play was a "lascivious and unchaste comedye," and the company was formed of "certain vagrant French players who had beene expelled from their owne country." No wonder that they gave "just offence to all vertuous and well disposed persons in the town." Yet the French actors were not discouraged. They waited a fortnight, and then obtained a licence to play at the Red Bull. This second attempt does not appear to have been more successful than the first. After some three weeks had elapsed, however, the company decided to make a last effort. This time they acted at the Fortune, but with so little success, that the Master of the Revels refunded them half his fee "in respect of their ill-fortune." The failure of the venture was due largely to its novelty, and the popular dislike of the French. FRENCH PLAYERS IN LONDONThough we are told that there was a "great resort" to the French plays,[752] apparently people went more for the sake of rioting than for the pleasure of hearing the French plays.

The stormy reception of 1629 did not, however, hinder other French actors from coming to our country. In 1635 a new company arrived, this time under the special patronage of the Queen.[753] They first played before Her Majesty, who recommended them to the King. Through his influence they were allowed the use of the Cockpit Theatre in Whitehall. There, on the 17th of February, they presented a French comedy called Mélise—either Corneille's Mélite, or more probably Du Rocher's comic pastoral, La Mélize, ou les Princes Reconnus.[754] The King, Queen, and Court were present. The acting met with approval and the players received £10. There was no repetition of the riotous behaviour which had characterised the performances of 1629, probably because there were no women in the company, and also because the players were specially patronised by the Court and the aristocracy. A few days after the King gave orders to the Master of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert, brother of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, that the French company should be allowed to act at Drury Lane Theatre on the two sermon days of each week during Lent, and through the whole of Passion week, when they would avoid rivalry with Beeston's English players, who did not perform on those days. Sir Henry Herbert, himself a good French scholar, tells us he "did all these courtesies to the French gratis," wishing to render the Queen his mistress an acceptable service.

The French actors now enjoyed increasing popularity. When, at the end of Lent, they had to relinquish the Cockpit, Drury Lane, to the English players, their services were still in demand. On Easter Monday they acted before the Court in a play called Le Trompeur puny, no doubt the tragi-comedy of that name by Georges de Scudéry.[755] Their success was even greater than on the occasion of the Court performance of Mélise, and on the 16th of April following, they presented Alcimedor,[756] under the same circumstances, and "with good approbation." These three plays acted at the Court are the only part of their repertoire that is named in the record of the Master of the Revels. On the 10th of May they received £30 for three plays acted at the Cockpit, probably that in Whitehall, where they first acted Mélise before the Court, nearly four months earlier, and not the Cockpit, Drury Lane, where they had played during Lent.

The question now arose of providing the French players with a special theatre of their own. Arrangements were made for converting part of the Riding School in Drury Lane into a play-house, and on the 18th of April the King signified to Sir Henry Herbert his royal pleasure that "the French comedians should erect a stage, scaffolds and seats, and all other accommodations." On the 5th of May following a warrant was granted to Josias d'Aunay and Hurfries de Lau (so Sir Herbert spells their names)[757] and others, empowering them to act at the new theatre "during pleasure." How long the French company, whose director was Josias Floridor, continued to act in London is not known. But it is a striking fact that in 1635 there was a regular French theatre established in the city, and its presence must have had considerable effect. The French company under Floridor again appeared before the Court, in December 1635; we do not know what they played, beyond the fact that it was a tragedy. On the twenty-first of the same month, the Pastoral of Florimène was acted in French at Whitehall by the French ladies who attended the Queen. The King, the Queen, Prince Charles, and the Elector Palatine, were present, and the performance was a great success.

The Queen did not persist in her obstinate refusal to learn English. When she had been in the country about seven years, she began to study the language seriously. Mr. Wingate was her tutor, and her love of the theatre was put to practical use by the performance of long masques and pastorals in English in which she took part. It is not surprising that Henrietta Maria was ignorant of English, for our language was ENGLISH IGNORED ON THE CONTINENTpractically unknown in France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Italian and Spanish were the fashionable modern foreign languages in France. English was either entirely ignored or regarded as barbarous, and since French was widely spoken at the English Court, and Latin was used by scholars, the need for it was not felt.[758] No foreign ambassador ever knew English. Of the Frenchmen who visited England,[759] only a few learnt the language. Chief among these were the French teachers, the pioneers among Frenchmen in the study of the English tongue. Of individuals, the Sieur de la Hoquette, man of letters and traveller, is said to have visited England to see Bacon, and learnt English in order to read the Chancellor's works in the original. He discussed Bacon's works and English novels with J. Bignon, and was surprised to find that scholar acquainted with them. Jean Doujat also knew English, as did La Mothe le Vayer, who married a Scotchwoman, and also perhaps Regnier Desmarais, who draws a few comparisons with it in his grammar.[760] But these were isolated exceptions. Among the languages in which Panurge addresses Pantagruel on their first meeting, English has a place, but is hardly recognisable in its Scottish dress.[761] And the Maréchal de Villars relates in his memoirs[762] that the Duc de la Ferté, "quand il avait un peu bu," would break out in English to the great astonishment and amusement of all who were present. There is a tradition that Corneille kept a copy of the English translation of the Cid, which he showed to his friends as a curiosity.

Yet the general ignorance of English outside England did not discourage English actors from making professional tours abroad. They seem to have enjoyed considerable popularity in Germany and the Low Countries,[763] where they played at first in English. No doubt dancing, mimicry, and music had much to do with their success, and the clown probably took advantage of his position to offer interpretations from time to time. However, the actors soon learnt some German by mixing with German actors. A band of English acrobats had performed at Paris in 1583. Some years later, in 1598, a troupe of English comedians hired the Hôtel de Bourgogne,[764] the only theatre in Paris, from the Confrérie de la Passion, who usually played there. The English actors, at whose head was one Jehan Sehais, got into trouble for playing outside the Hôtel, contrary to the privileges of the Confrérie, and had to pay an indemnity. How much these actors made use of their language for attracting an audience is not certain. At a somewhat later date, another company played at Fontainebleau before Henry IV. and his son, afterwards Louis XIII. The "wild dramas" acted by the English players seem to have made a great impression on the young prince, who afterwards would amuse himself by dressing as a comedian and crying in a very loud voice, "Toph, toph, milord!" pacing about with great strides in the fashion of the English actors.[765] But it is highly probable that these few words were all the English the future king of France could muster.

Like the language, English literature was generally ignored in France. Those men of letters who wrote Latin—More, Camden, Selden, etc.—were known under their Latin names. In the early years of the seventeenth century, however,[766] the French began to take an interest in English literature, and a few translations of prose works appeared, though English poetry and drama remained unnoticed. The first French version of an English work was that of Bishop Hall's Characters of Vertues and Vices which appeared in 1610, and again in 1612 and 1619, and may have had some influence on NEGLECT OF ENGLISHLa Bruyère's Caractères. It is also interesting to note that this enterprising translator was no other than J. L'Oiseau de Tourval, Parisien, who wrote so enthusiastically of Cotgrave's dictionary, which appeared in the following year (1611).[767] In the course of the next twenty years about a score of other translations saw the light, including versions of Greene's Pandosta (1615), of Sidney's Arcadia, and of Bacon's Essays. The translation of the Arcadia was the subject of a violent literary quarrel. Two versions came out at the same time, and both claimed priority. One was due to J. Baudouin, who had lived two years in England learning the language. He was also responsible for the translation of Bacon.[768] His rival was one Mlle. Chappelain.

"English is a language that will do you good in England, but past Dover it is worth nothing," wrote John Florio the language teacher, in his First Frutes (1578). And more than half a century later English was still despised in foreign countries. While French was of use "in all furthest parts of Europe," English still served "but in the Brittaine lland,"[769] and even there did not receive due homage. English, we are told by an indignant upholder of the claims of our language,[770] was left for him who drives the plough; all the scholars, all the courtiers you passed in the street, were good scholars in foreign tongues; many of them chatted French as glibly as parrots, but could not write a single English line without a solecism. But in the meantime the study of English had had its advocates.[771] Richard Mulcaster has already been mentioned as the first Englishman who emphatically urged that English should be studied as thoroughly as foreign languages. "What reason is it," he asked, "to be acquainted abrode and a stranger at home? to know foreign things by rule, and our own but by rote? If all other men had been so affected, to make much of the foren and set light by their own, we should never by comparing have discerned the better. They proined their own speche, both to please themselves and to set us on edge." This was in 1582. Scholars took up the defence of the claims of English against French, just as they did the claims of Latin. Camden seeks to prove that English contains as many Greek words as French,[772] and so is as worthy of respect. And Osborne, in his Advice to a Son, tells the young diplomat to employ an interpreter in his dealings with these foreigners who refused to recognize the value of English, "it being too much an honouring of their Tongue, and undervaluing of your owne, to propose yourself a master therein, especially since they scorn to learn yours." There were, however, a few facilities for learning English at the disposal of foreigners, in addition to residence in England. The marriage of Charles I. with Henrietta Maria had been hailed both in France and England by books which taught the languages of the two countries conjointly, and so strengthened the new bond between them. In England appeared a new edition of Du Bartas, in French and English, for teaching "an Englishman French, or a Frenchman English." Wodroeph's Marrow of the French Tongue (1625), which saw the light at the same time, was said to be "aussi utile pour le François d'apprendre l'Anglois que pour l'Anglois d'apprendre le François," though only the dialogues in French and English could serve this purpose, as, indeed, they might in any other French text-book.[773] This notice is evidently added merely as a concession to topical events; it had not figured in the earlier edition (1623).

In France, on the other hand, was published a work in which English was treated more seriously. This was a Grammaire Angloise pour facilement et promptement apprendre la langue angloise. Qui peut aussi aider aux Anglois pour apprendre la langue Françoise: Alphabet Anglois contenant la pronunciation des lettres avec les declinaisons et conjugaisons, dedicated to Henrietta Maria, and probably arranged by one of the professors of the Collège de Navarre, from which it is dated. We are informed that the princess, and those intending to accompany her to her new home, studied English daily. These lessons, if they were really given, were no doubt a matter of form, and we may judge from the results that they were not taken seriously.

ENGLISH GRAMMARS

This grammar issued in 1625 was not original; it had appeared at Rouen in 1595,[774] and before that date there had been several other editions. The 1595 edition was enlarged and corrected by a certain E. A., who, for about ten years previously, had spent much of his time translating French pamphlets on topical events and similar works from French into English.[775] E. A., who was probably the original compiler of the work, dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth. He says he had collected the material from different authors in the leisure time allowed him by his studies. In its contents the work resembles the usual French manuals produced in England. It opens with rules for the pronunciation of English, followed by grammar rules for the same language, all given in French and English. Then come the dialogues, taken textually and without acknowledgement from Holyband's French Littleton, and one dialogue specially for courtiers, which may have been original.[776] The book closes with the vocabulary of Holyband's French Schoolemaister. The grammatical part of the work is also taken from one of the productions of the French teachers in England—the Maistre d'escole anglais (1580), written by Jacques Bellot for teaching English to foreigners in England and dedicated to a member of the royal family of France.

Bellot protests against the general neglect of the English language, rich enough in his opinion to rank with the most famous living tongues. He claims to be the first to draw up precepts for teaching it. There is little exaggeration in Bellot's claim, for hardly any works on English had as yet been written, and these were chiefly treatises on the orthography, more scholastic than pedagogic in intention.[777] At the close of the year in which Bellot's work was published, however, appeared the first work on English by an Englishman, designed to give instruction to foreigners as well as his own countrymen. This was William Bullocker's Booke at large for the Amendment of Orthographie for English Speech, to which was added "a ruled grammar ... for the same speech to no small commoditie of the English Nation, not only to come to easie, speedie and perfect use of our owne language, but also to their easie and speedie and readie entrance into the secrets of other Languages, and easie and speedie pathway to all strangers, to use our language, heretofore very hard unto them."

Two years later came Mulcaster's Elementarie, urging the claims of the vernacular, and expounding his method for teaching it. Other grammars followed, some in Latin, some in English,[778] but in hardly any of them is any attention paid to foreigners—a striking contrast with those published in France, in which foreigners were always an important consideration. In 1632, however, appeared Sherwood's English-French Dictionary, of which, it is said, the French were "great buyers." Towards the middle of the seventeenth century foreigners received more and more attention in such books, as English became better known. Simon Daines's Orthoepia anglicana,[779] for instance, intended for the use of both natives and foreigners, was published in 1640, as was also The English grammar made by Ben Jonson for the benefit of all strangers out of his observation of the English language now spoken and in use.[780] Ben Jonson had made a collection of grammars, and he speaks of a most ancient work written in the Saxon tongue and character. "The profit of grammar is great to strangers, who have to live in communication and commerce with us," he wrote, "and it is honourable to ourselves." In 1644 another work of like aim was issued under one of the usual florid titles affected at that time: The English Primrose far surpassing others of this kind that ever grew in any English garden. It professed to teach "the true spelling, reading and writing of English," and was "planted" by Richard Hodges, schoolmaster in Southwark, "for the exceeding great benefit both of his own countrymen and strangers." Similarly J. Wharton's grammar of 1655 claimed to be "the most certain guide that ever yet was extant" for strangers that desire to learn our language.

ENGLISH GRAMMARS FOR FOREIGNERS

Thus travellers to England would find some provision for learning English. In the early seventeenth century several French teachers in London undertook to teach English to foreigners, and these were the earliest professional teachers of the language. They had all learnt English after their arrival in the country on very practical methods, an experience which must have reacted on their methods of teaching French. Most of them wrote English with ease, if not always idiomatically. As time advanced, especially in the latter part of the seventeenth century, they composed several English grammars for teaching the language to their pupils. Merchants as well as French teachers were pioneers in advancing the study of English by foreigners. In 1622 George Mason, one of the merchants in London skilled in the French tongue, wrote a Grammaire Angloise, contenant reigles bien exactes et certaines de la Prononciation, Orthographie et construction de nostre langue, en faveur des estrangers qui en sont desireux, but especially, he tells us, for the use of "noz françois tant a leur arrivée en ce pais, que en leur demeure en iceluy." This English grammar[781] is written in French, and gives rules for pronunciation and the parts of speech. It is followed by dialogues[782] in French and English, in the usual style, bearing much resemblance to the Latin colloquies and the dialogues of De la Mothe's French Alphabet. A new edition was issued at London in 1633. The earliest conversation books in French and English printed by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and Pynson are called books for teaching English as well as French. They were indeed equally adapted for either language, but it is very improbable that at this early date even the most enterprising merchants learnt English.

Yet the first foreigners to recognize the importance of English were merchants. English was given a place by the side of Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and German in the edition of the polyglot dictionary for the use of merchants and travellers, printed at Venice in 1540,[783] and at a later date in the polyglot collection of dialogues which developed from the French and Flemish dialogues of Noel de Barlement; not, however, till 1576, when the book had been in vogue for about three-quarters of a century. Gabriel Meurier, schoolmaster of Antwerp, who taught French to many of the numerous English merchants always in the town, was acquainted with our language, but does not appear to have had any opening for teaching it, as he did French, Flemish, Italian, and Spanish. At a later date, however, we find an Englishman gaining his livelihood by teaching his own language in the Netherlands. In 1646 he published at Amsterdam The English schole-master; or certaine rules and helpes, whereby the natives of the Netherlands may be in a short time, taught to read, understand and speake the English tongue, by the helpe whereof the English may be better instructed in the knowledge of the Dutch tongue, than by any vocabulars, or other Dutch and English Books, which hitherto they may have had for that purpose. This work contains an English grammar, followed by selections from the Scriptures, moral and familiar sayings, proverbs, dialogues, letters in English and Dutch. The "Vocabulars" to which he refers furnished him with most of his dialogues. A new edition appeared in 1658.

Rouen, ever a busy centre for merchants, was the place where provision for teaching English was first made in France. Editions of the polyglot dictionary, which included English in the edition of Venice in 1540, were printed at Rouen in 1611 and 1625, and again at Paris in 1631. The 1595 edition of E. A.'s English grammar appeared at Rouen, as had probably the earlier editions. This compilation of the English grammar of Bellot and the dialogues of Holyband was in vogue for a very long time. In addition to the Paris issue on the occasion of the marriage of Henrietta Maria with Charles I. (1625), editions appeared at Rouen in 1639, 1668, 1670, 1679, and most probably at other dates also; another was issued at London, 1677. Perhaps the first book for teaching English printed in France was a Traicté pour apprendre a parler Françoys et Anglois, published at Rouen in 1553, apparently an early edition of Meurier's work, printed at Rouen in 1563 as a Traité pour apprendre a parler françois et anglois, ensemble faire missives, obligations, etc., and again at Rouen in 1641.

It was long before English won recognition from foreigners other than merchants. Not until the eighteenth century was it learnt for the sake of its literature, and as a means of intercourse with the people who spoke it. This state of things made it incumbent on Englishmen to equip themselves with some foreign tongue, and they naturally chose French, the most universal language at that time.

FOOTNOTES:

[707] See accounts in Rye, England as seen by Foreigners.

[708] J. O. Halliwell, Letters of the Kings of England, London, 1846.

[709] Rye, op. cit. p. 153.

[710] "Autobiographie," Bull. de la Soc. de l'Hist. du Protestantisme Français, vii. pp. 343 sqq.

[711] Another famous Frenchman at the Court of James I. was Theodore Mayerne the Court Doctor (cp. Table Talk of Bishop Hurd, Ox. Hist. Soc. Collectanea, ser. 2, p. 390); also Jean de Schelandre and Montchrétien among men of letters. James refused to give audience to the poet Théophile de Viau, exiled for his daring satires. Boisrobert, St. Amant, Voiture, likewise visited England at this period.

[712] Thurot, Prononciation française, i. p. xiv.

[713] Gerbier, Interpreter of the Academy, 1648.

[714] Aufeild: Translation of Maupas's Grammar, 1634.

[715] Young, L'Enseignement en Écosse, p. 78.

[716] Ellis, Original Letters, 1st series, iii. 89.

[717] T. Birch, Life of Henry Prince of Wales, London, 1760, p. 20.

[718] On Henry's death, St. Antoine became equerry to his brother Charles (Rye, op. cit. p. 253).

[719] Ellis, Orig. Letters, ser. 1, iii. 95.

[720] "The French fashion of dancing is most in request with us" (Dallington, Method for Travell, 1598).

[721] His dancing-master was a M. du Caus. There were other Frenchmen in his service. Cp. "Roll of Expenses of Prince Henry," Revels at Court, ed. P. Cunningham, New Sk. Soc., 1842.

[722] J. Aubrey, Brief Lives, ed. Clark, 1898, i. p. 254; Wood, Athen. Oxon. (Bliss).

[723] T. Birch, op. cit. pp. 38, 66, 67.

[724] Rye, op. cit. p. 155.

[725] Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, in Petitot et Monmerqué, Collection des Mémoires relatifs à l'Histoire de France, tom. 37, 1824, pp. 122-3.

[726] Cal. State Papers, 1660-61, p. 162; cp. p. 207, supra.

[727] Probably the second Duke, whom Charles, out of friendship for his father, the first Duke, brought up in his own family.

[728] Foster, Alumni Oxon., ad nom.

[729] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-64, pp. 384, 526, 527; 1668-69, p. 129; Shaw, Calendar of Treasury Books, 1667-68, pp. 346, 365, 620.

[730] He received the order of knighthood from Charles I. in 1629.

[731] Cal. State Papers, 1633, p. 349.

[732] Le Grys translated several works from Latin into English. He died early in 1635; cp. Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[733] E. Godfrey, English Children in Olden Time, New York, 1907, p. 133.

[734] Davenant, The Wits, Act II.; cp. Upham, French Influence in English Literature, p. 7.

[735] Preface to Lyly's Euphues, 1623.

[736] T. Middleton, More Dissemblers among Women, Act I. Sc. 4; cp. Upham, op. cit. p. 6.

[737] Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica, 1824, ad nom.

[738] Probably before he left school (Masson, Life of Milton, 1875, i. p. 57).

[739] E. Godfrey, op. cit. p. 178.

[740] De la Mothe devoted a short chapter to enumerating women's clothing.

[741] Thurot, Prononciation française, pp. 374, 376.

[742] Treatise for Declining French Verbs, 1580, 1599, and 1641.

[743] Perhaps this is Bellot's French Methode of 1588, of which there is no copy in the British Museum, the Bodleian, or Cambridge University Library. There is no trace of his having written a third grammar called the French Guide; in his French Grammar of 1578 the verbs are arranged in five conjugations.

[744] This section in particular bears a close resemblance to the Exercitatio of Vives. See Dialogue 17, in F. Watson's Tudor Schoolboy Life.

[745] In Broad Street Ward; see Cooper, List of Aliens, Camden Soc., 1862; Hug. Soc. Pub., x. Pt. iii. p. 187.

[746] Lambeth Library, 8vo, B-E in fours. Hazlitt, Bibliog. Collections and Notes, ii. 206.

[747] It is included in almost all the Sale Catalogues of private libraries at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century.

[748] Erondell was probably also responsible for numerous other translations from French into English; cp. p. 277, note 2, infra.

[749] Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, 1884, iv. p. 160.

[750] J. Payne Collier, History of English Dramatic Poetry, and Annals of the Stage, 1879, i. pp. 451 sqq.; F. G. Fleay, A Chronicle History of the English Stage, 1890, p. 334.

[751] "Not women but monsters," wrote the Puritan Prynne in his Histriomastrix, 1633, p. 114.

[752] Prynne, op. cit. p. 215.

[753] Payne Collier, op. cit. ii. pp. 2 sqq.; Fleay, op. cit. p. 339.

[754] The former was first acted in France in 1629 and the latter in 1633; cf. Upham, French Influence in English Literature, p. 373.

[755] Scudéry's work is in verse; a king and queen of England figure among the characters. It was first performed in France in 1631.

[756] Probably a tragi-comedy by Du Ryer, acted in 1634; Upham, op. cit. p. 373.

[757] Diary, reprinted: Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage, in an edition of Shakespeare's works, completed by Boswell, 1821, iii. pp. 120, 122. Herbert makes many of his entries in French.

[758] Meurier, Communications familières, 1563.

[759] While the English visited France in great numbers, very few Frenchmen came to England, except those engaged on diplomatic missions, or exiles. Thus, Ronsard, Jacques Grévin, Brantôme, Bodin, in the sixteenth century; Schelandre, d'Assoucy, Boisrobert, Le Pays, Pavillon, Voiture, Malleville, and a few others in the early seventeenth century, spent a short time in England. Among scholars, Peiresc, Henri Estienne, Justel, Bochart, and Casaubon visited our country. St. Amant was twice in England, and on the occasion of his second visit wrote a satirical poem, Albion, in which he gave vent to his dislike of the people and the country (Œuvres, ed. Livet, 1855, vol. ii.). Guide-books to England were few, and far from giving a good impression of the country. See Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, pp. 8, 129.

[760] Rathery, Relations sociales et intellectuelles entre la France et l'Angleterre, pp. 22-23, 48 sqq.

[761] "Lord ghest tholb be sua virtiuff be intelligence, aff yi body schal biff be naturall rehutht tholb suld of me pety have for natur ..." (Œuvres de Rabelais, ed. C. Marty Laveaux, i. 261).

[762] Petitot et Monmerqué, Collection des Mémoires, tom. 68, Paris, 1828.

[763] A. Cohn, Shakespeare in Germany in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, London, 1865, pp. xxviii, cxxxiv, cxxxv.

[764] Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, 1899, pp. 51 sqq.; E. Soulié, Recherches sur Molière, Paris, 1863, p. 153.

[765] Journal de Jean Hervard sur l'enfance et la jeunesse de Louis XIII, 1601-28, Paris, 1868. Quoted by Jusserand, op. cit. p. 57 n. One of Louis's tutors was an Englishman, Richard Smith.

[766] S. Lee, "The Beginnings of French Translations from the English," Proceedings of the Bibliog. Soc. viii., 1907, pp. 85-112.

[767] Tourval was for long engaged on turning James I.'s compositions into French, and complains of not receiving any reward nor even his expenses.

[768] He also translated Godwin's Man in the Moon, 1648, which had some influence on Cyrano de Bergerac. He was probably the Jean Baudouin who studied at Edinburgh in 1597.

[769] Gerbier, Interpreter of the Academy, 1648.

[770] T. B. Squire, in Simon Daines's Orthoepia Anglicana, reprinted by R. Brotanek in Neudrucke frühneuenglischer Grammatiken, Bd. iii., 1908.

[771] By the end of the sixteenth century it was quite a usual thing for learned subjects to be treated in English. Ascham apologised for using English in his Toxophilus (1545), but in his Scholemaster (1570) he used it as a matter of course.

[772] Jusserand, Histoire littéraire du peuple anglais, 1904, p. 316.

[773] Florio makes the same claim in his First Frutes for teaching Italian and English.

[774] Grammaire Angloise et Françoise pour facilement et promptement apprendre la Langue angloise et françoise. A Rouen, chez la veuve Oursel, 1595, 8vo. The Brit. Mus. copy contains MS. notes of a French student.

[775] In 1586 he translated three letters of Henry of Navarre, and in following years a continuous series of similar works; in 1587 the Politicke and Militarie Discourse of La Noue; in 1588 the Discourse concerning the right which the House of Guise have to the crown of France, etc. His latest translation appears to have been Louis XIII.'s Declaration upon his Edicts for Combats, 1613. This E. A. may have been identical with Erondell (or, as sometimes written, Arundel), who gives his name as "P. Erondell (E. A.)" in his translation of the Declaration and Catholic exhortation (1586).

[776] It bears a strong resemblance to the first dialogue in Erondell's French Garden.

[777] Such as the works of Sir Thomas Smith, John Cheke, John Hart, all of which appeared before 1580.

[778] By P. Greenwood (1594), Ed. Coote (1596), A. Gill (1619), J. Herves (1624), Ch. Butler (1633). Some are reprinted by Brotanek, op. cit.; cp. F. Watson, Modern Subjects, chap. i.

[779] Reprinted by Brotanek, op. cit. vol. iii., 1908.

[780] Works, 1875, vol. ix. pp. 229 sqq.

[781] Reprinted by R. Brotanek, op. cit. Heft i., 1905, pp. 105.

[782] Pp. 60 sqq.

[783] It had no place in the earlier editions of 1534 and 1537.

CHAPTER II

FRENCH GRAMMARS—BOOKS FOR TEACHING LATIN AND FRENCH—FRENCH IN PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS

One of the most noted teachers of English as well as of French was Robert Sherwood, who in 1632 completed his English-French Dictionary which was appended to the new edition of Cotgrave's work issued in that year.[784] Sherwood was born in Norfolk,[785] although he later called himself a Londoner. In July 1622 he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1626. He then moved to London and opened a language school in St. Sepulchre's Churchyard, where he continued to teach for many years. He also taught English to many French, German, Danish, and Flemish nobles and gentlemen who visited London. To these distinguished visitors he dedicated his dictionary in 1632, as well as the second edition of his French grammar in 1634, expressing the hope that he would soon be able to produce an English grammar "toute entière," for only the practical exercises in French and English could be of use to them in their study of English. His French grammar was intended "for the furtherance and practice of gentlemen, scollers and others desirous of the said language." We gather that Sherwood's school was limited entirely to the higher classes, and was very different from Holyband's noisy and bustling establishment.

The first edition of Sherwood's French Tutour, as he called his grammar, saw the light in 1625,[786] just before he graduated at Cambridge. He had probably worked at it as well as at his dictionary during his residence there, and appears to have taught French to private pupils. How he first acquired his knowledge of French, we do not know. He may have spent some years in France before going to Cambridge, since he would not find much opportunity of studying the language there. His work is little more than a translation of selections from the French grammar of Charles Maupas of Blois (1625). Perhaps he studied the language with Maupas himself, of whom he speaks with great respect. In parts of his grammar, however, Sherwood drew on his own "long experience" in teaching French.

The second edition of the French Tutour (1634) is said to be carefully corrected and enlarged. In it Sherwood follows the usual order of treatment. First come rules of pronunciation, then of grammar, which show "the nature and use of the Articles, a thing of no small importance in this language: also the way to find out the gender of all nounes: the conjugation of all the verbs regular and irregular; and after which followeth a list of most of the indeclinable parts (which commonly do much hinder learners) Alphabetically Englished; with a most ample syntax of all the parts of speech." This section closes with an alphabetical index "interpreting such nounes and verbes as are unenglished in the grammar." The practical exercises are in the form of "three dialogues and a touch of French compliments," in French and English, arranged in two parallel columns on a page. The first deals with familiar talk by the wayside, depicting travellers on their road to London, and, on their arrival, taking lodgings at the Black Swan in Holborn, doing their shopping, and taking their evening meal. The other two dialogues treat of less familiar subjects; and, on the whole, Sherwood's book was not of a popular kind, but was intended for the "learned." One describes the exercises and studies of the nobility, dancing, riding, fencing, hunting, geography, cosmography, and so forth; and the other turns on the subject of travel in foreign countries, in which Sherwood emphasizes the necessity for the traveller of "some good and fundamental beginning in the language of the country whither he goeth." The Tutour closes with a selection of French compliments from the book of M. L. Miche on French courtesy, to which Sherwood added an English version.

Another Englishman also ventured in the early years of the seventeenth century to write on the French language—William Colson, who called himself a Professor of Literal and Liberal Sciences. He had spent many years abroad as WILLIAM COLSONtravelling companion to young English gentlemen, "as well learning as teaching such laudable arts and qualities as are most fitting for a gentleman's exercise." Seemingly he spent some time in the Low Countries, and he may have found his pupils among the English troops serving there, as in 1603 he published at Liége a book in French on arithmetic which also provides military information. Before 1612 he had returned to London, where he composed a similar work in English, dedicated to the Lords of the Privy Council.[787] He tells us that on his return from his travels he wrote "certaine litteral workes," mostly on the teaching of languages, and like an earlier English writer, John Eliote, evolved a special method which he called "arte locall or the arte of memorie." He expounds his "method," which is very vague and obscure in its application, in one of his French text-books which appeared in London in 1620 and was called The First Part of the French grammar, Artificially Deduced, into Tables by Arte Locall, called the Arte of Memorie. Colson desired to reconcile the old orthography with the new, as Holyband had done earlier, by means of a reformed alphabet of twenty-six letters, and of a triple distinction of characters, Roman, Italian, and English. Roman type was to stand for the proper pronunciation, that is, letters which are pronounced as they are written; the Italian for the improper, that is, letters which are not given their usual pronunciation; and finally the letters written but not sounded were to be printed in black letter. In his reformed alphabet he divides the letters into seven vowels and eighteen consonants, and subdivides the consonants into semivowels and mutes. He gives each letter its usual name, and then its special name according to his own scheme, as follows:

A | E' | E | O | I | Y | V | H | S | Z | X | I | L | R | N | M | | F | Λ | B | P | : | D | T | G | K | C | Q
a | é | e | o | i | y | u | éh | és | éz | éx | éi | él | ér | én | ém | | éf | éΛ | éb | ép | : | éd | ét | ég | ék | éc | éq
proper names | | | | |
speciall names | | | | |
| he | sé | zé | xé | ié | lé | ré | né | mé | | fé | Λé | bé | pé | : | dé | té | gé | ké | cé | qé

Aspiration | ↓ | ↓ | | | | | | | |
| 8 semivowels | 10 mutes

↓
7 vowels

↓
18 consonants

↓
Elements and Letters

And all the said Alphabet is briefly contained in these five artificiall words to be learnt by heart:—Haeiou—sezexeie—lereneme—feΛebepe—detegeke.

After treating of the letters, Colson proceeds to deal with the other three chief parts of grammar—"the sillible, the diction, and the locution" (the last two dealing with accidence and syntax respectively) in a similarly intricate and obscure style. It is difficult to imagine what can have been his reasons for his scheme of complicated divisions and sub-divisions, more like a puzzle than anything else. Yet he appears to have been serious, and assures us that once his reformed alphabet is mastered "the perfect pronunciation, reading, and writing of the French tongue is gotten in the space of one month or thereabouts." It is not surprising that his attempted reform passed quite unheeded.

This First Part of the French grammar, which is dedicated to "the Worshippfull, worthie and vertuous gentleman, M. Emanuel Giffard, Esquire," seems to be the only one of Colson's works on the French language which has survived. At its close is a large folding sheet, containing the table of his reformed alphabet, dedicated to Sir Michael Stanhope and Sir William Cornwallis by their affectionate servant. The date is 1613. Colson informs us that he had also compiled a French grammar divided into four parts, after a new method. He likewise refers to "all his bookes tending to the instruction of the French tongue," such as his "booke of the declination of nouns, and conjugation of Verbes," and his "three repertories of the English, French, and Latine tongues, compounded by arte locall for aiding the memorie in learning most speedily the words of the foresaide tongues by heart in halfe time": his "Repertoire of all syllables in general and of all French words in particular containing the Art to learn them easily by heart in verie short time and with little labour to the great contentment of him which is desirous of the French tongue, all reduced into Tables by Art Locall as before said": and "other works of ours shortly to be printed tending to the knowledge of the foresaid tongues, in which works is set downe by Art and order local (called the Art of Memory) most easy and brief rules to learne the foresaid bookes by heart." Most of these, no doubt, were short pamphlets, perhaps in the shape of the large folding sheet inserted at the end of the Grammar of 1620, and so stood but little chance of survival.

At this same period the popular French grammar of Charles Maupas, well known to many travellers to France, was translated into English by William Aufeild and published in 1634. WILLIAM AUFEILDMaupas's grammar, first printed at Blois in 1607, had won a considerable reputation in England, and was not without noticeable influence on the French grammars published in London. Sherwood, who had made free use of Maupas, praised him very highly. James Howell, in his edition of Cotgrave's Dictionary, advises students to seek fuller grammatical information in Maupas's Grammar, "the exactest and most scholarlike of all." William Aufeild, the translator of the book—"the best instructions for that language by the consent of all that know the book, that were ever written"—considers that it excels all the French grammars ever produced in England: "all of them put together do not teach half so well the idiom of the French tongue as this one doth." We are assured that the work was in great demand when it first appeared in England, and that a great number of the nobility and gentry were commonly taught by means of it. Finding that the fact that it was written in French was a great drawback, as it could only be used by those who already understood French, Aufeild decided to translate it into English, and dedicated his work to the young Duke of Buckingham,[788] son of the duke to whom Maupas had offered the original. Aufeild tells that he had been studying French for ten years when he undertook his task. He called the translation A French grammar and Syntaxe, contayning most exact and certaine Rules for the pronunciation, Orthography, construction and use of the French language.[789]

To adapt the work to the use of the English, the translator placed a small cross under letters not pronounced in the French word, thus adopting Holyband's plan. These letters were also printed in a different type, "that better notice might be taken of them." He also endeavours to give the sounds of the French alphabet in English spelling, so that if the student "pronounce the one like an Englishman, he must needs pronounce the same sounds, written after the French manner, like a Frenchman." This, he says, is the only invention which he claims as his own in the whole work. "The examples as well as the text, are englished to save the reader so many lookings in his Dictionary"; and the word to which the rule has special reference is printed in different type from the rest of the example. Occasionally the text is expanded by additional explanations, included in parentheses.

Aufeild advises the student of French to read the whole grammar through first, in order to get a general notion of the language. It is vain, he argues, to begin learning rules for the pronunciation of a language of which you are totally ignorant. Especially is this so in the case of the "unlearned," that is, those unacquainted with Latin grammar. For instance, "you shall find that in all the third persons plural of verbes ending in -ent, n is not pronounced," and so on. Now, "unless a man can distinguish an adverbe from a verbe," he says, "or till he know how the plurall number is made of the singular how shall he know ... when to leave out n before t?" "In my opinion," he adds, "it is but a dull and wearisome thing for a man to take a great deale of paines, in learning to pronounce what he understandeth not." Clearly his ideal was a preliminary grounding in the general principles of grammar. When you have a general knowledge of the whole language you may begin at the pronunciation and "so goe through it againe in order as it lieth." In the second reading the student should take into account the less important rules which are omitted in the first perusal.

Aufeild's final piece of advice is at variance with the general practice among teachers of the time. He would have the pupil postpone all attempts at speaking the language until the last stages: "be not too greedy," he warns the reader, "to be thought a speaker of French before you are sure you understand what you read." The best known teacher of Italian in the seventeenth century, Torriano, was of the same opinion: "for the avoiding of a vulgar error or fault very predominant in many, namely of being over hasty to be speaking of a language, before it be well understood, I thought not amiss to produce the quotation of one Mr. Wm. Aufeild.... I jump with him that they who are last at speaking speak the best and surest and so much I find by my experience among my scholars."[790] Many years before, Roger Ascham had expressed the same view with regard to the teaching of Latin. He admitted that the "dailie use of speaking was the best method," but only provided the learner could always AUFEILD'S ADVICE TO STUDENTShear the language spoken correctly and avoid "the habit of the evil choice of words, and crooked forming of sentences"; but as it is, loquendo male loqui discunt, and he advises the postponement of speaking until some progress had been made.[791]

Considering Aufeild's ideas as to the speaking of French, we quite expect to find him condemning attempts to pick up the language without the help of rules; "for if with Rules, you shall be often at a loss, certainly you shall stick at every word without them." It may be that "they which take another way, may speake more words in halfe a yeare then you shall in twelve month; but in a year's space you may, with diligence and industry, speake better (and after a while more) than another shall doe all his life time, unless there be a vast disparity between your abilities of mind."

His attitude as to the respective importance of grammatical study and its practical application was not in keeping with that of Maupas, of whom he said, "I know not whom you can equal to him." Maupas had written his grammar in French instead of the international language, Latin, because he advocated the study of the grammar in the French language itself; he taught reading and pronunciation by means of reading the grammar in French. Aufeild, on the contrary, considered it a drawback that when English students travelled into France they had to learn enough French to converse with their teachers before they could learn of their teachers how to converse with others. This was the reason which induced him to translate the grammar, although in doing so he, no doubt unconsciously, set at nought Maupas's principal reason for writing it in French.

We know of no other French grammar produced in France which was specially favoured by English learners of French. But no doubt many Englishmen, besides those who travelled, studied from French grammars. English travellers returning from France would, no doubt, bring back grammars which might also arrive through other channels. Even in the time of Elizabeth foreign books had been freely imported into England, and the foreign trade of the stationers of London was very extensive. That the early French grammars were known in England is shown by their influence on those produced in England, although in many cases this is more readily explained by the circumstance that they were the work of Frenchmen newly arrived from France. However, it is not likely that these French grammars were ever widely used in England for learning the language, when books in English were ready to hand and easier to use. In Scotland, on the other hand, where such books were not in existence, they were probably more widely employed. Both countries, Scotland in particular, made free use of foreign text-books for the teaching of Latin; but the case is hardly the same for the international language.

In the meantime the production of French grammars in England continued uninterruptedly. The Flower de Luce planted in England was the title of a grammar which appeared in 1619. This work was due to one Laur Du Terme, of whom nothing is known beyond the fact that he was a Frenchman and a protégé of Bacon, then Lord Chancellor. Du Terme had evidently been in England long enough to acquire some knowledge of English, in which he wrote his grammar. After imploring his patron to water his 'flower' with a few drops of favourable approbation, he proceeds to address the gentle reader in these words: "Looke not in this Treatise, for any eloquent words, nor polished sentences, for I doe not go about to begge any favour nor insinuate into any man's love by coloured and misticall phrases.[792] Neither do I intend to teach my masters, but in requitall of your kind curtesie in teaching mee this little English I have, do in the same set downe suche precepts as I find best for the pronouncing, understanding, and speaking of the French tongue." These precepts he selected from other grammars "used by many both teachers and learners, yet I presume this will be as agreeable as any were yet, and in brief containing more than ever I saw yet in English." The pronunciation is explained by comparison with English sounds, and then each part of speech is treated in turn; constant analogies with Latin occur, and he also gives a list of French suffixes with their Latin roots, and endeavours to introduce the Latin gerund and supine into French grammar, not being of those who sought to delatinize French grammar. For the verbs he refers the student to the rules given by Cotgrave at the end of his dictionary, "very profitable for every learner to reade," where they are arranged in four conjugations, "while some authors make three, some five, some six, and little enough for the understanding of all the verbs." LAUR DU TERMEHe makes no claim to completeness—"and if by chance I have applied a rule instead of an exception or an exception instead of a rule, the teacher may easily mend it, and your courteous censure in reciprocall of the good-will I beare unto you I hope will excuse it. Reade it over, but not slightly, consider every rule and way every word in it."

Du Terme's aim in his rules is to be brief and plain. He desired them to be regarded in the light of a reference book. The student was to begin to read from the very first. The Flower de Luce does not provide the usual stock of reading-exercises, and Du Terme advises the student to use "any good French author he likes best; and what word soever he goes about to reade, let him looke upon his Rules concerning the pronunciation of the letters, how they are pronounced in several places, first the vowell, then what consonants are before and after, and, having compared and brought all the Rules concerning those letters together, he shall easily finde the true pronunciation of any word." The sounds of the language should be thoroughly mastered at the outset: "Bestow rather five days in learning five vowels, then to learne and passe them over in a day, as being the chief and only ground of all the rest, without the which you shall loose your labour, not being able to pronounce one diphthongue unless you pronounce the vowels well, perfectly, neatly and distinctly, without confounding one with another. The which case you must observe in the consonants." For the proper understanding of the matter read, he recommends the use of "some bookes that are both English and French, as the Bible, the Testament, and many others that are very common in England." He admits that this method is slow and difficult at first, "yet notwithstanding, after a little labour, will prove exceeding easie, as by experience hath been tryed: in so much as some have learned perfectly to reade and understande the most part in less than the quarter of a year, onely applying themselves unto it one hour and a half in a day."

Paul Cougneau or Cogneau, another French teacher of London, also wrote a French grammar at this period. He called it A sure Guide to the French tongue, and published it in 1635. Cogneau had no mean opinion of his book. "It hath in some things a peculiar way, not commonly traced by others," he tells us. "In the beginning are rules of pronunciation, then for the declension of articles, nouns and pronouns, and in the end the conjugation of diverse verbs, both personal and impersonal ... and throughout the whole book there is so great a multiplicity of various phrases congested as no one book for the bulk contains more. All which besides are set forth with plainness as fit it for the capacity even of the meanest. Much pains hath been employed about it, and I hope not without great benefit and profit in the right use of it, and consequently not unworthy of the kind acceptance which I heartily wish." But the work has little value or originality, in spite of its interest to the modern reader. The rules occupy thirty pages only. They are taken mainly from Holyband and De la Mothe. The nouns, articles, and pronouns receive very meagre treatment, but the auxiliaries and verbs, the regular and a few irregular verbs, are fully conjugated at the end of the book, being arranged in sentence form, as in many modern text-books:

J'ay bien dormi ceste nuit.
Tu as trop mangé.
Il a trop bu, etc.

The practical exercises, which fill the next three hundred pages, reproduce the dialogues of the same sixteenth-century writers—the only two who retained their popularity in the seventeenth. The exercises of the French Schoolemaister, the French Littleton, and the French Alphabet are all repeated without any acknowledgement.

Like Du Terme, Cogneau attached much importance to pronunciation and reading. He held that pronunciation was best learnt with the help of a teacher, and that rules were not of much use in this case.

"I have observed," he writes, "how many of my countrymen have taken great pains and labour to show the English how to pronounce the French letters, by letters; but these men labour in vain: for I know that the true pronunciation of any tongue whatsoever cannot be taught so: nor none can learn it so; I mean, to speak it well and truly as it ought to be: to learn to understand it by such rules, one may in time and with great pains, but, as I have said, never to speak it well and perfectly, without he be taught by some master. I say not that the rules are unprofitable, no, for they are very profitable being well used, and the learner being well directed to understand them aright; but, as I have said, so I say still, that whosoever will learn this noble and famous tongue, must chuse one that can speak good French, and one that hath a good method in teaching, and the first thing to learn of him must be to pronounce perfectly our 22 letters, and give every one its due sound and pronunciation."

The student should undertake nothing until he has mastered the sounds of the letters and syllables. PAUL COGNEAUThen he may pass to the reading, "and in that reading learn to spell perfectly, for it is that which will perfect thee, so that thou wilt be able to correct many Frenchmen both in their speaking and writing, if thou wilt take pains to learn it perfectly and be as perfect in it as in thy native tongue. If thou dost mark well what I have said, and do it, and if thou hast a good teacher, thou maiest learn the French tongue easily in a year." Cogneau gives his grammar rules in both French and English, and evidently intended them to form part of the reading material on which the student was to begin as soon as he had mastered the French sounds. From these he proceeds to the dialogues. "Thou must learn this book perfectly, to read the French in English and also the English in French perfectly, and I durst warrant that whosoever shall learn this book perfectly will be a perfect Frenchman, and shall be able both to speak and write the French tongue much better than the most part of Frenchmen." The only differences, then, between the methods advocated by Laur Du Terme and Cogneau are that the first would have the student learn the pronunciation by reading, and the second from the lips of a master before the student begins to read; and that Cogneau adopts the method of double translation, so strongly urged by De la Mothe, while Du Terme mentions only translation of French into English. In fact, Cogneau's method was probably suggested by the sixteenth-century teachers.

Cogneau's Guide was in vogue for a number of years. In 1658 a French teacher, Guillaume Herbert, who appears to have had no mean opinion of his own abilities, edited the fourth edition. He describes the earlier form of the work as a "blind" guide rather than a sure one, but now that it has been revised by him "both masters and scholars may with more confidence venture upon it as the most correct book now extant of this kind and in these tongues, and I dare promise them that if I live to see and oversee the next edition, I will so purge and order it that every reader may (if ingenious and ingenuous) give it deservedly the name of a Sure Guide." It is difficult to see in what the improvements he boasts of consist, for his is little more than a reprint of the earlier editions. With Herbert's edition the popularity of the Sure Guide came to an end, no doubt owing to the appearance of more recent works.

William Aufeild complained, not without reason, that most professors teach only what other men "have set downe to their hand in English many years agoe," and it is undeniable that several of the sixteenth-century French grammars continued to be used in England as late as the middle of the seventeenth century. Holyband was specially in favour, and so was De la Mothe. Peter Erondell, it has been seen, prepared new editions of the French Schoolemaister in 1606, 1612, 1615, and 1619. Another French professor, James Giffard, was responsible for other editions in 1631, 1636, 1641, 1649, 1655, and it appears to have been printed again in 1668; this Giffard was probably the Jacques Giffard who attended the Threadneedle Street Church;[793] he is said to have been a native of the isle of Sark, and in 1640 he married Elizabeth Guilbert of Guernsey. Editions of the French Littleton saw the light in 1602, 1607, 1625, 1630, 1633, and 1639. None of these editions contains any very noticeable alterations. The new editions of De la Mothe's French Alphabet (1625, 1631, 1633, 1639, and 1647) are merely reprints of the first edition of 1592. Thus it came about that the French of the sixteenth century was still taught in England in the seventeenth, regardless of the great changes which had been accomplished in the language in the meantime.

The first half of the seventeenth century was also a period during which French began to receive greater recognition in the educational world. Latin, it is true, retained its supremacy in the grammar school; but it is significant that a considerable number of Latin school-books were adapted to teaching French, and helped to swell the number of such manuals at the service of students. Thus French gained a place by the side of Latin, and some went so far as to question the supremacy of Latin as the "learned" tongue of Europe. In 1619 Thomas Morrice[794] deemed it necessary to refute the "error" of those of his countrymen who placed French before Latin—"a most absurd paradox" in his opinion, for "French was never reckoned a learned tongue; it belongs by right to one country alone, where the people themselves learn Latin." Such protests had little effect. In the first years of the century we have the earliest recognition of French as distinct from other modern languages, at the hands of a writer on education; FRENCH MAKES HEADWAYJ. Cleland held that a young gentleman's tutor should be skilled in the French as well as the Latin tongue, because "it is most used now universallie,"[795] and that the student, after translating English into Latin, should proceed to turn his Latin into French, "that he may profit in both the Tongues together."[796]

It was indeed by no means uncommon for French and English tutors to give instruction in both these tongues. Denisot, Palsgrave, Holyband, and many other French teachers had done so. Joseph Rutter, tutor to the son of the Earl of Dorset, at whose request he translated the Cid into English, is said to have made his pupil his collaborator in this task, and probably taught him French as well as Latin, and his case does not appear to have been exceptional. Evelyn, the diarist, learnt the rudiments of Latin from a Frenchman named Citolin, and probably picked up some French at the same time; travel abroad and his marriage with the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, English ambassador at Paris, who from her youth upwards had lived in France, gave him opportunities for improving his knowledge of the language, in which he was soon able to converse with ease.[797] Evelyn's son Richard also studied the two languages together; when he died in 1658, at the early age of five, he was able to say the catechism and pronounce English, Latin, and French accurately, also "to read an script, to decline nouns and conjugate all regular and most of the irregular verbs." He had likewise "learn'd Pueriles, got by heart almost the entire vocabulary of Latine and French primitives and words, and could make congruous syntax, turne English into Latine and vice versa, construe and prove what he read, and did the government and use of relatives, verbs, substantives, elipses, and many figures and tropes, and made a considerable progress in Comenius's Janua, began himself to write legibly, and had a strong passion for Greek."[798]

The manuals for teaching Latin and French together, either Latin school-books with French added, or works specially written for giving instruction in the two languages, probably resulted from this connexion. At an early date French had found a place in several Latin dictionaries.[799] Soon afterwards it made its way into some of the Latin Colloquia and school authors. In 1591 the printer John Wyndet received a licence to print the dialogues of Corderius in French and English.[800] There is also a notice of an edition of Castellion's Sacred Dialogues in the same two languages.[801] Aesop's Fables were printed in English, French, and Latin in 1665, with the purpose of rendering the acquisition of these languages easier for young gentlemen and ladies; each fable is accompanied by an illustration due to Francis Barlow, and followed by a moral reflection. Thomas Philpott was responsible for the English version, and Robert Codrington, M.A., a versatile translator of the time, for the Latin and French. At least two other editions appeared in 1687 and 1703. Another favourite author was published in the same three languages at a later date—the Thoughts of Cicero ... on (1) Religion, and (2) Man.... Published in Latin and French by the Abbé Olivet, to which is now added an English translation, with notes (by A. Wishart) (1750 and 1773). Of these few examples of Latin and French text-books, two are known only by hearsay. It is likely that others, adapted to the same purpose, have disappeared without leaving any trace at all; as such school-books were usually printed with a privilege, their names are not preserved in the registers of the Company of Stationers. Little wonder that such manuals, subjected to the double wear and tear of teaching both Latin and French, have been entirely lost. The one volume which has come down to us is Aesop's Fables in French, Latin, and English, and its survival is explained by the elaborate and costly form in which it was issued.

In 1617 was published the Janua Linguarum Quadralinguis of Jean Barbier, a Parisian. The work, originally written in Spanish and Latin (1611) for the use of Spaniards, was in time adapted to teaching Latin and incidentally Spanish to the English, by the addition of an English translation in 1615. The fact that French was added two years later by Barbier is not without significance. Foremost among books for teaching French and Latin together, however, was the famous Janua Linguarum of Comenius, from which Evelyn's son learnt his Latin, and presumably his French also. It was printed in England in English, French, and Latin, in the very BOOKS FOR TEACHING LATIN AND FRENCHyear in which it had first come out at Leszna in Latin and German (1631). In this form it was given the title of Porta Linguarum trilinguis reserata et aperta, or the Gate of Tongues unlocked and opened. The Janua contains a thousand sentences, dealing with subjects encyclopaedic in plan, beginning with the origin of the world, and ending with death, providence, and the angels. The intervening chapters treat of the earth and its elements, animals, man, his life, education, occupations, afflictions, social institutions, and moral qualities. J. A. Anchoran, Licentiate in Divinity, a friend of Robert Codrington and apparently a Frenchman, was responsible for the edition of the Porta Linguarum in English, French, and Latin. He declares he prepared it "in behalf of" the young Prince Charles (II.), then about a year old, and of "British, French and Irish youth." His efforts proved successful; there were two issues of the work in 1631, and other editions appeared in 1633, 1637, and 1639.

With the second and following editions was bound an index to the French and Latin words contained in the Porta Linguarum, entitled: Clavis ad Portam or a Key fitted to open the gates of tongues wherein you may readily find the Latine and French for any English word, necessary for all young scholars. It was dedicated to the schoolmasters and ushers of England, and printed at Oxford, being the work of Wye Saltonstall, teacher of Latin and French in that University.

Yet another brief treatise was commonly bound with the 1633 edition of the Porta Linguarum—The Pathway to the Gate of Tongues, being the first Instruction for little children, intended as an introduction to Comenius, but chiefly to give instruction in French. It was due to one of the French teachers in London, Jean de Grave, no doubt the son of the "Jean de Grave natif d'Amsterdam" who came to England in the early years of the seventeenth century and died some time before 1612. De Grave was a member of the French Church, and in 1615 was twice threatened with expulsion owing to his sympathy with the Brownists; but he saved the situation by recanting.[802] De Grave's Pathway to Comenius opens with a table of the numbers, the catechism, graces, and prayers, all given in Latin, English, and French. The main section gives the conjugation of the four regular verbs (j'aime, je bastis, je voy, je li) and of aller, avoir, estre, il faut and on aime, in French accompanied by English and Latin equivalents in parallel columns. De Grave makes a point of omitting all the compound tenses usually introduced into French verbs on the model of the Latin ones, as such forms can only be expressed by means of paraphrases or of the verbs avoir and estre; thus French rather than Latin was in the author's mind: "Or m'a semblé qu'il ne fallait pas charger au commencement la memoire des petits enfants de choses desquelles le maistre diligent et industrieux, pourveu qu'il soit homme lettré et bien entendu en la grammaire françoise, pourra instiller peu à peu en leur esprit, plus par diligente pratique que par cette facheuse et prolixe circonlocution qui n'apporte aucun profit." He agreed with most of the French teachers of the time that few rules and much practice under the guidance of a good master, was the best way of learning French.

In the first half of the seventeenth century also, the private institutions in which French had a place increased considerably in number, especially during the latter years of the reign of Charles I. and the Commonwealth. There were several projects, of which a few were actually realized for a time, for founding academies in England on the model of those in France. Their aim was to provide instruction in modern languages and polite accomplishments, in order to counterbalance the one-sidedness of the Universities, and save parents the expense of sending their children abroad, and protect the latter from the dangers to which they might be exposed in foreign countries.

In 1635 the accomplished courtier Sir Francis Kynaston founded the Museum Minervae at his house in Bedford Square, Covent Garden. Latin, French, and Italian were the chief languages of the curriculum. No foreigner was allowed to act as either regent or professor. A regulation stipulated that "noe Gentleman shall speak in the forenoon to the Regent about any businesse, but either in Italian, French, or Latin; but if any gentleman be deficient in all these languages, then shall he deale with some professour or other to speak unto the regent for him in the morning, but in the afternoon free accesse shall be granted to all that have any occasion to conferre with him."[803] A certain Michael Mason was the professor of languages. The Academy FRENCH IN PRIVATE ACADEMIESwas short-lived, and probably did not survive its founder, who died at the beginning of the Civil War.

On the 19th of July 1649, another Academy of similar nature but wider scope was opened by the adventurous Sir Balthazar Gerbier in his house at Bethnal Green. In 1648 he published a prospectus, which appeared in several different forms, announcing to "all fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue" that "Sir Balthazar Gerbier, knight, erects an Academy wherein forraigne Languages, Sciences and all noble exercises shall be taught ... whereunto shall serve several treatises set forth by the said Sir B. G. in the Forraigne languages aforesaid, the English tongue being joyned thereunto ... whiche Treatises shall be continually at Mistresse Allen's Shop at the signe of the crown in Pope's head Alley neere the olde Exchange, London." Gerbier's intention was to teach the sciences and languages simultaneously, and by means of each other. French seems to have been the only foreign language which received special treatment at his hands. He was the author of An Introduction to the French Tongue, a work of very slight value, treating of the pronunciation and parts of speech and followed by a lengthy and wearisome dialogue between three travellers. Carrying out his expressed aim, he wrote several pamphlets on the subjects of polite education in French accompanied by a literal English translation.[804] Every Saturday afternoon a public lesson was read in the Academy, "as well concerning the grounds and rules of the aforesaid languages, as touching the sciences and exercises, which will give much satisfaction to all Fathers of noble families and lovers of vertue." There was also an "open lecture" by which the deserving poor were to be instructed gratis, on due recommendation. Gerbier is also said[805] to have started an Academy for languages at Whitehall. None of his efforts, however, met with much response. The private Academy as such was an institution which never really took root in England. Moreover, Gerbier was not a gifted man. The works he wrote for use in his Academy have very little value, and his lectures were severely criticised. Walpole calls one of them, typical of the rest, "a most trifling superficial rhapsody."

Several other schemes[806] for courtly academies were never realised at all. Such were those of Prince Henry, son of James I., and of Lord Admiral Buckingham. A play of the Commonwealth period, Brome's New Academy (1658), gives an amusing picture of one of these institutions and introduces us to a group of pushing French men and women who profess inter alia to "teach the French Tongue with great alacrity."

Private schools, on the contrary, were better patronised. There were undoubtedly numerous French schools in the style of those of the sixteenth century; Wodroeph refers to one, without giving any details, and the language school kept by Sherwood was well known. In many instances also French found a place in other private schools alongside the more usual studies. Sir John Reresby, for example, was sent at the age of fifteen to a school at Enfield Chase, where he was instructed in Latin, French, writing, and dancing. There he stayed two years and "came to a very passable proficiency in Latin, Greek, French, and rhetoric."[807] The elder brother of Thomas Ellwood, Milton's amanuensis, also learnt French and Latin at a private school at Hadley, near Barnet in Hertfordshire, before going with Thomas to learn Latin and some Greek at the free school of Thame.[808] Such schools seem to have been relatively numerous at the time of the Commonwealth. One was kept by Edward Wolley, D.D. of Oxford, who had been domestic chaplain to Charles I., and taken refuge in France on his sovereign's death. After spending seven years abroad as chaplain to Charles II. in exile, he returned to England and opened a school at Hammersmith. In 1654 the Protector issued stringent orders against "scholemasters who are or shall be Ignorant, Scandalous, Insufficient or Negligent." Many royalists were affected, and it was no doubt as a result of this measure that in 1655 Wolley had to petition Cromwell to allow him to continue his "painful employment" of instructing youth in Latin, Greek, French, and other commendable exercises. He pleads that since his return from France he has demeaned himself irreproachably, and that he causes "the Holy Scriptures to be read and religious duties to be daily used" in his school, FRENCH IN PRIVATE SCHOOLSand takes the children to church on Sunday; moreover "they have always spoken with honour and reverence of his Highness."[809] Among the few royalist and episcopal schoolmasters who were not affected by the measure of 1654 was Samuel Turberville, a "very good schoolmaster," who kept school in Kensington. Sir Ralph Verney's second son Jack, afterwards apprenticed to a merchant, spent three years there (1656-59), and Turberville commends his "amendement in writing, the mastery of his grammar and an indifferent Latin author, his preservation of the ffrench, and the command of his Violl."[810] Sir Ralph Verney's son had previously acquired French in France, and wrote it fluently though not always correctly.[811] His fellow-pupils, we are told, called him the "young mounseer."

There were also numerous schools for young ladies and gentlewomen in and about London and elsewhere. One French teacher, Paul Festeau, advertises the French boarding-school of Monsieur de la Mare at Marylebone, where girls were taught "to write, to read, to speak French, to sing, to dance, to play on the guitar and the spinette."[812] M. de la Mare was a Protestant, and a reader at the French Church. His wife was a good mother to the girls, we are told, and his daughter spoke French with much elegance. Another French teacher, Pierre Berault, mentions the pension for young ladies kept by his friend M. Papillon in Charles Street, near St. James's Square. French, writing, singing, dancing, and designing were the subjects of study. In other cases schools for girls and young ladies were attended by a visiting French master. The most popular French teacher of the time, Claude Mauger of Blois, was employed for some time after his arrival in England as French teacher to the young ladies of Mrs. Kilvert's once famous Academy. This practice became more and more widespread as the seventeenth century advanced, and was very common in the eighteenth century, as it still is nowadays.

FOOTNOTES:

[784] See p. 191, supra.

[785] Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[786] Catalogue of Books of some learned Men deceased, 1678. It was licensed to the printer Humphrey Lownes on 3rd January 1625 (Arber, Stationers' Register, iv. 133).

[787] General Treasury of Accounts, London, 1612.

[788] Guy Le Moyne was probably his French tutor; cp. p. 262, supra.

[789] Written in France by Charles Maupas of Bloys. Translated into English with additions and explications peculiarly useful to us English, together with a preface and an introduction wherein are contained divers necessary instructions for the better understanding of it.

[790] Italian reviv'd, 1673.

[791] The Scholemaster, ed. Arber, 1869, p. 28; cp. p. 182, supra.

[792] Is this a reference to Eliote's Ortho-Epia Gallica?

[793] Threadneedle Street French Church Registers, Hug. Soc. Pub. xiii. Pts. i. and ii. The earliest mention of Giffard occurs in 1629, and the latest in 1649.

[794] Apologie for Schoolmasters.

[795] Cleland, Institution of a young nobleman, 1607, pp. 28-29.

[796] Ibid. p. 80.

[797] His first literary attempt was a translation (1648) from the French of La Mothe le Vayer's essay on Liberty and Servitude.

[798] Diary, January 27, 1658.

[799] Cp. pp. 187 sqq., supra.

[800] Arber, Stationers' Register, ii. 576; iii. 466. An edition in French and Latin was printed in London as late as the eighteenth century.

[801] R. Clavell, Catalogue of Books printed in London, 1666-1680.

[802] Schickler, Églises du Refuge, i. 409. His name occurs frequently in the Threadneedle Street Church Registers, Hug. Soc. Pub. ix. and xiii.

[803] The Constitution of the Museum Minervae, 1636. Charles I. granted £100 from the Treasury, and Kynaston himself provided books and other material.

[804] The Interpreter of the Academy for forrain languages and all noble sciences and exercises, 1648.

[805] Pepys, Diary, ed. Wheatley, iv. p. 148 n.

[806] Oxford Historical Soc., 1885, Collectanea, series 1, pt. vi. pp. 271 sqq. John Dury proposes a special class of schools for languages, which should teach the classics to those desiring "learning," and modern languages to those intended for commerce (Reformed School, 1650, quoted by F. Watson, Modern Subjects, p. xxvii).

[807] Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, 1875, p. 22; and Memoirs and Travels, ed. A. Ivatt, London, 1904, p. xv.

[808] Ellwood's Autobiography, London, 1714, p. 4.

[809] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-56, p. 76. On the Restoration, Wolley enjoyed ecclesiastical preferment, and finally became Bishop of Clonfert. He published an English translation from the French of Scudéry's Curia Politiae, in 1546, and other works in English, of no special interest. See Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[810] Memoirs of the Verney Family, iii. p. 361.

[811] He usually wrote home in French. In the following extract he asks for a taper, then in fashion among his school-mates: "Je vous prie de m'anvoier de la chandelle de cirre entortillée, car tous les garçons en ont pour brullay (sic) et moy ie n'en ay point pour moy."

[812] Two parents discuss the school in a dialogue:

Où allez vous? | Whither are you going?
Je m'en vais voir ma fille. | I am going to see my daughter.
En quel lieu? | In what place?
A Maribone. | At Maribone.
Que fait elle là? | What doth she do there?
Comment, ne sçavez vous pas que je l'ay mise en pension? | What, do you not know that I have put her at a Boording school?
Chez qui? | With whom?
Chez un nommé Mons. de la Mare qui tient escole Françoise. | At one Mons. de la Mare that keeps a French school.
Vrayement, je n'en sçavois rien. | Truly, I did not know it.
Qu'apprend elle là? | What does she learn there?
Elle apprend à écrire, à lire, à parler françois, à chanter, à danser, à jouer de la guitare, and the spinette. | She learns to write, to read, to speak French, to sing, to dance, to play on the guitar, et de l'épinette.

CHAPTER III

THE "LITTLE BLOIS" IN LONDON

In the second half of the seventeenth century we come across a band of French teachers in London, which corresponds, in importance, to that which grouped itself round Claude Holyband in the vicinity of St. Paul's Churchyard at the same period in the sixteenth century. At its head was Claude Mauger, a native of Blois. Mauger had as long a teaching experience in London as Holyband; he arrived in about 1650, and we do not hear the last of him till the first decade of the next century. He was forced to quit his native town by "intestine distempers," probably an allusion to the persecutions which broke out there in the middle of the century. He appears to have been a Huguenot. Before coming to England he had been a student at Orleans, and for seven years had taught French to travellers, "the flowre of all Europe," at Blois,[813] where some years previously Maupas had laboured at the same task; among his pupils was Gustavus Adolphus, Prince of Mecklenburg. On arriving in England, Mauger exercised the same profession. And several others, driven from Blois like himself, gathered around him as friends, admirers, and fellow-workers. Among these, he tells us, he reckons Master Penson and Master Festeau as specially good masters of language. Of Penson nothing is known, save that he wrote some lines addressed to Mauger's critics. Festeau, however, is mentioned elsewhere by Mauger with high commendation, and the two seem to have been close friends. He came to England about the same time as Mauger, and may have accompanied him. These members of the "Little Blois" in London prided themselves on teaching the accent of Blois, "where the true tone of the French tongue is found, by the unanimous consent of all Frenchmen." The accent of Blois had already been recommended by some of the earlier French teachers. Charles Maupas was its foremost champion.

Fate had been very unkind to him before his arrival in England, Mauger tells us. But he soon forgot his sorrows in his busy and successful life in London. Pupils flocked to him, and, as we saw, he was called upon by Mrs. Margaret Kilvert to teach French in her Academy for young gentlewomen—a place, according to him, "which needs nothing, only a name worthy to expresse its excellency." At the same time he was busy writing a French grammar, which appeared in 1653, and was dedicated to Mrs. Kilvert—The True Advancement of the French Tongue, or a New Method and more easie directions for the attaining of it than ever yet have been published, preceded by verses addressed to no less than fifty of his lady pupils. It does not differ materially as regards its contents from previous works of the kind and had apparently been first written in French, for Mauger says his work "hath now put on a language to which it was before a stranger." Rules of grammar and pronunciation occupy the first hundred and twenty pages, and the remaining half of the book comprises reading exercises in French and English, and a vocabulary. The sound of each letter is explained, then the declinable parts are treated in turn, and followed by a few scattered rules of syntax. The whole is a little incoherent, and lacks order. Mauger was evidently acquainted with the work of his fellow-townsman Charles Maupas.

The second section of Mauger's grammar begins with lists of anglicisms to be avoided,[814] and then of "certaine francisms," or French idioms, and of familiar French phrases for common use. The dialogues turn chiefly on the study of French, and include discussions between students of French, talk of travel in France, and polite and gallant conversations between French and English ladies and gentlemen. Considering Mauger's many women pupils, it is not surprising to find a considerable part of his book devoted to them: two ladies discuss French and their French teacher, criticise the French accent of their friends, or receive visits or lessons from their French, music, or dancing masters. CLAUDE MAUGERAnd as the two latter, especially the dancing-master, were usually French, they did much to assist the language tutor. French maids are also often introduced, and represented as instructing their mistresses in the French language as well as in French fashions. It is no doubt Mrs. Kilvert's Academy that is referred to in the following dialogue:

Mon père, je vous prie, donnés moy vostre bénédiction. | I pray, Father, give me your blessing.
Ma fille, soyés la bien revenue. | Daughter, you are welcome home.
Comment se porte Mme. votre Maîtresse? | How does your mistress?
Mons. elle se porte bien. | She is very well, Sir.
N'avés vous point oublié votre Anglois? | Have you not forgot your English quite?
Non, mon père. | No, sir.
Je croy que vous parlés extrêmement bien. | I suppose you speak French excellently well by this time?
J'entends beaucoup mieux que je ne parle. | I understand it better than I can speak it.
Laquelle est la plus sçavante de vous deux? | Which of you two is the best proficient?
C'est ma sœur.—Je ne pense pas. | My sister, Sir.—I don't believe that.
Expliqués moy ce livre là en François. | Render me some of that book back into French.
Que signifie cela en François? | What's that in French?
Entendés vous cette sentence là? | Do you understand that sentence?
Ouy, Mons. | Yes, Sir.
Vous avez bien profité. . . . | You have made good proficiency....
Sçavez vous travailler en ouvrages? | Have you learnt any needlework there?
Vostre luth n'est pas d'accord. . . . | Your lute is out of tune....
Et vous, ma fille, vous ne dites rien? | But you, daughter, have you nothing to say?
J'attendois vos ordres. | I expect your commands.
Qu'avez vous appris? | What have you learnt?
Approchez vous de moy. | Come nearer to me.
Dancés une courante. | Dance me a Courante.

In another dialogue a French gentleman compliments an English lady on her French:

Où avés vous appris à parler François, Mademoiselle?

Monsieur, je ne parle pas, je ne fais que bégayer.

Je vous proteste que d'abord j'ay creu que vous fussiés Françoise.

Il est impossible à une Angloise de posséder vostre langue.

Vous m'excuserés, il s'en trouve beaucoup.

J'eus l'honneur il y a quelque temps d'entretenir une Dame qui parle aussi nettement qu'une Françoise.

Je voy que vous avez inclination pour le François.

Fort grande.

Vous avez l'accent fort pur et net.

De qui apprenés vous?

D'un François nouvellement arrivé qui est de Blois.

Il est vray que la pureté du langage se trouve là, non pas seulement l'accent, mais la vraye phrase.

Tout le monde le dit.

Vostre langue est fort difficile.

Je voudrois parler aussi bien que vous.

There is only one dialogue on a subject usually contained in French manuals—phrases for buying and selling. The vocabulary, which closes the book, is of a more usual kind. It is arranged under headings, beginning with the Godhead and ending with a list of things necessary in a house.

This book of Mauger's enjoyed a greater and longer-lived popularity than any that had yet appeared. Edition followed edition until the end of the first decade of the eighteenth century, and it continued to be plagiarised for another fifty years. Its success can hardly have been due to the scholastic value of its rules, which are few and confused, but rather to its practical nature and lively dialogues. Mauger constantly revised his grammar; of the earliest editions, no two are identical. In each case he wrote new dedications, new addresses to the reader, new dialogues, and varied the form of the grammar rules. The second edition is much more typical than the first. Mauger had been ill in 1653, and had not been able to correct the proofs himself. This task he entrusted to a friend (perhaps Festeau), who "betrayed his expectation, and corrected it not exactly." He was likewise unable to add the English column to the dialogues, a task which was undertaken by the corrector of the press. In the case of the second edition, however, he attended "three times a day at the Presse," that he might correct it according "to the expectation of those who will honour it with their reading." He called it Mr. Mauger's French Grammar, and this was the title under which it continued to be published.

Mauger dedicated the second edition to Colonel Bullar, mentioning the many favours heaped upon him by that officer. He again addresses French verses to numerous English ladies, his pupils. The grammar rules are much the same; the chief change in this part is the addition of a Latin translation to the English, "for to render it generally useful to strangers" visiting London, "which is this day accounted one of the most glorious cities of the world." That Mauger provided for the teaching of French to foreign visitors to England shows how important a place the study of the language held in our country, and we know that he numbered a few foreigners among his many students of the language. In this second edition he attempted, as Holyband had done before him, to adapt the orthography to the pronunciation, but without success. "I had thought," he writes, "for your greater advantage, to have fitted the MAUGER'S FRENCH GRAMMARwriting to the pronunciation, but having found that I could not do so, without an absolute totall subverting of the foundations of the language, I had rather teach you to read and speak together than to show you how to speak without being able to read, or to read without knowing how to speak. They might say nevertheless that it would prevent many difficultyes if we did write as we speak." Mauger decided to follow the rules of the French Academy, instead of his own caprichio which would "teach you to speak French without being able to read any other book than that I should present you with": for "our language," he said, "which is so highly esteemed by all strangers for its noble etymologies of Greeke and Latine, will not suffer itself to be so dismembered by the ignorance of those which profess it, not having one letter which doth not distinguish one word from another, the singular number from the plurall, the masculine gender from the foeminine, or which makes not a syllable long or short."

The dialogues are new, but very similar to those of the first edition, the chief change being the introduction of a long and "exact account of the state of France, ecclesiastical, civil, and military as it flourisheth at present under King Louis XIV.," which was brought up to date in each subsequent edition.

In following years the dialogues become more numerous; they number eighty in the sixth edition (1670). Each new issue promises additions, "of the last concern to the reader." A new feature in the sixth and seventh editions is a versified rendering of the grammar rules, entitled Le Parterre de la langue françoise. The verses were written at the request of the Duke of Mecklenburg, his former pupil, and arranged in the form of a dialogue between Mauger and the Duke, who first addresses his master:

Le Langage françois est si plein de merveilles
Que ses charmans appas, ravissans nos oreilles,
Nous jettent sur vos bords pour gouster ses douceurs,
Et pour en admirer les beautéz et les fleurs.
Mais, pour nous l'acquérir il faut tant d'artifice,
Qu'en ses difficultés il estreint nos delices,
Estouffe nos desseins, traverse le plaisir
Qui flatoit nostre espoir d'y pouvoir réussir.
Les articles de la, de, du, sont difficiles.
Si vous ne les monstrez par vos reigles utiles,
Ils nous font bégayer presques à tous momens,
Et ternissent l'éclat de nos raisonnemens.

And Mauger answers him with an invitation to take what he will from the "parterre."

Additional matter was introduced in 1673 in the shape of short rules for the pronunciation of English, which in the following editions were developed into a short English grammar, written in French dialogues. Later Mauger modified the arrangement of his French grammar rules, giving them in parallel columns of French and English, in the form of question and answer. The section dealing with the parts of speech is recast in the form of a conversation between a French master and his lady pupil. As to the dialogues, which are all "modish"—there is not a word in them but is "elegant"—they were divided into two categories, one elementary and the other advanced. In the twelfth edition, for instance, we have forty-six dialogues, in the style of those of the earlier editions, and then ten longer and more difficult ones. Mauger made hardly any changes in the issues that followed the twelfth, and in this shape it passed down to the eighteenth century. In the course of its development it had grown to nearly twice its original size.

Mauger's popularity as a teacher of French grew apace with his grammar. The commendatory poems, one by John Busby, which are prefixed to the first two editions, show that even at that early date he was held in high esteem by many influential Englishmen; and each new edition was offered to some new patron.

Mauger also published a collection of letters in French and English, which he considered "a great help to the learner of the French tongue," for "those who understand it with the help of the English, are capable of explaining afterwards any French author, being written on several subjects." The Lettres Françoises et Angloises de Claude Mauger sur Toutes sortes de sujets grands et mediocres were dedicated to Sir William Pulteney. They were first issued in 1671, and again in 1676, with the addition of fifty letters. Many are addressed to gentlemen of note who had been his students at Blois, and continued to correspond with him for the purpose of practice in French. "Puisque vous désirez que je continue à vous écrire des Lettres Françoises," he wrote to the Count of Praghen in 1668, "pour vous exercer en cette langue qui est tant usitée dans toutes les cours de l'Europe, je reçois vos ordres avec joye." Others are addressed to pupils in London, including some of his large clientèle of ladies. MAUGER'S FRENCH AND ENGLISH LETTERSFor instance, he writes to a certain Mrs. Gregorie:

Ayant ouï dire que vous estes allée a la campagne pour quinze jours, durant cette belle saison en laquele la nature déploye ce qu'elle a de plus beau, j'ay pris la hardiesse de vous écrire cette lettre en François pour vous exercer en cette langue que vous apprenez avec tant de diligence. Je suis bien aise que vous vous y adonniez si bien, car, comme vous avez la mémoire admirable, vous en viendriez bien tost à bout.

He seems to have made a regular practice of exercising his pupils' French by writing to them in the language.[815] Among his young English pupils was William Penn, the Quaker, to whom he wrote a letter dated 1670:

Je n'entendrois pas bien mes interests si Dieu m'ayant fait si heureux de vous monstrer le François que vous apprenez si bien, je n'en témoignois de la joye, en faisant voir à tout le Monde, que l'honneur que vous me faites de vous servir de moy, pour vous l'acquérir est tres grand. En effet monsieur, n'est-ce pas un bon-heur? Car je perdrois mon credit si Dieu ne me suscitoit de tems en tems des personnes comme vous, qui par leur diligence et capacité avec l'aide de ma méthode le soutiennent. . . . J'ay bien de la satisfaction qu'elle [i.e. l'Angleterre] sçache que vous m'avez choisy pour vous donner la connaissance d'une langue qui vous manquoit, qui est si estimée, et si usitée par toute la Terre. . . .

Whether these letters were ever actually sent to his pupils is a question of some uncertainty, which we are inclined to answer in the affirmative. In any case, they provided him with an excellent opportunity of advertising himself by calling attention to some of his well-known pupils. Many were addressed to friends in France, where he seems to have had a very good connexion. He closes his collection with a short selection of commercial letters.

Mauger was the author of several other short works—a Livre d'Histoires curieuses du Temps, destined for his pupils' reading; a Tableau du jugement universal (1675), which sold so well that there were very few copies left at the end of the year; and a Latin poem of one hundred and four lines, entitled Oliva Pacis, celebrating the declaration of peace between Louis X. of France and Philip II.

Besides many influential friends, he seems to have had several relatives in London.[816] One of these was a Master Keyser, his brother-in-law, a Dutch gentleman and painter, who lived in "Long Aker between the Maidenhead and the Three Tuns Tavern," and acted as a sort of agent for Claude. Mauger himself lived "in Great Queen Street, over against Well's Street, next door to the strong water shop," in 1670. Before 1673 he had moved to "within two doors of Master Longland, a Farrier in Little Queen St., over against the Guy of Warwick near the King's Gate in Holborn"; and in 1676 to "Shandois Street, over against the Three Elmes, at Master Saint André's." It was probably about the year 1670 that he began to teach English to foreigners visiting England. He had the honour "of helping a little to the English tongue both the French ambassadors, Ladyes, ambassadresses and several great Lords, who come daily from the court of France to the court of England." With many of these he had much familiar intercourse, and it was at their request that he wrote his rules for the English language. One of his letters is addressed to the sharp-witted Courtin, and others to the Marquis de Sande and Monseigneur Colbert's surgeon. Some of the numerous French nobility, "who come daily from the court of France to the court of England," attracted by the gay and Frenchified court of Charles II., also studied English under Mauger.

He describes his method of teaching as discursive, "avec raisonnement." Practice and reading are the chief exercises. In one of his dialogues a lady pupil describes her French lesson;[817] it consisted in reading, with special attention to the pronunciation, and telling a story in French, no doubt a repetition of the matter read. For the pronunciation, Mauger considered "the living voice of a master better than all that can be set down in writing"; but none the less he provided rules for acquiring the true accent of Blois. He took little interest in grammar, but fully realized the necessity of guiding rules; "some man perhaps," he writes, "will answer me that he speaketh his naturall tongue well enough, without all these rules. I confesse he may speak reasonably well, because it is a natural thing for him to do. But you needs must confesse that a Latine schollar, who hath been acquainted with all such rules of grammar, speaketh better than such a one." Mauger would have the student first master his rules, and then begin "by all means" to read, "pour joindre la pratique à la speculation des règles." MAUGER'S METHOD OF TEACHINGHe no doubt intended the student to attempt to speak at the outset with the guidance of a French master, whom he held absolutely indispensable. The following talk between two students throws light on the practical methods advocated:

Apprenez-vous encore le françois? | Do you learn French still?
Ouy, je n'y suis pas encore parfait. | Yes, I am not yet perfect in it.
Et moi je continue aussi. | And I continue also.
Je commence à l'entendre. | I begin to understand it.
J'entens tout ce que je lis. | I understand all I read.
Avez vous un valet de pié françois? | Have you a French foot boy?
Ouy, monsieur. | Yes, Sir.
L'entendez-vous bien? | Do you understand him well?
Fort bien. | Very well.
Quel Autheur lisez vous? | What author do you read?
Je lis l'Histoire de France. | I read the French History.
L'avez-vous leüe? | Have you read it?
Je l'ay leüe en Anglois. | I have read it in English.
Je l'acheteray. | I will buy it.
Ou la pourray-je trouver? | Where shall I find it?
Partout. | Everywhere.
Avez-vous leüe l' Illustre Parisienne? | Have you read the Illustrious Parisien?
Allez-vous au sermon? | Do you go to sermon?
Ouy, Monsieur. | Yes, Sir.
Qui est-ce qui prêche? | Who preaches?
C'est un habile homme. | 'Tis an able man.
Avez-vous le Dictionnaire de Miège?[818] | Have you Miège's Dictionary?
Ouy, je l'ay. | Yes, I have it.
Voulez-vous me le prêter? | Will you lend it me?
Il est à votre service. | It is at your service.
Je vous remercie. | I thank you.
La langue françoise n'est-elle pas belle? | Is not the French tongue fine?
Je l'aime fort. | I love it extreamly.
Elle est fort à la mode. | 'Tis very modish.

"My dialogues," writes Mauger, "are so useful and so fit to learn to speak, that one may easily attain the French tongue by the assistance of a Master, if he will take a little pains on his side." He also advises his pupils to read the lengthy heroical romances so popular at the time—L'Astrée, and the enormous folios of De Gomberville, La Calprenède, Mlle. de Scudéry, and other romances of the same type—as well as the works of Corneille, Balzac, and Le Grand. With Antoine le Grand, Mauger claims personal acquaintance, and recommends his works with special emphasis, giving his pupils notice of a book newly published by him: "There is a French book newly printed at Paris called L'Epicure spirituel, written in good French by M. Antony le Grand, Author of L'Homme sans passions. You may have it at Mr. Martyn's shop [Mauger's publisher] at the sign of the Bell in St. Paul's Churchyard." He also advocates, for purposes of translation, the reading of the Bible and Common Prayers in French, books specially suitable owing to the ease with which English renderings could be found; and adds further that "at Mr. Bentley's shop, in Russel St. in Covent Garden, you may be furnished with French Bibles, French Common Prayers, French Testaments, and French Psalms." These would be of special use to his own students, as he encouraged them to frequent the French Church for the benefit of hearing the language. As for Mauger himself, although he appears to have professed the Protestant religion and to have come first to England as a refugee for the sake of his principles, he does not seem to have given much attention to religious matters. Neither does he manifest any particular interest in the French Church,[819] other than as an excellent place for his pupils to accustom themselves to the sounds of the French language.

After he had spent some thirty years in England we find him moving to Paris, where he was constantly with "some of the ablest gentlemen of Port Royal," who assured him that his French Grammar and his Letters in French and English were in their library. This break in Mauger's long teaching career in England occurred some time about 1680, after the appearance of the eighth edition of his grammar in 1679. He now took up his residence in the fashionable quarter of Paris, usually frequented by foreigners, the Faubourg St. Germain, where he taught French to English travellers, and English to any one wishing to learn it. This change of abode modified his exclusive attitude towards the Blois accent. At an earlier date he had acknowledged that "after Blois the best pronunciation is got at Orleans, Saumur, Tours, and the Court," and in 1676 he writes, "Je suys exactement le plus beau stile de la Cour," and tells us that he had daily intercourse with French courtiers "tant ambassadeurs qu'autres grands seigneurs, à qui j'ay aussi l'honneur de monstrer la langue angloise." He also read all the latest books, and carried on a correspondence with learned men in Paris, among others Antoine le Grand. But in the same year that he was praising the French of Paris, he wrote, encouraging a noble Englishman to take up the study of French in England: MAUGER IN PARIS"Si vos affaires ne vous permettent pas d'aller à Paris, pour vous y adonner, de quoy vous souciez-vous si vous avez Blois dans Londres qui est la source? En effet sa prononciation ne change jamais: de plus à cause du commerce qu'il y a entre les deux cours, l'une communique à l'autre sa pureté. Et je dy assurément qu'il y a icy quantité de personnes qui parlent aussi bien à la mode qu'au Faubourg Saint Germain. Et comme les fonteines font couler leurs eaux bien loin par de bons canaux sans se corrompre, vous trouverez des Maîtres en cette ville qui vous enseigneront aussi purement que sur les lieux." However, when he had himself spent two years in Paris, he gave up praising the merits of Blois, and always describes himself as "late professor of languages at Paris," which he now called "the centre of the purity of the French Tongue, where the true French phrase is to be found." From this time on his grammar claims to contain everything that can be desired in order to learn French as spoken at the Court of France, and "all the improvements of that Famous Language as it is now flourishing at the Court of France."

During his stay at Paris, which extended from about 1680 to 1688, the popularity of his grammar in England did not diminish. Four editions were printed in London after having been corrected by himself at Paris—the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. The last was dedicated to the young Earl of Salisbury, who had studied French with Mauger when on the usual continental tour.

Three motives, he states, induced him to return to England, "after having gathered the finest flowers of the French tongue at Paris to enrich my workes withall for the better satisfaction of those that learn it: The first the extream love which I bear to this generous country,[820] that has obliged me so much as to approve so generally of my books, that for her sake they are received very well beyond Sea, and especially in France. The second, to correct the thirteenth edition my self exactly, many faults of printing having crept into the four last editions which were Printed here in my absence though I corrected them at Paris. The third to see my relations and friends."

After his return to England, he composed his Book of Curious stories of the Times in French and English for the use of his pupils. The new editions of his grammar, however, are identical with the thirteenth, which itself bears very great resemblance to the twelfth issued while Mauger was still at Paris. How many years he continued to superintend the new issues of his grammar is not certain; the nineteenth edition of 1702 is the last described as "corrected and enlarged by the Author."

Again and again he refers to the popularity of his book in England, and the "unexpressible courtesies" he received at the hands of his English patrons. "This grammar sells so well," he wrote in the sixth edition (1670), "as you may see, being printed so often, and many thousands every time, that I cannot but acknowledge the kindness of this generous nation towards me in raising its credit both at home and abroad, in so much that other Nations, following the general approbation concerning it of so wise a people, use it as commonly everywhere beyond the Sea, as they do here in London, and in all the dominions of his majesty of Great Britain." It was also looked on with much favour in France. In 1689 a French edition, called the thirteenth, was printed at Bordeaux. But it was in the Netherlands that the grammar received almost as warm a welcome as in England. The book thus forms another link between the study of French in England and the Low Countries. In 1693 this Dutch edition of the grammar was issued for the thirteenth time, and in 1707 for the fifteenth, both at the Hague. It was usually published with an English grammar of more importance than the short one added by Mauger to the English editions—that of Festeau, Mauger's friend and fellow-townsman. Their combined work was known as the Nouvelle double grammaire Françoise-Angloise et Angloise-Françoise par messieurs Claude Mauger et Paul Festeau, Professeurs de Langues à Paris et à Londres. The two grammars are followed by Mauger's dialogues and a collection of twenty-one "plaisantes et facetieuses Histoires pour rire," in French and English, entitled l'Ecole pour rire. The growing popularity of English from the beginning of the reign of William of Orange, the editor tells us in 1693, induced him to add the English grammar to the French grammar of Mauger, and he chose Festeau's because it was in as high favour for learning English as Mauger's was for learning French.

Paul Festeau was the author of a French as well as an English grammar,[821] PAUL FESTEAUand, like Mauger, he taught English to foreign visitors in London, as well as French to English people. Indeed his career bears a close resemblance to that of Mauger, of whom he seems to have been a sort of protégé. Like Mauger he had taught at Blois, and the two teachers probably came to England together; at any rate they arrived at much the same time. He enjoyed a greater popularity than Mauger as a teacher of English, and was also looked upon with respect as a teacher of French.[822]

Festeau's French Grammar, first published in 1667, occupies an important second place among the French text-books produced in the third quarter of the seventeenth century. It was dedicated to Colonel Russel, of the King's Guard, who had learnt French under Festeau's guidance. As a grammar it is fuller and more clearly arranged than Mauger's, and, in main outline, there is much similarity between the two. The rules, which occupy the first two hundred pages, are written in English and provide information on pronunciation and on each part of speech in turn. Each is accompanied by a considerable number of illustrative examples, which, Festeau thought, were of great help in impressing the rule on the memory, and of more use than dialogues. He also included dialogues in his work, and was attacked on account of their prolixity. He argued, in reply, that "if the reader pleases to consider the store of phrases in the body of the Work amongst the Rules which do contain near two hundred pages, he will very well apprehend that, when a scholar hath learnt all these Phrases without book in learning the rules, he needs not at all burden his memory with many dialogues: for ... I have found by experience that those who have learned them were able afterwards to translate French into English, with the aid of a dictionary and I do maintain that it is not necessary to learn such abondance of Dialogue by heart, it is enough to read and English them, and next to that to explain them from English into French, and so doing the words and phrases do insensibly make an impression in the memory and the discreet scholar goeth forward with a great deal of ease. As for young children I yield that it is good they should continue the Dialogues: but after they have learned short phrases, they must of necessity learn long ones, otherwise they could never attain to the capacity of joyning words together. Beside when a master doth teach his scholar, he must not ask him a whole long phrase at once, he must divide it in parts according to the distinction of points. As for instance, if I will ask this long phrase of a child | Quand on a gaigné une fois | le jeu attire insensiblement | en esperance de gaigner davantage |. I will ask it him at three several times." Festeau gives the pupil the English in three separate phrases, and requires him to give the French rendering. "Them that will take the pains to peruse it," to use Festeau's own words in describing his grammar, "will observe a very new method, clear and intelligible Rules to the least capacities, fine remarks upon all the parts of speech and particularly upon the gender of nouns, and the use of moods and tenses. They will find the difficulties of the particles, en, on, and que explained, which give commonly so much trouble to the learner, they will see the use and good order of impersonal verbs, as well active as passive, likewise also of the reciprocal and reflected verbs. Finally they will see familiar dialogues on divers sorts of subjects, very useful and profitable for them that desire to speak properly: no barbarous kind of words and phrases as are found in some other grammars, by reason that the Author professes to speak and to write his own language well." A vocabulary of thirty pages, in the style of Mauger's, and rules for the accents and the length of the vowels fill the rest of the volume. This was how the work stood in the third edition, which, Festeau explains, "might rightly be said the fourth, seeing that there was fifteen hundred copies drawn off the second edition, and two thousand of this, whereas they use to draw but a thousand at most: and considering the time it first came out, it seems that it sells pretty well. If some other former grammars have had more editions, it cannot be inferred thence that this comes short of them: we can buy nothing at market but what is to be sold, and when this hath been in the light as long, no doubt but (especially being better known) it may have as many editions." PIERRE LAINÉPossibly he was referring to Mauger's popularity, and the two friends may have become rivals during the latter part of their stay in England. On similar grounds he claimed that the sixth edition might be called the tenth, as two thousand copies were drawn of the four last editions. Mauger, however, states that "many thousand" copies of his grammar were drawn at every edition.

By this time Festeau's grammar had acquired a considerable reputation. "The approbation that it hath received," he writes, "of the most learned of the nation, who have esteemed it the neatest, the easiest and most correct, is not a small advantage to it: It is that which hath encouraged me to bring it to a better perfection." There is, however, very little difference between the half score or so editions which were issued.

Like Mauger, Festeau soon began to modify his attitude towards the Blois accent. In 1679, while still advertising himself proudly as a "native of Blois, where the true tone of the French Tongue is found by the unanimous consent of all Frenchmen," he claims to teach the "Elegancy and Purity of the French Tongue as it is now spoken at the Court of France." However, it is uncertain whether Festeau went to Paris or not. At the time when he first wrote of Court French he was teaching in London, and we are informed that "if any gentleman have occasion for the author of this grammar, his Lodging is in the Strand near St. Clement's, at Mr. John King's house, at the sign of the wounded heart." He was still there in 1693. In 1675 we see him requesting any "gentleman or others desiring to speak with him to inquire for him in Haughton Street, next door to the Joyner's Arms, near Claire Market," or at Mr. Loundes, his bookseller and publisher. At about this time he began to teach mathematics as well as, and by means of French; he was prepared to instruct gentlemen in all its branches. It was at the request of several gentlemen, with whom he "did often discourse of the same in French," that he added to the fourth edition of his grammar a long dialogue covering the whole field of mathematics, and giving "a clear and fair idea thereof."

Another French tutor who flourished at the same time as Mauger, and who wrote a French grammar which, like his, appeared during the Commonwealth, was Peter Lainé. Lainé is not very communicative as regards himself; he does not even tell us from what part of France he came. All we know of him is that he was a protégé of Robert Paston, to whom he dedicated his book, and who, no doubt, had been his pupil for French. Of his grammar he writes, "I here expose to thy view a work which might rather be counted an Errata than a book"—a state of things for which both himself and the printer were to blame. For his part, he says, he does not write for the sake of seeing his name in print, or because he fancies he excels others. "I rather count myself inferior to the least of them. But the urgent importunities of some persons whom I have had, and still have the honour to inform in French, have made me undertake it to satisfie their desires, and my gratitude."

His sympathy with the Protestants emerges clearly from the contents of his grammar. Apparently he did not belong to the Blois group. He differs from them in adopting the new orthography in which many of the unsounded letters were omitted. It was a pity to spoil the purity and elegance of the pronunciation by the old orthography, he thought; moreover the clear resemblance between the orthography and the pronunciation renders the language easier to foreigners; "seeing that we both write and speak any vulgar Tongue to be understood and to entertain Society, it is in my judgement, not only convenient but even necessary to bring as near a conformity betwixt the Tongue and the Pen, as may without prejudice to the material grounds of our language, afford all the facility that is possible to those that are strangers to it." It is curious to recall that Peletier, and other earlier writers, had, on the contrary, retained the etymological consonants of the old orthography, with the idea that the foreigner's Latin would thereby be of greater service to him.

Lainé's Compendious Introduction to the French Tongue, teaching with much ease, facility and delight, how to attain briefly and most exactly to the true and modern pronunciation thereof, is very similar to Mauger's grammar in the distribution of the matter. Rules for the pronunciation, which as usual are briefly explained by means of comparison with English sounds, are followed by observations on each part of speech in turn;[823] finally come familiar phrases "to be used at the first learning of French," ten long dialogues, and a vocabulary, all in French and English. LAINÉ'S DIALOGUESThe book closes with what Lainé calls "an alphabetical rule for the true and modern orthography of that French now spoken, being a catalogue of very necessary words never before printed"—an alphabetical list of words. The grammatical section of the work is written in English. In the dialogues he purposely adapts the English to the French phrase. "I have been more careful," he explains, "in the whole course of the treatise, to observe the French, then the English phrase: to the end I might make its signification more intelligible, to vary less from the sense, and to afford most delight and more facility to the learner."

According to him, the first thing to be learned by the student of French are the sounds of the language. He should commit to memory as many of the familiar phrases as he can easily retain, and from them pass to the "dialogical discourses." Their substance is much the same as in Mauger—polite and gallant conversations mainly between students of French, talk and guidance for travellers in France, etc. The following specimen is from a dialogue between an English gentleman and his language master:

Quel beau livre est-ce là? | What fine book is that?
Mons., c'est le romant comique. | Sir, it is the comic romance.
Qui en est l'autheur? | Who is the author of it?
Mons. C'est Mons. Scarron. | Sir, it is Mr. Scarron.
Est-il fort célèbre? Est il fort estimé? | Is he very famed? Is he much esteemed?
Mons., c'est un esprit sublime et transcendant. | Sir, it is a sublime and transcendant wit.
De quoi traite cet ouvrage? | What doth this work deal on?
Mons., il n'est plein que de drolleries facesieuses. . . . | Sir, it is full but of pleasant drolleries....
Lisons un peu: faites moi la faveur de m'antandre lire. | Let us read a little: do me the favour to understand me read.
Prononcez hardiment; | Pronounce boldly;
Observez vos accents. | Observe your accents.
Ne prenez point de mauvaise habitude. | Take no ill habit.
Lisés distinctement. | Read distinctly.
Vou lisez trop vîte. | You read too fast.
Notre langue est ennemi de la précipitation. | Our tongue is enemy to precipitation.

Lainé evidently intended that the dialogues, at least some of them, should be committed to memory, as well as read and translated; "after that," he continues, "as his sufficiency shall permit, he may proceed to Reading any Histories, among which the Holy Writ ought to have the pre-eminence, had not divine Providence, and the Eternal Spirit that dictated it, purposely rejected the affected smoothness and polishedness of the style." We recall, as we reflect on this strange reason for rejecting the Holy Scriptures as reading material, the unenviable reputation the refugees themselves had as regards literary style. As the Bible is left us "for divine study only," Lainé advises his pupils to make use of moral histories for purposes of reading. Many, he says, have been produced of late years. Nor did he limit his pupils' choice to these; he encouraged them to read the heroic romances so popular at the time—Artamène ou le grand Cyrus and Clélie by Mlle. de Scudéry, Cassandre and Cléopâtre by La Calprenède; also the Poésies spirituelles of Corneille, the commentaries of Caesar in French, and Scarron's Roman comique. Lighter fare could be found in the Gazette françoise.

FOOTNOTES:

[813] "Which city, lying in the very middle of France, is the most famous for the true pronunciation of the language."

[814] "What are you doing? You must not render this in French, qu'estes vous en faisant? but thus, Que faites-vous?" ... and so on.

[815] The practice was a common one at the time. Thus Sir Charles Cotterel wrote in Italian to Mrs. Katherine Philipps, who thanks him for the care he takes to improve her in Italian by writing to her in that language. Letter of April 12, 1662, in Letters of Orinda to Poliarchus, 1705.

[816] One of his letters (No. 18) is addressed to Adrien Mauger (1675), Bachelor of Divinity, Claude's nephew, whom he calls the head of the family, and who apparently lived at Blois.

[817] His fee was 40s. a month, for three lessons a week.

[818] Cp. p. 383, infra.

[819] The names Mauger and Maugier occur frequently in the Registers of the Threadneedle Street Church, but none can be connected with Claude.

[820] "L'Angleterre que j'aime infiniment," he writes in his twelfth edition.

[821] The first edition appeared in 1672. The second edition was advertised in 1678 (Arber, Term Catalogues, i. 323).

[822]

"De tous les professeurs de la langue françoyse,
Festeau c'est de toi seul dont je fais plus de cas.
Si tu es éloquent dans nostre langue angloise,
Dans la tienne, pourquoy ne le serois-tu pas?"

Thus wrote one of his pupils, Mr. P. Hume, probably the famous statesman and Covenanter.

[823] Pp. 48-130. Lainé retains the usual six Latin cases; the verbs are divided into four conjugations; the indeclinables are given in lists. A vocabulary of nouns which have two meanings according as they are masculine or feminine is included.

CHAPTER IV

THE FRENCH TEACHING PROFESSION AND METHODS OF STUDYING THE LANGUAGE

From their very first appearance the voluminous French romances of the time enjoyed great popularity in England,[824] partly, perhaps, on account of the lack of a supply of similar works in the vernacular. Several English translations appeared, but many preferred to read them in the original. Their importance in the eyes of the French teachers may also have increased their vogue. They were especially affected by Charles I.; and when on the eve of his death, he was distributing a few of his favourite possessions among his friends, he left the volumes of La Calprenède's Cassandre to the Earl of Lindsey.[825] Later on, Pope describing, in his Rape of the Lock, the adventurous baron in quest of the much-coveted lock, pictures him imploring Love for help, and declares he

to Love an altar built
Of twelve vast French Romances neatly gilt.

Among the most eager readers of French romances was Dorothy Osborne. We are enabled to trace part of her course in reading from the charming letters she wrote to Sir William Temple, her future husband. They are full of references to things French, and replete with French words; she uses English words in a French sense: injury with her means insult; and she writes to explain that when she said maliciously she really meant "a French malice, which you know does not signify the same thing as an English one." A little note sent to Temple when she was in London, shortly before their marriage, evidently in answer to one from him, may be quoted as a specimen of her French, and her total disregard of spelling and grammar:

Je n'ay guere plus dormie que vous et mes songes n'ont pas estres moins confuse, au rest une bande de violons que sont venue jouer sous ma fennestre m'ont tourmentés de tel façon que je doubt fort si je pourrois jamais les souffrire encore; je ne suis pourtant pas en fort mauvaise humeur et je m'en voy ausi tost que je serai habillée voire ce qu'il est posible de faire pour vostre satisfaction; apres je viendré vous rendre conte de nos affairs et quoy qu'il en sera vous ne sçaurois jamais doubté que je ne vous ayme plus que toutes les choses du monde.[826]

The French romances were Dorothy's constant companions, and her letters are full of criticisms of and references to her favourite passages. She sent the volumes to Temple by instalments,[827] as she finished them, pressing him for his opinion. Le Grand Cyrus seems to have been her favourite. She had also a great admiration for Ibraham ou l'Illustre Bassa, which, like Polexandre et Cléopâtre and the four volumes of Prazimène, was her "old acquaintance." Parthenissa, the English romance in the French style by Lord Broghill, did not meet with her approval. "But," she confides to Temple, "perhaps I like it worse for having a piece of Cyrus by me that I am highly pleased with, and that I would fain have you read. I'll send it you." As for the English translations of her favourites, she had no patience with them. They are written in a language half French and half English, and so changed that Dorothy, their old friend, hardly recognizes them in this strange garb.

French romances were not the only French interest Dorothy Osborne and Temple had in common. They had first become acquainted while travelling to France, the Osbornes on their way to join their father at St. Malo, and Temple setting out on the usual "tour." Temple, apparently, lingered with his new friends in France, until his father, hearing of this, ordered him to Paris.[828] There he evidently acquired the knowledge of French which Dorothy playfully declares a necessary qualification for her husband: for she could not PEPYS'S FRENCH BOOKSmarry one who "speaks the French he has picked up out of the old Laws"; or, the other extreme, the "travelled monsieur whose head is all feather inside and out, that can talk of nothing but dances and duels, and has courage enough to wear slashes when every one else dies with cold to see him."[829]

Another instance of the popularity of these romances and other French writings is found in Pepys's Diary.[830] Both Pepys and more particularly his wife, who was the daughter of a French refugee, were great readers of the romances. Pepys himself seems to have found them a little tiresome, and relates how on a certain occasion Mrs. Pepys wearied him by telling him long stories out of the Grand Cyrus, and how he hurt her feelings by checking her outpourings. She would sit up till past midnight reading Cyrus or Polexandre. He would often stop at his bookseller's to buy French books for his wife, including L'Illustre Bassa in four volumes, and Cassandre. One evening she read to him the epistle of Cassandre, which he pronounced "very good indeed." When they went to see Dryden's Evening Love, or the Mock Astrologer, Mrs. Pepys recognized at once its debt to L'Illustre Bassa, and on the following afternoon "she read in the L'Illustre Bassa the plot of yesterday's play, which is exactly the same."

His French books seem to have been a great source of interest to Pepys, and to have served him on many occasions. Being ill, "taking physique all day," he beguiled the time by reading "little French romances." He appears to have been particularly attracted by Sorbière's Voyage en Angleterre, which on its appearance caused some indignation at the English Court. Pepys read the book in the year of its publication (1664).[831] Unfortunately he has not left us a very full account of the other French books he knew. However, on the 1st May 1666, he writes that he went "by water to Redriffe, reading a new French book my Lord Bruncker did give me to-day, L'Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules" [by the Comte de Bussy], "being a pretty libel against the amours of the Court of France." Another volume which pleased Pepys was a "pretty" work, La Nouvelle allégorique, "upon the strife between rhetorique and its enemies, very pleasant." His choice of French literature was wide, ranging from Du Bartas, which he judged "very fine as anything he had seen," to Helot's "idle roguish book," L'Eschole des Filles, which he burnt, "that it might not stand in the list of books, nor among them to disgrace them if it be found."[832]

At both Allestry's and Martin's, Pepys's booksellers, there was a great variety of French and foreign books, which often tempted him. "To my new bookseller's, Martin's," he writes on the 10th January 1667-8, "and there did meet with Fournier the Frenchman, that hath wrote of the sea and navigation,[833] and I could not but buy him." He was much interested in French treatises on music,[834] and sent to France for Mersenne's L'Harmonie Universelle, which he could not get at his bookseller's. Pepys's friend, William Batelier, brought him "one or two printed musick books of songs"[835] from France, among other French books. "Home," he again notes, on the 26th January 1668, "and there I find Will Batelier hath also sent the books which I made him bring me out of France, among others L'Estat de France, Marnix, etc.,[836] to my great content, and so I was well pleased with them and shall take a time to look them over ... but my eyes are now too much out of tune to look upon them with any pleasure." And when his failing eyesight prevented him from reading with ease, his wife, Batelier, and his brother-in-law, Balty St. Michel, would read to him in French as well as in English. He got Balty to read to him out of Sorbière's Voyage en Angleterre, and under the date the 30th of January 1668-9 we find this entry: "I spent all the afternoon with my wife and Will Batelier talking, and then making them read, and particularly made an end of Mr. Boyle's Book of Formes, which I am glad to have over, and then fell to read a French discourse which he hath brought over with him for me."

POLITE CONVERSATION FASHIONABLE

No doubt the polite French literature which the French teachers recommended so strongly to their pupils had some influence on the character of the dialogues which form part of their manuals. Mauger, Festeau, and Lainé all include polite conversations in their dialogues, and leave the old familiar subjects of buying and selling, wayside and tavern talk. Polite conversation was the fashion, and coteries for fostering it grew up in England on the model of those in France. Mrs. Katherine Philipps, generally known as "the matchless Orinda," is perhaps the most prominent of the ladies who tried, without any permanent success it is true, to introduce the refinements of the French salons into England.[837] Each member of the "Society of Friendship" she gathered round her assumed fanciful names in the style of those affected by the adherents of the Parisian salons. "Orinda" was of course a great reader of French literature, and knew French perfectly. She is chiefly remembered for her translations of some of Corneille's plays into English.[838] French books of conversation, such as Mlle. de Scudéry's Conversations sur divers sujets[839] or the similar volume by Clerombault, which was rendered into English by a "person of honour" [1672], also give some clue to the tastes and tendencies of the time, though they had no direct influence on the dialogues specially written for students of French. But, like them, they turn on such subjects as the pleasures, the passions, the soul, love, beauty, merit, and so forth. Thus the French teachers of the time, in introducing a new style into their dialogues, undoubtedly yielded, to some extent at all events, to the tastes of their numerous lady pupils. A large proportion of Mauger's pupils were ladies. He praised their accent, and considered it clearer and more correct than that of their brothers. And in the later editions of his treatise the grammar rules are given in the form of a conversation between a lady and her French master. Another French teacher of the time, the author of a collection of dialogues in which the new style is the dominating feature, also shows a decided preference for his lady pupils. This writer was William or Guillaume Herbert, the author of the French and English dialogues in a more exact and delightful method then any yet extant.

The thirty-four dialogues contained in this collection are all, with the exception of the first which is autobiographical, written in the précieux style, full of points and conceits,[840] and all, with the same exception, are very alike and a little wearisome. Herbert says he does not write for every one, but for "les plus subtils." And in his first dialogue, which gives a free account of his condition and opinions, he proceeds to ridicule the traditional style of the French and English dialogues. A stranger addresses a friend of the author:

Pourquoi ne parle-t-il point de vendre et d'acheter?

Parce qu'il n'a rien à vendre et que fort peu d'argent pour acheter; et que les autres faiseurs de livres François en ce pais ont tout vendu et tout acheté avant qu'il allât au marché.

Pourquoi ne dit-il rien du Manger et du Boire?

Pour tant qu'il y prend fort peu de plaisir, faute d'appétit, et que quelques-uns de ceux qui l'ont precédé l'ont fait pour lui, nommant fidèlement toutes les viandes qu'ils ont portées à la table de leurs maîtres. Qui lèche les plats, en peut bien parler.

Pourquoi ne parle-t-il point des Habits, et de La Mode, du Lever et du Coucher, de la Chambre et du Lit?

Parce que nos maîtres, qui ont été valets de chambre ou laquais, lui ont épargné ce travail, comme leur étant plus propre qu'à lui.

Pourquoi se tait-il des Merciers, des Tailleurs et des Cordonniers?

Parce qu'ils aiment mieux argent contant que des paroles et que n'étant point dans leurs livres il ne se souvient guère d'eux et s'en soucie encore moins.

Pourquoi laisse-t-il les Ministres, les Médecins et les Jurisconsultes, sans faire attention d'eux?

Parce qu'ils ont assez d'esprit pour ne s'oublier pas: et assez de langue pour parler pour eux-mêmes. Et toutefois il en parle à la dérobée, sans leur donner un discours à part, quoiqu'il honore ces professions-là, et aime fort passionément plusieurs personnes de ces trois états, pour leurs rares mérites.

STATE OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

N'a-t-il rien des Apoticaires, des Chirurgiens et des Barbiers?

Pas un seul mot, monsieur, parce qu'il se sert rarement des premiers, et que, par la grâce de Dieu, il n'a ni playes ni ulcères ni vérole pour les seconds, et que, les derniers le tenant à la gorge, il n'oseroit parler.

Il pourroit dire quelque chose des Parens et des Alliéz.

Qu'en diroit-il, les siens lui étant si peu courtois? S'il parloit d'eux, ce seroit moyen de renouveler ses douleurs.

Herbert, it will be seen, had not a very high opinion of the social origin or ability of the majority of his fellow-teachers. He was a very unwilling member of the profession. He does not style himself "Professor of the French Language" on the title-page of his dialogues, although he taught both in his house and away from home, because few people care to boast of their cross, and his cross was—to be reduced to belong to a profession "que tant de valets, de mécaniques, et d'ignorants rendent tous les jours méprisable." He draws a far from flattering picture of the common sort of French teacher. He is a "brouillon," a shuffling fellow, who boasts, dresses well, and intrudes everywhere, cringing and offering his services at a cheaper price than the genuine teachers. He can hardly write seven or eight lines of French correctly. Yet men such as this, says Herbert, pass for first-class teachers, and some take upon themselves to correct and write books. What is more, they count many pupils, even among the nobility.

Yet another cause of annoyance to Herbert was what seemed to him the presumption of the Blois fraternity. It is the fashion, he remarks scornfully, to say you come from Blois. And you do so if you happen to come from Normandy. He is not ashamed of his province, though he takes good care not to advertise it needlessly; Brittany (of which he was evidently a native) is better than Blois, according to him. Thus we may conclude that Herbert was one of the 'enemies' to whom members of the Blois group frequently allude. Festeau refers to them as being ignorant and envious persons, while Mauger describes them foaming with envy and jealousy, and trying to harm him in the eyes of his pupils, as well as casting aspersions on his grammar;[841] but he did not regard what they said, England having raised his grammar so high that "their envy cannot reach to it." And Mauger goes on to censure a certain section of the French teaching profession, "broken Frenchmen," who make their pupils speak rapidly, but not distinctly. "Have a speciall care," he exclaims, "that you have not to do with those that are not true Frenchmen as your Normans or Gascons. I confesse that a Norman that is a man of some quality or one that hath seen the world or that is a good scholar may possibly have the right accent, but any other that hath not such parts can never give the true accent." Herbert retorted that the Blois clique tried to persuade every one that Bretons and Normans cannot speak correct French. He naturally resented such assertions, and was not himself nearly so exclusive in the list of those who were not "good Frenchmen." He merely states that the English are greatly mistaken in their estimation of the French living here, "considering as such all those that speak their tongue, so that the high Germans, Switzers of the French tongue, Danes, Swedes, Dutch, Walloons, and those of Geneva pass for good French in the opinion of many, although in truth there are not here two naturall French 'mongst ten, which are taken for such, and who for their profit would gladly go for such."

There was every need, thought Herbert, of protecting the profession from these incompetent teachers. Before a tutor is engaged he should be made to translate a passage from a good author from English into French, and then from French into English, and both the pieces should be examined by competent judges of both languages; for, according to him, a teacher must know English, or some other language with which the scholar is acquainted, such as Latin, so that there may be some foundation on which to build the new edifice.

Beyond the importance he attached to translation, we know little of Herbert's ideas on the teaching of French. He devotes more space to criticizing the teachers. He does tell us, however, that French orthography is best learnt by transcribing French passages, by which operation it impresses itself on the mind without effort. He was also an advocate of much and careful reading. Grammatical rules he considered necessary, and he had intended to publish a grammar together with his dialogues, but he was prevented from doing so by illness. He hoped, however, to issue it a few months later, but apparently he was again prevented from carrying out his design. Yet two years after the appearance of his GUILLAUME HERBERTdialogues he published another work but of quite a different character—Considerations on the behalf of Foreiners which reside in England, and of the English who are out of their own country, to allay the tempest which is too often raised in the minds of the vulgar sort, and to sweeten the bitterness of a bilious or cholerick humour against strangers, in which he showed "that of all the Nations of Europe, the English and French should love one another best, as well for their vicinity as for the great commerce that is 'mongst them in time of peace, and for their consanguinitie, there being in this country thousands of families which are descended from the French, and as many or more in France whose progenitours are English." These 'considerations,' twenty in number, are mainly a plea in favour of the foreign churches in England and of the liberty of aliens to trade and work in this country, with an allusion to the "good usage of neighbouring Nations" towards the English fugitives of Mary's reign. They are dated from the Charterhouse, June 1662, and appear to have been the only work Herbert published after his Dialogues. He had, however, previously shown his interest in the teaching of French by editing in 1658 the fourth edition of Cogneau's Sure Guide to the French Tongue,[842] which consisted largely of the style of dialogue which he ridiculed at a later date.

Herbert had had a long career in England before we first hear of him as a teacher of French. He had composed treatises in French and in English, both of which he wrote with equal facility. His language gives no clue to his nationality, but, as we saw, we may conclude from his autobiographical dialogue that he was a native of Brittany. He was, no doubt, the William Herbert, native of France, who received a grant of letters of denization in 1636. At that date he was living at Pointington, Somerset, and was married to an Englishwoman, Frances Sedgwicke. In the previous year he had prepared for the press a work in French called La Mallette de David.[843] How he spent his time in Pointington is not clear, but in 1640 he was tutor to the sons of Montague Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey. On the death of his wife in 1645 he moved to London, and published a number of devotional works in English, which he had composed at Pointington, chiefly for the benefit of his wife and children. He refers to the unfavourable reception of these compositions in his French and English dialogues, which he hoped would meet with a better fate.

Herbert also took a great interest in the foreign churches of London. He dedicated his Quadripartit Devotion of 1648 to the "learned, pious, and reverend Pastors, Elders, and Deacons of all the French and Dutch congregations in England." At a later date he published a biting pamphlet against a French Pastor, Jean Despagne,—the Réponse aux Questions de Mr. Despagne adressées à l'Eglise Françoise de Londres (1657), accusing "le ridicule Despagne" of blasphemy and immorality, as well as criticising his French. In this work Herbert agrees with Lainé in omitting a number of superfluous letters, with the intention of facilitating reading for foreigners, though he was opposed to too many changes, for fear of offending the partisans of the old orthography. The Dialogues and the Considerations in behalf of Strangers were the two works issued subsequently to the attack on Despagne, and with them ends all we know of the career of Herbert, critic of the French teaching profession, and earliest advocate of the "registration" of teachers.

The Jean Despagne attacked so bitterly by Herbert was none the less a welcome guest in this country, and was the only truly French minister in London during the Commonwealth. English as well as French, attracted by his excellent sermons, gathered round him. Thus he co-operated in a sense, and no doubt unconsciously, with Mauger and the other French teachers of the time, who were busy encouraging their pupils to attend the French church. Despagne was minister, not of the old church of Threadneedle Street, but of a new congregation in Westminster, which met at first in Durham House in the Strand, and when that was pulled down, at the chapel in Somerset House (1653).[844] He held aloof from the older church, and went so far as to criticise Calvin. He was attacked and accused of schism, but was protected by his powerful patrons, chief among whom was the Earl of Pembroke. An important group of the royalist English nobility and gentry found in Despagne a means of satisfying their religious needs when the Anglican church was in abeyance. Among them was the diarist John Evelyn, who heard Despagne preach in the Savoy church. THE FRENCH CHURCHESAnother adherent, and a very faithful one, was a certain Henry Brown, who, in his English translation of one of Despagne's works,[845] speaks of the great resort of the English nobility and gentry to the "excellent sermons and Doctrines" of the French pastor. Many continued to attend after the Restoration, Evelyn among others; as late as 1670 he remarks that "a 'stranger' preached at the Savoy French church, the liturgie of the Church of England being now used altogether, as translated into French by Dr. Durell."

The Savoy church had been authorized by Charles II. at the Restoration on condition that the English Liturgy in French should be used. The Threadneedle Street church, on the contrary, continued to use the Calvinistic 'discipline,' and regarded with jealousy and suspicion the church rising in Westminster. It refused all co-operation, and endeavoured to bring about the suppression of the new church. The Savoy church benefited on account of its situation in the fashionable residential quarter, while Threadneedle Street was away in the city. Consequently many members of the English aristocracy and gentry continued to frequent the Westminster church even after the Restoration. The use of the Anglican Liturgy was no doubt an additional attraction. When service was opened there in 1661, by J. Durel,[846] among the English present were the Duke and Duchess of Ormond, the Countess of Derby and her daughters, the Earl of Stafford, and the Dukes of Newcastle and Devonshire. Indeed the English gentry seem to have occupied the attention of the French churches just as much as the refugees themselves. The Threadneedle Street church felt the advantages of its Westminster rival in this respect, and at the Restoration, offered to establish a French Sabbath Lecture at Westminster for those of the English gentry and French Protestants who found Threadneedle Street too remote, hoping by this means to prevent division by having a separate church there.[847] The Threadneedle Street church, however, was not without its English adherents. Pepys went from time to time to both French churches, but more frequently to Threadneedle Street, as far as can be gathered from his diary, where he does not always specify which of the churches is meant. "At last I rose," he writes on the 28th September 1662, "and with Tom to the French church at the Savoy, where I never was before; a pretty place it is; and there they have the Common Prayer Book read in French, and which I never saw before, the minister do preach with his hat off, I suppose in further conformity with our Church." Pepys as a rule went to the Anglican church in the morning, and to the French in the afternoon. He usually has a very good word for the sermon, though on one occasion it was so "tedious and long that they were fain to light candles to baptize the children by." There were also services held at the French ambassador's, which many of the nobility attended, as well as French sermons at Court from time to time. Evelyn was present on one of these occasions: "At St. James's chapel preached, or rather harangued, the famous orator, Monsieur Morus, in French. There were present the King, the Duke, the French ambassador Lord Aubigny, the Earl of Bristol, and a world of Roman Catholics, drawn thither to hear this eloquent Protestant." This was on the 12th of January 1662. At a much later date, September 1685, he heard another Frenchman, "who preached before the King and Queene in that splendid chapell next St. George's Hall."

It appears therefore that the practice, common among French teachers, of urging their pupils to go to the French church, met with some response, as did their advice as regards the reading of French literature. On both these points the teachers of the middle of the seventeenth century are at one with those of the sixteenth, and, as a general rule, there is very little difference between the methods used in the two centuries. Reading remained the basis of the teaching; dialogues were committed to memory and translated into English, less importance being attached to retranslation into French in later times. As for pronunciation, the teachers of the seventeenth century realised the inadequacy of teaching it by comparison with English sounds; they laid all the more emphasis on the services of a good tutor, continuing, none the less, to supply certain rules, though not without a warning. As time went on, more importance was attached to the grammar, which, though still limited in theory to essential general rules, was often studied in the first place, and not left till need for it arose in practice. The general opinion is thus expressed by James Howell: "What foundations are FRENCH BY "GRAMMAR AND ROTE"to material fabriques the same is grammar to a language. If the foundation be not well laid, 'twill be but a poor tottring superstructure; if grammatical rules go not before, there is no language can be had in perfection. Yet there are no precepts so punctuall, but much must be left to observation, which is the grand Mistresse that guides and improves the understanding in the research and poursute of all humane knowledge, Quod deficit in praecepto, suppleat observatio." Students who learnt on this method, called a combination of "grammar and rote," would read aloud with their tutor, chiefly for practice in pronunciation; study the principal grammar rules and commit to memory the vocabulary of familiar phrases, and a few short dialogues; read and translate[848] French dialogues, and then pass to the favourite French authors; sometimes they would translate from English into French, or write French letters; finally they would converse as much as possible with their tutor, repeat stories they had read in French, and seize every opportunity of speaking the language and hearing it spoken.

Such was the method employed by the more serious French teachers of the time. There were, however, others, and apparently very many, who taught "by rote" alone without any grammar rules—a common method of learning modern languages. "In England, the French, Spanish, and Italian Languages are not the languages of our country, and spoke only by few Persons, yet 'tis evident they are taught in London, and several other places in the Kingdom, purely by conversation." "For it is well known," argues a writer on education,[849] "that there are Grammars writ for the French, Italian, and Spanish languages, and yet notwithstanding, these Languages are learned by Conversation ... little children, who know not what Grammar means, are bred up to speak foreign languages fluently and correctly.... There are some indeed, in England that teach Modern Languages by Grammar. But this is not at all necessary, as is unanswerably evident from those Persons who perfectly learn them without it. However, those who reach the Modern Languages by Grammar only teach their scholars so much of it as to know how to decline Nouns and Verbs and understand some few rules. For as for the Languages themselves, they are generally taught not by Books but Conversation, which is found by experience to be much the readiest, easiest, and best Method of teaching them.... Some by great application have learn'd French or Italian in half a year's time by conversation, and indeed any foreign Tongue is ordinarily taught in a year or a year and a half. And such as are two years in learning any of them are accounted either very negligent or else very incapable of retaining them.... Men who know little or nothing of French, Italian, or Spanish, quickly learn any one of these languages only by going twice or thrice a week to a club where they are obliged to speak it."

How common such practical methods of learning French were may be gathered from the fact that the few memoirs and similar writings which give any detail on the subject invariably mention them. For instance, the mother of Mrs. Hutchinson, the wife of the regicide and Governor of Nottingham, was sent to board in the house of a refugee minister in order to learn French.[850] As to Mrs. Hutchinson herself, she had a French nurse, and was taught to speak English and French together.[851] Others had tutors. Thus the mother of Lady Anne Halkett, the royalist and writer on religious subjects, paid masters to teach Lady Anne and her sister "to write, speak French, play on the lute and virginals and dance";[852] and Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, held up by Mrs. Makin as an example to "all ingenious and Vertuous Ladies," also had tutors for the polite accomplishments, and refers to her language lessons as "prating."[853] She acquired a good knowledge of French, became attendant to Queen Henrietta Maria, and accompanied her in her exile in France.

An example of the opportunities of acquiring a knowledge FRENCH BY CONVERSATIONof French, "in any leisure hour," as Milton said of Italian, is found in the Letters of Robert Loveday, the translator of part of La Calprenède's Cléopâtre. Loveday lived during the Commonwealth as a dependent in the house of Lady Clinton at Nottingham, where, he says, French "was familiarly spoken by the best sort of the family."[854] He therefore had every opportunity of learning the language, and was much helped by an old Italian gentleman, skilled in French, who was living in the house on the same footing as himself. As a result of his application he was able to translate several French works into English "in those empty spaces of time which were left by those that command me at my disposall." He procured a copy of Cotgrave's dictionary and asked a friend in London to make enquiries at the booksellers if there was "any new French book of indifferent volume that was worth the translating and not enterprised by any other."[855] Loveday hoped by this means to give "larger scope to (his) narrow condition" at Nottingham. One of his first enterprises was the translation of a "mad fantastick Dream" he met with in Sorel's Francion, which he sent to his brother; but his chief work was a rendering of the first three parts of Cléopâtre, which was hardly of the "indifferent size" he writes of. The several parts appeared in 1652, 1654, and 1655 respectively, under the title of Hymen's Praeludia, or Love's Masterpiece, and were dedicated to his "ever-honoured lady" Lady Clinton. In the complete version, the fourth, fifth, and sixth parts are also ascribed to Loveday.

Thus practical methods gained a firm hold in the teaching of French; when grammar was studied, it was within limited boundaries, and only so far as desirable for practical purposes. In the teaching of Latin, on the other hand, more and more importance was attached to the study of grammar, which took the foremost place, literature being regarded as little more than a collection of illustrative examples of the rules.[856] Grammar had become "a full swolen and overflowing stream, which, by a strong hand, arrogates to itself (and hath well-nigh gotten) the whole traffic in learning, especially of languages."[857] The use of the Grammar and reading books in Latin alone was another practice which engaged the attention of the reformers.[858] "A book altogether in Latin is a mere Barbarian to our children," wrote Charles Hoole,[859] who published many of the popular Latin school-books with English translations, in the style of those which are always present in the French text-books. His opinion was that "no language is more readily got than by familiar discourse in it, and ability therein is in no way sooner gained then by comparing the tongue we learn with that we know, and asking how they call this or how they say that in another language, which we are able to express in our own." A writer of the time[860] thus describes "that wild goose chase usually led": "ordinarily boys learn a leaf or two of the Pueriles, twenty pages of Corderius, a part of Esop's Fables, a piece of Tullie, a little of Ovid, a remnant of Virgil, Terence, etc. ... to read the accidence, to get it without book, is ordinarily the work of one whole year. To construe the Grammar and to get it without book is at least the task of two years more, and then, it may be, it is little understood until a year or two more is spent in making plain Latin ... when it is all done, besides declining nouns and forming verbs and getting a few words, there is very little advantage to the child." And a French teacher,[861] writing at about the same time, has left a very similar picture. He describes how the GRAMMATICAL STUDY OF LANGUAGESchild slaves till the age of fifteen or sixteen, forced to learn against his will a little Latin and Greek, with little result after seven or eight years of hardship. "Not 10 per cent really know either; they are buried under a fatras of words and rules, which stun the memory and overturn the judgment, and all under the rule of the rod." Such is the learning of a foreign language "by grammar."

The feeling of dissatisfaction with the usual method of teaching Latin in grammar schools, however, seems to have been general in the seventeenth century, and many were the protests and appeals for reform. "No man can run speedily to the mark of languages that is shackled and ingiv'd with grammar precepts," wrote Joseph Webbe,[862] who draws a careful distinction between the grammar-Latin thus acquired and what he calls Latin-Latin,[863] that is, "Such as the best approved authors wrote and left us in their books and monuments of use and custom," as distinct from "that Latin which we now make by grammar rules, and their collection out of that custom and those authors was to make us write and speak such Latin as that custom and those authors did, which was Latin-Latin, but it succeeded not."

Consequently there arose a belief that "practice"—in speaking, reading, and writing the language—should take its place by the side of grammar. Writers pleaded, in the style of Elyot and Ascham, for the teaching of Latin on more practical lines, quoting Montaigne's experience.[864] Thomas Grantham[865] opened a private school, in which he sought to deliver youth from their "great captivity" and the hardship and uselessness of learning grammar word for word without book and in Latin, which the boy does not understand, "just as if a man should teach one an art in French when he understands not French." Grantham, on the contrary, taught his scholars to understand the rules first, and by repeatedly applying them they came to know them without book, whether they would or no. Similar was the method of the French teachers, who often carried the idea further, and taught their pupils the rules as need for them arose in practice.

John Webster thus puts the case for and against learning by "rule." "As for grammar," he says,[866] "which hath been invented for the more certain and facile teaching and obtaining of languages, it is very controvertible whether it perform the same in the surest, easiest and shortest way or not, since hundreds speak their mother tongue and other languages very perfectly, use them readily, and understand them excellent well, and yet never knew or were taught any grammar rules, nor followed the wayes of Conjugations and Declensions, Noun or Verb. And it is sufficiently known that many men, by their own industry, without the method or rules of grammar, have gotten a competent understanding in divers languages: and many unletter'd persons will, by use and exercise, without Grammar rules, learn to speak and understand some languages in far shorter time than any do learn them by method and rule, as is clearly manifest by those that travel.... And again, if we conceive that languages learnt by use and exercise render men ready and expert in the understanding and speaking of them, without any aggravating or pushing the intellect and memory, when that which is gotten by rule and method, when we come to use and speak it, doth exceedingly rack and excruciate the intellect and memory: which are forced at the same time, not only to find fit words agreeable to the present matter discoursed of, and to put them into a good Rhetorical order, but must at the same instant of speaking, collect all the numerous rules of number, case ... as into one centre, where so many rayes are united and yet not confounded, which must needs be very perplexive and gravaminous to memorative faculty: and therefore none that attains languages by grammar do ever come to speak and understand them perfectly and readily, until they come to a perfect habit in the exercitation of them, and so thereby come to lose and leave the use of those many and intricate rules, which have cost us so many pains to attain to them, and so to justifie the saying that we do but discere dediscenda." Those who learn by "use and exercitation," on the other hand, acquire languages more quickly and with better results. If the study of grammar is insisted on, it should be made very brief. The indeclinables require no rules, but are learnt by use. LOCKE ON THE TEACHING OF FRENCHOf the declinables the only ones that present any difficulties are the noun and the verb, regular and irregular. As to the irregulars, they are best learnt by "use," as rules only "render the way more perplexed and tedious. And the way of the regulars is facile and brief, being but one rule for all."

Many others wrote in a similar strain,[867] advocating the teaching of Latin on lines widely used in the teaching of French. Several actually specified the modern language, which was first mentioned in books on education in this connexion. Thomas Grantham, in his Brain Breaker's Breaker (1644), points out that many young gentlemen and ladies learn to speak French in half a year without grammar, and argues that the same purpose could be achieved with Latin and Greek in a twelvemonth. Similarly George Snell argued that Latin might be learnt "in as short a time as a Monsieur can teach French,"[868] for the pronunciation, so great a task in learning the living tongue, is of no importance in the dead language. At a somewhat later date, when French had made more headway in the scholastic world, Locke plainly states that people are accustomed to the right way of teaching French, "which is by talking it into children by constant conversation, and not by Grammatical Rules,"[869] and proposes that the same method should be applied to Latin. "When we so often see a Frenchwoman teach an English girl to speak and read French perfectly in a year or two, without any rule of grammar, or anything else but prattling to her, I cannot but wonder how gentlemen have overseen this way for their sons, and thought them more dull and incapable than their daughters."[870] Elsewhere Locke again draws comparisons between the teaching of Latin and that of French,[871] and a French teacher of the early part of the eighteenth century recognized the importance of this tribute when he published a grammar intended to confirm the knowledge acquired by "practice."[872]

Yet all these proposals and protests do not seem to have had much effect on the teaching of Latin. In a few cases, however, experiments were attempted, usually in connexion with French. Several were made with the Janua of Comenius, which had early been adapted to the teaching of French as well as Latin. The theories of Comenius himself had no doubt inspired the English reformers. He had written that rules are thorns to the understanding, that no one ever mastered a language by precept alone, though it is often done by practice; rules, however, should not be entirely discarded.[873]

J. T. Philipps, who was later tutor to the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II., relates[874] how he taught both Latin and French on practical lines with the help of Comenius. His pupil first got a good notion of the Latin tongue by studying the verbs and nouns, and then learning the Latin column of the Janua Linguarum. "I likewise at som leisure Hours," continues Philipps, "taught him to read French and when he had good the pronunciation, he labour'd for some time, as he did before in the Latin, to make himself Master of the French Verbs and Nouns, and then began to learn the sentences in another column of the Janua Linguarum, which, by the assistance of the Latin, he mastered in a very short time. So that before the end of the first year, he could read Fontaine's Fables from French into English, and give me an LANGUAGES LEARNT WITHOUT GRAMMARaccount of the French Minister's text which he heard, and part of the sermon; for I charg'd him never to miss the French Church, that he might the better accustom himself to the true Accent of that Tongue.... I spent an hour every Sunday Morning all the time the Boy was with me, to read over several short Catechisms or systems in Divinity both in French and Latin."[875]

The learned Mrs. Bathsua Makin, who had been governess to the daughters of Charles I., and later kept a school at Tottenham High Cross, also advocated the use of the Janua Linguarum for learning Latin and French. The young ladies of her school learnt ten Latin sentences of the Janua a day thoroughly, spending "but six hours a day in their books." By the end of six months they had a fair knowledge of the language, and turned to French: "If the Latin tongue may be learnt in 6 months, where most of the words are new, then the French may be learnt in three, by one that understands Latin and English, because there is not above one word of ten of the French Tongue, that may not fairly, without force, be reduced to the Latin or English."[876]

We are also told[877] of a boy of seven who spoke Latin, French, and English with equal facility, "by reason that his father talked to him in nothing but Latin, and his mother, who was a Frenchwoman, in nothing but French, and the rest of the family in nothing but English." And the Rev. Henry Wotton of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, has left an account of how, when he undertook the education of his son, "leaving off the Accidence in that Method that ordinarily children are trained up in, (he) immediately thought with (him)self to make an experiment whether children of his years might not be taught the Latin Tongue as ordinarily children are taught the French and Italian, and without the torture of grammar, to make them, by reading a Latin book, to understand Nouns and Verbs, Declensions and Moods, and that without the vast circuit, that ordinarily takes up 3 or 4 years, as preparatory to read any Latin author."[878] Evelyn bears witness to the success of Wotton's experiment. He saw the young William Wotton in London at the age of eleven, and pronounced him "a miracle."[879] To Evelyn also we are indebted for an account of another case of similar precocity due to the same method. He relates how he and Pepys saw a child of twelve, the son of one Dr. Clench, "who was perfect in the Latine authors, spake French naturally, and possessed amazing knowledge. His tutor was a Frenchman, who had not troubled him to learn even the rules of grammar by heart, but merely read to him, first in French, and then in Latin."[880]

In no case, however, was the contrast between the prevalent methods of teaching Latin and French so marked as in the learning of Latin in Grammar Schools, and of French in France by "rote" or with the help of a few general grammar rules; the older the student, the more necessary were grammar rules considered. Richard Carew, for instance, was struck by the fact that he learnt more French without rules in three-quarters of a year in France than he had learnt Latin in more than thirteen years' strenuous study of grammar. He had gone to France on leaving the university. On his arrival he was at a loss for words, knowing nothing of the language; but after a short stay, spent in the midst of French people, talking and reading nothing but French, he surmounted the difficulties of the language with surprising ease, and wished students of Latin to benefit by his experience.[881] The two languages, indeed, were not infrequently studied together by the considerable number of English children who were sent to France for purposes of education.

FOOTNOTES:

[824] "It is most astonishing that there ever could have been people idle enough to write and read such endless heaps of the same stuff. It was, however, the occupation of thousands in the last century, and is still the private though disavowed amusement of young girls and sentimental ladies," wrote Chesterfield in the eighteenth century (Letters to his Son, 1774, p. 242). Even Johnson read and enjoyed these lengthy romances.

[825] Jusserand, The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, p. 381.

[826] Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir Wm. Temple, 1652-54, London, 1888, p. 318.

[827] He in turn passed them on to Lady Diana Rich.

[828] T. P. Courtney, Memoirs of the Life, Works and Correspondence of Sir Wm. Temple, London, 1836, i. p. 5.

[829] Letters, p. 172; ep. Goldsmith, Essay on the Use of Language: "If again you are obliged to wear a flimsy stuff in the midst of winter, be the first to remark that stuffs are very much worn at Paris."

[830] Pepys used Cotgrave's Dictionary; Diary, February 26, 1660-1.

[831] This book was very widely read in England. But there does not seem to have been an English translation of it before 1709 (Pepys's Diary, Oct. 13, 1664, ed. Wheatley, 1904).

[832] Diary, Jan. 13, Feb. 8 and 9, 1667-8.

[833] L'Hydrographie contenant la théorie et la pratique de toutes les parties de la navigation, 1643.

[834] He read Descartes's Musicae Compendium, but did not think much of it.

[835] Pepys relates how one evening Penn and he fell to discoursing about some words in a French song Mrs. Pepys was singing—D'un air tout interdict: "wherein I laid twenty to one against him, which he would not agree to with me, though I know myself in the right as to the sense of the word, and almost angry we were, and were an houre and more upon the dispute, till at last broke up not satisfied, and so home."

[836] Les Résolutions Politiques ou Maximes d'État, par Jean de Marnix, Baron de Potes, Bruxelles, 1612.

[837] Cp. E. Gosse, Seventeenth Century Studies, 1897; J. J. Jusserand, The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, p. 373.

[838] D. Canfield, Corneille and Racine in England, 1904. How common was the presence of Frenchmen in English families of high standing may be gathered from Orinda's statement that "one, Legrand, a Frenchman belonging to the Duchess of Ormond, has by her order set the fourth [song in Pompey to music], and a Frenchman of my Lord Orrery's the second" (Letters of Orinda to Poliarchus, London, 1705, Letter dated Jan. 31, 1663).

[839] Fifth ed., Amsterdam, 1686. Translated into English by F. Spence, London, 1683. Queen Henrietta Maria had done much to foster the spirit of the Astrée and the Hôtel de Rambouillet in England: cp. J. B. Fletcher, "Précieuses at the Court of Charles I.," in the Journal of Comparative Philology, vol. i. 1903.

[840] Between ladies and "cavaliers." Herbert explains that by "cavalier" he means galant homme. Here is a specimen of their style: "Cavalier: La voilà, je la vois.—Dame: Que voyez-vous, mons.?—Je vois la Gloire du beau sexe, l'Ornement de ce siècle, et l'Objet de mes affections.—Vous voyez ici bien des choses.—Toutes ces choses sont en une.—C'est donc une merveille.—Dites, ma chère Dame, la merveille des merveilles.—Je le pourrois dire après vous, car votre bel esprit ne se sauroit tromper.—Il se peut bien tromper, mais non pas en ceci.—Je veux qu'il soit infaillible en ceci: il faut pourtant que je voye cette Gloire, cet Ornement et cet Objet, pour en pouvoir juger.—Vous ne les sauriez voir que par réflexion.—Je ne vous entens pas.—Approchez-vous de ce miroir, et vous verrez ce que je dis. Qu'y voyez-vous, ma Belle?—Je vous y vois, monsieur.—Voilà une belle réponse.—Belle ou laide, elle est vraye.—Elle l'est effectivement: mais n'y voyez-vous rien que moi?—Je m'y vois aussi bien que vous.—Vous voyez donc cette illustre merveille, etc."

[841] "Il y a des particuliers qui ne sont pas dans mes intérêts, qui les (i.e. his works) décrient hautement, non pas tant par malice que par jalousie, quelques-uns étant des personnes intéressées qui sont de ma profession, ou des critiques ignorans qui trouvent à redire à tout ce que les autres font, pour faire paroître ce qu'ils n'ont point, s'imaginant qu'on les prend pour des hommes d'esprit, quand on les entend reprendre les choses les mieux faites."

[842] See p. 290, supra.

[843] Arber, Stationers' Register, iv. 333.

[844] Schickler, Églises du Refuge, ii. pp. 148-9, and 153. Despagne became a denizen in 1655 (Hug. Soc. Pub. xviii.). Cp. also Haag, La France protestante, ad nom., and the Bulletin de la société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme français, viii. pp. 369 et seq. He died in 1658.

[845] Harmony of the Old and New Testament, 1682, Brown's preface.

[846] Schickler, op. cit. ii. p. 224.

[847] Cal. of State Papers, Dom., 1660-61, p. 277.

[848] That translation was not always the means of interpretation is shown by the following passage from Mauger; a stranger questions one of his pupils:

Entendez-vous tout ce que vous lisés?
J'en entends une partie.
Entendez-vous bien le sens?
Fort bien, monsieur.

Probably French was not 'construed' word for word, as Latin was, the clause, on the contrary, being made the starting-point. "Construing word for word is impossible in any language," wrote Joseph Webbe in his Petition to the High Court of Parliament, quoting as an example the "barbarous English of the Frenchman, 'I you pray, sir,' for Je vous prie, monsieur."

[849] An Essay on Education, London, 1711.

[850] Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, ed. C. H. Firth, London. 1885, i. p. 16.

[851] Ibid. p. 23.

[852] Autobiography of Lady Anne Halkett, 1622-1699, 1701, Camden Society, 1875, p. 2.

[853] The Lives of Wm., Duke of Newcastle and of his wife Margaret ... written by the thrice noble and illustrious princess Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, ed. M. A. Lower, 1872, p. 271.

[854] Loveday's Letters, Domestick and forrain to several persons ..., London, 1659, p. 31.

[855] Letters, p. 105. Cp. also pp. 26, 47, 79, 135, etc. It is evident from the letter of Dorothy Osborne quoted above, p. 320, that she had learnt French chiefly by ear. Several of the inaccuracies, such as the use of the past participle for the infinitive, would not be noticeable in pronunciation.

[856] F. Watson, Grammar Schools, pp. 276 sqq.

[857] J. Webbe, An Appeale to Truth in the Controversie between Art and Verse about the best and most expedient course in languages, 1622.

[858] There was a strong feeling at this period in favour of a freer use of English in the teaching of Latin, chiefly on account of the time such a course would save. Thus Milton recognized the mistake of spending a great number of years in learning one language "making two labours of one by learning first the accidence, then the grammar in Latin, ere the language of those rules be understood." The remedy, he thought, was the use of a grammar in English (A. F. Leach, "Milton as Schoolboy and Schoolmaster," Proceedings of the British Academy, iii. 1908). Snell (Right Teaching of Useful Knowledge, 1649), Mrs. Makin or M. Lewis (?) (Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen, 1671), and others also argued that English should be the groundwork of the teaching of Latin. Most of the English grammars produced in the seventeenth century claim to be useful to scholars as an introduction to the rudiments of Latin; and it was on this footing, no doubt, that English grammar first made its way into the schools. Chief among these, perhaps, was J. Poole's English Accidence for attaining more speedily the Latin Tongue, so that every young child, as soon as he can read English, may by it turn any sentence into Latin. Published by Authority, and commended as generally necessary to be made use of in all schooles of this commonwealth, London, 1655. For a list of English grammars cp. F. Watson, Modern Subjects, chap. i. Lily's Grammar came to be almost always used with the English rendering by Wm. Hume. Cp. Watson, Grammar Schools, p. 296.

[859] An advertisement ... touching school books, 1659.

[860] An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen, London, 1673 (by Mrs. Makin or Mark Lewis).

[861] G. Miège, A New French Grammar, 1678, p. 377.

[862] Appeale to Truth, 1622, p. 41.

[863] Petition to the High Court of Parliament, in behalf of auncient and authentique Authours, for the universall and perpetuall good of every man, 1623.

[864] Essais, liv. i., ch. xxv.

[865] Cp. The Brain Breaker's Breaker, or the Apologie of Th. Grantham for his Method of Teaching, 1644.

[866] The Examination of Academies, wherein is discussed ... the Matter, Method and Customes of Academick and Scholastick Learning, and the insufficiency thereof discovered and laid open, 1653, p. 21.

[867] Thus Sir Wm. Petty, in his Advice to S. Hartlib for the advancement of some particular parts of learning (1648), argues that languages should be taught by "incomparably more easy wayes then are now usuall." An anonymous "Lover of his Nation" proposed that children should learn Latin as they do English, by having no other language within their hearing for two years; and similarly with other languages (Watson, Modern Subjects, p. 482). Ch. Hoole, teacher at a private grammar school in London, also proposes that Latin should be learnt by speaking and hearing it spoken, and attributes the unsatisfactory knowledge of the language to the too frequent use of English in schools (New Discoverie of the old art of Teaching Schooll, 1660). The French teacher Miège suggests that Latin should be taught in special schools, on the same lines as French was taught in the French ones (French Grammar, 1678). In 1685 was published The Way of Teaching the Latin Tongue by use to those that have already learn'd their Mother Tongue; and in 1669 had appeared a work translated from the French, called An Examen of the Way of Teaching the Latine Tongue to little children by use alone. Among other publications of similar import are: An Essay on Education, showing how Latin, Greek, and other Languages may be learn'd more easily, quickly and perfectly than they commonly are, 1711; and An Essay upon the education of youth in Grammar Schools in which the Vulgar Method of Teaching is examined, and a new one proposed for the more easy and speedy training up of Youth, to the knowledge of the Learned Languages ..., by J. Clarke, Master of the Public Grammar School in Hull (London, 1720).

[868] Right Teaching of Useful Knowledge to fit scholars for some honest Profession, London, 1649, p. 186.

[869] Locke, Some thoughts concerning Education (1693), ed. J. W. Adamson, in Educational Writings of Locke, London, 1912, p. 125.

[870] Op. cit. p. 127.

[871] "Why does the Learning of Latin and Greek need the rod, when French and Italian need it not?" (op. cit. p. 69). And again, "Those who teach any of the modern languages with success never amuse their scholars to make speeches or verses either in French or Italian, their business being language barely and not invention" (op. cit. p. 71).

[872] J. Palairet, New Royal French Grammar, The Hague, 1738.

[873] Languages, he held, were best learnt by rules of a simple nature, comparison of the points of difference and resemblance between the known and unknown language, and exercises on familiar subjects.

[874] A compendious way of teaching Ancient and Modern Languages ..., 2nd edition, London, 1723, pp. 45 et seq.

[875] He would then learn Italian and Spanish on the same plan.

[876] An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen ..., 1673.

[877] Essay on Education, 1711. The case of Queen Elizabeth, who is said to have learnt only one or two Latin rules, is also quoted.

[878] An Essay on the education of children in the first rudiments of learning, together with a narrative of what knowledge Wm. Wotton, a child of 6 years of age, had attained unto upon the Improvement of those Rudiments in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew Tongues. Reprinted, London, 1753, p. 38.

[879] Diary, July 6, 1679.

[880] Ibid., Jan. 27, 1688.

[881] For this purpose he wrote The True and readie way to learne the Latin Tongue, expressed in an answer to the Question whether the ordinary way of teaching Latin by Rules of Grammar be best, 1654.

CHAPTER V

THE TOUR IN FRANCE

And now methinks I see a youth advance
Ready prepared to make the tour of France.

Satire against the French, 1691.

When, in the middle of the seventeenth century, England was torn in twain by civil war and party quarrels, even the Puritans willingly sent their children to be brought up in France. It was at this period that Thomas Grantham, a severe critic of the usual method of teaching Latin in Grammar Schools,[882] wrote this significant passage: "Let a boy of seven or eight years of age be sent out of England into France: he shall learn in a twelvemonth or less to write and speak the French tongue readily, although he keep much company with English, read many English books, and write many English letters home, and all this with pleasure and delight." The number of English children in France at this period was considerable.[883] At St. Malo, for instance, when proceedings were taken against the English in the town, the chief victims were the "English boys sent to learn French."[884]

The memoirs of the Verney family afford a detailed picture of one of the numerous families of royalist sympathies, cut off from English public school and university life, and brought up in France. Sir Ralph Verney had taken the side of Parliament in the long struggle, but in 1643 went into voluntary exile in France rather than sign the Covenant. He settled at Blois with his family, and procured French tutors for his boys. Apparently he had some trouble at first, one of the tutors being dismissed "for drinking, lying and seeking to proselytise." Finally the education of the boys was entrusted to the Protestant pastor, M. Testard, who received foreign pupils. The young students worked hard at Latin and French under the minister's supervision. Testard reported of Edmund, the elder, "Il fait merveille. . . . Je luy raconte une histoire en français, il me la rend extempore en Latin."[885] And one day Mme. Testard found the young John hard at work in bed in the early morning with two books in French and Latin. The children wrote in French to their mother when she was absent in England making valiant and finally successful attempts to get the sequestration taken off Sir Ralph's estate. And when, after her death, Sir Ralph sought to divert his mind by travelling in Italy, Edmund,[886] then aged thirteen, wrote this letter—which shows clearly the dangers of a purely oral method:

Plust à Dieu qu'il vous donnast la pensée de retourner à Blois. Les jours me semblent des années tant il m'ennuye d'ettre icy comme dans un desert de solitude; car quoy est cequi me peut desormais plaire dans cette ville, comment est ceque cette lumiere de la vie, et cette respiration de l'air me peuvent-elle estre agreeables, puisqu'y ayant perdu cequi m'estoit le plus au Monde et qu'il m'interesse plus q'une seule personne dont je suis privé de l'honneur de sa presence, au reste, graces a Dieu, nous nous porte fort bien et pourcequi et de moy je vous asseure que je ne manqueray jamais à mon devoir, c'espourquoy finissant je demeure et demeureray aternellement,

Votre tres humble et fidel fils,
Edmond Verney.

Sir Ralph had also in his charge two girls, his young cousins, whom their mother had entrusted to him: "Sweet nephew, I have after A long debate with my selfe sent my tow gurles where I shall desier youre care of them, that they may be tought what is fite for them as the reding of the french tong, and to singe, and to dance and to right and to playe of the gittar."[887]

Sir Ralph regarded France as "the fittest place to breed up youth." SIR RALPH VERNEY'S VIEWS"I wish peace in France for my children's sake," he wrote to M. Du Val, a French tutor. After bringing up his own family there, he would have liked to send his grandchildren to France with a sober and discreet governor, rather than to any school in England; but his son Edmund thought the advantage of learning to speak French fluently did not compensate for the loss of English public school life, which he himself had never enjoyed. Sir Ralph soon became a versatile source of information to parents desiring details of the cost of living and education in France. He considered £200 a year a proper allowance for an English youth to be boarded in a good French family, and that homes in which there were children were best, on account of the continual prattle of the young inmates. The families of French pastors were naturally preferred; and as the pastors were in the habit of taking French pupils also,[888] no doubt the young English boys found suitable companions.

The Protestant schools,[889] established wherever possible by the French reformers in the vicinity of their churches, were also in favour with English parents. These schools, in which the subjects usually taught were reading, writing, arithmetic, and the catechism, were for obvious reasons looked on with suspicion by the Government; one by one they were dispersed, especially when the feeling against the Protestants became more acute towards the middle of the seventeenth century. Thus the schools of Rouen were closed in 1640; and shortly afterwards Sir Ralph Verney wrote, in reply to an inquiry about a school, that Rouen is a very unfit place, as no Protestant masters are allowed to keep school there; moreover, living is dear in the town, and the accent of the inhabitants bad. In some cases, when the schools had been closed or converted into Jesuit establishments, the ejected schoolmasters gave private lessons, or received a few pensionnaires in their homes. Even this was forbidden in 1683. And two years later the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes dealt the severest blow of all.

Regarding the Protestant Academies,[890] Sir Ralph sent the following report to his friends in England: "There are divers Universities at Sedan, Saumur, Geneva and other fine places, as I am told at noe unreasonable rate, and not only Protestant schoolmasters, but whole colleges of Protestants."[891] Many young Englishmen were sent to one or other of these towns, either to attend lectures at the Academies, or, more often, to study French and the "exercises" privately, in a Protestant atmosphere. Sir Orlando Bridgman, a friend of Sir Ralph Verney, after letting his son study with two other English boys under a M. Cordell at Blois, intended to send him either to Saumur or Poitiers, then to Paris, and so to the Inns of Court,[892] and Sir Thomas Cotton sent his sons to Saumur to perfect themselves in French.[893] In the middle of the seventeenth century, Sir Joseph Williamson, the future statesman and diplomat of the reign of Charles II., was living at Saumur with several young Englishmen in his care.[894] After graduating at Oxford, he had left England in the capacity of tutor to a young man of quality, possibly one of the sons of the Marquis of Ormonde. At Saumur, Williamson kept a book of notes relating to the studies of his pupils and containing the letters which he wrote to their parents in answer to inquiries concerning their progress. He and his pupils lived en pension in a private house in the town, "with very civil company,"—"the best way to get the language which is much desired." On the whole Williamson's pupils do not seem to have made as rapid progress as either he himself or their parents desired. One anxious father writes to ask Williamson to let his son practise writing French daily; another exhorts his son to devote himself seriously to learning French by reading good authors and conversing. The Academies of Montauban and Sedan, though they never attained a popularity equal to that of Saumur, were not neglected, and attracted many foreign students. The Academy at Montauban was moved to Puy Laurens in 1659, where it remained until its suppression at the time of the Revocation. In 1678 Henry Savile, English ambassador at Paris, informed his brother, Lord Halifax, that there are only two Protestant Universities in France, TRAVELLERS AT FRENCH UNIVERSITIESat Saumur and Puy Laurens, and that of these Saumur is beyond dispute the better.[895] From this we see that these two Academies were then the best known;[896] no doubt the rest, which had never been quite so popular, were much enfeebled by the hostile edicts which preceded the Revocation. Lord Halifax at first intended to send his sons to the College at Chastillon. Savile, however, stopped them when they arrived at Paris, as he had heard that the only teaching given at the College was reading, writing, and the catechism—the curriculum of the Protestant schools. In the end the boys were sent with their governor to the Academy at Geneva. On their return to England in 1681, one of them went to complete his education at the University and the other to the academy which was opened that year by the Frenchman M. Foubert, who had set up as a teacher of the "exercises" in London.

Other travellers spent some time at one of the French Universities. The University of Paris usually counted a considerable number of English among its students, and Clarendon tells us that those who have been there "mingle gracefully in all companies." The Universities of Bordeaux, Poitiers, and Montpellier were also favourite resorts. Montpellier particularly, with its "gentle salutiferous air," attracted those suffering from the "national complaint."[897] When Will Allestry was there in 1668, he spent the greater part of his time learning French, and what leisure he had he employed in studying the Institutions.[898] Orleans, famous for the study of law, was also much patronised. The custom of studying in French Universities, however, did not meet with general approval in England. Sir Balthazar Gerbier pronounced it "no less than abusing the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the famous free schools of this realme to withdraw from them the sons of Noble families and those that are lovers of vertue." The same opinion is voiced by Samuel Penton, Master of Exeter Hall, Oxford, who did not omit even the Protestant Academies from his condemnation. "The strangeness of New Faces, Language, Manners and Studies may prove perhaps uneasie, and then their great want of discipline to confine him to Prayers, Exercises and Meals is dangerous: all he will have to do is to keep in touch with a Lecturer, and what is learned from him, most young Gentlemen are so civil as to leave behind them when they return."[899]

The governors who usually accompanied young travellers, especially those of high birth, were not infrequently Frenchmen. We are told that it was a rare sight to see a young English nobleman at a foreign court with a governor of his own nation,[900] though some preferred an English governor, and cautioned travellers against foreign tutors. Samuel Penton warns us that if the young traveller is committed, for cheapness or curiosity, to a foreigner instead of an English governor, "there are some in the world who without a fee will tell you what that is like to come to."[901] One of the English governors, J. Gailhard, who was tutor abroad to several of the nobility and gentry, including the Earl of Huntingdon, Lord Hastings, and Sir Thomas Grosvenor, lays down "a method of travel" which is of special interest, as it is the one which he followed with his own pupils.[902] His view was that, if possible, the traveller should have some knowledge of French before setting out on his travels. The first thing he should do on arriving at Paris is to go to the famous Protestant temple at Charenton, and there give thanks for his safe journey so far—whether he understand French or not. He will do well to make but a short stay at Paris, where his progress will be hindered by the great number of his countrymen there. The best places to reside in are the towns along the valley of the Loire, where there are plenty of good masters to be had. Perhaps Angers is the best. The student is further urged to keep a diary, and talk as much as possible—"with speaking we learn to speak." The masters for the riding and fencing exercises, dancing and music, are to be looked upon as so many additional language teachers. Although "of ten words he could not speak two right, yet let him not be ashamed and discouraged at it: for it is not to be expected he should be a Master before he hath been a scholar." The language master should teach his pupil to read, write and spell correctly, and to speak properly. GUIDE-BOOKS FOR TRAVELLERSThe material for reading must be carefully chosen; romances, such as those of Scudéry, are often dangerous; it is better to use books which give instruction in such subjects as history, morality, and politics. Every evening there should be a repetition of what has been learnt during the day. Gailhard also draws attention to the necessity of respecting and observing the customs of the places visited: "Here in England, the manner is for the master of the House to go in before a stranger, this would pass for a great incivility in France; so here the Lady or Mistress of the House uses to sit at the upper end of the Table, which in France is given to Strangers. So if we be many in a company we make no scruple to drink all out of a glass, or a Tankard, which they are not used to do, and if a servant would offer to give them a glass before it was washed every time they drink, they would be angry at it. Here when a man is sneezing we say nothing to him, but there they would look upon't as a want of civility. Again, we in England upon a journey, use to ask one another how we do, but in France they do no such thing—amongst them that question would answer to this, 'what aileth you that you look so ill?'"

The attitude of the French teachers in England towards the foreign tour gradually changed. They no longer saw in it a rival institution, depriving them of many of their pupils, but, on the contrary, a means of giving the finishing touch to the results of their own efforts in England. All strongly advise their pupils to go to France, and most of them add directions for travel in their text-books.[903] Mauger's dialogues include "most exact instructions for travel, very useful and necessary for all gentlemen that intend to travel into France," and Lainé's grammar is "enriched with choice dialogues useful for persons of quality that intend to travel into France, leading them as by the hand to the most noted and principal places of the kingdom."

As the tour in France increased in popularity, the directions furnished by French teachers were supplemented by guide-books properly so called; towards the end of the seventeenth century books such as The Present State of France and The Description of Paris were to be had at every bookseller's in London.[904] As early as 1604 Sir Robert Dallington had written his View of France, in which he refers to a book called the French Guide, which "undertaketh to resemble eche countrie to some other thing, as Bretaigne to a horse-shoe, Picardy to a Neat's toung etc., which are but idle and disproportioned comparisons." Peter Heylyn, chaplain at the Courts of Charles I. and Charles II., was the author of two popular books of this type: France painted to the Life by a learned and impartial Hand,[905] and A Full relation of two Journeys, the one in the mainland of France, the other in some of the adjacent Islands.[906] Some of these guides are descriptions of the country, others are relations of journeys made there; to the first category belongs A Description of France in its several governments by J. S. Gent (1692), and to the second, A Journey to Paris in the year 1698 by Dr. Martin Lister. Some include advice as to the course of study to be followed. And as Italy was still frequently included in the tour, travellers were sometimes supplied with information regarding that country.[907]

So popular did the tour in France become in the seventeenth century that guide-books for travellers were produced on the spot. The earliest French books of this kind had not been specially designed for the use of foreign visitors; they were as a rule descriptions of the towns and their geographical positions, or notices on their history and antiquities.[908] In time, however, they assumed a character more particularly adapted to strangers.[909] One of the best known and most ROUTES USUALLY FOLLOWEDpopular was Le Voyage de France, dressé pour l'instruction et commodité tant des Français que des étrangers, first published in 1639. The author, C. de Varennes, gives directions for the study of French. He thinks Oudin's Grammar the most profitable, on account of the manner in which it deals with the chief difficulties of foreigners, and Paris and Orleans the best towns for study. For the rest, the help of a tutor should be enlisted, and the student should converse as much as possible with children, and with persons of learning and ability; he should also read widely, preferably dialogues in familiar style and the latest novels; and write French, for which exercise he will find much help in the Secrétaire de la Cour and the Secrétaire à la mode,[910] collections of letters and "compliments," which, we may say incidentally, enjoyed a popularity greatly exceeding their merit.

The short tour in France grew in popularity as the seventeenth century advanced, and many were content to spend the whole of their sojourn abroad there, without undertaking the longer continental tour. Others went to France to prepare themselves for the longer tour. Naturally the tour in France alone engaged the attention of French teachers. We are told that the cost of a tour of three months need not be more than £50. "If you take a friend with you 'twill make you miss a thousand opportunities of following your end: you go to get French, and it would be best if you could avoid making an acquaintance with any Englishman there. To converse with their learned men will be beside your purpose too, if you go for so short a time: they talk the worst for conversation and you had rather be with the ladies."[911]

The chief routes which French masters in England advised their pupils to take were those from Dover to Boulogne and from Rye to Dieppe, whence it was usual to proceed through Rouen to Paris.[912] Locke, for instance, landed at Boulogne when on his way to the South of France; thence he made his way to Paris, chiefly on foot.[913] "If Paris be heaven (for the French with their usual justice, extol it above all things on earth)," he writes after a night spent at Poy, "Poy certainly is purgatory on the way to it." His impressions of Tilliard were more favourable: "Good mutton, and a good supper, clean linen of the country, and a pretty girl to lay it (who was an angel compared with the fiends of Poy) made us some amends for the past night's suffering." It was on the same route to Paris that the Norman Claude du Val, afterwards notorious on the English highways, first came into contact with the English as he was journeying to Paris to try his fortune there. At Rouen he met a band of young Englishmen on their way to Paris with their governors, to learn the exercises and to "fit themselves to go a-wooing at their return home; who were infinitely ambitious of his company, not doubting but in those two days' travel (from Rouen to Paris) they should pump many considerable things out of him, both as to the language and customs of France: and upon that account they did willingly defray his charges." When the young Englishmen arrived at Paris and settled in the usual quarter, the Faubourg St. Germain, Du Val attached himself to their service, and betook himself to England on the Restoration, which drained Paris of many of its English inhabitants.[914]

Many travellers, however, agreed with the French teachers that Paris was not a suitable place for serious study of French, both on account of the many distractions it offered and of the great number of English people resident there. It therefore became customary with the more serious-minded to retire for a time to some quiet provincial town where the accent was good. The French teacher Wodroeph tells us as much: "Mais, Monsieur, je vois bien que vous estes estranger et vous allez à la cour à Paris pour y apprendre nostre langue françoise. Mais mieux il vous vaut d'aller à Orleans plustost que d'y aller pour hanter la cour et baiser les Dames et Damoiselles. . . . Parquoy je vous conseille mieux vous en esloigner et d'aller à Orleans là où vous apprendrez la vraye methode de la langue vulgaire."[915] The towns in the valley of the Loire were favourite resorts for purposes of study.[916] Orleans, Blois, and Saumur seem to have been the most popular. LOIRE TOWNS FAVOUREDFor instance, James Howell, after spending some time in Paris, where he lodged near the Bastille—"the part furthest off from the quarters where the English resort," for he wished "to go on to get a little language"[917] as soon as he could—went to Orleans to study French; he describes it as "the most charming town on the Loire, and the best to learn the language in the purity." The town was never without a great abundance of strangers.[918] The fame of Blois and its teachers was widespread; and Bourges, Tours, Angers, and Caen were noted for the purity of their French. Saumur and other towns in which the Protestants were powerful were also much frequented. John Malpet, afterwards Principal of Gloucester Hall, Oxford, spent two years in France with his pupil, Lord Falkland, visiting Orleans, Blois, and Saumur.[919] John Evelyn visited Paris, Blois, Orleans, and Lyons, and finally settled at Tours, where he engaged a French master and studied the language diligently for nineteen weeks.

While studying in one or other of these towns, English travellers usually lodged in hotels, auberges, or pensions,[920] and sometimes with French families. One of their chief difficulties appears to have been to avoid their fellow-countrymen in such places. Gabriel Du Grès suggests that when English students are thus thrown together they should come to an agreement that any one who spoke his native tongue should pay a fine. A further though less serious impediment was the speaking of Latin, still considered necessary to the traveller by scholars such as John Brinsley.[921] For this reason travellers "for language" are advised to frequent the company of women and children, and "polite" society, rather than that of scholars. It is a great inconvenience, observes Du Grès, if your landlord can speak Latin. The majority of travellers, however, do not appear to have experienced any embarrassment in this respect; on the contrary, those with little previous knowledge of French found their Latin of use in their first French lessons if they studied the language "grammatically" with a master. French teachers in England usually recommended suitable pensions to their students. Gabriel Du Grès, for instance, gives a list of such lodgings at Saumur, his native town; Mauger, of those of Blois, Orleans, and other towns in the Loire valley.[922] In like manner they addressed their pupils to recommendable academies for instruction in the polite accomplishments and military exercises. However, for the most part they advised their pupils to go to private masters, who would attend to their French as well as the "exercises." The house of M. Doux, who had a riding school at Blois, was considered a particularly appropriate residence for those desiring to learn French, on account of his daughters, who spoke "wondrously well," as was also that of a certain M. Dechaussé, who kept an academy for teaching young gentlemen to ride.

What is more, French teachers in England, no longer regarding their fellow-workers in France as rivals but rather as collaborators, as we have seen, not infrequently entertained friendly relations with them, and even went so far as to direct pupils to them. Claude Mauger, for instance, sent as many of his pupils as possible to M. Gaudrey at Paris, the author of verses in praise of Mauger's Tableau du Jugement Universel. This change of attitude is probably explained by the fact that in the seventeenth century French was studied more seriously in England than in the sixteenth century; and students on their arrival in France had often had preliminary instruction under the care of a French tutor in England; Clarendon significantly states that in France "we quickly renew the acquaintance we have had with the language by the practice and custom of speaking it." Students going abroad for purposes of study are therefore addressed to M. Nicolas, an excellent master at Paris, M. le Fèvre, an avocat en parlement at Orleans, and others. We are also informed that abbés were fond of teaching their language to strangers, especially the English.[923] Moreover, several French teachers in England had previously exercised their profession in France. The most popular of all, Claude Mauger, had spent seven years teaching French at Blois. Many years later, when he had FRENCH GRAMMARS FOR TRAVELLERSmade his reputation as a successful teacher of French in London, he went for a time to Paris, where he settled in the Faubourg St. Germain, and was busily occupied in teaching French to travellers, among others to the Earl of Salisbury. He also tells us that his books were very popular in France, and used by the great majority of English students there.

Several of the French teachers in France wrote books for the use of their pupils. Mauger himself quotes the authority of "all French Grammarians that are Professors in France for the teaching of travellers the language." Yet in the seventeenth century, when the French language became one of the chief preoccupations of polite society as well as of scholars, many grammars paid no attention to teaching the language to foreigners. There were, however, several well-known teachers of languages at Paris who wrote grammars specially for their use. Alcide de St. Maurice, the author of the Guide fidelle des estrangers dans le voyage de France (1672), composed a grammar called Remarques sur les principales difficultez de la langue françoise (1674), which has little value, and is compiled chiefly from Vaugelas and Ménage. His chief aim was to overcome the usual difficulties—pronunciation and orthography. Several years previously he had written a collection of short stories inspired by the Decameron. The Fleurs, Fleurettes et passetemps ou les divers caractères de l'amour honneste, as he called them, were published at Paris in 1666, and were no doubt intended as reading matter for his pupils.

A work called the Nova Grammatica Gallica, written in Latin and French for the use of foreigners, appeared at Paris in 1678. It is mainly compiled from Chiflet and other French grammarians. A certain M. Mauconduy was responsible for the grammar, which was on much the same lines as that of Maupas. The French theologian M. de Saint-Amour, of the Sorbonne, addressed several foreigners to Mauconduy, who issued for their use daily feuillets volants, containing remarks on the language. His pupils made rapid progress, and usually knew French fairly well in three months, we are told.

Another of these teachers, Denys Vairasse d'Allais,[924] lived, like Mauger, in the Faubourg St. Germain, and like him taught English as well as French. He had spent some time in England in his youth, and perhaps taught French there. He also corresponded with Pepys, the famous diarist. Vairasse had a particular affection for his English pupils, and they appear to have been in the majority. He was a strong advocate of the study of grammar, and condemned attempts to learn French "by imitation" alone. His Grammaire Méthodique contenant en abrégé les principes de cet art et les regles les plus necessaires de la langue françoise dans un ordre claire et naturelle appeared at Paris in 1682.[925] In it he criticizes severely all the French grammars for the use of strangers produced either in France or in foreign countries. Shortly afterwards the grammar was abridged and translated into English as A Short and Methodical Introduction to the French Tongue composed for the particular benefit of the English, printed at Paris in 1683. This French grammar published in English at Paris is a striking testimony to the importance of the English as students of French.

René Milleran, like Vairasse d'Allais, taught English as well as French. He was a native of Saumur, but spent most of his life at Paris teaching languages, and for a time acted as interpreter to the king. He composed for the use of his pupils a French grammar entitled La Nouvelle Grammaire Françoise, avec le Latin à coté des exemples devisée en deux parties (Marseilles, 1692), which is no doubt a first edition of his Les deux Gramaires Fransaizes (Marseilles, 1694), in which he expounds his new system of orthography. His collection of letters, Lettres Familieres Galantes et autres sur toutes sortes de sujets, avec leurs responses, of which the third edition appeared in 1700, enjoyed a great popularity, like most similar collections at this time: successive editions appeared right into the eighteenth century. This, he says, was the first work which won for him the favour of so many foreign noblemen. His method was to give the students copies of the letters in either Latin or their own language, and to let them translate them into French. He announced an edition of the letters with English, German, and Latin translations for the use of his pupils, but it does not appear to have been published. Like most writers connected with the Court, Milleran calls attention to the purity of his style, and announces that no other books give such exact rules for the language of the Court. A special feature of his work was the selection of letters by members of the French Academy. HOWELL'S ADVICE TO TRAVELLERSNor was the more familiar side neglected: there are numerous letters to and from students of French, reporting on their progress in the language, with mutual congratulations on improvement in style, etc. It is said of Milleran's compositions that their chief merit is their scarcity, and few will agree with De Linière, the satirist and enemy of Boileau, who wrote in praise of Milleran:

Cet homme en sa Grammaire étale
Autant de sçavoir que Varron,
Et dans ses Lettres il égale
Balzac, Voiture et Cicéron.

Not a few English travellers dispensed with the services of a tutor in France. Among these was James Howell, who studied French at Paris, Orleans, and Poissy, where he endangered his health by too close application; he acted for a time as travelling tutor to the son of Baron Altham. He put his knowledge of French to the test by translating his own first literary production, Dodona's Grove. This, he says, he submitted to the new Académie des beaux esprits, founded by Richelieu, which gave it a public expression of approbation.[926] The translation was printed at Paris in 1641 under the title of Dendrologie ou la Forêt de Dodone. Howell left instructions for travellers, based on his own experience of study abroad, and typical of the theories current at the time. He advises[927] the student who has settled in some quiet town to choose a room looking on to the street, "to take in the common cry and language"; to keep a diary during the day, and in the evening to write an essay from this material, "for the penne maketh the deepest furrowes, and doth fertilize and enrich the memory more than anything else." He should avoid the company of his countrymen, "the greatest bane of English Gentlemen abroad," and frequent cafés and ordinaries,[928] and engage a French page-boy "to parley and chide withal, whereof he shall have occasion enough."[929] Howell strongly felt the necessity of travelling in France at an early age in order to gain a good pronunciation, "hardly overcome by one who has past the minority ... the French tongue by reason of the huge difference betwixt their writing and speaking will put one often into fits of despair and passion." He draws a grotesque picture of "some of the riper plants" who "overact themselves, for while they labour to trencher le mot, to cut the word as they say, and speake like naturall Frenchmen, and to get the true genuine tone ... they fall a lisping and mincing, and so distort and strain their mouths and voyce so that they render themselves fantastique and ridiculous: let it be sufficient for one of riper years to speak French intelligibly, roundly, and congruously, without such forced affectation." It is equally important to avoid bashfulness in speaking: "whatsoever it is, let it come forth confidently whether true or false sintaxis; for a bold vivacious spirit hath a very great advantage in attaining the French, or indeed any other language."

The student will also do well to repair sometimes "to the Courts of pleading and to the Publique Schools. For in France they presently fall from the Latine to dispute in the vulgar tongue." He should also combine the study of grammar—that of Maupas is the best—with his practical exercises, and begin a course of reading, making notes as he goes on. The most suitable books are those dealing with the history of France, such as Serres and D'Aubigné. Much judgment is needed in the choice of books on other subjects, "especially when there is such a confusion of them as in France, which, as Africk, produceth always something new, for I never knew week pass in Paris, but it brought forth some new kinds of authors: but let him take heed of tumultuary and disjointed Authors, as well as of the frivolous and pedantique." However, "there be some French poets will affoord excellent entertainment specially Du Bartas, and 'twere not amisse to give a slight salute to Ronsard and Desportes, and the late Théophile.[930] And touching poets, they must be used like flowers, some must only be smelt into, but some are good to be thrown into a limbique to be Distilled."

The student is likewise admonished to make a collection of French proverbs, and translate from English into French—the most difficult task in learning the language, "for to translate another tongue into English is not hard or profitable." Finally, "for Sundayes and Holydayes, there bee many USUAL COURSETreasuries of Devotion in the French Tongue, full of patheticall ejaculations, and Heavenly raptures, and his closet must not be without some of these.... Peter du Moulin hath many fine pieces to this purpose, du Plessis, Allencour and others. And let him be conversant with such bookes only on Sundayes and not mingle humane studies with them. His closet must be his Rendez-vous whensoever hee is surprized with any fit of perverseness, as thoughts of Country or Kindred will often affect one."

Having acquired some knowledge of French in this retirement, "hee may then adventure upon Paris, and the Court, and visit Ambassadours," and go in the train of some young nobleman. In addition he should enter into the life of the town, read the weekly gazettes and newspapers, "and it were not amisse for him to spend some time in the New Academy, erected lately by the French Cardinall Richelieu, where all the sciences are read in the French tongue which is done of purpose to refine and enrich the Language." He may also frequent one of the divers Academies in Paris, for private gentlemen and cadets.

It was also customary to make either the Grand or the Petit Tour of France, after the period of studious retirement. The Grand Tour included Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Paris; the Petit Tour, Paris, Tours, and Poitiers.[931] Paris, we can guess, was the chief attraction to most young Englishmen of family and fortune. Dryden thus describes the education of a young gentleman of fashion:[932] "Your father sent you into France at twelve years old, bred you up at Paris, first at a college and then at an Academy." Much importance was attached to a course of study at the University there, and many recognized the advantages gained therefrom. But on the other hand there were not a few complaints of the dangers of lack of discipline and the company of dissolute scholars, and still more, of the neglect of all serious study. Clarendon[933] assures us that many English travellers never saw the University nor knew in what part of Paris it stood; but "dedicate all that precious season only to Dancing and other exercises, which is horribly to misspend it"; with the result that when such a traveller returns to England, all his learning consists in wearing his clothes well, and he has at least one French fellow to wait upon him and comb his periwig. He is a "most accomplish'd Harlequin:"[934]

Drest in a tawdrey suit, at Paris made,
For which he more than twice the value paid.
French his attendants, French alone his mouth
Can speak, his native language is uncouth.
If to the ladies he doth make advance,
His very looks must have the air of France.

Such being the case, Admiral Penn thought well to send his son William to France[935] in the hope that the brilliant life there would make him forget the Quaker sympathies formed at Oxford.[936] The plan succeeded for the time being; Penn returned "a most modish person, a fine Gentleman, with all the latest French fashions," and Pepys[937] reports that he perceived "something of learning he hath got, but a great deale, if not too much of the vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait. I fear all real profit he hath made of his travel will signify little."

No doubt many "raw young travellers" did "waste their time abroad in gallantry, ignorant for the most part of foreign languages, and no recommendation to their own country."[938] Costeker in The Compleat Education of a Young Nobleman pictures what the young traveller abroad often is, and what he might be. To begin with, "the utmost of his thoughts and ideas are confined to the more fashionable part of dress." Then, "according to custom, our Beau is designed to Travel; the Tour proposed is to France, Italy and Spain. Were I to act the part of an impartial Inquisitor I would ask for what? Why, most undoubtedly, I might expect to be answered, to see the World again and perfect his Studies, and by that means compleat the fine Gentleman. Thus equiped with a fine Estate, little Learning, and less Sense, and intirely ignorant of all Languages but his own, he launches into a foreign Nation, without the least knowledge of his own, where the sharpers will find him out, discover his Intellects, and make the most of him; they besiege him with fulsome Adulation, against which his feminine refined Understanding is too weak to resist. SIR JOHN RERESBY IN FRANCEI will not dwell long upon the subject of his stay there, supposing he has made his Tour, and seen all the most remarkable and wondrous curiosities of those Nations, he returns a little better than he went, except for smattering a little of the tongues, and can give us but as bad and imperfect an Account of their nation as he was capable of giving them of ours; all the Advantage he brings from thence is their Modes and Vices ... the incommoding a French Peruke unmans the Bow at once."[939] And next to himself he "loves best anyone who will call him a Bel Esprit." How different a picture from that of the traveller which is painted as a model to young Englishmen: at the age of twenty he goes abroad for two years, after having acquired a true knowledge of his own nation and made himself master of French and Latin. He is capable of learning more in a month than another ignorant of languages can in twelve. "I am confident were all our young Noblemen educated in this manner the French Court would no longer bee esteem'd the Residence of Politeness and Belles Lettres but must then yield to the British one in many degrees, by reason our young Gentlemen would not only be perfect Masters in their exterior but intellectual Perfections, and England will then be fam'd for the Excellency of Manners and Politeness as it is now for the incomparable Beauty of the Ladies."[940]

Sir John Reresby's account of how he spent his time abroad may be given as a fairly typical example.[941] He went to France, in company with Mr. Leech, his governor, in 1654. They travelled from Rye to Dieppe, and thence to Paris, passing through Rouen. Their stay at Paris was very short, as Reresby found the great resort of his countrymen there a great "prevention" to learning the language. "I stayed no longer in Paris," he tells us, "than to get my clothes, and to receive my bills of exchange, and so went to live in a pension or boarding house at Blois.... I employed my time here in learning the language, the guitar and dancing, till July, and then, there having been some likelihood of a quarrel between me and a Dutch gentleman in the same house, my governour prevailed with me to go and live at Saumur[942].... At Saumur in addition to the exercises I learnt at Blois, I learned to fence, and to play of the lute. Besides that I studied philosophy and the mathematicks, with my governor, who read lectures of each to me every other day. After eight months' stay I had got so much of the language to be able to converse with some ladies of the town, especially the daughters of one M. du Plessis.... In the month of April I began to make the little tour or circuit of France, and returned to Saumur after some six weeks' absence. In July, I went (desirous to avoid much English company resident at Saumur) to Le Mans, the capital town of Mayence, with the two Mr. Leeches and one Mr. Butler. We lodged, and were in pension at the parson's or minister's house; there were there no strangers. There were several French persons of quality that lived there at that time, as the Marquis de Cogne's widow, the Marquis de Verdun, and several others, who made us partakers of the pastimes and diversions of the place. All that winter few weeks did pass, that there were not balls three times at the least, and we had the freer access by reason that the women were more numerous than the men. I stayed there till April 1656, and then returned to Saumur with my Governor alone." After staying there for some time, Reresby dismissed his governor and made a tour in Italy.

FOOTNOTES:

[882] Discourse in derision of the Teaching in Free Schools, 1644.

[883] One John Gifford, for instance, obtained permission to spend seven years in France in order to educate his family there (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1623-25, p. 282). Mr. Storey sent his grandson Starky to France to learn the language (ibid., 1649-50, p. 535).

[884] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1654, p. 427. Care was taken to prevent English students abroad from going to Roman Catholics; in 1661 Francis Cottington made a successful application for the remission of a forfeiture he incurred by going to Paris without a licence and living three months in the house of a Papist (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-62, p. 566).

[885] Memoirs of the Verney Family, i. pp. 477, 497.

[886] Among the books he read were Monluc's Commentaires, the Secrétaire à la mode, and the Secrétaire de la cour (Memoirs of the Verney Family, iii. p. 80).

[887] Memoirs, iii. p. 66.

[888] An Edict of 1683 restricted the number of such pupils allowed to French pastors to two.

[889] An account of the schools of the French Protestants is given by M. Nicolas in the Bulletin de l'Histoire du Protestantisme français, vol. iv. pp. 497 et seq.

[890] Cp. pp. 233 sqq., supra. The names of many famous families are found in the registers of Geneva University—the Pembrokes, Montagus, Cavendishes, Cecils, etc. Borgeaud, L'Académie de Genève, p. 442.

[891] Memoirs, i. p. 358.

[892] Verney Memoirs, vol. i. p. 358.

[893] Cal. of State Papers, Dom., 1661-62, p. 283.

[894] Ibid., 1656-56, pp. 182, 188, 281, 288, 316.

[895] Savile Correspondence, Camden Society, 1858, pp. 80, 71 sqq., 228.

[896] When the Academy of Saumur was suppressed in 1684, the town lost about two-thirds of its inhabitants.

[897] Locke was one of those who went to the South of France "carrying a cough with him"; cp. his Journal in King, Life of Locke ... with Extracts from his ... Journal, 1830, i. pp. 86 sqq., Nov. 1675-March 1679.

[898] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1667-68, p. 69.

[899] New Instructions to the Guardian, 1694, p. 101.

[900] Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, iv. 184.

[901] New Instructions to the Guardian, 1694, p. 101.

[902] The Compleat Gentleman or Directions for the Education of Youth as to their breeding at home and Travelling Abroad, 1687, pp. 33 sqq.

[903] Eliote seems to have been the first to have described the Grand Tour—in his grammar, Ortho-Epia Gallica (1593). Sherwood followed his example in 1625. After the middle of the century such dialogues assume a more educational and guide-like and less descriptive form.

[904] Lister, A Journey to Paris in the year 1698, p. 2. Lister had previously visited France in about 1668. In 1698 he visited the aged Mlle. de Scudéry and the Daciers, and frequented the French theatres.

[905] Second edition, 1657.

[906] London, 1656. Another edition appeared in 1673, entitled The Voyage of France, or a compleat Journey through France.

[907] As in A Tour in France and Italy made by an English Gentleman (J. Clenchy), 1675 and 1676, reprinted in A Collection of Voyages, 1745, vol. i.; and Remarks on the Grand Tour of France and Italy lately performed by a person of quality (W. Bromley), 1692 and 1693 (when it was entitled Remarks made in Travels through France and Italy with many public inscriptions. Lately undertaken by a Person of Quality). Cp. pp. 220 sqq., supra.

[908] For instance: Le Guide des chemins pour aller et venir par tous les pays et contrées du Royaume de France . . . par C. Estienne, Paris, 1552, 1553; Lyons, 1556. Les Antiquitez et Recherches des Villes, chasteaux, et places plus remarquables de toute la France, 6e éd., 1631. L. Coulon, Le fidèle conducteur pour le voyage de France montrant exactement les Routes et choses remarquables qui se trouvent en chaque ville, et les distances d'icelles avec un dénombrement des Batailles qui s'y sont données, Paris, 1654.

[909] As Le Guide Fidelle des étrangers dans le voyage de France, Paris, 1672 (by Aloide de St. Maurice); Les Délices de la France ou description des provinces et villes capitales d'icelles, Leyde, 1685; Le Gentilhomme étranger voyageant en France, par le baron G.D.N., 1699—borrowed, without acknowledgement, from Le Guide Fidelle of 1672. Cp. A. Babeau, Les Voyageurs en France depuis la Renaissance jusqu'à la Révolution, Paris, 1885, chapter v.

[910] By La Serre. The former, which first appeared in 1625, went through fifty editions.

[911] Lockier, in Spense's Anecdotes, 1820, p. 75.

[912] Journal, p. 89.

[913] Riding on horseback was the more usual mode of travelling, the horses being hired from town to town; cp. Locke's Journal, p. 149. Wherever possible, travellers went from one town to another by water—as from one of the Loire towns to another.

[914] The Memoirs of M. du Val ... intended as a severe reflexion on the too great fondness of English ladies towards French valets which at that time was a common complaint, London, 1670, Harleian Miscellany, iii. p. 308.

[915] Spared Houres of a Souldier, 1623.

[916] Moryson mentions Orleans as a good town; Edward Leigh, Blois and Orleans (Foelix Consortium, 1663); Evelyn, Blois and Bourges; Lookier, Orleans and Caen.

[917] Epistolae Ho-Elianae, 9th ed., 1726, p. 38.

[918] Heylyn, Voyage of France, 1673, p. 294.

[919] He kept a diary in Latin (1648-50); cf. Wood, Athenae Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 901.

[920] Gailhard, The Compleat Gentleman, 1678.

[921] Who, in his Ludus Literarius, urges boys to practise speaking Latin "to fit them if they shall go beyond the seas, as Gentlemen who go to travel, Factors for merchants, and the like."

[922] He tells us that at Rouen the English usually went to an inn kept by a certain Mr. Madde; at Dieppe, Madame Godard's house was very popular; at Paris, the best hotel was the "Ville de Venize." At Orleans, good lodging was found at the "Croix Blanche," kept by one M. Richard, and at the house of M. Marishall Laisné.

[923] J. Rutledge, Mémoire sur le caractère, et les mœurs des Français comparés à ceux des Anglais, 1776, p. 55.

[924] Vairasse was born c. 1630, probably at Allais.

[925] Another grammar of similar intent was that of Ruau, La vraie methode d'enseigner la langue françoise aux estrangers expliquée en Latin, Paris, 1687.

[926] Epistolae Ho-Elianae, 9th ed., 1726, p. 283.

[927] Instructions for forreine travel, 1642, ed. Arber, 1869, pp. 19 sqq.

[928] Bacon had many years before advised the traveller to keep a diary: and further "let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is a good company of the nation where he travaileth" (Essay on Travel).

[929] A Huguenot boy of about sixteen was considered a suitable valet (Lainé, French Grammar, 1650).

[930] I.e. Théophile de Viau.

[931] St. Maurice, Guide Fidelle, 1672.

[932] Limberman or the Kind Keeper, Act I. Sc. 1.

[933] On Education. Miscellaneous Works, 1751, pp. 322-3.

[934] Satire against the French, 1691.

[935] Webb, The Penns and Penningtons of the Seventeenth Century in their Domestic and Religious Life, 1867, p. 154.

[936] Gibbon, on the contrary, was sent to the house of a pastor of Lausanne, in the hope that he would abjure the doctrines of Roman Catholicism, which he had affected at the same University.

[937] Diary, August 26 and 27, 1664; August 30, 1664.

[938] D. Fordyce, Dialogues on Education, 1745, i. p. 417.

[939] The Compleat Education of a Young Nobleman, 1723, pp. 13 and 14.

[940] Costeker, op. cit. pp. 50-51.

[941] Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, 1634-1689, London, 1875, pp. 26 sqq., and Memoirs and Travels of Sir John Reresby, London, 1904, p. 21.

[942] Travelling by boat on the Loire, as was usual, and passing by Tours. They were accompanied by a band of French men and women who, says Reresby, tried to make the journey more pleasant by singing, and made it less so.

CHAPTER VI

GALLOMANIA AFTER THE RESTORATION

The French teachers of London at the time of the Restoration, chief amongst whom were Claude Mauger, Paul Festeau, Pierre Lainé, and Guillaume Herbert, all urged students to travel in France as a means of completing the knowledge of French acquired in England; yet at the same time they naturally and in their own interests lay emphasis on the facilities for learning the language in England, especially after the Restoration, when, to use Mauger's words, there was a little France in London, as well as a little England in Paris; "there being so great a correspondence between the two Courts of England and France that we see here continually the Lords of the latter, as they see at Paris persons of quality of the former, besides an infinity of others going and coming from thence." This indeed was the period in which Francomania reached its height in England. During the Commonwealth the English Court and many of the nobility and gentry had sojourned in France, and returned thence imbued with admiration for everything French. This admiration was intensified by the universal popularity of the French language and French fashions. Gentlemen from all parts of Europe repaired to France to learn the language and "frenchify" their manners. France was the country to which English gentlemen resorted "to get their breeding"; and the Chancellor Clarendon held that their manners were much improved by the contact. On the other hand, French men and women of the same class came to the English Court in larger numbers than ever before. Some returned with their English friends at the Restoration. Others followed later, for the English Court offered more attractions to pleasure-seekers than did the French Court, now under the influence of Madame de Maintenon.

The indignation and dismay aroused in France by the execution of Charles I.[943] made the welcome offered to the royalist emigrants all the warmer in the first instance. We are told that Paris, and indeed all France, was full of loyal fugitives.[944] The exiled English Court was sheltered at the Louvre and the Palais Royal in turn.[945] The queen arrived in her native land in 1644, and shortly afterwards came Prince Charles, then about sixteen years old, and James, the young Duke of York. Mlle. de Montpensier, the grand-daughter of Henry IV., remarks on the French of the two young princes. James, she thought, spoke the language with ease, and very well indeed, and Mademoiselle was no lenient critic.[946] But Charles had not drawn as much profit from the lessons received in England.[947] He found the pronunciation an almost insuperable difficulty, stammered and hesitated, and during the early part of his stay remained almost mute for want of words. Mademoiselle says he could not utter one intelligible sentence in French, though he understood all she said to him. Charles, however, soon felt the benefit of his sojourn abroad. When he returned to France from Holland in 1648, he had already made much progress and answered the French king readily in French, when that monarch inquired about the horses and dogs of the Prince of Orange. He was ready enough to talk of hunting in French, but when the queen wished to know about the progress of his affairs, and to talk of serious matters, he excused himself, declaring he could not speak French.[948] He would also sit silent for long periods in Mlle. de Montpensier's presence, and only ventured to convey his compliments to her through Lord Jermyn, one of the chief counsellors of Charles I., who remained in the service of the queen during her exile in France. But the princess was THE ENGLISH COURT IN FRANCEdelighted to see a great improvement in his speaking of the language at the time of his return from the expedition into Scotland, and the fatal battle of Worcester. He forgot his shyness and spoke French well, relating to her the thrilling story of his escape, and how he was "furieusement ennuyé" in Scotland, where they think it a sin to listen to a violin. He was also able to make the princess very pretty compliments in French, and on these occasions, she remarks, he spoke the language particularly well.[949]

Charles is even said to have gone incognito to several French reformed churches during his stay in France. The presence of Cromwell's ambassador prevented his going to the famous church of Charenton, but he went to others. On one occasion he listened to the sermon in the Protestant church of La Rochelle, in company with the Duke of Ormond, and expressed his satisfaction to one or two of the congregation to whom he revealed his identity.[950]

Many other Englishmen improved their French during their enforced stay on the Continent. Most of the high officials of the Court of Charles I., the courtiers, nobles, and gentlemen round the king, spent the greater part of the interregnum in Paris, although some of them were disturbed by the French understanding with Cromwell in 1656. John Evelyn[951] enumerates most of the distinguished Englishmen he met in France,[952] and remarks on the number of French courtiers who paid their respects to the king (Charles II.); he himself kissed His Majesty's hand at St. Germain's. French courtiers had free intercourse with the English at concerts, festivals, and other entertainments.[953] They also met at the Academies so fashionable at the time. On the 13th March 1650, for instance, Evelyn witnessed a "triumph" in Mr. Del Campo's Academy, where "divers of the French and English noblesse, especially my Lord of Ossory, and Richard, sons to the Marquis of Ormond (afterwards Duke), did their exercises on horseback in noble equipage before a world of spectators and great persons, men and ladies." And again, on the 24th of May, he writes, "we were invited by the Noble Academies to a running, where were many brave horses, gallants and ladies, my Lord Stanhope entertaining us with a collation." The king's brother, the young Duke of Gloucester, set the example by daily attending one of these academies. Sir John Reresby, that time-serving politician, has also left an account of his journey in France during the Commonwealth. On his arrival at Paris in 1654 he saw the king, the Duke of York, and Prince Rupert playing at billiards in the Palais Royal; "but was incognito, it being crime sufficient the waiting upon His Majesty to have caused the sequestration of his estates."[954] Reresby was again in France in 1659, and was well received by Henrietta Maria. Almost alone of the English exiles, Sir Edward Hyde, the Chancellor, who found the discomforts of the exiled Court very great, failed to become a fluent speaker of French, chiefly because he was unable to overcome the difficulties of the pronunciation. After the Restoration he was the one high official of the English Court who did not speak the language with fluency. It was not till the time of his exile in France, after his disgrace in 1668, that he mastered the language sufficiently to read its literature; but he still found "many inconveniences" in speaking it.[955]

Men of letters formed a considerable section of the English colony in France. Waller, Denham, Cowley, Davenant, Hobbes, Killigrew, Shirley, Fanshawe, Crashaw, etc., and later Roscommon, Rochester, Buckingham, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, and others lived in France, and some mixed freely in French literary circles, then centring round the Hôtel de Rambouillet, and such names as those of Malherbe, Vaugelas, Corneille, Bossuet, Scudéry, La Calprenède. English literature of the Restoration gives ample proof of their familiarity with both the language and literature of their hosts.[956] Waller, for instance, after spending some time at Rouen, moved to Paris, where he lived "in great splendour and hospitality."[957] ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS IN FRANCECowley, who had followed the queen to Paris, became secretary to Lord Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St. Albans, and deciphered the letters which passed between the king and queen of England. The dramatist Davenant was twice in France, where he remained several years on his second visit. Hobbes, who for many years acted as a travelling tutor, made his mark in the philosophic circles of Paris, and knew Mersenne, Sorbière, and Gassendi. He fled to Paris during the civil wars, and for a time was engaged in teaching arithmetic to the Prince of Wales.[958]

Among the many children sent to France for education during the Civil War and Commonwealth were several future literary men. Both Vanbrugh and Wycherley were brought up in this way. At the age of fifteen Wycherley was "sent for education to the Western parts of France, either to Saintonges or the Angoumois. His abode there was either upon the Banks of the Charente, or very little remov'd from it. And he had there the Happiness to be in the neighbourhood of one of the most accomplish'd Ladies of the Court of France, Mme. de Montausier, whom Voiture has made famous by several very ingenious letters, the most of which were writ to her when she was a Maid, and call'd Mlle. de Rambouillet. I have heard Mr. Wycherley say he was often admitted to the Conversation of that lady, who us'd to call him the Little Hugenot: and that young as he was, he was equally pleased with the Beauty of her Mind, and with the Graces of her person."[959]

One of the young royalists who received his education in France during the Commonwealth so completely mastered the French language that he gained an important place among French men of letters: the famous Anthony Hamilton, the author of short stories in French[960]—masterpieces in the light vein[961]—and of the well-known life of his gallant brother-in-law, the Comte de Grammont, which gives a vivid picture of the life at the Court of Charles II. Hamilton has been placed second only to Voltaire as a representative of the esprit français.[962]

At the Restoration, Hamilton returned to England with the rest of the English emigrants, together with a considerable number of Frenchmen who had attached themselves to the English Court. He was followed two years later by the hero of his Mémoires,[963] the Comte de Grammont, who pronounced the English Court so like that of France in manners and conversation that he could hardly realize he was in another country.[964] French was the language freely used by the English emigrants on their return to London, and by others in imitation of them. "French is the most in use," wrote William Higford in the year of the Restoration, "a most sweet tongue called the Woman's tongue, and as I think for the address from the servant to the mistress, and from the servant to the soveraigne, there is no sweeter nor more civil."[965] The use of the French language was spreading all over Europe, but nowhere was it so popular as in England: "indeed it is most alamode and best pleases the ladies and we cannot deny but Messieurs of France are excellent wits."[966]

The presence of so many of these messieurs in London intensified the already strong French atmosphere. Several famous names occur in the list of French ladies and gentlemen who took up their abode in England at this time. Shortly before De Grammont, St. Evremond had arrived in England, where he spent over thirty years, and died in 1703. Both played important parts in the social life of the time. De Grammont especially was very popular. FRENCH COURTIERS IN LONDONHe received a warm welcome at Court, where he met many old friends and was overwhelmed with hospitality; to make an engagement with him it was necessary to see him a fortnight beforehand. He himself added to the Court festivities by giving French entertainments in the Parisian style.

At the numerous festivities held in honour of De Grammont, St. Evremond[967] was almost invariably one of the guests. He soon became the centre of a coterie, half English and half French, including his literary companion the Dutchman Vossius, Canon of Windsor, the French doctor Le Fèvre, professor of chemistry to Charles II.,[968] and the learned Huguenot Henri Justel, who had charge of the royal library at St. James's. What contributed most to reconcile St. Evremond to his life in England, however, was the arrival of Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin, niece of the cardinal. The French ambassador Courtin said England was the refuge of French wives who had quarrelled with their husbands, and the Duchesse was one of these.[969] In her salon St. Evremond met the most distinguished Englishmen and foreign ministers of the day. He saw her daily, and she inspired much of his best work. There, too, met French Catholics, Huguenots, and Englishmen, free from all religious prejudice, and talked of the subjects which interested them most. Another of Mazarin's nieces, the Duchesse de Bouillon,[970] was also in London for a time, and received in her salon Waller, St. Evremond, and others; at one time there was a possibility of La Fontaine joining her circle. La Fontaine seems to have felt some interest in England and the English, who, he says,

pensent profondément;
Leur esprit, en cela, suit leur tempérament,
Creusant dans les sujets, et forts d'expériences,
Ils étendent partout l'empire des sciences.

To Mrs. Harvey, sister of Lord Montagu and friend of the Duchess of Mazarin, he dedicated his fable Le Renard Anglais.

Both St. Evremond and the Duchess of Mazarin ended their days in England.[971] St. Evremond enjoyed the favour of three English kings. Charles II. gave him a pension, and when William III. dined with one of his courtiers, he is said to have always stipulated that the French writer should be of the party, as he took great delight in his conversation. Though St. Evremond received permission in 1689 to return to his native land, he did not avail himself of the offer, preferring to remain in the midst of his English friends, who were accustomed to his ways and manners and his peculiarities.[972] But during the whole of his thirty years' stay in England he made no attempt to speak English. French was the language in which he and the rest of his countrymen carried on their daily intercourse with their hosts.

Pepys also refers frequently to the Frenchmen he met in London.[973] On one occasion at the Cockpit his attention was diverted from the stage by a group of loquacious Frenchmen in a box, who, not understanding English, were amusing themselves by asking a pretty lady, who knew both languages, what the actors said. "Lord! what sport they made!" says Pepys. On another occasion at Whitehall he met a very communicative Frenchman with one eye, who shared a coach with him, and told him the history of his own life "without asking."

Covent Garden, we are told, was the favourite resort of the French residents, "nearer the Court, than the Exchange."[974] Their presence, however, was not confined to Court circles; for the French were beginning to take an interest in England and to visit the country,[975] although, as yet, their curiosity had not extended to the language. In a few cases English was studied. Mauger even tells us that several of his contemporaries learnt it in France. It is certain that some employed the services of the French teachers of London, who were willing to teach their newly acquired language to their countrymen; for this purpose the practice of attaching English grammars to French ones—a combination first instituted by Mauger, who urged the French and English to FRENCH VALETS AND "FEMMES DE CHAMBRE"avail themselves of this opportunity of exchanging lessons—became more and more common as the seventeenth century drew to its close. In the meanwhile guide-books[976] and relations of travel in England appeared. The writer of one of these, M. Payen,[977] remarks on the great number of strangers, especially Frenchmen, in London.[978] At the time of the Restoration, however, the chief significance of their presence lies in the need they created for the English to speak French.

The great demand for everything French, including the language, offered an opening for many Frenchmen in London; for all the men and women of fashion were not in the position of De Grammont, who sent his valet, Thermes, to France every week to bring back the latest fashions from Paris. "Nothing will go down with the town now," writes a contemporary author, "but French fashions, French dancing, French songs, French servants, French wines, French kickshaws, and now and then French sawce come in among them, and so no doubt but French doctors may be in esteem too."[979] In almost every book written at the time there is some reference to the mania for French fashions. And some time later the Abbé Le Blanc relates how, on one occasion in England, a self-satisfied Englishman taunted him thus: "Il faut que votre pays soit bien pauvre, puisque tant de gens sont obligés de le quitter pour chercher à vivre en celui-ci. C'est vous qui nous fournissez de Maîtres à danser, de Perruquiers, de Tailleurs, et de Valets de chambre: et nous vous devons cette justice, pour la Frisure ou pour le Menuet, les François l'emportent sur toutes les autres Nations. Je ne comprens pas comment on aime si fort la Danse dans un Pays où l'on a si peu sujet de rire. N'est-il pas triste, par exemple, de ne cultiver vos Vignes que pour nous?"[980]

Regarding the French valets and femmes de chambre in London, the Abbé writes: "Il n'est pas étonnant que l'on trouve en Angleterre tant de Domestiques François. A Londres on se plaît à parler notre Langue, on copie nos usages, on imite nos mœurs: ils entretiennent du moins dans nos manières ceux qui les aiment: et les Anglois les payent à proportion de l'utilité qu'ils en retirent."[981] We are told that the French lackey was "as mischievous all the year as a London apprentice on Shrove Tuesday";[982] yet he was indispensable:

His Lordship's Valet must be bred in France,
Or else he is a clown without Pretence:
The English Blockheads are in dress so coarse,
They're fit for nothing but to rub a horse.
Her Ladyship's ill manner'd or ill bred,
Whose Woman Confident or Chamber Maid,
Did not in France suck in her first breath'd Air,
Or did not gain her education there.[983]

French cooks were also in great demand, and it was a point of gentility to dine at one of the French ordinaries. Thus Briske, in Shadwell's Humourists, is condemned as "a fellow that never wore a noble or polite garniture, or a white periwig, one that has not a bit of interest at Chatelin's, or ever ate a good fricacy, sup, or ragoust in his life"; for now, "like the French we dress, like Frenchmen eat." "Substantial beef" is "boil'd in vain," and "our boards are profaned with fricassee":[984]

Our cooks in dressing have no skill at all,
French cooks are only of the modish stamp.

Pepys did not care for the new French restaurants. At the most popular, Chatelin's,[985] he says, they serve a "damned base dinner at the charge of 8s. 6d." He preferred the old English ordinaries where English food was given a French name. Yet he admits that at the French houses the table is covered and the glasses clean, all in the French manner; and when he dined with his patrons of the Admiralty, he usually was given a "fine French dinner."[986]

As to the French dancing-master, he is a "very Paladin THE FRENCH TAILORof France when he comes into England once, where he has the Regimen of the Ladies leges and is the sole Pedagoge of their feet, teaching them the French Language, as well as the French Pace."[987] French music was also the vogue. We are told that during the reign of Charles II. "all musick affected by the beau mond ran in the ffrench way."[988] John Bannester, the first violin to the king, is said to have lost his post[989] for having upheld, within the hearing of His Majesty, that the English musicians were superior to the French. Soon after the Restoration, Charles on one occasion gave great umbrage to the English musicians by making them stop their performance and bidding the French music play instead.

In the same way the French tailor is "the King of Fashions and Emperor of the Mode, not onely in France, but most of its Neighboring Nations, and his Laws are received where the King of France's will not pass";[990] and thus the French

Now give us laws for pantalons,
The length of breeches and the gathers,
Port-cannons, periwigs and feathers.[991]

There was a French peddling woman at Court, Mlle. Le Boord, who "us'd to bring peticoates, and fanns and baubles out of France to the Ladys,"[992] and whose opinion had great weight. De Grammont won the favour of the English ladies by having French trinkets sent them from France. "Let the fashion be French, 'tis no matter what the cloth be."[993] Travellers from France were beset with questions as to the latest mode. Some devotees were said to receive weekly letters from France providing information on this subject.[994] At one moment Charles protested against the rage for French fashions by adopting a simple garment after the Persian style, which was first worn at Court on the 18th October 1666. Divers gentlemen went so far as to wager that His Majesty would not persist in this change; and when Louis XIV. retorted by ordering his pages to be attired in the same Persian garb, Charles withdrew. "It was a comely and manly attire," writes Evelyn, "too good to hold, it being impossible for us in good earnest to leave the Monsieurs' vanities long."[995]

Francomania indeed was carried to extremes:

And as some pupils have been known
In time to put their tutors down,
So ours are often found t'ave got
More tricks than ever they were taught.[996]

We are told of an "English captain that threw up his commission because his company would not exercise after the French Discipline."[997] Dryden even accuses the French of influencing the course of English politics:[998]

The Holy League
Begot our Cov'nant; Guisards got Whig,
Whate'er our hot-brain'd sheriffs did advance,
Was like our fashions, first produced in France,
And when worn out, well scourg'd and bannish'd there.
Sent over, like their godly Beggars, here.

A French patent was said to authorize any crime.[999] "Now what a Devil 'tis should make us so dote on these French," says Flecknoe,[1000] and another writer adds:[1001]

Our native speech we must forget e'er long
To learn the French that much more modish Tongue.
Their language smoother is, hath pretty Aires,
But ours is Gothick if compar'd with theirs.
The French by arts of smooth insinuation
Are now become the Darlings of the Nation.

FRENCH SPOKEN AT COURT

The example was set at Court, where French was commonly in use, and where to be able to speak it well was a necessity and proof of good breeding. "Mark then, I makes 'em both speak French to show their breeding," says the author Boyes of his two kings in Buckingham's Rehearsal.[1002] Sir John Reresby first attracted notice at Court by his fluent French. "It was this summer," he writes in 1661, "that the Duke of York first took any particular notice of me. I happened to be in discourse with the French Ambassador and some other gentlemen of his nation, in the presence at Whitehall, and the Duke joined us, he being a great lover of the French tongue and kind to those who spoke it. The next night he talked with me a long while as he was at supper with the king."[1003] And Reresby, with a keen eye for his own advancement, took advantage of this to secure the patronage of the Duke. He also tells us that the King, Duke, and French ambassador were very often merry and intimate together at Louise de Kerouaille's (now Duchess of Portsmouth) lodgings,[1004] where French alone would be used, for it was an unknown thing for a French ambassador to speak English. There was not a courtier[1005] who did not speak French with ease, Clarendon alone excepted.

The ladies of the Court were equally well versed in the language. When De Grammont, who had made the acquaintance of most of the courtiers in France, came to make that of the ladies, he needed no interpreter, for all knew French—"assez pour s'expliquer et toutes entendaient le françois assez bien pour ce qu'on avait à leur dire."[1006] Amongst them was Miss Hamilton, Anthony's sister, who became De Grammont's wife,[1007] and was much admired at the Court of Louis XIV. The accomplishments of Miss Stuart may be quoted as typical of the rest: "elle avoit de la grâce, dansoit bien, parloit françois mieux que sa langue naturelle: elle étoit polie, possédoit cet air de parure après lequel on court et qu'on n'attrappe guères à moins de l'avoir pris en France dès sa jeunesse."[1008] The least gifted lady of the Court was Miss Blake, who "n'entendoit presque point le françois." When the Countess of Berkshire recommended one of her near relatives as one of the queen's dressers, the fact that she had been twelve years in France, and could speak French exceedingly well, was mentioned as her chief qualification.[1009] The Portuguese queen[1010] was indeed out of place in her Frenchified Court. She could not speak French, and Spanish was her means of intercourse with Charles II. and the Duke of York, who both spoke this language fairly well, and were able to act as interpreters between their French mother and the young queen. Catherine's Portuguese attire was the subject of much amusement, and her efforts to induce the ladies of the Court to adopt it were of no avail. James II., when he was an exile in France for the second time, told the nuns of Chaillot that she had endeavoured to prevail on King Charles to use his influence with them: "but the ladies dressed in the French fashions and would not hear of any other, constantly sending artificers and dressmakers to Paris to import the newest modes, as they do to this very day."[1011] The country ladies caught the fashion as it was going out in London.[1012]

In many cases the passion for all things French became a mania with the ladies, as is frequently pictured in the drama of the time.[1013] A Frenchified lady would have a French maid, "born and bred in France, who could speak English but brokenly," with whom she would talk a mixture of broken French and English; while many a one like Melantha of Dryden's Marriage à-la-mode,[1014] doted on any new French word: "as fast as any bullion comes out of France, she coins it into English, and runs mad in new French words."[1015] THE FRENCHIFIED LADYShe importunes those returned from the tour in France, or who have correspondence with Parisians, to know the latest words used in Paris. Her maid supplies her daily with a store of French words:

Melantha. ... You sot you, come produce your Morning's work.... O, my Venus! 14 or 15 words to serve me a whole day! Let me die, at this rate I cannot last till night! Come read your words....

Philotis. Sottises.

Melantha. Sottises, bon. That's an excellent word to begin withal: as for example, he or she said a thousand sottises to me. Proceed.

Philotis. Figure: as what a Figure of a man is there! Naïve and Naïveté.

Melantha. Naïve! as how?

Philotis. Speaking of a thing that was naturally said: it was so naïve. Or such an innocent piece of simplicity: 'twas such a Naïveté.

And as Melantha becomes excited with her new acquisitions, she bestows gifts on her maid at each new word.

A new catechism[1016] for the ladies was invented on these lines:

—Of what Nation are you?

—English by birth: my education à la mode de France.

—Who confirms you?

—Mademoiselle the French Mantua maker.

We are told that the Frenchified lady was educated in a French boarding-school, by a French dancing master, a French singing master, and a French waiting woman. "Before I could speak English plain," she tells us, "I was taught to jabber French: and learnt to dance before I could go: in short I danced French dances at 8, sang French at 10, spoke it at 13, and before 15 could talk nothing else."

Among the gentlemen à la mode, "to speak French like a magpie" was also the fashion:

We shortly must our native speech forget
And every man appear a French coquett.
Upon the Tongue our English sounds not well,
But—oh, monsieur, la langue françoise est belle;[1017]

wrote a satirist of the time. And so the Francomaniacs, designated as beaux or English monsieurs, became the subject for satire and ridicule. Their French was often not of a very high standard. Pepys met one of the monsieurs, "full of his French," and pronounced it "not very good." Many, no doubt, had to be content "t' adorn their English with French scraps."

And while they idly think t' enrich,
Adulterate their native speech:
For, though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetorique
Of pedants counted and vainglorious,
To smatter French is meritorious,
And to forget their mother tongue
Or purposely to speak it wrong.[1018]

Butler says that "'tis as ill breeding now to speak good Englis, as to wrote good Englis,[1019] good sense or a good hand," and "not to be able to swear a French oath, nor use the polite French word in conversation," debarred one from polite society. The town spark or beau garzion is frequently introduced in the comedies of the time. Not being master of his own language, he intermingles it with scraps of French that the ladies may take him for a man of parts and a true linguist.[1020] Such is Sir Foppington, who walks with one eye hidden under his hat, with a toothpick in prominence, and a cane dangling at his button;[1021] and Sir Novelty Fashion, who prefers the title of Beau to that of Right Honourable;[1022] and the Monsieur of Paris of Wycherley's Gentleman Dancing Master, "mightily affected with French Language and Fashions," preferring the company of a French valet to that of an English squire, and talking "agreeable ill Englis." Etherege's Sir Fopling Flutter[1023] presents us with a telling picture of what was considered good breeding and wit at the Court of Charles II. Sir Fopling is "a fine undertaking French fop, arrived piping hot from Paris," bent on imitating THE ENGLISH "MONSIEUR"the people of quality in France and on speaking a mixture of French and English. "His head stands for the most part on one side, and his looks are more languishing than a lady's when she lolls at stretch in her coach, or leans her head carelessly against the side of a box in the playhouse." He judges everything according to what is done at Paris, and English music and dancing make him shudder. And as it was à la mode to be

Attended by a young petit garçon
Who from his cradle was an arch Fripon,[1024]

he walks about with a train of French valets. Mr. Frenchlove of James Howard's "English Monsieur" (1674) is likewise "a Frenchman in his second nature, that is in his fashion, discourse and clothes"; he cannot discover a divertissement in the whole of London, but finds "some comfort that in this vast beef-eating city, a French house may be found to eat at."

The French ordinaries held an important place in the daily round of the beau. His toilet occupied the whole of the early part of the day. He would then go to the French ordinary,[1025] where he boasts of his travels to the untravelled company, and if they receive this well, plies them with "more such stuff, as how he, simple fellow as he seems to be, had interpreted between the French King and the Emperor." Or, if his accomplishments will not stand this strain, "flings some fragments of French or small parcels of Italian about the table."[1026] He may then take the promenade or Tour à la Mode, where he salutes with bon meen, and has a hundred jolly rancounters on the way.[1027] He usually ended his day at the play.

And here again he would find the desired French atmosphere. Many translations or adaptations of French plays were acted,[1028] and the English drama of the period is so full of French words and phrases that it is hardly intelligible to any one without a good knowledge of French.[1029] The Frenchified Gallants and Ladies, the French Valets, and other French characters introduced so freely into the plays, offered ample opportunity for the use of French words.[1030] Dryden, alone, is responsible for the introduction of more than a hundred such words.[1031] As literature was fashionable at the time, most of the dramatic authors were themselves gentlemen à la mode with strong French tastes. Sedley, for instance, had a great reputation in the world of fashion. Wycherley and Vanbrugh had both been educated in France. Etherege had probably resided many years in Paris. Cibber, who always played the part of the fop in his own plays, went twice to France specially to study the airs and graces of the French petit-maître,—at no better place, however, than a table d'Auberge, the Abbé Le Blanc tells us:[1032] "Il faut lui pardonner ses erreurs sur ses modèles, il n'étoit à portée d'en voir d'autres: si même il n'a pas aussi bien imité ceux-ci que les Anglois se le sont persuadé, je n'en suis pas surpris: il m'a avoué de bonne foi qu'il n'entend pas assez notre langue pour suivre la conversation." It is unlikely, however, that Cibber's French was as scanty as the abbé reports. At any rate his daughter Charlotte, afterwards Mrs. Clarke, tells us that she understood the alphabet in French before she was able to speak English.[1033]

The prologues and epilogues of the Restoration plays are frequently addressed to the gallants, and often in a language which would appeal to them; for instance, a French Marquis speaks the epilogue in Farquhar's Constant Couple:

... Vat have you English, dat you call your own,
Vat have you of grand plaisir in dis towne,
Vidout it come from France, dat will go down?
Picquet, basset: your vin, your dress, your dance,
'Tis all, you zee, tout à-la-mode de France.

FRENCH PLAYS IN LONDON

The Francomaniacs of the time would find still more to their taste at the French play. During nearly twenty years after the Restoration, London was hardly ever without a company of French players. The beaux and gallants flocked to see "a troop of frisking monsieurs," and cry "Ben" and "keep time to the cadence of the French verses":[1034]

Old English authors vanish and give place
To these new conquerors of the Norman race,

wrote Dryden, protesting against the caprice of the town for the French comedians; and he adds elsewhere:[1035]

A brisk French troop is grown your dear delight,
Who with broad bloody bills, call you each day,
To laugh and break your buttons at their play.

There was a great rush to the French plays, both tragedies and comedies. Valets went hours in advance to reserve a place for their masters. There is no need, says Dryden, to seek far for the reason of their popularity,—they are French, and that is enough. People go to show their breeding and try to laugh at the right moment. The English dramatist insinuates that the comedians let in their own countrymen free of charge that they might lead the applause, and give the cue to the ladies.

The English Court and its followers had evidently acquired a taste for French plays during their sojourn abroad. Immediately after the Restoration a French company settled in London, and the king became their special patron and protector. In 1661 he made a grant of £300 to Jean Channoveau to be distributed among the French comedians,[1036] and in 1663 they obtained permission to bring from France their stage decorations and scenery. It seems to have always been the king's "pleasure" that "the clothes, vestments, scenes, and other ornaments proper for and directly designed for their own use about the stage should be imported customs free."[1037] The earliest troupe of French actors, under Jean Channoveau, acted at the Cockpit in Drury Lane; and there, on the 30th August 1661, Pepys took his wife to see a French comedy. He carried away a very bad impression of the play, describing it as "ill done, the scenes and company and everything else so nasty and out of order and poor, that (he) was sick all the while in (his) mind to be there." He vented his ill humour on a friend of Mrs. Pepys whom she had met in France; and "that done, there being nothing pleasant but the foolery of the farce, we went home."

French comedies were also acted at Court. Evelyn, who went very little to the theatre, witnessed one of these on the 16th December 1662, but makes no observation on it. In the Playhouse to be let of Davenant, who directed the Duke's company playing at Dorset Gardens,[1038] figures a Frenchman who has brought over a troupe of his countrymen to act a farce. The French actor Bellerose is said to have made a fortune by playing in London.[1039] Another of these actors who ventured to London was Henri Pitel, sieur de Longchamp, who came in 1676 with his wife and two daughters.[1040] He stayed nearly two years in England, and shone at the Court of Charles II. Charles himself is said not to have missed one of the French plays,[1041] at which his mistress, Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, Mme. Mazarin, the French ambassador, and many courtiers were always present. In 1684 the "Prince's French players" were again expected in England,[1042] no doubt the same troupe, directed by Pitel and known as Les comédiens de son Altesse sérénissime M. le Prince.

FOOTNOTES:

[943] Expressed in the Lettres of Guy Patin, and numerous pamphlets published at the time.

[944] Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 1, 1650.

[945] In the Journal de voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais à Paris, 1656-58 (ed. A. P. Faugère, 2nd ed., Paris, 1899), there is some information concerning the exiled Court. The teacher Lainé mentions a lady in the suite of the exiled queen in his Dialogues.

[946] Mémoires, 4 vols., Paris, 1859, i. pp. 102, 137, 225, etc.

[947] Supra, pp. 262 sqq.

[948] After the Restoration he would also try to get out of a difficult situation on the same plea. He talked French freely to Mlle. de Kerouaille. However, when the French Ambassador, Courtin, wished to discuss with him the negotiations with the Dutch, he excused himself on the ground that he had forgotten nearly all his French since his return to England, and asked for delay to reflect on anything proposed in that language. He offered the same excuse for his Council, but Courtin retorted that many of them spoke French as well as English. Cp. J. J. Jusserand, A French Ambassador at the Court of Charles II., London, 1892, p. 143.

[949] "Il me disoit des douceurs, à ce que m'ont dit les gens qui nous écoutoient et parloit si bien françois, en tenant ces propos-là, qu'il n'y a personne qui ne doive convenir que l'Amour étoit plutôt françois que de toute autre nation. Car, quand le roi parloit sa langue (la langue de l'amour) il oublioit la sienne et n'en perdoit l'accent qu'avec moi: car les autres ne l'entendirent pas si bien" (Mémoires, ed. cit. i. p. 322).

[950] Lettre de M. de L'Angle à un de ses amis touchant la religion du sérénissime roy d'Angleterre, Geneva?, 1660, p. 18.

[951] Evelyn was in France in 1643, on his way to study anatomy at Padua, and again in 1646-7 on his return, and yet again in 1649.

[952] Lord High Treasurer Cottington, Sir Ed. Hyde, etc.; cp. Diary, Aug. 1 and 18, Sept. 7, 12, 13, Oct. 2, 7, 1649, etc.

[953] Thus the King invited the Prince of Condé to supper at St. Cloud ... "where I saw a famous (tennis) match betwixt Mons. Saumaurs and Colonel Cooke, and so returned to Paris." Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 13, 1649.

[954] Memoirs of Sir John Reresby of Thribergh, Bart., M.P. for York, etc., 1634-1689, ed. J. J. Cartwright, London, 1875, pp. 26, 42 (cp. pp. 359 sqq., supra).

[955] Sir Henry Craike, Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, 1911, ii. pp. 321 sqq.

[956] W. Harvey-Jellie, Les Sources du Théâtre anglais à l'époque de la Restauration, Paris, 1906, pp. 37 sqq.

[957] Evelyn visited Waller several times.

[958] Evelyn met Hobbes at Paris in September 1650.

[959] Dennis, Original Letters, familiar, moral and critical, London, 1723, i. p. 215. At a later date he was again in France for reasons of health. The king gave him £500 to pay the expenses of a journey to the South of France. He was at Montpellier from the winter of 1678 to the spring of 1679.

[960] ". . . cette langue dont il savait toutes les plus délicates ressources en grâce, en malice plaisante et en ironie." Cf. Sayous, Histoire de la littérature française à l'étranger.

[961] "Hamilton dans le conte (says Sayous, op. cit.) l'emporte sur Voltaire qui eut été le premier, si au lieu de se jeter dans les allégories philosophiques il s'était abandonné, comme notre Écossais, au plaisir plus innocent de laisser courir son imagination et sa plume."

[962] The Scotch Chevalier de Ramsay (1686-1743), the friend of Fénelon, also wrote French with remarkable purity. His best known work is Les Voyages de Cyrus avec un discours sur la mythologie (Paris, 1727; London, 1730). At a later date Thomas Hales (1740?-1780), known as d'Hèle, d'Hell, or Dell, a French dramatist of English birth, also made himself a name in French literature (Sylvain van de Weyer, Les Anglais qui ont écrit en français, Miscellanies, Philobiblon Soc., 1854, vol. i.).

[963] Hamilton, Mémoires du Comte de Grammont. Histoire amoureuse de la Cour de Charles II, ed. B. Pifteau, Paris, 1876, Preface. Voltaire often quoted the beginning of Le Bélier as a model of style.

[964] "Il trouvoit si peu de différence aux manières et à la conversation de ceux qu'il voyoit le plus souvent, qu'il ne lui paroissoit pas qu'il eut changé de pais. Tout ce qui peut occuper un homme de son humeur s'offroit partout aux divers penchans qui l'entrainoient, come si les plaisirs de la cour de France l'eussent quitté pour l'accompagner dans son exil" (Mémoires, ed. cit. p. 83). Grammont had been banished from the French Court on account of a presumptuous love affair.

[965] Institution of a Gentleman, London, 1660, p. 88. The book first appeared as Institutions, or Advice to his Grandson, in 1658.

[966] J. Smith, Grammatica Quadralinguis, 1674.

[967] Sayous, op. cit. ii. ch. iv.

[968] Evelyn once accompanied His Majesty "to M. Favre to see his preparation for the composition of Sir Walter Raleigh's rare cordial," when the chemist made a learned discourse in French on the nature of each ingredient.

[969] Revue Historique, xxix., Sept.-Oct. 1885, p. 25.

[970] J. J. Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, London, 1899, pp. 132, 135, 136. Mme. d'Aulnoy, the fairy-tale writer and authoress of the Mémoires de la cour d'Angleterre, was also among the French ladies in London at this time.

[971] St. Evremond was buried at Westminster at the age of ninety-one. The Duchess died at Chelsea in 1699.

[972] In a letter to Justel he spoke of the Thames as "nostre Thamise."

[973] Evelyn's Diary, likewise, is full of mentions of meetings with Frenchmen.

[974] Sorbière, Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre . . ., Paris, 1664, p. 32.

[975] Cp. Ch. Bastide, Anglais et Français du 17e siècle, Paris, 1912.

[976] Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, p. 136, note 2.

[977] Les Voyages de M. Payen, Paris, 1667.

[978] Mauger calls London "une des merveilles du monde. On y vient de tous côtez, pour admirer sa magnificence."

[979] The Ladies' Catechism, 1703.

[980] J. B. Le Blanc, Lettres d'un Français, à La Haye, 1745, iii. p. 67.

[981] Ibid. i. p. 145. Mrs. Pepys assisted Lady Sandwich to find a French maid (Diary, Nov. 15, 1660), and was herself very desirous of one.

The prejudiced Rutledge writes nearly a century later: "As the lower classes of the French are so completely qualified for Domestics, it is not surprising that such numerous colonies of French valets de chambre, cooks and footmen are planted all over Europe: and that the nobility and fashionable people of so many countries shew an avowed Propensity to Prefer them even to their fellow natives" (Account of the Character and Manners of the French, 1770, pt. ii. p. 172).

[982] Flecknoe, Characters ... (1665), London, 1673, p. 8. "They (the French) have gained so much influence over the English Fops that they furnish them with their French Puppydogs for Valets de Chambre" (French Conjuror, 1678). Addison (Spectator, No. 45) says he remembers the time when some well-bred Englishwomen kept a valet de chambre "because, forsooth, they were more handy than one of their own sex."

[983] Satire on the French, 1691. Reprinted as the Baboon à la Mode, 1701.

[984] Satirical Reflections, 1707, 3rd pt.

[985] Cp. Wycherley, Country Wife, Act I. Sc. 1.

[986] Diary, Oct 19, 1663; May 30, 1665; May 12, 1667; Feb. 18, March 13 and 26, 1668.

[987] Flecknoe, Characters, p. 12. Pepys describes a French dance at Court (Diary, Nov. 15, 1666), which was "not extraordinarily pleasing." He much admired the dancing of the young Princess Mary, taught by a Frenchman (Diary, March 2, 1669). The maîtres d'armes were often Italians and Spaniards. There were protests against the French and Italian singing and dancing "taught by the dregs of Italy and France" (Satirical Reflections, 1707).

[988] Pepys's Diary, ed. H. B. Wheatley, v. p. 332, note, and vi. p. 187.

[989] A Frenchman was appointed in his place; cp. Cal. of State Papers, 1660-61, p. 7; 1663-64, pp. 214, 607. Children were sent to France to learn music. Pepys did not like the "French airs" (Diary, July 27, 1661; June 18, 1666).

[990] Flecknoe, Characters, p. 48. French gardeners (Cal. State Papers, 1661-62, pp. 175, 294) and French barbers were also in favour. Pepys went to the French pewterer's (March 13, 1667-8).

[991] S. Butler, Hudibras.

[992] Evelyn, Diary, March 1671.

[993] Vincent, Young Gallants' Academy, 1674.

[994] Cp. Sedley, Mulberry Garden (Sir J. Everyoung: "Which is the most à la mode right revered spark? points or laces? girdle or shoulder belts? What say your letters out of France?"). There is hardly a comedy of the time without some such references to French fashions; cp. Etherege, Sir Fopling Flutter; Shadwell, Humours of the Army, etc.

[995] Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 18, 1666. Evelyn had himself written a pamphlet called Tyrannus or the Mode, an invective against "our overmuch affecting of French fashion," in which he praised the comeliness and usefulness of the Persian style of clothing. This he had presented to the king: "I do not impute to this discourse the change whiche soone happen'd, but it was an identity that I could not but take notice of" (Diary, Oct. 18 and 30, 1666).

[996] Butler, Satire on our ridiculous imitation of the French; "A l'étranger on prend plaisir à enchérir sur toutes les Nouveautez qui leur viennent de France. . . ." Muralt (Lettres, 1725).

[997] French Conjuror, 1678.

[998] Duc de Guise, Prologue; cp. Prologue to Albion and Albanius:

"Then 'tis the mode of France without whose Rules
None must presume to set up here as fools."

[999] French money was said to be most successful in bribes. Farquhar, Constant Couple, iv. 2.

[1000] Flecknoe, Characters, p. 12.

[1001] Satire against the French, 1691.

[1002] Acted 1671; Act II. Sc. 2.

[1003] Mémoires, ed. cit. pp. 51-52.

[1004] Ibid. p. 143.

[1005] Lord Rutherford, for instance, begs pardon for his English, being more accustomed to the French tongue (Cal. of State Papers, 1661-62, p. 4).

[1006] Hamilton, op. cit. p. 82.

[1007] The story goes that Grammont was leaving England without marrying Miss Hamilton, when her brother overtook him and told him he had forgotten something, whereat he realized his oversight and returned to repair it. It is said that this incident supplied Molière with the subject of his Mariage forcé.

[1008] Hamilton, op. cit. p. 82.

[1009] Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-62, p. 28.

[1010] Two grammars for teaching Portuguese greeted the new queen. One was a Portuguese Grammar in French and English by Mr. La Mollière, a French gentleman, 1662 (Register of the Company of Stationers, ii. 307); and the other, J. Howell's Grammar for the Spanish or Castilian tongue with some special remarks on the Portuguese Dialect, with a description of Spain and Portugal by way of guide. It was dedicated to the queen.

[1011] Fragment of the Journal of the Convent of Chaillot, in the secret archives of France, Hôtel de Soubise. Quoted by Strickland in Lives of the Queens, 1888, iv. p. 383.

[1012] Cp. Sedley, Mulberry Garden.

[1013] Such as Lady Lurewell of Farquhar's Constant Couple; Lady Fanciful in Vanbrugh's Provoked Wife; Brome's Damoiselle (1653); or Mrs. Rich in The Beau Defeated (1700?).

[1014] The Frenchified Lady never in Paris was the name given her by Henry Dell in his play, based on Dryden's and printed 1757 and 1761.

[1015] There is a book called The Art of Affectation teaching ladies to speak "in a silly soft tone of voice and use all the foolish French words which will infallibly make your person and conversation charming" (Etherege, Sir Fopling Flutter).

[1016] The Ladies' Catechism, 1703?

[1017] Satire against the French, 1691, p. 14.

[1018] Satire on our ridiculous imitation of the French; Chalmers, English Poets, viii. p. 206.

[1019] Cp. Swift, Poem written in a Lady's Ivory Table Book (1698):

"Here you may read,
Here in beau-spelling—tru tel deth."

[1020] Character of the Beau, 1696.

[1021] Cibber, Careless Husband, Act I. Sc. 1.

[1022] Cibber, Love's last shift or the Fool in fashion. Sedley's Sir Charles Everyoung, Ned Estridge, and Harry Modish are all "most accomplished monsieurs," as are Clodis in Cibber's Love Makes a Man or the Fop's Fortune; Sir Harry Wildair in Farquhar's play of that name; Lord Foppington of Vanbrugh's Relapse or Virtue in Danger; Bull Junior in Dennis's A Plot and no Plot; Clencher, senior, the Prentice turned Beau in Farquhar's Constant Couple; Mrs. Behn's Sir Timothy Tawdry; Crowne's Sir Courtly Nice, etc. In 1697 appeared a work called The Compleat Beau.

[1023] Sir Fopling Flutter or the Man of Mode, 1676. Supposed to be a portrait of the then notorious Beau Hewitt.

[1024] Satire against the French, 1691.

[1025] Character of the Beau, 1691. Most of the accomplished "monsieurs" frequented the French houses (Sedley, Mulberry Garden). Act II. Sc. 2 of Wycherley's Love in a Wood, and Act II. Sc. 2 of his Gentleman Dancing Master, both take place in a French house. Cp. Character of the Town Gallant, 1675.

[1026] Vincent, Young Gallants' Academy, 1674, p. 44.

[1027] Flecknoe, Characters, 1673. The 1665 edition of his Aenigmatical Characters ..., 1665, contains a description in French of the Tour à la Mode: ". . . C'est une bataille bien rangée où l'on ne tire que des coups d'Œillades, et où les premiers ayant fait leur descharge, ilz s'en vont pour donner place aux autres" . . ., etc. (p. 21).

[1028] Charles II. openly avowed his preference for the French drama. Dryden wrote his Essay of Dramatic Poesy, "to vindicate the Honour of our English writers from the censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them." Pepys saw many of the French plays acted in English. Cp. H. McAfee, Pepys on the Restoration Stage ..., Yale Univ. Press, 1916.

[1029] A. Beljame, Le Public et les hommes de lettres au 18e siècle, Paris, 1897, p. 139.

[1030] As in Etherege's Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub, Sir Fopling Flutter, and the plays of Cibber, Vanbrugh, Mrs. Behn, Shadwell, Farquhar, Wycherley, etc.; The French Conjuror, 1678; The Beau Defeated, 1700?, etc.

[1031] A. Beljame, Quae e Gallicis verbis in Anglicam linguam Johannes Dryden introduxerit, Paris, 1881. On French influence in Restoration Drama, see Charlanne, L'Influence française en Angleterre, pp. 64 sqq.

[1032] Lettre à M. de la Chaussée: Lettres, 1745, ii. p. 240.

[1033] Narrative of her Life, written by Herself, pub. in series of Autobiographies, London, 1826, vol. vii. p. 12. Most of the writers of the time were able to write some French. Flecknoe, for instance, wrote some of his Characters in the language, and wrote a French dedication of his Poems (1652), "à la plus excellente de son sexe."

[1034] Dryden, "Prologue spoken at the opening of the new house, 26 March, 1674," Works, ed. Scott and Saintsbury, x. p. 320.

[1035] "Prologue to Arviragus and Phihera by L. Carlell, revival," Works, x. 405.

[1036] Shaw, Calendar of Treasury Books, 1660-67, p. 311.

[1037] Ibid., 1672-75, pp. 14, 24, 29, etc.; 1677-78 (vol. v.), pp. 692, 803; 1684 (vol. vii.), p. 1444.

[1038] Charles had granted two privileges: one to Henry Killigrew, who directed the King's company acting at Drury Lane, and the other to Sir William Davenant, who directed the Duke's company. The rival companies united in 1682.

[1039] Chardon, La troupe du roman comique dévoilée et les comédiens de la campagne au 17e siècle, Le Mans, 1876, p. 47.

[1040] Chardon, op. cit. p. 98.

[1041] Revue Historique, xxix., Sept.-Oct. 1858, p. 23.

[1042] Historical MSS. Commission Reports, v. p. 186. French dancers and singers also attracted the English from the performances of their own actors; cp. Cibber, Epilogue to The Careless Husband, and Farquhar, Preface to The Inconstant.

CHAPTER VII

THE TEACHING OF FRENCH AND ITS POPULARITY AFTER THE RESTORATION

In the meantime French grammars were being published in England in considerable numbers.[1043] So plentiful were they that there was "scarce anything to be seen anywhere but French grammars." The manuals of Mauger and Festeau were still in vogue, and that of Mauger was frequently reedited. Among new grammarians figures the tutor to the children of the Duke of York (James II.), Pierre de Lainé, who may possibly have been identical with the Pierre Lainé who published a grammar in 1655.[1044] His French grammar, written in the first place for the Lady Mary (afterwards Mary II.), was published in 1667,[1045] when the princess was about five years old. It was subsequently placed at the service of the Lady Anne, afterwards queen, and a second edition appeared in 1677, with the title: The Princely Way to the French Tongue as it was first compiled for the use of her Highness the Lady Mary and since taught her royal sister the Lady Anne etc. by P. D. L. Tutor for the French to both their Highnesses.[1046]

"Before you begin anything of Letters or rules," says Lainé, "you may Learn how to call in French these few things following.

Ma Tête, say | maw tate | my Head
Mes Cheveuz, say | maysheveu | my Hair,"

and so on for the parts of the body, the numbers, days, and months, with similar guides to pronunciation. He then proceeds to treat of the sounds of letters and syllables, based on comparison with English. These rules occupy less than a fifth of the book; the remainder contains practical exercises. First come familiar phrases and dialogues, strongly religious in tone, including prayers, the catechism, commandments, etc., and conversation specially suited to royal princesses. A chronological abridgement of the sacred scriptures by way of dialogue is followed by rules of grammar, likewise in dialogue form. Lastly come the Fables of Aesop put into "burlesque French" for the use of her Highness the Lady Mary when a child, and models of letters suitable for children, and accompanied by answers.

In later years Lainé spent some time at Paris as secretary[1047] to Sir Henry Savile, the English envoy at the French Court, who did so much to prepare a favourable reception in England for the refugees at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.[1048] Lainé was the first teacher to receive a grant of letters of denization under the Order in Council of the 28th July 1681.[1049] Shortly afterwards the same privilege was bestowed on Francis Cheneau, whose French Grammar, enrich'd with a compendious and easie way to learne the French tongue in a short time, was licensed for printing in 1684.[1050] For many years Cheneau continued to teach French, and in time added Latin, English, and Italian to his repertory. He describes himself as a native of Paris, "formerly slave and Governor of the Isles of Nacsia and Paros in the Archipelago." At the time of the appearance of his second work on the French language, in 1716, he was "living in his House in Old Fish St. next door to the Faulcon in London," where could be seen his short grammars for Latin, Italian, and English.

The most versatile compiler of French manuals at this period was Guy Miège, a native of Lausanne, who came to England at the time of the Restoration. For two years he was employed in the household of Lord Elgin, and was then appointed under-secretary to the Earl of Carlisle, ambassador extraordinary to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. After spending three years abroad with the embassy, he travelled in France on his own account from 1665 till 1668, preparing a Relation of the Three Embassies in which he had taken part. THE DICTIONARIES OF GUY MIÈGEHis book was published in 1669, on his return to London. He then settled in England as a teacher of French and geography, and wrote many works for teaching the language. The first was A New Dictionary French and English and English and French (1677), dedicated to Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond. As usual, this French-English Dictionary is based on a French-Latin one—in this case that of Pomey. Miège was also closely acquainted with Howell's edition of Cotgrave's dictionary, last published in 1670; but he held it very defective in retaining so many obsolete words, and in not being adapted to the "present use and modern orthography—which indeed is highly pretended to in the last edition thereof, but so performed that the title runs away with all the credit of it." He looked upon Cotgrave "as a good help indeed for reading of old French books (a thing which few people mind)." For his own part, his design was to teach the latest Court French, and he made a point of omitting all the provincial and obsolete words Cotgrave had searched out so carefully, words "that offend the eyes and grate the ears, but the Rubbish of the French Tongue." To "season the naturall dulness of the work" he included many proverbs, descriptions, and observations in both the English and French parts.

Considering that "the way to understand the bottom of a language is to learn how the derivatives are formed from their primitives and the compounds from their simples,"[1051] he arranged all the derivatives after their respective primitives; that nothing might be wanting, however, he placed them in their alphabetic order also, with a reference to the necessary primitive.

Miège's innovation in excluding all obsolete terms from his dictionary raised such a storm at its first appearance[1052] that he felt himself bound to yield to public opinion by making a separate collection of such words, which he called A Dictionary of barbarous French or A Collection, by way of Alphabet, of Obsolete, Provincial, misspelt, and Made Words in French, taken out of Cotgrave's dictionary with some additions. It was, he said, "performed for the satisfaction of such as read old French." By the time of its publication in 1679, however, the storm raised by his first work had died away.

Miège continued his lexicographical labours. In 1684 appeared A Short French Dictionary English and French, with another in French and English, a work of no ambitious aims, containing a list of words pure and simple, with no descriptions or observations, intended for beginners, travellers, and those who could not afford the price of the larger one, and, above all, for foreigners reading English. The English were too eager and advanced in the study of French to find much help in so slight a work, but foreigners evidently adopted the dictionary; editions appeared at the Hague in 1691, 1701 (the fifth), and 1703;[1053] another was issued at Rotterdam as late as 1728.

For the use of English students and those desiring to study either language more thoroughly, Miège prepared, during many years of hard work, an enlarged edition of his first French dictionary of 1677, which, he tells us, was compiled under great disadvantages; "the Publick was in haste for a French Dictionary, and they had it accordingly, hurried from the design to the composition, and from under my pen to the press." The new work, on a much larger scale, was known as The Great French Dictionary, in two parts, and published in 1688, eleven years after the appearance of its nucleus, the New French Dictionary (1677). It gives words according to both their old and modern orthography, "by which means the reader is fitted for any sort of French book," and, writes Miège, "although I am not fond of obsolete and barbarous words, yet I thought fit to intersperse the most remarkable of them, lest they should be missed by such as read old Books." Each word is accompanied by explanations, proverbs, phrases, "and as the first part does, here and there, give a prospect into the constitution of the kingdom of France, so the second does afford to foreiners what they have hitherto very much wanted, to wit, an Insight into the Constitution of England...." In the Great Dictionary Miège abandoned his plan of arranging the derivatives under their primitives, because it had made his former work "swarm with uneasy references"; he followed the alphabetical order strictly, "but in such a manner that, where a derivative is remote from its primitive, I show its extraction within a Parenthesis." MIÈGE'S FRENCH GRAMMARSEach of the two sections of the Great Dictionary is preceded by a grammar of the language concerned. First comes the Grounds of the French Tongue, before the French-English Dictionary, and then a Méthode abrégée pour apprendre l'Anglois. This French grammar was a reprint of one of those which Miège had compiled while working at his dictionaries.

In 1684 Miège tells us that he had "put forth two French grammars, both of them well approved by all unprejudiced persons. The one is short and concise, fitted for all sorts of learners, but especially new beginners; the other is a large and complete piece, giving a curious and full account of the French Tongue. To this is annexed a copious vocabulary and a long Train of useful Dialogues." The more advanced of these grammars was the first to appear, being published in 1678 under the title of A New French Grammar, or a New Method for learning the French Tongue. After dealing with pronunciation, he passes to the accidence and syntax, with special attention to his favourite theory of the importance of a knowledge of primitives and derivatives. He is much indebted to the grammars of Vaugelas and Chiflet, especially in his observations on letter-writing, on repetition of words, and on style. The second half of the book contains a vocabulary, arranged under the usual headings, and familiar dialogues, without which he dare not offer the work to a public "so well convinced of their Usefulness, as to the speaking part of a Language"; therefore, "though it were something against the grain," he included such exercises, "exceeding even Mr. Mauger's in number." The one hundred and fifteen familiar dialogues are followed by four more advanced ones in French alone, "for proficient learners to turn into English." The first deals with the education of children, and the others with geography, a subject Miège taught in either French or English "as might be most convenient."

The elementary grammar had been issued about 1682[1054] as A short and easie French Grammar fitted for all sorts of learners; according to the present use and modern orthography of the French with some Reflections on the ancient use thereof. In 1682 the vocabulary and dialogues of the earlier grammar were, each of them, issued separately, probably to facilitate their use with this second grammar.

In 1687 appeared the Grounds of the French Tongue or a new French Grammar,[1055] which Miège incorporated in his Great French Dictionary in the following year. In general outline its contents resemble those of the grammar which had appeared ten years before. It is, however, an entirely new work. Most of the rules differ,[1056] and the vocabulary and dialogues are new. He breaks away from the old tradition of introducing the Latin declension of nouns into French grammars.[1057] The Grounds of the French Tongue is about a hundred pages shorter than the grammar of 1678, and on the whole it is less interesting from the point of view of the student of French. The second part, called the Nouvelle Nomenclature Françoise et Angloise, which might be obtained apart from the grammar, had originally appeared in 1685 as part of Miège's Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre l'Anglois.[1058] Consequently the dialogues are more suited to the student of English than to the student of French, as they deal chiefly with life in England and the impressions of a Frenchman in London, including an account of the coffee-houses, the penny post, the churches, English food and drink, and so forth.

Lastly, in about 1698,[1059] appeared Miège's last and best French Grammar, or a new Method to learn French, containing the Quintessence of all other Grammars, with such plain and easie rules as will make one speedily perfect in that famous language. A second edition was issued in 1705. The work was based on his first grammar (1678), which thus benefited by his long experience as a writer on the French language and teacher of that tongue.

Miège held that French was best learnt by a combination of the methods of rote and grammar, either being insufficient without the other; as for attempting to learn foreign languages at home by rote, "'tis properly building in the air. For whatever progress one makes that way, unless he sticks BEST METHOD OF STUDYconstantly to it, the Language steals away from him, and, like a Building without a foundation, it falls insensibly." Englishmen who learn French by ear in France soon find the fluency of which they are so proud slipping away from them after their return to England;[1060] and even Frenchmen who have never studied their language grammatically begin to lose the purity of phrase after they have been some time in England.

Accordingly "a great care ought to be taken to pitch upon the best sort of Grammar and to make choice of a skilful Master. Now a skilful master must be first such a one as can speak the true modern French: A Thing few people can boast of, besides courtiers and scholars, so nice a language it is." Therefore the student should not waste his time, as many do, with the common sort of teachers, who speak, for the most part, but a corrupt and provincial French, and yet are patronized by many. In the second place, the teacher should be a man of some learning; and in the third, he should have "some skill in the English tongue, not that he should use much English with his scholars,[1061] but because, without it, 'tis impossible he can teach by the grammar, or explain the true meaning of words." Lastly, he should himself be thoroughly acquainted with the grammar, and be able to find out what should be learnt "by rote, what by heart, and what passages need not at all be learnt." But, when all is done, "there is an art in teaching not to be found amongst all men of knowledge."

Thus the right use of a grammar depends much on the skill and judgement of the teacher. Miège declares against overburdening the memory with abstruse and difficult rules. In most cases it is enough if the learner understands the rule; there is no need to confine him to the author's words or to make him learn long lists of exceptions. "The best thing to exercise his memory in, besides the general and most necessary rules, is to learn a good store of words with their signification. And then, whether he comes to read French, or to hear it spoke, one word doth so help another, that by degrees, he will find out the meaning." As for the dialogues, only a few, and those of a familiar type, should be learnt "without book." "An analysis is the best use they can be put to, but some teachers will find it too hard a task."

The best way, therefore, is "to lay a good foundation with grammar rules, and to raise the Superstructure by Practice"; the more adventurous the learner is in speaking French the better. If, however, "one be so very averse from Grammar rules as to look upon them as so many Bug bears, my opinion is that he may begin by Rote, provided he make good at last his Proficiency that Way, with the help of a choice Grammar. And then the Rules will appear to him very plain, easy and delectable."

In 1678 Miège was receiving pupils for French and geography at his lodging in Penton Street, Leicester Square, and we are told that in 1693 he was taking in pensionnaires in Dean's Yard, near Westminster Abbey. Towards the end of his teaching career in England he appears to have been on very friendly terms with another teacher of French, Francesco Casparo Colsoni, an Italian minister, who also taught Italian and English. Colsoni wrote a book for teaching the three languages,[1062] called The New Trismagister (1688), in which he drew freely from the works of Mauger, Festeau, and his friend Miège. In the meantime other manuals appeared, including a translation of a grammar which was first published at Paris in 1672[1063]—A French Grammar, teaching the knowledge of that language.... Published by the Academy for the reformation of the French Tongue (1674), printed in parallel columns of English and the original French. A Very easie Introduction to the French Tongue was published in about 1673, which claimed to be "proper for all persons who have bad memories." A certain John Smith, M.A., J. G. D'Abadie, formerly of the Royal Musketeers and for a time teacher of French at Oxford, Jacob Villiers, who had a French school at Nottingham, and Jean de Kerhuel, a French minister,[1064] all published grammars at about the same time.[1065]

Among the more interesting French teachers of the period is Pierre Berault, a French monk who was converted to PIERRE BERAULTProtestantism when he was on the point of setting out for England to work among the refugees as a Jesuit emissary.[1066] On the 2nd of April 1671 he "abjured all the errors of the Church of Rome" in the French Church of the Savoy, London, and subsequently devoted himself to teaching French. Until nearly the end of the century he lived in various parts of London, "waiting upon any Gentlemen or Gentlewomen who have a mind to learn French," and using, according to his own account, a very sound method. At the same time he was busy with his pen. He began with a compilation setting forth his religious principles,[1067] and with books on moral and religious subjects, in French and English for the benefit of learners.[1068] Later he wrote A New, plain, short and compleat French and English grammar (1688), which had an "extraordinary sale and reception," and passed through numerous editions. Berault's motto as regards the teaching of French was omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,—a fit combination of grammar rules and practical exercises. The grammar, which occupies less than half the book, begins with an explanation of grammatical terms for the benefit of those ignorant of Latin; it then deals shortly with the pronunciation and the declinable parts of speech;[1069] lastly come a few rules of syntax and short vocabularies of the indeclinables. The reading exercises open with the catechism, creeds, commandments, and prayers. The dialogues, accompanied, contrary to custom, by an interlinear translation, are at first very simple, and arranged in syllables for the benefit of beginners, but they become more difficult. The following is a dialogue between a French tutor and his scholar:

Good morrow, Sir, how do you do?

Bonjour, Monsieur, comment vous portez vous?

Very well to serve you.

Fort bien pour vous servir.

Do you teach the French tongue?

Enseignez-vous la langue Françoise?

Yes sir, and the Latin also.

Ouy, monsieur, et aussi la Latine.

Will you teach me these two tongues?

Voulez vous m'enseigner ces deux langues?

I will do it willingly.

Je le feray volontiers.

What method do you hold?

Quel méthode voulez-vous tenir?

Because you understand Latin

Parce que vous entendez la langue Latine

I will begin by the pronunciation

Je commenceray par la prononciation

Which you can learn in two lessons.

Que vous pouvez apprendre en deux leçons.

Then I will teach you the nouns,

Puis je vous enseigneray les noms,

Pronouns, verbs and other parts of speech.

Pronoms, verbes et autres parties d'oraison.

And afterwards the rules of syntax.

Et ensuite les règles de Composition.

How long will I be in learning all that?

Combien seray-je à apprendre tout cela?

But little time if you will follow me.

Peu de temps si vous voulez me suivre.

Berault added a selection of Cordier's Colloquies in French and English to his work, as well as the usual proverbs, idioms and polite letters, and a vocabulary. The letters have no English translation, Berault believing that "whoso will peruse this grammar, he will not only be able to explain them but any other French book whatsoever." Accordingly he supplied a list of what he considered suitable modern French books, all of which could be obtained from one or other of the French booksellers in London.

In the second half of the seventeenth century the position of the French language in England was further strengthened by its growing popularity all over Europe. "I have visited," wrote the dramatist Chappuzeau in 1674,[1070] "every part of Christendom with care. FRENCH AND LATINIt has been easy for me to observe that to-day a prince with only the French language which has spread everywhere, has the same advantages that Mithridates had with twenty-two." The French language was regarded as "one of the chiefest qualifications of accomplished persons," and "the common language of all well-bred people, and the most generally used in the commerce of civil life." Bayle states that in many parts of Europe there were people who spoke and wrote French as purely as the French themselves, and that in many foreign towns all the men and women of quality and many of the common people spoke French with ease. Writers of the time are unanimous in describing French as the universal language; and most French teachers write in the style of Guy Miège to the effect that "the French tongue is in a manner grown universal in Europe ... and of all the parts of Europe next to France none is more fond of it than England."

Thus, in the second half of the seventeenth century, French was in a position to dispute its ground with Latin. France herself set the example. French was the language used at Court, while Latin was used only by scholars. Significant it is that in 1676 Louis XIV., in consequence of Charpentier's Défense de la langue françoise pour l'inscription de l'arc de Triomphe, replaced the Latin inscriptions on his triumphal arches by others in French. Replying to Charpentier's essay, a Jesuit, P. Lucus, wrote a treatise in defence of Latin.[1071] Charpentier retorted by two laboured volumes, De l'excellence de la langue françoise (1683), and finally won the day. In this he refers to the universality of French, and draws attention to the advantages which would result to science if it were studied in that language. The long Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, which first reached England from France, also shows the spirit of the times. And Bayle asserts as evidence of the supremacy of French that: "Veut-on qu'un libelle courre bien le monde, aussitôt on le traduit en françois, lors même que l'original est en Latin: tant il est vrai que le latin n'est pas si commun en Europe aujourd'hui que la Langue françoise."[1072]

In England French had long been a rival to Latin as the most commonly used foreign tongue, and after the Restoration it was generally recognized, among courtiers, men of fashion, ministers of state, and diplomats, as the more convenient means of intercourse. Only scholars and the universities continued to uphold the traditional supremacy of the Latin tongue, and even at the universities Latin had passed out of colloquial use before the Restoration, though still used in disputations and other prescribed exercises.[1073] The victory of French in the world of fashion was an easy one. It had "long since chased Latin from the gallant's head," declares Sedley,[1074] and Ravenscroft in his prologue to the English Lawyer,[1075] in which a jargon made up of Latin and English predominates, thus addresses the gallants:

Gallants, pray what do you doe here to-day?
Which of you understands a Latine play?...
This age defies th' accomplishments of Schools,
The Town breeds Wits, the Colleges make Fools.

Samuel Vincent,[1076] instructing the gallant how to behave at an ordinary, warns him to "beware how (he) speaks any Latin there: your ordinaries most commonly have no more to do with Latin, than a desparate town or Garrison hath."[1077]

Latin also lost what ground it held as the official language. Milton had been Latin secretary during the Commonwealth, but after the Restoration French was the language used. "Since Latin hath ceased to be a Language, if ever it was any, which I am not sure of, at least in this present age," wrote Lord Chancellor Clarendon,[1078] "the French is almost naturalised through Europe, and understood and spoken in all the Northern Courts and hath nearly driven the Dutch out of its own country, and almost sides the Italian in the Eastern Parts, where it was scarce known in the last Age." French, therefore, had little to fear from Latin as the language of intercourse with ambassadors and other foreigners in England; and still less from English, which was not to receive any recognition at the hands of foreigners for years to come. Considering the almost universal popularity of French, and the general neglect of English, most Englishmen were obliged to agree FRENCH IN THE SCHOLASTIC WORLDwith Clarendon that it was "too late sullenly to affect an ignorance" of that language because the French "will not take the Pains to understand ours," and we may gain much by being conversant in theirs. He adds "it would be a great Dishonour to the court if, when Ambassadors come thither from Neighbour Princes, no body were able to treat with them, or converse with those who accompany them in no other language but English, of which not one of them understand one word; not to mention how the king shall be supplied with Ministers, or Secretaries of State, or with Persons fit to be sent Ambassadors abroad," if those who aspire to such rank are not acquainted with the necessary foreign language.

Before the Restoration, French, in spite of the important place it held in the world of polite education, had received very little recognition at the hands of educational writers. Cleland alone, in his Institution of a Nobleman (1607), had treated it seriously. After 1660, however, its widespread use and popularity rendered this omission no longer possible, and at this time occurs a break in the tradition of classical scholarship.[1079] The case for French was put most forcibly and with greatest effect by Locke in his Thoughts on Education. Referring to the young scholar, he writes: "As soon as he can speak English, 'tis time for him to learn some other Language. This no body doubts of, when French is proposed ... because French is a living language, and to be used more in speaking, that should be first learned, that the yet pliant Organs of Speech might be accustomed to a due formation of those sounds and he get the habit of pronouncing French well, which is the harder to be done the longer it is delay'd. When he can speak French well, (which on conversational methods is usually in a year or two), he should proceed to Latin."[1080] For the same reasons Clarendon would have French learnt first, by "rote," "without the Formality or Method of grammar."[1081]

Even in the world of scholarship the traditional deference shown to ancient learning received some check, and the educational value of the ancient languages was called in question. Some believed that "a gentleman might become learned by the only assistance of modern languages." Evelyn wrote a discourse on the subject at the request of Sir Samuel Tuke for the Duke of Norfolk; unfortunately it was lost, "to his griefe"[1082] and ours. It contained, he told Pepys, "a list of Authors and a method of reading them to advantage ... nor was [he] without some purpose of one day publishing it, because 'twas written with a vertuous designe of provoking our court fopps and for encouragement of illustrious persons who have leisure and inclinations to cultivate their minds beyond a farce, a horse, a whore and a dog, which, with very little more are the confines of the knowledge and discourse of most of our fine gentlemen and beaux." Learning, he felt, would assume a more attractive form in the eyes of the majority, if it were attained through modern languages. Defoe likewise thought Latin and Greek were not indispensable to scholarship, and considered it a pity to lock up all learning in the dead languages.[1083] Hobbes even went so far as to suggest in his Behemoth (c. 1668) that it would be well to substitute French, Dutch, and Italian for Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at the universities. Others recommended that the classics should be read in French translations, and it is probable that men of fashion at the time read them in this form, if at all. Sedley implies that to read Terence in Latin was a mark of ill-breeding.[1084] The fashionable Etherege, who knew neither Latin nor Greek, had a large number of French translations of classical plays amongst his books.[1085] And at a somewhat later date the Abbé Le Blanc remarks[1086] that the English have become so fond of French that they prefer to read even Cicero in that language. He writes to tell Olivet how eagerly his translations are received in England. "Celle des Tusculanes que vous venez de publier de concert avec M. Le Père Bouhour a été goûtée en Angleterre de tous ceux qui sont en état de juger des Beautés de l'Original et de la fidélité avec laquelle chacun de vous les a rendues."

The readiness with which the English read French books also attracted the Abbé's attention.[1087] PROPOSALS FOR REFORMED SCHOOLSIt was no new thing for French literature to be widely appreciated in England. But before the Restoration it had received but little recognition as a profitable subject of study, except for students of statecraft and military tactics. In 1673, however, one writer[1088] takes a new step in stating that "all learning is now in French," and goes on to say that if it were in English "those dead languages would be of little use, only in reference to the scriptures." Similarly Mary Astell, the author of A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694), urges the ladies, who most of them know French, to study French Philosophy, Descartes and Malebranche, rather than restrict themselves to idle novels and romances. And when Locke was in Paris in 1677 he bought the best class-books and manuals in French and Latin for the use of Lord Shaftesbury's grandson. The many English gentlemen who had French tutors were frequently taught not only the French language, but other subjects from French text-books.

There were, moreover, several proposals for reformed schools,[1089] in which French was given a place by the side of Latin. In the ideal school as pictured by Clarendon, the master is well acquainted with the French language; and "those that teach the exercises" are Frenchmen, both that the scholars "may be accustomed to that language, and retain what they are supposed to have learnt before, and because they do teach all Exercises best."[1090] Thomas Tryon, the "Pythagorean," proposed a school in which there was to be a tutor for French and Latin, or one for each language, and a music master.[1091] The scholars should begin at an early age, and nothing but French and Latin be spoken in their hearing. The school should stand apart, so that the pupils have no intercourse with "wild" children. In about a year they learn French and Latin by conversation, and then other subjects with the help of these languages. Newcomers soon pick up a colloquial knowledge of the language by mixing with their schoolfellows. When they speak the languages perfectly, then is the time, says Tryon, to study the grammar; "for to speak is one thing, and the Art or Reason of speaking is another. The first must be done by Imitation and Practice, the other is the Work of time, and must be improved by degrees. They that learn the Art of speaking before they can speak invert the true Method ... for the Reason and Philosophy of speaking is a great Art and the work of Time, and not at all to be taught to children." Before studying rules the learners should not only speak, but read perfectly. After learning the letters they should read daily for two or three hours, "in any book that treats of Temperance and Vertue."

Notwithstanding the increased importance attached to French in all spheres, the modern language received no status in the grammar schools, where the sole aim pursued was "to make good Latin and Greek scholars and minute philosophers."[1092] On the other hand, the private institutions in which the language was taught naturally increased very greatly in number. Many Huguenot refugees opened schools in and about London, and one French observer was struck by their number.[1093] Some arose in provincial towns. At Nottingham, for instance, an Englishman, Jacob Villiers, had a school of some importance. Villiers himself was a well-known citizen. His name appears in the Charter of 1682 as one of the chief councillors of the town; and he was one of "the council of eighteen" who were displaced by an order of the Privy Council of 10th February 1688.[1094] He was described on his gravestone in St. Mary's Churchyard as a descendant of a collateral branch of the family of the great favourite of James I. and Charles I. The family "continued still in Nottingham" in the middle of the eighteenth century.[1095]

Villiers's French school was flourishing some years before the first mention of him as a public character. He had acquired his knowledge of French abroad, having travelled FRENCH SCHOOL AT NOTTINGHAMfor many years in France[1096] and Germany, where he gave English lessons and received favours from the Prince Elector Palatine, elder brother of Prince Rupert. It was no doubt after his return that he opened his school for gentlemen and ladies. He also completed a book on the French and English languages, which was published in London in 1680, "to gratify the ladies and gentlemen his scholars, and all such who have a mind so to be." His chief aim was to encourage the French and English to learn each other's language by pointing out the close affinity between them. The Vocabularium Analogicum, or the Englishman speaking French, and the Frenchman speaking English, Plainly shewing the nearness or affinity betwixt the English, French and Latin,[1097] contains a vocabulary of similar words in the three languages—"a verbal eccho repeating words thrice and that without any considerable variation"—which occupies the main part of the work.[1098] It is preceded by rules for pronouncing French, taken, without acknowledgement, chiefly from Wodroeph, and followed by selections from Pierre de Lainé's Royal French Grammar of 1667. Learners of French are advised to master the pronunciation first, and to engage a French master. A collection of familiar phrases and commendatory and other French verses, some of them also taken from Wodroeph, close the volume.

Several schools or academies in which young ladies studied French, as well as philosophy and other serious subjects, were started at this time, such as that kept by Mrs. Bathsua Makin, a learned Englishwoman of the day, who for some time was governess to the daughters of Charles I. Subsequently she opened a school for gentlewomen, first at Putney (1649) and afterwards at Tottenham High Cross, "where, by the blessing of God, Gentlewomen may be instructed in the Principles of Religion, and in all manner of sober and vertuous education. More particularly in all things ordinarily taught in other schools as works of all sorts, dancing, musick, singing etc." Half their time was employed in acquiring these arts and the other half in learning the Latin and French tongues. "Gentlewomen of eight or nine years old, that can read well, may be instructed in a year or two, according to their parts, in the Latin and French tongues, by such plain and short rules, accommodated to the grammar of the English Tongue, that they may easily keep what they have learned, and recover what they shall lose." Those wishing to pursue their studies further could learn other languages, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, or Spanish, or could study astronomy, geography, and other subjects. The usual fee was £20 a year, but more was charged if the pupil made good progress. Parents were advised to apply for details at Mr. Mason's Coffee House in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange, on Tuesday, or on Thursdays at the Bolt and Tun in Fleet Street, from three to six in the afternoon.[1099]

Mary Astell, another learned Englishwoman, to whom we have already alluded, came forward with a proposal advocating a scheme of study for women, in the retirement of an establishment "more academic than monastic." She urges her sex to study rhetoric, logic, and philosophy, and, as most of them know French, to read Descartes and Malebranche, and not idle novels and romances. The project ultimately fell to the ground, however, chiefly on account of the opposition of Bishop Burnet, who condemned it as a popish design. Shortly afterwards Defoe, who "would deny women no sort of learning," proposed an academy for women,[1100] in which they should be taught "all sorts of breeding suitable to both their genius and their quality, and in particular music and dancing, which it would be cruelty to bar the sex of, because they are their darlings: but besides this they should be taught languages, as particularly French and Italian; and I would venture the injury of giving a woman more tongues than one." As to reading, history is the best subject.

There are traces of other academies in which modern languages and the "exercises" were the chief studies.[1101] At the end of Musick or a Parley of Instruments, a musical entertainment performed by the students of one of these academies, is an advertisement of the curriculum; instruction in French and Italian was given by foreigners, and mathematics, music, and the "exercises" received attention. Mark Lewis, the friend of Mrs. Makin,[1102] taught like her in a school or "gymnasium" at FRENCH IN PRIVATE INSTITUTIONSTottenham High Cross, where "any person, whether young or old, as their Quality is, may be perfected in the Tongues by constant conversation." The school flourished about 1670, and there was then "an apartment for French," while Italian and Spanish were "to receive attention hereafter."[1103] Lewis's method of teaching so pleased the Earl of Anglesey, then Lord Privy Seal, that he sent his grandsons to the school, and enabled Lewis to secure letters patent for his method. A similar academy was kept by a certain Mr. Banister in Chancery Lane near the Pump. There was a wide choice of studies, including Latin, Greek, and French, for the languages, and the usual "exercises." Any person that desired could be accommodated in Mr. Banister's house "with diet and lodging at reasonable Rates, ... or they may come thither at set times and be Instructed in the things before mentioned." The academy kept by Thomas Watts in Little Tower Street differed from the majority in aiming at qualifying young gentlemen for business. Writing, arithmetic, and merchants' accounts were taught, as well as mathematics and experimental philosophy: a master resident in the house gave lessons in French, a language absolutely necessary to business men, and "so far universal that the place is not known where 'tis not spoken." Accordingly it received special attention; and "as a just notion of grammar, so the opportunity of frequent conversation, is absolutely necessary, if one would ever arrive at any Perfection in this Language," Watts, therefore, not only "fix'd on a Master capable of doing the first, but entertained him constantly in his house, where all those young gentlemen that learn French are obliged always to speak it, and have their master daily to converse with."[1104] Some academies confined themselves chiefly to the exercises. But even then the atmosphere was French. Such was the academy opened in London in 1682 by M. Foubert, a Frenchman lately come from Paris. He was helped by a royal grant, and seems to have been fairly successful. On his arrival his goods were delivered at the house of M. Lainé,[1105] probably the French teacher of that name.

As time went on such schools became more and more numerous and the demand for instruction in French increased. The language was no longer limited chiefly to certain classes: the gentry, merchants, soldiers, and others requiring it for practical purposes. It came to be regarded as a necessary part of a liberal education. The ever-growing call for teachers of French was met by the great invasion of Protestant refugees caused by the renewal of the fierce persecutions which culminated in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The reception of the fugitives was doubtful under James II., who looked upon them with disfavour, but could not, for political reasons, refuse them hospitality. With the advent of William of Orange in 1689, however, their position was assured, and they became ardent supporters of the new monarch. They arrived in such multitudes, says a contemporary, that it was impossible to calculate their number; there was hardly an English family of standing in which one or more refugees did not find a home—often a permanent one.

From this time dates a new period in the teaching of French in England, dominated by the influence of these refugees, from whose ranks the chief tutors and schoolmasters were recruited, and whose French grammars and manuals continued, in some cases, to be used till the end of the eighteenth century, and even later.

FOOTNOTES:

[1043] A play called The French Schoolmaster appeared in 1662 (Fleay, Chronicle of English Drama, 1891, ii. p. 338).

[1044] There are, however, no points of resemblance between that work and the grammar which appeared about twelve years later.

[1045] Catalogue of the Library of Dean Smallwood, 1684.

[1046] Cp. Arber, Term Catalogues, i. 269. Anne was three years younger than Mary.

[1047] Schickler, Les Églises du Refuge, ii. p. 311.

[1048] Savile Correspondence, Camden Society, 1856, passim.

[1049] Huguenot Society Publications, xviii. p. 138.

[1050] Stationers' Register, iii. p. 277.

[1051] Such was also the opinion of J. Minsheu, author of the Ductor in Linguas (1617): "I have always found that the true knowledge and sure holding of them in our memories, consisted in the knowing of them by their causes, originalls and etymologies, that is by their reasons and derivations."

[1052] His work suffered in having to strive against Cotgrave's long settled reputation.

[1053] The third edition appeared, like the first, at London, 1690.

[1054] Arber, Term Catalogues, i. 477.

[1055] 8vo: pp. 168, 142. Printed for Th. Bassett....

[1056] For instance, that for the gender of nouns, in 1678, states that those ending in "e" or "x" are masculine, and the rest feminine; in 1687, those ending in "e" and "ion" are feminine and the rest masculine; in both cases long lists of exceptions are given.

[1057] "To follow the old road I should now decline a noun or two with these articles, and six cases to be sure, to wit, the nominative, accusative, dative, vocative, and ablative, whether our language can afford them or not. But why should I perplex the learned with so improper and needless a thing? For the distinction of cases is come from the variable termination of one and the same noun. A thing incident (I confess) to the Latine tongue, but not to our vulgar speech."

[1058] A second edition of Miège's English Grammar appeared in 1691.

[1059] Arber, Term Catalogues, iii. 67, 487.

[1060] But if they have been grounded in the principles before travelling, they make quicker progress, and do not lose their knowledge.

[1061] "Car il n'y a rien de tel pour apprendre une langue que de l'entendre parler."

[1062] Later he added rules for Spanish to his work. Colsoni also wrote Le Guide de Londres pour les Estrangers (1st edition, 1693), and several works chiefly on topical subjects, of little interest. In 1694 his Guide was followed by Richard Baldwin's Booke for Strangers.

[1063] And again in 1679.

[1064] Who translated one of Tillotson's sermons into French (1673).

[1065] See Bibliography.

[1066] Schickler, op. cit. ii. p. 282.

[1067] The Church of Rome evidently proved Heretick (1680); The Church of England evidently proved the holy catholick Church (1682). Towards the end of his career he wrote a Discourse of the Trinitie ... etc. (1700). Berault calls himself a French minister, and he served as chaplain on several of His Majesty's ships during the war with France at the end of the century.

[1068] Le Véritable et assuré Chemin du Ciel en François et en Anglois (1681), and the Bouquet ou un Amas de plusieurs veritez Théologiques (1685), dedicated to Anne Stuart, afterwards queen.

[1069] Berault is behind the times in retaining most of the Latin cases and tenses. His grammar, on the whole, is fuller and more detailed than most of its kind.

[1070] Le Théâtre françois (1674). ed. Monval, 1876, p. 62. Jean Blaeu, in translating from English into French Ed. Chamberlain's Present State of England (1669), states: "Je ne l'ay pas sitost veu en Anglois que j'ay jugé qu'il méritoit de paroistre dans la langue françoise, comme estant plus universelle dans la chrestienté qu'aucune autre" (1671). Jusserand, Shakespeare in France, p. 20, note.

[1071] De monumentis publicis latine inscribendis. Goujet, Bibliothèque françoise (1740-56), i. p. 13.

[1072] Bayle, Œuvres, iv. p. 190, quoted by Charlanne, L'Influence française en Angleterre, pt. ii. p. 202.

[1073] F. Watson, Grammar Schools, p. 312.

[1074] Epilogue to Bellamira.

[1075] London, 1678.

[1076] Young Gallants' Academy, 1674, p. 44.

[1077] A little later Swift wrote that "the current opinion prevails that the study of Latin and Greek is loss of time...." (Works, 1841, ii. p. 291).

[1078] A Dialogue ... concerning Education, Miscellaneous Works, London, 1751, p. 338.

[1079] Even the universities had to give some recognition to the modern language. A Professorship of Modern History and Modern Languages was founded at both universities in 1724. Cp. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, iv. 128.

[1080] "Some Thoughts," Educational Writings of Locke, 1912, p. 125.

[1081] The same opinions are voiced by later writers, such as Costeker, Education of a Young Nobleman, 1723, p. 18; and the author of a pamphlet On Education, 1734.

[1082] Evelyn, Diary, Dec. 6, 1681.

[1083] The Compleat Gentleman (1728), ed. K. D. Bülbring, 1890.

[1084] Epilogue to Bellamira.

[1085] Works, ed. A. Wilson, Verity, London, 1888, Preface.

[1086] Le Blanc, Lettres d'un Français, à la Haye, 1745, ii. p. 1.

[1087] He tells Maupertuis of the great success of his De la Figure de la Terre (1738) in England, where it was awaited with impatience and received with acclamation (Lettres, ii. 244).

[1088] An Essay to revive the antient Education of Gentlewomen (Mrs. Makin or Mark Lewis).

[1089] French no doubt often reached grammar school boys indirectly. Thus Charles Hoole in 1660 (A New Discoverie of the old Art of Teaching School) recommends the Dialogues of Du Grès for their private reading; perhaps, however, he was thinking more of the Latin than of the French part.

[1090] Miscellaneous Works, 1751, pp. 320-1.

[1091] A New Method of Educating Children ..., 1695.

[1092] Th. Sheridan, Plan of Education, 1769, p. 42.

[1093] M. Misson, Mémoires et Observations d'un voyageur en Angleterre, à la Haye, 1698, p. 99.

[1094] Information supplied by J. Potter Briscoe, Esq., of Nottingham.

[1095] C. Deering, An Historical Account of the ancient and present State of the Town of Nottingham, Nottingham, 1751, p. 32.

[1096] He remarks on the desire to learn English expressed by several French persons he met, chiefly Huguenots.

[1097] Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion, and George Wells, at the Sun in Paul's Churchyard. 8vo, pp. 224.

[1098] Pp. 17-132.

[1099] An Essay to revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen ..., London, 1673.

[1100] Essay on Projects (1697), London, 1887, pp. 164 sqq.

[1101] Cp. Loveday, Letters, 1639, p. 178.

[1102] Lewis also interviewed parents any Thursday in the afternoon between three and six o'clock, at the Bolt and Tun in Fleet Street.

[1103] Model for a school for the better education of Youth, and Advertisement at the end of his Plan and Short Rules for pointing periods ... (c. 1670).

[1104] Advertisement in An Essay on the Proper Method for forming the Man of Business, 4th ed., 1722, pp. 44-45.

[1105] Calendar of State Papers, Treasury Books, 1679-80, pp. 132, 140.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MANUALS AND GRAMMARS FOR TEACHING FRENCH TO THE ENGLISH

I

The Middle Ages

A. Manuscripts

* Indicates that there are also other manuscripts of later date.

Henry III. (1216-1272):

c. 1250 | Short Treatise on French Verbs (Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3, 56).

Edward I. (1272-1307):

* Le treytyz ke moun sire Gautier de Bibelesworthe fist a ma dame Dionisie de Mounchensy pur aprise de langwage (ed. T. Wright, "Volume of Vocabularies," 1857).

| * Tractatus Orthographiae of T. H. Parisii Studentis (ed. M. K. Pope, "Modern Language Review," April 1910).
c. 1300 | * Orthographia Gallica (ed. J. Stürzinger, "Altfranzösische Bibliothek," viii., Heilbronn, 1884).

Edward II. and Edward III. (1307-1377):

| Commentaries in French on the Orthographia Gallica (ed. Stürzinger, ut supra).

Epistolaries, or Collections of model letters (MSS. Harl. 4971, Harl. 3988, Addit. 17716 Brit. Mus.; Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.; B 14. 39, 40, Trinity Col. Camb.; 182, All Souls, Oxon.; 188, Magdalen Col.).

| Cartularies, or Collections of Bills, Indentures, etc. (Harl. 4971; Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.; Addit. 17716).

Undated Vocabularies and Verb Tables and Fragments on Grammar (Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.; Harl. 4971, Addit. 17716, Brit. Mus.; 188, Magdalen Col., Oxon.).

c. 1340

Nominale sive Verbale in Gallicis cum expositione eiusdem in Anglicis (ed. Skeat, "Transactions of the Philological Soc.," 1903-1906).

Richard II. (1377-1399):

Tractatus Orthographiae of Coyfurelly, Doctor in Law of Orleans (ed. Stengel, "Zeitschrift für neufranzösische Sprache und Literatur," vol. i., 1878).

1396 | * Maniere de Language (ed. P. Meyer, "Revue critique," 1873).
1399 | Petit Livre pour enseigner les enfanz de leur entreparler comun francois (ed. Stengel, op. cit.).

c. 1409

Donait francois pur briefment entroduyr les Anglois et la droit language de Paris et de pais la d'entour fait aus despenses de Johan Barton par pluseurs bons clercs du language avandite (ed. Stengel, op. cit.).

| Conjugation of Verbs, by R. Dove. Le Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris (Sloane MSS. 513).
c. 1415 | Liber Donati (MSS. Dd 12, 23, Gg 6, 44, Camb. Univ. Libr.; Addit. 17716 Brit. Mus.).

Femina. Liber iste vocatur Femina, quia sicut Femina docet infantemloqui maternam, sic docet iste liber iuvenes rethorice loqui Gallicum prout infra patebit (ed. W. A. Wright, Roxburghe Club, 1907).

1415 | Maniere de Language (ed. P. Meyer, "Romania," xxxii., 1903).
| John Lydgate, Praeceptiones linguae gallicae, li. 1. (Bale, "Scriptores Britanniae," fol. 203.)
c. 1500? | Dialogues in French and English (MS. Ii. 6, 17, Camb. Univ. Libr.).

B. Printed Books

c. 1483

Tres bonne doctrine pour aprendre briefment francoys et engloys. Printed by William Caxton. B.L. 4to. (Ed. H. Bradley, "Early English Text Society," extra series, lxxix., 1900.)

| Another edition. Fragment of one leaf in the Bodleian.
c. 1492? | Here is a good boke to lerne to speke French. B.L. 4to. Colophon: Per me Richardum Pynson.

c. 1498?

Here beginneth a Lytell treatyse for to lerne Englisshe and Frensshe. B.L. 4to. Colophon: Here endeth a lytyll treatyse for to lerne Englysshe and Frensshe. Emprinted at Westmynster by my Wynken de Worde.

| Another edition. Fragment of one leaf in the British Museum. B.L. 4to.

II

Tudor and Stuart Times

1521 | Barclay. The introductorie to wryte and to pronounce frenche.
? | Valence. Introductions in frensche....
1528 | Fragment of grammar in Lambeth Library.
1530 | Palsgrave. Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse.
c. 1534 | Duwes. An introductorie for to lerne ... french trewly.
c. 1535 | Duwes. An introductorie for to lerne ... french trewly.
c. 1547 | Duwes. An introductorie for to lerne ... french trewly.
1552 | Veron. Dictionariolum puerorum....
1553? | Du Ploich. A Treatise in English and Frenche....
1553? | Traicté pour apprendre a parler françoys et angloys.
1557 | G. Meurier. La Grammaire Françoise....
1557 | (Barlement.) A Boke intituled Italion, Frynsshe, Englysshe Latin.
1559 | Ane A.B.C. for Scottes men to read the frenche toung....
1563 | Meurier. Communications familieres.
1565 | Holyband. The French Schoolemaister.
1566 | Holyband. The French Littleton.
1568 | (Barlement.) A Boke intituled Ffrynshe, Englysshe and Duche.
1571 | A Dictionarie french and english.
1572 | Higgins. Huloets dictionarie ... the French thereunto annexed.
1573 | Holyband. The French Schoolemaister.
1574 | Baret. An Alvearie ... in Englishe, Latin and French.
1575 | * A plaine pathway to the French Tongue.
1576 | Ledoyen de la Pichonnaye. A Plaine Treatise to larne ... French.
1578 | Bellot. The French Grammer.
1578 | Du Ploich. A Treatise in English and Frenche, new ed.
1578 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1578 | (Barlement.) Dictionaire ... en quattre Langues.
? | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1580 | Holyband. A Treatise for Declining of Verbs.
1580 | Holyband. De Pronuntiatione Linguae Gallicae.
1580 | Holyband. The Treasurie of the French Tong.
1581 | Baret. Alvearie ... New ed.
1581 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1581 | Bellot. Le Jardin de Vertu.
1582 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1583 | Holyband. Campo di Fior.
1585 | Higgins. The Nomenclator or Remembrancer of Adrianus Junius.
1588 | Bellot. The French Methode.
? | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1590 | De Corro. The Spanish Grammer with certeine Rules teaching ... French.
1591 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1591 | Corderius. Dialogues in French and English.
1592 | De la Mothe. The French Alphabet.
1593 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1593 | Holyband. A Dictionarie French and English.
1593 | Eliote. Ortho-Epia Gallica.
1595 | E. A. Grammaire Angloise et Françoise.
1595 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1596 | Morlet. Janitrix ... ad perfectam Linguae Gallicae cognitionem.
1597 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1598 | The Necessary ... Education of a Young Gentlewoman, Italian, French and English.
1599 | Holyband. A Treatise for Declining of Verbs.
1602 | A Short Syntaxis of the French Tongue.
1602 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1604 | Sanford. Le Guichet François.
1605 | Sanford. A Briefe Extract of the former grammar ... in English.
1605 | Erondell. The French Garden.
1606 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1607 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1611 | Cotgrave. A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues.
1612 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1615 | The Declining of Frenche Verbes (Holyband?).
1615 | The French A.B.C.
1615 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1617 | Jean Barbier. Janua Linguarum Quadralinguis.
1618 | Farrear. A Brief Direction to the French Tongue.
1619 | Laur du Terme. The Flower de Luce.
1619 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1620 | Colson. The First Part of the French Grammar.
1623 | Wodroeph. The spared Houres of a souldier in his Travels.
1623 | J. S. A Shorte Method for the Declyning of Ffrench Verbes.
1625 | Sherwood. The French Tutour.
1625 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1625 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1625 | Wodroeph. The True Marrow of the French Tongue.
1625 | L'Isle. Part of Du Bartas, French and English.
1625 | Grammaire Angloise et Françoise.
1630 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1631 | Anchoran. Comenius's Janua Linguarum.
1631 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1631 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1632 | Cotgrave. French-English Dictionary, with Sherwood's English-French Dictionary.
1633 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1633 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1633 | Anchoran. Comenius's Janua Linguarum.
1633 | Saltonstall. Clavis ad Portam.
1633 | De Grave. The Pathway to the Gate of Tongues.
1634 | Sherwood. The French Tutour, 2nd ed.
1634 | Aufeild. A French Grammar and Syntaxe.
1635 | Cogneau. A Sure Guide to the French Tongue.
1636 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1636 | Du Grès. Breve et accuratum grammaticae gallicae Compendium.
1637 | (Barlement.) The English, Latine, French, Dutch Scholemaster.
1637 | Bense. Analogo Diaphora ... trium Linguarum, Gallicae, Hispanicae et Italicae.
1637 | Anchoran. Comenius's Janua.
1639 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1639 | Holyband. French Littleton.
1639 | Grammaire Angloise et Françoise.
1639 | Du Grès. Dialogi Gallico-Anglico-Latini.
1639 | Anchoran. Comenius's Janua.
1639 | (Barlement.) New Dialogues or Colloquies ...
1641 | Meurier. A treatise for to learne to speake Frenshe and Englishe.
1641 | Holyband. Treatise for Declining of French Verbs.
1641 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1643 | Gostlin. Aurisodinae Linguae Gallicae.
1645 | Cogneau. Sure Guide ...
1647 | De la Mothe. French Alphabet.
1648 | Gerbier. An Introduction of the French Tongue.
1649 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1650 | Cotgrave. French Dictionary.
1651 | Cogneau. Sure Guide.
1652 | Du Grès. Dialogi ...
1653 | Mauger. True Advancement of the French Tongue.
1655 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1655 | Lainé. A Compendious Introduction to the French Tongue.
1656 | Mauger. French Grammar, 2nd ed.
1658 | Cogneau. Sure Guide.
1658 | Mauger. French Grammar, 3rd ed.
1659 | Leighton. Linguae Gallicae addiscendae Regulae.
1660 | Du Grès. Dialogi ...
1660 | Cotgrave. Dictionary.
1660 | Herbert. French and English Dialogues.
1660 | Howell. Lexicon Tetraglotton.
1662 | Mauger. French Grammar, 4th ed.
1662 | Leighton. ... Regulæ.
1666 | Æsop's Fables in English, French and Latine.
? | Castellion's Sacred Dialogues ... French and English.
1667 | Mauger. French Grammar, 5th ed.
1667 | Festeau. French Grammar.
1667 | De Lainé. Princely Way to the French Tongue.
1668 | Holyband. French Schoolemaister.
1668 | Grammaire Françoise et Angloise.
1668 | Grammaire Françoise et Angloise.
1670 | Mauger. Grammar, 6th ed.
1671 | Mauger. Lettres françoises et angloises.
1671 | Festeau. Grammar, 2nd ed.
1673 | Mauger. Grammar, 7th ed.
1673 | Cotgrave. Dictionary.
1674 | A French Grammar ... Published by the Academy.
1674 | Smith. Grammatica Quadralinguis.
1674 | A very easie Introduction to the French Tongue.
1675 | Festeau. Grammar, 3rd ed.
1676 | D'Abadie. A New French Grammar.
1676 | Mauger. Grammar (the English edition).
1676 | Mauger. Lettres, 2nd ed.
1677 | De Lainé. Princely Way, 2nd ed.
1677 | Grammaire françoise et angloise.
1677 | Miège. A New Dictionary, French and English.
1678 | Miège. A New French Grammar.
1679 | Mauger. Grammar, 8th ed.
1679 | Festeau. Grammar, 4th ed.
1679 | Grammaire Françoise et Angloise.
1679 | Miège. Dictionary of Barbarous French.
1680 | Villiers. Vocabularium Analogicum.
1681 | Berault. Chemin du Ciel.
1682 | Mauger. Grammar, 10th ed.
1682 | Miège. Short and Easie French Grammar.
1683 | Vairesse d'Allais. Short and Methodical Introduction.
1684 | Miège. A Short French Dictionary.
1684 | Kerhuel. Grammaire Françoise.
1684 | Mauger. Grammar, 11th ed.
1684 | Cheneau. French Grammar.
1685 | Festeau. Grammar, 5th ed.
1685 | Berault. Bouquet . . . de Plusieurs Veritez Theologiques.
1686 | Mauger. Grammar, 12th ed.
1687 | Æsop's Fables in English, French and Latine.
1687 | Miège. Grounds of the French Tongue.
1688 | Miège. Great French Dictionary.
1688 | Berault. New ... French and English Grammar.
1688 | Colsoni. The New Trismagister.
1689 | Mauger. Grammar, 13th ed.
1690 | Miège. Short French Dictionary, 3rd ed.
1690 | Mauger. Grammar, 14th ed.
1690 | Colsoni. A new Grammar of three languages.
1691 | Miège. Short French Dictionary.
1691 | Berault. Grammar, 2nd ed.
c. 1691 | Lane. French Grammar.
? | Grolleau. Compleat French Tutor.
1693 | Festeau. Grammar, 6th ed.
1693 | Berault. Grammar, 3rd ed.
1693 | Eloquent Master of Languages.
1694 | Boyer. Compleat French Master.
1694 | Mauger. Grammar, 16th ed.
1695 | Colsoni. New and Accurate Grammar [new edition].
1698 | Miège. Last and Best French Grammar.
1698 | Berault. French and English Grammar.
1698 | Mauger. French Grammar.
1699 | Mauger. French Grammar [new edition].
1699 | Boyer. French Master, 2nd ed.
? | Vaslet. Nomenclator Trilinguis.
1699 | Boyer. Royal French Dictionary.

APPENDIX II

BIBLIOGRAPHY, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY, OF MANUALS FOR TEACHING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE TO THE ENGLISH, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE STUART PERIOD

A., E.:

Grammaire Angloise et Françoise pour facilement et promptement aprendre la langue Angloise et Françoise. Revûë et corrigée tout de nouveau d'une quantité de fautes qui étoient aux précédentes impressions par E. A. Augmentée en cette dernière édition d'un vocabulaire Anglois et François. Rouen, 1595. Cp. sub "Anonymous Works," Grammaire Angloise et Françoise.

Æsop: Cp. CODRINGTON.

Anchoran, J. A.:

Porta Linguarum Trilinguis reserata et aperta, sive seminarium linguarum et scientiarum omnium, hoc est compendiaria Latinam, Anglicam, Gallicam (et quamvis aliam) Linguam una cum artium et scientiarum fundamentis sesquianni spatio ad summum docendi et perdiscendi methodus sub titulis centum periodis mille comprehensa. The Gate of Tongues unlocked and opened.... London, George Millar for Michael Sparke, 1631.

Another issue, George Millar for the Author, 1631.

Another ed.: Porta linguarum ... J. A. Anchorani ... Th. Cotes sumptibus M. Sparke, 1633.

3rd ed. Anna Griffin sumptibus M. Sparke. London, 1637.

4th ed. E. Griffin for M. Sparke, 1639.

Anonymous Works (Arranged chronologically):

De la Prosodie, etc. (Fragment in the Lambeth Library dated 1528.)

(Barlement.) A boke intituled Italion, Frynsshe, Englysshe and Laten. London, Ed. Sutton, 1557.

Another ed.: A Boke intituled Ffrynsshe, Englysshe and Duche. London, John Alde, 1569.

Another ed.: Dictionaire, Colloques ou Dialogues en Quattre langues, Flamen, Ffrançoys, Espaignel et Italien, with the Englishe to be added thereto. George Bishop, 1578.

Another ed.: The EnglishLatine}{FrenchDutch Scholemaster, or an Introduction to teach young Gentlemen and Merchants to travell or trade. Being the only helpe to attaine to those Languages. London, for Michael Sparke, 1637.

Another ed.: New Dialogues or Colloquies and a little Dictionary of eight Languages. A Booke very necessary for all those that study these tongues either at home or abroad, now perfected and made fit for travellers, young merchants and seamen, especially those that desire to attain to the use of the tongues. London, Printed for Michael Sparke, 1639.

Ane A, B, C for Scottes men to read the frenche toung with ane exhortatioun to the noblis of Scotland to favour thair ald friendis. Licensed to Wm. Nudrye, 1559.

A Dictionarie french and english. 1571. Col.: Imprinted at London by Henry Bynneman for Lucus Harrison. An. 1570.[1106]

A plaine pathway to the French Tongue, very profitable for Marchants and also all other which desire the same, aptly devided into nineteen chapters. The contents whereof appear in the next Page. Printed in London by Thomas East, 1575.

Another ed. Newly corrected. London, by Th. East (date unknown).

Corderius. Dialogues in French and English. John Wyndet, 1591.

Grammaire Angloise et Françoise . . . Revûë et corrigée . . . par E. A. (q.v. sub A., E.)

Another ed.: Grammaire Angloise pour facilement et promptement apprendre la langue angloise. Qui peut aussi aider aux Anglois pour apprendre la langue Françoise. Alphabet anglois contenant la prononciation des Lettres avec les declinaisons et conjugaisons. Paris, 1625.

Another ed. Rouen, 1639.

Another ed. Rouen, 1662.

Another ed. Rouen, 1670.

Another edition. London, 1677.

The Necessary, fit and convenient Education of a young Gentlewoman, Italian, French and English. Adam Islip, 1598.

A Short Syntaxis in the French Tongue. 12º. London, 1602.

The French A. B. C. Licensed to Rd. Field, 1615.

The Declining of Frenche Verbes. Rd. Field, 1615 (another edition of Holyband's Treatise for declining of Verbs?).

(Sébastien Châteillon.) Sacred Dialogues translated out of Latin into French and English for the benefit of youth. Sold by R. Hom and J. Sims. (Date unknown, between 1666 and 1668?)

A French Grammar Teaching the knowledge of that language, how to read and write it perfectly without any other precedent Study than to have learnt to Read only. Published by the Academy for Reformation of the French Tongue. London. Printed by W. G. for Wm. Copper at the sign of the Pelican in Little Britain, 1674.

A very easie Introduction to the French Tongue, or A very brief Grammar, proper for all persons who have bad memories. Containing all the principal grounds for the more speedy practice of discourse. Also many peculiar phrases; with a very useful Dialogue for young factors. 8vo. Sold by J. Sims at the King's Head in Cornhill, c. 1673.

Aufeild, William:

A French Grammar and Syntaxe contayning most exact and certaine rules for the pronunciation, orthography, construction and use of the French Language. Written in French by Charles Maupas, of Bloys. Translated into English with additions and explications peculiarly useful to us English; together with a preface and an Introduction wherein are contained divers necessary instructions for the better understanding of it, by W. A. London, printed for Rich. Mynne, dwelling in little Britaine at the signe of St. Paul, 1634.

Barbier, Jean:

Janua Linguarum Quadralinguis, or The Gate to the Latine, English, Frenche and Spanish Tongues. London, 1617.[1107]

Barclay, Alexander:

Here begynneth the introductory to wryte and to pronounce frenche, compyled by Alexander Barclay, compendiously at the commandement of the right hye excellent and myghty prynce Thomas, duke of Northfolke. [Col.] Imprynted at London in the Flete strete at the sygne of the rose Garlande by Robert Coplande, 1521, the yere of our lord MCCCCCXXI ye XXII day of Marche.

Baret, John:

An Alvearie or triple Dictionarie in Englishe, Latin, and French. Very profitable for all such as be desirous of any of those three languages. Also by the two tables at the ende of this booke they may contrariwise finde the most necessarie Latin or French words, placed after the order of an Alphabet, whatsoever are to be found in any other Dictionarie. And so to turne them backwardes againe into Englishe when they reade any Latin or French authors and doubt of any harde worde therein. London, Henry Denham, 1574.

A new edition: An Alvearie or quadruple dictionarie containing four sundrie tongues, namelie, Englishe, Latine, Greeke and Frenche. Newlie enriched with a varietie of wordes, phrases, proverbs and divers lightsome observations of Grammar. By the Tables you may contrariwise finde out the most necessarie wordes placed after the Alphabet, whatsoever are to be found in any other dictionarie. Which Tables also serving for lexicons, to lead the learner unto the English of such hard wordes as are often read in Authors, being faithfullie examined, are truelie numbered. Verie profitable for such as be desirous of anie of those languages. London, Henry Denham, 1581.

Barlement. Cp. Entry under "Anonymous Works."

Bellot, Jacques:

The French Grammer, or an Introduction orderly and Methodically, by ready rules, playne preceptes and evident examples, teachinge the Frenche Tongue: Made and very commodiously set forth for their sakes that desire to attayne the Perfecte knowledge of the same Language, by James Bellot, Gentleman of Caen in Normandy. Imprinted at London in Fleet Street by Th. Marshe, 1578.

Le jardin de vertu et bonnes mœurs, plain de plusieurs belles fleurs et riches sentences avec le sens d'icelles recueillies de plusieurs autheurs, et mises en lumiere par J. B. gent. Cadomois. Imprimé à Londres par Th. Vautrollier, 1581.

The French Methode. London, 1588.

Bense, Pierre:

Analogo Diaphora seu Concordantia Discrepans et Discrepantia Concordans trium linguarum Gallicae, Hispanicae et Italicae. Unde innotescat, quantum quaque a Romanae linguae, unde ortum duxere, idiomate deflexerit; earum quoque ratio et natura dilucide et succinte delineantur. Operâ et studio Petri Bense, Parisini, apud Oxon. has linguas profitentis. Oxoniae. Excudebat Guilielmus Turner impensis authoris, 1637.

Berault, Pierre:

A new, plain, short and compleat French and English Grammar. Wherby the learner may attain in few months to speak and write French correctly as they do now in the Court of France, and wherein all that is dark, superfluous and deficient in other grammars is plain, short and methodically supplied. Also very useful to strangers that are desirous to learn the English tongue: for whose sake is added a short but very exact English Grammar. Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulce. London, 1688.

Second edition, c. 1691.

Third edition, with additions, 1693.

Fourth edition, 1700.

Another edition: A New and Compleat French and English Grammar, plainly showing the shortest and easiest way to understand, speak, and write spedily those Languages, but especially the French. Containing above twenty pleasant and useful Dialogues translated into English by Sir R. L'Estrange, and here rendered into French with several others, almost word for word. To which is added a short but exact English Grammar. Also a French and English Dictionary, where the parts of speech are ranged separately. Comprehending all that's necessary for any Persons that have a desire to learn either Language, by Peter Berault, French Minister, lately chaplain of Her Majesty's ships Kent, Victory, Scarborough, and Dunkirk. London, 1707.

Le Véritable et assuré chemin du ciel en François et en Anglois. London, 1680.

Bouquet ou un amas de plusieurs veritez théologiques propres pour instruire toutes sortes de personnes, particulierement pour consoler une ame dans ses Troubles. London, 1685.

Beyer, Guillaume:

La vraye instruction des trois langues la Françoise, l'Angloise et la Flamende. Proposée en des règles fondamentales et succinctes. Un assemblage des mots les plus usités, et des colloques utiles et récréatifs; où hormis d'autres discours curieus, le gouvernement de la France se réduit. Historiquement et Politiquement mise en trois langues. Seconde ed. augmentée. Dordrecht, 1681. (Date of first edition unknown.)

Châteillon (or Castellion), S. Cp. entry under "Anonymous Works."

Cheneau, François:

Francis Cheneau's French Grammar, enrich'd with a compendious and easie way to learne the French Tongue in a very short time. Licensed to Ch. Mearne, c. 1684.

The Perfect French Master teaching in less than a month to turn any English into French by Rule and Figure, Alphabetically, in a Method hitherto altogether unknown in Europe. With the regular and irregular Verbs. By Mr. Cheneau of Paris, Professor of the Latin, English, French, Italian Tongues, formerly slave and Governor of the Isles of Nacsia and Paros in the Archipelago, now living in his house in Old Fish St. next door to the Faulcon in London. Where may be seen his short grammars for all these tongues, after the same way. W. Botham for the author. London, 1716.

Codrington, Robert:

Æsop's Fables, With his life in English, French and Latine. The English by Tho. Philipott, Esq., the French and Latine by Rob. Codrington, M.A. Illustrated with one hundred and ten sculptures. By Francis Barlow, and are to be sold at his House, The Golden Eagle in New Street near Shoe Lane, 1665-6.

Another ed. London, 1687.

Another ed. [London], 1703.

Cogneau, Paul:

A Sure Guide to the French Tongue, teaching by a most easy way to pronounce it naturally, to reade it perfectly, write it truly and speke it readily. Together with the Verbes personal and impersonal and useful sentences added to some of them, most profitable for all sorts of people to learn. Painfully gathered and set in order after the alphabetical way, for the better benefit of those that are desirous to learn the French, by me Paul Cogneau. London, 1635.

Another ed. [London] 1645.

Another ed. [London] 1651.

Fourth ed., exactly corrected, much amplified, and better ordered. (By Wm. Herbert, q.v.) London, 1658.

Colson, William:

The First Part of the French Grammar, Artificially reduced into Tables by Arte locall, called the Arte of Memorie. Contayning (after an extraordinary and most easy method) the Pronunciation and Orthographie of the French Tongue according to the new manner of writing, without changing the originall or old, for the understanding of both by a reformed alphabet of twenty-six letters and by a triple distinction of characters (Roman, Italian and English) representing unto the eye three sorts of pronunciation distinguished by them. Proper, signified by a Roman character: Improper, noted by an Italian: and superfluous, marked by an English.... And as most amply is declared in the explication of the foresaid reformed alphabet, and letters in it otherwise ordered, and named then heretofore, and two otherwise shaped ... for j and v consonants. In which is taught, the universall knowledge of the four materiall parts of Grammar ... for the better understanding of the rules of the triple pronunciation aforesaid. Also the Artificiall and generall declination terminative of Nounes and Verbes. Lately compiled by William Colson of London, Professor of Litterall and Liberall Sciences. London, Printed by W. Stansby, 1620.

Colsoni, Francisco Casparo:

The New Trismagister. Or the New Teacher of three Languages by whom an Italian, an English and a French Gentleman may learn to discourse together, each in their several languages: in four parts. (I.) The Italian learns to speak English. (II.) The English and Italian Gentlemen learn to speak French. (III.) The French and the English Gentlemen learn to speak Italian. (IV.) The Frenchman learns to speak English. 1688.

Another edition: A New and Accurate Grammar whereby French and Italian, the Spaniard and the Portuguese may learn to speak English well, with rules for the learning of French, Italian, and Spanish. Nouvelle et curieuse Grammaire par laquelle. . . . Par F. Colsoni, M.(A). et Maitre des dites Langues demeurant dans Falcon Court en Lothbury. 8vo. Printed for S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhill, c. 1695.

Comenius. Cf. entry under "Anonymous Works."

Corderius. Cf. entry under "Anonymous Works."

Corro, Antonio de:

The Spanish Grammer, with certeine Rules teaching both the Spanish and French tongues. By which they that have some knowledge in the French tongue may the easier attaine to the Spanish, and likewise they that have the Spanish with more facilitie learne the French: and they that are acquainted with neither of them, learne either or both. Made in Spanish by M. Anthonie de Corro, translated by John Thorius, Graduate in Oxeford. London, 1590.

Cotgrave, Randle:

A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, compiled by Randle Cotgrave. London, 1611.

Another ed. ... Whereunto is also annexed a most copious dictionary of the English set before the French, by R. S. L. (Robert Sherwood, Londoner, q.v.) London, 1632.

Another ed. ... Whereunto are newly added the animadversions and Supplements of James Howell, Esquire. Inter Eruditos Cathedram habeat Polyglottes. London, 1650.

Another ed. ... Whereunto are added sundry Animadversions, with supplements of many hundreds of words never before printed: with accurate castigations throughout the whole work, and distinctions of the obsolete words from those that are now in use. Together with a large Grammar, a dialogue consisting of all Gallicisms, with additions of the most significant proverbs, with other refinements according to Cardinal Richelieu's late Academy. For the furtherance of young learners, and the advantage of all others that endeavour to arrive to the most exact knowledge of the French Language, this work is exposed to publick, by James Howell, Esqr. London, 1660.

Another ed. London, 1673.

D'Abadie, J.G.:

A new French Grammar, containing at large the principles of that tongue, or the most exact rules, criticall observations, and fit examples for teaching with a good method and attaining the French Tongue as the Witts or the Gentlemen of the French Academy speak and pronounce it at this present time. Composed for the use of the English gentry by J.G. d'Abadie, Esq. Oxford, Printed by H. Hall, Printer to the University, for J. Crosby, 1676.

De Grave, Jean:

The Pathway to the Gate of Tongues, being the first instruction for little children, with A short manner to conjugate French Verbes. Ordered and made Latine, French and English by Jean de Grave, Professor of the French Tongue in the City of London. Oxford, 1633. (Bound with second ed. of Comenius's Porta Linguarum. London, 1633.)

De la Mothe, N., G.:

The French Alphabet, teaching in a very short time, and by a most easie way, to pronounce French naturally, to read it perfectly, to write it truly and to speak it accordingly. Together with the treasure of the French tongue, containing the rarest sentences, proverbs, parobles, similies, apothegmes, and Golden sayings of the most excellent French Authors, as well Poets as Oratours. The one diligently compiled and the other painfully gathered and set in order, after the alphabetical maner, for the benefit of those that are desirous of the French tong. Printed by E. Alde, and are to be solde by H. Jackson, dwelling in Fleet Street, beneath the Conduit at the sign of St. John Evangelist, 1595.

First edition. London, Richard Field, 1592 (no copy known).

Another edition. London, Geo. Miller, 1625.

Another edition. London, Geo. Miller, 1631.

Another edition. London, Geo. Miller, 1633.

Another edition. London, Geo. Miller, 1639.

Another edition. London, A. Miller, 1647.

De la Pichonnaye, Ledoyen:

A Plaine Treatise to larne in a shorte space of the French Tongue. London, H. Denham, 1576.

De Sainliens, Claude. Cf. Holyband.

Du Grès, Gabriel:

Breve et Accuratum grammaticae Gallicae Compendium in quo superflua rescinduntur et necessaria non omittuntur, per Gabrielem du Grès, Gallum, eandem linguam in celeberrima Cantabrigiensi Academia edocentem. Cantabrigiae. Impensis Authoris amicorum gratiâ. 1636.

Dialogi Gallico-Anglico-Latini, per Gabrielem Dugrès Linguam Gallicam in illustrissima et famosissima Oxoniensi Academia (haud ita pridem privatim) edocentem. Oxoniae, L. Lichfield, 1639.

Editio secunda, priori emendatior. Oxoniae, 1652.

Editio tertia. Oxoniae, 1660.

Du Ploich, Pierre:

A Treatise in English and Frenche right necessary and proffitable for al young children (the contentes whereof apere in a table at the ende of this boke), made by Peter du Ploiche, teacher of the same dwelling in Trinitie lane at the signe of the Rose. Richard Grafton, [1553?]

Another ed. Imprimé à Londre par Jean Kingston, La xiiii. Auvril, 1578.

Du Terme, Laur:

The Flower de Luce, planted in England, or a short Treatise and brieffe compendium wherein is contained the true and lively pronunciation and understanding of the French tongue. Compiled by Laur du Terme, Teacher of the same. London, Printed by Nicholas Okes, 1619.

Duwes, Giles:

An Introductorie for to lerne to rede, to pronounce, and to speke Frenche trewly, compyled for the right high excellent and most vertuous lady, the lady Mary of Englande, daughter to our most gracious soverayn Lorde Kyng Henry the Eight. Printed at London by Thomas Godfray, cum privilegio a rege indulto, [1533?]

Another ed. Printed at London by Nicolas Bourman for John Reyns in Paules churchyarde at the signe of the George. [1534?]

Another ed., newly corrected and amended. Printed by John Waley, [1546?]

Eliote, John:

Ortho-Epia Gallica. Eliot's Fruits for the French. Enterlaced with a double new invention, which teacheth to speke truely, speedily and volubly the French Tongue. Pend for the practice, pleasure and profit of all English Gentlemen who will endevour by their owne paine, studie and dilligence to attaine the naturall accent, the true pronunciation, and swift and glib Grace of that noble, famous and courtly Language. Natura et Arte. London, Printed by John Wolfe, 1593.

Erondell, Pierre:

The French Garden for English Ladyes and Gentlewomen to walke in or a sommer dayes labour. Being an instruction for the attayning unto of the French tongue: wherein for the practise thereof are framed thirteene dialogues in French and English, concerning divers matters, from the rising in the morning till Bedtime. Also the Historie of the Centurion mencioned in the Gospell: in French Verses. Which is an easier and shorter Methode then hath beene yet set forth to bring the lovers of the French tongue to the perfection of the same. By Peter Erondell, Professor of the same language. London, Printed for Ed. White, 1605.

Cf. Holyband, French Schoolemaister.

Farrear, Robert:

A brief Direction to the French Tongue. Oxford, 1618.

Festeau, Paul:

A new and Easie French Grammar, or a Compendious way how to Read, Speak and Write French exactly, very necessary for all Persons whatsoever. With variety of Dialogues. Whereunto is added a Nomenclature English and French. London. Printed for Th. Thornycroft and are to be sold at the Eagle and Child near Worcester House in the Strand, 1667.

Second ed., c. 1671.

[Another ed.]: Paul Festeau's French Grammar, being the newest and exactest Method now extant for the attaining to the purity of the French Tongue. Augmented and enriched with several choice and new dialogues.... The third ed., Diligently corrected, amended and much enlarged with the Rules of the Accent, by the Author, Native of Blois, and now Professor of the French Tongue in London. London, 1675.

[Another ed.]: Paul Festeau's French Grammar being the newest and exactest method ... for the attaining of the Elegancy and Purity of the French Tongue as it is now spoken at the Court of France. Augmented and enriched with several choice and new Dialogues, furnished with rich phrases, proverbs and sentences, profitable and necessary for all persons. Together with a Nomenclature English and French, and the Rules of Quantity. The fourth ed., Diligently corrected, amended and very much enlarged by the author, native of Blois, a city in France where the true tone of the French tongue is found by the Unanimous consent of all Frenchmen. London, 1679.

Fifth ed. 1685.

Another ed., c. 1688.

Another ed. 1693.

Another ed., c. 1699.

Another ed., corrected and enlarged by the author, c. 1701.

Gerbier, Sir Balthazar:

An Introduction of the French tongue, (in) "The Interpreter of the Academie for forrain languages and all noble sciences and exercises." The first part. London, 1648.

Giffard, James. Cf. Holyband, French Schoolemaister.

Gostlin:

Aurisodinae linguae Gallicae. 8vo. London, 1643.

Grave. Cf. De Grave.

Grolleau:

Grolleau's Compleat French Tutor. (Date unknown, some time after 1685.)

Herbert, William:

French and English Dialogues. In a more exact and delightful method then any yet extant. London, 1660. Cf. Cogneau.

Higgins, John:

Huloet's Dictionarie, corrected and amended and set in order and enlarged with many names of men, townes, beastes, foules, fishes, trees, shrubbes, herbes, fruites, places, instrumentes, etc. In eche place fit phrases gathered out of the best Latin authors. Also the French thereunto annexed, by which you may finde the Latin or Frenche of anye Englishe woorde you will. By John Higgins, late student in Oxeforde. Londoni, in aedibus Thomae Marshij, anno 1572.

The Nomenclator or Remembrancer of Adrianus Junius, Physician, divided into two Tomes, conteining proper names, and apt termes for all thinges under their convenient Titles, which within a few leaves doe follow. Written by the said Adrianus Junius in Latine, Greek, French, and other forrein tongues, and now in English by John Higgins. With a full supplie of all such words as the last inlarged edition affoorded; and a dictional index, conteining above 1400 principall words with their numbers directly leading to their interpretations. Of special use for all scholars and learners of the same languages. London, 1585.

Holyband, Claude, or De Sainliens:

The French Schoolemaistr, wherein is most plainlie shewed the true and most perfect way of pronouncinge of the French tongue, without any helpe of Maister or Teacher: set foorthe for the furtherance of all those whiche doo studie privately in their owne study or houses: Unto the which is annexed a Vocabularie for al such woordes as bee used in common talkes: by M. Claudius Hollybande, professor of the Latin, French and Englishe tongues. Imprinted at London, by William How for Abraham Veale, 1573.

First ed. 1565 (no copy known).

Another ed. (Date unknown; after 1580.)

Another ed.: The French Schoolemaister of Claudius Hollybande. Newly corrected.... London, 1582.

Another ed. Newly corrected by C. Hollyband. London. (Date unknown.)

Another ed.: The French Schoolemaister, wherein is most plainely shewed the true and perfect way of pronouncing the French tongue, to the furtherance of all those which would gladly learne it. First collected by Mr. C. H., and now newly corrected and amended by P. Erondelle, Professor of the said tongue. London, 1606.

Another ed. London, 1612.

Another ed. London, 1615.

Another ed. London, 1619.

Another ed.: The French Schoolemaister.... First collected by Mr. C. H. ... and now ... corrected ... by James Giffard. London, 1631.

Another ed. ... newly corrected and amended by James Giffard, Professor of the said tongue. London, 1636.

Another ed. ... new corrected, amended and much enlarged, with severall quaint Proverbes and other necessary rules, by James Giffard, Professor of the said Tongue. London, 1641.

Another ed. London, 1649.

Another ed. London, 1655.

Another ed.: The French Schoolmaster teaching easily that language. London, 1668.

The French Littelton, A most easie, perfect and absolute way to learne the Frenche tongue. Newly set forth by Claude Holliband, teaching in Paules Churchyarde by the signe of the Lucrece. Let the reader peruse the epistle to his owne instruction. Imprinted by T. Vautrollier: London, 1566.

Another ed. London, 1578.

Another ed. London, 1579.

Another ed.: Set forth by Claudius Holliband, teaching in Pauls Churchyard at the sign of the Golden Ball. London, 1581.

Another ed. ... London, 1591.

Another ed. ... by Claudius Holliband, Gentilhomme Bourbonnois. London, 1593.

Another ed. London, 1597.

Another ed. London, 1602.

Another ed. London, 1607.

Another ed. London, 1609.

Another ed. London, 1625.

Another ed. London, 1630.

Another ed. London, 1633.

Another ed. London, 1639.

A Treatise for Declining of Verbs which may be called the second chiefest worke of the frenche tongue: Set forthe by Claudius Hollyband, teaching at the signe of the Golden Ball in Paules Church Yarde. London, 1580.

Another ed. London, 1599.

Another ed. London, 1641.

De Pronuntiatione. Claudii a Sancto Vinculo de pronuntiatione linguæ Gallicæ libri duo. Ad illustrissimam simulq doctissimam Elizabetham Anglorum Reginam. T. Vautrollerius; Londoni. 1580.

The Treasurie of the French Tong: teaching the waye to varie all sortes of verbes. Enriched so plentifully with wordes and phrases (for the benefit of the studious in that language) as the like hath not before bin published. Gathered and set forth by C. Hollyband. For the better understanding of the order of the dictionarie peruse the Preface to the reader. London, 1580.

Campo di Fior, or the Flowery Field of four languages, Italian, Latin, French and English. London, 1583.

A Dictionarie French and English. Published for the benefite of the studious in that language. Gathered and set forth by Claudius Hollyband. London, 1593.

Howell, James:

Lexicon Tetraglotton, and English, French, Italian, Spanish Dictionary. Whereunto is adjoined a large nomenclature of the proper terms (in all four) belonging to several arts and sciences, to recreations, to professions both liberal and mechanick etc. Divided into fifty-two sections. With another Vocabulary of the choicest Proverbs.... London. Printed by J. G. for Cornelius Bee at the King's Arms in Little Brittaine, 1660.

Cf. Cotgrave.

Huloet. Cf. Higgins.

Kerhuel, Jean de:

Grammaire Françoise, composée par Jean de Kerhuel, Professeur de la ditte Langue. A French Grammar.... 8vo. Printed for J. Wickins at the Miter in Fleet Street, 1684.

Lainé, Pierre:

A compendious Introduction to the French Tongue. Teaching with much ease, facility and delight, how to attain and most exactly to the true and modern pronunciation thereof. Illustrated with several elegant expressions and choice Dialogues, useful for persons of Quality that intend to travel into France, leading them, as by the hand, to the most noted and principal places of that Kingdom. Whereunto is annexed an alphabetical Rule for the true and modern orthography of that French now spoken, being a catalogue of very necessary words never before printed. By Peter Lainé, a teacher of the said tongue now in London. London. Printed by T. N. for Anthony Williamson at the Queen's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard, near the West End. 1655.

Lainé, Pierre de:

The Princely way to the French Tongue, as it was first compiled for the use of her Highness the Lady Mary and since taught her royal sister the Lady Anne. To which is added a Chronological abridgement of the sacred scriptures by way of dialogue. Together with a longer explication of the French Grammar, Choice fables of Æsop in Burlesque French, and lastly some models of letters French and English, by P.D.L. 2nd ed. London. Printed by J. Macock for H. Herrington etc., 1677.

First ed. 1667. (No copy known.)

Leighton, Henry:

Linguæ Gallicæ addiscendæ regulæ. Collectæ opera et industria H. Leighton, A.M. Hanc linguam in celeberrima Academia Oxoniensi edocentis. Oxoniae, 1659.

Another ed. 1662.

Lisle of Wilbraham, Wm.:

Part of Du Bartas, English and French, and in his owne kinde of verse, so near the French Englished, as may teach an Englishman French, or a Frenchman English. Sequitur Victoria Junctos. By Wm. L'isle of Wilburgham, Esquier for the King's Body. London. Printed by John Hoviland, 1625.

Mauger, Claude:

The true advancement of the French Tongue, or A new Method, and more easie directions for the attaining of it, then ever yet have been published. Whereunto are added many choice and select dialogues, containing not onely familiar discourses, but most exact Instructions for Travell, in a most elegant style and phrase, very useful and necessary for all gentlemen that intend to travel into France. Also a chapter of Anglicismes, wherein those errors which the English usually commit in speaking French are demonstrated and corrected. By Claudius Mauger, late professor of the French Tongue at Blois, and now teacher of the said Tongue here in London. London. Printed by Tho. Roycroft for J. Martin and J. Allestry at the Bell in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1653.

Another ed.: Mr. Mauger's French Grammar. Enriched with severall choise Dialogues containing an exact account of the State of France, Ecclesiastical, civil, and Military, as it flourisheth at present under King Louis the xivth. Also a chapter of Anglicisims, with instructions for travellers into France. The second edition, enlarged and most exactly corrected by the Authour, late professor at Blois. London. Printed by R. D. for John Martin and J. Allestree at the Bell in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1656.

Third ed. London, 1658.

Another ed. ... enriched with 50 new short dialogues. Containing for the most part an exact account of England's Triumphs, with the state of France ... as it flourisheth now since Cardinal Mazarin's death. With a most curious and most ingenious addition of 700 French verses upon the rules. Also a Chapter of Anglicisms, with instructions for Travellers into France. Fourth ed. Exactly corrected, enlarged and perused by the great care and diligence of the author, late publick Professor of Blois, in France, for all Travellers. London. Printed for John Martin ... 1662.

Fifth ed. London, 1667.

Another ed. ... Enlarged and Enriched with 80 new dialogues, both familiar and high with compliments, and the exact pronunciation. All digested in a most admirable order, with the State of France.... Also a chapter of Anglicisms and Francisms. With 700 French verses containing all the rules of the French Tongue. As likewise the Generall Rules of the English Pronunciation. Sixth ed. Exactly corrected by the author.... London. Printed for J. Martin at the sign of the bell, and James Allestry at the Rose and Crown in Paul's Churchyard, 1670.

Another ed.: La Grammaire françoise de Claude Mauger expliquée en Anglois, Latin et en François, enrichie de regles plus courtes et plus substantielles qu'auparavant, comme du regime des verbes, de la conjugaison de tous les irreguliers par toutes leurs personnes, d'un Traité de l'accent etc. Et à la fin, d'un abrégé des regles generales de la Langue Angloise, en dialogues françois, outre ce qui étoit dans la sixième édition. La 7e. éd. Reveue et corrigée par l'autheur . . . à Londres. Londres. Imprimée par T. Roycroft pour Jean Martin et se vendent à l'enseigne de la cloche au cymitière de Sainct Paul. 1673. Claudius Mauger's French Grammar, etc.

Another ed., with additions: The "English Edition." London, Printed by John Martyn, c. 1676.

Eighth ed. Londres, J. Martyn, 1679.

Tenth ed. Corrected by the author, now professor of the Languages at Paris. London, 1682.

Eleventh ed. London, T. Harrison, c. 1683.

Twelfth ed. . . . avec des augmentations de Mots à la Mode d'une nouvelle Methode et de tout ce qu'on peut souhaiter pour s'acquirir ce beau Language comme on le parle à present à la cour de France. Où on voit un ordre extraordinaire et methodique pour l'acquisition de cette langue, sçavoir, une très parfaite pronuntiation, la conjugaison de tous les Verbes irreguliers, des Regles courtes et substantielles, ausquelles sont ajoutez un Vocabulaire et une nouvelle Grammaire Angloise pour l'utilité de tant d'estrangers qui ont envie de l'apprendre. La douzième édition exactement corrigée par l'autheur à present Professeur des Langues à Paris. Londres. R. E. pour R. Bently et S. Magnes demeurant dans Russel St. au Covent Gardin. 1686.

Thirteenth ed. ... Corrected by the author, late at Paris and now at London. London, 1688.

Fourteenth ed. ... Corrected and Enlarged by the author. London. Sold by T. Guy at the Oxford Arms in Lombard Street. 1690.

Sixteenth ed. ... exactly corrected and Enlarged by the Authour. Late Professor of the Languages at Paris. London. R. E. for R. Bently in Russel St. in Covent Gardin, 1694.

Eighteenth ed. ... corrected and enlarged by the author. London, for T. Guy, 1698.

Nineteenth ed. ... corrected and enlarged by the Author, late professor of the Languages at Paris. London, R. Wellington, 1702.

Twentieth ed. ... Faithfully corrected from all the errors in the former by a French Minister. London, R. Wellington, 1705.

Twenty-first ed. ... with additions. London, R. Wellington, 1709.

Mauger's Letters. Written upon several subjects, faithfully translated into English, for the greater facility of those who have a desire to learn the French Tongue. Corrected and Revised by the author, formerly professor of French at Bloys, now at London. London, 1671.

Another ed.: Lettres Françoises et Angloises de Claud Mauger sur Toutes sortes de sujets grands et mediocres avec augmentation de 50 lettres nouvelles, dont il y en a plusieurs sur les dernières et grandes Revolutions de l'Europe. Très exactement corrigée, polies et écrites, dans le plus nouveau stile de la cour, dans lesquelles la pureté et l'élégance des deux langues s'accordent mieux qu'auparavant. Très utiles à ceux qui aspirent au beau language, et sont curieux de sçavoir de quelle manière ils doivent parler aux personnes de quelque qualité qu'elles soient. Outre Quantité de Billets à la fin du Livre, qui sont très necessaires pour le commerce. La seconde édition. Londres, imprimée par Tho. Roycroft et se vendent chez Samuel Lowndes vis à vis de l'Hostel d'Exeter dans la Strand. 1676.

Meurier, Gabriel:

La Grammaire Françoise contenante plusieurs belles reigles propres et necessaires pour ceulx qui desirent apprendre la dicte langue par Gabriel Meurier. . . . Anvers, 1557.

Traicté pour apprendre a parler Françoys et Angloys. Rouen, Etienne Colas, 1553.

Communications familieres non moins propres que tresutiles a la nation Angloise desireuse et diseteuse du langage François, par G. Meurier. Familiare Communications no leasse proppre then verrie proffytable to the Inglis nation desirous and nedinge the ffrenche language, by Gabriel Meurier. En Anvers. . . . Chez Pierre de Keerberghe sus le Cemitiere nostre Dame a la Croix d'or. 1563.

Another ed.: Traité pour apprendre a parler François et Anglois: ensemble un Formulaire de faire missives, obligations, Quittances, Lettres de Change, necessaire a tous marchands qui veulent trafiquer. A Treatise for to learne to speake Frenshe and Englische, together with a form of making letters, indentures, and obligations, quittances, letters of exchange, verie necessarie for all Marchants that do occupy trade of Marchandise. A Rouen, chez Jacques Cailloué, tenant sa boutique dans la Court du Palais. 1641.

Miège, Guy:

A New Dictionary French and English with another English and French according to the present use and modern orthography of the French, inrich'd with new words, choice phrases and apposite proverbs. Digested into a most accurate method and contrived for the use of both English and Foreiners, by Guy Miège, Gent. London. Printed by T. Dawks for T. Basset at the George near Clifford's Inn in Fleet Street, 1677.

A New French Grammar or a New Method for learning of the French Tongue. To which are added for a help to young beginners a large vocabulary, and a store of familiar Dialogues, besides Four curious discourses of Cosmography in French for proficient learners to turn into English. By Guy Miège, Gent., author of the New French Dictionary, professor of the French Tongue and of Geography. London. Th. Basset.... 1678.

A Dictionary of Barbarous French or a Collection by Way of Alphabet of Obsolete, Provincial, Misspelt and Made Words in French. Taken out of Cotgrave's Dictionary with some additions. A work much desired and now performed for the satisfaction of such as read old French. By Guy Miège, Gent., author of the New French Dictionary. London, for Th. Basset, 1679.[1108]

A Short and Easie French Grammar, fitted for all sorts of learners: according to the present use and modern orthography of the French, with some Reflections on the ancient use thereof. London, Th. Basset, 1682.

A Large Vocabulary English and French for the use of such as learn French or English. London, Th. Basset, 1682.

One Hundred and Fifteen Dialogues French and English fitted for the use of learners. London, Th. Basset, 1682.

A Short French Dictionary, English and French with another in French and English, according to the present use and modern orthography, by Guy Miège, Gent. London, for Th. Basset, 1684.

Another ed. London, 1690.

Another ed. The Hague, 1691.

Fifth ed. The Hague, 1701.

Another ed. 1703.

Another ed. Rotterdam, 1728.

The Grounds of the French Tongue, or a new French Grammar according to the present use and modern orthography. Digested into an easy, short and accurate Method with a Vocabulary and Dialogues. London, for Th. Basset, 1687.

The Great French Dictionary in two parts. The first part French and English. The second English and French. According to the ancient and modern orthography: wherein each language is set forth in its greatest latitude. The various senses of words both proper and figurative are orderly digested, and illustrated with apposite phrases and proverbs. The hard words explained: and the proprieties adjusted. To which are prefixed the Grounds of both Languages in two Discourses, the one English, the other French, by Guy Miège, Gent. London, for Th. Basset, 1688.

Miège's last and best French Grammar, or a new Method to learn French, containing the Quintessence of all other Grammars, with such plain and easie rules as will make one speedily perfect in that famous language.... London, W. Freeman and A. Roper, 1698.

Another ed., the second. London, J. Freeman, 1705.

Morlet, Pierre:

Janitrix sive Institutio ad perfectam linguae Gallicae cognitionem acquirendam. Authore Petro Morleto Gallo. Oxoniae, excudebat Josephus Barnesius, 1596.

Palsgrave, John:

Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse compose par maistre Jehan Palsgrave Angloys natyf de Londres et gradue de Paris. 1530. [Col.] The printing fynysshed by Johan Hawkyns, the xviii daye of July. The yere of our lorde God M.C.C.C.C.C. and XXX.

S., J.:

A short method for the Declyning of Ffrench Verbes etc., by J. S., c. 1623.

Saltonstall, Wye:

Clavis ad Portam, or a key fitted to the gates of tongues. Wherein you may readily find the Latine and French for any English word, necessary for all young schollers. [Oxford?] Printed by Wm. Turner, 1634. (Bound with the 1633 edition—London—of Anchoran's Comenius.)

Sanford, John:

Le Guichet François. Sive janicula et brevis introductio ad linguam Gallicam. Oxoniae. Excudebat Josephus Barnesius, 1604.

A briefe extract of the former Latin Grammar, done into English for the easier instruction of the Learner. At Oxford. Printed by Joseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Crowne by Simon Waterson. 1605.

Sherwood, Robert:

The Frenche Tutour, London, Humphrey Lownes, 1625 (no copy known).

The French Tutour by way of grammar exactly and fully Teaching all the most necessary Rules for the attaining of the French tongue, whereunto are also annexed three Dialogues; and a touch of French compliments all for the furtherance of Gentlemen, Schollers and others desirous of the said language. Second ed. carefully corrected and enlarged by Robert Sherwood, Londoner. London, Printed by Robert Young, 1634.

Dictionnaire Anglois-François. 1632. Cf. Cotgrave.

Smith, J.:

Grammatica Quadrilinguis, or brief Instructions for the French, Italian, Spanish and English Tongues, with the Proverbs of each Language fitted for those who desire to perfect themselves therein. By J. Smith, M.A. Printed for J. Clarke at the Star, in Little Britain, and J. Lutton at the Anchor in Poutry. London, 1674.

Thorius, J. Cf. Corro.

Vairasse d'Allais, Denys:

A short and methodical introduction to the French tongue, composed for the particular benefit and use of the English. Paris, 1683.

Valence, Pierre:

Introductions in Frensche for Henry the Yonge Erle of Lyncoln (childe of greate esperaunce), sonne of the most noble and excellente pryncesse Mary (by the grace of God queene of France etc.). [No date or place.]

Veron, John:

Dictionariolum puerorum, tribus linguis, Latina, Anglica et Gallica conscriptum. Latino gallicum nuper ediderat Rob. Stephanus Parisiis, cui Anglicam interpretationem adiecit Joannes Veron. London, John Wolfe, 1552.

Villiers, Jacob:

Vocabularium Analogicum, or the Englishman speaking French, and the Frenchman speaking English. Plainly showing the nearness or affinity betwixt the English, French and Latin. Alphabetically digested. With new and easy directions for the attaining of the French tongue, comprehended in rules of pronouncing, rules of accenting and the like. To which is added the explanation of Mounsieur de Lainé's French Grammar by way of dialogue set forth for the special use and encouragement of such as desire to be proficients in the same language. The like not extant. By Jacob Villiers, Master of a French School in Nottingham. London, printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson, at the Golden Lion, and George Wells, at the Sun in St. Paul's Church yard, 1680.

Wodroeph, John:

The spared houres of a souldier in his travels, or The true marrowe of the French Tongue, wherein is truly treated (by ordre) the nine parts of speech, together with two rare and excellent bookes of Dialogues, the one presented to that illustrious prince Count Henry of Nassau, in his younger yeares for his Furtherance in this tongue, newly reviewed and put in pure French Phrase (easie and delightfull) from point to point; and the other formed and made (since) by the Authour himselfe. Added yet an excellent worke, very profitable for all the ages of man, called the Springwell of Honour and Vertue, gathered together very carefully, both by ancient and Moderne Philosophers of our Tyme. With many Godly songs, sonets, Theames, Letters missives, and sentences proverbiales: so orderly, plain and pertinent, as hath not (formerly) beene seene in the most famous Ile of great Britaine. By John Wodroephe, Gent. Les Heures de relasche. . . . Imprimé à Dort, Par Nicolas Vincentz, Pour George Waters, Marchant Libraire, demeurant près le Marché au Poisson, à l'Enseigne des Manchettes dorées. 1623.

Second edition: The Marrow of the French Tongue, containing:

1. Rules for the true pronunciation of every letter as it is written or spoken.

2. An exact Grammar containing the nine parts of speech of the French Tongue.

3. Dialogues on French and English, fitted for all kind of discourse for courtiers, citizens, and countrymen, in their affairs at home or travelling abroad.

With variety of other helps to the learner as Phrases, Letters missive, sentences, proverbes, Theames, and in both languages. So exactly collected and compiled by the great paines and industry of M. John Wodroephe, that the meanest capacity either French or Englishman, that can but reade, may in a short time by his owne industry without the helpe of any Teacher attaine to the perfection of both languages. Ce livre est aussi utile pour le François d'apprendre l'Anglois que pour l'Anglois d'apprendre le François. The second edition. Reviewed and purged of much gross English, and divers errors committed in the former edition printed at Dort. London. Printed for Rd. Meighen at the signe of the Leg in the Strand, and in St. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleet Street, 1625.

FOOTNOTES:

[1106] Licensed to Harrison (Arber, Stationers' Register, i. 364); assigned over to Th. Woodcock by Harrison's widow, 1578 (ibid. ii. 331).

[1107] Based on Bathe's Janua Linguarum in Latin and Spanish, 1611.

[1108] Sometimes bound with the Dictionary of 1677.

INDEX

The names of those who taught French or wrote French grammars are marked with an asterisk.

*A., E., 277, 280
*Abadie, J. G. d', 388
A B C of Geneva, 132
A B C for Scottes men, 154

Académie française, 110 n., 192, 193, 305, 354, 355, 357, 388

Academies, 120 sq., 231, 296 sq., 345, 397 sq.;
academies in France, 352, 357, 363 sq.;

Protestant academies in France, 232 sq., 343 sq.

Addison, Joseph, 218, 220, 370 n.
Aesop, in French, 294, 382
Aimar de Ranconnet, 190, 230 n.
Alexander, Sir Wm., 250, 255
Alexandre, Pierre, 118
Alexis, Guillaume, 101
Allen, Cardinal, 217
Amadis de Gaule, 85, 194 n., 196, 223
Amyot, Jacques, 196, 199
*Anchoran, J. A., 295
Ancients and Moderns, quarrel of, 391
*André, Bernard, 68, 75, 76
Angers, 205, 346, 351
Anglo-French, 18 sq., 26
Anne, Queen of England, 381, 389 n.
Anne of Cleves, 72
Anvers, 241 sq., 244, 245, 279
Arithmetic, 139, 154, 399

Ascham, Roger, 64, 73, 120, 146, 182, 183, 184, 216, 275 n., 286, 335

Ashley, Robert, 151, 129
Astell, Mary, 395, 398
Aubigné, Agrippa d', 65 n., 197, 356
*Aufeild, Wm., 260 n., 284 sq., 292
Aulnoy, Mme. d', 367 n.
Auteuil, 201

Bacon, Anthony, 234

Bacon, Francis, 66, 118 n., 194 n., 212, 219, 221 n., 224, 273, 275, 288, 355 n.

Bacon, Nicholas, 118 n., 120
Balzac, Guez de, 309, 355
Banister's Academy, 399
*Barbier, Jean, 294

*Barclay, Alexander, 4, 34, 62, 65, 69 n., 77 sq., 123, 144, 237, 240

*Baret, James, 187 sq., 189, 192
Barkley, Lady Elizabeth, 268
*Barlement, Noel de, 241 sq., 246, 279
Baro, Pierre, 119
*Barton, Jehan, 27 n., 32 sq., 38, 78
Basset, James, 213, 214
*Baudouin, Jean, 275
Bayle, Pierre, 391
Baynton, Andrew, 87 n., 91, 96, 100, 105, 106
Beal, Sir Robert, 201
Beau, Character of the, 376 n., 377 n.
Beau, The Compleat, 376
Beau, The Defeated, 374 n., 378 n.

Beaux, 235 sq., 247, 321, 357 sq., 370 n., 375 sq., 378, 394

Belleau, Remi, 174
Belleforest, François de, 196
*Bellemain, Jean, 107 sq., 112, 113
Bellerose, 380

*Bellot, Jacques, 156 sq., 168, 172, 185, 186 n., 196, 202, 265, 266, 277, 280

*Bense, Pierre, 204
*Berail, Gilles, 156
*Berault, Pierre, 300, 388 sq.
Bèze, Théodore de, 196, 197, 202, 234

*Bibbesworth, Walter de, 11 sq., 16, 28, 38, 40, 264

Bignon, Jérôme, 66 n., 273

Blois, 218, 227 sq., 235, 241, 282, 284, 301 sq., 325, 342, 344, 350, 351, 352, 359

Blount, Th., 263
*Bod, Charles, 155 n.
Bodin, Jean, 197, 199. 273 n.
Bodley, Sir Th., 234
Boiasteau, Pierre, 195, 196
Boileau, 218, 220 n., 355
Boisrobert, 259 n., 273 n.
Boleyn, Anne, 71, 72, 83, 95

Booksellers and French teachers, 129, 138, 163

Bossuet, 364
Bouhours, le Père, 220 n., 394
Bouillon, Duchesse de, 367
*Bourbon, Nicolas, 83, 89
Bourges, 241, 351
*Boy, Francis, 149
Boyle, Richard, 200
Bozon, Nicolas, 8 n.
Brantôme, 273 n.
Bretons: teach French, 325, 326
Brinsley, John, 179 n., 351
Brome, Rd., 298, 374 n.
Buck Third Universitie, 169 n.

Buckingham, George Villiers, first Duke, 227, 262, 285, 298, 396;
second Duke, 364, 373

Bullar, Colonel, 304

Burghley, Wm. Cecil, Lord, 119, 121, 123, 187, 191, 211, 215, 217

Burgundians, 115, 119, 145, 168 sq., 241
Busby, John, 306
*Bushell, Abraham, 155
Bussy, le Comte de, 321
Butler, Mr., 360
Butler, Samuel, 371 n., 372 n., 376 n.

Caen, 156, 159, 239, 351
Calvin, Jean, 66, 84, 107, 108, 112, 195, 328
Camden, Wm., 66, 71, 194 n., 212, 274, 276
Cameron, John, 249
Campo di Fior, 143 n., 145, 159, 185
Canterbury, French school at, 120 sq.
Capell, Sir Arthur, 216
Carew, Richard, 212, 340
Carleton, Dudley, 217, 247
Cartularies, 42

Casaubon, Isaac, 118, 150, 234 sq., 259, 273 n.

Castellion, dialogues of, 182, 294

Castiglione, Baptista, 73 n.

Catechism, in French, 130, 147, 153, 295, 339, 382, 389

Catechism, The Ladies', 369 n., 375

Caxton, Wm., 42 sq., 47, 48, 54, 55, 56, 201, 246, 279

Chamberlain, John, 247
Champ fleury, 100
Chappuzeau, 390
Charenton, 259, 346, 363

Charles I., 170, 185, 194 n., 203, 207, 248, 255, 261 sq., 271, 272, 276, 280, 296, 298, 319, 323 n., 339, 348, 362, 363, 396, 397

Charles II., 70 n., 205, 207, 262, 263, 272, 295, 298, 308, 329, 330, 344, 348, 362 sq., 366, 367, 368, 371, 372, 373, 374, 376, 377 n., 380

Charpentier, 391
Chartier, Alain, 101
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 18, 19
Cheking, John, 105
*Chemin, Nicholas, 149
*Cheneau, Francis, 382
Chesterfield, Lord, 319 n.
*Chevallier, A. R., 112, 119, 150 n.
*Chiflet, Laurent, 230 sq., 353, 385

Children and study of French, 12, 32, 38 sq., 52, 55, 212 sq., 239, 242, 295 sq., 331, 338 sq., 340, 341 sq., 357, 365, 371 n., 382, 395

Church, use of French in the, 24

Churches: foreign, in England: Dutch, 116 sq.;

French, 116 sq., 145 sq., 151, 155 sq., 159, 167, 169, 295, 299, 309, 310, 328 sq., 339, 389;

Italian, 146;
Walloon, 117;
Protestant, in France, 363. See Charenton
Cibber, Colley, 376 n., 378, 380 n.

Clarendon, Ed. Hyde, Earl of, 209, 210 n., 218, 345, 352, 357, 361, 364, 373, 392, 393, 395

Cleland, James, 182, 197, 293, 393
Clinton, Lady, 333
*Codrington, Rt., 294, 295
*Cogneau, Paul, 289 sq., 327
*Cokele, John, 149
Colet, John, 62, 182, 183, 215
Collège de Navarre, 213, 276
Colleges: in France, 357;
English Roman Catholic, in France, 232;
Protestant, in France, 232, 345
Collet, Claude, 196
*Colson, Wm., 282 sq.
*Colsoni, F. C., 388
Comedians. See Theatre
Comenius, 293, 294 sq., 338, 339

Commercial French, 42, 53, 65, 169 n., 243, 245, 307, 399. See Merchants

Commines, Philippe de, 196, 197, 199

Commonwealth, 262, 296, 298, 315, 333, 341, 361, 366

Coningsby, Sir Th., 247
Cooks, French, 370
Cordano, Girolamo, 62, 72 n.
*Cordell, M., 220
Cordier, Mathurin, 181, 255, 294, 334, 390

Corneille, Pierre, 220 n., 271, 273, 293, 309, 323, 364

Corneille, Th., 318

Cornwallis, Sir Wm., 127, 284

Correspondence: use of French in, 17, 23, 66, 69, 71 sq., 108, 259, 260, 262, 299 n., 319 sq., 342, 353

*Corro, Antonio de, 202
Coryat, Tom, 63, 221, 235
Cosmo III. of Tuscany, 63
Costeker, J. L., 358, 393

*Cotgrave, Randle, 190 sq., 240, 245, 275, 281, 285, 288, 321 n., 333, 383

Cotterel, Sir Ch., 307 n.
Courtesy book, 47, 52
Courtin, French ambassador, 308, 362 n., 367
Cowley, 364, 365
Coxe, Leonard, 100
*Coyfurelly, Canon, 10, 35, 38
Cranmer, 83, 112, 118, 120

Cromwell, Secretary, 81, 83, 98, 105, 119, 120

Cromwell, Gregory, 80, 105, 119

*Curlew, Nicholas, 149

Daines, Simon, 275 n., 278

Dallington, Sir Rt., 65 n., 221 n., 222 sq., 225, 226, 231, 261 n., 348

Dancing, 94, 137, 209, 231, 232, 261, 267, 282, 298, 299, 303, 332, 342, 346, 357, 359, 369, 371, 397, 398

Dancing-master: French, 369, 370, 375, 376
Danneau, Lambert, 77
*Darvil d'Arras, Ch., 155 n.
Davenant, Sir Wm., 263 n., 364, 365, 380
Defoe, Daniel, 225 n., 394, 398
*Deger, Anness, 170
*De la Barre, 246 n.
*De la Mare, 299

*De la Mothe, G., 119, 161 sq., 183, 184, 186, 200, 225, 265, 279, 290, 291, 292

De la Porte: epithets, 117
*Denisot, Nicolas, 83 sq., 89, 293
Descartes, 395, 398
Despagne, Jean, 328, 329
Desportes, 174, 250, 356

Dialects, French, 27, 28, 54, 144, 145, 169, 241, 326

Dialogues: French, 36 sq., 43 sq., 48 sq., 93, 102, 124, 130 sq., 135, 137 sq., 164 sq., 176, 193, 206, 241 sq., 254, 267, 282, 291, 294, 299 n., 302 sq., 305, 309, 313 sq., 317, 324, 347, 349, 385, 386, 389;

Latin, 145, 181, 185, 294

Dictionaries: French and English, 95, 122, 141, 168, 187 sq., 192, 199, 253, 281, 383 sq.;

Latin, influence on French, 122, 187, 189, 190, 293, 383

Digby, Sir John, 203

Diplomacy: use of French in, 7, 22, 23, 65, 67, 70 n., 169 n., 260, 392, 393

Doctors, French, 259 n., 369
Donait, 30 sq., 33
Douay, 129, 217 n., 232
Doujat, Jean, 273
*Dove, R., 31
Drama: French influence, 364, 378
Drummond of Hawthornden, 195, 220 n.
Dryden, 321, 357, 372, 374, 378, 379

Du Bartas, 65 n., 151, 174, 175, 177, 185, 186, 196, 250, 276, 322, 356

Du Bellay, 84, 196
*Du Buisson, 148
*Du Grès, Gabriel, 205 sq., 351, 352, 395 n.
Du Moulin, Pierre, senior, 207, 259
Du Moulin, Pierre, junior, 200, 357
Du Perron, Cardinal, 259
*Du Plantin, 149, 150
Du Plessis, 360
Duplessis-Mornay, 66 n., 233, 357

*Du Ploich, 129 sq., 143, 145, 200, 225, 240, 243

Dutch, 115 sq., 119, 169 n., 209, 227, 240 sq., 280, 326, 394. Cp. Netherlands

Dutch Tutor, 169 n.
*Du Terme, Laur, 288 sq., 290, 291
Du Val, Claude, 350
*Du Val, J. B., 230
*Du Val, M., 343
Du Val, Pierre, 213

*Duwes, Giles, 4, 77, 86 sq., 113, 123, 132 n., 133, 144, 171, 264

Edward VI., King, 66, 72, 83, 107 sq., 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 118, 123, 130, 134, 180, 212 n.

Effiat, Marquis d', 66
Elementarie, 62 n., 184, 278
Eliot, Sir John, 217

*Eliote, John, 65, 127 sq., 179, 180, 232, 288 n., 347 n.

Elizabeth, Queen, 64 n., 66, 67, 73, 74, 95, 108 sq., 110 sq., 113, 115, 117, 123, 140, 141, 146, 147, 151, 156, 160, 196, 215, 240, 247, 277, 287, 339 n.

Elizabeth Stuart, Princess, 151, 175, 249, 260

Ellwood, Th., 298

Elyot, Sir Th., 92, 182, 183, 184, 187 n., 335

English language, 4, 7, 18, 21, 23, 48, 62, 66, 89, 129, 141, 145, 171, 192, 241 sq., 262, 264, 269, 270, 272 sq., 281, 288, 308, 310, 334 n., 368, 384, 390 n., 392, 397;
taught in France, 353, 354, 397;
broken English, 171, 236 sq., 374, 376, 378;
grammars of the, 159, 276 sq., 281, 306, 312, 334 n., 385, 386, 389

English literature, 190 n., 274 sq.

Englishmen: judged by foreigners, 20, 117 sq., 367;
write in French, 365, 366 n., 378 n.

English teachers of French, 99, 123, 144, 152, 159, 168, 171 sq., 180, 283

Epistolaries, 17 sq., 35, 42
*Erail, Evrard, 155 n.
Erasmus, 62, 64 n., 65 n., 104, 112

*Erondell, Pierre, 196, 264 sq., 269 n., 277 n., 292

Esclarcissement, l', 3, 61, 78 n., 86 sq., 190, 264. See Palsgrave

Essex, Rt. Devereux, Earl of, 234
Estienne, H., 66 n., 273 n.
Estienne, Rt., 122, 189

Etherege, Sir George, 371 n., 374 n., 376, 378, 394

Eton, 120

Euphues, 216 n., 263

Evelyn, John, 218, 221, 264, 293, 294, 328, 329, 330, 340, 350 n., 351, 362 n., 363, 365 n., 367 n., 368 n., 371 n., 372, 380, 394

"Exercises," 231, 352, 395, 398

Expenses of travellers, 232, 343, 349

*Fabre, John, 268

*Fabri, Philémon, 207

Farquhar, George, 208, 372 n., 374 n., 376 n., 378, 380 n.

*Farrear, Rt., 204

Fashions, French, 68, 71, 236 sq., 303, 321 n., 358. 361, 369, 371, 372, 373, 376, 377

Fees of French teachers, 139, 179, 206 n., 308 n.

Femina, 28 sq., 39 n., 40, 52

Fencing, 231, 232, 282, 346, 360, 371 n.

*Festeau, Paul, 299, 301, 304, 312 sq., 323, 325, 361, 381, 388

Field, Rd., 162, 163

Finett, Sir John, 260

Flecknoe, Rd., 370 n., 371 n., 372, 377 n., 378 n.

Flemings, 115, 127, 152 n., 169, 241, 255. Cp. Netherlands

Flemish, 45, 62, 241 sq., 246, 260, 280

*Florio, John, 65, 127, 201, 239 n., 254, 261, 275, 276 n.

*Fontaine, Rt., 155 n., 156, 168

Foreigners visit England, 6, 61, 63, 66, 74, 114 sq., 124 sq., 259, 277 sq., 281, 304, 308, 313, 327, 368 sq.

Foubert's Academy, 345, 399
France, Survey of, 177
François I. of France, 68, 69, 71, 73, 93
François de Valois, 159
Frans and Englis, 201

French Alphabet, 162 sq., 184, 225 n., 265, 279, 290, 292

French Conjuror, 370 n., 372 n., 378 n.

French Garden, 264 sq.

French Littleton, 136 sq., 141, 142 sq., 160, 277, 290, 292

French Methode, 161, 266 n.

French Schoolemaister, 135 sq., 140, 142 sq., 199, 246, 268, 269, 277, 290, 292

French Schoolmaster, 381 n.

French Tutor, 168

French Tutour, 281 sq.

Froissart, 21, 23, 101, 196

Gailhard, J., 219, 224 n., 346, 351 n.
Galaunt, Treatyse of a, 237
Gallants. See Beaux
*Ganeur, Onias, 155 n.
Garlande, John de, 5, 7, 24
Garnier, Jean, 201
Garnier, Philippe, 230
Garnier, Robert, 194 n.
Gascoigne, George, 142
Gascons, 326
Geneva, 233 sq., 249, 326, 343 n., 344, 345
Gentleman's Companion, 219
Geography, 383, 385, 388, 398

*Gerbier, Sir Balthazar, 222 n., 260 n., 275 n., 297, 345

German language, 62, 73 n., 121, 169 n., 230 n., 236, 242 sq., 279, 295, 354

Germans, 123 n., 326
Germany, 211, 219, 220
Gibbon, 358 n.
*Giffard, James, 292
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 121
Glapthorne: The Ladies' Privilege, 237
Goldsmith, 321 n.
Gomberville, de, 309
Good Boke to lerne Frenshe, 47 sq., 54 sq.
Governors. See Tutors
Governour, The, 92, 182, 183 n.
Gower, 18, 19

Grammar: rules of French, 9, 10, 13, 31 sq., 77 sq., 80, 82, 88 n., 89 sq., 92, 132, 143 sq., 157 sq., 265 sq., 286, 288, 290, 305, 386

Grammont, le Comte de, 366, 369, 371, 373
Grantham, Th., 335, 337, 341
*Grave, Jean de, 295 sq.

Greek, 64 n., 73, 74, 84, 88, 92, 120, 121, 153, 188, 190, 210, 239, 276, 293, 298, 305, 335 n., 337, 338 n., 394, 398, 399

Greene, Rt., 178, 194 n., 215, 275
Grelot, Jérôme, 260
Grenville, Fulke, 128
Grévin, Jacques, 65 n., 273 n.
Grey, Lady Jane, 64 n., 73 n.
Grey, Lord of Wilton, 202, 208
Grocyn, 62

Guide-books for travellers: in England, 273 n., 321, 369, 388, 396 n.;
in France, 221 sq., 347 sq.

*H. T., Parisiis Studentis, 11, 35
Hainault, 38, 145, 241
Hakluyt, Rd., 269
Halkett, Lady Anne, 332
Hall (chronicler), 236
Hall, Joseph, 216, 237 n., 238, 274
Hamilton, Anthony, 365 sq., 373
Hamilton, Miss, 373
Harley, Lady Brilliana, 195, 210
Harrison (chronicler), 64 n., 216
Harrison, Lucus, 187, 188
Harvey, Gabriel, 199
Hawes, Stephen, 68
*Hawmells, Gouvert, 169
Hebrew, 153, 169 n., 398

Henrietta Maria, 261 sq., 269 sq., 276, 280, 323 n., 332, 362, 364

Henry III. of France, 159

Henry IV. of France, 66, 235, 247, 260, 261, 274, 362

Henry VII. of England, 68, 75, 103

Henry VIII. of England, 4, 22, 62, 66, 68 sq., 71, 72, 75, 76, 86, 90, 96, 97, 101, 103, 112, 114, 130, 212, 213, 237 n.

Henry Stuart (Prince), 186, 191, 260 sq., 298
*Henry, Jean, 140
Hentzner (traveller), 74, 112 n.
Herberay des Essarts, 85, 194 n., 196, 223
Herbert, George, 238
*Herbert, Guillaume, 291, 324 sq., 361
Herbert, Sir Henry, 271, 272
Herbert, Wm. (poet), 268

Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, 186, 187, 194, 199, 218, 220, 224, 235, 271

Herbert of Swansea, Lord, 142
Heylyn, Peter, 348, 351 n.
Higden: Polychronicon, 15, 24
Higford, Wm., 209, 210 n., 216 n., 366
*Higgins, John, 189 sq., 192
Hobbes, 220, 264, 265, 394

*Holyband, 56, 119, 134 sq., 156, 157, 159, 160, 162 n., 163, 164 n., 166, 168, 169, 171, 176, 179 n., 183, 185, 187, 188, 189, 190, 195, 196, 197, 199, 202, 204, 225, 240, 241, 246, 250, 253, 264, 265, 268, 269, 277, 280, 281, 283, 285, 290, 292, 293, 301, 304

Hoole, Charles, 182 n., 186, 189, 334, 337 n., 395 n.

Hotman, François, 66
*Hotman, Jean, 200
Howard, Katherine, 72

Howell, James, 192 sq., 197, 212 n., 218 n., 221 n., 240, 285, 330, 351, 355, 374 n., 383

Huguenot. See Refugees
Huloet's Dictionarie, 189
Hume, P., 313
Humphrey: The Nobles, 115 n., 118, 238 n.
Hutchinson, Mrs., 332

Inns of Court, 188, 203, 209, 210, 219, 344

Institution of a Gentleman (Higford), 209, 210 n., 216 n., 366

Institution of a Nobleman (Cleland), 182, 197, 293, 393

Institutions, educational. See Academies, Colleges, Schools, Universities

Italian, 64, 65, 68, 73, 74, 84, 88, 112, 120, 121, 145, 165, 169 n., 171, 185, 186, 192, 195, 199, 201, 203 n., 204, 209, 212, 217, 218, 220, 230 n., 236 sq., 241 sq., 254, 261, 263 sq., 273, 276 n., 279, 280, 286, 296, 307 n., 331, 333, 338 n., 339, 371 n., 377, 382, 388, 392, 394, 398, 399

Italy, 211, 212, 213, 215, 216 sq., 219, 220, 221, 236, 244, 348, 358, 360

James I., 151, 186, 190 n., 232 n., 249, 259 sq., 275 n., 298, 396

James II., 248 n., 262, 362, 373, 374, 381, 400

Jardin de Vertu, 160, 185, 186 n.
Jermyn, Lord, Earl of St. Albans, 362, 365
Jodelle, Étienne, 196
Jonson, Ben, 220, 237, 278
Justel, Henri, 367, 368 n.

Katherine of Aragon, 71, 73
Katherine of Braganza, 374
*Kerhuel, Jean de, 388

Kerouaille, Mlle. de, Duchess of Portsmouth, 362 n., 373, 380

Killigrew, Henry, 364, 380 n.
Kilvert, Mrs., 300, 302, 303
Kynaston, Sir Francis, 296

La Bruyère, 275
La Calprenède, 309, 318, 320, 321, 333, 364
La Fontaine, 338, 367

*Lainé, Pierre, 315 sq., 323, 328, 347, 355 n., 361, 362 n.

*Lainé, Pierre de, 381 sq., 397, 399
Lake, Sir Th., 151
Lambeth fragment, 81 sq., 132 n.
La Mothe le Vayer, 273, 293 n.
Langland, Wm., 19
*Langlois or Inglishe, 153 sq., 156 n.
Languet, Hubert, 63, 66 n., 217, 221
La Serre, 342 n., 349
Latimer, 62, 63

Latin and French, 4, 5, 8, 9, 24, 33, 42, 87, 89, 104, 153, 180 sq., 201, 212, 213, 221, 227, 228, 231, 236, 241 sq., 246, 248, 263, 276, 284, 286, 287, 288, 292 sq., 296, 305, 316, 326, 331 n., 333 sq., 335, 337 sq., 341, 342, 351, 353, 354, 376, 386, 390, 391 sq., 394, 395, 397;
use and study of, 62 sq., 65, 66, 68, 72, 73, 74, 88, 92, 106, 111, 112, 119, 120, 121, 127, 130, 132, 139, 151, 171, 198, 208, 210, 234, 239, 259 sq., 273, 298, 351, 356, 376, 382, 397, 399;
text-books, 5 n., 106, 139, 145, 181, 185, 279, 293, 334

Latini, Brunetto, 7, 26
Law French, 22, 30, 61, 64, 165, 321
Le Blanc, Abbé, 23 n., 369, 378, 394
Le Fèvre (chemist), 367
Le Fèvre, Raoul, 46
Le Grand, Antoine, 309, 310
*Le Grys, Sir Rt., 263
Leicester, Rt. Dudley, Earl of, 83, 172, 200
Leicester, Countess of, 262
Leigh, Ed., 204, 350 n.
*Leighton, Hy., 203 sq., 208
*Lemaire, Mary, 170
Lemaire de Belges, 101
Le Mans, 360
*Le Moyne, Guy, 207, 262, 285 n.
*Le Pipre, Paul, 148 sq.
Le Roy, Louis, 151

Letters: model French, 17, 35, 245, 255, 306 sq., 331, 349, 354, 390

Lewis, Mark, 334 n., 395 n., 398 n., 399
Lewisham, French school at, 140
Liber Donati, 30 sq.
Lily's Grammar, 181, 334 n.
Linacre, 62, 215
Lincoln, Earl of, 80
Lindsey, Montagu Bertie, Earl of, 327
Lisle, Lady, 213, 214, 237 n. See Basset
Lisle of Wilbraham, 185
Lister, Martin, 348

Literature, French, study of, 24, 57, 101, 174, 194 sq., 199, 220 n., 221, 223, 229, 231, 248, 250, 261, 267, 289, 309, 317, 319 sq., 330, 333, 342, 347, 349, 356, 390, 395, 398

Livre des Mestiers, 45 sq.
Locke, 219, 337, 338, 345 n., 349, 393, 395
L'Oiseau de Tourval, 190, 275
Lorris, G. de, 101
Louis XII. of France, 70, 104
Louis XIII. of France, 274, 372
Louis XIV. of France, 230 n., 305, 373
*Louveau, Jean, Sieur de la Porte, 150
*Love, John, 129, 170
Loveday, Rt., 333, 398
*Lydgate, John, 34
Lyly, John, 216, 263

Maids, French, 264, 303, 332, 369, 370, 374, 375

Maintenon, Mme. de, 361

Makin, Mrs. Bathsua, 332, 334 n., 339, 395 n., 397, 398

Malebranche, 218, 395, 398
Malherbe, 364
Malpet, John, 351

Manière de Langage, 26 n., 35 sq., 38, 39, 40, 42, 47, 52

Margaret of Navarre, 71, 74, 84, 111
Margaret of Savoy, 69
Margaret of Scotland, 101
Marie de Medicis, 230, 262
Marillac (ambassador), 72, 73
Marot, Clément, 83, 174, 196
Marseilles, 357
Marsilliers, Pierre de, 153
*Martin, Martin, 149

Mary I. of England, 72, 73, 86, 89, 90, 93 sq., 101 sq., 109, 112, 113, 115, 116, 156, 233, 327

Mary II. of England, 371 n., 381, 382

Mary Tudor, Queen of France, 69, 70, 71, 80, 81, 86, 94, 101, 104, 105

*Mason, Baudouin, 155 n., 156 n.
Mason, George, 279
*Masset, Jean, 230
*Massonnet, Peter, 262 sq.
Mathematics, 283, 315, 360, 398, 399
*Mauconduy, 353

*Mauger, Claude, 246, 300, 301 sq., 313, 314, 315, 317, 323, 325, 326, 328, 331 n., 347, 352, 353, 361, 368, 370 n., 381, 385, 388

*Maupas, Charles, 227 sq., 230, 282, 284 sq., 287, 301, 302, 353, 356

*Maupas, junior, 228 sq.
Maupertuis, 395 n.
Mayerne, Théodore, 259 n.
Mazarin, Duchesse de, 367, 380
Mecklenburg, Duke of, 301, 305
Meigret, Louis, 110 n., 226
Melville, James, 153
Melville, Sir James, 73, 212 n.
Ménage, Gilles, 353

Merchants: study of French by, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41 sq., 49, 50, 53, 55, 124, 137, 141, 169 n., 239 sq., 253, 299, 400

Meschinot, Jean, 101

Meteren, Immanuel von, 62

Methods of studying French, 56, 82, 90 sq., 133, 139, 143 sq., 166 sq., 177, 179 sq., 184 sq., 195, 206, 222 sq., 225 sq., 228, 231, 250 sq., 267, 283, 286 sq., 289, 290 sq., 296, 308 sq., 314, 317, 326, 330 sq., 346, 349, 354, 355 sq., 386 sq., 395 sq.

*Meurier, Gabriel, 244 sq., 273 n., 279, 280

Middleton, Th., 263 n.

*Miège, Guy, 309, 334 n., 337 n., 382 sq., 388, 391

*Milleran, René, 354 sq.

Milton, 64, 194, 214, 264, 298, 333, 334 n., 392

Minsheu, J., 169 n., 383 n.
Misson, M., 396 n.
Molière, 373
Monluc, 197, 342 n.
Montaigne, 20, 127, 183, 261, 335
Montauban, 232, 233, 249, 344
Montausier, Mme. de., 365
Montchrétien, 259, 268
Montjoy, Christopher, 125, 162
Montpellier, 232, 233, 234, 345, 365 n.
Montpensier, Mlle. de, 262, 263

More, Sir Th., 62, 83, 104, 105, 120, 236, 274

*Morlet, Pierre, 201, 202, 205

Morrice, Th., 171, 212, 292

Moryson, Fynes, Itinerary, 198, 214, 221, 223 sq., 225, 235, 237 n., 239, 350 n.

Motteville, Mme. de, 262 n.

Mulcaster, Rd., 62 n., 64 n., 142, 184, 188, 216 n., 225, 275, 278

Muralt, 230, 372 n.

Music, 94, 120, 121, 147, 209, 214, 267, 299, 303, 322, 332, 342, 346, 359, 371;

French music, 395, 397, 398

Nantes, Edict of, 170, 233, 343, 345, 382, 400

Nash, 236, 237 n., 238

Neckam, Alexander, 5, 7, 24

Netherlands, 45, 75, 76 n., 115, 211, 239, 249, 283, 312;

French taught in the Netherlands, 240 sq.;
teachers from the Netherlands, 152, 169

Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 329, 332

New Testament: in French, 130, 137, 153, 167, 186, 195, 196, 197, 222, 268, 289, 298, 310, 317, 318, 382

Newton, Th., 156
Nicot, 189, 190, 230 n., 244 n.
Nîmes, 232, 233, 234
Nomenclator, of Adrian Junius, 189
Nominale, 16, 28

Normans in England, 47, 81, 112, 145, 146, 156, 161, 265, 326

Norton, Th., 268
Nottingham: French school at, 396
Nucius, Nicander, 62, 66, 117

Ordinaries, 355, 370, 377, 392

Orleans, 27, 35, 37, 38, 221, 226, 230, 232, 235, 241, 301, 310, 345, 350, 351, 352, 355

Orthographia Gallica, 8 sq., 38

Orthography, French, 8 sq., 10 sq., 31, 35, 78, 87, 109 sq., 137, 165, 283, 305, 316, 326, 328, 354, 383, 384

Osborne, Dorothy, 318 sq., 333 n.
Osborne, Francis, 197, 218, 223 n., 245, 276
Ossory, Lord, Duke of Ormond, 120, 364
*Oudin, Antoine, 229 sq., 249
Oudin, César, 229
Overbury, Sir Th., 221, 237 n., 238 n.

*Palairet, J., 338
Palmer, Herbert, 207
Palmer, T., 221

*Palsgrave, J., 3 sq., 57, 61, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 86 sq., 123, 128, 153, 166, 171, 176 n., 177, 180, 190, 212, 232, 264, 293

*Papillon, 300
Parker, Matthew, 119
Parr, Katherine, 64 n., 72, 108, 111, 112
Pasqualigo, Piero, 68
Pasquier, Étienne, 75, 154 n., 192
Passports, 215, 216, 219 n.
Paston, Rt., 316

Pastors: French, 116, 150, 328, 332, 342, 343, 360, 388, 389 n.

Patin, Guy, 362 n.
Peacham, Th., 213
Peiresc, 66 n.
Peletier du Mans, 66, 110 n., 175, 227, 316
Penn, Wm., 307, 322 n., 358
*Penson, M., 301
Penton, Samuel, 216 n., 224 n., 345, 346

Pepys, Samuel, 23 n., 208, 321 sq., 330 sq., 340, 353, 358, 370, 371 n., 375, 377 n., 379, 394

Pepys, Mrs., 209, 321, 380

Perlin, Étienne, 81, 116 n., 117, 118 n., 210 n.

Pettie, George, 237 n.
Petty, Sir. Wm., 239, 337 n.
*Philippe, J. T., 338
Philipps, Katherine, 307 n., 323
Pibrac, 66 n., 186, 196, 250, 261
Picard, 103, 144, 169
Pillot, 202, 227
Pléiade, 84, 158
Poitiers, 344, 345, 357
Pope, Alex., 319
Port Royal, 310
Portuguese grammar, 374 n.
Positions, 64 n., 216 n., 225 n.
Poulet, Sir Amias, 65, 200, 212, 215
*Poullain, Valerand, 150

Prayers in French, 130, 135, 137, 153, 268, 295, 310, 382, 389

Précieuses, 323, 324
*Preste, John, 156 n.
*Primont, Vincent, 148, 149

Pronunciation, of French, 8 sq., 28 sq., 33, 79, 82, 87, 89, 110, 132, 137, 141, 143, 157, 164 sq., 175 sq., 206, 224, 227, 228, 231, 236, 253, 265 sq., 283, 285, 288, 290, 302, 305, 316, 330 sq., 355, 381, 390

Protestants. See Refugees

Proverbs, 107, 124, 135, 137, 166, 180, 356, 384, 390

Purchas Pilgrimes, 212, 221, 237 n.

Purfoote, Th., 138, 141

Puttenham Arte of Poesie, 70 n.

Pynson, Rd., 47 sq., 53 sq., 56, 94 sq., 97 sq., 201, 279

Rabelais, 83, 174, 176, 273
Racine, 220
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 217 n., 220, 367 n.
Rambouillet, Mlle. de, 365
Rambouillet, Hôtel de, 364
Ramus, Petrus, 175, 202
Ramsay, Chevalier de, 366 n.
Ravenscroft, Ed., 392

Readers: in French and English, 134, 160, 185, 186 n., 187, 276, 306, 307, 311, 353, 389 n.

Reading. See Methods

Refugees, 61, 75, 114 sq., 122, 125, 129, 146 sq., 149, 153, 155 sq., 161, 169 sq., 173, 200, 207, 240 sq., 301, 329, 396, 400

Register of aliens, 159, 163, 170
Régnier-Desmarais, 273
Religious Houses: use of French in, 23, 61

Religious instruction in French, 147, 181. Cp. New Testament, Prayers

Reresby, Sir John, 220, 224, 298, 359, 364, 373

Rheims, 232
Rhétoriqueurs, 158
Richelieu, Cardinal, 192, 206, 357
Richmond, Hy. Fitzroy, Duke of, 105, 212
Riding, 231, 261, 282, 346
*Rieu, Pierre de, 149
*Robone, Jean, 148, 149
*Rolland, Alexander, 154

Roman Catholics (teachers), 115, 129, 169, 170

Roman de Jehan et Blonde, 21
Roman de la Rose, 98, 101
Roman de Renart, 20, 21

Romances, French, 120, 193, 195, 264, 309, 318, 319 sq., 346, 349, 395, 398

Ronsard, 65 n., 84, 174, 196, 273 n., 356

Rouen, 156 n., 244, 245, 247, 277, 280, 343, 349, 350, 359, 364

Rowe, John, 152
*Rowland, Francis, 149
*Rowsignoll, Nicholas, 149
Russel, Colonel, 313
Rutland, Roger, 5th Earl of, 234
Rutledge, J., 352 n., 370 n.

Rutter, Joseph, 293

Sackville, Rt., 140, 200
Saint Amant, 259 n., 273 n.
Saint Amour, M. de, 353
Saint Gelais, Octovian de, 101
Saint Évremond, 366, 367 sq.
Saint Malo, 341

*Saint Maurice, Alcide de, 348 n., 353, 357 n.

St Paul's Churchyard, 129, 135, 138, 140, 156, 159, 161, 163, 168, 170, 202, 225, 301

Salons, 323, 367
*Saltonstall, Wye, 203, 295
*Sanford, J., 202 sq., 208
*Saravia, Adrian, 150 sq., 239

Saumur, 205, 232, 233, 249, 310, 344, 345, 350, 351, 352, 354, 359 sq.

Savile, Sir Hy., 221, 344 sq., 382

Scaliger, 63, 65 n.

Scarron: Roman Comique, 317, 318

Schelandre, Jean de, 259 n., 273 n.

Scholars: attitude to French, 63, 128, 198 sq., 208, 271, 337, 392, 393 sq.

Scholemaster, The, 146 n., 182, 183 n., 216 n., 275 n., 287 n.

Schoolmasters, Apologie for. See Morrice

Schoolmistresses, 170

Schools: Grammar Schools and French, 4, 5, 15, 24, 40, 127 sq., 149, 152 sq., 171, 180, 182, 189, 209, 210, 292, 335, 341, 395 n., 396;
private schools and French, 40, 219, 298, 335, 339, 395 sq., 397 sq.;

French schools, 129 sq., 134 sq., 150 sq., 153 sq., 179 n., 183, 192, 225, 243, 247, 255, 281, 299, 375, 396;

French Church Schools, 145 sq., 150;
Protestant Schools in France, 232, 343, 345;
Scotch Schools and French, 152 sq.

Scotland: French in schools of Scotland, 152 sq.;
tutors, 212 n.;
French Grammars in Scotland, 154, 288
Scudéry, Georges de, 193, 271, 299 n.

Scudéry, Mlle, de, 309, 318, 320, 321, 323, 347, 348 n., 364

Sedley, Ch., 371 n., 374 n., 376 n., 377 n., 378, 392 n., 394

Selden, John, 66 n., 274
Seymour, Anne, Jane, and Margaret, 84
Seymour, Jane (Queen), 72, 95, 214
Shadwell, Th., 370, 371 n., 378 n.

Shakespeare, 64, 65, 69, 125 sq., 162, 194 n., 209 n., 236, 237, 255, 272 n.

Sheridan, 396 n.

*Sherwood, Rt., 192, 278, 281 sq., 285, 298, 347 n.

Shrewsbury School, 128, 224

Sidenham, Sir Humphrey, 248

Sidney, Sir Philip, 63, 128, 129, 197, 213, 217, 220 sq., 224, 247, 275

Singing, 69, 267, 300, 342, 369, 371 n., 397
Singing-master, French, 375
Smith, Hy., 208
*Smith, John, M.A., 388
Smith, Sir Th., 124, 277 n.
Snell, George, 334 n., 337

Soldiers and French, 197, 238, 246 sq., 260, 400

Somerset, Protector, 66, 84, 105, 107, 112
Sorbière: Voyage en Angleterre, 321,
322, 364, 368 n.
Sorel: Francion, 333
Southampton: French School at, 150
Spain, 215, 217, 358
Spaniards, 371 n.

Spanish, 64, 65, 72 sq., 121, 164, 169 n., 171, 186, 192, 199 n., 202, 203 n. 204, 209, 212, 218, 220, 230 n., 236 sq., 241 sq., 263, 273, 279, 280, 294, 331, 374, 388 n., 399

Stanhope, Sir Michael, 284

Strafford, Lord, 264

Suffolk, Brandon, Duke of, 69, 80, 81, 94, 105

Swift, 22, 376 n., 392 n.

Swiss teachers, 326, 382

Sylvester, Joshua, 151, 186, 194 n., 237 n., 239

Sylvius, 4 n., 76, 110 n., 137 n., 226

Tailors, French, 369, 371

Teachers of French criticised, 173, 250, 266, 325 sq., 387

Temple, Sir Wm., 318, 320

Theatre: French comedians in England, 68, 270 sq., 379;

Frenchmen at the Cockpit, 368;
English players abroad, 274
Thierry, J., 189
*Thorius, 202
Torriano, 64 n., 286
Tory, Geoffrey, 100
Toulouse, 357
Tours, 310, 351, 357, 359 n.
Townsend, A., 220, 235
Tractatus Orthographiae, 10, 11

Translations: French, of English and Latin writings, 178, 194, 269, 277 n., 319, 320, 323, 355, 390 n., 394

Travel and Travellers, 35 sq., 43, 51, 137, 169 n., 210, 211 sq., 242 sq., 247, 282, 284, 287, 317, 320, 336, 340, 341 sq., 359, 361, 363 sq., 371, 384, 387 n., 397

*Tresol, Adrian, 155 n., 156 n.

*Tressol, A., 156 n.

Trevisa, John of, 24

Tryon, Th., 395 sq.

Turberville, S., 299

Turler, Jerome: Traveiles, 221 n.

Turner, Dr. Wm., 64 n.

Tutors, travelling, 212, 215, 219, 220, 222, 224, 231, 248, 346, 355, 359

Udal, Nicholas, 64 n.

Universities, English: and the French language, 6, 7, 15, 24, 40 n., 75, 118, 186, 195, 198 sq., 261, 262, 281, 295, 296, 345, 388, 392, 393 n., 394

Universities, French: English students at, 5, 6, 27, 77, 104, 172, 210, 213, 226, 232, 345, 357

Utenhove, John, 150

*Vairasse d'Allais, Denys, 353 sq.

*Valence, Pierre, 77, 80 sq., 205 n.

Valets, French, 309, 350, 355, 358, 359, 369, 370, 376, 377, 378, 379

Vanbrugh, Sir John, 364, 365, 374 n., 376 n., 378

Vaquerie, Jean, 155 n.

*Varennes, C. de, 349

Vaugelas, 353, 364, 385

Vaughan, Stephen, 98

Vautrollier, Th., 160, 162, 163, 245 n.

Verneuil, Jean, 200 n.

Verney, Sir Ralph, 220, 248, 264, 298, 341 sq.

Veron, John, 122, 150 n., 187, 189
Verone, John, 122
Versification, French, 158
Viau, Théophile de, 259 n., 356
Villars, Maréchal de, 273
*Villiers, Jacob, 388, 396 sq.
Vincent, Samuel, 371 n., 377 n., 392
Vives, 145, 175, 181, 185, 268 n.

Vocabularies, 5, 11 sq., 16, 28, 36, 38, 40, 52, 88, 91, 135, 137, 177, 241 sq., 245 n., 279, 280, 302, 304, 314, 316, 385, 390, 397

Voiture, 259 n., 273 n., 355, 365

Voltaire, 117, 365 n., 366

Vossius, 367

Waddington, Ralph, 187
Wadington, Wm. of, 19
Waiting-women, French. See Maids
Walker, O.: Of Education, 220 n., 221 n.
Waller, Edmund, 364, 367
Walloons, 115, 127, 144, 168, 254, 326
Wallop, Sir Hy., 123, 162
Walsingham, 119, 211, 213
Watts, Th., 399
Webbe, Joseph, 331, 334 n., 335
Webster, John, 336
Wenman, Sir Rd., 162, 200
Wharton, Sir Philip, 123, 156
William III., 312, 368, 400
William of Wykeham, 23
Williamson, Sir Joseph, 207, 208, 344
Wilson: Arte of Rhetorique, 120, 238 n.
Withers, Hy., 234

*Wodroeph, 225 n., 240, 246, 248 sq., 276, 298, 350, 397

Wolley, Ed., D.D., 298

Wolsey, Cardinal, 69, 70, 94, 104

Women, and study of French, 12, 22, 27, 64 n., 70, 214, 225, 239, 244, 263 sq., 299, 304, 306, 308, 323, 324, 334 n., 337, 339, 342, 373 sq., 378, 395, 397 sq.;
the Frenchified lady, 22, 374 sq.
Wood, Anthony A., 200, 204
Wotton, Sir Henry, 120, 234
*Wotton, Rev. Henry, 339

Writing, 119, 130, 139, 147, 262, 298, 299, 332, 399

Wroth, Sir Th., 157
Würtemberg, Duke of, 66, 74
Wycherley, 364, 365, 370 n., 376, 377 n., 378
Wykeham, Wm. de, 23

Wynkyn de Worde, 47 sq., 53 sq., 56, 201, 237, 279

Yver, Jacques, 196

Zouche, Lord, 142 sq., 234

THE END

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FRENCH

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Corrections:

"Lord Burghly" which appears from p. 211 to p. 217 was normalised to "Lord Burghley" as elsewhere in the book.

The first line indicates the page or the note number and the original text, the second the corrected text.

- p. x:

- Travelers at the French Universities

- Travellers at the French Universities.

- p. 37:

- il dira tout courtoisenent

- il dira tout courtoisement.

- p. 39:

- le roy d'Angliterre est osté

- le roy d'Angleterre est osté.

- p. 39:

- Maris, oy, il y avoit tant de presse

- Marie, oy, il y avoit tant de presse.

- p. 160:

- a wastefull, a riotious and and an outrageous spender

- a wastefull, a riotious and an outrageous spender.

- p. 166:

- deligently gathered and faithfully set

- diligently gathered and faithfully set.

- p. 176:

- Qe-heur et-til?

- Qel-heur et-til?

- p. 237:

- a thing easily gotton

- a thing easily gotten.

- p. 239:

- For instance Sir Willam Petty

- For instance Sir William Petty.

- p. 241:

- Lesquelles choses considererées

- Lesquelles choses considerées.

- p. 252:

- de leurs prouesses, entreprinses

- de leurs prouesses, entreprises.

- p. 398:

- accomodated to the grammar

- accommodated to the grammar.

- p. 411:

- Qui peut aissi

- Qui peut aussi.

- p. 414:

- of Nacsia and Paros in the Archipeligo

- of Nacsia and Paros in the Archipelago.

- p. 414:

- ou hormis d'autres discours curieus

- où hormis d'autres discours curieus.

- p. 423:

- se vendent a l'enseigne

- se vendent à l'enseigne.

- n. 126:

- E. J. Furnival

- E. J. Furnivall.

- n. 433:

- the Picard or Bourgonions

- the Picard or Bourgignions.

- n. 671:

- H. Glapthorne, "The Ladies Privilege"

- H. Glapthorne, "The Ladies' Privilege."

Errata list:

- p. 41: "pernes" should be "prenez" ("Sir pernes le hanappe").

- p. 43: "comnencier" should be "commencier" ("Veul comnencier").

- p. 92, n. 230: "The Boke of the Governour" appears as "The Boke named the Governour" in n. 462.

- p. 104: "Sir Thomas More, writing to Erasmus in 1617" should be "Sir Thomas More, writing to Erasmus in 1517."

- p. 137-138: the small cross below the unsounded letters in the quotation does not always correspond to modern pronunciation. The original has been retained.

- p. 283, n. 361: Liége should be Liège.

- p. 293: "to read an script" should be "to read a script."

- n. 126, 313: Author "E. J. Furnivall" should be "F. J. Furnivall."

- n. 276: "congnoissance" should be "cognoissance" ("la congnoissance des histoires").

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Table of Contents

Transcriber's Notes:

THE TEACHING AND CULTIVATION OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN ENGLAND DURING TUDOR AND STUART TIMES

PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

- PART I

- INTRODUCTORY

- CHAPTER I

- The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

- CHAPTER II

- The Fifteenth Century

- PART II

- TUDOR TIMES

- CHAPTER I

- The French Language at Court and among the Nobility

- CHAPTER II

- French Tutors at Court—Giles Duwes—John Palsgrave—Jean Bellemain

- CHAPTER III

- The Influence of Religious Refugees on the Teaching of French in England—Openings for them as Teachers—Demand for Text-Books—French Schools in England and Scotland

- CHAPTER IV

- Huguenot Teachers of French—Other Classes of French Teachers—Rivalries in the Profession—The "Dutch" and English Teachers

- CHAPTER V

- Methods of Teaching French—Latin and French—French and English Dictionaries—Study of French Literature

- CHAPTER VI

- French at the Universities

- CHAPTER VII

- The Study of French by English Travellers Abroad

- CHAPTER VIII

- The Study of French among Merchants and Soldiers

- PART III

- STUART TIMES

- CHAPTER I

- French at the Courts of James I. and Charles I.—French studied by the Ladies—French Players in London—English generally ignored by Foreigners

- CHAPTER II

- French Grammars—Books for Teaching Latin and French—French in Private Institutions

- CHAPTER III

- The "Little Blois" in London

- CHAPTER IV

- The French Teaching Profession and Methods of studying the Language

- CHAPTER V

- The Tour in France

- CHAPTER VI

- Gallomania after the Restoration

- CHAPTER VII

- The Teaching of French and its Popularity after the Restoration

- APPENDICES

- I Chronological List of Manuals and Grammars for Teaching French to the English

- II Bibliography, arranged Alphabetically, of Manuals for Teaching the French Language to the English, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the End of the Stuart Period

- INDEX

PART I

- INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

- THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II

- THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

- FOOTNOTES:

PART II

- TUDOR TIMES

CHAPTER I

- THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AT COURT AND AMONG THE NOBILITY

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II

- FRENCH TUTORS AT COURT—GILES DUWES—JOHN PALSGRAVE—JEAN BELLEMAIN

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER III

- THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS REFUGEES ON THE TEACHING OF FRENCH IN ENGLAND—OPENINGS FOR THEM AS TEACHERS—DEMAND FOR TEXT-BOOKS—FRENCH SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IV

- HUGUENOT TEACHERS OF FRENCH—OTHER CLASSES OF FRENCH TEACHERS—RIVALRIES IN THE PROFESSION—THE "DUTCH" AND ENGLISH TEACHERS

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER V

- METHODS OF TEACHING FRENCH—LATIN AND FRENCH—FRENCH AND ENGLISH DICTIONARIES—STUDY OF FRENCH LITERATURE

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VI

- FRENCH AT THE UNIVERSITIES

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII

- THE STUDY OF FRENCH BY ENGLISH TRAVELLERS ABROAD

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VIII

- THE STUDY OF FRENCH AMONG MERCHANTS AND SOLDIERS

- FOOTNOTES:

PART III

- STUART TIMES

CHAPTER I

- FRENCH AT THE COURTS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I.—FRENCH STUDIED BY THE LADIES—FRENCH PLAYERS IN LONDON—ENGLISH GENERALLY IGNORED BY FOREIGNERS

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II

- FRENCH GRAMMARS—BOOKS FOR TEACHING LATIN AND FRENCH—FRENCH IN PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER III

- THE "LITTLE BLOIS" IN LONDON

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IV

- THE FRENCH TEACHING PROFESSION AND METHODS OF STUDYING THE LANGUAGE

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER V

- THE TOUR IN FRANCE

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VI

- GALLOMANIA AFTER THE RESTORATION

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII

- THE TEACHING OF FRENCH AND ITS POPULARITY AFTER THE RESTORATION

- FOOTNOTES:

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

- CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MANUALS AND GRAMMARS FOR TEACHING FRENCH TO THE ENGLISH

APPENDIX II

- FOOTNOTES:

INDEX

- FRENCH

- Corrections:

- Errata list:

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